Ka'lei sucked in a sharp breath. She...hadn't been expecting that. From her--admitedly relatively limited--experience with Valor, she'd come to the conclusion that he was a careless, vapid, but generally well-meaning child of wealth and privilege. She'd met her share of people like that in Essyrn, but always peripherally, and certainly never in any capacity where they might be inspired to free her. 

But she assumed if she had, they all would have wanted something in return. As Valor had said he did. And he'd offered not just to unchain her--literally and figuratively--but to help her find Kai. Any price was worth that. 

And here he was telling her that...she didn't owe him anything. There wasn't a price. That...how did she even...what was she supposed to do with that?!

She took a breath. She could go. She could just leave. 

But...

"I...don't have a trade," she said slowly. "I mean, I think I could find work, but I'm not established, I wouldn't know where to... And I'll never be able to find Kai without your help." Another breath, then she shook herself, wings and all, and refocused her attention so she could meet his eyes and hold them. "No one in Essyrn would believe that I'm anything but your wife. Hells, they probably won't even believe that, but you're an eccentric foreigner, we can make it work." She swallowed. "I...can't go back there alone. And I don't..." She trailed off, then started to smile just a bit. "I don't mind helping you out with your family. We'll just...we'll make sure we know where we stand about it."

She dropped her eyes and scuffed the toe of one foot against the cobblestone. "...Thank you, though. It--it matters. That you want me to have a choice."

Adelaide shook her head, a new wave of tears tightening her throat. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I--I'm so sorry..."

More laughter from her siblings and mother--and it seemed an aunt, who smiled up at the chattering group as they were corralled inside from where she was stirring a sauce over an open fire.

"Well, there's no boring food in this house," she said with a quick wink. "Whether that means it's good is sometimes a matter of debate."

"Oh, don't scare the boy," Kiri's mother tutted, which earned a theatric eyeroll from her daughter. She rather thought Makani might not quite qualify for the boy moniker anymore--although, she thought the same of herself and girl, but her parents, aunts, uncle, and grandmother all seemed to vehemently disagree. 

"It's a pity for you Kiri's not much of a cook either," Akila teased, elbowing Kiri gently before taking the child that she still held to free up her hands. "Sounds like the two of you might be needing a third influence if you ever want a decent meal."

Kiri stared up at the ceiling and mouthed a silent prayer for mercy.

Oh. 

Oh no.

Adri found herself suddenly burning with a protectiveness that under most circumstance she would have thought wasn't entirely warranted, but after the last two days she wasn't about to question. 

It started slowly, when the people browsing the gems started to take notice of them--well, of Idris, not of her--and began whispering behind their hands. It burst into a fierce intensity, however, when the woman behind the counter practically fell over herself in her excitement to assist Idris. And then she kept finding excuses to touch him, and Adri had to bite back a churlish comment about it. 

Not my business, not my business, I'm just here to observe, if Idris minded he would say something... Well. She hoped he would say something. He might feel too awkward or uncomfortable though...

She quirked an eyebrow when the woman waved her over for this "security measure". She approached easily, extending her own wrist. "I'd rather wondered if I'd suddenly turned invisible," she noted, tone joking with just a bit of a sting in the tail. 

Shit. She hadn't actually meant to say that. 

"Yes, you're just precious," Adelaide assured the cat happily, scratching under his chin when he sniffed at her fingers. 

"Adelaide, back away from it," Viserian suddenly snapped. 

She looked at him, startled, but did as he said. He was staring hard at the small animal. 

"That," he noted slowly, with the barest hint of danger in his tone and eyes, "is not a cat."

"This is the Hilt's." It was half a guess--she'd only gotten a brief look at the design of the insignia, but she'd thought she'd recognized it. She didn't back away when the man stood taller, either intentionally or unconsciously trying to intimidate, though she did draw a bit more securely into her hooded cloak. "Main family. And you're not a member--they don't initiate non-humans except as grunts and couriers. So how'd you get it?"

Well. That seemed to take care of that. 

There was a part of Morgana that rather wanted to be concerned about how quickly an efficiently Cora's people seemed to operate--and the fact that someone had come the moment she needed them, as though they'd been able to...sense it somehow. 

But a much larger part of her was more concerned with Nik. And now with the fact that he was smiling at her in a wide, dopey way that made her suddenly wonder if he had somehow managed to consume a large amount of alcohol in the brief moment when she'd watch Cora carted from the room. 

"I--I'm glad you feel...better," she said slowly, cautiously. What sort of enchantment had that been? Was it having some lingering effect on him?

She reached over to brush her fingertips carefully over his cheek, gently pulling her arm from his grip so she could run her other hand over him as though checking for injury. "Do you think you can stand?"

Chuckling, Lanaya obediently began sipping at her own bowl. "Very good," she agreed with another small laugh, nodding at him. "I do believe you've a talent for mixing concoctions of all kinds, apprentice."

Gale hooted softly, an owl's laugh--then suddenly fluffed up her feathers and made a chuffing, clucking sound that had Lanaya snapping her head up.

"What--really? You're sure?"

"Wooh-hhooo!"

After all the time they'd spent together, Adri liked to think she'd gotten fairly good at being able to tell when Idris was sunk into his own world--there were different levels of it, that she'd noticed. Sometimes she could draw him back out, but others he was just too deep in rumination.

This seemed to be one of the latter moments--rather than futilely attempt to draw him back out into conversation, she huffed, rolled her eyes fondly, and devoted the rest of her energy to making sure he didn't stray off path or walk into anyone else passing them on the street. It was something she'd gotten quite proficient at, and required sort of "herding" the smith without actually touching him.

Then they reached the shop, and he seemed to come back to himself abruptly. "I guess we are," she chuckled lightly. With a dip of her head, she extended a hand. "After you."

She found herself watching fondly as he fussed with his clothes--maybe she should have been more concerned about her own appearance, but honestly she was still just too tired from the last few days to care overmuch. Since starting to live with Idris at the forge, she at least had taken to wearing modestly flattering dresses, rather than the thread-worn and ragged affairs that had been the best she could do as a street-corner flower-seller.

She followed him into the shop, looking around curiously as a tiny silver bell tinkled cheerfully to announce their arrival.

Shae found herself shifting awkwardly in place, shrinking back against the edge of the window, as the stranger seemed to cut his eyes up toward the aerie. Surely he couldn't see her from this distance?

"Oh, there will be time later for talk of business," Alstead said, waving his hand carelessly--but there was a hint of tension at the corners of his mouth and eyes. "Suffice to say my estate has proven quite safe; your services will be required most often when I leave the grounds."

He beckoned to one of the servants who had accompanied him, an older man in a well-tailored though sedate household livery, and said, "This is my steward, Ranolf. He will make sure you are properly settled. We can speak more of your duties afterward." To Ranolf, he said, "Show him to his chambers, and then to my study, if you would."

"Of course, Ser." The steward gave his master a half-bow, then turned to Zjhe. "If you'll follow me?"

Hana rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath about Thrax being too heavy for her to cart through the desert when he passed out, but she was smiling, and downed her own glass nearly as quickly.

"Well, we're grateful for the lift, regardless," she said to the captain with a lopsided smirk.

"We'll be fine," Nani huffed. Vander was letting his tongue lull happily as she awkwardly hefted him around so his front paws dangled over her shoulders. At least he wasn't fidgeting.

She jerked her chin toward Ein. "Go on then, we're right behind you."

This was so so so far out of the minute princess's realm of expertise. She honestly had handled the revelation of a massive, chimeric beast hiding close to the border of her homeland with more confidence than this situation.

"Errr...chin up?" she offered awkwardly, and immediately winced. "I mean, ah...it'll...be okay?"

"...Adelaide?"

"Yeah, Da?"

"Did you take in another stray when I wasn't looking?"

"What?" Addie poked her head around where her father was standing in the doorway to their personal tent, brow furrowed. It didn't take her long to see what he was referring to.

"Awwwww, aren't you darling!" she exclaimed, rushing into the tent where an orange cat she certainly didn't recognize was curled up on one of her silks. "Oh, poor thing, you must be tired from rushing about," she cooed, reaching out to offer her fingers for the animal to sniff.

Behind her, still hovering in the entrance of the tent, Viserian "hmmm"ed quietly and eyed the creature critically.

Morgana couldn't feel the magic, exactly, but it was like there was a soft buzzing wherever her skin touched Nik's. It grew steadily stronger, and in turn grew harder and harder for her to keep her grip on Nik as the glow around him became more intense, until finally she was forced to let go and stagger back with a small cry.

"Nik!"

He collapsed back into the chair and she stumbled forward to land on her knees just beside him, reaching up automatically to search him for injury. "Stars and seas, are you alright? What--how do you feel?"

She heard the soft thump as Cora collapsed behind her, and managed to spare the sorceress look over her shoulder.

She sighed. "I...should help her," she muttered, but seemed reluctant to move away from Nik's side.

Kiara nodded briskly as she slid down from Kit's back. "Keep watch for me?" she asked the dragon quietly. He nodded with a small huff, curling his body protectively around her, and she knelt to place one hand on the earth.

She could do this. Her father had explained it to her--years ago, but she remembered how it was supposed to work. She was fae now, properly fae. She could do this...

She closed her eyes, then let her magic start to spread out from her fingers, bleeding into the dirt, then the roots of the trees around them, then further.

Where are you...?

---

"Right." Kiara bit back a small smirk. Looking to their hosts, she assured, "We'll be back as soon as we can--but you should start getting your people together, get them ready to move."

"Yes, I believe that's what humans call them," Lanaya replied thoughtfully. "I can't say I've ever been that far myself."

She never left the woods, really. She got most of her news from traveling birds, who heard it in turn from other birds and creatures, and so on and so on--like an incredibly long version of a party game where players whispered a phrase to each person down a line one at a time.

"Eh, impulse control is overrated," Hana scoffed, grinning as she took the offered glass and lifted it up. "So! What are we toasting to? Friends? New journeys? The spectacularly hilarious awkwardness of finding out that both Thrax and I courted you at one point?"

"Better you than me," Adri chuckled wryly. "I can barely keep all that stuff you told me about different grades of ores and ingots straight." She shrugged again. "Ah, well. I'm good at being able to tell when someone's trying to cheat me, even if I can't assess stone quality--I'm sure we'll do alright."

She glanced up at him sidelong, then bumped her hip into his gently. "Hey," she said in a slightly softer voice. "You've got this. I'm right here, okay?"

"Thanks." She whistled for the hound and tossed him a treat when he perked his ears up, clearly knowing that he was about to get food.

"C'mere, you," she chuckled, giving the treat a few moments to begin working before she bent to heft him in her arms. "Woof." She staggered a bit. "Well. He's lighter, but he's still big," she half-laughed as she tried to finagle them into a position where she could at least somewhat comfortably keep a good grip on Vander.