Storm nods. "Alright. We can go visit the Queen. I'm not sure if she'll actually be available. Being as she's a queen and all. But we can try anyways." 

The draconian turns on heel and begins walking back to the embassy. "She's the Queen of the Elves. And she's been nothing but polite to me and my friends. Well, except that time she had to- Never mind. She's a nice faerie is all that matters."

Storm smiles at Nill and leads her back through the Seshtau embassy and to the Elven embassy. 

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“You did the speaking of a friendly Faerie. If that is being the truth, I would be liking to do the meeting of her.” 
Nill shifts her weight, wings giving a small, uneasy twitch.

“I am not having the meeting of many friendly Faeries,” she admits. “So it would be having the nice.”

Her gaze drifts back to the vardo.

“I would also be liking to be meeting Vesta, but I am having nothing yet for the trading of the past. Another time.”

She straightens and gives a small, decisive nod.

“And then we can be going back to the Kog’Thrak.”  

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Storm nods. "Yeah. This is her place all right.... But..."

She tilts her face up and takes a few deep sniffs. "Nah. She's not here. Hasn't been for a while. Her scent is getting fainter. Shit."

Storm looks over her shoulder towards the embassy and then back at the vardo. She sighs heavily and looks to Nill.

"Well. I don't know where she is and I know she likes to go to Foresetidale but... She's been gone a while. That's... Unusual. And slightly concerning considering she and the Baroness got into it a few weeks ago." Storm shakes her head. "Okay. Change of plans. Want to help me find a seer? Haven't been to Foresetidale in a while and I actually... Don't know... Shit. I don't know where she would be in Foresetidale. I've never been to what's his nuts house."

Storm sighs and reaches up to scratch her head. "I... Don't want to drag you all over the kingdom so... What say we come back another time? I guess, anyways." She shrugs, giving the vardo another glance before looking at Nill again. "We could always go back to the tavern? Or Kog'Thrak. Either works for me. Or we could trapsey around the kingdom in search of a Ramtovi seer. I don't know. What do you think?"

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Vesta’s vardo sits in Umbris’ garden like a jewel amidst its dark surroundings. It’s elaborately painted in purples, blues, and golds, and its curves are traced with delicate celestial motifs. Glass lanterns hang from the eaves and corners, while bells threaded along the filigree jingle with the slightest movement.

Usually, the windows and doors are flung wide, the scent of vanilla and incense drifting into the city. Today, however, it’s silent. Its doors are shut tight, windows sealed. The lanterns hang still and unlit. No scent drifts from inside. It sits as though it's been abandoned for weeks.
As Storm and Nill approach, the pixie studies it with careful interest, tilting her head before glancing at the draconian.

“You are being sure of this place being the right?”

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Storm watches Nill, noticing her tensely withdraw, and she turns her attention ahead.

"Faeries sound as awful as the tales I was told growing up. I didn't want to believe them. I actually know a very friendly Faerie." Storm stops walking and her eyes widen. "Huh. I wonder... Nah." She shakes her head and resumes walking. "Shame the Faeries are as bad as the stories. But. Like I said. I know one who isn't. If you've ever got any interest in meeting her but I know that's... Probably... Not likely."

Storm clears her throat awkwardly. 

They come to the front door of the embassy and one of the members lets them in when Storm knocks. She thanks them and heads inside.

[OOP: Thread continued in Seshtau forums.)

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“It is being fine. They are being gone now for time that is long...” Her wings draw in close against her back, folding tight without her seeming to notice the motion at all. “I was doing the waiting until I could be doing the escaping. Better if you are being invisible.” She shrugs. “Faeries have the liking for ones who are doing the screaming and fighting most."

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Storm listens as they walk and heads for the Seshtau embassy. 

"Hm. So, the person who told you to live. You said you've got no one in the Sidhe but sounds like someone cares about you to tell you to live. Are they... Gone?" Storm asks. "Don't feel you have to answer that actually. It's fine if you don't want to talk about it. I don't know what all you've been through but being collared like that? I'd... Well, I'd be dead cuz they would have to put it on my dead body."

She chuckles. 

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“I will not be minding having the meeting of Vesta.”

Nill goes quiet for a long while as they walk, gaze unfocused. At last, she shakes her head. “Dislike is having too much of the complication.” She lifts a hand, turning it slightly, as if weighing the idea. “People are not having the good or the bad. Faeries, humans, undead... what they are being is not having the matter. It is being what the heart is saying louder that they will do the following of.” She taps two fingers lightly against her chest and gives a small shrug. “And sometimes, the heart is not having the mattering at all. The living is being the louder song. How can I be doing the dislike when I must be having the living first?”

She slows, then stops, staring down at her hands.

“There are being those that I should be having the wanting for suffering of…” Her fingers curl slightly, then relax. “But someone did the telling of me that the living is having more important. So I will be doing the living.” She nods once, then starts walking again.

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Storm shrugs. "Yeah. She can. Want to meet her? She's also helping with the famine so it's a good idea you two get to know each other if you're going to help us with the famine situation."

Storm looks Nill up and down. "You uh... Got any problem with undead or anything? In fact, any particular dislike for anyone? I don't know how much you've seen in the Sidhe."

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Nill shakes her head again, the motion small and certain.

“I am not having the family. There is no one that would be doing the looking for me.”

She pauses, considering, then lifts her gaze.

“If Storm is wishing me to do the helping with the famine, then I will be doing the helping.” She taps her chin thoughtfully. “I cannot do the making of food. But I have the sneaking. And the stealing.” A beat. “I can be doing the making of traps, and the hitting of things with stick. I am liking the hitting with stick greatly.”

Her wings give a light, restless flutter.

“This Vesta…” She tilts her head. “Can she do the seeing of things that already did the happening?”  

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Storm leads her back through the Mage's Guild and out the front door. She pauses in the street and folds her arms across her chest. 

"Hm. You want to pay me back?" She tilts her head as she considers this for a moment. "My partner is in one of those weird deep sleeps and so far the only clue we have as to how to wake them up is to resolve whatever is causing the famine. Plus I assume you eat like the rest of us so the famine is a pretty big concern right now. Maybe you can help us figure out what's going on."

She nods. "I have a few friends you should probably meet if you plan to stick around. One is a member of the guild we just left and the Artisan's Guild as well. He's a wolf beastkin. He's good people. Then there is the Baroness. And a seer." Her eyes widen. "Vesta is a very talented seer if a little prissy. Maybe she could take a peek and see what you should do? Or maybe she could look and see- Do you have any family? Anyone who may be looking for you? She could probably look and see how to help them find you."

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Nill considers the question in silence, her steps slowing for a moment. Then she gives a small shake of her head.

“No. There is having nothing for me in the Sidhe.” Her gaze drops to the ground as they walk. “But I am not having the knowing of what I am to be doing here.”

Her wings give a faint, uncertain twitch.

“First, I am needing to do the paying back of you. It is having the start.”

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The woman waves her off. "Oh please! No need to thank me!"

She chuckles awkwardly and looks to Storm. Storm smiles at Nill.

"Awesome. And you haven't died yet. It was pretty immediate with the others so I think if you can survived the next few minutes we're in the clear." Storm nods and then looks to the female mage. "Thank you for your assistance today."

"Of course!" She says, blushing lightly. "Happy I could help."

Storm walks up to the woman, pulling some coins from a pouch on her hip. She takes the woman's hand and sets the coins in it before turning to look at Nill. She jerks her head in the direction of the door.

"Let's go." Storm heads for the door and talks to Nill as she goes. "So, we got the collar off. Are you... Going to stick around? Or do you want to go back to the Sidhe? I can't imagine you'd want that but it is your home so it's an option."

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Nill looks down at her hands for a long moment, as if confirming she’s still there. Then, slowly, she reaches up to her neck. Her fingers trace the skin where the collar once rested, careful and tentative, testing the space it left behind. She lifts her gaze to Storm.

“I am feeling the fine.” For just a heartbeat, something bright flickers in her eyes, though her expression remains unchanged. “It is not having the burning of me anymore. Relieved.”

She offers Storm a small bow.

“I am thanking you greatly.” Then she faces the woman and bows again, just as carefully. “The thanks are with you also.”

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The ritual mage looks to Storm who nods. The woman nods in response and then returns to the other side of the table. She reaches back down to pick up a new component and the second scroll on the table.

"Ritual beginning." She begins putting components together and chanting again. 

Another 10 minutes pass and the components turn to dust. The woman walks around the table again and touches the collar around Nill's neck. Nothing seems to happen but the woman smiles and then casts "shatter". The collar cracks and shatters before crumbling to dust. 

The room falls silent as both the mage and Storm watch Nill.

After a few moments of holding their breath, Storm clears her throat. 

"How you feeling there, Nill? All good?"

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When the ritual finally ends, the tension in Nill’s shoulders eases, and her wings settle instead of twitching. She lifts a hand to her chin, thinking, her face still carefully neutral. After a few quiet moments, she nods once, decisively.

“We can be doing the removing of it.” She gives the collar a small tug. “I will be having the relief with the getting of it off.”

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The woman smiles. "Ritual beginning."

The circle raises and the woman begins chanting as she picks up the scroll. For the next 10 minutes, the woman chants and combines components. Her hands move skillfully with practiced ease and she seems completely relaxed during the ritual. When the component crumbles to dust, she walks around the table and reaches out to touch the collar. There is a faint glow and then it fades.

"Hm. It seems it is magical. But I don't see any curse or anything really. It's just magic." The woman looks to Storm. "I see nothing here that should cause any harm if we remove it."

Storm nods and looks at Nill. "So. It' just magic so it can't be easily destroyed. Do you want to remove it? Or would you rather not risk it? This is your choice since your life is possibly on the line."

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Nill gives Storm a nod and pulls her hood back, then unwinds the scarves and sets the whole bundle carefully aside. Beneath them, she wears a plain black shirt, leaving the metal collar fully exposed. The skin around her neck is raw and discolored, and older scars trace faint lines along her collarbone and across her back where the fabric shifts.

Her small wings flutter once, betraying her nerves, before she steps up to the table as instructed. She stands rigidly straight, fingers twisting together in front of her. Her gaze flicks over the objects laid out there, studying each in turn, before lifting to the woman.

“I have the ready."

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"Don't worry about it. It shouldn't cost too terribly much to do this. If it gets you killed though, I'll feel really bad since this was my idea." Storm chuckles awkwardly. 

The young man returns and gestures behind him. "Please follow me."

He turns on heel and begins walking towards a hall. Storm follows after him. He leads them to the third door down the hall and knocks once before opening the door. He gestures them inside.

When they walk in, they see a very bland room. There is a ritual circle on the floor at the center of the room and a small table in the middle of it. On the table are components and a scroll and standing at the table is a tall woman with shoulder length blonde hair. She looks up as they enter.

"Hello there! I was told I'll be identifying an item?" The young woman asks.

Storm nods. "Uh. Yes. This is my friend, Nill. She was rescued from the Fae and has a slave collar. Previously when they were removed from other pixies, they died. We just want to make sure it's not cursed or anything and then remove it safely."

The young woman nods and begins to put items together on the table. "Ok." She looks up at Nill. "Please stand in front of the table and I will identify the collar."

Storm looks over at Nill and smiles. "I'll be right here."

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“Magic is being… uneasy. And I am not being used to having the touching of me, or near of me…” Nill tugs lightly at the collar, her fingers lingering on the fabric. “But if it will be helping with the getting of collar off, I will be having the ease.”

She turns to Storm, her expression blank as ever, though her voice drops quieter.
“If I am having the dying, I do not have the knowing of how I will be paying back the kindness of you."

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