I was temporarily blinded, so I shoved my arms out in front of me instinctually. I hit something with my palms, but it didn't move, I did. My inability to see faded and I suddenly felt really silly. I had been trying to fend off a brick wall. Adrasta was leaning against it watching me with what I assumed to be amusement. It's so hard to tell when she never has any sort of expression on her face.
"What was that?"
"Folding."
"Of course. What is that?"
"It's . . .uh. . .teleporting?"
"Right. I know what that is."
"But it isn't at the same time. Teleportation is done with some sort of device or machine. Folding is done with the mind."
"Right, because whatever we are, can do that."
"Uh huh."
"Are we safe?"
"I wouldn't say that. Osiris is a dangerous planet."
"I meant safe from coming into contact with Ya'uta or any sort of like being."
"Yautja frequent this planet, but they aren't going to pay attention to us."
"Why is that? If they see that we can do anything out of the ordinary, they'll mark us."
"If they see us."
"I suppose we'll be out in the wilderness then?"
"Lena, you need to start thinking like you're somewhat of a godlike being. If you don't want to be seen, you wont be. If you don't want to be in a place, you don't have to be."
"We can be invisible?"
"Of course not. That's crazy."
I sighed in exasperation and thought about Ya'uta again. Did I frustrate him this much? Is this some sort of redemption? Cosmic revenge?
"We can obstruct optical intake. Meaning we can cause a creature not to see us whereas anything else would be able to. It causes a lot of confusion when changing from one to the next."
"I have a feeling that it's going to be years before I learn what all we can do."
"Yep."
"So can you bend anything?"
"Anything with an elemental base."
I decided it would be for the better if I didn't ask her what that meant at the time. The wall had suddenly disappeared and we were standing in the center of an alien city.
"Did I miss something?"
"You're the one that brought us here."
"What? I did that?"
"Yep. We should probably get walking, we're being stared at."
We walked down a stretch of road that was paved with cobblestones. Adrasta ducked into a building and I followed her. It appeared to be a bar and it was very crowded. There were all manner of beings. Dagons, Lynens, wraiths, and of course, Yautja.
"Are you sure this is a good place to be in?"
"It's really busy in here, plus you know that most of these beings are too full of themselves to pay any mind to us. Don't do that."
"Do what?"
I looked at my hands as Adrasta was and saw that they were glowing green.
"What is that about?"
"We can stun things by doing that. Don't do it."
I decided to listen to Adrasta after that. I was doing strange things and so far she had gotten me out of situations that I couldn't of gotten myself out of. We sat ourselves at a booth in the corner.
"So what is the plan?"
"I don't know yet. You're the one that wanted to come into town."
"I didn't want to, I didn't even realize I was doing it."
"Shh."
The barmaid walked over and looked down at us.
"Two Bitters please."
She nodded and stomped back across the room to the bar area. I had never seen anything like her. It was like someone played a horrible joke on a rhinoceros. I realized I was staring when Adrasta snapped her fingers in front of my face. I blinked a couple times and frowned.
"What the hell was that?"
"I'm not sure what they call themselves. They tend to get very upset when asked, or if anyone comments on any part of their anatomy. I think they want to be more humanoid and less alien, or maybe less humanoid and full. . .well. . .alien, I suppose."
"Right, I think I would rather be dead then be whatever that is."
"Uh huh."
The barmaid came back with our drinks. I chanced a sip and noticed that it didn't live up to its name. Whatever the concoction was, it sure wasn't bitter, more sweet and sort of sour.
"So when you say elemental based, do you mean it has to be like liquid, or rock or dirt, things like that?"
"Shh."
She looked across the room at a group of men that were heavily armed and looked a lot more humanoid than anything else in the bar, except for maybe the fact that they had huge spiraling horns growing out of their shoulders. Adrasta was staring at them sideways and drinking her Bitter with fury. I guessed we weren't going to be staying long, so I drank mine as fast as I could. She slammed her mug down on the table and tossed a couple metal coin like objects on the table.
"They shouldn't be here."
"What are you talking about?"
"Those mercenaries. . .they were here right before Beleth found me."
"What does that mean?"
"How the hell should I know?"
She grabbed my hand and I felt that nauseous feeling again and then I landed on my ass really hard. I looked up at Adrasta. I did realize why I had fallen on my ass. I wasn't ready for the lack of seat under my rear. I stood up and brushed the dirt off my ass.
"So what did you do, or should I say, do you do to piss them off?"
"I ended up blasting a hole in the bar the last time I was in there."
"Why?"
"I was having a really bad day."
"How bad was the explosion?"
"Glass, blood and body parts everywhere."
"Neato. Except obviously they survived?"
"Most of the people in the bar did, only the people closest to me were in bits. They came after me though, because they planned to get my name out there so people would start putting bounties on my head for killing their friends and loved ones. They did have a good plan, until I blew them up too."
"Good times. Where are we now?"
"I don't know."
