A forest that was not there yesterday

[unprophesied_of_ages]

The Lord Ruler is in his palace, when he sees a sight he hasn't seen in centuries. Trees, sunlight...is he hallucinating? The fact that there's a forest in his living room isn't the surprising part. The fact that there's a forest on his planet is. As soon as he walks through the door to where his living room isn't, it's definitely not a hallucination.

His stores of Allomantic metals abruptly disappear. They're still physically there, but the power is completely gone. He immediately turns to go back, only to see more forest.

At least his Feruchemy still works—he can tell because he's still alive—but that won't last him forever. He only has so much stored youth, and without both sets of abilities he can't replenish it. He hasn't been in so much danger since the beheading that one time. Returning to Scadrial is the highest and currently only priority. If spontaneous forests are a thing, he needs to find someone who can explain them and more importantly how to get back.

The next few hours are spent walking in an essentially randomly chosen direction, with the sun to his right. He's quite certain that suns are supposed to be moving across the sky, but that's not a pressing emergency. He already knew he wasn't on his own planet when he saw proper trees and plants instead of ash-covered monstrosities. Whenever he calls out, nobody responds. If it's an empty spontaneous forest, he's probably doomed.

After some time, he hears his stomach growl. He hasn't seen much that looks edible, but possibly that's just because he's not used to real plants. Berries. Berries used to exist. Those berries look tasty, and if they're poisonous it's not like he needs to worry about it. As always, he has a truly ridiculous amount of stored health in his gold jewelry. Tapping gold just in case, he eats a handful.

Comments

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Alendi considers whether to write his name. He could order her to open a gate, call some Steel Inquisitors, and torture Yellow until he rescinds the orders. If gate-making is fast enough that it'd finish before Yellow gets back. And if it's directed enough that the gate wouldn't open into the middle of the burnlands. And if this world's natives don't have some way of stopping Inquisitors. Too many unknowns.

He picks up the pen and writes Rashek.

[imeanforever]

Promise reads it, and then the paper ignites in her hand; she drops it and it's ashes before it hits the ground.

"You have to rescind my orders before I can cover yours; I had a cleverer master before Yellow and many of his commands still apply."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Then I hereby order you to ignore whatever previous orders you want to."

She doesn't seem likely to try anything dangerous, but Alendi taps zinc and steel to speed up his perceptions and reactions. Just in case.

[imeanforever]

"Thank you. And I rescind your previous orders - and - never give me an order that I do not expressly request of my own uncommanded will, or that you do not sincerely without mental contortion believe to be in my best interest as you genuinely understand it, except the reciprocal of this one if you so desire."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Ruin. She's ordering him.
As soon as he hears "never give me an order," Alendi starts filling a tinmind. Rather than storing his sense of hearing for future use, he's making sure he won't hear anything until her mouth stops moving.

Sound fades out, and he manages to cut off the rest of Promise's orders. At least whatever came after "never give me an order I don't request" won't affect him. Looks like she's going to need destroying along with Yellow.

For now, though, he still needs to get out of this house and back to his world. "Thanks for removing those. Do you have a safe place in mind, or do we just pick a direction and go?"

[imeanforever]

Promise doesn't notice that the rest of her instruction has fallen on deaf ears. "You're welcome. I know where I want to go long term -" She ducks into her room and fills a bag with fruit and books. "But I can't carry you flying, and Yellow's faster than I am and I don't know when he'll be back. I can draw you a map to the gate I've already made if you think you can get home from where it opens? I don't remember the name of the place, though."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"I can make myself lighter. Can't change the weight of my clothes or all this metal I'm wearing," he clinks his bracelets, "and how long I can do it at a time is limited by how much iron I have.
An existing gate...it probably goes to somewhere in the Empire; that's where most of the population is likely to be from. But if the last mortal was from the South—and I know little about what's going on there—then getting back would be difficult."

[imeanforever]

"I don't remember where she was from. I think I can accommodate the weight of the metal and clothes at least for a shortish flight. We can stop somewhere long enough for me to start a new gate, but you'll have to wait for it to connect. Will you starve if it takes awhile?"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Not literally. If I were to not eat for long it'd be uncomfortable, but I wouldn't suffer health problems or starve to death for...I don't know. Longer than I'm likely to need to."

[imeanforever]

"It won't take longer than a few days. I think I know a place I can put a gate where nobody will think to look for you for that long." She heads out the door. "And I think you know better than to eat fey food twice. Let me know when you're light enough for me to try picking you up."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Let me try something first. It'll lengthen how long I can sustain the lightness."

Alendi follows out the door, then jumps to the opposite edge of the roof. (Fill iron, tap pewter.) He starts tapping iron, emptying that bracelet of all its stored weight and making himself far heavier than any human is expected to be. After Yellow's wall collapses he jumps back and, falling slowly, says "I should be good to weigh nothing for a while now."

[imeanforever]

"If you say so." She glares at the damaged house. It erupts in flames. And then she flutters into the air and attempts to pick Alendi up.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

It's like trying to lift a human-sized balloon held down by clothes and jewelry. The weight isn't an issue, but the fact that he's bigger than she is might be inconvenient for flying with.

[imeanforever]

It's indeed kind of inconvenient and unaerodynamic, and probably pretty uncomfortable for Alendi too, but she manages to ascend.

"Maybe two hours to get where I'm leaving you, and then as long as you lie low, you will probably get home okay. You can tell me while we're flying how you want the gate aimed."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Alendi notes the direction and their speed, stores the information in a coppermind, and notes it again. He may want to send people to catch Yellow later.

"Anywhere in Luthadel is good, inside Kredik Shaw is best. It's on the river Channerel at our North Pole, halfway between a lake and a giant volcano constantly spewing ash."

[imeanforever]

"The physical geography is more useful than the place names."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"It's at the northernmost part of the planet, east of the largest ashmount and surrounded by a large ring of the other six, the river flows through the city, and Kredik Shaw is at the center of a system of canals."

[imeanforever]

"I can do that."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Good. That world does have its good features.

Does everyone here have a habit of enslaving people, or is that just a minority?"

[imeanforever]

"It's pretty common. Everyone can, and it's safer to have someone's name than not, since vassals can't harm their masters. I've never had a vassal unless you count yourself, but I think I'm in the minority."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Alendi doesn't know why he wouldn't count, since Promise can tell him to do things and he can't do likewise, but he's definitely not drawing her attention to that.

"Supposing you managed to make everyone your vassal, without them necessarily knowing about it. Would this place be safe then?"

[imeanforever]

"Well, there's a Queen, who knows every fairy's name without having to learn it, and I suppose she's quite safe. Everyone knows about that though."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Literally everyone? That's intimidating. No special advantage relative to mortals, though, right?"

[imeanforever]

"She does not automatically know mortals' names, but you probably still don't want to bother her, because that's not the only way to get a name."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Point well made.
I'm thinking of importing a permanent population of mortals, with suitable warnings of course. Growing our own food for obvious reasons. If there's a Queen who rules by already knowing everybody's names, this might incidentally be a threat to her power."