Driving her chocobo as hard as she was, it took only a fraction of the usual time to make it to Horizon. A few Blades gave her an odd look as she rushed past the gate of the town, shouting out warningly at her to slow down lest she hurt someone. She did, but not because of their words. Instead she reined her chocobo in to look around the waypoint settlement with quick, anxious glances. Searching. Ulanan was supposed to be here, somewhere. Her tail shivered and curled up around her waist.
The lalafel was easy to spot: she was the one wearing an enormous white hat sitting on top of a crate against a side of the entrance, munching happily the contents of a jar of olives. She seemed too distracted by them to notice the familiar Miqo'te.
D'hein drove his chocobo hard. Not as hard, though. he didn't really know how to drive a chocobo hard. Chocobo-driving wasn't really his thing, hard or otherwise. He told it that it should try going faster, but it didn't really seem to hear or understand him. He went fast enough to keep Antimony in sight, and too fast to comfortably drink anything while he rode. It was both unplesanat and ineffective. The worst parts of all his intentions. And he still felt strangely warm on one side.
He would not arrive until a few minutes after Antimony did, however.
 Illira kept pace with D'hein, her mind running back through why she was involved in this whole mess to begin with and if she shouldn't just ride off, the worry of innocent fading the more she watched D'hein spill milk over himself as he perched percariously on his bird.
She caught the lalafell's scent first, a certain saltiness and the unmistakable aroma of olives. "Ulanan!" Her voice cracked as she spotted the lalafell and her familiar hat. The chocobo beneath her ducked and swung its neck about, perhaps sensing her own anxiety, as she turned it to make her way towards her friend. "Ulanan, please tell me you've found her..."
As the rules of etiquette demanded, the lalafel first waved and smiled. Then she jumped down of the crate and nodded. "They left to Vesper Bay not long ago. There's only one road there and I imagine K'airos won't just desert the Blades, and so I determine we will discover them at a distance. If they are leaving town, that is."
She took a moment to spin around, take the jar and close it.
"Vesper... alright." Antimony sagged, let out a shaky breath, and wavered on her chocobo for a moment before straightening. She cast a brief look towards where she'd come from, back out into the desert, and then looked to Ulanan. "I need to go there. Now. There... that roegadyn is--I need to get to Aijeen before she does."
The lalafell blinked. "Roegadyn?"
"That--" Antimony blinked, shook her head. "It doesn't matter. She threatens my daughter, and I will protect her. Come with me to Vesper Bay."
Ulanan secured the jar of olives to her belt. "I already rented a chocobo. I'll pick it up and we can leave." she said, heading towards the chocobokeep.
"Thank you," Antimony breathed and turned her own mount to follow the shorter woman.
D'hein arrived promptly after this statement, watching the white hat bounce off towards the chocobo keep. As he stopped his chocobo, he rewarded himself with a sip of milk. Anything to keep his spirits up. As soon as he was done, he began, "Ah, Antimony. So, I was thinking..." Antimony began to walk away from him, following the floating hat. He followed after and tried again. "So I was thinking that we should find Ulanan as soon as we can. She's always had quite a talent for rooting out your daughters, you might recall."
"That is what I have done," Antimony replied tersely, after only a brief moment of surprise at D'hein's arrival.
"Hello, D'hein" Ulanan added while they moved, not really expecting the man to identify her.
D'hein balked in confusion. "That hat spoke my-... Oh! Hello, Ulanan. Have you been able to locate Aijeen or K'airos?"
Illira sat on her Chocobo a few feet back from the others. All three of them, she could barely stand. Two of those she found detestable to the -nth degree. And one of them she just wanted dead. And here she was, now having joined a hunt to save a daughter that had been accused of ripping someone apart. The roegadyn seemed capable enough, and if she was in the wrong, surely there was some to take care of her as well. She wasn't needed, not truly. The itch in her feet to run grew as she sat there on the bird's back.
"They are on Vesper Bay." the lalafell replied to D'hein. She reached the chocobo keeper and waved at him. The man, also a lalafell, gestured towards the closest bird. Ulanan climbed on it in two hops.Â
It was then she noticed the elezen lingering somewhere behind them.
"Is she coming too?"
"If she wishes," Antimony's reply was short, and as soon as Ulanan was settled on her chocobo, she jerked the reins on her own bird and pushed her way through the loose crowd milling around Horizon, heading west.
"Ah. Like a true Dodo, D'aijeen would know the best remote places to hide out for a few days." He turned to Illira and smiled. "They have decent seafood in Vesper Bay, I'm told. One good thing in all of Thanalan isn't so unthinkable. Do you have a taste for it?" He looked forward again, noticed that Antimony was already well ahead, and frowned. "Ah, we're heading off again."
A sneer made its way across her face as a short laugh broke through her harsh lips, "With any luck the Roegadyn will finish what she started with you." With that, Illira turned her chocobo away from the direction that Antimony had charted.
"This Roegadyn seems like an interesting person that I should hate." Ulanan concluded out loud, though mostly to herself. She opened her book of spells, laying it on the bird's neck. She took from it a pile of colored envelopes that were being held between the pages. She extended three of them to Antimony.Â
"Do you think D'aijeen will have a violent reaction when she sees us?"
Closing her eyes, Antimony bowed her head and let her chocobo walk on its own for a moment. Her fingers twisted about the reins, and she almost said yes, most assuredly so, but a tightness in her chest would not allow such things. Instead she just sighed and shook her head.
Wishing to follow Antimony, D'hein grimaced and turned his chocobo after Illira, moving it quickly to intercept here. "Illira, do not forget the reason for this trip. Though I might pretend in my small talk that you are here because of some deep-concealed altruism, I do not for an instant forget that your supply of basic decency must be reinforced by derision. I suggest you keep on behind Antimony."
"But you forgot that I am here so that I neither kill you, nor be stuck in a room with you. Leaving your desperate, pitiful party means both of those goals stay intact." Illira makes to steer her chocobo around D'hein's.
Ulanan shook the letters on her hand, extending her arm further and basically shaking them in front of Antimony's nose. "Well, just in case take these! If they are not needed, no harm done!" she urged.
"No." D'hein puts his chocobo in front of Illira. "You are here because you revealed yourself to be a violent sociopath, and I could neither leave you alone nor abandon Antimony. Helpfully, you offered to come along, solving my problem. If you leave, then my problem, and your problem, is renewed. Understand?"
Glancing down at the lalafell, Antimony managed a strained smile of thanks before accepting the papers, tucking them into the single pocket on her robe, by her hip. Not paying attention to whether or not D'hein and Illira were following, she urged her chocobo on and said quietly to Ulanan, "I am sorry for bringing you into such trouble."
"I'm only a danger to you. And I can't be, if I'm not around you. I see no problem. Now let me go."
"I'm afraid that I am adamant" He lifted his head, then opened his eyes. "Let the businesswoman in you do the thinking. This is a team-building exercise. You can't seem to work with me and that simply can't go on. This is better than forcing Ildur to send us to some kind of group counseling camp weekend or some such event."
Ulanan smiled to the Miqo'te. "Friends help each other!" she declared. She turned her head around, making her chocobo turn with her and move towards the others. She stopped once she was next to D'hein. "Here, take this and keep them in your pockets. They are protection spells." she said to him, handing only two yellow envelopes to him.
"Why? So that I can help you keep a murderous girl from reaping what she has sowed? I didn't hear Antimony deny her crimes," a deep frown was etched onto Illira's face.
"We'll deal with that when we know what happened." D'hein growled. "Five people were killed the other night outside the Ossuary, including a friend of mine. Because my daughter survived the attack, some think she perpetrated it. Does knowing this at all change how you feel?"
Antimony watched Ulanan turn back towards D'hein but didn't stop or slow her own chocobo. Shadows fell over her as she crossed into the tunnel that would take them into the saltflats between Horizon and Vesper Bay.
The lalafell grimaced and stopped waving the letters at D'hein. Instead, she continued further back and tried the same with Illira.
D'hein finally noticed that Ulanan had approached them. They still lingered right where the journey had started, not having moved to follow Antimony at all. As he noticed the Lalafel's sudden presence, he cast his eyes back and noticed that Antimony had moved far ahead. His tail shivered behind him. He looked down at the items in Ulanan's hands, but barely registered them before snapping his gaze back to Illira. "We don't have time for these dramatics. You're an adult and you comitted to this. Continue with us."
If it was possible for Illira's frown to deepen, it did as she watched the tiny person wave colorful envelopes at her.
Ulanan matched the elezen's frown with one of her own, glaring at her from the shadow cast by her hat. "Protective spells, in case things go awry." she said, tone dry.
D'hein snatched the letters from Ulanan, holding one out to Illira. "Put it in your pocket and come on. I don't care about your complaints or your comfort."
A few steps into the tunnel, Antimony found the need to reach Vesper Bay far outweighed any wish to let the others keep up. She urged the chocobo into a trot and then, as they took the descending tunnel, into a full-on run.
Illira could feel the pressure brewing up inside her, as her energy sapped away. She snatched up the envelope that D'hein held, crumpling it up and tossing it to the ground as she held the reigns in her other hand, sharply yanking on them in the direction that Antimony had vanished into.
Having played her mailman role, Ulanan hurried forward to catch up on Antimony, who she noticed was in a hurry of her own.
Rolling his eyes, D'hein pocketed the other envelope himself. "Such a rude individual." He turned his chocobo and kicked its sides to chase after Antimony, glad that at least she was cooperating. Leading them like she was meant to. A smart, elegant woman.
Her chocobo's feet splashed noisily through the flats, weaving in and out of marshland and following a path it likely knew by heart. Antimony kept her face forward, ears down. If the others caught up, she didn't notice, though with her speed it was unlikely.
The lalafel was easy to spot: she was the one wearing an enormous white hat sitting on top of a crate against a side of the entrance, munching happily the contents of a jar of olives. She seemed too distracted by them to notice the familiar Miqo'te.
D'hein drove his chocobo hard. Not as hard, though. he didn't really know how to drive a chocobo hard. Chocobo-driving wasn't really his thing, hard or otherwise. He told it that it should try going faster, but it didn't really seem to hear or understand him. He went fast enough to keep Antimony in sight, and too fast to comfortably drink anything while he rode. It was both unplesanat and ineffective. The worst parts of all his intentions. And he still felt strangely warm on one side.
He would not arrive until a few minutes after Antimony did, however.
 Illira kept pace with D'hein, her mind running back through why she was involved in this whole mess to begin with and if she shouldn't just ride off, the worry of innocent fading the more she watched D'hein spill milk over himself as he perched percariously on his bird.
She caught the lalafell's scent first, a certain saltiness and the unmistakable aroma of olives. "Ulanan!" Her voice cracked as she spotted the lalafell and her familiar hat. The chocobo beneath her ducked and swung its neck about, perhaps sensing her own anxiety, as she turned it to make her way towards her friend. "Ulanan, please tell me you've found her..."
As the rules of etiquette demanded, the lalafel first waved and smiled. Then she jumped down of the crate and nodded. "They left to Vesper Bay not long ago. There's only one road there and I imagine K'airos won't just desert the Blades, and so I determine we will discover them at a distance. If they are leaving town, that is."
She took a moment to spin around, take the jar and close it.
"Vesper... alright." Antimony sagged, let out a shaky breath, and wavered on her chocobo for a moment before straightening. She cast a brief look towards where she'd come from, back out into the desert, and then looked to Ulanan. "I need to go there. Now. There... that roegadyn is--I need to get to Aijeen before she does."
The lalafell blinked. "Roegadyn?"
"That--" Antimony blinked, shook her head. "It doesn't matter. She threatens my daughter, and I will protect her. Come with me to Vesper Bay."
Ulanan secured the jar of olives to her belt. "I already rented a chocobo. I'll pick it up and we can leave." she said, heading towards the chocobokeep.
"Thank you," Antimony breathed and turned her own mount to follow the shorter woman.
D'hein arrived promptly after this statement, watching the white hat bounce off towards the chocobo keep. As he stopped his chocobo, he rewarded himself with a sip of milk. Anything to keep his spirits up. As soon as he was done, he began, "Ah, Antimony. So, I was thinking..." Antimony began to walk away from him, following the floating hat. He followed after and tried again. "So I was thinking that we should find Ulanan as soon as we can. She's always had quite a talent for rooting out your daughters, you might recall."
"That is what I have done," Antimony replied tersely, after only a brief moment of surprise at D'hein's arrival.
"Hello, D'hein" Ulanan added while they moved, not really expecting the man to identify her.
D'hein balked in confusion. "That hat spoke my-... Oh! Hello, Ulanan. Have you been able to locate Aijeen or K'airos?"
Illira sat on her Chocobo a few feet back from the others. All three of them, she could barely stand. Two of those she found detestable to the -nth degree. And one of them she just wanted dead. And here she was, now having joined a hunt to save a daughter that had been accused of ripping someone apart. The roegadyn seemed capable enough, and if she was in the wrong, surely there was some to take care of her as well. She wasn't needed, not truly. The itch in her feet to run grew as she sat there on the bird's back.
"They are on Vesper Bay." the lalafell replied to D'hein. She reached the chocobo keeper and waved at him. The man, also a lalafell, gestured towards the closest bird. Ulanan climbed on it in two hops.Â
It was then she noticed the elezen lingering somewhere behind them.
"Is she coming too?"
"If she wishes," Antimony's reply was short, and as soon as Ulanan was settled on her chocobo, she jerked the reins on her own bird and pushed her way through the loose crowd milling around Horizon, heading west.
"Ah. Like a true Dodo, D'aijeen would know the best remote places to hide out for a few days." He turned to Illira and smiled. "They have decent seafood in Vesper Bay, I'm told. One good thing in all of Thanalan isn't so unthinkable. Do you have a taste for it?" He looked forward again, noticed that Antimony was already well ahead, and frowned. "Ah, we're heading off again."
A sneer made its way across her face as a short laugh broke through her harsh lips, "With any luck the Roegadyn will finish what she started with you." With that, Illira turned her chocobo away from the direction that Antimony had charted.
"This Roegadyn seems like an interesting person that I should hate." Ulanan concluded out loud, though mostly to herself. She opened her book of spells, laying it on the bird's neck. She took from it a pile of colored envelopes that were being held between the pages. She extended three of them to Antimony.Â
"Do you think D'aijeen will have a violent reaction when she sees us?"
Closing her eyes, Antimony bowed her head and let her chocobo walk on its own for a moment. Her fingers twisted about the reins, and she almost said yes, most assuredly so, but a tightness in her chest would not allow such things. Instead she just sighed and shook her head.
Wishing to follow Antimony, D'hein grimaced and turned his chocobo after Illira, moving it quickly to intercept here. "Illira, do not forget the reason for this trip. Though I might pretend in my small talk that you are here because of some deep-concealed altruism, I do not for an instant forget that your supply of basic decency must be reinforced by derision. I suggest you keep on behind Antimony."
"But you forgot that I am here so that I neither kill you, nor be stuck in a room with you. Leaving your desperate, pitiful party means both of those goals stay intact." Illira makes to steer her chocobo around D'hein's.
Ulanan shook the letters on her hand, extending her arm further and basically shaking them in front of Antimony's nose. "Well, just in case take these! If they are not needed, no harm done!" she urged.
"No." D'hein puts his chocobo in front of Illira. "You are here because you revealed yourself to be a violent sociopath, and I could neither leave you alone nor abandon Antimony. Helpfully, you offered to come along, solving my problem. If you leave, then my problem, and your problem, is renewed. Understand?"
Glancing down at the lalafell, Antimony managed a strained smile of thanks before accepting the papers, tucking them into the single pocket on her robe, by her hip. Not paying attention to whether or not D'hein and Illira were following, she urged her chocobo on and said quietly to Ulanan, "I am sorry for bringing you into such trouble."
"I'm only a danger to you. And I can't be, if I'm not around you. I see no problem. Now let me go."
"I'm afraid that I am adamant" He lifted his head, then opened his eyes. "Let the businesswoman in you do the thinking. This is a team-building exercise. You can't seem to work with me and that simply can't go on. This is better than forcing Ildur to send us to some kind of group counseling camp weekend or some such event."
Ulanan smiled to the Miqo'te. "Friends help each other!" she declared. She turned her head around, making her chocobo turn with her and move towards the others. She stopped once she was next to D'hein. "Here, take this and keep them in your pockets. They are protection spells." she said to him, handing only two yellow envelopes to him.
"Why? So that I can help you keep a murderous girl from reaping what she has sowed? I didn't hear Antimony deny her crimes," a deep frown was etched onto Illira's face.
"We'll deal with that when we know what happened." D'hein growled. "Five people were killed the other night outside the Ossuary, including a friend of mine. Because my daughter survived the attack, some think she perpetrated it. Does knowing this at all change how you feel?"
Antimony watched Ulanan turn back towards D'hein but didn't stop or slow her own chocobo. Shadows fell over her as she crossed into the tunnel that would take them into the saltflats between Horizon and Vesper Bay.
The lalafell grimaced and stopped waving the letters at D'hein. Instead, she continued further back and tried the same with Illira.
D'hein finally noticed that Ulanan had approached them. They still lingered right where the journey had started, not having moved to follow Antimony at all. As he noticed the Lalafel's sudden presence, he cast his eyes back and noticed that Antimony had moved far ahead. His tail shivered behind him. He looked down at the items in Ulanan's hands, but barely registered them before snapping his gaze back to Illira. "We don't have time for these dramatics. You're an adult and you comitted to this. Continue with us."
If it was possible for Illira's frown to deepen, it did as she watched the tiny person wave colorful envelopes at her.
Ulanan matched the elezen's frown with one of her own, glaring at her from the shadow cast by her hat. "Protective spells, in case things go awry." she said, tone dry.
D'hein snatched the letters from Ulanan, holding one out to Illira. "Put it in your pocket and come on. I don't care about your complaints or your comfort."
A few steps into the tunnel, Antimony found the need to reach Vesper Bay far outweighed any wish to let the others keep up. She urged the chocobo into a trot and then, as they took the descending tunnel, into a full-on run.
Illira could feel the pressure brewing up inside her, as her energy sapped away. She snatched up the envelope that D'hein held, crumpling it up and tossing it to the ground as she held the reigns in her other hand, sharply yanking on them in the direction that Antimony had vanished into.
Having played her mailman role, Ulanan hurried forward to catch up on Antimony, who she noticed was in a hurry of her own.
Rolling his eyes, D'hein pocketed the other envelope himself. "Such a rude individual." He turned his chocobo and kicked its sides to chase after Antimony, glad that at least she was cooperating. Leading them like she was meant to. A smart, elegant woman.
Her chocobo's feet splashed noisily through the flats, weaving in and out of marshland and following a path it likely knew by heart. Antimony kept her face forward, ears down. If the others caught up, she didn't notice, though with her speed it was unlikely.
![[Image: AntiThalSig.png]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/179079766/AntiThalSig.png)
"Song dogs barking at the break of dawn, lightning pushes the edges of a thunderstorm; and these streets, quiet as a sleeping army, send their battered dreams to heaven."
Hipparion Tribe (Sagolii)Â - Â Antimony Jhanhi's Wiki
