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

[alicornucopia]

"The sorcerers. Thirty percent."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

That is alarmingly high. No wonder the fairy's playing for time. He speeds up his luck consumption. If he's thirty times as lucky as a normal person, a one-percent chance of being caught isn't too bad, but he can't keep that up for long. Wait, is that how luck works? Whatever.

"As far as you know, how can I most effectively decrease my chance of being caught?"

[alicornucopia]

"Don't get anywhere near Thorn or his sorcerers."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Rather than try to wrangle a better answer out of his vassal, he picks up both fairies and carries them back through the gate. At least if they do get discovered, he'll have the advantage here. No need to run through luck so fast.

The next line of questions are directed toward the smaller fairy. Just in case there's any difference in cooperativeness. "Answer all my questions truthfully, completely, and without irrelevant information, all according to your best guess of what information I want. If I were to try to capture Thorn the same way I captured you, how would the sorcerers try to stop me?"

[alicornucopia]

"Something set up ahead of time with magic," says the little fairy.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"What kinds of things would they set up?"

[alicornucopia]

"Traps, probably."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Where would these traps be? How would they work? Would they be visible before or after being activated? Give me something I can use."
He's speaking calmly, but the fairy is now terrified of him. He's burning zinc.

[alicornucopia]

The fairy shivers. "Hidden somewhere! Magic! Probably not visible!"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Between magically aided intimidation and a completely different magically enforced honesty, these fairies probably just don't know anything.

"How long is it likely to be before a sorcerer goes into that garden alone?" The terror beam gets dialed down. But not removed.

[alicornucopia]

"A couple of hours and then Verve makes rounds."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Is grabbing Verve like I did you two likely to be significantly harder?"

[alicornucopia]

"Yes, she's a sorceress, and highly ranked in the court."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Just the person I want, then. What can she do that might interfere?"

[alicornucopia]

"She knows the territory, so almost anything. Set you on fire, maybe."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Is directly attacking me the kind of thing a sorcerer is likely to think to do?"

[alicornucopia]

"Yes."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Excellent. Looks like I have a few hours to wait, then."
He doesn't bother continuing to interrogate. He'll have a more knowledgeable vassal soon.

He can skip over the boring period by filling a zincmind; he does that for most of the relevant time and then returns to the cave to wait for Verve. This shows a complete lack of regard for the fairies under a "take no new action" order, but he'll come back for them eventually.

[alicornucopia]

The fairies, of course, wait.

Verve turns out to be about four feet high, with wings that look like they're made of metallic lace but still let her fly. Assuming that's Verve, anyway, landing where the little fairy was working and frowning.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Frowning does seem to be a likely activity of someone who noticed a kidnapping while "making rounds." If it isn't her, well, extra useless vassal.

The Lord Ruler makes himself faster than he's had reason to be in a long time. He's confident a human wouldn't have time to so much as blink, but it's best to be on the safe side. He doesn't see Verve's atium ghost doing anything that looks magical, or the real Verve for that matter, so he rushes her and claps a hand over her mouth. While dragging her back toward the cave, he tries to keep her disoriented enough that she'll have less of a chance to cast something.

[alicornucopia]

Something catches fire in the process, but it's not him. Verve suddenly gets very heavy, but not enough to hinder somebody as hopped up on magic as Alendi is.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

He increases his strength to compensate. Once she's in the unfamiliar surroundings of his basement she should be less able to resist. Hopefully that fire wasn't a signal; he doesn't have the time to spare to put it out.

Once he's back on Scadrial, he summons some powdered pewter (useful in combat, hence its presence) and starts maneuvering it down Verve's throat with magic.

[alicornucopia]

Verve struggles. Her hair catches fire. She beats her wings crazily and kicks Alendi. But eventually he will be able to get her mouth open and pewter down her throat.

She promptly vomits.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Does that make it not count? Alendi has no idea. But he can test it. "Stop resisting." And does it again whether she stops or not, because obedience could be a trick.

[alicornucopia]

Apparently her vomiting was not fully effective. She stops resisting. More pewter. Yum.