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.

Evrith shrugged, as if it were a question of minor importance. “The house we want is near the city wall on the southeast side. The owner seems to be asleep. We go there, enter as if we have business, and then browse around and quietly as we can once we're inside.”

“And then?” Shyriath demanded. “We just walk out like we came in?”

“Hopefully,” she replied. “If not, there's plenty of rock under this land. We may need you to get us down under it and out of sight.”

Shyriath gave her a sour look. “This idea of yours seems to lean rather heavily on my abilities.”

“For two reasons.” Evirth's tone became sharp. “The first is that you volunteered to come along, so it makes sense, as long as you're here, to make use of what you can do. The second is that, if I were doing this alone, I would almost certainly be approaching it in a different way that wouldn't require your abilities. And if you're about to ask why I don't do that anyway, it's because both of you are along; there are ways I could slip in and out by myself that aren't feasible with two companions who can't see the future.

“And while we're on the subject,” she added, “there are things I can do to directly aid in an escape, if it becomes necessary. But they're dangerous, some of them even to me, and it's best not to use them unless it's that or die.”