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]

"Is that 'near' as in I can't possibly grab her without being seen? Is there anyone else who could get past that?"

[alicornucopia]

"Sometimes they aren't in the same room. Someone else like Rainfall or Twirl might be able to undo some of his protections but they're much less likely than Blossom."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

It occurs to Alendi that he might as well arrange for Verve to think he's a better master than Thorn. He burns zinc, and she'll have vaguely positive associations with him.

"Can you make me undetectable? If not, I may have to settle for directions to those other two."

[alicornucopia]

"I can turn you invisible, inaudible, and unsmellable, but you'd still move air currents and have weight on the ground."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Would anyone notice air currents moving, or otherwise see through the invisibility?"

[alicornucopia]

"Sorcerers have to pay attention to that kind of thing but might not notice immediately."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Might not. How long would I have? And would this let me get past the sorcerers watching for trespassers?"

[alicornucopia]

"You are more likely to get past all of the guard sorcerers if it looks like I've captured you than if you're sneakily following me. Blossom is very skilled but her reaction time is more than half a second; Twirl is faster but not by much, Rainfall is slower."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"But if it looks like you've captured me then people will know I exist. And I'm going to have to capture at least one fairy before Thorn; I'd rather not have him on his guard.

How likely am I to get past the guards if I use the invisibility and have you try to distract them without them knowing it's you?"

[alicornucopia]

"I don't know what you mean."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"I don't want to be noticed at all if I can avoid it. If I'm invisible and you, I don't know, make suspicious sounding noises somewhere very far from either of us. Or whatever sorcery can do to make them not notice the air currents. Then how likely would it be that we get into the court safely?"

[alicornucopia]

"I could probably cover your travel that way."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Good, and then it's a matter of capturing Blossom. Does she in particular have any defenses, or is it just a question of getting into the court and getting her alone?"

[alicornucopia]

"She's nearly as well-defended as Thorn."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Can she do the intangibility thing? If she can do the intangibility thing this just got a lot more complicated.
What specific defenses does she have, that you know about?"

[alicornucopia]

"I've never seen her do it but it may be that she can. She does have the healing factor and she's very good with sudden blinding light."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"I'm not worried about either of those.
Once we're at the court, does she have a particular room she's likely to be alone in, and would you know which one?"

[alicornucopia]

"When she's not with Thorn she's often standing guard outside of whatever room he's in but sometimes she's alone in the bathhouse or the library."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Library. Let's go with library.
What are my chances of getting there and lying in wait safely until she's alone there?"

[alicornucopia]

"It could take a couple of days before she's there by herself. With my help I'd say something like a seventy-five percent chance depending on who's on guard duty and what I haven't been told about the defenses."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"If you're right about the seventy-five, that's good enough. I have a couple of tricks that can make it more likely than that. And I can stay hidden for a couple of days if that's what it takes.

With the invisibility thing, can I make myself heard if I want to be? I'd much rather be able to give Blossom orders without having to get you to remove it first."

[alicornucopia]

"I could make it so that your voice would break the spell."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"That would work.
While I'm hiding, will you be able to act as you otherwise would without anyone suspecting you've been captured?"

[alicornucopia]

"I don't think I'm a particularly talented actor," she says, "but I don't have any duties that require me to talk to anyone extensively in the next couple of days. Escorting you to the library will disrupt my chore route, though. I'm already behind."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"I suppose we'd best get started then. Make your best effort to make sure I get to the library safely and successfully catch Blossom, and do not allow anyone to find out about me. And keep me informed on what sorcery you're doing along the way."