Maikana
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Chapter 61 – Disproportionate response
🕑 Added 2025-05-22 01:54:31 +0000 UTCIn a turn of events from many of their nights out, it was Har who had to practically carry Kori back to the enclave. A trip that was much further than their typical stumble home from Maribel’s café since they were clear on the opposite side of Whatzakt. After hours of investigating every nook and cranny of the herbalist’s stores, she’d proven once and for all that there was in fact an end in there somewhere to that bottomless well of curious energy.
While she had been occupied with the contents of all the cupboards and drawers, Har had had a long conversation with Imelda. It had seemed like it was a rather serious discussion, and at one point Kori had even spied some coins changing hand, but she couldn’t really say what it had been about.
When the youngling awoke in her little temporary den the next morning, she found that she could only remember about half of the walk back. If even that. Groggily stripping her slept in clothes she tried to brush out at least a few of the wrinkles she’d created from sleeping in it, not that it was very effective. Giving up on getting her attire anywhere near presentable with a cringe, Ortik had set very clear standards on such a thing and the habit had stuck with her, she instead gave her scales a good scrub and otherwise got ready for the day.
I’ll have to ask Har how he gets his clothes looking decent on the mornings after I dump him on his mat.
It didn’t take her long to find Har, he was boisterously retelling the story of Kori’s previous evening at the herbalist’s to the other kobolds over breakfast. She didn’t know many of those present, the group she had traveled with had all departed since she’d been there, having only stayed 3 days before leaving to guard another caravan’s trip back. It didn’t matter that she didn’t know them, apparently, they all at least knew of her enough to be caught up in the tale of her escapades. Especially the part about her falling from the ladder and somehow finding herself hanging upside down from one of its rungs caught behind her knee.
It wasn’t that funny… Okay… maybe it was a little funny…
Her breakfast was spent answering questions, some about her missteps but mostly about Renava. By the time she was done retelling her short interaction with the horrible woman, and Har had elaborated on Kori’s reaction after leaving her shop, there wasn’t a smile or laugh left amongst the bunch of them. Whether they’d been here a few days or had arrived with the most recent caravan, Har had to practically barricade the entrance to keep the warriors, mages, and shaman from storming her little shop before the sun had barely cleared the horizon.
“Not a single step out of the enclave!” He yelled at them. “Do you hear me?” He had pointedly looked at a particular warrior when he’d said the last. He knew who the troublemakers were. “I’ll lock the damn gate if I need to.” He threatened.
Many of the combatants didn’t seem happy with his proclamation and argued loudly. “We’re not just going to let her get away with it.” One stated. It most definitely wasn’t a question.
“Out of the way Har.” One woman said. There had been a detached calmness to her voice, something in the way she said it shook Kori a little. She wasn’t sure why, but something just seemed, otherworldly, about her. Like her voice had just the slightest echo to it.
On a hunch, Kori activated her much neglected, and seldom useful, spirit senses and found that rather than a few bits and bobbles like the other shaman in the room, the entire woman shone with an inner spiritual light in a way that she’d never seen before. Almost like there was an afterimage following each of her movements. Not that she had spent much time around many shamans since acquiring the skill. Her few encounters with Ortik and the days with Aln making up the majority of it.
Her observations didn’t go unnoticed, the woman turned, staring hard at Kori, as soon as her Skill was in use. A momentary look of surprise washed over her calm exterior before returning to its original serenity, like the waves of a pebble thrown into the lakes, dramatic but fleeting.
“We will talk of this later.” Was all she said while she looked at Kori, the spiritual glow fading beneath her skin until there was no trace remaining.
<<Skill proficiency improved. Spiritual Sense level 3 -> 4>>
Once it was gone, the woman’s emotions began to show again with a scowl as she crossed her arms and returned her attention to Har.
With the glow receded, Kori withdrew her senses and actually looked at the woman that had been beneath it. Most of the shaman weren’t much different than the mages, they wore light leather tunics, carried staves or similar instruments, and were generally averse to the physical side of combat. This one did not fit that mold. She was nearly as tall as Losq was and equally broad. Her muscled frame was covered with woven leather that was studded with bone and crisscrossed with gouges and scars of past combat. If she hadn’t seen what she had seen, Kori would have, and in fact had previously had, mistaken her for one of the warriors.
With the, honestly rather terrifying, woman seemingly no longer ready to commit murder, the assembled kobolds slowly stopped their protesting. “If you won’t let us do anything, at least tell us what you’re going to do about it.” The same one that had spoken earlier called out.
“All I can tell you is that I will be doing something.” Seeing that there was no way that little of an explanation would suffice, he continued on. “A letter to Ortik will be traveling with the next caravan out. Only if he agrees will I take action.”
This was clearly not the right thing to say, “What?! If he tells you to do nothing, you’ll just let her get away with it?”
“If my chieftain tells me not to do something, I’m gonna damn well listen to the man.” Was all Har said in response, the dozen and a half or so combatants and traders assembled all shuffled their feet at his proclamation. Except the shaman. She just grinned a knowing grin.
“You all need to realize, a potion seller can be the literal lifeblood of a town. Just her presence here saves lives daily.” He panned his eyes across each of them, pausing as he met every one of their own gazes. “If we run the woman out of town, or worse, then what?” He waited a moment for them to comprehend but continuing on before any thought he expected an answer. “Hunters start dying because they got injured too far from a healer, that’s what.”
The others all lowered their gazes as their shoulders slumped, not liking that they knew he was right. Most of those here had been injured on one trip or another and needed healing. Many of them even relied on Kori’s own ointment for that purpose and they could imagine the trouble that losing access to that healing could cause, even after only a few short months.
“Now, there is one very important thing I need all of you to do. Something that could very well cause this whole thing to go from bad to worse if you don’t heed my request.” Har stated in a very serious tone, making it seem like it were a matter of life and death. Which it probably was. “You must, I’m pleading with you, must, not tell Martial Blonc.”
The warriors caught on to what he was saying first, their eyes going wide and as they shared glances between each other. The others didn’t take long to figure out why Har would ask such a thing as scales paled and a few audible gulps were heard. Even with just the few stories that she had heard, Kori knew it would be a very bad idea to let the martial know.
She wasn’t really sure what to think, on one claw she knew that the fight happy leader of their warriors would take just about any excuse to start something, on the other, the idea of possibly starting a war with the town over her seemed ridiculous.
Since none of the others thought to question it, she felt she had to. “Would he really fight the humans over something like this?”
Most eyes turned towards the back where she’d been standing, looking at her like she’d asked the stupidest question possible. Probably because for anyone familiar with Blonc, she had.
“Yes, Kori, he would.” Har said without even hesitating to consider. “You’re a member of this clan and that’s enough. It doesn’t matter if you’re a hatchling or one of the Elders.” Everyone in the room nodded at his response like it was a simple irrefutable fact.
The vehemence of his words and obvious conviction of those in the room took Kori by surprise a little. She knew that the clan looked out for every member, but this seemed a bit extreme. She had to wipe a few tears from the corner of her eyes as she considered what had been said.
Har clapped his hands to gather everyone’s attention back to himself, something Kori was thankful for as she felt like she was about to cry again and really didn’t want everyone seeing that. “Alright, I hope that’s settled then?” He asked, sounding more like a statement than a question. “Good. You’ve all got things to be doing, so go do em.” He knew most of them didn’t really have much to do besides maintain their gear and rest for their return trips, but his dismissal still dispersed them to their various lodgings or just to sit somewhere in the little gathering hall.
“Oh, I need one of you to escort Kori to the herbalists, she’s gonna be there for most of the day.” His words brought Kori’s eyes snapping up to stare at him as this was the first she’d heard of it.
“I am?” She hesitantly asked him.
“Yup, weren’t you paying attention last night?” Quirking a brow at her. “No… of course you weren’t.” He started to laugh a bit, most of the others still in the room joining him now that the tension had been cut. “I made a deal with the herbalist, Imelda, you’ll be spending a few days there to try to find alternative ingredients for your ointment using things they can source up here, hopefully in bulk.”
“Oh.” Was all she could respond with, though the broad smile on her face said a lot more.
From one of the openings leading from the room there was a response to Har’s original request, “I’ll take her.” A woman’s voice answered. When Kori looked over, she saw it was the hulking shaman from earlier.
“Great, thank you, Zln. You know the way?” He got a nod in return before continuing towards Kori. “Have fun.”
Kori stared at Zln as Har trotted off towards the surface. She had no idea what to make of the woman. The way her voice had sounded earlier and the promise that they would ‘talk’ about… something… she really wasn’t sure what she wanted to talk about, had rooted her feet to the floor while making her want to turn tail and run away. The entire circle knew that she had trained with Ortik, and how that had ended, so there should be no surprise that she’d gained the sense skill, should there?
“Go get your things.” Zln’s statement was brusque and she was already following behind where Har had went before she’d even finished speaking.
It only took a few moments to check her satchel for her belongings, she’d never unpacked anything the night before after all, and finding everything still where she left it in a bit of a jumble, she hurried to follow the shaman.
The first stretch of the walk was one done in silence. She had questions she wanted to ask, she always had questions, but Zln was one of the most intimidating kobolds she had ever met. Even more so than Blonc, who she knew well enough to know that he was mostly just laid back and lazy unless there was a chance to hit something. The shaman kept a brisk pace, many of the humans giving her a bit wider of a berth than Kori was used to when traveling with Har. Even they sensed the woman wasn’t one they wanted to involve themselves with.
After they had taken a few turns that Kori didn’t remember from the day before and were on some quieter streets, Zln turned her attention back to her and slowed her pace a bit. “Now, I believe I said we needed to talk.” There was no way to misinterpret her words as actually being a question.
“Yes?” Kori squeaked out.
“So, talk.” It didn’t seem like Zln was one to use many words.
“About what?” Kori confusedly asked. “About [Spiritual Sense]? The Circle knows I got the Skill before they booted me out.” She said bitterly, even months after the event.
“Why would I care about a Skill?” Was the only answer she gave, confusing Kori even further.
“Uhmm… I’m confused… if you didn’t want to talk about me seeing you do… whatever it was you did… why do we need to talk?” She had really wanted to ask what it was that Zln had done, but didn’t think it was the right time to ask.
“I know what you did.” Was all that she got in response.
In a tone that made it clear that she was completely lost in whatever this conversation was supposed to be about, all Kori managed to say was “Huh?” while quirking her head to the side.
“Come clean and this will be easier.” Zln was clearly getting aggravated and Kori even heard the same slight reverberation from earlier in her voice. When she focused a little on her other senses, she could see wisps of spiritual energy curling away from the shaman’s body like steam from a hot mug of tea.
“I really, honestly, have no idea what you are talking about, Shaman Zln.” Kori tried to respond as respectfully as she could, even using the generic title for her supposed class.
“It’s Animist Zln, youngling.” She replied, her tone now once again devoid of emotion. Several passers by turned their head towards the woman with wide eyes and hurried their steps to put some extra distance between them when they heard her speak. “Now, tell me what you stole from the Circle before I march you right back to the enclave and toss you in a barrel to go back to the caverns on the next caravan.” Whatever the effect that was influencing her voice was had redoubled, her words sounding like there were multiple people speaking the same phrase overtop of one another.
Whatever it was that she was doing, it clearly had the effect that she was going for. Kori would have told her anything she wanted to know at this point. Just that she had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. It wasn’t just Kori that Zln’s intimidation was working on, the street had gone silent and there wasn’t a single person anywhere that she could see that wasn’t quickly moving in the opposite direction. Something Kori dearly wished she could also be doing.
“That I… uhhh… What?”
