The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'-Chapter 496 - The Color Of Serenity, The Color Of… Laughter?
The morning market was often busy in the new city and today was no different. A few hundred people moseying about was a common sight, and a cloaked figure moved through them all with a hard to hide bearing. Even with a head down, shoulders hunched just enough to seem unremarkable but not so much as to draw attention, they still drew attention. After all, the weather was much too nice to be bundled up in a heavy traveling cloak that concealed everything from neck to boots.
After trying to cross the street in a hurry, a merchant’s cart lurched forward as its driver finished the greeting to a neighbor. The edge of the fabric coincidentally snagged in the wheel frame and jerked the visitor backward with a loudly startled gasp. More than one person noticed and assisted, hailing the driver and rushing to their aid.
"Apologies for that, friend! Here, let me-"
"No!"
The person the merchant had been talking to reached for the caught fabric but the cloaked figure twisted away while clutching what covered them tighter with their long gloved arms. While the sharp bark was distinctly female, the voice also held clear layers of command. The kind trained for and on the battlefield. Everyone froze as the woman wrenched the fabric free and tore a small section before pivoting and striding rapidly to the nearest alleyway.
Everyone watched her go, though the merchant on the driver’s seat frowned at the lines that spoke of a sword underneath the cloak. He was heading a certain way anyway, so stopping to file a report would be no trouble.
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"Suspicious armed individual? In the market district?"
Leysah accepted the hastily scrawled report from Hoolov, who looked apologetic about interrupting her morning review of... everything he should be the one doing. Officially he was the adjutant on record, but the curved blade wielder could - and did - do everything he was in charge of when she was around. Most folks would find that arrangement nice enough, but it just left him feeling like he lacked a purpose!
"One of our merchants reported it. Said she had a sword and military bearing - which isn’t a problem in itself. But she practically fled when people approached to help her with a small matter."
Setting down her quill, the Kinetic Element user stood and stretched. Considering the person was a Hero of a Descent and their Warden Patrician, who had proven herself in single combat with the famous Corde hez Iralev *twice*... she was surprised that all these people in the territory worried so much. Aftermath and cleanup of the invasion period did sometimes breed bandits and others with little to lose, but rarely did they seek to target the new territories that housed the people with the most cultivation momentum.
However, an armed stranger acting furtively would naturally raise concerns. She understood that much... and that checking it out cost her nothing except the chance to show up Hoolov again by doing better work than he could. It was a petty form of seniority bullying, she knew, but making sure the blue-clothed man knew *she* previously had what counted for this position ’first’ was *quite* important!
"The Warden is with the retired fort commander reviewing the future fortification plans. I’ll handle this."
"It’s probably nothing. Likely just a cultivator passing through who preferred privacy."
She took slow steps while adjusting her own blades before patting the other cultivator companionably on the shoulder with a smile. Just because she wanted him to know his place in the hierarchy didn’t mean she didn’t like the man’s work ethic.
"Better to investigate and find it was nothing than let worried whispers spread through the settlement. Especially with... you know."
"Cultists. Right."
⟠ ⟠ ⟠
Leysah found her quarry only two streets over, pressed against a wall in the shadows between buildings and clearly making her way to the office. The cloak’s hood remained firmly up and absolutely in the way of seeing where they were going. Clearly, they were trying to hide their face. The figure’s tension was palpable to the Beacon Aspect, even from a distance and with her own malformed spiritual state.
’Oh, look. I guess it wasn’t nothing. But it is just a mortal...’
"You there. I’m Leysah, First Adjutant to Warden Patrician Qatrand gil Yecine. You’ve been reported moving suspiciously through the settlement while armed. State your business."
Making up a role and title on the fly, one she intended to use from now on, she smirked as the cloaked figure went completely, utterly still. Then, slowly, the woman turned. Even in the shadow of the hood, Leysah could make out who it was and questioned their name. Receiving a nod and a deep, long suffering sigh, she prepared for the laughter and the bark from before was nowhere to be found. Only a whimper.
"Please don’t."
Composure lasted approximately three more seconds after that pleading before a snort of laughter escaped the reincarnated disciple of Elua er Goltbred. She quickly covered her mouth, with her shoulders shaking violently while backing away. Whether this was the result of a prank or a disease, she didn’t want to get whatever it was on her too!
"It’s not *funny*."
"I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it’s just... how did this even-"
"I don’t want to talk about it."
Leysah had to take a steadying breath after a sharp snort, fighting back another round of laughter. It was impossible to kill the amusement at what she was seeing, but she was really, really trying hard to be sympathetic. And failing.
"Does the Warden know you were coming?"
"Not yet and hopefully not at all. I came to look for former commander Huri. Is he still situated somewhere in the settlement?"
"He is. A bit outside of it actually, so you went the wrong way by coming to the middle of town. Come on, I’ll take you to him."
"...Thank you."
"Actually, Qatrand is there now."
Captain Cyera’s shoulders slumped further, not even realizing it was possible to feel worse about the matter. She hadn’t had the chance to meet with the territory’s Hero since the ceremony. Certainly, she had not been since the rumors and confirmation spread about the hidden gender. And now, she was showing up looking like-
"Of course she is. This is my luck lately."
⟠ ⟠ ⟠
A ’fortress’ stood over the table in Huri’s modest residence, studying the preliminary sketches of her namesake spread across its surface. There had not been many arguments but there had been many creative inputs from the Void Defense Society and a number of construction Guilds that wanted access to the eventual chosen site. The usual plans had been modified heavily by the retired commander as he pointed to a section of the northern perimeter wall.
"Your wife’s notes suggested using a modified version of the traditional Anti-Rend barrier sigilwork here before spiraling it around. It seems similar to the improvements she worked on while holding up in my appointment... before she disappeared."
"She should be back to handle that herself. I’m not sure that I trust others to finish it as much as her."
"Well, the Coiled Serpent still have people crawling over that fort, documenting what she did those weeks."
"And she planned for most of the infrastructure to be completed within five years rather than the standard ten. So making sure the primary defenses-"
A knock interrupted her speech and she realized she had gotten a little lax today. The swordwoman’s spiritual sense extended outward, tendrils locating two people even as she catalogued that the sound had been firm and professional. One of them sat right at the edge of her detection range, seeming startled for a minute that she’d been found. Leysah had wanted to watch the reaction from affair without affecting things, but shrugged and started to walk closer.
The other was a mortal, female, and other than that... the only thing Qat could tell was that she radiated such a profound ’mortification’ that it could be the definition of the emotion in a spiritual dictionary. It was certainly more potent than anything she had ever felt or even that her cute wife had released at her most embarrassed. Huri glanced at the weird reaction of the person visiting him and walked to the door.
’At least she doesn’t seem concerned.’
When the old gentleman opened the door, he saw the woman who had been a part of the roaming strikeforce rushing up and a cloaked figure on his doorstep. Leysah waved and entered first with a small salute, deciding if keeping out of range wasn’t an option than being up close was best. Her expression tried to be neutral, but a telltale quirk at the corner of her mouth gave it away.
"Yes, just come on in. No need to say hello."
"Commander. Warden."
Cyera spoke out while stepping forward. Slow and ponderous. As if going to her execution. When the man turned and shut the door behind him, she stepped to the side and reached up to push back her hood. Spine straightening, despite everything. Meeting her uncle’s widening eyes as if he was the leading judge of her tribunal. Pigeon blues blinked rapidly at what a former Yecine saw that day.
For the woman’s skin was completely, vibrantly, unmistakably *blue*. Not a pale tint like that of a blood malady or a faint discoloration like the stain of faded paint. It was a deep azure. The color of the horizon edges during a clear afternoon sky.
Her face, her neck, even her hands when she took off both gloves... every visible inch of her limited shown skin held the unlikely color. From the available light streaming through the window, there was even a subtle shimmer to it. A pearlescent quality that made her seem like she’d been dusted with just the finest sized metallic glitter. Making her look like a moving statue made of opaque gemstone rather than flesh.
The silence stretched for several heartbeats until a person who should have *already* laughed their fill snickered once and turned their face.
"Uncle. I request asylum until this... fades. Please grant it."
Her voice maintained its military crispness. Despite the faint tremor of her arms. It forced the older gentleman to raise his hand to his face and lament the behavior of his niece. It would have been quite simple just to send a letter and ask first before showing up out of the... blue.
