Searing 1, 123 following this post viewtopic.php?p=28078#p28078 , occurring concurrently with the Coronation.
It wouldn't take long for her to find the portly human with a ridiculously large, red, bushy mustache. His cart was on wheels and he was moving slowly behind the parade of onlookers. Like the many venders there in the tail end process, he was shouting his wares. "Krab Kebabs! The finest Udori Deep Blue crab! Legs so long and meaty you might think you're with Prince Rien!" He laughed shamelessly, as many of the merchants around were oft to do.
Eventually, the Wrath approached the man and he smiled brightly, "What can I get for you Miss? The buttered blue legs?" There was a bit of a knowing glint in his eyes as he awaited her order. If she purchased the crab legs, that would be the end of it. But if she purchased the krab kabob, he'd brighten up further, "You know what would go great with this? The candy floss from Ol' Blue Feathers, wherever he's disappeared off to."
This trail of vendors and purchases went on until the fourth vendor suggested that she eat all of her wares from the old bell tower, all she had to do was give the tower guard a bit of her candy floss and a tip, maybe a kiss on the cheek, and he'd let her have the best view of the coronation. Up a long set of winding stairs was a massive, copper bell hanging there, and sitting in the window, basking in the sun, was Pathfinder Torchthief.
She smiled brightly, despite the circumstances with which she'd summoned Laveriel. Then she turned to look out over the parade and the coronation as it was underway. She sighed and climbed down from the window, "Can I have the kabob?"
"You know my mother." A sad, soft smile graced the elf's features. "Pathfinder Allbright." That name would certainly not be forgotten for Laveriel. Pathfinder Allbright was the primary reason Laveriel's mission with Novuril was such a success. The woman was a once in a generation gifted Semblance mage and she'd managed to contain and hide Novuril for the many days of fleeing and pursuit from Ailos to the northlands. But containing an artifact of such power is a near impossible feat and it did not come without a cost.
Pathfinder Allbright had had her aura so heavily burnt and frayed by the raw power of Novuril that she never used magic again. Her body's natural aetheric pathways were so burnt and scarred that after they delivered Laveriel, the woman slipped into a coma as her organs were shutting down, and that was the last that they saw of each other.
"She's still alive, but our healers haven't been able to do much of anything for her. They aren't even sure if she's comfortable or in pain, we just know she's still alive."
Torchthief let that hang in the air for a bit, a somber remembrance. "I know my mother was proud to serve the Order and to help you and wouldn't regret it for a moment. And it is in that bond you and her share that I come to you now."
She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "When the coronation finishes, the Imperial delegation will return to their airship, docked out in Lake Udori, and depart." Another deep breath, "And when they do, they will be shadowed by the Ecithian delegation."
She took a bite of the kabob, savoring the soft and buttery meat, "The moment the Commonwealth heard that the Imperium was invited, they accepted their own. With the intention of assassinating the entirety of the Imperial delegation." A nervous glance around, a common trait among the pathfinders, "We are aware of it, of course. We were informed the moment it was decided both delegations would be sent. And normally we wouldn't bother to stop it but..."
She fidgeted, setting the half eaten kabob in the window sill, "Well, you saw him. You saw the likeness."
A long pause before Torchthief continued, "They do not intend to spare any of them."
She pointed out at a ridge on the northern edge of Udori, "That ridge marks the diplomatic boundary. The attack will happen after the Imperial's cross that line and lose the protection of Kalzasi."
She turned to Laveriel, her eyes worried, "I worry what will happen with Arcas if his son is killed."
A loud cheering came from the coronation area as the event progressed. Torchthief looked out that way, "We cannot intervene ourselves, not with the relationship between Ailos and the Commonwealth as it is."
She turned back, "But you can."
