[PQ] smiling out of fear

AMALIA

She wants the silence but fears the solitude

She wants to be alone and together with you

Born from dark water, daughter of the rain and snow

Are we ready?

What does one do, when they have only a week worth of freedom remaining?

Go brave wild elemental storms, of course.

Truthfully, Amalia has not told many people about her potential arrest, or Zariah's request that she trade her freedom for that of the white raven. Certainly not Jigano, who has enough to worry about, and who would do nothing but blame himself for her missteps. Remi, it is possible, has heard from Ronin, but she already asked him not to speak of it. I don't want to dwell had been her excuse: a lie, for she has done nothing but dwell these past few days, fatalistic and unhappy thoughts raging storm-like through her mind. I just need a distraction.

A distraction such as pushing into the storms. Their last such venture had been rather underwhelming, though the oasis had proven welcome respite. Still, the leopardess thinks as she stares into the wild, there must be something past those clouds. Oceans, mountains, deserts... something.

Something better than what she has.

Glancing back at Jigano and Remi, she tries to settle her anxious thoughts. Don't get too close, she cautions. We'll walk along the perimeter and try to find a break.

---

PQ to explore the electrical storms

1. Jigano
2. Remi

i'll meet you half way

Last night I read Aoife a story about magical cloaks. The lion hummed absently, brushing his whiskered-face against Amalia. His mental voice was casual, shattered-amber gaze light and easy, but the implications of the words were clear enough. It hid the princess from all those who wished her harm. I think I might make one for Aoife some day. He added with a suggestive flick of his tail, his leonine express very much one of, I know we aren't talking about this, but just so you know...

Sitting down, the lion gazed out into an unfamiliar landscape. It was desaturated and without contrast, but even nearly-blinded as he was, the storms brewing on the horizon were more than clear.

if you're coming the long way

Coding base by Sky!

There was much to do, and Zariah's grip was tightening on the Hollowed Grounds with every passing day... but Ronin's counsel to patience and preparation was one that had merit, however much tempers frayed and hackles rose at the conditions the Launceleyn woman imposed - or tried to, at any rate. Jigano had kept himself out of sight, disguising his human form as well as his animal ones even as he found more and more reason to remain in one or another of his animal shapes. Feathered wings the same color as his dyed hair - dark gray, not true black, but dark enough to blend in a surprising number of places, and black enough if he kept the sun behind him - carried him in slow circles above the anxious leopardess as he settled himself to follow her to the west, as she had followed him to the east.

He had expected Kiada to join them again, and was surprised when instead it was Remi who had traveled to the edge of the Outskirts, but their truce still held and the rapport offered and accepted during the nomination of their new leader, though fragile, was intact. The raven tilted a wing in greeting at the alchemist when they had all joined together, and when they reached the edge of the storm he croaked agreement to Amalia's warning. The gusting winds made it hard on the avian to stay above them, but he used his greater height to keep an eye out ahead of them to see if they were approaching anything dangerous - or if any trouble would try to approach them from the east.

The group walks. They traverse and travel. All is as expected; harsh, desolate, writhing with the promise of death. But there, amidst the violent storms there is a shape. Collapsed and weary, bruised but broken. Death has already come for this one once, and she walked away from him with a smile. She will not always be so lucky, but for now, fortune continues to smile on her, as you find...

ASHE.    Her boots dragged over the ground, but she couldn't hear the limping scuffs in the dirt over the din of the storm. It raged around her, a sound that had become an innate part of her world. She drew her hood closer around her head at a particularly vicious whip of the wind, and her tattered blue cloak whipped wildly behind her. Months she had been out here in these god-forsaken storms, alone. All for nothing.    Home was close, she reminded herself. Some wild stroke of luck brought a scent to her sensitive nose on the wind, and it was home. The scent was hardly there, but she was so close now that even the lashing storm couldn't shake her from the trail. Ashe pushed through the wild storm, and she snapped her head back with a flash of lightning in the surrounding clouds. She paused, wary eyes lingering on the roiling darkness. Nothing there.    She swallowed roughly and cradled her arm close to her chest - poorly wrapped and badly broken, but still there. With a ragged breath, the girl turned back and --    Too fast. It had been too long since she'd last eaten, her head had been hit too hard, she'd bled too much, too much damage had been done. Her head felt light as storm around her tilted, and bright sparks of pain flashed in her vision as her arm hit the ground. Her sharp cry was swallowed by the howl of the winds. It fell into a groan through clenched teeth, her fist curling in the dirt. Almost home.    She tried to brace her arm beneath her, glaring at the storm ahead of her, at the wicked flash of lightning that mocked her and...    "Five hells," she growled. For there were figures in the clouds ahead, and she didn't have enough left in her to run. i may be broken, but I'm not done.

AMALIA

She wants the silence but fears the solitude

She wants to be alone and together with you

Born from dark water, daughter of the rain and snow

But what about the friends she left behind? Ah, so he knows. She isn't surprised- and it's nice, in a way, to be able to say something, even if it's coded, even if it's opaque. Turning her broad, feline face to Remi, Amalia returns his affection in kind, the sadness and exhaustion clear in her mind. Could the princess stay hidden, if it put them at risk?

Jigano's arrival interrupts any further conversation on the matter. Amalia purrs a happy greeting to the raven, though there's a shred of darkness far beneath, a little sadness, a little bitterness, something hidden and shuttered from view. A riff-raff crew, the three of them start off, two felines and a corvid above, making their way off the edge of the storm. Do you see anything, Jigano, she asks, trying to peer through the fringes of storm. Any openings? Or...

Or...

People?

Amalia freezes, her dark eyes widening and shifting to avian form, not sure she's seeing the thing she sees. A small woman, vaguely familiar, staggers along at the end of the storm, almost a mirage in the shattering lightning. Ashetta does not need to run: Amalia is already taking up speed, even before she is sure of what she's seeing, even while she still thinks it may be a dream. Leopard legs make her fast and fleeting, and it is not until she is nearly upon her that the cat flips back into human shape, sliding barefoot to a stop behind the woman she does not know.

"Are you okay?" Amalia gasps, reaching out to steady the woman, her black gaze looking for wounds. "How did you get here? How long have you been out?" She glances at Remi and Jigano, looking for answers, for help.

i'll meet you half way

But it was not the princess who put her friends at risk. Remi thought, finding it absurdly difficult to continue on the faux-storyline that he’d created while at the same time seeming suitably disappointed . Besides. It might not be forever. Only long enough so that the princess could go to the wedding of the dragon and the unicorn. He added with a glance towards Jigano offering the raven a nod.

Continuing, Remi cannot see what the raven and the now-owl can. Instead of taking flight as well (it won’t help, the landscape is too unfamiliar for even his hawk’s eyes to be of much use), he does catch a scent...something like obsidian and thunder. Of love and a bit of metal. Something canine. Something that makes his heart lurch and leap in his chest.

Ashe? Remi calls out towards the shape, watching Amalia race by him in a blur. Quick on her heels (a pulse of gratitude in that she has given him a heading to follow), Remi’s shift is unusually clumsy as he nears the all-too familiar shape.

Memories of roof tops, of fairytale books on pianos, of weddings in hidden gardens, cleaning blood off walls in the home of the huntress and the bear, of wine spiders and wolves. A lifetime ago that things happened suddenly crashing down around him, and in the center of it all, piercing blue eyes full of electricity.

The woman he thought of as a sister, and not only because her mother had basically adopted him. She had been the one to bring Ronin back to him. She was the reason his heart was full.

Stumbling forwards and all but tripping in his haste to envelope her in his arms, tears had begun to stream down his cheeks in hasty earnest. “Ashe...” Remi choked, hands tangling into her raven hair as he pulled her to his chest like some sort of overly-large stuffed animal, taking care not to crush her arm bandaged against her chest. “Gods, Ashe.” He breathed, allowing pulling her back enough to peer into her face and ensure she was alright. This was of course difficult to do given his shattered sea-glass stare and the pseudo blindness he was experiencing, but close as she was, it was enough.

if you're coming the long way

Coding base by Sky!

Nothing to let us through, but I think I see a... a person? And they look injured! he called back down to the predators below. The raven stroked the air with his wings, riding the winds with dogged perseverance as he battled the turbulent air outside the storm to close the distance between him and the human - woman? - but the storm was too fierce for his small body to handle and he was forced to dive down and land on Amalia's shoulder, crouching down and pressing against the side of her face as he narrowed his eyes against the wind and rain.

Not until his heartsister was close enough to almost touch the girl did he recognize the bedraggled shape, and he croaked a warning that was lost in the storm - though not the startled hiss of his thoughts to Amalia through their link. The assassin! he warned, alarm and curiosity warring for dominance in his tone. Edrei had said the girl hadn't been seen since Ronin had returned, and Jigano had thought she had been implying that she had given her life for the star-touched man, but had he misunderstood? Or had Edy?

Gods least fortunate... get her out of the storm before we all get struck by lightning, he called to Remi and Amalia both, not caring if Ashe could hear his thoughts as well through the Attuned mental bonds. Whatever his disagreements with her career choice, they could wait until everyone was safely back in the Outskirts and away from the storm's fury!

ASHE.    Of course, the figures couldn't just move on, or just vanish like the others had. Her heart doubled its pace, and she scrambled to her feet. The large beast was moving fast, its companion close behind.    Ashe cursed. She ripped her dagger free and she staggered unsteadily, her lip curling back to bear sharpened canines --    A woman skid to a halt in place of a leopard. Her words were abrasive on Ashe's sensitive ears -- when had she last heard someone's voice? -- but that was a person.    "Months, I think," she said over the wind. "I got lost."    Her head snapped around when she felt the brush of familiar thoughts against her own, and it was a good thing Remi caught her, because her knees would have buckled at the sight of him.    His heart beat under her head as she leaned against him, and she grinned for what felt like the first time in a long time. "Remi," she sighed, letting her eyes shut as she wrapped her arm tightly around him, blade forgotten in her hand.    They opened when he pulled back, and her brows pulled together. "Remi... what happened to your--"    Ashe broke off at another's thoughts that drifted down an Attuned link. She blinked and looked up towards the raven. "Jigano?" And the woman... Emily? Amy? She couldn't recall, but she was familiar now as she oriented herself. She swallowed and started to say more, but she snapped her eyes on the stormclouds at another flash of lightning.    "We have to get out," she agreed. Her heart raced, and she looked back to Remi. Please, she almost went on, but the word caught at the back of her throat. i may be broken, but I'm not done.

AMALIA

She wants the silence but fears the solitude

She wants to be alone and together with you

Born from dark water, daughter of the rain and snow

The whole exchange would be farcical if under different circumstances; as it is the covered words are simply shaded, bitter and sad. If I were Aoife I would rather be the dragon, she remarks wryly, wondering what Jigano must make of their strange and calculated exchange. Besides, I think Aoife is more knight than princess. And knights have to fight their own battles. Hard as it may be.

The woman is a good distraction, a savior from darker thoughts. The assassin! calls Jigano, at the same time Remi rises, his arms sweeping up the smaller woman in a clearly adoring sort of hug. Amalia steps back, a little bewildered, her thoughts raging wildly as she reaches up to tuck the raven against her chest. The one from the Spire? She can feel her stomach bottoming out, the memory of Rory's trauma cutting ugly scars in her mind. So this is the woman who threatened her friend for nothing but speaking Ronin's name?

The woman who supposedly gave her life, that the star-born not-man could once again live?

And now here they are in the middle of a storm, and Remi is hugging her, and oh, the world is strange.

No matter the leopardess' many misgivings, one thing among countless others is clear: they need to get Ashetta out of the storm, and then to find out how she got there at all. Releasing Jigano so she can shift, Amalia once more gains feline characteristic, the sturdy and compact figure an easier one to push against the wind. Glancing at Remi, the girl calls silently, not knowing of the assassin's ability to hear. We need to get her out of here. To the infirmary, or Vai.

i'll meet you half way

Remi could hardly hear what Amalia and Jigano were saying over the thrashing storm overhead and the equally pulsating beating of his own heart. Throat clogged with sobs that demanded to be let out were hastily bit back as the alchemist continued to scour Ashe's face for signs of significant injury. "Ashe." He whispered again, leaning in close and pressing his face into the cleft of her neck. It had taken Ronin's death for Remi to do more than put his arm around the assassin, and despite the hefty walls she kept around herself, the alchemist hardly cared. She could stab him later for his impropriety. Just now, the feel and smell of her would be worth any future wounds it might earn him.

Shaking his head gently as she noticed his vision—it can wait—he glanced over his shoulder and nodded to Amalia and Jigano. "Can you walk?" In the time Ashetta had been away, somehow Remi had at some point developed quite a bit of strength. That, and for as fighty as the assassin in blue was, she could still be easily carried (something Remi doubted she liked very much). But the offer was there, as were the storms.

if you're coming the long way

Coding base by Sky!

Jigano had been deliberately trying not to pay attention to the sub-conversation going on between Remi and Amalia, doing his best to respect their privacy as much as the Attuned mental link would allow. There was a vague sense that they were speaking of Ronin's daughter, who had become Remi's daughter, and now was daughter to them both, but he kept his attention focused on the storms and scouting instead to help distract him from something he did not think he was a part of.

It was a conversation that was abruptly less important than the lone figure stumbling through the storm, and then the not-so-strange figure as they recognized Ashetta and reacted each in their own way to the lost woman's reappearance. As Remi both clung to her and held her up, Jigano nestled warily close withing Amalia's arms. Yes, he confirmed in a grim undertone to the baker, their thoughts dovetailing to the last time Ashetta had impacted their lives, however indirectly.

But if she had also allowed Ronin to return...

It was a complex and complicated twist of thoughts that the storm's edge left no time to pursue, and Jigano croaked as he was freed so Amalia could shift. Lightning flashed close enough to put his feathers on end in spite of the rain, thunder promptly deafening the world around him and he took the hint and put his head down, scampering back towards the Outskirts as a gust of wind caught him from behind and gave him a boost out of the clouds. Remi, do you need help? he called back, preferring to save any moral quandaries for when everyone was (comparatively) safe.

ASHE.    Remi buried his face against her neck, and she turned her head against his with a powerful shudder. There was a tightness in her throat, and she couldn’t tell if the wetness on her cheeks was from the wind or from being held. She hadn’t been touched in so long... She breathed in his scent, and she cursed her broken arm for the hundredth time that day alone. She wanted to hang onto him, but her arm holding tightly around his waist would do. She was worried about his eyes, but getting out of the storm was paramount.    Getting out. It was surreal as Jigano and the other woman were talking down the link, but she hardly comprehended it. Ashe looked up at Remi. Could she walk?    ”Yeah just.. A little unsteady. No big deal,” she rasped, trying not to let her voice vanish in the wind. Her vision pulsed black at the edges, but that was nothing new. ”Just a little unsteady is all.”    ’...the infirmary, or Vai.’    Her heart stopped. Then started, and stopped again. Vai? Is she close? My brother -- Her thoughts were incomplete and tumbling down that link, her wide eyes darting between the three. Is everyone --    Lightning flashed again with a boom that reverberated in her chest. She tensed, eyeing the storm. No time for questions. Her eyes were locked where the lightning had struck, and she only looked away to search the roiling darkness behind them. She leaned against Remi heavily, swallowing hard. "I don't know the way," she said, just barely loud enough to be heard. i may be broken, but I'm not done.

AMALIA

She wants the silence but fears the solitude

She wants to be alone and together with you

Born from dark water, daughter of the rain and snow

A mental voice catches her by surprise; Amalia glances back at the woman, not having known she is attuned. Her brother? The leopardess blinks against the rain and storm, not really understanding but eager to help, to get them all out of this dismal danger. The first step is to get out, back to safety.

Unwinding coiled threads can come next.

It will be difficult to find their way home as it is, and Amalia doesn't think she knows their heading, though Jigano seems to be heading off with confidence. Rolling her shoulders forward against the wind, the leopardess lies her ears flat on her skull. Can you shrink down? I can carry you, she suggests to the assassin, not knowing what her animal shift might be but figuring it would be easier to manage than a human form.

Plus with Remi's larger lion, they might even drape a sizable creature between them. She suggests this silently and waits for a reply before peering out into the storm. Which way?

---

Pick a heading and let's see if we make it out of here!

Posting order:
1. Jigano
2. Ashetta
3. Remi