A damn fine woman

JP with Lorem, Lucian, Omni and Bandorchu

“Figures.”

Alexis muttered. Honestly, no surprise there.

“So let us be on the safe side and assume it is him.”
She cocked her head in thought.

“I can say for sure I didn’t recognise him under his garb. Would have gone a lot different if I did. Quite possible he didn’t recognise me either, though he does know me, of course. In any case, let’s keep that in mind. Not sure who he would report to, mind you. Probably the keep?”

She nodded to Tarmen.

“We are probably better off keeping a low profile in and around Ostiarium. If we can that is.”

“I know not what connections Alcuin has, but… I think it’s safe to assume that if he was out for bounty, it would be paid by the Keep.” Voah concluded.

“Assuming we aren’t hindered by unforeseen circumstances, to where are we bound afterwards?”

Voah’s question voiced another concern of Tarmen’s, one he was hoping would have been avoided until later.
He looked to Alexis.

“Do you know where the artifact is supposed to go once it’s complete?”

Alexis frowned.

“To the ‘One who is destined to wield it’, according to Fosia.”

Man, gods couldn’t be straightforward to save their life, or whatever their equivalent was, could they?

And there it was. More prophecy jargon that was meant to keep them grasping. At a time when they needed a purpose, it would seem all too easy to fall into place as this ‘Fosia’s’ errand dogs.
Something Tarmen was being willfully ignorant of for the moment.
He couldn’t hide his frustration though, a deep frown growing as he rubbed the back of his neck with a hand.

“And I guess the murals you looked over didn’t give any sign as to who that might be?”

Alexis shook her head.

“Nah. The most of an outlook those gave was a freaking huge black storm.”

Even if they hadn’t studied the depictions as intensively as Alexis, if they had taken any time at all to look at the depictions, they would have seen the massive spiral covering the ceiling.

Gonyaul was sitting closest to Alexis while continuing to partake of his meal and listen to their constructive banter. He took a drink of water to clear this throat before leaning closer to her and whispering an idea that came to him.

“If we speaking of disguises, I think it easier to just treat me as slave than try pass off as anything else.” His thoughts went back to Aquilo, when he dressed up as a woman. That had worked very well; however, he didn’t know if that extreme was necessary.

Alexis gave the idea some thought, though Gonyaul could easily tell she didn’t enjoy the concept.

“… with someone who doesn’t know any of us, that might work. With anyone else, I don’t really think so.”

Gonyaul nodded in acceptance of her response. Alexis made a good point and playing the odds he would be recognized by some were not worth the potential risk. Especially since the few that would recognize him were in positions that could cause them problems. He offered up another idea, this time to the group. “what if I dress as woman again and go as Tar’man wife?”

He felt he needed to clarify, “it work in Aquilo” Alexis may have noticed that he was speaking the Helian tongue much better than he did when they first met. A huge part of that thanks to all the work and practice Voah invested with him.

Tarmen sputtered the water he had been drinking upon processing Gonyaul’s suggestion.
He knew it worked like a charm, but he wasn’t sure he wanted that confusion again.

“Might keep marriage on the shelf a bit longer, eh? I think bein’ a woman would work great though, no one saw it except the Fang warriors right?”

Alexis couldn’t help but chuckle a little at Tarmen’s reaction, but nodded.

“You did make a damn fine woman…”

The mention of Gonyaul dressing as a woman threw Voah out of her contemplation of the ambiguity of divine omens.

She couldn’t help but chuckle at their banter.