Winter 89, 125
Motoku, Finally. Hanabi arrived at the tail end of the season. The city was not what she was expecting. She was expecting some kind of metropolis, but this looked little different from other villages and towns she'd passed by. This was supposedly where the body that was used to make her had come from, but she bore no memory of it. It was strange that she didn't share any memories with Kage, and yet she was so good at so many different things. She could sneak by undetected, shoot a bow and expect to hit anything she see… but simple things like locations and names escaped her. She often had to ask him mentally to clarify some tidbit. Kage didn't really mind answering her questions either. He seemed to think of her like a partner, someone he could trust and rely on. He hadn't really forced her to do anything yet, merely guided her to where she needed to be.
As she walked through the bustling city of Emberfall, she found that she felt out of place. These people were all so busy, so focused. She understood that there was some kind of war going on and that she was supposed to enlist her services, but the reality of how much work went into waging war was becoming clear to her.
She nearly jumped when she felt something touch her shoulder. She inhaled sharply, then realized that it was a bird. A wooden bird. "Uhm, hello?" she said to it.
"Hi," it said back, just loud enough for her to hear. It wasn't exactly Kage's voice, but she could put two and two together.
"So you control the birds here?" Hanabi asked.
"I have a very small handful of treants in the area. You are to work on expanding our network. It will be important to keep an eye on the Mystics in the area and to eliminate anyone who tries looking too closely at our connection, but we have other matters to attend to. You need a place to live and work in relative privacy. To that end, I have arranged for you to have some property."
It was at that point that Hanabi realized that the bird had something in its claws. It was a scroll. She took it and unrolled it to see that it detailed a plot of land nearby that had been purchased in her name.
"Take a right, here," the bird chirped. There was no reason to continue the conversation like this because Hanabi could talk to Kage telepathically… but Hanabi liked having an actual voice in her ear.
Hanabi turned and continued down the path. "I've purchased everything in a ten acre square," the bird said as Hanabi looked at the map included with the scroll.
"Ten acres, that sounds like a lot," she murmered.
"It is a decently large piece of land. Land is somewhat cheap in Jian. Probably because war can raze property to the ground. It is much more expensive in aelheim because it is much more magically protected and because it's safe there isn't much free space to go around. Or at least that's what I've been led to believe."
Hanabi said, "so all the people that lived in these buildings…?"
"They've been moved out. You can turn this chunk of land into whatever you desire, but it is primarily to give you some privacy and space to make treants. Anyone who wishes to intrude on your privacy would have to make it through the forest, or come by air. And we can have ensorcelled traps made to give warning if anyone approaches."
"I think… I think I want to make my own house," she replied. She picked up the pace until she got to the center of the plot. "Yes, I'll put it here."
The entire plot of land was covered in large trees already, that was probably why Kage had chosen it in the first place. It felt like a ghost town, with all the abandoned homes, many of which were already in disrepair. It would be quite the project to clean this place up.
688
Last edited:
