Snippet #2243897

Fukayna fumbled a little with her reigns, never exactly having ridden a horse before. She had blushed profusely in the morning upon discovering V'lyn's chosen method of travel and shyly attempted to communicate she had no idea how to ride the large beast. It had been the mage, no, Miss Jennifer as she now referred to her as, that had chuckled and helped her figure out how to ride the horse. It had not been easy and Fukayna had floundered quite a bit for the first hour or so of travel. Miss Jennifer had taken the opportunity to ride besides her, seemingly able to keep asking an endless stream of questions. The small girl tried her best to answer them, and fortunately, none were too probing. Merely curious requests as to how she felt of V'lyn, the Order, the mage herself, when she began fighting...

The early hours of the morning dwindled by in this fashion and it wasn't long before they had come to arrive in Lethandrill. Fukayna was surprised how quickly the journey had seemed to go, then again, with battling with her reigns and attempted writing on her notepad at intervals, she had been rather distracted. Miss Jennifer rode ahead of everyone, a mystical air about her. Fukayna only need watch those lips begin to form syllables before registering that the woman was casting an illusionary spell. The touch of the magic felt nostalgic and made her yearn to feel it from beneath her own fingertips but she shook that thought off quickly.

The city was grandly decorated but no building more so than the steward's palace. The group came to a halt and dismounted (embarrassingly, she required Miss Jennifer's help to get down from her saddle but was light-weight enough where she didn't it was much of a bother). However, something felt... off. There were no guards positioned outside of the palace and Fukayna was absolutely sure that with someone as important as the steward, guards should normally be abound and plentiful in number. Both V'lyn and Miss Jennifer tensely darted forwards, ill at ease and observant. The silver tressed girl's mind did not take long to process that both were using different methods to conceal themselves as they walked through the main doors and into the hallways.

Fukayna chose her preferred option, one that truly utilized her wraith like capabilities. Her movements were completely inaudible as she wrapped herself in her furs and cautiously leaned against the wall. It would be surprising to the average person just how well this hid the small girl out of sight. The group approached a large doorway, loud voices on the other side of it. One was clearly female and, by the sounds of it, pleading with the other.

"My Lord, we are far from dangerous," There was what sounded to be a shout of sarcastic laughter, the owner of this other voice sounding a bit older in years and male.

"You don't think you're dangerous. Here, allow me to show you just how threatening you are to not only yourselves, but us as well," V'lyn moved fast, so fast that he seemed to catch both Miss Jennifer and Fukayna by surprise. The doors were thrust open and a blinding flash of light occurred, a loud boom and shockwave of power extending out from inside. Fukayna's hair fluttered a bit with the force of it all and she stood there, mouth agape. Had she honestly thought she was a match for this man? Seeing him as he was now, she was beginning to realize the difference in their fighting prowess--but this fact did not make her fear him as much as it made her respect him more.

V'lyn did not look remotely pleased and his eyes narrowed as he spoke in a commanding voice. "Ordered to come and check up on the Steward of Lethandrill and this is what I find. Not a great way to greet one from the Order of Riena, Torak." The man called Torak seemed to tremble at these words as he stammered out his reply.

"L-Lord V'lyn... I did not realize you were coming. If you'd only sent word I would have had an escort ready for you and have you welcomed into my grand city properly." Fukayna sniffed her nose in a bit of distaste for him. Something felt... off, as it had when they had approached the palace. Her attention was turned to Miss Jennifer as the woman turned, one of her brows lower than the other. So she was put off by the atmosphere too. But the mage was still more gentle-toned as she spoke to Fukayna.

“Are you okay?” The mute girl nodded a bit but this time around, she did not jot anything down on her parchment. She was too focused on what was happening between Torak and V'lyn. And on the dark-haired girl, she added as an after-thought. Miss Jennifer seemed satisfied with her response and turned back to V'lyn. The man's voice was still commanding as he regarded them.

"I'm sure you know what to do, Jennifer. Take the elf with you, it's probably not safe to leave her alone in the city. Fukayna, go with Jennifer. Search this city from top to bottom. And be careful," The older woman narrowed her eyes, huffing a bit.

“Do what?!” The protest was futile, V'lyn already not paying attention. Miss Jennifer's lips contorted into a smile that was none too pleasant and directed it at the other woman. Fukayna was personally glad she was not the recipient of such a look and shivered. Even merely seeing it was disturbing. “You, come with me.”

The dark haired woman hurried to comply, somewhat fearfully looking from her savior the the mage that was now directing her about. The way the oldest of them looked at the dark-haired woman, one would think there was something malicious in the mage's mind. It was as they reached a large room, colored with the fickle hues of the sunset against the stained glass window, that Fukayna once again felt the familiar touch of magic upon her. Judging by the lack of response from their new companion, she had to guess she was the only one hearing these words.

“Fukayna, search the palace dungeons. If something which still exists is to be found, it’ll be there. Careful not to get caught now either. Wouldn't want you getting tortured for information would we? Although, making you talk would probably be more difficult than the average person...” The faint smile that upturned her lips was large enough to be seen by her superior as she nodded and gave a quick and graceful bow before detaching herself from the others.

Fukayna had not been alone in awhile, not since the night before last. Already she had grown fond of the company of other people but her personal feelings were not about to get in the way of what they had come to accomplish. The only question was, how was she to find the dungeons? She moved quiet as snow, her furs once again wrapped around her delicate frame as she carefully analyzed each area she walked into. Just as before, there were no guards, no signs that anyone had passed through recently. A frown touched upon her face, cheeks puffing out just a small portion.

'Where is everyone...?' She thought to herself. When she had been in the Order, there had been guards posted everywhere and it was the same when she approached the assassins. A chill coursed through her body and she instinctively held her furs a bit closer to her to fend it off. Her eyes darted around beneath her bangs, yet she found nothing suspicious, up until she entered a room to the far end of the corridor. Immediately, her gaze was drawn to the door that was almost slightly ajar, as if someone had rushed from the vicinity to go attend to other matters. As before, there was no one about--this was getting to be very troubling indeed.

She hesitantly placed a few petite fingers on the door frame, but none came rushing to see what the disturbance was and there was not a hint of a footstep to impede her. Warily, she opened it a creak and, after poking her head through the gap and evaluating there was no sign of danger, edged her way into the passageway, shutting the door precisely the way she had seen it. She progressed down the steps, the air becoming cooler the lower she went. At last, she arrived on dungeon level and she released her breath, not having realized she had been holding it the way down.

Fukayna scrutinized the walls of the dungeons as well as each of the cells but could see nothing. It was rather dark and she did not dare light a torch for fear that it may alert someone to her presence should they see the light from the flame. Her eyes took several minutes to adjust to the dark but she could at least make out the things she was gazing at. After searching around with no success, she shrugged to herself--not seeing anything of worth. She was about to turn to leave when she heard it, a very frail, faint sounding cough. She tensed, so there was someone down here after all--Miss Jennifer had been correct. She heard a thudding noise and, shrinking against the walls, she slinked over in the direction she had heard it from.

As she drew nearer to a cell, she made out a darker shape and squinted her eyes, edging just a bit closer to the bars to see inside. She released a gasp as she registered the shape of a boy, unconscious and slumped over. Even in the dim lighting, she could tell he was malnourished and the faint coating of sweat on his brow indicated that this was taking a decent toll on his body. She bit her lip, hesitant over what to do next. Miss Jennifer hadn't given her directions in the event she actually found someone, but then again, it wasn't the mage's job to tell her everything as one would a child.

Choosing to take the initiative, Fukayna timidly reached one of her hands through the bars, her slim arm easily fitting between them. Her fingers came to rest atop his hair, though soft to the touch, it was mussy and illkempt. She shifted her fingers lower to his forehead, a degree of heat radiating off of it. Whatever he had done, she cared naught--the man was suffering and appeared to be falling ill due to whatever treatment he was suffering down here. She retracted her hand from the cell and stood up, eyeing the lock on his cell. That wouldn't be... too hard to pick...

She fished in her furs for a small throwing knife and put the very tip of it into the slot of the lock. She worked hurriedly--she had no way of knowing if patrol would be returning soon and given the situation, she was not working with much time as it was. It took her a few frustrating minutes but finally, the lock gave a satisfying snap and she caught it in her hands before it fell to the ground. She carefully placed it at the foot of the door before giving the door a push, not opening it more than she had to in order to slide inside.

She knelt over the boy, her hair pooling around the side of his body as she delicately placed her hands on his side. Adjusting his weight as carefully as she could, she turned his body slightly and pulled him up a bit so his head rested in her lap. Using her free hand, she fished around in her furs until she produced a water canteen and took the cap off, pouring a bit over his face in an attempt to wake him up. She lowered her lashes a bit as she gazed at him--he looked so battered and worn down. She sprinkled a few more drops on his face, unable to do much else to wake him up. All she could do was hope he would regain consciousness soon--she would have to report this finding to Miss Jennifer and V'lyn, after all.