“Oh.” I choked out. “Never mind. We’re back on track now.” and I dissolved into helpless laughter.

<{Orator} Advanced to level 9. For Crossing the White Sea and Defeating Lieutenant Commander Isha you have advanced to {Orator:9}> the World Soul whispered softly in my mind.

I blinked in surprise. “What…?”

Eshaan laughed and then hugged me. “This is why I like hanging around you, Lily. Things are unpredictable, but intensely fun!”

I scowled at him and whapped him on the shoulder. “I don’t think life threatening situations are fun!” I remarked tartly.

Eshaan rubbed his shoulder. “Ooow, I’m a wounded man here! You can’t treat me like this!” he grinned.

I rolled my eyes and pushed at him. “Alright alright, ‘wounded man’. We’d better get going, or those Sylvani will open fire and do a lot more damage.

As we got to our feet, I took a moment to peek curiously at my stats.

{Name}: Lilyanna of Breezewood {Level}: 29

{Classes}: Spiritist 10/Orator 9/Arcanist 7/Gourmet 3

HP: 345/578 MP: 178/836 DEF: 124 M.DEF: 199

Current Status:

DEX: 131 INS: 196

MIG: 120 WIL: 199

Special: Child of Æther

I blinked in surprise, and then hurriedly cast another {Heal} on Eshaan and myself. I looked down and was shocked to see faint red splashes across my body and clothes, fading slowly away.

When did I stop even feeling sword slashes and bullet wounds as something other than mild pain? I thought, mystified.

Eshaan swiveled his arm and grinned at me. “Thanks! You don’t realize how much it hurts until you suddenly don’t feel it anymore.”

I nodded, pensively. When does it start to hurt again? Do I need to reach…? You know, I bet there are some really creepy research documents somewhere that outline exactly what threshold and percentage of hit points triggers what reaction.

I shuddered. That sounded exactly like the kind of thing that Deacon would be eager to get his hands on.

Eshaan took my hand and we walked out of the wreck into the clearing. The rest of our group was already there, several barrels of mana fuel standing around them. The rest of the airship crew were sitting on the ground in small groups, bound hand and foot.

Ringing the clearing were twenty or so tall and elegant figures in green and white, with drawn bows.

I enjoyed the view briefly. The elven warrior boys were very handsome. For a moment I could swear there were clouds of sparkles around their heads. There were only a handful of women in the group, but all of them were equally beautiful as well. And more buxom than Soriya. I noted with irritation. I felt an irrational surge of envy, and squeezed Eshaan’s hand possessively.

I am not letting some elven hussy take him away! I thought, followed by an exasperated huff. Oh yes, very good Lily, that’s such an adult thing to think. Next you’ll demand that Jessica stay away from him at the prom.

I wasn’t entirely sure what I was expecting, when we emerged. Perhaps some demand to hold up our hands, or drop our weapons. Maybe an exchange of gifts where we could trade our exotic goods for chocolate. What I wasn’t expecting to happen was for the assembled Sylvani warriors to gasp and then kneel to us with their heads bowed.

Low murmurs of “The Avatar!” rippled from the assembled warriors.

“What is going on?” Lakshmi demanded, her gaze switching between me and the Sylvani.

The Sylvani were silent for a long moment, before one of the pretty boys stood up and spoke. “The woman with the pink hair. You, what is your name?”

I glanced around nervously, then spoke up. “I’m Lilyanna. Of Breezewood.”

Low murmurs from the assembled Sylvani again. “And do you command the powers of the Ancients?”

I scrunched up my nose at that in confusion, and looked to Eshaan in confusion. He shook his head in equal bafflement. Lakshmi spoke up. “The Arcanum. They’re talking about the Arcanum, Lily.”

“Oh!” I frowned again. That… I suppose that’s right isn’t it? Urm… I suppose in a sense, yes?” I answered hesitantly.

The warrior nodded and then knelt again, his head bowed. “Then you are the Avatar! We have awaited your arrival since the long ago days of the breaking of the world!”

I stared at them, completely lost for words, my mouth agape.

Lakshmi coughed. “So uh… we’re the… Avatar’s… companions. Can we maybe put our hands down?”

I slapped a hand over my mouth to stifle a giggle.

The leader got to his feet again, giving a cold glance around the clearing. “You may claim that, but the Avatar herself has not been confirmed. And regardless, we must let the elders know. They will be able to clear this mess up.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

He whistled sharp and shrill, and the other Sylvani leapt up. There was a heavy feeling in the air like a thunderstorm, and then a shadow fell across the clearing. I looked up to see a gorgeous airship, like a luna moth, glowing emerald and white wings spread from its hull and pulsing with magical energy slowly lowering itself to the clearing. It ‘landed’ without touching down or extending any landing gear. When it got low enough to the ground it simply hovered, and a hatch opened in the side. With efficient precision, we, our looted gear, and the remaining Imperial troopers were rounded up and marched inside.

Lakshmi complained loudly about being forced to leave the Sparrowhawk behind. Camaxtli soothed her with the explanation that it was hardly likely the elves were going to do anything bad to it, there was an entire crashed Imperial cutter there as well, after all.

The Sylvani were polite, but extremely firm as they requested our weapons. I didn’t exactly see a way out of it, and neither did anyone else. Soriya’s expression was thunderous as she was forced to hand over Ægishjálmur. The elves didn’t seem at all surprised by the Godswar weapon, which caught me off guard.

What exactly have I gotten us into here?! I wondered.

We were marched into the Sylvani airship with efficient order. It was very unnerving how all the Sylvani stared at me, almost with a kind of worshipful ardor. I wasn’t comfortable with that, but it was an odd sort of thrill how worshipful their eyes looked when they stared at me. And they did stare, a lot. I was extremely tempted to return the favor; up close they were definitely a race of hotties. The stabs of envy in my stomach got worse.

The bulkheads and floors of the Sylvani airship continued the same strange slightly organic theme in muted grey and cream colors. Almost but not quite wood it looked like. Our group was escorted to a rather ordinary looking room, and pushed roughly inside. The Imperial airmen were shoved into a similar room across the hallway. Well, everyone but me was pushed roughly, the Sylvani were all deference to me, which definitely creeped me out. It reminded me of being captured by the Church in all the wrong ways.

The doors to the rooms slammed closed, and I heard the distinct sound of locks shifting into place. From the muted sounds outside, there was a guard posted there too.

Lakshmi’s shackled dropped off her hands and she stretched. “Gods, I thought they’d never leave!” She casually stepped over to the bulkhead and examined them thoughtfully. “Probably a cargo hold.” She ran her hands slowly over the bulkheads and floors. “How did they get the seams so smooth?”

“Is this really the time?” Asked Soriya.

“What better could there be?” Daniyel asked stoically and sat down cross legged. “This appears to be a common cycle.” He grinned up at me, his white teeth a strong contrast to the darkness of his skin. “At least this time, we may accompany ‘the Avatar’ on her abrupt unwilling exit of the scene.”

I stared at him, my mouth agape. Eshaan and Soriya burst into gales of laughter, and after a moment I joined them.

When we had calmed down, and I’d wiped the tears out of my eyes, I said to Daniyel “For the record, this is not my fault. I didn’t expect this!” then I turned to Lakshmi. “Would you please take off our shackles too?!” I said pointedly.

Lakshmi jumped and gave a guilty smile. “Oh, sure! Sorry, this ship construction… I’ve never heard of anything like it!”

A few quick twists of her hands, and the shackles dropped away. Eshaan chafed his wrists in gratitude, then said “Can I have one of those?” Pointing to the small metal pieces in her hands.

Lakshmi’s eyebrows rose. “Your hair is hardly long enough to need one!”

Eshaan shrugged, looked briefly over at me with a guilty look then said “No, but a little piece of metal can be useful in lots of locations.”

I frowned. “Eshaan! No stealing other people’s things!”

He looked at me with an expression of hurt innocence. “What? I’m not stealing anything! They’re the one’s stealing us! I think it only fair to have a look around, and then relieve the guards outside!” He grinned wickedly.

I huffed, but he was honeyed right. I sighed and nodded agreement, and he took a few of what I now recognized as hairpins from Lakshmi and started bending them into all kinds of interesting shapes.

Soriya stretched. “You really didn’t see this one coming? I can think of a few games where it plays out.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know any. What’s the script?”

“Oh, so they’re likely guardians of the Arcanum we’re here for. Either corrupted knowledge or genuine worship, that’s up for debate. It’ll probably play out a lot like the Church adventure did.”

I groaned and sank down to the deck, leaning my head against the bulkheads. “Oh spirits take me, I haaate that plotline!”

Soriya patted me lightly on the arm. “We’re here with you this time. And if you hadn’t noticed, your boyfriend has lockpicks now.”

She pointed across the room where Eshaan was eagerly tinkering with the locks on chests. He cackled in glee as there was an audible ‘click’ and the lid sprang open.

Maybe there’s an approach here… I thought, an idea slowly forming. A pity that I can’t just lean over and go ‘whisper whisper whisper’ to the others, and a flawless plan emerges from thin air.

“Alright, so… will they do anything bad to us?” I asked.

“No, probably not, though we will have to go on trial for defiling the ancient grove, or some such, then they’ll give us some sort of ‘impossible’ test, a dungeon run or something, to prove you are who you say you are. Or possibly they’ll send us to do that while they keep you safe.”

I scowled fiercely. “I already told you; I hate every part of that plot.”

It was in fact, maddening. We have something like the firepower of a small nation at our command, we can fight our way in and out of most anywhere… and none of that really does us any honeysuckle good, since we need to ask meadowlark directions and help!

I huffed. I feel so betrayed. It’s not actually faster to explode everything, it’s faster to be polite and… and me! I thought in frustration.

Soriya shrugged. “We did break their defense barrier.”

Lakshmi spoke up “Maybe they’ll listen to reason? They have airships, they’re not primitive savages!”

I smiled wryly at her. “I hope you’re right. It would be a million times faster if we can just ask them to tell us where and how to pick up this Arcanum.” I tapped my lips in thought. “Eshaan?” I called out.

Eshaan jumped, his face turning red. “I wasn’t stealing anything!” He stammered.

The look on his face made me doubt that, but I let it slide. “Can you keep the lockpicks hidden if they put us in manacles again? Just in case?”

He looked at Lakshmi questioningly, and she grinned and nodded. “Sure, you can have a couple of my hairpins. You’re a lot better with them than I am.”

He looked back and me, and a huge grin slowly spread across his face. “You bet! There’s lots of places to hide lockpicks!”

“Right, so.” I said, clapping my hands. “We need the We did break their defense barrier, and let in some uninvited houseguests. So, here’s my idea. We apologize for that, and offer to help repair it.”

The group was silent for a moment, then Camaxtli spoke up. “Are you relying on your status as this Avatar figure in order for these negotiations to succeed? It seems unlikely that a minor apology and an offer of unskilled labor would provide sufficient compensation.”

I sighed. “Well… yes! And I suppose maybe I’m being a little naive-”

Lakshmi snorted into her fist and turned it into a cough. I shot her a glare before continuing.

“-a little naive. But I think that speaking honestly from the heart can really convey…” I trailed off, seeing Soriya staring at me, her eyes bright.

“Alright, look, I know how it sounds! But if we’re in a plot rut, then we can expect certain very unlikely outcomes to happen regularly!” I paused, and then muttered to myself “And a heartfelt plea feels right, honey melt it! Less fighting, less stress. We can even spin it as a political overture, right Lakshmi?”

Lakshmi stiffened in surprise and got a thoughtful look in her eyes. “You know… it might at that.”

I smiled at her. “Great! So… are you willing to be our spokesperson then?!”