Adrien chuffs as he successfully completes the 3rd kata without any mistakes. As he flows through the last couple of steps, the bronze sword in his hand feels more like an extension of his body than a separate weapon.
As he walks out of the training area, Orinia stands up to begin the same kata. Turning around, he sends her a salute of respect, as she is the only other turian who is working on the same kata.
Oriana returns his salute with a simple nod, which is all the attention she can spare as the exacting footwork demands her absolute attention.
Turning away again, he pauses as he spots Siúsan with a smile on her face. Shaking his head, he tries to keep his answering smile out of his crest, with little success.
Despite his honour and training, his hand runs over the small stone in his pocket, tracing out the dips and troughs of the carving as he finds himself walking towards her.
As he reaches speaking distance, Siúsan says, "Well done. That was your first time? Completing that kata with no mistakes I mean."
Adrien nods, "It was, I still can't believe it's been three years since I found my magic."
Siúsan smiles at Adrien and kisses him on the cheek plate, "That's because your mind is starting to adjust to our ways already. On Shaanxi:2 it's been less than a week since you arrived. Are you ready to return to Shaanxi:2 to meet your people?"
Rather than answer, Adrien pulls out the stone he's been working on, "Uh, I made this for you."
Siúsan takes the stone and flips it over and around a few times, carefully examining the engraving, "It's beautiful, where is it?"
Adrien looks away slightly, "How do you know it's a real place?" When Siúsan looks at him sceptically, his crest and shoulders droop, "It's my home on Palaven. But I did use magic to make the engraving."
Siúsan smiles widely, "Thank you, it's very precious. Now, are you ready to talk to your superiors without disabling all of their equipment?"
Adrien looks around mournfully, "I am, though I don't know how to get there."
Siúsan pulls a necklace with a dial on it, "For the moment, you'll need one of these. If you return to the clan, then we can start to teach you how to make the journey on your own."
Adrien holds his hand out for the necklace, and tries to put it on. Finally, he gives up, as the clasp is designed for human fingers and not turian talons.
Siúsan chuckles good naturedly, "Here, let me help you. Before we go, you should let your companions know that we'll be gone for at least a year. Even though it will only be a matter of hours for us."
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Once Adrien has said his farewells, Siúsan steps into his space, and hooks one arm around his back. As she does, he can't help but give a smile. With her other hand she turns the dial one spot counter clockwise.
As the dial clicks into position, Adrien's mandibles drop open as the world smoothly fades out and is replaced by a completely different landscape. Another click, and he wipes his eyes in case they're playing tricks on him.
Another click, and he looks down at Siúsan, "What's going on?"
Another click, and Siúsan looks up, "We're heading towards Shaanxi:2 as quickly as I can adjust."
Another click and Adrien starts to notice that there's something missing in the air.
Click, "Something's changed, there's something missing."
Click, Siúsan grimaces, "Give me a moment, this hurts enough as it is."
Adrien frowns, "What's wrong?"
Siúsan gasps, "Our magical bodies are more flexible than the magic of those born in the lower realms. As we get closer to the lower realms, our magic starts to push out painfully. If we spend too long in the locked realms, then we will literally explode if we don't have the right training."
Click, "Maybe you should take more time to acclimate."
Siúsan leans heavily against Adrien as she points, "We're here. That's sanctuary, the home of the magical intelligence that controls the wards over the city."
Adrien looks where she's pointing, and sees a sprawling complex only a few minutes walk away.
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By the time the two of them reach the compound, Adrien has picked Siúsan up in his arms. While she's not making any sounds, he can feel just how much pain she's in by how rigidly she's sitting in his arms.
Almost as soon as they cross some unseen threshold, a couple of humans appear, one of which slips a necklace over Siúsan's neck. As it settles over her neck, she immediately relaxes and snuggles into Adrien's chest plates.
Without making any move to let go, Siúsan bows her head at the humans, "Thank you Magi. This is Adrien, one of the turians that were evacuated due to Prothean Syndrome. How are the magicals doing?"
The magi on the left shakes his head, "Not well. We've managed to get them to Shaanxi:7 but their magical bodies are already starting to show scars despite the slow acclimatisation. Physically, they only have a few more days to live, and they still have to get past Shaanxi:8 and 9. If by some miracle they make it to Realm:10, that will be the furthest they'll ever be able to go." He sighs sadly, "Even if they receive the best healing available here, they just won't live long enough for the scars to lift enough that they could go further."
Siúsan bows her head again, "Thank you for letting us know. We're looking to get to Shaanxi:2."
The other magi nods, "You're most welcome, and the way opens in five hours. Feel free to look around wherever you wish. There's even a few house elves that moved in a short while ago, they would be ecstatic if you asked them for refreshments."
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Due to a combination of anxiety, and the discovery of a library with actual spirits damned books, the way to the lower realms opens far faster than Adrien is prepared for.
When a magi literally walks out of nowhere while Siúsan is teaching Adrien how to turn the pages of a book with only his magic, Adrien can't help letting our a threatening clicking.
Siúsan chuckles and pats him on the arm, "Hey, no threatening the hosts."
The magi smiles at Siúsan, "It's quite refreshing to be treated so casually. I am here to inform you that the way has opened."
Siúsan nods, "Thank you, we'll leave you in peace then."
As the magi disappears as easily as they appeared, Siúsan drags a reluctant Adrien towards a nearby symbol on the floor before turning the dial on his necklace again, at the same time, she turns her own dial.
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As the world shifts, Adrien's guard immediately comes up as they appear in a small fenced off circle on a busy city street. The people going about their business pay the two of them no mind, even when Siúsan pulls him off the circle.
"Come on, there's a local transport point just over there. We can use that to go straight to Shaanxi:2 rather than waiting for the way to open."
Adrien allows himself to be pulled to the back of a line of humans apparently waiting to use a cylinder with an automatic door. Occasionally the door will open and one or two humans will walk out, but mostly the humans seem to just be going in and disappearing.
Adrien mutters to himself in Turian, "It's just like the floor hoppers on the citadel."
That's when a ground transport pulls up next to the queue, and another 30 humans disembark to join the queue. Unconsciously, Adrien grips the hilt of his sword tightly.
When Siúsan spots his hand move, she gently places a hand on his arm and speaks soothingly in turian, "It's ok. It's like you've returned from a desert trial. You're no longer used to being around people."
Adrien looks down at Siúsan in surprise, and lets go of the hilt of his sword, "How…"
Siúsan shrugs, "…do I know? We have the same issues sometimes. Well, those of us that don't live in courts do anyway."
Adrien looks at her in surprise, "How are you so peaceful then?"
Siúsan winks at Adrien, "Who says I am? I'll teach you toe sense your surroundings with not-biotics later. Once that's second nature, you'll be physically a peace while you're not under attack."
A few minutes later, the two of them finally reach the small room that everyone has been using. Inside the plain metal room is a single button.
Not seeing anything else, Adrien reaches up to press the button. Before he can, Siúsan catches his hand and switches to English, "Normally, that would be the right button to use. However, we're going to Shaanxi:2 not 3. For a number of reasons, Shaanxi:2 is off limits to most of the population."
Adrien frowns, "The disease?"
Siúsan nods, "That's now part of it. But there are some ruins, and eezo deposits that scientists wanted to look at. Anyway, the button that will allow us to transit to realm 2 is hidden. If you touch the wall beside the button, and push out a little of your magic, you'll see the other button appear."
While Adrien is doing that, Siúsan closes her eyes and pulls her magic in. As she does, Adrien's hand jerks away from the wall, "What did you just do?"
"I pulled my magic in, so that I don't damage any eezo while we're on Shaanxi:2, why?"
Adrien looks at his talons, "I-I feel… empty."
Siúsan smiles sadly at him, "I told you that our magic likes each other, and thinks we'd be compatible. That's part of what it means. It's why I want to join the Dark Walkers, as it's the only way I'll be able to go with you when you leave."
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Siúsan switches to turian, "Worry about that later. For now you need to give your report."
Automatically, Adrien responds to her tone of voice, "Yes nest mother!"
Putting a talon on the wall, he starts to try and push his magic into the wall. It takes him a little while, but eventually the second button appears, and he pushes it with his other hand.
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Unlike travelling with the necklace, one moment they're standing in a booth, the next there's a simple blank column standing at the top of a hill.
Stepping backwards, Adrien looks around to both get his bearings, and check for any guards or hunters. Almost directly behind him, he can see the tell-tale signs of a turian encampment. As he turns back to Siúsan, he can't help taking a step back in surprise.
The cause of the surprise is her shrinking down and turning into a brown feathered raptor. With a screech, she leaps from the ground and beats her wings once, then twice to become airborne. As he watches, Siúsan circles around him twice before landing on his shoulder. Her strong talons easily gripping onto the plates beneath his clothes.
Once he's regained his wits, Adrien looks at Siúsan, "You couldn't have warned me that you could do that?"
Siúsan just chirps as she cuffs him with one wing, and points at the camp with the other.
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Desolas is reviewing one of the many reports his patrols and scouts have been making of this part of the new world. His concentration is broken as there's a tap on the wall and Wing Leader Abrudas stands in the doorway, "Flight Leader. Patrol Leader Victus has returned for debriefing."
Desolas sighs at he looks down at his datapad. Swiftly saving his work, he switches over to the debriefing application. "Send him in. Was anyone else with him?"
Abrudas shakes her head, "No Flight Leader."
A moment later, a clearly nervous Adrien walks into his office. As Adrien bows with his talons behind him, Desolas takes in his unfamiliar attire and the strange avian on his shoulder.
After the proper period of time, Desolas nods his head, "Acknowledged, take a seat."
Adrien straightens up before sitting down, "Thank you Flight Leader."
While Adrien is sitting down, Desolas raises his wrist and activates the recording function on his temporary omni-tool. After entering all of the necessary details about the meeting on his datapad, he finally links the recording to the current form and looks back up at Adrien.
"Patrol leader, three days ago you were assigned a patrol route. Three minutes after you landed, your communications failed. 30 minutes after that you were declared MIA after a physical search failed to locate you. In your own words, please explain your absence."
Adrien looks at his talons for a moment, before looking back up.
"Shortly after we landed, both my own patrol, and Patrol Leader Orinia's patrol were captured by a species called humans for an advanced for of interrogation that should have had us returned to our position no more than 20 minutes after we were abducted. During the interrogation, it was discovered that we are carriers for a disease that is deadly to between 20 and 30% of their population. As soon as they detected the contagion, they enacted quarantine protocols and transported both patrols, and the humans that were interrogating us, to an isolated location where the disease could be treated."
Desolas interrupts, "This disease, how could it be contagious to humans?"
Adrien closes and opens his hands a couple of times, "Flight Leader, they call the disease Prothean Syndrome, as the first time they came across it was in some prothean ruins."
Desolas makes a couple of notes on the datapad before looking up again, "Please, continue."
Adrien nods, "The treatment for this disease is massive exposure to a form of energy they call magic. Because of this, our patrols woke up in a small village of a second species called Sidhe. This magic is very much like biotics, however at the same time it is the exact opposite of eezo. This is something that we learnt during our first days there. We were also taught we would be housed in the village until such time as we had sufficient control to not destroy any eezo we happened to be nearby."
Desolas makes a few more notes before he asks, "How did they communicate with you?"
Adrien glances at the avian, which bobs it's head, before he answers, "They implanted the memories of learning one of the human languages called English. Then over the next few years we learnt their language and they learnt Hierarchy Turian."
Desolas looks at Adrien sceptically, "Patrol leader, while you have proven your sight true repeatedly, are you sure you haven't climbed too high?"
Adrien shakes his head, before remembering that Desolas doesn't understand human customs, "No Flight Leader, in sufficiently high concentrations magic changes the flow of time much like a black hole changes the flow of time."
Desolas' body language shifts to show limited acceptance as he makes notes, "Very well, what of your equipment?"
Adrien looks surprised, "My apologies Flight Leader, I have not thought about our equipment for some years. When we woke in the temporary housing, we were still wearing all of our equipment. However, all of it was inoperable, and could not be repaired. Once we were supplied with replacement clothing that didn't unduly restrict our movement, we stowed our equipment."
Desolas carefully studies Adrien's crest and mandibles for any hint that he's not being truthful about something. Finally he settles in his seat, "These kumans, can you describe them?"
Adrien again nods, which is reminiscent of the motions the Asari and Salarian peoples use. Something that most turian's don't pick up unless they have spent significant amounts of time around either species.
"They are a bi-gendered species that look somewhat like a blending of asari and quarian, with the stature, face, and hand shape of the asari and the fur and ears of a quarian. Their skin colour ranges from sun bleached desert rocks to freshly turned soil."
Desolas chitters agitatedly and taps his talons on the desk, "That sounds like the same species that disabled my patrol and escaped with classified material."
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A moment later Desolas stands in a smooth motion as he draws his sidearm from the shelf under the desk.
At the same time, the brown avian leaps from Adrien's shoulder and transforms into one of the humans.
Desolas brings his pistol up and starts to pull the trigger as fast as he can. After a few seconds two things become apparent, the first is that the human is bowing in the Hierarchy fashion for showing peaceful intent. The second is that his pistol hasn't fired a single shot.
Experimentally, he inspects all the readouts on the pistol that are showing optimal levels. Then he pulls the trigger again, and the only sound is the click from his talon tapping the trigger.
In front of him, the human speaks in accented Hierarchy turian, "Flight leader, this hunter would offer an explanation."
Desolas' mandibles drop open for a second, before he snaps them shut with a click. With familiar terms of address, Desolas responds in Hierarchy fashion, "Introduce yourself hunter."
Siúsan holds her position as she answers, "This hunter is a sidhe from the clan Shaanxi's Dawn, I am known as Siúsan."
As Desolas retakes his seat, he idly notes that Siúsan is using the inflection for 'provider of food' rather than 'bringer of retribution'. Pushing that thought to one side, his crest flares, "Why were you concealing yourself?"
"My nest lord felt that it would be prudent to be ready to provide assistance to Hunter Adrien, without detracting from his own duty to his flight. To enable this, I took on an innocuous form so that I could intercede if a promising young hunter looked to be chasing larger prey."
Desolas pulls his talons back against the desk, leaving three deep scratches, "What of your primarch?"
Siúsan allows confusion to colour her tone, "I am unfamiliar with that term."
Desolas' crest flares slightly at the lack of knowledge, "It means lord of multiple nests."
Siúsan nods from her bowed position, "We have a similar position, though none on this world have yet earned that position."
Desolas masters his crest and outer mandibles with pure discipline, "Hunter, you are acknowledged. Why did you choose to reveal yourself now?"
Siúsan straightens up, "You reported that you were attacked by humans. As a temporary representative of the Systems Alliance, I am duty bound to appear in order to try to retrieve the information we need to track these humans down."
Desolas pushes down his need to ask why temporary, as it is not important for this situation. Instead he asks, "Hunter, you propose I give you the information you need to track the attackers down. How do you propose to do that when they are the only humans I've ever seen?"
Siúsan ducks her head in a fair imitation of turian embarrassment, "The Systems Alliance has a method of looking at the memories of people, willing or not. This was how they were going to interrogate Adrien and his people. If you are willing, I would do the same for you and your men. I would then compile those memories into a History and hand it over to our government to examine. I am also certain that none of the humans involved have returned to any Systems Alliance settlements, as we would already be enacting quarantine protocols due to Prothean Syndrome."
Desolas looks down at his datapad and uses the meeting interrupted function, before switching over to a very rarely used first contact app, and linking the ongoing recording to that app too.
Looking up, he asks, "This isn't the first time you've mentioned that, what is it?"
Siúsan smiles sadly, "It is a… Adrien, what's the word for virus?"
As Adrien responds, the meeting changes tone from a debriefing to that of an unofficial first contact.