Chapter CCXXXI:
Three’s a Pretty Small Crowd ~Artemis/Multehx
Lady North
stepped through the door and was almost surprised to find herself at the edge
of a clearing, where two men sat beside a small fire nearby. She shrugged and
closed the door behind her, taking one step foreword and a jump backward,
cursing loudly. She picked up her right foot, and picked a spurred seed out of
her heel, throwing it unceremoniously to the ground.
"Ah yes, I can already tell this is going to be a wondrous job," The woman in white muttered to herself as she conjured up a gust of wind as her walking surface.
Aa'ron was good for a lot of things,
but he could have at least warned her about how the terrain would affect her
poor bare feet! She sighed, walking a foot off the ground in the air, where no
prickly things could make her angry, as well as give away her position, seeing
as how the two men now had their full attention on her.
Lady North
stopped a few feet from the campfire, giving the two men a polite nod. She had
stopped bowing to people a long time ago, and polite greetings were left to
words. The man with the white hair looked up at her, blinked, and then focused
his attention back to his meal.
The other man
was quite odd indeed, and that was quite an understatement. Light green hair
framed a green-skinned face that held no nose. Lady North chuckled inwardly.
Well, it was different. He wore a forest green cloak over his clothes, and was
chewing thoughtfully on a piece of meat, staring at her. According to Aa'ron's lacking description, this was the man who had
called on the winds. She smiled politely, folding her hands in front of her.
"Greetings," she said to him.
He raised an eyebrow, and kept watching her intently, finally lowering his head in a sigh of exasperation muttering under his breath.
"And absolutely nothing out of the abnormal happens..." was what he said, and even with her wind manipulation abilities, Da'ana found it difficult to hear what he had said. He then raised his head again, looking across the fire to the other man.
"Maybe my cologne is pretty nasty; it seems to be getting to me," he stated.
The white-haired man shrugged, slicing another piece off the roast. Lady North sniffed at the air, and her nose wrinkled at the scent. She coughed softly, covering a chuckle. It smelled like something the children would have found attractive. Da'ana sat down in an invisible chair facing the green-haired man and leaned forward slightly.
"Now, let us get to business, shall we? This job is not easy. Who were you trying to contact, so I may better relay the message?"
The man looked at her as if she had two heads, then raised a slender hand and scratched the back of his neck, as if trying to think something out.
"That strange...thing that sent me here probably left me with a damn concussion..." he muttered, once again barely out of her range of hearing.
Lady North let out a frustrated sigh, and glared at him, her violet eyes blazing in quiet fury.
"I assure you, there are no physical deformities about you. You have no concussion, you have no fever, and you are not insane. Well...not to the point of making up illusions, at least. I am quite real, and unless you start making this a bit easier, you will have that concussion in the matter of a few minutes."
With that comment, he jumped to his metal-clad feed, his cloak whipping dramatically behind him, and he stood in what looked like a fighting stance.
"Delusion or not, this one's too damn cocky," he growled, still addressing everyone but herself. "No woman in white does that to me thanks, I save that jazz for Havering and his scuzzballs."
Out of all the reactions Lady North would have expected, and this was not quite the one she would have favored. Da'ana sighed and waved her right hand, causing a gust of wind to send him unceremoniously back on his bottom on the ground.
"I am not a delusion, you sorry excuse for a demon. I am here to help you. You were the one who shouted into the winds 'You novice wanna-be guardian of existence, I need to talk to you, RIGHT NOW!!!' not me! Now, if you could just tell me your name, and the name of who you were trying to contact, I will be out of your way, and you will be in contact with that person. Now, shall we try this again?"
"Well, miss high and mighty, I wanted to speak to C.R., the Rip Watcher. He seems to be out of contact currently through any usual method, and I didn't know the wind was a blinkin’ pager service. How many times have I been on the job and I never got anyone, gyah!"
"Why does that name seem familiar to me...ah, oh well,” she replied. “Now, if you just tell me your name, I shall see what I can do about hooking you two up, hmm?" She settled back into her chair.
"Believe me, I doubt if he can be reached by this stuff, something's wrong. So I wouldn't even try."
"Yes, but I am not you, and if you did not know the wind was a...‘blinkin’ pager service’...whatever that may be...then obviously you do not know whether or not this... C.R....may be reached," she told him, feeling like she was back in her Tower, lecturing a new Child on the workings of their new world. She rested her head in her hands, sighing softly.
"Believe me, lady, if he can't be reached, then there's a reason to it. Unlike a phone, no 'hang up and dial again's’ work."
There was a finality in his voice that made her no longer wish to pursue the matter. She stood up, still hovering a foot above the actual ground, and gave him another nod.
"Well then, I shall leave you to it. Know that you may use the winds for communication, though depending on how busy I am, it may or may not work. I am but only one these days, and problems number many."
"
Less than ten minutes with the man, and Da'ana was already overlooking his oddities. She shrugged and started off towards the door, feeling almost lost as she went to go back to her life. She looked back, wondering what it was like to wander from day to day...constantly searching for...something. Lady North put her hand on the handle and opened the door.
But the door wouldn't open. Puzzled, Da'ana tried again, and was faced with the same result. In a frustrated attempt, she kicked the door. As was usual with her luck, it disappeared. The Lady of the North Wind stood dumbfounded, looking beyond where the portal door had stood.
"Oh what in the nine hells is this..." She muttered angrily. "Aa'ron!! AA'RON! Bring back the door right this instant! This isn't funny Aa'ron!" She screamed into the sky. After waiting a few moments, Da'ana realized that the door would not be rematerializing any time soon. Suddenly, she noticed that she was alone...in an open field...with the only source of conversation nearby was in two men who seemed comfortable in the company of a rock.
Lady North made her way back to the campfire, and sat in her invisible chair.
"So..."
she said casually, "what's for lunch?"