Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

Mary pauses.
"Since they exist, I suppose... but considering one of my sisters has an entire archive of knowledge collected across eons from hundreds of planets and she can't figure out how - I'm going to assume no."

 

The tribe member looks disheartened.

"Well...stay safe I suppose." The tribe member says awkwardly, before heading over to Artemis and I with the fruit.

 

Mary nods, too embarrassed to do anything other than slink back to her hut.

 

The morning passes, and by noon, Artemis and I have left.

About a day later, Artemis and I step out of the shadow palace and head toward the gates; Aquira and Katie in tow. Artemis looks around for any signs of Amber.

 

Amber's lance is resting against the wall, Amber reforming around it once you come close-ish.
"Ruin?" She asks.

 

I present the bottle of ruin acquired from Mary.

"As promised, here is Aquira, captain of the rebuilt Blue Amber," Artemis says, gesturing to Aquira, "Her daughter and our friend Katie also wished to be here."

"You better not have cheated me into some kind of slave trade, shadow." Aquira says, glaring at me.

"Yeah, Aj. Don't try and trade my mum." Katie says, seeming more worried than angry.

"It's fine, she just wants to talk." I say casually.

Aquira keeps her hand on her cutlass, focus switching swiftly between Amber and I.

 

Amber takes the bottle and dips a small dagger in the ruin, testing it out on a blade of grass.
"Just as potent as on Maralune... good." She mumbles, capping the bottle and sheathing the dagger before turning to Aquira.
"Now, I'll start by asking the wrong person. How's my deserted sister?" She asks with a tinge of anger in her voice. "Did her curse catch up to her too much? Her lack of healing making her worthless to a pirate? Not enough left to harvest? I'm dying to know."

 

"What are you talking about?" Aquira asks, sounding like she has little time for Amber.

 

"Oh, don't give me that. You have time to kill other guardians, so you absolutely have time to take a look at the mess you've helped make." Amber says, serious, before turning to you.
"She comes and meets the Golden Queen with us, or I'd like to substitute my secondary reward for a little bit of orichalcum to reinforce my lance. Nothing else keeps its edge quite like it."

 

"She meets the golden queen so long as her safety is assured." I say.

"You can't bargain me like some coin." Aquira says, offended.

"You don't come with us, and our deal is off." I say, turning to Aquira.

Aquira glares at me, though doesn't say anything more.

"Who's the golden queen? Is she made out of gold?" Katie asks Amber, curious.

 

"That was already planned. Check with Silver if you're bitter." Amber nods, before turning to Aquira.
"Not so fun being tossed around against your will, hmm? I think you need to see what your actions have left your daughter to deal with. Fair warning, speak in front of The Golden Queen out of turn and you're screwing us all over."

She then turns to Katie.
"She's just an alternate version of Xlentia. You're not from here or the Realm of Light, she'll probably pity you."

 

"Mum, don't go with them." Katie says, grabbing Aquira's arm and looking desperate.

"The deal's off. Figure your own way out of this mess," Aquira says to me, before turning to Amber, "Consider yourself lucky you have your friends here to stop me from killing you, seaslug."

Aquira turns and heads back to the Shadow Palace before I have time to protest.

"Wait, I'll double what I promised!" I say desperately, only to be shot in the shoulder by Aquira's flintlock pistol; Artemis instinctively wrapping a flowery vine over the bullet wound.

"Save your words for someone who cares. None of your deals are of interest to me anymore, dark creature." Aquira says, putting her pistol away before being immediately pinned to the ground by a suddenly-visible guard, causing Katie to scream out of shock.

"Let her go," I call, removing the round bullet from my shoulder with tweezer-like fingers, "I'm fine, she can leave freely."

The guard gets off of Aquira, getting elbowed in the stomach by her as a retaliation before Aquira takes her leave with Katie.

"Fuck." I curse, Artemis looking to Amber.

"Would you accept any alternatives?" Artemis queries.

 

"Map of her patrol route." Amber says, stern as she desummons a flintlock that looks fairly similar to Aquira's. "Or the orichalcum edge for my lance. Your call."

 

"What about Katie?" I offer.

Artemis gives me a serious, stern look.

"For one day. You're not to bring any harm to her." I add.

"Aj will steal the map for you." Artemis says, serious. A vine winds around my left foot and leg.

 

"Katie's inherited enough of a mess from her. You have a deal." Amber nods.

 

Artemis motions in the direction Aquira went, and I sigh, heading back into the Shadow Palace.

A few minutes later, a few guards can be seen heading in the same direction. After a bit of a wait, I return with a scroll.

"Here's your map. It came with a hefty price but I can pay it." I say, handing over the scroll.

Artemis gives me a suspicious look.

"It's for the good of the reality. We need Amber." I say.

Artemis sighs, "I wish you wouldn't get yourself stuck in a web of dangerous deals like this." She says, sounding worried for me.

 

"Don't overdo it. I'll be waiting, just let me know when you're ready to speak with her." Amber says, taking the map and looking it over for any islands. "I was hoping she would've marked the island Mary was on, but this gives me a place to start searching. I'll worry about that later." She mumbles.

 

The map is fairly fresh, having been signed complete only four days ago. It shows the planned routes through a few islands, as well as various marked locations in the ocean itself around a circle labelled "Cerinà Palsa". All of the other notations on the map seems to be written in a similar language, which Amber doesn't recognise.

"I know where that island is, actually. It's in the portal's logs." I say.

"We did collect her ruin, after all." Artemis adds.

 

"I wasted your time dragging her here, I'll waste my time finding it." She says dismissively.

 

"You can just use the portal room. It'd be far easier that way. It took Artemis and I quite a few hours to find her, even with the portal." I say.