Lilliad chp 12

Professor Maki did indeed see them to the door, and waved politely until they were out of sight. She told them to come back at any time, and she might have meant it. She and Elathor had had a brief conversation about the leadership structure of the College, which implied that after all their self-defensing, Professor Maki might be eligible for other promotions in the near future. Best of luck to her and all that, but Lilli was happy to get back into the sunlight.

“I’m free.” Igni stretched, hands blotting out the sun. “I’ve never been outside- well, I suppose I was fished out of some stream as a baby, but I don’t remember that.”

“Freedom is marvelous,” Elathor agreed.

“Let’s go into the plague-ridden hellspot,” Lilli suggested. “Before they burn it to the ground.”

Igni rotated craggy neck stones until blue eyes were squinting dubiously at Lilli. “That does not sound very fun.”

“You can go anywhere you want.” Lilli patted Igni. “We’re fine on our own. We really do appreciate all the help. Is there something you’d like to do? Anywhere to go?”

Igni paused, swaying slightly. 

“We can take you somewhere first. You can stay at Elathor’s house,” Lilli suggested. 

“I can?” Igni seemed pleased. “I might do that. But I’ll go into the … plague hell with you first.”

Lilli grinned. “Things have gone very smoothly since we met,” she admitted. “I think we will have a lot less problems with you on our side.” 

There was one problem that Lilli quickly identified. Elathor seemed oblivious to it, but the way that people on the streets responded to their group was suddenly a bit different.

‘I think if I need to sneak, I’ll have to go ahead of Igni.’

They were not going to blend in at all, to be frank. But that might not be a problem. 

She watched from her perch as a woman carrying boxes stepped into Igni’s shadow, blinked, and said, “Oh good lord.” The woman turned back around and went into the same shop.

Lilli repressed a snort.

She didn’t have to keep her head down and avoid attention if other people were going to see her friend group and then immediately go into the closest unlocked building. It was just a different tactic for avoiding bullshit.

“It looks different from up here, I like it.” Elathor leaned forward. “I think that we should put down our belongings at Melthior’s shop before we go into hell.” He indicated the direction with his long, prehensile tail. 

Without comment, Igni changed paths to follow Elathor’s instruction. They covered the distance in about half the time it would have taken Lilli to walk. The crowd was very obliging and considerate of Igni. People made room for them to walk down the middle of the street. They scattered like flocks of birds. 

Luckily, the crowds grew very thin as they got near Melthior’s unpopular shop. There was another problem-

“I will inform Melthior that we must enlarge the door,” Elathor said. He seemed to be making a mental note. “Just a moment. I’ll hide these things inside and then we can be on our way.” After the door closed behind him, Lilli and Igni existed in a relaxed silence for about a minute.

“You want to do what?” Melthior’s voice was louder than Lilli had ever heard before. Elathor’s answer was casual enough that all she could hear was the rumble of his voice. 

“My door?” Melthior sounded a bit grieved. 

The door opened. Lilli pretended that she hadn’t been listening. 

“Yes, thank you,” Elathor said, as if the conversation he was having with Melthior was entirely civil. “We’re continuing our walk. Would you care to come with us?”

Melthior followed him enough that Lill could see a cloud of red hair and a shadowed face in the entryway. “I’m staying,” she said sternly. She leaned out a bit. “Igni, is it?”

Igni bent down. “It is Igni,” Igni confirmed. “Igneous, specifically.”

“That’s still pretty general,” Melthior rebuffed. She hummed. “I’ll pull out my geology book and we can look at your lineage after you come back.”

“Delightful,” Igni said, more sincere than Lilli had heard before. “We can pinpoint what I am.”

“Stay safe,” Melthior said. She pointed a finger at Elathor. “Avoid bringing the authorities back here. I have a full dance class scheduled tonight and I don’t want you getting arrested and scaring off my customers.”

“No witnesses,” Elathor reassured.

“No crime,” Melthior countered.

Elathor laughed.

They left Melthior stewing in a resigned silence and squinting at the front door. Elathor resumed giving directions, and Lilli felt increasingly anxious. She used her perch to watch everyone around, trying to pinpoint anyone who might be paying them too much attention.

‘I think someone is going to notice us going into that district.’

She worried the problem over.

‘Surely it’s being watched, if it’s under lockdown. How long will it take for us to get reported to the authorities? That’s if no one tries to stop us-- are we going to have to fight?’

...She had a sinking feeling that it would be hard to defuse any confrontation to a nice ‘let’s agree to disagree’. Igni had a ‘kick first, ask questions later’ attitude. It was a wonderful quality for a friend to have, but it was so far out of Lilli’s wheelhouse that she just couldn’t guess how they should navigate the fallout from using that tactic.

“I want to go in alone,” Lilli said. 

Igni stopped walking. 

“I think there’s probably guards watching it. Can you two distract them while I sneak inside?” She hesitated. “Non-fatally. If we self-defense public employees, questions will be asked.” She felt a little bit guilty about trying to reign them in, but she also felt a bit sick at the idea of smashing their way in and leaving bodies to be reported when the next shift came in. Who was to say if they would be able to get in and out of the district before the next guards came? If timing was bad, they might walk out to an ambush. 

…and then Igni would kick them all, and there would be no consequences.

Still, murder was wrong. 

“That’s fine,” Elathor said. “Igni, let’s deceive and distract them with a clever story.”

“Oh, that does sound nice.” Igni’s tone perked up. “Can we be bards? I like bards. Old red-beard liked to keep a bard around.”

“Fan of music?” Lilli asked. That was unexpected common ground. “Do you sing? Or play an instrument.”

“No, but I would like to learn,” Igni said thoughtfully. “The bards were for squishing. They knew so much, and they talked about it when I squished the stray hand or foot.”

“I can try to teach you the lute,” Lilli said. She chose not to deal with the rest of that. “I’ve never actually touched one, but I’ve watched a lot and I think I know where to begin.”

Lilli slipped off of Igni’s shoulder and down to the street. “I’ll go ahead. Wait a few minutes.” Then she walked into the crowd. She had to go around a corner and down several blocks before she was able to detach from the visual spectacle of her heroically conspicuous companions.

The gate to the plagued district was closed and locked. There was indeed a guard. Lilli crept on catlike feet, sticking to shadows. She didn’t dare go directly to the gate. She mulled it over.

‘Igni could just punch through that gate, but that will be noticed. If I want to get in unseen, I’m going to have to do something else.’

The guard hadn’t noticed her yet. But surely they’d see someone scaling the wall. They would hear if she crept around them and used the control lever to open the gate. 

She looked at the wall, wondering about following it a block or two away and trying to scale it. It was covered in a poisonous, thorny vine. There were no visible footholds. And it was, of course, quite tall.

‘I could probably climb it.’

Lilli bit her lip. And then she startled as something cold and hard poked into her back. 

“Hands up,” a stranger said. “What are you sneaking around here for?”