Some time after K'piru vanished from her own hotel room, K'ile finally stirred from where he sat against the bed. He left K'luha on the bed and leaned forward, eyes on the thing K'piru had grabbed at as she had left, as though it had been precious. She'd taken papers -- signs of the Ul'dahn's obsessions of gil and paper setting into her mind -- and something from this box. There was another peice of paper on it, and he recognized it as a letter even if he couldn't make out the penmanship with his meager skills at words. Paper wrapping about some obscured item.
"Luha," he said, "Can you read this note?" He held it out to the woman on the bed.
K'luha was half asleep, tormented by the dreams of people's backs growing further away until they were swallowed whole. But K'ile's voice stirred her from her sleep and she blinked a few times before looking over. A note...?
She carefully took it and moved to sit up a little bit so she might read it.
K'ile dug into the package, turning aside the paper wrapping, then frowned and closed the wrapping again. "What's it say?" He walked over to the bed and sat down next to K'luha.
Luha struggled to read the letter very well, and stumbled over a few words, but eventually got the whole letter read out in tact.Â
<<< 'Dear Miss Antimony,
I hope you are still in Ul'dah as I am sending this message post haste and I fear the delivery moogles might kill me if you're not. The journey to Coerthas has gone well and I am back in the snow. It's really lovely this time of year, I hope that you will come up someday to visit. In honor of the Starlight Celebration, I've sent this coat for you. You know, if it gets cold or if you want to come up to Coerthas and wear it. Or sell it. You could do that too. But I hope it will be of more use to you in wearing and not selling.Â
My sincerest reguards to you this day. In meeting you I have found the strength to go back and face something that I have most feared. I was running away from my fears, but for some reason you've inspired me to go and fix the things I have broken. A little bit like you fixed my head.Â
I wish you a wonderful day, and I hope that this message gets to you safely.
Your Friend,Â
Mitari Xerxes.Â
Aka that one miq'ote dude you healed and got you thrown in jail in case you already forgot.Â
P.S. I dont' know why this Elezen noble sent me these... but they look like they'd fit you better. Or you could just burn them or something. Maybe a nice regift? I just thought maybe you could find more use for them than me.' >>>
K'ile frowned deeper and looked down into the box, moving the paper again to look at the gift which he now concluded had been sent with the letter, from this Mitari person. He took a deep breath, and held it, closing his eyes. He muttered gravely, "I see."
Illira had been sitting down in the tavern portion of the Quicksand for sometime now. After having collected herself for a little while in her own innroom, she had returned downstairs to await for Antimony to come meet her, so that they might get about clearing up the mess that this investigation had turned into. She had a strong tea sitting down in front of her, though it appeared to not have had much drunk from it. Instead, she glanced around impatientally. Surely it shouldn't take this long to have moved her things to a new room.Â
She sighed. But this was Antimony. Delays were to be expected.
K'luah wasn't sure what to make of the letter, but apparently K'ile didn't make anything positive of it. She instead folded it carefully and moved to hand it back to K'ile.
"May I have it back?" K'ile reached to take the letter from K'luha.
K'luha handed it back without another word.
K'ile stood suddenly, throwing the box in front of him and singing his hand against the note. The small scrap of paper burst into flames and dispersed in the air. He shouted angrily, "She's left us to go to Coerthas and be with some foreign lover! Look!" He held forth the suggestively tight holiday pantalettes that had been contained in the box, "His choice of gifts and words of fake just-friendship tell me his intentions are unworthy! I won't stand for it!"
Illira sipped a bit from tea, tapping her leather clad foot on the floor. Upon realizing that she was doing so, she immediately put a stop to such and set her down her barely touched drink. She looked around again, taking in the fact that many people had come and come already in the time that she had been left to sit and wait.
K'luha flinched and looked to K'ile's sudden violent outburst. A lover in Coerthas? It hadn't really sounded like that to her. Although, part of K'luah was about ready to tell him just to hand over his damn braclet and chase after her for the rest of eternity. But that wasn't fair to him. He had been very patient with her. She owed him the same.Â
"K'ile..." K'luah called softly. "The letter said he didn't know what to do with them and that she might have some other use for them. Those were originally sent to a man from someone else it sounds like. He didn't really sounds like a lover to me." She sighed heavily and looked at him wearily. "I don't think she's running off to Coerthas to meet a lover."
"And what would you do," K'ile said, tossing the pantalettes towards K'luha, "If I gave these to you and said," his voice depended and turned into something smooth, with a smirk. "Hey, let's find some 'other uses' for those. Hm?"
K'luha picked the pantlettes off her face and examined them. Clean... and a nice color. "I would do this." K'luah remined somewhat smugly and reached down to remove her own pantlettes. They were flifthy anyway and she tossed the dirty pair at K'ile before putting on the clean pair. "Much better."
K'ile spasmed and recoiled.
"Well excuse me. You didn't lie dying on the desert floor for hours. I was sick of having sand everywhere." K'luha frowned and looked away from K'ile, faintly upset that he was spasm and recoil. She opened her mouth and closed it again, fighting the urge to tell him to just go chase K'piru.
 "We can get you a bath, then!" K'ile protested.
"There's still sand... everywhere." K'luha grumbled, pulling at her top as if to illustrate her point. "The sand out near Ul'dah is not the sand in the Sagolii. I dislike it. But yes. At some point, a bath would be good." She took a long sigh and glanced back at K'ile.
Between the many that had moved across the Quicksand at that moment, was a lalafell carrying a basket. She was not wearing rags, but almost: a bulky hooded coat, yellowed more by use than by age. She carried a basket, big for her size, and wore a smile in her face. She walked among the adventurers and drunks, her head barely visible above the tables. She walked next to Illira and did not recognize her, but the Elezen might have noticed that it was Ulanan. Also known as "Antimony's pet lalafell". Or so some evil tongues said. She passed by and went towards the room.
Illira watched as a tiny figure walked by her, her eyes narrowed in faint recognition, before sitting back in her chair, having decided to give Antimony a few more moments before returning to her room to see what the hold up was, not wanting to deal with the headache that dwelled within its walls.
Ulanan reached the room's door with surpising swiftness. She aligned herself properly with the frame, placed the basket down at her side and raised her other hand high into the air, stretching her arm and yawning. With that formality out of the way, she knocked the door three times.
K'ile stilled when he heard the knocking on the door, giving K'luha a look. Of course a thousand thoughts went through his head as to who it could be. One of them was K'piru's "boss" and the rest were all K'piru. With a deep breath to steady himself, K'ile walked to the door. It's important to describe K'ile now: he is a shirtless, tribal Miqo'te, covered in dirt and sweat. His extremely red hair is topped by a bandana that does not fully conceal it. His tail swings about behind him like a thing on fire.
He thew open the door, looking and finding... nothing. What? He leaned forward and looked to either side, very confused.
Ulanan's confusion was unparalleled. She did not waste any time staring at the shirtless man, instead using those precious seconds to step back, cough, and think brief unlady things. "Excuse me, sir, but I'm...looking for Antimony. Did I get the wrong room?" she said, leaning away from him and looking to the other doors in the hallway, checking their numbers.
The door? Oh god, not that woman again. K'luha pulled the blankets over her head again and frowned. She couldn't do that again. Not again but... When she didn't hear rude comments, Luha paused and pulled the blankets from her face. Antimony...? It sounded really familiar for some reason.
"What?" K'ile looked down. A short... Hyur? Lalafel! He stepped back quickly. "Oh! That's... hi. Uhm. This is K'piru's room."
Illira once again took a deep breath, this time, getting up out of the chair. She glanced down at her tea, as though considering what its fate should be. Apparently it was to be left cold and unappreciated, since the Elezen walked away from the table and towards the Inn stairs that led to the Inn rooms.
A shadow crossed the lalafell's face. One hand moved to pick up the basket from its resting place, but did not lift it. "K'piru." she echoed. "Are you members of her tribe? Did K'ailia send you?" she asked with a deep frown.
"Uhm," K'ile stepped back again. A dark premenition washed over him, like a cool wind blowing out of the Lalafel's tiny shadow. Something terrible was about to happen. he could feel it in his bones. Every fold on the Lalafel was suddenly dark as night, and that basket it... what terrible secrets did it conceal?
The Tia's feet caught on K'luha's discarded pantalette as he backed up, and he began to stumble to try and rid it from his foot. "Nobody sent us!" he said as he struggled, "We're friends! She invited us!"
Well that was the most blatant lie K'luha had ever heard. She cast her glance over towards K'ile, but her face didn't betray anything. Friends... bah. K'piru had looked like she would rather die than ever meet with them again.
Walking up the stairs for the third time this day, Illira saw instantly Antimony's old room at the back of the hallway, though curiously, it had a Lalafell standing in front of it this time. She paused, frowning, before letting her long legs carry her the rest of the way to the room, stopping just short of the viewing range from withinside the room, the tiny miscreant just a few feet in front of her.
Ulanan paid no attention to the lingering Elezen. She was too busy squinting suspiciously at K'ile. "Where is she?" she asked. Her eyes moved from the man to the rest of the room until they met the woman on the bed. She did not squint at her, though she did raise a brow.
"I think," K'ile freed the pantalettes from his food and held them awkwardly. "I think she's run off to Coerthas to be with some guy? Wait! Who are you?"
"She didn't run off to Coerthas to be with some guy K'ile." K'luha retorted, frowning at him. "We had no idea where she is. She just left. Saying she left to go be with a man in Coerthas is like you telling me to meet you in Drybone." K'luha huffed, still bitter over the incident.
Twinflame: "But she took a coat!" K'ile protested.
"A coat does not mean a lover in Coerthas! It means he invited her to come and sent her a coat out of goodwill." K'luha snapped back.
Illira steps behind the Lalafell in full view of the doorway, having heard enough, "So Antimony has runaway then? I should not be surprised to hear such news. She is much to fragile for her own good."
Ulanan turned around and stared, first at Illira's knees, and then to her face, like social customs dictate one should stare at people. "Hello, miss Greetings-are-not-my-thing. It's good to see you!" she said faking a smile so well faked it could have been actually sincere. The lalafell moved to a side of the door, losing eye contact with K'luha but gaining the advantage of not having a tall elezen creepily standing at her back.
K'ile frowned at Illira's appearance and pointed at her face, "I don't need to remind you to watch what you say."
K'luha flinched visibly at the appearance of... that woman again. Why was the room suddenly assualted with so many people? "No one knows where K'piru is right now!" Luha huffed irritably at the door.
"Do not threaten me, Miqo'te. You are not in the right. But you say that she left? She has not come to met me to begin to remedy her mistake."
Ulanan growled. "We get it: Antimony's not like you and that makes you angry. Get over it." She leant forward to take a better look at K'ile and smiled in approval of his reaction. "Why do you say she ran off to Coerthas?"
"There was a letter from some guy," K'ile said. "And it- wait! Who are you?"
Luha took a deep breath and tried to stop herself from getting angry at all the people that for some fucking reason, had decided to show up.
Illira frowns before saying, "This is Antimony's pet Lalafell. I don't remember her name. But she follows Antimony most everywhere. For her to have left the woman behind is strange."
"I'm her friend, Ulanan." She stopped only to cast a murderous glare to Illira. Then she added in more friendly terms to K'ile: "Can I see that letter? I doubt she will go to running to Coerthas like a headless dodo. No matter how much your tribe scares her off!"
Nope. Anger reached. K'luha sat up ricikedly in the bed, her tail bristling outwards in anger. Â "I'm sick of all of you people! What do you know about what happened? What do you know about why she left? You know nothing! I never did anything to my aunt other than love her and try to help her! I don't understand why she feels like she does! Get out! All of you, get out!" K'luha voice was quite booming and could be considered intimatdating if a half-naked miq'ote with a broken hip was intimidating. Which was to say, it probably wasn't.
K'ile was intimidated, because K'luha had prolly beat him up before. He swallowed this and walked over to her. "Hey, the Lalafel didn't mean anything. I think." He also put his hands firmly on her shoulders and pushed, saying gently, "Lay back down or I'm going to strangle you until you pass out."
"GOOD." Luha spat back furioulsy, pushing back up to sit up again. "GET OUT! SHE'S NOT HERE SO GO FIND HER ALREADY!" She screech insanely towards the door.
Illira takes the opportunity to enter the room, as K'ile has left the doorway. "I cannot leave the information that she did gather. I am sorry for your loss, woman, but I have reason to believe that the both of you have played a significant role in Antimony's breakdown. Do not turn your ire to me, you'll only injure yourself more."
Twinflame: Pushing K'luha down hard and pinning her there, he says, "I am serious, Luha. You don't get to move. I dont care what's going on around us. Keep your back on the bed."
Ulanan stood where she was, at the side of the door. She leant to look inside, though, managing to get half of her hooded self popping from the door frame's side like some kind of tiny yellowed ghost.
K'luha was about ready to launch herself onto Illira and scratch her eyes and throat out. If K'ile hadn't been holding down, she probably would have tried it. K'ile was much stronger than her however and she flopped down against the bed as he pushed her down with more force.Â
She was going to listen to K'ile and try and calm herself.Â
But then the lalafell spoke up.
"I know exactly why she left your tribe," Ulanan said. And then added a non sequitur: "Did she take anything with herself...besides the coat?"
K'luha hissed and tried to push back up against K'ile. If she could just be free she would tear the lot of their eyes out and use them as decoration on a fucking necklace! "GET OUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU FUCKING KNOW YOU LITTLE SHIT! GET THE FUCK OUT BEFORE I GET FREE AND RIP YOUR NECK OUT!" K'luha howled again like a women utterly possessed.
Stepping over to the desk, Illira was beginning to rifle through and collect the documents and findings as relates to Antimony's investigation into the Pearl Lane Brass Blades, when K'luha began yelling. She looks over her shoulder at the woman, saying with some fervor in her voice, "You are not the only one she left in the lerch. Do not wallow in selfish interest. I intend to collect the documents and leave."
K'luha could practically picture her claws digging into the Elezen's neck and ripping it to pieces. She reached a claw hand out, her eyes straining to see that neck that she might shred...
For a woman that couldn't possibly get up, K'luha did manage to make herself difficult to hold down. K'ile Tia made a face at her and Luha and said, "If you weren't struggling I'd have thrown them out by now."
Her ears twitched as K'lile spoke to her and she slowly turned her gaze towards his blue eyes. He would get rid of them then? K'luha inhaled deeply, cooling her temper and dropping her arm back against the bed.Â
Ulanan pouted. All of the women in the K tribe she had met, who were not Antimony, were giving her terrible impressions. She stepped fully into the door, grasping the basket with both hand. "May I speak with the sensible male outside after the room is empty of strangers, then?"
"..... sorry...lost my temper..." K'luha muttered half apologetically towards K'ile. She took another deep breath and clenched her fists together. "I cannot stand that Elezen woman one second longer. I am sick of outsiders. So sick of their ways and corruption and big mouths that can't possible know the hurt that they vomit from their sick mouths. I hate this place." K'luha ranted quietly, mostly to herself. She pressed her hands to her face and tried to inhale deeply, trying to keep calm. If that damn Elezen woman spoke one more time though, she was going to flip her shit again.
K'ile rose from K'luha as she calmed, taking a breath himself, turning away from her.
Her jaw tightening and her lips pressed tight together, Illira turned back away from the bed to the desk, to shuffle through the mess once again, in an attempt to find the what work Antimony had done on the case, so that the next person may not have to start from scratch. Not that it would be her, even if she knew anything about finance analysis, it would be impossible for her to make any headway by sheer virtue that it was Lamandu Tyremandu that was under investigation. It would come as no surprise to her if the man would attempt to have her thrown in the same jail that held Amaury, if she attempted to investigate in what was now his domain.
Ulanan made two incredible discoveries. First, that the woman in the bed had a short temper. She was almost like a bomb, grinning while it waited to jump out of the blankets and explode on someone's poor face. Second, that this woman could be set off prematurely if any 'outsider' spoke. Armed with this knowledge, Ulanan stated: "So she took only a coat."
The Tia looked towards Ulanan and said, "She took a coat and a bunch of papers. Like an Ul'dahn, taking papers and gil everywhere." He approached the Elezen, stepping well into her personal space with his arms crossed. "You need to leave, 'boss'. Or I'm throwing you out on that long neck of yours."
Illira paused at the mention of papers having been taken, she continued to stare down at the desk, braids framing her long face. She slowly removed her hands from the desk, not having succeded in making it much more of a mess than it already was, "You know, for people who purport to tell me that I am a bitch for my own mannerisms. You miqo'te have shown me nothing but venom, harsh words, and violence." She turns around at that, "I can see why Antimony left you. I won't tell her that she should return once I find her."
"No more than you deserve!" K'luha hissed sharply at the Elezen. "You're not welcome here. Get out." Feeling her temper starting to return, she tried to inhale deeply again to ward it off. She had never been very good with the whole... anger management deal.
Ulanan took turns staring blankly at them while they spoke. After Illira spoke, she said: "If Antimony -or K'piru, as you know her- comes back, please tell her to wait for me? I had a present for her."
Somehow Ulanan's request soften K'luha's anger. A present for... K'piru? Then... K'luha's ears flattened a bit. Was this lalafell K'piru's friend? That K'piru could abandon even her friends... What exsisted that her aunt wouldn't abandon? Perhaps nothing...
"She could still be in the city. She only just left. She may just be clearing her head you know. There's no evidance that she actually left for Coerthas. I don't even know how she would get there..." K'luha suggested softly. "She couldn't have gotten that far... Really, I think you could find her in Ul'dah still..." This was directed at Ulanah, because as far as K'luha was concerned that Elezen bitch needed to be put down.
K'ile looks over at K'luha and says, "I could find her for sure, but I think I comitted to not chasing her." He pauses after saying that, looks at the floor, gets lost inside himself for a moment. Then he shakes his head and looks back to K'luha, "Hey, what was the name on the letter again? The guy who sent it?"
Illira's thin lips pressed together further, almost disappearing entirely as she continued to listen, not having left the desk area yet.
"You could..." K'luha suggested softly, but stopped herself. "If it's me you're worried about I'll live. If you want to chase her than you can, but if you're committed not to, I won't push you to either." She clarified calmly before thinking back. The name? Name,... something weird. "Mitari... Xerxes? Yeah, that was it. Mitari Xerxes."
K'ile grabbed Illira by one arm very roughly and began to pull her out of the room, "I was patient!"
Illira looks down at the man's hand, that threatened to pull her arm out of her socket. The man may have been much shorter than her, but he was obviously to hard work. "Let go, savage hypocrite."
"Hells with that, Ul'dahn hypocrite."
"Excuse me!" Ulanan said out loud, taking care that her tone came as friendly and explicative. "I suggest you do not start a fight here because we are on the Adventurer's Guild." She gestured with the free hand vaguely. It probably had some meaning to someone. "A place filled with armed adventurers that will not take kindly a fight in their own guild."
The man would continut to haul the woman towards the hall, "I'm not going to let some haughty lady come into K'piru's room and boss me around. She's got no hold on me."
Illira sets the hand that isn't being tugged along, and tries to pry the mans fingers from her wrist. It is doubtful that her having dug her heels in is doing much, as K'ile's lower height would help him in his current quest. "This room is not Antimony's. It is the CRA's. You have no right to oust me at this time, not that one as simple as you would understand."
At this, K'luha sharply reached over and grabbed a small coin purse from her bag. She carefully took aim at Illira's head and chucked it at her. Â "There's your damn gil!"
Ulanan opened her mouth to speak, but by the time she did that the purse was already flying. She thought that talking at that point would just fall in deaf ears, and maybe a hurt head. She watched it fly towards Illira.
The gil glanced off of Illira's head. Illira took a breath, this time letting herself get taken out of the room. The sheer moment bringing heat to the back of her neck and cheeks out of embarrastment. But the man's grip was strong, and it didn't right his wrong to return the favor, as her life was not in danger.
Ulanan did not laugh when the purse hit Illira. She wanted to. She also wanted to cheer as if it was some kind of military victory. However, in the name of diplomacy, she sighed. "You know, she is right. Antimony isn't paying for this room. She is. If you kick her out of here, she will call the authorities and kick you -and- K'piru away for causing trouble." She rubbed her forehead with one finger. "So let her do what she came to do, please. She'll leave soon enough anyway, specially if Antimony took the papers she wants."
"You Ul'dahns and your laws!" K'ile snapped at the Lalafel. He genuinely didn't understand how the Elezen could walk in, abuse them, and then hide behind ephemeral words that may not actually exist. It was, to him, the greatest corruption, the very darkness of the world itself. To him, it was the same thing that had caused Cartenau; laws, gil, papers, and those who fought over them.
He deposited Illira in the hallway and said, "Fine, you want papers? I'll give you ever scrap of paper in the entire room! I hate them!" He turned and stomped back into the room.
K'luha did a small fist pump when she hit the woman's head. So she could still throw and had good aim! Excellent. As for the Lalafell's warning... Luha groaned. She was right. Unfortunately. But that's what the gil thrown at the woman's head was for.Â
"K'ile... come here." K'luha sighed, motioning for him to come to her. She wasn't sure if he would listen but, maybe.
Ulanan shrugged. "Your tribe must have laws, too."
Illira let her steely, angered gaze fall back over the grimy man that had just thrown her out into the hall. She rubbed at wrist, just as she had rubbed at the jaw he'd meant to shatter earlier in the morning. "Laws are inescapable. They are all that seperate us from the beasts and allow us to function on a higher level. Not that you currs care about more than your next meal." She turns on her heel, walking back down the hall.
"What?" K'ile said to K'luha, not approaching her. He went instead to the desk and began to pile up papers, saying as he did, "Oh, we have laws. Plenty. I enforce them. They don't include being able to abuse people and hide from the consequences. They don't give fake power."
Well. That went swimmingly. K'luha gave up on K'ile for the time being and instead rubbed at her aching hip. She probably shouldn't have tried to eat their eyes out when she got angry. Ah... well. Too late now.
Ulanan took a step into the room. "Forget about the laws, and those papers, for the time being. You should help me find K'piru." she said to K'ile.
K'ile stopped his paper-rustling, looking over at Ulanan, and said, "I shouldn't. I can't keep chasing her down if she doesn't want to be found. I'm not that kind of Tia." His eyes went to the empty doorway, and the empty hallway, "Hey, the Elezen ran off."
"While I'm quite confident that she will return here eventually, I don't want to take the risk of sitting here, waiting, while she runs off northwards and gets mauled by qiqirn or ants." Ulanan stated her worry to the room. She clenched the handle of the basket with both hands and raised it. "You can come back here as soon as we find her. If she's in town it won't be long."
"I said 'no'." K'ile turned from the papers to look down at the Lalafel. "I don't know you, and she can run off if she wants. If you really want to find her, you need to do it the old-fashioned way."
Luha glanced towards K'ile again. She wondered if he would go to find her. Or had he enough of chasing women down for a lifetime? Kluha had to admit, she was surprised when he said no. But perhaps some things were more important than chasing down a woman who wanted nothing to do with them anymore.Â
Luha grunted faintly at the agitating pain, but made no comments.
Ulanan shrugged and turned around, picking up her basket. "Please tell her I stopped by. Goodbye!" She smiled and waved one hand in farewell before leaving the room and walking down the hallway.
Frowning at the Lalafel as she walked off, K'ile was too confused by the nature of the exchange and unprepared for the sudden departure, so didn't even think to say goodbye to the tiny woman.
K'luha was indeed surprised as well, but nonetheless extremely happy to have all of the damn intruders out of the room.Â
"Next time someone knocks, we don't answer. " Kluha grumbled bitterly.
Illira made her way down the stairs, stopping short when she saw the hotel clerk. Her jaw is still clenched, and she breathed hard; angry from her embarrasment at being hauled out. She leaned against the wall, forcing herself to take some deep calming breaths. The man had no right to do what he did. But they were all angry and riled and hurt, emotion obviously ruling the hearts of the savages. She knew that she could have them ousted, arrested. And she wanted to. Oh, she wanted to. But was that merely her wounded pride and own personal desire run wicked?
It was certainly something that many of her former compratriots in the blades would not hesitate to do. But so many of them were too far gone in their own self-interest to do what is right by the law, but their law is not hers and the man did not seem even to grasp the concepts of society outside of his bubble. The woman was obviously in a great deal of pain and not in her own right mind.Â
Illira swallowed deeply, her eyes closed. When she opened them, she took another breath and walked over towards the clerk's desk.
Motioning the clerk over, Illira asked for a paper and something to write with. When he returned with the requested items, Illira began to write, though her hand shook slightly as she did so, still full of excess righteous anger that she was. But it wasn't so blinding now. She sealed the letter, writing the word, "Tia" on the front of it. She left it and a some gil with the clerk, asking for the letter to be taken up to the room that she had just left.Â
She still needed to find Antimony before she left town. And time was of the essence.
After he overcame his momentary confusion, K'ile walked over to the door and closed it, frowning as though the action were a complicated task and the ability to complete it caught him off guard. After a few seconds he looked up to K'luha, "Alright, yeah. ... I don't know what to make of all this."
"Only that K'piru has run again, possibly but not for sure to Coerthas, and that two people are looking for her, and she knows and is friends with a man named Mitari." Kluha replied without a moments hesitation. "Also that I really want to go home." She added as an afterthought.
Moving towards K'luha, K'ile said, "I think we need to wait until your hip heals. And how are we going to find the food without K'piru? I don't even know where to look."
The innkeep sent a young woman up to the room that K'luha and K'ile are currently occupying. She knocked softly on the door.
Hearing the knock, K'ile makes a face, and states, "Not answering."
Kluha glared at the knocking door like she might murder whomever had the audacity to do this bullshit again. She looked to K'ile before grabbing for his hand very suddenly. When he said he wasn't going to answer she relaxed a bit. "Well, then we can figure things out more in the morning."
The girl knocked again, "'ello? I have a letter 'ere?" She waits a few moments more for an answer before sliding it underneath the door.
K'ile frowned at the envelope slid under the door. He observed, "The Ul'dahns are sticking paper under the doors now. Outsiders are insane."
Kluha eyed the paper like it would explode on him. She was tired. So tired. Maybe K'piru would come back. Maybe she wouldn't. Kluha was too tired to care. "Open it later." She huffed. "Come here. You should sleep."
<<< Tia.
You hate me, just as I hate you. My laws are not your own, and you sought to protect your territory as beasts do. I could send to have you arrested, but the only best interest that it would serve is the pride that you damaged. I would be playing into the very hands of the Ul'dah that we both hate. I would not have my emotion best me, the way that does your kind. Your woman needs medical attention, even I can see that. I have paid for your room for the next couple of nights, and for a healer to her. It would be the best thing for her. The clerk can send for someone.Â
After she has been seen to, and her healing is on its way. Leave. If we cross paths, and you lay hands unjustly on a person once more. I will see you behind bars, ignorance of the law will no longer be an acceptable excuse.
- Illira Carceri >>>
"Luha," he said, "Can you read this note?" He held it out to the woman on the bed.
K'luha was half asleep, tormented by the dreams of people's backs growing further away until they were swallowed whole. But K'ile's voice stirred her from her sleep and she blinked a few times before looking over. A note...?
She carefully took it and moved to sit up a little bit so she might read it.
K'ile dug into the package, turning aside the paper wrapping, then frowned and closed the wrapping again. "What's it say?" He walked over to the bed and sat down next to K'luha.
Luha struggled to read the letter very well, and stumbled over a few words, but eventually got the whole letter read out in tact.Â
<<< 'Dear Miss Antimony,
I hope you are still in Ul'dah as I am sending this message post haste and I fear the delivery moogles might kill me if you're not. The journey to Coerthas has gone well and I am back in the snow. It's really lovely this time of year, I hope that you will come up someday to visit. In honor of the Starlight Celebration, I've sent this coat for you. You know, if it gets cold or if you want to come up to Coerthas and wear it. Or sell it. You could do that too. But I hope it will be of more use to you in wearing and not selling.Â
My sincerest reguards to you this day. In meeting you I have found the strength to go back and face something that I have most feared. I was running away from my fears, but for some reason you've inspired me to go and fix the things I have broken. A little bit like you fixed my head.Â
I wish you a wonderful day, and I hope that this message gets to you safely.
Your Friend,Â
Mitari Xerxes.Â
Aka that one miq'ote dude you healed and got you thrown in jail in case you already forgot.Â
P.S. I dont' know why this Elezen noble sent me these... but they look like they'd fit you better. Or you could just burn them or something. Maybe a nice regift? I just thought maybe you could find more use for them than me.' >>>
K'ile frowned deeper and looked down into the box, moving the paper again to look at the gift which he now concluded had been sent with the letter, from this Mitari person. He took a deep breath, and held it, closing his eyes. He muttered gravely, "I see."
*
Illira had been sitting down in the tavern portion of the Quicksand for sometime now. After having collected herself for a little while in her own innroom, she had returned downstairs to await for Antimony to come meet her, so that they might get about clearing up the mess that this investigation had turned into. She had a strong tea sitting down in front of her, though it appeared to not have had much drunk from it. Instead, she glanced around impatientally. Surely it shouldn't take this long to have moved her things to a new room.Â
She sighed. But this was Antimony. Delays were to be expected.
*
K'luah wasn't sure what to make of the letter, but apparently K'ile didn't make anything positive of it. She instead folded it carefully and moved to hand it back to K'ile.
"May I have it back?" K'ile reached to take the letter from K'luha.
K'luha handed it back without another word.
K'ile stood suddenly, throwing the box in front of him and singing his hand against the note. The small scrap of paper burst into flames and dispersed in the air. He shouted angrily, "She's left us to go to Coerthas and be with some foreign lover! Look!" He held forth the suggestively tight holiday pantalettes that had been contained in the box, "His choice of gifts and words of fake just-friendship tell me his intentions are unworthy! I won't stand for it!"
*
Illira sipped a bit from tea, tapping her leather clad foot on the floor. Upon realizing that she was doing so, she immediately put a stop to such and set her down her barely touched drink. She looked around again, taking in the fact that many people had come and come already in the time that she had been left to sit and wait.
*
K'luha flinched and looked to K'ile's sudden violent outburst. A lover in Coerthas? It hadn't really sounded like that to her. Although, part of K'luah was about ready to tell him just to hand over his damn braclet and chase after her for the rest of eternity. But that wasn't fair to him. He had been very patient with her. She owed him the same.Â
"K'ile..." K'luah called softly. "The letter said he didn't know what to do with them and that she might have some other use for them. Those were originally sent to a man from someone else it sounds like. He didn't really sounds like a lover to me." She sighed heavily and looked at him wearily. "I don't think she's running off to Coerthas to meet a lover."
"And what would you do," K'ile said, tossing the pantalettes towards K'luha, "If I gave these to you and said," his voice depended and turned into something smooth, with a smirk. "Hey, let's find some 'other uses' for those. Hm?"
K'luha picked the pantlettes off her face and examined them. Clean... and a nice color. "I would do this." K'luah remined somewhat smugly and reached down to remove her own pantlettes. They were flifthy anyway and she tossed the dirty pair at K'ile before putting on the clean pair. "Much better."
K'ile spasmed and recoiled.
"Well excuse me. You didn't lie dying on the desert floor for hours. I was sick of having sand everywhere." K'luha frowned and looked away from K'ile, faintly upset that he was spasm and recoil. She opened her mouth and closed it again, fighting the urge to tell him to just go chase K'piru.
 "We can get you a bath, then!" K'ile protested.
"There's still sand... everywhere." K'luha grumbled, pulling at her top as if to illustrate her point. "The sand out near Ul'dah is not the sand in the Sagolii. I dislike it. But yes. At some point, a bath would be good." She took a long sigh and glanced back at K'ile.
*
Between the many that had moved across the Quicksand at that moment, was a lalafell carrying a basket. She was not wearing rags, but almost: a bulky hooded coat, yellowed more by use than by age. She carried a basket, big for her size, and wore a smile in her face. She walked among the adventurers and drunks, her head barely visible above the tables. She walked next to Illira and did not recognize her, but the Elezen might have noticed that it was Ulanan. Also known as "Antimony's pet lalafell". Or so some evil tongues said. She passed by and went towards the room.
Illira watched as a tiny figure walked by her, her eyes narrowed in faint recognition, before sitting back in her chair, having decided to give Antimony a few more moments before returning to her room to see what the hold up was, not wanting to deal with the headache that dwelled within its walls.
Ulanan reached the room's door with surpising swiftness. She aligned herself properly with the frame, placed the basket down at her side and raised her other hand high into the air, stretching her arm and yawning. With that formality out of the way, she knocked the door three times.
K'ile stilled when he heard the knocking on the door, giving K'luha a look. Of course a thousand thoughts went through his head as to who it could be. One of them was K'piru's "boss" and the rest were all K'piru. With a deep breath to steady himself, K'ile walked to the door. It's important to describe K'ile now: he is a shirtless, tribal Miqo'te, covered in dirt and sweat. His extremely red hair is topped by a bandana that does not fully conceal it. His tail swings about behind him like a thing on fire.
He thew open the door, looking and finding... nothing. What? He leaned forward and looked to either side, very confused.
Ulanan's confusion was unparalleled. She did not waste any time staring at the shirtless man, instead using those precious seconds to step back, cough, and think brief unlady things. "Excuse me, sir, but I'm...looking for Antimony. Did I get the wrong room?" she said, leaning away from him and looking to the other doors in the hallway, checking their numbers.
The door? Oh god, not that woman again. K'luha pulled the blankets over her head again and frowned. She couldn't do that again. Not again but... When she didn't hear rude comments, Luha paused and pulled the blankets from her face. Antimony...? It sounded really familiar for some reason.
"What?" K'ile looked down. A short... Hyur? Lalafel! He stepped back quickly. "Oh! That's... hi. Uhm. This is K'piru's room."
*
Illira once again took a deep breath, this time, getting up out of the chair. She glanced down at her tea, as though considering what its fate should be. Apparently it was to be left cold and unappreciated, since the Elezen walked away from the table and towards the Inn stairs that led to the Inn rooms.
*
A shadow crossed the lalafell's face. One hand moved to pick up the basket from its resting place, but did not lift it. "K'piru." she echoed. "Are you members of her tribe? Did K'ailia send you?" she asked with a deep frown.
"Uhm," K'ile stepped back again. A dark premenition washed over him, like a cool wind blowing out of the Lalafel's tiny shadow. Something terrible was about to happen. he could feel it in his bones. Every fold on the Lalafel was suddenly dark as night, and that basket it... what terrible secrets did it conceal?
The Tia's feet caught on K'luha's discarded pantalette as he backed up, and he began to stumble to try and rid it from his foot. "Nobody sent us!" he said as he struggled, "We're friends! She invited us!"
Well that was the most blatant lie K'luha had ever heard. She cast her glance over towards K'ile, but her face didn't betray anything. Friends... bah. K'piru had looked like she would rather die than ever meet with them again.
Walking up the stairs for the third time this day, Illira saw instantly Antimony's old room at the back of the hallway, though curiously, it had a Lalafell standing in front of it this time. She paused, frowning, before letting her long legs carry her the rest of the way to the room, stopping just short of the viewing range from withinside the room, the tiny miscreant just a few feet in front of her.
Ulanan paid no attention to the lingering Elezen. She was too busy squinting suspiciously at K'ile. "Where is she?" she asked. Her eyes moved from the man to the rest of the room until they met the woman on the bed. She did not squint at her, though she did raise a brow.
"I think," K'ile freed the pantalettes from his food and held them awkwardly. "I think she's run off to Coerthas to be with some guy? Wait! Who are you?"
"She didn't run off to Coerthas to be with some guy K'ile." K'luha retorted, frowning at him. "We had no idea where she is. She just left. Saying she left to go be with a man in Coerthas is like you telling me to meet you in Drybone." K'luha huffed, still bitter over the incident.
Twinflame: "But she took a coat!" K'ile protested.
"A coat does not mean a lover in Coerthas! It means he invited her to come and sent her a coat out of goodwill." K'luha snapped back.
Illira steps behind the Lalafell in full view of the doorway, having heard enough, "So Antimony has runaway then? I should not be surprised to hear such news. She is much to fragile for her own good."
Ulanan turned around and stared, first at Illira's knees, and then to her face, like social customs dictate one should stare at people. "Hello, miss Greetings-are-not-my-thing. It's good to see you!" she said faking a smile so well faked it could have been actually sincere. The lalafell moved to a side of the door, losing eye contact with K'luha but gaining the advantage of not having a tall elezen creepily standing at her back.
K'ile frowned at Illira's appearance and pointed at her face, "I don't need to remind you to watch what you say."
K'luha flinched visibly at the appearance of... that woman again. Why was the room suddenly assualted with so many people? "No one knows where K'piru is right now!" Luha huffed irritably at the door.
"Do not threaten me, Miqo'te. You are not in the right. But you say that she left? She has not come to met me to begin to remedy her mistake."
Ulanan growled. "We get it: Antimony's not like you and that makes you angry. Get over it." She leant forward to take a better look at K'ile and smiled in approval of his reaction. "Why do you say she ran off to Coerthas?"
"There was a letter from some guy," K'ile said. "And it- wait! Who are you?"
Luha took a deep breath and tried to stop herself from getting angry at all the people that for some fucking reason, had decided to show up.
Illira frowns before saying, "This is Antimony's pet Lalafell. I don't remember her name. But she follows Antimony most everywhere. For her to have left the woman behind is strange."
"I'm her friend, Ulanan." She stopped only to cast a murderous glare to Illira. Then she added in more friendly terms to K'ile: "Can I see that letter? I doubt she will go to running to Coerthas like a headless dodo. No matter how much your tribe scares her off!"
Nope. Anger reached. K'luha sat up ricikedly in the bed, her tail bristling outwards in anger. Â "I'm sick of all of you people! What do you know about what happened? What do you know about why she left? You know nothing! I never did anything to my aunt other than love her and try to help her! I don't understand why she feels like she does! Get out! All of you, get out!" K'luha voice was quite booming and could be considered intimatdating if a half-naked miq'ote with a broken hip was intimidating. Which was to say, it probably wasn't.
K'ile was intimidated, because K'luha had prolly beat him up before. He swallowed this and walked over to her. "Hey, the Lalafel didn't mean anything. I think." He also put his hands firmly on her shoulders and pushed, saying gently, "Lay back down or I'm going to strangle you until you pass out."
"GOOD." Luha spat back furioulsy, pushing back up to sit up again. "GET OUT! SHE'S NOT HERE SO GO FIND HER ALREADY!" She screech insanely towards the door.
Illira takes the opportunity to enter the room, as K'ile has left the doorway. "I cannot leave the information that she did gather. I am sorry for your loss, woman, but I have reason to believe that the both of you have played a significant role in Antimony's breakdown. Do not turn your ire to me, you'll only injure yourself more."
Twinflame: Pushing K'luha down hard and pinning her there, he says, "I am serious, Luha. You don't get to move. I dont care what's going on around us. Keep your back on the bed."
Ulanan stood where she was, at the side of the door. She leant to look inside, though, managing to get half of her hooded self popping from the door frame's side like some kind of tiny yellowed ghost.
K'luha was about ready to launch herself onto Illira and scratch her eyes and throat out. If K'ile hadn't been holding down, she probably would have tried it. K'ile was much stronger than her however and she flopped down against the bed as he pushed her down with more force.Â
She was going to listen to K'ile and try and calm herself.Â
But then the lalafell spoke up.
"I know exactly why she left your tribe," Ulanan said. And then added a non sequitur: "Did she take anything with herself...besides the coat?"
K'luha hissed and tried to push back up against K'ile. If she could just be free she would tear the lot of their eyes out and use them as decoration on a fucking necklace! "GET OUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU FUCKING KNOW YOU LITTLE SHIT! GET THE FUCK OUT BEFORE I GET FREE AND RIP YOUR NECK OUT!" K'luha howled again like a women utterly possessed.
Stepping over to the desk, Illira was beginning to rifle through and collect the documents and findings as relates to Antimony's investigation into the Pearl Lane Brass Blades, when K'luha began yelling. She looks over her shoulder at the woman, saying with some fervor in her voice, "You are not the only one she left in the lerch. Do not wallow in selfish interest. I intend to collect the documents and leave."
K'luha could practically picture her claws digging into the Elezen's neck and ripping it to pieces. She reached a claw hand out, her eyes straining to see that neck that she might shred...
For a woman that couldn't possibly get up, K'luha did manage to make herself difficult to hold down. K'ile Tia made a face at her and Luha and said, "If you weren't struggling I'd have thrown them out by now."
Her ears twitched as K'lile spoke to her and she slowly turned her gaze towards his blue eyes. He would get rid of them then? K'luha inhaled deeply, cooling her temper and dropping her arm back against the bed.Â
Ulanan pouted. All of the women in the K tribe she had met, who were not Antimony, were giving her terrible impressions. She stepped fully into the door, grasping the basket with both hand. "May I speak with the sensible male outside after the room is empty of strangers, then?"
"..... sorry...lost my temper..." K'luha muttered half apologetically towards K'ile. She took another deep breath and clenched her fists together. "I cannot stand that Elezen woman one second longer. I am sick of outsiders. So sick of their ways and corruption and big mouths that can't possible know the hurt that they vomit from their sick mouths. I hate this place." K'luha ranted quietly, mostly to herself. She pressed her hands to her face and tried to inhale deeply, trying to keep calm. If that damn Elezen woman spoke one more time though, she was going to flip her shit again.
K'ile rose from K'luha as she calmed, taking a breath himself, turning away from her.
Her jaw tightening and her lips pressed tight together, Illira turned back away from the bed to the desk, to shuffle through the mess once again, in an attempt to find the what work Antimony had done on the case, so that the next person may not have to start from scratch. Not that it would be her, even if she knew anything about finance analysis, it would be impossible for her to make any headway by sheer virtue that it was Lamandu Tyremandu that was under investigation. It would come as no surprise to her if the man would attempt to have her thrown in the same jail that held Amaury, if she attempted to investigate in what was now his domain.
Ulanan made two incredible discoveries. First, that the woman in the bed had a short temper. She was almost like a bomb, grinning while it waited to jump out of the blankets and explode on someone's poor face. Second, that this woman could be set off prematurely if any 'outsider' spoke. Armed with this knowledge, Ulanan stated: "So she took only a coat."
The Tia looked towards Ulanan and said, "She took a coat and a bunch of papers. Like an Ul'dahn, taking papers and gil everywhere." He approached the Elezen, stepping well into her personal space with his arms crossed. "You need to leave, 'boss'. Or I'm throwing you out on that long neck of yours."
Illira paused at the mention of papers having been taken, she continued to stare down at the desk, braids framing her long face. She slowly removed her hands from the desk, not having succeded in making it much more of a mess than it already was, "You know, for people who purport to tell me that I am a bitch for my own mannerisms. You miqo'te have shown me nothing but venom, harsh words, and violence." She turns around at that, "I can see why Antimony left you. I won't tell her that she should return once I find her."
"No more than you deserve!" K'luha hissed sharply at the Elezen. "You're not welcome here. Get out." Feeling her temper starting to return, she tried to inhale deeply again to ward it off. She had never been very good with the whole... anger management deal.
Ulanan took turns staring blankly at them while they spoke. After Illira spoke, she said: "If Antimony -or K'piru, as you know her- comes back, please tell her to wait for me? I had a present for her."
Somehow Ulanan's request soften K'luha's anger. A present for... K'piru? Then... K'luha's ears flattened a bit. Was this lalafell K'piru's friend? That K'piru could abandon even her friends... What exsisted that her aunt wouldn't abandon? Perhaps nothing...
"She could still be in the city. She only just left. She may just be clearing her head you know. There's no evidance that she actually left for Coerthas. I don't even know how she would get there..." K'luha suggested softly. "She couldn't have gotten that far... Really, I think you could find her in Ul'dah still..." This was directed at Ulanah, because as far as K'luha was concerned that Elezen bitch needed to be put down.
K'ile looks over at K'luha and says, "I could find her for sure, but I think I comitted to not chasing her." He pauses after saying that, looks at the floor, gets lost inside himself for a moment. Then he shakes his head and looks back to K'luha, "Hey, what was the name on the letter again? The guy who sent it?"
Illira's thin lips pressed together further, almost disappearing entirely as she continued to listen, not having left the desk area yet.
"You could..." K'luha suggested softly, but stopped herself. "If it's me you're worried about I'll live. If you want to chase her than you can, but if you're committed not to, I won't push you to either." She clarified calmly before thinking back. The name? Name,... something weird. "Mitari... Xerxes? Yeah, that was it. Mitari Xerxes."
K'ile grabbed Illira by one arm very roughly and began to pull her out of the room, "I was patient!"
Illira looks down at the man's hand, that threatened to pull her arm out of her socket. The man may have been much shorter than her, but he was obviously to hard work. "Let go, savage hypocrite."
"Hells with that, Ul'dahn hypocrite."
"Excuse me!" Ulanan said out loud, taking care that her tone came as friendly and explicative. "I suggest you do not start a fight here because we are on the Adventurer's Guild." She gestured with the free hand vaguely. It probably had some meaning to someone. "A place filled with armed adventurers that will not take kindly a fight in their own guild."
The man would continut to haul the woman towards the hall, "I'm not going to let some haughty lady come into K'piru's room and boss me around. She's got no hold on me."
Illira sets the hand that isn't being tugged along, and tries to pry the mans fingers from her wrist. It is doubtful that her having dug her heels in is doing much, as K'ile's lower height would help him in his current quest. "This room is not Antimony's. It is the CRA's. You have no right to oust me at this time, not that one as simple as you would understand."
At this, K'luha sharply reached over and grabbed a small coin purse from her bag. She carefully took aim at Illira's head and chucked it at her. Â "There's your damn gil!"
Ulanan opened her mouth to speak, but by the time she did that the purse was already flying. She thought that talking at that point would just fall in deaf ears, and maybe a hurt head. She watched it fly towards Illira.
The gil glanced off of Illira's head. Illira took a breath, this time letting herself get taken out of the room. The sheer moment bringing heat to the back of her neck and cheeks out of embarrastment. But the man's grip was strong, and it didn't right his wrong to return the favor, as her life was not in danger.
Ulanan did not laugh when the purse hit Illira. She wanted to. She also wanted to cheer as if it was some kind of military victory. However, in the name of diplomacy, she sighed. "You know, she is right. Antimony isn't paying for this room. She is. If you kick her out of here, she will call the authorities and kick you -and- K'piru away for causing trouble." She rubbed her forehead with one finger. "So let her do what she came to do, please. She'll leave soon enough anyway, specially if Antimony took the papers she wants."
"You Ul'dahns and your laws!" K'ile snapped at the Lalafel. He genuinely didn't understand how the Elezen could walk in, abuse them, and then hide behind ephemeral words that may not actually exist. It was, to him, the greatest corruption, the very darkness of the world itself. To him, it was the same thing that had caused Cartenau; laws, gil, papers, and those who fought over them.
He deposited Illira in the hallway and said, "Fine, you want papers? I'll give you ever scrap of paper in the entire room! I hate them!" He turned and stomped back into the room.
K'luha did a small fist pump when she hit the woman's head. So she could still throw and had good aim! Excellent. As for the Lalafell's warning... Luha groaned. She was right. Unfortunately. But that's what the gil thrown at the woman's head was for.Â
"K'ile... come here." K'luha sighed, motioning for him to come to her. She wasn't sure if he would listen but, maybe.
Ulanan shrugged. "Your tribe must have laws, too."
Illira let her steely, angered gaze fall back over the grimy man that had just thrown her out into the hall. She rubbed at wrist, just as she had rubbed at the jaw he'd meant to shatter earlier in the morning. "Laws are inescapable. They are all that seperate us from the beasts and allow us to function on a higher level. Not that you currs care about more than your next meal." She turns on her heel, walking back down the hall.
"What?" K'ile said to K'luha, not approaching her. He went instead to the desk and began to pile up papers, saying as he did, "Oh, we have laws. Plenty. I enforce them. They don't include being able to abuse people and hide from the consequences. They don't give fake power."
Well. That went swimmingly. K'luha gave up on K'ile for the time being and instead rubbed at her aching hip. She probably shouldn't have tried to eat their eyes out when she got angry. Ah... well. Too late now.
Ulanan took a step into the room. "Forget about the laws, and those papers, for the time being. You should help me find K'piru." she said to K'ile.
K'ile stopped his paper-rustling, looking over at Ulanan, and said, "I shouldn't. I can't keep chasing her down if she doesn't want to be found. I'm not that kind of Tia." His eyes went to the empty doorway, and the empty hallway, "Hey, the Elezen ran off."
"While I'm quite confident that she will return here eventually, I don't want to take the risk of sitting here, waiting, while she runs off northwards and gets mauled by qiqirn or ants." Ulanan stated her worry to the room. She clenched the handle of the basket with both hands and raised it. "You can come back here as soon as we find her. If she's in town it won't be long."
"I said 'no'." K'ile turned from the papers to look down at the Lalafel. "I don't know you, and she can run off if she wants. If you really want to find her, you need to do it the old-fashioned way."
Luha glanced towards K'ile again. She wondered if he would go to find her. Or had he enough of chasing women down for a lifetime? Kluha had to admit, she was surprised when he said no. But perhaps some things were more important than chasing down a woman who wanted nothing to do with them anymore.Â
Luha grunted faintly at the agitating pain, but made no comments.
Ulanan shrugged and turned around, picking up her basket. "Please tell her I stopped by. Goodbye!" She smiled and waved one hand in farewell before leaving the room and walking down the hallway.
Frowning at the Lalafel as she walked off, K'ile was too confused by the nature of the exchange and unprepared for the sudden departure, so didn't even think to say goodbye to the tiny woman.
K'luha was indeed surprised as well, but nonetheless extremely happy to have all of the damn intruders out of the room.Â
"Next time someone knocks, we don't answer. " Kluha grumbled bitterly.
*
Illira made her way down the stairs, stopping short when she saw the hotel clerk. Her jaw is still clenched, and she breathed hard; angry from her embarrasment at being hauled out. She leaned against the wall, forcing herself to take some deep calming breaths. The man had no right to do what he did. But they were all angry and riled and hurt, emotion obviously ruling the hearts of the savages. She knew that she could have them ousted, arrested. And she wanted to. Oh, she wanted to. But was that merely her wounded pride and own personal desire run wicked?
It was certainly something that many of her former compratriots in the blades would not hesitate to do. But so many of them were too far gone in their own self-interest to do what is right by the law, but their law is not hers and the man did not seem even to grasp the concepts of society outside of his bubble. The woman was obviously in a great deal of pain and not in her own right mind.Â
Illira swallowed deeply, her eyes closed. When she opened them, she took another breath and walked over towards the clerk's desk.
Motioning the clerk over, Illira asked for a paper and something to write with. When he returned with the requested items, Illira began to write, though her hand shook slightly as she did so, still full of excess righteous anger that she was. But it wasn't so blinding now. She sealed the letter, writing the word, "Tia" on the front of it. She left it and a some gil with the clerk, asking for the letter to be taken up to the room that she had just left.Â
She still needed to find Antimony before she left town. And time was of the essence.
*
After he overcame his momentary confusion, K'ile walked over to the door and closed it, frowning as though the action were a complicated task and the ability to complete it caught him off guard. After a few seconds he looked up to K'luha, "Alright, yeah. ... I don't know what to make of all this."
"Only that K'piru has run again, possibly but not for sure to Coerthas, and that two people are looking for her, and she knows and is friends with a man named Mitari." Kluha replied without a moments hesitation. "Also that I really want to go home." She added as an afterthought.
Moving towards K'luha, K'ile said, "I think we need to wait until your hip heals. And how are we going to find the food without K'piru? I don't even know where to look."
The innkeep sent a young woman up to the room that K'luha and K'ile are currently occupying. She knocked softly on the door.
Hearing the knock, K'ile makes a face, and states, "Not answering."
Kluha glared at the knocking door like she might murder whomever had the audacity to do this bullshit again. She looked to K'ile before grabbing for his hand very suddenly. When he said he wasn't going to answer she relaxed a bit. "Well, then we can figure things out more in the morning."
The girl knocked again, "'ello? I have a letter 'ere?" She waits a few moments more for an answer before sliding it underneath the door.
K'ile frowned at the envelope slid under the door. He observed, "The Ul'dahns are sticking paper under the doors now. Outsiders are insane."
Kluha eyed the paper like it would explode on him. She was tired. So tired. Maybe K'piru would come back. Maybe she wouldn't. Kluha was too tired to care. "Open it later." She huffed. "Come here. You should sleep."
*
<<< Tia.
You hate me, just as I hate you. My laws are not your own, and you sought to protect your territory as beasts do. I could send to have you arrested, but the only best interest that it would serve is the pride that you damaged. I would be playing into the very hands of the Ul'dah that we both hate. I would not have my emotion best me, the way that does your kind. Your woman needs medical attention, even I can see that. I have paid for your room for the next couple of nights, and for a healer to her. It would be the best thing for her. The clerk can send for someone.Â
After she has been seen to, and her healing is on its way. Leave. If we cross paths, and you lay hands unjustly on a person once more. I will see you behind bars, ignorance of the law will no longer be an acceptable excuse.
- Illira Carceri >>>
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