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