X saw a narrow path out of his conundrum, one opportunity, and he’d take it. He’d take every chance he could and more. Grinning to himself, he set out to find Head Slave-Butler Gnome, ready to tackle the enormous tasks that lay ahead on his journey to freedom. Fraught with half-guesses and leaps of faith, he pressed on confidently, believing he could twist the weak-willed creatures of this world—spewed out from whatever hell conjured them up—to his advantage. He had done it before, to the unsuspecting and to ones deprived of their liberty. However, a concern weighed on his mind: manipulating minds takes time, the amount of which depended on his puppeteering skills, the nature of his targets, and time itself. The longer, the better, in most cases. But with his deadline already encroaching on him, the elf had no time to put in the heavy work. X had to take risks on all fronts, putting all his efforts into saving himself.

Nightfall came and found him lying on a cold floor. He tried to sleep, but his restless spirit thought otherwise. This day, like the ones before, he did almost none of his duties and yet ended exhausted. He was helpless against his current circumstances, struggling to find a way out until the very end.

True to her word, Ruianne made her appearance at midnight.

"Wake up! You elf!" she kept her voice down. “Ekk’s!” Finally, her gentle voice roused him from his slumber.

"Ruianne? Oh, it's really you."

"Who else could it be?"

"Who else indeed.”

"Come closer," she whispered, "I don't want to yell, it's dangerous. Everyone's in the mansion."

X approached the bars of his cell, resting his left arm on one of them. "I think some explanations are in order."

Ruianne had considered their situation and concluded she needed to explain some things to him. How much should she tell him? How sincere? She didn’t know. The female elf had sought advice from Head Slave-Butler Gnome, who promised to support her decision, no matter the outcome. At the time, Ruianne wondered if the gnome simply unloaded all the responsibility onto her shoulders. However, the burden for organizing and planning rested on her. She had been the one that stirred up their fellow slaves, giving them hope and dreams, where there had been only resignation and sorrow. But now, facing the strange elf, the right words eluded her.

"You don’t trust me. You’ve already made that clear,” whispered X. “Let’s do this: I’ll ask you some questions and you choose if you want to answer them or not."

She nodded.

"What will you do about the slave collars?"

Ruianne hesitated, unsure what to tell him and how much to reveal.

"Look, you don't have to answer anything, but if you choose not to, then why did you come here tonight?" questioned the elf.

Ruianne stayed silent.

"It's like watching two trains colliding in slow motion," said the elf.

"What?"

“You’re like kids playing with fire in a wooden house. And then you'll wonder why the house burned down, taking you all with it."

"You don’t know our plan."

The elf smiled. “There aren’t many options. I mean, it’s not hard to imagine what has to be done. And for your plan to work, everything has to be nearly perfect. Which it won’t be. Then, your next best bet is for the ones carrying out your plan to be first-rate at whatever you’ll have them do. Which means slaves will have to be in top form, veteran warriors, who won’t break under pressure, ready to kill on command—men, women, children... whoever might compromise your plan. And yet, you’re banking on humans being dumb enough not to have countermeasures in place for slaves rampaging while they sleep. Because I'm sure you plan to do this at night. A freaking original idea. Those same dumb humans who enslaved you all in the first place.”

Ruianne clenched her jaw. At first, she swore by her good-natured actions, driven by a noble heart to aid those in need, so firmly that she willingly disguised herself as a slave to come to Saint Jaulea. Her idea to free the slaves seemed so easy at first, but doubts plagued her beleaguered mind, eroding her remaining resolve. Upon arriving in the city, she consulted with her fellow kinn'hayas, laid the necessary groundwork, and built a trustworthy network among the Houses’ slaves, but this wasn’t enough. Her motivation waned day by day. Her fellow slaves were simple folk, and the path to freedom would be anything but simple. Despite her increasing doubts, she couldn't delay the plan further, or morale would crumble.

“Whatever your plan is, it’s not going to work like you think," continued X. "And not because it’s bad. I don’t know yet. But I know the ones carrying it out. They are normal, decent, everyday... beings. Not warriors. When the arrows begin falling over them and blood spills, can you guarantee their best?”

Ruianne exhaled anxiety in every breath while a buildup of exhaustion threatened to burst, leaving her helpless. X's words cracked the female elf’s confidence and triggered her deepest fears. Doubts, once again, clouded her every decision, leaving her wondering if fate had destined her for failure, bringing down all kinn’hayas along with her.

Ruianne turned to him. "Suppressors."

“Go on.”

"A squad of collar suppressors already infiltrated the city, waiting for orders."

"What about the barrier?"

Ruianne had no energy left to keep hiding and trying to handle everything herself. "My collar is broken. It appears functional from the outside, but it doesn't actually work. I'll take care of the gatekeepers. The collar suppressors will escort our fellow slaves out of Saint Jaulea."

"What if something goes wrong?"

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"An... army will be ready nearby.,"

"At night, right?"

Ruianne nodded.

“You’re just my kinda girl! Elf-girl... whatever.”

Ruianne's frown deepened, locking eyes with him. “Is this a joke to—”

“You don’t give a darn about how many slaves will die, do you? You’re just going to push through like a horny teen, underwear and all.”

She didn’t answer. Or better said, couldn’t.

"When are you going through with it?"

"In eight days," sighed Ruianne.

“Mhmm... it’s not a horrible plan, but a whole lot of creatures are going to die. Humans, slaves, your army coming. If you don’t mind bloodshed, then go through with it. But there’s no guarantee you’ll be free in the end.”

Ruianne understood the risks and had weighed them countless times, going through myriad incarnations of her plan, all leading to this one. Her fellow slaves needed to be freed and there could be no more hesitation.

"Do... you have a better plan?" she asked.

"A chance of a lifetime presented itself to you.”

"What—?"

"Me!" X gestured to himself while Ruianne looked at him skeptically. "Push your plan’s date forward. Three days from now.”

“You mean?”

“Exactly. Make it the same day, the same hour, as my duel.”

Ruianne leaned closer to X, a realization bursting in her mind.

“From what I’ve heard,” the redheaded elf continued, “the whole town will be there, gathered in one same place. All their eyes nailed to me.”

The logic behind the strange elf’s word rekindled the fire inside her.

"We have the location and the deception. All we need now is the surprise," spoke X.

"A surprise?"

"To take hold of their most primal drive: fear.”

Ruianne’s morale rose, but along with it grew a discomfort. The elf’s words sowed more than a plan to freedom, an evil tone, barely noticeable, colored them. She let go of these thoughts and kept listening.

“At the duel, there has to be a surprise.” X stopped to think about it, then continued. “Listen carefully, I’ll enthrall the audience with my charming personality. And when you see something strange... out of place,” he didn’t know yet what it could be, “go crazy, as I know you want to, and create us a signal.”

"To signal everyone to escape?"

“No. By then, your escape should already be underway. That’ll be the signal for your army to seize the gates and escort your fellow slaves to safety while confusion reigns.”

For the first time in a long time, Ruianne saw freedom at hand. However, she still had her reservations—not about his plan, but about him.

“Look,” X stared at Ruianne’s beautiful green eyes, “let me worry about the duel. I’ll leave the rest of the details to you. But make sure to create a diversion after the unexpected happens. Divide their forces. How? Use that pretty thing on top of your shoulders. It’s not only for decoration, right?”

Ruianne sighed at X's teasing but let it go.

"It can't be that simple." Her revolving thoughts dizzied her. "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" echoed X. "I want to escape too, unless you'd be willing to—"

"No."

"Escape it is, then. And two of those shiny rocks."

"Portents of magic?"

“Yeah... two."

"You know they're not easy to come by, right? It was hard enough getting the ones I have."

“Temporary, I’ll give them back.”

"What do you need them for anyway? You can’t do magic."

“Are you finished?”

"Fine, I'll lend them to you. But you better return them."

"Of course."

"How can I be sure you won't betray us?" Ruianne kept her guard up.

“A kiss and I won’t.”

“I’m being serious.”

“So am I.”

"Really?"

"I should be the one offended with your question. We are in this together, as fellow slaves in distress. I wouldn't jeopardize my own freedom for anything.”

Despite her doubts, Ruianne couldn't afford to alienate the crazy elf.

“One last thing,” said X. “About what we talked tonight... Not a word to any slave. Not until the very day. Don't trust anyone. My freedom also depends on this. Tell your contact in the army or however you communicate with them, but no one else. This is critical to our plan succeeding. You do understand this, right?”

"But the kinn'hayas..." Ruianne wanted to treat all slaves like what they were: equals.

“They don’t need to know. They are not going to make things easier for us if they do, but they can certainly make it worse. Get it?”

Ruianne hated to admit it, but X's disturbed mind made sense. "I get it. Only those who need to know will be informed."

“Ideally, keep it a secret until our fateful morning. And you better make sure to get everyone out. Any slave left behind is going to have one hell of a time.”

The elf always brought up things she didn't want to think about, but she couldn't deny he was right.

“On a personal note, I have a question for you,” said X.

"I have a feeling I'm going to regret this," replied Ruianne with a sigh.

“Your Lord... had he ever wanted to get inside your bed?”

"No, and there's no reason he would.”

“What, he doesn’t like females?”

“I'm not sure. But that’s beside the point. There’s really no reason for him to seek me out. Believe me. And to put your mind to rest, I’ve never been touched nor treated in such a way here.”

“So you have been touched, and here I thought you were a cold hearted bi-being through and through.”

Prison bars barred Ruianne from unleashing her anger through a well-deserved slap.

“I have a question of my own,” spoke the female elf.

"Fire away," prompted X after a moment of silence.

“That day, after aggravating Mitchell... How did you know he tried to buy me?”

“The way he struck you down, there was more than pleasure in his eyes, there was pure, unfiltered obsession.”

“Huh...” Ruianne considered his words before walking towards the stairs.

Before disappearing out of sight, X said his farewells. “Don’t forget my magic rocks, make one be turquoise, that one looked nice enough. Send them tomorrow with gnome.”

She stopped, then turned. "You know they're not easy to come by right now, and we need them. They’ll be on loan."

“I already said I’ll return them to you.”

“In one piece.” Ruianne needed to keep him happy and playing along with them.