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]

"I came here with the specific intention of capturing you."

[alicornucopia]

"Promise been filling your head with tales?"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"She did say you were an unpleasant master, yes."

[alicornucopia]

"I'm only unpleasant if you make me that way," purrs Thorn. "Blossom likes me quite well, for example. Promise, by contrast, was scarcely worth the trouble it took to take her, but now she's sent me you, which might make up for all her... misbehavior. I don't advise misbehavior," Thorn adds. "I haven't had a mortal in a while, let alone a dubiously mortal one, and for all I know if you make me punish you I'll overshoot and you'll die incapable of screaming on my floor and I'll have to console myself with a much better pleased Blossom and Verve. Tell me what you're thinking."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"That I better not offend you."

Really, what else could he be thinking after that?

[alicornucopia]

(You never know; Promise used to say the most amazingly cheeky things when made to describe her thoughts.)

"Stand up. In general, if you form any intention to do anything that seems like it might in my opinion constitute a loophole, an exploitation, or a violation of my desires, bite off your tongue and calculate the cube roots of the numbers between one trillion and ten trillion by brute force until further notice from me. Follow me."

Thorn leads him out of the library.

They are joined by a short red and yellow fairy. "Master," this fairy says to Thorn.

"Yes, Twirl?"

"Rainfall says she wasn't taken."

Thorn looks over his shoulder at Alendi. "Did you get your captive's nickname wrong, Alendi?"

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Very possibly. I only heard them once."

[alicornucopia]

"Who was with Clock today, Twirl?"

"Rosewood, Master."

"Could it have been Rosewood?" Thorn asks Alendi.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Yes."

[alicornucopia]

"Clock and Rosewood, then. See to it," Thorn says, and Twirl bows deeply and murmurs at once, Master and flutters away.

Thorn leads Alendi into a room which is not a library. It contains a mat on the floor, a bowl of water, and a shuttered window; the walls are seamless wood.

"Sit," Thorn tells Alendi.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

He does.

[alicornucopia]

"Tell me what you're thinking."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Mostly I'm just scared of you."

[alicornucopia]

Thorn smiles. He has sharp teeth.

"Stay here. Think very hard about how I can seamlessly send you to fetch Promise securely without unwelcome wrinkle or unplanned contingency. If anything happens which requires prompt attention lest you die or be otherwise lost to me, such as you biting off your own tongue as a result of your very much operative standing order, tap on your door twice. Someone will attend to you; they will be authorized to kill you in whatever way is most convenient or amusing for them if that seems more expedient than saving your life."

And Thorn goes out of the room and shuts the door.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

If Thorn sends him to get Promise, the most likely reason she gets away is that he can't find her. She could, theoretically, have gone to the other side of the world by now. Or anywhere in Fairyland. He can probably find her if she's hiding around the city, because he can sense minds and very few people fly. But where she is is outside his control.

Come to think of it, he's been gone longer than he expected to. And Promise can't do the trick about not eating. She's probably already gone to Fairyland. But she did want to change things in his Empire, so she'll probably be back, and he does know where the gate is.

Assuming she's on Scadrial, she'll probably be nearby so she'll know when he gets back. She does have tin, but won't be immediately using it because she'll know it's him when he opens the door. Unless she was expecting Thorn to send him back, in which case she might flee anyway. But if she does, she can't feasibly escape. His magic beats sorcery even when he isn't on his own world.

He concludes that he'd capture Promise easily if she's in Luthadel, and not catch her if she's not, and nothing he or Thorn or Promise can do will change that.

[alicornucopia]

Thorn leaves him with these thoughts for about half an hour, then lets himself in again.

"Tell me what you've thought of."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Alendi tells him. "Whether or not I retrieve Promise would depend on whether she's on my world. She can't stop me from capturing her once I find her; I'm even more powerful on my world than I can be here.
I more or less told Promise to run my empire while I was gone, so I will be able to find her. I can't guarantee that she'll be on my world when I arrive—I've been gone for days so she has probably been going to Fairyland for food if nothing else—but she'll be spending most of her time in my capital. If she's not there, she will be soon. Days at most.

If she has run off then I can't get to her, but I don't think she has. And if she hasn't, I'll find her."

[alicornucopia]

"Good," says Thorn. "Your standing order about what you should do if you intend on extraneous actions is in place with the caveat that if it is activated you should also do your utmost to return to one of my courts, whichever you can reach fastest, and present yourself to the highest ranked sorcerer present. In the hallway you will see a green fairy by the nickname of Harp. Harp will escort you to the court you came from; do whatever she tells you and cooperate with her entirely, including by way of conversational honesty and disclosure, until you have heard from me, Blossom, or Twirl differently on this subject. From there, go back to your world, seek out Promise at once, secure her such that she can present no threat to me or mine nor escape, and bring her back to hand over to Harp, who already has her name. If she is not there when you arrive, you may perform any but only those maintenance tasks which you expect I would fully approve if you explained them to me with no omissions, tricks, or exploitations of ignorance, which you have time for before she appears within capture range. If within the next eight days she does not appear, return to Harp for an update in your instructions."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Alendi stands up and goes to the hallway.

[alicornucopia]

And in the hallway is a green fairy, tall as fairies go and willowy. "Come with me," she tells Alendi, and when they have left the building, "Do your lightening trick so that I can carry you."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

He doesn't remember mentioning that being one of the tricks he can do, but someone could have asked Verve. He cancels his weight. "Ready."

[alicornucopia]

Harp picks him up and flies. She's faster in the air than Verve; it takes about four hours.

En route, she says, "Describe where you're going sufficiently to make a gate there."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"My world is a sphere instead of flat like this one, and my city is at the northernmost part of it. There's a ring of six mountains spewing ash, the city you're looking for is east of the seventh in the center. The river Channerel goes through the city, and my palace of Kredik Shaw is at the center of the canal system."

[alicornucopia]

This seems to satisfy Harp.

She puts him down in the garden. There is no sign of Clock or Rosewood. Alendi has been visible for some time now; Blossom handled it after his initial confrontation with her.

"Go on," Harp says.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

He goes behind the waterfall into the cave, and through the gate. The door unlocks and opens.