Mine Folly

[Yvonne]

Try as she might to look away and avert her eyes, Lilly brought her light source in close and dazzled Yvonne’s sensitive vision. She recoiled instinctively, clenched her eyelids shut tightly, shielded her face with a hand but it was too late. It wasn’t the brightest light in the world, thankfully, but it was enough to make her see stars. She would be relatively blind for the next five minutes while her vision readjusted to the changing light-levels.

“Curses! I may not have explained me shortcomings,” Yvonne confessed, massaging her closed eyelids soothingly. “I grew up in tha darkest part of Kachuck’s natural cavern system. Me eyes are well acquainted with total darkness but they have a wee bit of difficulty focusing on light. A bright enough light might blind me,” the grey dwarf said, spelling it all out for the dark elf whom had probably never been to her home-cave.

“I should be fine in a few minutes. Ye lead and I’ll follow for tha first leg. When me darkvision readjusts itself I can scout for us instead,” she affirmed.

Lilly wasn’t leading straight away like Yvonne had hoped she would, feelings of concern and guilt keeping her here perhaps. It was the half-and-halfling’s fault though, truthfully. It had been her decision to leave her protective goggles behind. It was dark but that didn’t rule out sources of light. Mayhap the hybrid could change the topic and that might take the edge off, soften the guilt-trip she’d probably bestowed upon the poor woman.

The forbidden topic had been raised again. Lilly spoke so freely about magic, certainly it had to be some kind of ruse to lower her guard and derive the truth from her. Alerar had many operatives and inquisitors that served the King - perhaps Lilly was one of them, come to expose the mixed breed mage for who she was. What did she really know about Lillian Svalesin? Of what Yvonne knew what could she prove was truth? Not much. The charismatic hybrid held a small debt over the dark elf’s head though, and if this relationship was going to end in betrayal, well … she had her own knavery ways of dealing with that too.

Part of the hybrid needed someone she could trust, to talk about what she was going through. She felt like a vulnerable larva hiding away in her chrysalis, undergoing magical changes of late, and here was a person who appeared to have a much greater understanding of magical knowledge. Lilly was an expert of magical theory at the very least and that was far and away from her own understanding. Knowledge was power; feeling as though she had none she needed to acquire some while she had the opportunity. Now that there wasn’t so many eavesdropping ears around, out here alone on the open road, Yvonne felt she could speak about magic. It terrified her of course, but she’d come quite a way from the phobia of her previous year.

“I’ll tell ye a secret, but ye have ta promise ta keep it ta yerself. No blabbing ta anybody, especially not to anybody like Dorothy. She blabs on ta every patron that comes into her bar. Definitely no dark elves. Who knows what they would do ta me if they found out. It might be a one way trip ta tha gallows or an inquisitor’s bonfire,” she warned, her trembles coming back again to take her over.

“I know a--” Yvonne hesitated, her breath catching in her throat. She licked her lips, hurrying through the rest of her words before she started listening to her better judgement. “--spell or two. I be a novice magus.”

Her vision was already returning to normal.