Laying Low [Everyone]

"If you mean interrogations, I don't have much reason to do them outside of this. But yeah. After multiple days at sea and almost getting run through by pirates - no offense, Captain - then the fight with the guards and the trip over here, then this while production. I'm beat." Elen pads over to nuzzle Sithani's hand.

Sithani nods. "Yeah. Sorry. It's just - this is the first time anyone's tried to kill me. It's easy to forget small details like a friend's career."

She scratches Elen under his throat. "You're a good cat, aren't you? All fuzzy and cute."

Once she was sure Sunrise and Luther were out of the room, Thimb, desperately not wanting to think about someone who tried to kill them currently being stuffed in a closet a few feet away, asked "Ok did anyone else notice Sunrise and Luther being... huggy?" in a conspiratorial gossipy whisper, "what is going on there?!"

Sithani does her best to appear nonchalant as she says, "She does have political aspirations... perhaps she's just making contacts." Oh, Thimb, why did you have to get interested in something squee-worthy when I've been asked to keep it quiet?

"I mean, yeah, but..." she trailed off frowning, "I don't think she's the type to, um, you know, to make them? Unless she actually wanted to... you know, then, I guess that's just being efficient?"

She looked at Hamish who was currently licking their tail who looked up at her mid grooming gesture, offering absolutely no insight into the matter before going back to grooming.

Sithani just shrugs, leaning in to pet Elen further. "To me it just looked like she was being friendly. And it is an odd pairing to contemplate." A thought strikes her and she turns to face Korogur. "Oh! Speaking of pairings, if I want to get in touch with Parih again, is there an easier way that hiring someone to sail me out all the way to your secret harbour?"

Glen stretches out, putting his hands behind his head. "Whatever's going on, I have no idea what it is, but I'm sure Sunrise has it well in hand." He yawns and lets his eyes close, not quite falling into a total trance but letting himself just lightly do a sort of meditative doze.

Korogur laughs. "We do put in to port pretty regularly when we're not hiding from Laerdya. Give her an address and she'll probably drop in."

"How do you manage that, anyways?" asked Thimb as she finally sat down herself, Hamish immediately climbing into her lap and making a noise that was not dissimilar to a purr. She absent mindedly started rubbing their ears. "I mean, the guards are usually looking for you, right? Do you just all put on false mustaches and call it a day?"

Korogur chuckles at this. "You're wanting trade secrets? We are pretty handy with disguises, yes. And as you just learned from our 'friend', most of the guards can be persuaded to see reason if you have a little extra coin."

"Brilight's finest," Sithani murmurs. "I guess economic inequality is good for something after all."

"My world view has been seriously challenged today," muttered Thimb, tucking her chin into Hamish's soft fur. She paused, pulled her head back, and looked at her familiar. "Why do you smell like lemon grass?" as always, Hamish offered no answers, and just yawned and stretched before curling up into a tiny ball.

She gave her head a shake, "This is so much bigger than I realized... Seeing how broken our system is first hand- I mean, I knew it was bad- I might be naive but I'm not ignorant," she said with a slight flush, "but I guess I never saw it up close like this before... It's overwhelming. I've never been in an actual fight before today," not that she had really done any fighting. She had tried very hard not to. "A-and no one's ever tried to kill me before- Animals sure, but they're usually just scared or hungry, it's not personal, you know?" she heaved a sigh before flopping backwards onto the floor. "And yet I'm still just trying to figure out how to sort out... this," she said gesturing around them.

"If Tree meets with her Mother, then what? The Redfangs are still trying to make a cure before her for a power play and Laedrya is working on a cure and- can we just get them working together? It would look good for both of them, right?" she sat up, "and we certainly know some unflattering things about both sides that could maybe coax them into such an agreement..."

Thimb looked to the room to tell her she was either insane or brilliant because she was too tired to be sure herself.

"I think I brought that up earlier," Sithani offers. "On Korogur's boat. But Tree thought her mother wouldn't risk breaking the amulet even if that proved necessary, which might prove a sticking point. It's a nice idea, though."

"I bet if it was breaking it or fear of lynch mob when the town finds out she'd give it some real thought..." muttered Thimb, not entirely convinced that would actually be enough.

"We're not breaking the thing Tree's life has been tied to," Korogur says firmly.

Glen chuckles, his eyes closed. "Never thought I'd see the day that Korogur Redfang took the same side as Laerdya fucking Siannodel." His eyes half-open. "You're being as short-sighted and overprotective as she is. Have you even asked Tree what she wants to do about it?"

"Yes," he says, his voice turning flat. "She wants to break it because she feels guilty. Thousands of people dead because she was born, she thinks. If she dies--or something worse--it'll be because the gods willed it as punishment for her crimes."

His eyes flash with pain and anger, and his voice thickens. "Everyone else in this city is focused on ending the plague. Every single one of them would consider her life a fair price if it meant no one else had to die. What's one more girl, huh? Is it really such a crime if one person worries about keeping her alive, Glen?"

Glen sighs. "I didn't say it was a crime. Of course it's good that you care, just as it is good that Luther cared and that Laerdya cares. But it doesn't change that scores of people are, in fact, dead because of the plague, and that we need to be productively trying to figure out how to end it - and that every option should be on the table, even as a last resort. No door should be categorically closed. And she should be free to make her own decisions and not be held back by the emotions of her reasonably distraught loved ones." Glen's voice is understanding; he clearly is not unsympathetic to Korogur's emotions, but the greater good is what concerns him most.

Korogur's jaw tightens. "So we're just going to try things willy-nilly and who cares if she dies and can't be resurrected? Have you considered that breaking the amulet might make the plague unstoppable for all we know? Or even accelerate the illness?"

Glen sighs, again. "Stop putting words in my mouth, Captain. There's plenty to consider. The things you've presented are outcomes to keep in mind, but they're not the only possible outcomes. We have to keep open minds, and we have to respect Tree's agency and wishes. Part of the problem that drove her away from Laerdya was being unable to make her own decisions, as you well know." Glen sounds profoundly tired.

Korogur crosses his arms over his chest and is silent, but his expression is stormy.

"May I suggest that until we've actually had a proper look at the amulet - and when we're not tired and in my case a little overwhelmed by people trying to kill us - we leave these hypotheticals for now?" To Glen, Sithani projects, <For what it's worth, I think you're right, but maybe don't make him think he might need to get in our way.>

Thimb's brow furrowed, "I know I missed some things while we were on the boat but the result of destroying a magic item attuned to someone just breaks the benefit of it. Usually, anyways. So I would have thought our likely bad outcome would be her health is poorer, if she's still even benefiting from it. Which sucks but I would think is manageable? I- I don't want to do anything to hurt her- she's been through enough already." She remembered the copy of her in a glass casket. She'd run away from home too if she found one of those. "Sithani is right though, we shouldn't be leaping to any conclusions until we can actually study the thing, and Glen is right that ultimately? Tree gets the final say. So what any of us think or want is all secondary to that."

Korogur does not respond to any of this, for good or ill. He waits for Tree and Sunrise to return.

Glen shuts his eyes again.