Eira slammed the door to her house, her lungs burning from the full sprint home she'd just endured.
"*&@^! Why is he here! He's supposed to be in Stogh! No, no, he should be literally anywhere else!"
Eira paced. She hated that she'd abandoned the outreach so early, she hadn't even seen any of her team in the food lines yet.
But the stone-skinned man frightened her.
"You were just seeing things. There's no possible way that the Ancestor of Stone is here. He's- He's too busy doing things in the war. Yeah, that's it. This is an imposter. Just... just a fake... a trick of the eye caused by-by the stress. Or-or-or maybe it was his son. He has sons, right? That's what Fusil said. He used to travel with them, yeah. Yeah. Just his son. Just... his son... that he doesn't travel with anymore... &^@%..."
Eira continued to talk to herself, trying to calm herself down for what felt like the hundredth time in three days. But no matter how much she tried, she couldn't convince herself that she hadn't seen The Spirit of the Earth.
The Ancestor doesn't know what I look like. He doesn't know who I am. If I keep myself under control, he'll never know, as if he'll even talk to me. And if he does, then he'll get to know Chamile. She's nice.
Eira grabbed some gold pieces from a stash she kept in her dresser and walked out the door, locking it behind her. As the sun beat down on her during her walk to the market, she became very appreciative of one of the abilities granted to her by her gift. The ability to regulate her personal temperature on a whim.
She perused the noisy market for a hodge podge of food and a triplet of bags to carry them all. Once she had them she took her time walking towards the city gate, passing by human refugees begging all over the sides of the road.
One such refugee, a teenager who looked like she hadn't eaten in days, weakly reached out to Eira as she passed by. She ignored her at first, but about ten paces past the young girl, Eira stopped. Against her better judgment, she turned back around to look at her.
Eira snuck through a storage yard, her bag full of stolen desert fruit as she tried to get home in time to dodge the city cerfew.
She couldn't stop herself from going back and dropping one of the bags at the girl's feet. The girl looked at it and pulled it close. When she opened it she lit up like a bonfire and tore into the first piece of food she saw. As it crossed her lips, tears began to stream down her face, and she looked at Eira with the most heartfelt gratitude she'd ever seen.
"Thank you miss," she said through her half chewed meal, "Bless you!"
She replied flatly, "Don't thank me, thank The Giving Cart outreach. And don't eat that too fast, or it'll be all over the wall in an hour. Trust me on that. You'll want to make it last."
The woman nodded and continued to eat her newest prize as Eira continued back towards the gate. When it came into view, a pair of laughing patrolmen crossed her path, and on the back of one of their horses was a gaze defying face.
Kish!? Oh don't tell me you're here because I missed check in!
He had a welt forming on his temple, but he was breathing.
The guards didn't see her, or at least didn't acknowledge her as she trailed behind them, making sure to keep herself at a distance.
When they came close the town square, her heartrate quickened, though it quickly was relieved when they turned towards the Miser's road north of the square. She continued after the guardsmen as they made their way to the Garrison which housed the prison beneath.
Eira hid out of sight in an ally and considered her options as she watched the door. Breaking in would be very difficult to do as she was unfamiliar with the layout of the garrison, and she didn't have any lightwarpers in the city. Turning herself in would be willingly giving up her cover. She could go back to their home camp and get one of the light warpers to help her, however she knew that none of the ones present could maintain their invisibility for more than a half an hour, far longer than it would take to get across the city.
She cast that idea out of her head right as the two guardsmen that captured Kish both stepped back out of the garrison.
I need more info.
Eira dropped one of her bags into a corner and then casually approached the two guards. putting on her facade's signature smile, she said, "Excuse me, guardsmen?"
She grounded herself as the two men looked at her. One of them, a redish-brown bearded man with grey eyes asked her, "Do you need something citizen?" His accent threw her off a bit, it reminded her of the mountainborn peoples near the border of Krundíl.
"Nothing dire sir, I wanted to offer you both some snacks for the road. I know your job is stressful, and everyone could use some kindness every once in a while. Even the protectors."
The bearded guard chuffed as he grinned.
"I appreciate the offer, but we keep enough on us to last."
The other guardsman also said, "I will pass as well Miss Fern."
Her blood chilled as she heard the deep voiced guardsmen use her cover name. She looked over to him to see dark skin and almost entrancing brown eyes. His antagonizingly kind smile reminded her that he was the one patrolman in the refugee camp. Once she realized where she knew him from, she relaxed.
"You know her Zeb?"
"Yes, this is Chamile Fern. She runs the biggest of the refugee outreaches."
"The Giving Cart? You know Gali?"
"I do, actually. She's one of my best volunteers."
"Gali told me great things about you. I'm glad we finally met, even if it is only in passing."
He offered his hand out and she coerced herself to grab it. Even through the armored glove, she could tell he had a swordsman's grip
"It's good to meet you too, guardsman."
"Tecovis."
Eira gave him a pleasant nod. He passed a glance to Zebulon before saying, "If there's nothing else, we best be off."
"Actually, I was curious about the man you arrested earlier. What did he do?"
Tecovis's expression soured.
"You saw that, huh?"
"Miss Fern, I know you have great concern for all the refugees, but I would advise against asking after every criminal we arrest."
Tecovis held up what looked like a broken drink pouch. "If you must know though, he tried to steal this right off of my horse. He probably thought it was a wine skin."
*%&@ it Kish, I was on my way back!
Eira feigned a sympathetic sigh. "Well, its a shame some people can't stay off the drink."
"It is. But what can you do. Anyway, we have to go. You stay safe, and may The Maker bless your endeavor."
Eira watched as both of the guardsmen coaxed their horses into a trot and rode deeper into the city. She muttered to herself. "Yeah... yeah... like he's ever done anything for me..."
Eira walked around the garrison building, doing her best to look inconspicuous. As she looked, she saw no sign of the prison she knew was below. After almost half an hour, she was unable to find any evidence of a way down externally.
I need to think of something... Kish is resourceful, but he can't escape alone.
She looked at the bag she had in her hand, and then looked back at the garrison. It's imposing walls hiding who knew how many guards inside. She gave a heavy sigh as her head dropped,
I'm sorry Kish... you're going to have to wait a bit.
