Avishraa Reloaded

Planning for the theft took some time - or rather, Evrith sitting in one place with her eyes closed browsing through futures had taken some time, since it was hard to escape the idea that Evrith didn't plan in any real sense. “The future eats plans for its dinner,” she'd said, to which Shyriath appeared to have taken offense.

The sun was almost directly overhead, so there would be no cover of night or shadow, and it would cause an enormous delay to wait for some to appear. On top of that, Oraa itself was surrounded by low stone walls - trivial to fly over, of course, but this would almost certainly attract notice. Only foot traffic going through the town gates would fail to draw suspicion.

As they approached the town in the distance, Shyriath sought clarification. “Permit me to understand: you want us, two Chosen and a xtauh, to just walk through a guarded gate into a takma settlement? That's your idea?”

Evrith glanced at him in irritation. “But they only care about Chosen. They don't often see xtauh in these parts, and hardly ever have to fight them. All of us are smaller than other takmar, so someone who can't see our heads might not notice that we're not all the same kind. So we all approach the gate with cloaks on and hoods up, as if keeping the sun off our heads. If the guards ask to see one of us, Anuwi uncovers his head. You, I expect, can alter their curiosity so that they don't ask to see our faces, or get too certain that xtauh aren't green.”

Great. Theft in broad daylight - literally, although that was indeed inescapable, as well as metaphorically. What could possibly go wrong? An-uxhwi was still not emotionally convinced that this was necessary, but it was impossible to argue with an Oracle - more so with an Oracle he deeply trusted not to fabricate lies.

And so An-uxhwi only flinched a little at the suggestion that he should reveal himself to some takmar that might - as was his previous experience with them - take offence in his very existence. Not that he considered himself incapable of defending himself if it were to happen, but the best kind of combat was the combat that didn't happen.

“Assuming this works as intended, how do we proceed?” he asked in a neutral tone of voice, his imagination running a crude simulation of the plan so far, giving him some basic spatial bearings to work with.