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]

"It might, but with a lump of chromium and a few minutes in a safe room, I can get it back. I don't have to put in as much as I get out."

[imeanforever]

"I mean, if any substantial part of the plan has to hinge on luck, it would be nice to know how the luck operates so we can weight that accordingly. If it will work for gate harmonics but will not work for putting the Queen near windows, that's something it would be good to know. Does it aim at all?"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Yes, at least if I'm flipping coins I get the expected results instead of some other equally unlikely thing.
I haven't tested it enough to say we should rely on the Queen being near a window, but I fully intend to be using vast amounts of it during this. I will to test whether it helps me aim darts."

[imeanforever]

Promise nods.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"I should probably see if I can find such a thing. We don't need to be ready to go as soon as the gate opens, but there's no reason to wait."

[imeanforever]

"I'll stay here and keep checking my little gate. I'm going to need something to eat soon, too. Unless there's a spike for that, and it's probably not worth it anyway."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"That is a Feruchemical ability, actually. Whenever we have excess cadmium lying around I can make the metal, but there's no spike for it. I'll bring some food on the way back.

The announcement that we're at war with a faction or two of magical slavers can wait until tomorrow."

[imeanforever]

"How are you going to announce it? Will I need to be there?"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"I'll declare it to the general population in the middle of a public square. Ordinarily I'd use magic to make people more likely to not think I've spontaneously gone crazy.
It might be a good idea for you to be there. It wouldn't hurt, at least."

[imeanforever]

"I hope the little gate's settled by then. I don't want to leave it unattended and still trying to settle; I can't close it if it opens while I'm gone."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"You don't have to be there if here is more important. It'll make people slightly more likely to trust you, but that's probably not going to be too much of an issue anyway."

[imeanforever]

"There might be other leaflets, who might match my description, in Thorn's court somewhere or the Queen's... it could be important to have people know my face. But if it doesn't settle soon put it off by a few hours, maybe."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"It's for tomorrow anyway. People who need sleep are doing that at the moment. For now, I've got a couple errands to run."

[imeanforever]

"Yes, I mean, if tomorrow we find that the gate has not settled, put it off in case I can have the gate closed for during the announcement."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Of course."
He leaves to find out whether anyone in the Empire actually uses weaponized darts.

[imeanforever]

And Promise keeps an eye on her gate. And makes fairylights. And practices, in small doses, pulling stored things out of her earrings.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Eventually Alendi returns with some obscure weaponry, a tray, and some less bloody clothes. "Hungry?" he asks, offering food.

[imeanforever]

"Yes. Thank you." Nom. "What's that?" she asks, pointing at the obscure weaponry.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Blowgun, crossbow," he gestures toward each in turn. They're both very small for the kind of thing that they are, and boast more concealability than power. "Some people in the Khlenni empire used to use poisoned darts for assassination, and that's more or less what we're doing. Just replacing the poison with fruit juice."

[imeanforever]

"If you show me how they're put together I can try to enchant them for accuracy."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Good idea. We'll need every advantage we can get."

He disassembles the devices to demonstrate.

[imeanforever]

She peers at them. She puts them back together and takes them apart again and then puts them back together and then stares at them. And then she says, "There."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

They look exactly the same as before, but do seem to work better. When combined with luck the enchanted projectiles can reliably land in bloodstream-sized target areas, at least here where no sorcery is stopping them.

[imeanforever]

Promise goes and checks her little gate again.

"It's settled," she says. "I've closed it so it's less noticeable and so nobody little can blunder through. I'll open it and start scoping out the Queen's court if there's nothing else to discuss aloud. Yellow will be awake in a few hours and will also need food."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"I'll take care of him then.
I think we've covered everything important. There's questions like whether it'd be a better idea for you to publicly appear dressed as a fairy or as a noblewoman from Luthadel, but that doesn't exactly have the world hanging in the balance."