Novek appraised the four door guards and, with a heavy sigh, threw large chunks of the initial plan out. Nat and Tanner were not the correct pairing for the situation — the uniforms were clean, crisp, weapons were held at ready. These men were prepared for — no, make that anticipating violence.
Fair enough, then. This was his specialty — and his experience told him that two guards remaining at the door while two approached from either side meant that a physical altercation would end badly.
Careful to keep his crossbow held out of sight, he turned back to the interior of the coach and surreptitiously set the crossbow down on the seat, as Tanner approached the guards. He kept his face hidden and his voice low, “Change of plans — these are real professionals. Nat take Lyn, wait for Rezzan on the road. You're team arrogant healer. We're the upset parents. See you inside.”
With that, he only half-closed the door as he hopped down from the coach and interrupted Tanner. “Tanner, are they going to let us in?” Novek turned to the guard approaching him. “Hey, you — my husband said you wouldn't let him in to see Kis.”
Tanner, to his credit, didn't miss a beat. “Davon, I haven't had a chance yet to ask.” The wolfen turned to the Human guards. “I've brought my fourth to enroll, and I want to see my pups while I'm here. I wasn't told anything about increased security, and I don't recognize any of you.”
The guard closest to Tanner looked over the two Brin before nodding to his counterpart, opposite him. “Tanner, is it?”
“Tanner fa Selani. Here for Koe and Kan. And Kis is still technically mine as well — no offense, Davon. This is Khe.” He indicated the — thankfully — tired pup held in the crook of his arm.
A dismissive glance at Tanner was all the guard appeared to give, but Novek could see the same sort of appraisal he'd performed earlier. The gaze left the two of them and settled on the coach.
“That the coach?”
“Nah, boss would have said if it was a piece of junk. That's all mismatched cactuswood — see the runners and the panels? Cheap stuff, from the Brin mill.”
Okay, now that was just hurtful. He was thankful he'd run out of knives and hadn't put the empty braces back on — the casual approach was intended to be disarming. Novek knew that these two would absolutely have recognized what they were for. The tool belt, with files, chisels, and hammer would hopefully sell this.
Guard one was still eyeing the coach, trying to peer inside, “Anyone else with you?”
Novek stepped forward to break his focus, in case Nat and Lyn hadn't been able to step out, “Not yet, but more of the pack will be along soon.”
That was necessary to inform Tanner of the change, but was clearly pushing it, as it resulted in a second, more focused appraising stare at Novek. Finishing his appraisal and apparently coming to a decision based on his mission parameters, the first guard turned to his counterpart, “Wolfen on the list?”
Guard number two answered quickly, “Tanner? Yeah, he's on the list. The adoptive parents are not. The pup names check out.”
“All pups — that's dogs, or wolves, right? You're a panther, why are you here for a dog?”
Novek didn't have to pretend very hard to bring an offended look to his face. “I beg your pardon?”
Number two answered before either of the two Brin could muster a response, “Tanner here is the sire. The pup is being adopted within the pack. It's a thing they do to afford uplifts — we met the other father, yesterday; wolfen, like this one.”
Novek made a note to himself that the guards were likely either well-trained, or selected for appropriate Talents. Not good.
“Oh, that guy — the loudmouth adoptive dad. Yeah, I remember him.” The guard turned to face Tanner, visibly snubbing Novek, “You can go in. Panther can wait outside in the coach.”
“What? I'm not going in and leaving him outside. I'll wait out here while you go check with the meister. And then either we're both coming in, or you can tell the meister they can bring all of my pups out to me, and we'll all be leaving.”
“Yeah, so, that won't be happening. Just so we're clear, now that you're here, you're going in. He's not on the list, so he's not.”
Novek started to bristle, in preparation for a fight. He had heard this kind of talk before, and there was no way he was going to let them be split up, now. In together, or he'd have to risk a run to the coach.
Tanner put his paw on Novek's shoulder, which would seem in character as calming an offended adoptive father, but Novek took it like he would from any other Brin in the presence of an arrogant Human, which was, ‘Let the Humans feel they're in charge.’ Novek was sure of that, when Tanner surprised Novek with the deftness of his next ploy.
“You've got three coaches of pack coming, with the same demands, in the next couple of hours. You sure this response is what you want them to hear?”
The first guard's face became very still as Tanner finished his piece. “No. No, I don't think anyone wants the pack to hear that at all.”
Novek was now absolutely sure that they had no intention of letting them out again, but he waited patiently, not wanting to give any possible excuse to change their mind and deny him entry.
The guard turned to his number two, “Okay, take them in.”
Number two turned and waved them to follow him towards the immense black stone doors. Novek followed Tanner, carefully avoiding a glance back at the coach. The doors, as massive as they were, opened slowly, but easily after a rapid tap on the stone by the guard.
Novek couldn't help appreciate the skill that had gone into the doors as they opened without even a whisper. The crossbowmen continued to watch with a focused intensity from the sides.
And then they were inside the creche, without even a moment to look around, before a second group of Humans stepped out of the darkness.
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Lyn did not agree with Novek's alterations, but he was first out the door, and you didn't disrupt a plan in action, no matter what. They'd kept low — well, Lyn hadn't needed to do anything different, but Nat had stayed behind the wall and below the window line on the final approach, so that they weren't visible from the creche. Thankfully, Novek had the foresight to leave the door open.
“Moira, dim slowly, then extinguish the light until it's time to make an appearance. Let Ellie know we're leaving, please. One moment, Nat. I need to grab a few things then let's Slip out the door and into the trees.”
Nat nodded, “Sure thing, Lyn. Just say when.”
Okay, light is going out now. Shall I say anything to Novek or Tanner?
“No, let's assume there may be some ability to detect aetheric activity and avoid implicating them. Observers might know something is active near the coach, but not exactly what — let Ellie know she may need to pretend to an aetheric Talent that would explain it — animal control, maybe? Help her with that, please. I need a moment to adjust, since I'm down a dedicated bodyguard.”
Lyn grabbed hold of their cane, and with a second thought, set it back down and instead the pouch of powder came back out, and this time Lyn applied it to themselves quickly, as large black spots, to their head, hands, and feet — just in case. The pouch went back onto the belt, the cane back in one hand, and their small satchel of medical supplies in the other. A last-minute decision also had them snatch Ellie's hat from where Novek had put it to one side, unused, and place it atop their head. “Okay, ready.”
Nat's hand reached out to grasp theirs, and then world went dark.
It wasn't Lyn's first time in Nat's Talent, but the near total darkness was a relatively novel experience still — even aetheric sources were, at best, dimly lit — and there were none of those nearby with which to navigate.
The trip was made in multiple segments — one a straight shot through a narrow tunnel of air to reach the nearby tree line, followed by a second, and then third to take them further down the road out of sight of the door guards. Their few seconds as dark statues ducking behind trees shouldn't be visible, but Lyn did worry that external observers might note their positions. There was nothing for it, however — and they'd need to signal or otherwise indicate to Rezzan their position, so they could approach together.
That turned out to be a non-issue, as within two minutes of their movement, as they discussed how to potentially signal in hushed tones, a small clackaw landed on a branch above them, and flapped a wing further back down the road. They turned to look, and could make out the larger Clackaw perched on a low branch, beckoning.
Another Slip, and they found themselves standing next to a small gathering, looking down on them.
Rezzan held up a wing in front of their mouth, then gestured to Nat, with a sweeping encompassing motion with the other wing.
Nat knocked in the air, then held out his hands, waiting for everyone to approach. Once everyone was holding hands or wings, Nat Slipped them back into the Talent.
The moment they were encased in darkness, Rezzan was straight to business, “Why are you here, and not with the coach?”
Lyn responded in kind, “Novek made a call once he saw the armed guards at the entrance. We're entering as two teams — so we cast sufficient doubt, so as to remain plausibly unassociated.”
“Reasonable. Though it's a bit strange for an avatar, with healer in tow, to arrive on foot.”
Oh, that gives me ideas. What do we think, meteoric arrival by air, burning footprints on the ground, or simply appear out of a glowing portal?
The clackaw wing leader did not know where to look to address Moira, without the puppet. She ended up staring mid-way between Lyn and Nat, “You can do all of that?”
Not all, no, but I'm well versed in the art of presentation.
Lyn was tempted to ask what each entailed, but was conscious of the time pressure. “No burning footprints — let's avoid leading them to consider speed Talents. I'm assuming air drop would be an illusion?”
Oh, no. Nat can climb the air. We could literally drop in.
Tapping at their chin, Lyn pondered a moment before answering, “Tempting, but no, the odds that he'd stick the landing as a statue are low. Glowing portal, then?”
Oh, that one's a classic. I've got just the effect in mind.
Rezzan's head tilted one way, then the other, “I do not understand what that means. Is this an Ankarran thing? Are we flying in or else what are we to do?”
I think it's best if we all arrive together, as a show of unity. I'm going to build a visual effect and make it seem as if we've arrived through a wormhole of sorts.
“How do you even know of those? We absolutely must talk, afterwards.”
Oh, I fully intend to. This whole endeavor is just the opening salvo in my negotiation strategy; but that's for later. Everyone who is going, grab hold of Nat. Nat? I'm going to lower the density of the air, I think we can get back to the door in two Slips, even with the added mass. I'm building the portal effect now — nobody freak out about the aetheric fire, okay? Grab hold, everyone!
Moira was correct, and after only one awkward duck back into the treeline to avoid appearing as statues in the road, the group found themselves stepping into the rear of a dark blue cylinder of swirling aetheric fire. The front of the cylinder was capped, but translucent, and Lyn could discern some words floating in front of it — ‘Loading, Please wait…’ Lyn thought they had a fairly good grasp of Moira's quirks, but this one was inscrutable, even to them. They chuckled, nonetheless — training had taught them that keeping opponents off-balance was far more likely to help, than hinder.
Nobody's tried to shoot at it or anything in the few seconds it's been visible, and the fire will mask your time as museum pieces. I'm closing the rear of the cylinder now. Nat, if you'll do a little twirl for me, I'll get myself all dolled up again.
Nat rolled his eyes, but one side of his lips quirked up. He spun around three times in total, with Moira's light-form taking shape, building from the ground up as he did so. He stopped rotating once his head was fully enveloped, and only Moira's ghostly doll form was visible. The illusion was entirely convincing — it was Moira standing before them now. Nat's usual hunched posture was no longer in evidence — only Moira's confident pose remained.
Lyn considered that to an outside observer this should be fairly impressive. Alas, knowing how things were done behind the scenes really ruined the magic sometimes. A small price to pay to witness Moira's sense of drama unfold. What was surprising was that Rezzan was willing to go along with the whole charade — perhaps it was curiosity about what Moira might do, when acting of her own accord.
Okay, it's time to open the bottle and let the genie out. Is this what it feels like to be nervous? Strange. Anyway, Nat, be ready to Slip again, just in case. All set?
Nat/Moira nodded — it looked as if she was answering her own question. Rezzan looked confused, but knocked with a wing. Lyn took stock of the plan, then also knocked in the air, signalling assent.
Showtime.
With that, the fire capping the front of their portal effect wavered and vanished, and the small group was revealed fully, looking out at the confused guards, who stared back.
Nat's usual body language — like his posture — was entirely missing, and instead Nat's concept of how Moira's smaller puppet moved was on display. So it was, in some way, entirely Moira that walked confidently out in front of the four, obviously wary, yet utterly mystified guards. Lyn followed suit a moment later on the left, and Rezzan flap-hopped out to the right, as the aetheric fire that had surrounded them boiled off to nothing.
The two in front, swords in hand, immediately shifted from a defensive posture they'd adopted while the fire had formed, into a ready position, while the rear duo had their crossbows shouldered and ready. Lyn also noted that the door, which had been fully closed before, was opening slowly. The guards had — at most — six seconds since the fire had started to form, relative time. Lyn began to understand why Novek had chosen the way he had, and they thought that perhaps the showy entrance was a mistake.
Before Lyn's impulse to interrupt could fully form, a sphere of aether pulsed out from Moira — illuminating the area. Oh, of course she'd need to see. Moira's cheerful voice came out at a much louder volume than usual, Howdy, howdy!
The guard in front jerked reflexively at the inhuman voice that didn't quite emanate properly from the figure in front of him. Then he leapt forward and swung his sword over Lyn's head, directly at Moira's neck with a shout, “Avatar! Engage!”
