Night of the Hunter

It Begins

Kaitlynn Laughlin was not a particularly imposing figure. Small and slight in build, it had once been said to her (by an increasingly anxious governess attempting to force another serving of food into her) that all that kept her from outright waifishness was her body's "propensity to maintain a certain, small amount of, ah, appropriately distributed 'padding.'"  That had been an interesting conversation with a tavern keeper about a job, indeed. The memory often made her smile, if a little more wryly as the years passed. Later, it made a good reminder of how others had seen her after her circumstances had fallen, as it were. She was nothing more than a half-starved village girl who had stumbled into some attractiveness as if it were a puddle or doorframe, that is to say by accident.  Her figure was, in fact, earned first through hours of self-defense, physical comportment, and dancing lessons every day. Then, later, household chores, gathering, and other hard work had taken the place of her more 'refined' physical activities. Though, even the days of those labors had long since past, and she had since taken to other means of keeping herself in shape, including but not limited to obscene hours she spent walking all over the continents. For these (and other) reasons, Kait had long liked to think of herself as small but mighty. There was power to be found in being underestimated, and even more power to be found in being overlooked. Her greatest strength over the last centuries had been in taking the upper hand over those who hadn't the slightest idea of what they were dealing with. After all, who can hold a candle to a ghost, a living artifact of the Before?

She gave her head a swift shake. No need to reminisce now, not in the heart of the bustling High Street market. No, now was the time to take advantage of the fact that most didn't immediately take notice of her as she wandered through the foggy, crowded streets with hood drawn, not to wander off into mental oblivion. It was time to stay focused. She had things to do, people to find,  and, in the long run, a deadline to meet. Kaitlynn needed to pull herself together. She had things to do, people to find,  and a deadline to meet.  The toll of the clocktower bell rang clearly over the hundreds of voices around her- once, twice, three times- as if to emphasize that she was on a tight schedule. A low groan of annoyance escaped her. At the rate the day was going, she was going to be late in the worst way.  It seemed like all her mind had been interested in since before dawn was strolling down memory lane the long way around, and that wasn't a good place to be on a "normal" day.

Kait's eyes flitted around for a moment as she  squeezed into a quiet space between two stalls at the entrance to an old alleyway. In general, Sirdin's roads were small, unevenly cobbled, and quickly grew cramped in her experiences. Jundi City's cobbled were no different than the rest, regardless of the fact that it was the Royal City. The last few weeks of traveling them had done little to help her muddled brain get back into the flow of life in the densely populated kingdom. Straining to look over the heads of the crowd, she searched for the shop sign she knew she had to be close to. She was over half way through the market now, at her best guess. If it wasn't one of the nearest shops, she had passed it or it was gone. She silently cursed her lack of height for making her life so difficult.

"Is there anything I can help with, Miss?" The stall owner to her left gave a polite, customary bow as he spoke haltingly in the Common Tongue. From beneath her hood, she looked over the merchant and his wares. The human was an older male, and a Sirdin native by accent and appearance. The trinkets and jewelry lining the stall's display all appeared to be hand-crafted from local metals and stones. Yes, she decided, he would likely have the information she needed to find the storefront that had eluded her.

"There is a place that was here when I visited once, a long time ago," Kaitlynn answered quietly, pulling one full crystal from her money pouch. The old man's eyes grew wide and she continued, "and I would prefer to know that I have your discretion before I ask what may have come of it."

The elderly man's gaze immediately snapped away from her half-shrouded face, no longer trying to get a better look at the young foreigner. With the money she held up, he would be able to live comfortably with his wife for most of a year even if he closed his space at the Market then and there. Aether take him, he'd never actually even laid eyes on the blue, cloudy currency outside of a classroom textbook! Most of his wares cost slivers, at most a single fragment- never mind even reaching a shard! He very quickly found himself less concerned with what he might be able to sell to the woman and significantly more concerned with what could be worth an entire crystal- and what trouble that might bring him. What kind of discretion about a shop on High Street could be worth a crystal? Was this girl an Underdweller in service to someone of power? Or worse? Would the Queen's Guard come beating down his door? He twisted his hands in his apron. He had no desire to take on anything that would harm his family.

"Sir, you seem anxious."

"Miss?"

"You're wringing your apron. I assume you are concerned." She replied, gesturing to the crumpled garment. "Have you seen anything which could implicate you, or I, in anything illicit?"

"I- I- ... No, miss." He stared at her, baffled at her perceptiveness. Though, he wasn't sure he should expect any less from a person carrying enough to offer a crystal for silence.

"Have laws in Sirdin changed so drastically that one can no longer accept money from a stranger for harmless and legal information?" The hooded head tilted slightly to the side.

"Of course not, Miss." He blinked at her curiously.

"Then you should have no concerns. I simply prefer my business be mine. If the authorities, by some act of happenstance come to question you, then you'll be perfectly clear. Though with discretion, I don't know why they might." Kaitlynn explained, extending a smooth hand to offer him the crystal and smiling when he silently took it. "There you are. Tahndol's Alchemical Emporium belongs to a dear friend of mine, one I have not seen in many years. I wanted to surprise him with a visit. It was around here, but I can't seem to find it."

The old merchant nearly dropped his payment and choked down a coughing fit as his body briefly forgot that air was for breathing and saliva for swallowing, not the other way around. Quickly,  he stuffed the crystal piece in his pocket and tried to regain his composure without looking too terrified. The merchant was no young man, he had children coming up into middle age, and Amani Tahndol had been a crumbling artifact when he, himself, had been an infant. The Emporium had closed some sixty years earlier, when he had been no more than a lad of six or seven, if he had counted his age properly. His throat went dry. She hadn't she said she had been in old man Tahndol's shop, surely? He must have misheard. What he could see of the mysterious woman's face was youthful and smooth. Not even one of the accursed Eternal would come through so many years without any mark of age. 'Then again,' he thought to himself, smoothing a hand over his slightly heavier apron pocket. 'Discretion.'

"Well, Miss," he dropped his voice and leaned over the side counter of his stall, "Master Tahndol has been dead for going on a half century and the Emporium has been closed for longer. I don't know if you want the shop or the man, Miss, but there's an Alchemist two stalls up toward the square and to the right. Tahndol's grandson is around my age I suppose. He has a Technomancy shop in the space above the dressmaker that took over the old shop."

'I was gone longer than I thought. I wonder if the money or the fear will win out?' Kaitlynn nodded half to herself and lifted the chain of an aquamarine gem in a pretty silver colored setting. A little more loudly she said, "Yes, I'll take this. What is your price for it?"

He blinked again, but caught on rapidly. "A shard, Miss. Should I package that for you?"

"No. Thank you." She replied, seeming to carelessly pass him 5 shards with minimal attention. Then, in a way that he could only describe later as a display of power, her voice carried to his ears even though she couldn't have spoken above a whisper as she stepped onto the busy street. "Do as you will, Human."

Tahndol's Technomancy: Entrance in Alley. Sure enough, on the side of the dressmaker's was a small, faded sign in a losing competition with the colorful display taking up the nearby window. It was no wonder she had missed it. That sort of thing really ought to be better cared for, in her humble opinion. It was old. In fact, she would nearly guarantee it was made from a piece of the Alchemical Emporium's old sign, perhaps sanded down or flipped over. The stylization was also unmistakable. Older than the sign, the font used passed antique and bordered on crossing into High Common territory- a relic. She did have to admit that the gears-and-wiring pattern etched in the background was a pleasant touch, for certain, very like him.

Her skin prickled lightly as she passed the sign into the alley, and the faintest flavor of mid-summer night air and honeysuckle brushed her tongue. She raised one brow, giving the sign a final glance. Kaitlynn licked her lips at the vanishing taste of Aether unpolluted by the taint of modern 'magic', definitely the right place. Tahndol was being careless, or her senses were sharpening more rapidly than she realized. If it was the latter, she wondered what Elkhar would be like when she could sense the Aether trace in the very flesh and bone of the so-called Free Races. She had little memory from before the pools darkened- and what she had was thick with the fog of time, but she hoped it even half lived up to those dream-like wisps.

A set of rickety wooden steps greeted her part way down the shadowy path between buildings. It led up to a small terrace under the watchful, mechanical guard of a copper golem stitched together with rivets and neat lines of welding. Though she tried to brace herself, it hit her a little over half way up to the entrance. The earthy, iron-bitter tang of technomancy flooded her senses and sent waves of heat across her body. Just beneath it, the prickling sensation and taste of honeysuckle at midnight returned. This time, the sensation was much stronger with the proximity to its source. Her head spun as she retched before she could compose herself. Constructs always had considerable amounts of aether in them, by nature of being a form of 'life.' Not all of them blended nicely with the Aether. Technomancy constructs were the worst by far. They made Kaitlynn feel physically ill every time she came in contact with one.

Fighting back the sickness, she continued to climb until she was within arm's reach of both the construct and the front door. It held up one shining arm, blocking the way forward. She could hear the whirring and clicking that prefaced the creature's speech and glanced at the door to read a closed sign. She hissed with discomfort and pressed her palm flat against the golem's chest. A soft silver-blue glow lit the shadows as she drew out the aether within it.  Slowly but surely, the heat subsided and her roiling stomach settled. The creature collapsed in a heap of twisted metal and ticking gears with a loud clang and her hand was left buzzing with the transfer of energy.

She then turned her attention to the closed metal door, letting out a sigh of relief when she felt no trace of technomancy on it. She knocked. Inside there was shuffling and the sound of something being dropped. A damaged speaker above the door crackled to life and a voice snapped something about breaking his things and how he'd already closed, to keep her shiny-plated pants on. She laughed. It sounded like her old friend would have some interesting tales for her. However, she did not wait. She had no shiny pants to keep on while she did, after all. The woman quietly opened the door, unlatching the lock with a wave of her hand. Then, she could tell the shuffling was multiple sets of feet scurrying in the other direction. Kait let the door swing fully open with a loud clang.

"I SAID I'M COMING YOU ADDLE BRAINED, SWORD TOTING BULLY. CAN'T YOU READ THE SIGN? QUIT BREAKING MY-" The form of an old Raemeir, fur greying around his nose and shoulders, tried to intercept whoever it was he thought was at the door before they could see the handful of younglings slipping into a hatch near the end of the front counter. Instead, he discovered the last person in all of Elkhar he had expected to see.

"I'll do what I like. Amari again, are you? Do you ever think you might get caught always using the same two or three names? Also, I nearly vomited on your stairwell. Next time you meddle in technomancy, I will and you'll just have to clean it." Kaitlynn asked, casually raising a palm to halt the eldest two younglings, who had sprung at her in a desperate attempt to guarantee the others' escape. The two boys lifted off their feet and were tossed a good meter back on to a pile of cushions in the corner. She dropped her hood back to look them in the eye as Tahndol, shaking his head, moved around her to shut and lock the door once more.

"I do admire your bravery, younglings. Truly, however, that was stupid. When he tells you to run, you run. If he can't handle what's coming, you don't stand a chance." She chuckled, shrugging out of her cloak and turning her head slightly toward Tahndol. "Do you have any tea, Gabe?"

"Who's Gabe?" The older of the two boys, a Voorhavit with green skin and pearly blue fin webbing on his hands and forearms, asked with confusion clouding his grey eyes.

"Who are you?" An anxious, female voice asked without waiting for an answer to the young male's question. A head and shoulders appeared through the trap door revealing another Voorhavit. She had a pale lavender complexion and hair the dark blue of a deep sea. A thin line of decorative, almost cream-colored fins ran down the sides of her neck. Beside her, the white hair and blue-grey complexion of a Duumhavit was a stark contrast. The child she held could scarcely have been old enough to be away from his mother at all.

"I'm Gabe. She's trouble." The Raemier they had known as Amari Tahndol replied gruffly with a twinkle in his eye and a wink.

"Dori. Get the pot and pour our guest a cup of tea, please. Evie, you and the others can come out. It's safe enough." Tahndol, no, Gabe gestured to an old ceramic pot and shook out leathery black wings as he went about setting things that the ruckus had disturbed around his shop.

"Running a home for wayward spawn, now? How like you." Kait smirked, going and sitting on a cushion near where the Duumhavit toddler had settled. "So, it sounds like you've been having some issues with the local authorities?"

"You have no idea. The rumors that are flying around.. Any trace of Aether is being investigated a hundred times over, even when the source is obvious. There are four technomancers and five alchemists in Jundi. The Sultana's personal alchemist is the only one left with a shop open. None of the technomancy shops are left right now. She has completely given in to her paranoia." Gabe shook his head, righting a basket of cogs and collecting the ones that had spilled.

"Thank you, youngling. To be fair, it's perfectly reasonable to be paranoid these days, Gabe." Kaitlynn nodded, taking the offered mug from the green Voorhavit. "Things are changing."

"Alexei! No!" A sharp whisper on the other side of her drew Kait's attention. Another Duumhavit, this one a teenage female around the same age as the youngling called Evie, jerked back her hand from the smallest one's tunic just as Kait turned to look. He was a few short centimeters from her knee.

"Is something the matter?" Blue eyes pierced pale red, the challenging glint not quite matching the encouraging smile on Kaitlynn's lips.

"I- I told Alexei no. He shouldn't touch someone like you." Fear shook her voice, but she held the intruding female's gaze.

Even as her smile widened and she let out an amused snicker, Kait could hear Gabe groan and the heavy sound of hand meeting wrinkled forehead. "Oh I like you; you're quite brave. What is your name?"

"Darya." She swallowed hard, feeling very much as if she had just invited herself into a lion's den at lunch.

"And just why should he not touch 'someone like me,' Darya? What do you think I'll do?"

"Because you look like one of them. The Eternal." She replied, pouring confidence she didn't quite feel into her response. "Everyone knows that Eternal have no control, especially the younger ones. You don't look much older than Tholen and Eternals' aging doesn't stop  until adulthood. Touching someone like you could kill my brother, s-so leave him alone!"

"Eilkhaavit." Kaitlynn said simply as she sipped her herbal tea.

"Excuse me?"

"Eilkhaavit. If you're going to insult me do it properly, in the mother tongue. By the Old Ways, at the very least use the proper Common Tongue translation. Don't talk to me like some little Free Race chit. They aren't 'Eternal.' They're called the Eilkhaavit, the First Children." Kait lectured, tutting at the adolescent. "Let me guess, you call yourself a Duskling, little Duumhavit? And your friends? They are the Aquari to you? Education has truly fallen among the people of the Aether."

"Katie, is now really the time to be pedantic?" Gabe, now head in hands, mumbled at his old friend.

"Is there still time for you to be disguised like some doddery old bat? There's always time."

"Um, I'm sorry, Miss?" Evie cut in. "I understand these naming conventions are important to you- a-and I'm happy to learn them- but, um, it sounds like you said it would be an insult even if she had called you an eelka-thing?"

"Eilkhaavit. Eel-kha-aveet. Keep up dear. Would you be insulted if I called you a Noctuuri or an Ursei?" Kaitlynn indulged, placing her cup of tea down on the floor in front of her.

"Well, yes. I suppose it would, because I'm not either one of those. I can sense the Aether Touch in you... So, are you an Aethiromancer then?" Evie asked innocently.

"Hmm, a human would explain a lot.That would definitely make sense of the arrogance and theatrics," Darya mused with disdain dripping from her words. Instantly, she seemed realize she made a mistake in her outburst of confidence. All the life seemed to drain from the room around them.

"Kait. Katie." Gabe was already on his feet. "She doesn't know, Kaitlynn. She didn't mean any harm. She's only fourteen. Katie. It's broad daylight and the city is crawling with Hunters. Pull it together. You came to see me for a purpose. Kaitlynn Maeve!"

One step. The dark furred, leathery skinned, bat-like form of the old Raemier shimmered. Two steps. Membranous wings faded away, shrinking into a quickly straightening back, as ashen locs faded into short hair the silver of starlight. Three steps. Where once had been a withered Raemier Technomancer, was now a male none of the children had ever seen before. The skin of his face was smooth and youthful with a complexion the deep blue-black of fine ink or dark nights. He was tall, a full two meters whereas the Amari they had known had fallen a little short, and muscular- if narrower- than before. This male had moved effortlessly and so quickly they had begun to second guess their own senses. This must have been the Gabe known to the mysterious female sitting among them. Dorian and Tholen suddenly felt extremely foolish for having attempted to cover the way out for their friends. Gabe was one of the Shadow Folk, alone of the pure blooded Aether-Touched, and he was anxiously kneeling in front of the tiny newcomer like their lives depended on it.

Dorian made sure to cast a furious glance at Darya, in spite of the fear beginning to tighten in his chest. It was not the first time her mouth had gotten them into a tight corner. None of them, however, dared to say a word- just breathing was hard enough. They weren't willing to take that risk, not after how quickly things had deteriorated. They didn't even know it was possible for a room to go so cold and lifeless. This Kaitlynn had done it in an instant, drained away everything and made them all feel like they were suffocating. It was like a starving Eternal on steroids.

"Shhhh. 'S otay. No sad Miss Katie. No sad. Happy." Alexei's quiet voice cut across Gabe's almost pleading words. A tiny hand reached up to pat her cheek as he crawled into her lap. "Happy Miss Katie. I give hugs, otay?"

"Okay." Kaitlynn felt the tightness in her chest melt away as she listened to the small voice. She took a slow breath and returned the youngling's embrace. The impression of cool caverns and midsummer rain, of new moss and freshly turned earth washed over her. She smiled serenely and stroked Lexi's baby-fine hair, "I certainly did come here for a reason, Gabe. It is time to find our old friend and gather the Keys."

Kaitlynn's words hung in the air, vague and seeming almost ominous to the older younglings who eyed the littlest resting in her lap with concern. They couldn't help but feel they were in the presence of something utterly feral- a dangerous, uncontrollable predator. Then there was this 'Gabe.' Everything they knew of him was Glamour and not one of them sensed a thing. The Hunters' Guild, the adventurers trained specifically to detect and deal with the Aether-Touched, had suspected nothing. The power of the true Shadow Folk was beyond what they could have imagined- and he had been concerned with this Kaitlynn's sudden anger. What she could be was an unbelievable, terrifying thought. Even Darya, the boldest and most brash of them, didn't dare voice the question they all were only half sure they wanted the answer to.

Gabe looked over his old friend carefully, scarcely daring to move. If what she said was true, that meant the taste of freedom was near. Hope rose in his chest and the embers of vengeance he had suppressed sparked to life once again. He bowed his head, pressing his right palm to the floor and bringing his left fist to his shoulder, as he knelt before her, "I served House Aardein in my youth and stood by your mother's side when the pools went dark at the Fall. I will faithfully serve at your side when it rises again and you take your rightful place."

"Get up, shelith. I wouldn't have it any other way." She nodded, clearly pleased. She tilted her head to look at Alexei. "Precious one, would you like to come on the adventure of your life?"

"H-house Aardein?!" A choked voice interrupted before the toddler could say a word, "b-but the blood line ended more than a thousand years ago when the Empress Caoimhe, and her children were captured and killed by the Alsbane. The whole of the Pure Blood peoples lineage passed with them. It's in the records. It was a public execution. They were the last! It's just not possible."

"Was I? Did we?" Kaitlynn looked at Evie with an eyebrow raised. "I certainly don't feel dead. Gabe! Why didn't you tell me that I had died and took the entirety of the Eilkhaar with me?"

"Are you telling us that you're not only a Pure Blood, but more than a millennia old?" Darya asked quietly, but skeptically.

"Kaitlynn Maeve Laughlin, First of Her Name and heir to House Aardein, at your service." She gave a flourish of her free hand. "However, as a Lady, I don't give out my exact age these days. I'm old enough to have seen a few Free Race lifetimes and remember every year of it, yes."

The eldest Duumhavit turned to Gabe,  "Glamour or not, Shadow Folk or Raemier, you have spent the last four years protecting us. I trust you. You said she was trouble, but you kneel to her and pledge your loyalty. Sir, do you trust her, truly? Is she who she says she is?"

"Oh, she's absolutely trouble, Tholen. She always has been, but the best kind of trouble. I would follow her into the fire if she told me it would not burn. This is the heir of House Aardein. I've known her since her birth, even changed a few diapers personally." Gabe confirmed, straightening.

"You had barely become a squire when I was born, don't age yourself Gabrethail- and I'll thank you to leave diapers out of it." Kaitlynn cut a sharp glance at Gabe, but her tone was light.

"Good enough for me." Tholen stepped forward, mimicking the stance Gabe had taken. "I, Tholen Jadedagger, will follow willingly and serve faithfully the House Aardein. We have been silenced and abused for too long."

She looked over Tholen carefully for a moment, "How old are you?"

"Tholen, have you lost your mind?!"

"Seventeen summers on the Solstice, ma'am." He replied, ignoring Darya hissing behind him.

"Good, good. Old enough to have skills that can be honed, young enough to be malleable for teaching." She  muttered into Alexei's hair, lost in thought for a moment. Her eyes lifted back up again, "Get up, Tholen Jadedagger. I more than welcome your enthusiasm.".

"So, um, you really are a Pure Blood?" Evie asked quietly, scooting a little closer. "Not that I don't trust Mr. Tahndol- I-I mean Mr. Gabe, but it's all just very, ah, shocking, miss... I-I mean, my Lady."

"If you must call me that, yes. I am. You'll get used to it. It's not every day that you meet an 'extinct' race after all, particularly one like the Eilkhaar. We are a little intimidating in the legends they tell these days." Kait conceded. She beckoned the youngling to sit by her. "Come, sit. I don't bite-"

"Hard." Gabe snorted. "You lot are intimidating in real life."

"Gabe. How is this helping your younglings trust me, shelith? You know good and well I'm not going to hurt them, especially not this little one. Alexei, no?" Blue eyes stared flatly at the Dumiir.

"Wexi." The toddler in her lap confirmed as he sleepily wrapped and unwrapped a strand of her hair around his little hand.

"W-well... If Mr. Gabe trusts you and if Tholen wants to trust you, then I will too. The House of Aardein ruled with grace and a firm, fair hand according to what is taught in our history. They even say it traced it's matriarchal roots to Leathail the First, herself." Evie said slowly, carefully thinking over every word. "If that's true, then the return of the House rule via revolution may not be a bad idea, and if it means Lexi doesn't grow up knowing the terror of wondering if you can be heard taking a breath through the panels of a wall as you hide for your life- I- I... I, Evangeline Stormrider, will pledge my service and loyalty to House Aardein."

"As will I." Dorian stepped forward. "No sense in not, at this point. If rebellion is where you're leading, I'll gladly follow. I, Dorian Stormrider, pledge my service and loyalty to House Aardein."

"Are you guys insane???" Darya stared at her friends in disbelief. "She just showed up out of nowhere less than an hour ago! We don't know this whatever she is, regardless of what Amari/Gabe/whoever he claims to be says! We've been duped, and you lot are talking about following a complete stranger?"

Kaitlynn turned her calm smile to Darya, "Sweet girl, you'll find very soon that your options are all but non-existent. The ruler of Sirdin is already boldly abusing her power to force a questionable 'lock down' on those with the gift of Aether-Touched blood her kingdom. When she realizes the Aether itself is growing strong in this world again, what do you think will happen to you?"