Catherine had been mostly off in her own world, wondering how much longer this would take. Her spoiled personality was already starting to boil over in her thoughts and a strong urge to burn something was brewing in the back of her mind. The only thing that snapped her out of it was the sudden call of a lady staying idly along the road. It was odd. This place wasn't exactly close enough to be normal walking distance to things. Her mind already weighed with a single thought. I don't care! Suppressing her childish urge, she paused to get a better look at the woman while shaking her head. "I should really be leaving soon. You probably should as well. It's going to get rather cold out soon."
"That might be true, but it will take some time before either of us can get to the next village. I walk in the same direction. Why don't take time for a breather?"
Did you listen to anything I just said? Catherine had been born into an easy life and did not do well with anything that she perceived as an interruption. Biting back the urge to just set the tree on fire, she had to reminded herself she wasn't nineteen anymore. Approaching the woman, she did her best to mask how much her impatience was starting to boil over. "I might sit with you...for a moment. I do not accept drinks from strangers."
'Well, for one your name and picture will be off the bounty board and you will get fewer people like us coming to your hut,' Alyndra said.
“If I may...” Celine decided to join the conversation at last “as you probably realize the bounty is not going to just go away – it has to be dealt with in some way. I read it carefully and it says only that you are to be delivered to the high priestess so that, I quote, 'she could make the wicked harlot see the light', end quote. It does not say that, once delivered, you have to remain there, or how long you have to stay there.” The elf paused to catch her breath. “Before coming here we visited the temple and spoke to both Juanita and Carina. The high priestess believes that you possess numerous dangerous artifacts, including a book called 'Whispers in the Mist' – which you supposedly refused to hand over to the temple. Carina wants you captured and delivered to her for interrogation, and then her people will take care of any dangerous artifacts they find once this place is empty. Which means they could place and then 'find' anything they want, now that I think about it... but that's irrelevant.” Celine made another pause, giving Verena time to think about what she had been told, before continuing. “Delivering you to the high priestess will get rid of the bounty on your head, at least for a while – as my friend just pointed out. I admit we have no way to be certain what will happen to you once you are delivered to Carina, but it is better than trying to hide or run away from any bounty hunters that decide that for 100 gold coins you are worth the trouble. And if Juanita turns out to be right about Carina and some dangerous artifacts are really found in the high priestess' possession when they should not be there... well, that just means one less person to put a bounty on your head, right?” She looked at Alyndra for support.
"Wise." The woman nodded as she continued siping the tea in silence. "You should enjoy the silence a little. You are boiling, ready to blow up. It will only hamper you." The woman spoke freely as if she was speaking about the weather. Maybe it did mean little to her, anyway - they were strangers.
The words coming the lady's mouth did actually grab Catherine's attention into properly listening now. Making a mental note to calm herself and relax, she lowered herself to sit down on the grass and hear this woman out. She knew enough to get a read on Catherine's emotions. Not that it was proof of a higher power since Catherine wasn't the greatest at hiding her tantrums to begin with....but still, she had gotten advice in stranger ways before. The giant spider...well, that didn't matter so much now. But it did manage striking another nerve to see the woman's understanding of her impatience. "If you understand what I'm feeling so well, do you understand why I'm in such a hurry?"
The witch stayed silent for a long moment. "So you basically want me to be captured, while saying you have no way of being sure I would be freed after. You also want me to give a very dangerous book to bunch of amateurs who would rather burn it then treasure it and use with moderation. So to sum up, come with us, you are going to have all your treasures stolen, then you will get burned - but we honestly hope it won't happen. We have no plan, but we have good intentions." She said sarcastically. "You are not making your case."
The woman stayed silent for a moment before answering. "I don't know. And I won't pretend to know." She took a sip of tea. "I will ask you this instead. Will rushing had on, bring you what you need. Or rather carefully and logically approaching the problem will bring you the solution you desire?"
"You misunderstand haste for impulsiveness." Catherine took a moment to pause, bringing herself back down to a manageable level to keep her front of grace present despite this woman already seeing right through it. "I can formulate solutions and adapt to situations along with going with the flow. I cannot however, account for everything other people may do. I can adapt to my own brashness and use it effectively, but if I leave things be and allow others to get ahead, I will get left behind with nothing to come from it." Catherine debated things internally. What if someone already slew the witch or captured her? Granted, the priesthood was obviously, obviously bad news. Only a utter moron would sincerely believe any of them had the best intentions...but that didn't mean the witch was therefore not guilty of all the things they said she was. Just because someone clearly shady wanted someone gone, it didn't necessarily mean the other party was therefore entirely innocent either. Rather, Catherine was counting on it. A ruthless witch was far more likely to be doing the kind of experiments and rituals that she was seeking. They'd at least be able to get her a start in the right direction of how to achieve her goals. In the event she was already captured it would mean her home would be empty...it might be possible to scavenge through her notes and find something there, but it was from ideal. "Have you ever heard the phrase that if you wish something to be done right, you must do it yourself?"
'What? No, we are not handing Verena over to Carina,' Alyndra said, 'She tortures people to make them confess. I just thought we'd borrow the book. With Carina behind bars or wherever they will put her, the bounty would be null and void.'
“That's certainly a possibility, but there's no guarantee that the bounty will be voided if we get rid of Carina.” Celine pointed out and made a mental note to ask Zilfar what happens in such a case. Then she got an idea and looked at the witch. “I don't suppose you have some way to create a temporary copy of yourself? I've heard that some witches are capable of such a thing. Something that could trick Carina at least for a short while? This might actually work better than simply bringing you in – if we are seen delivering you to Carina, and then you suddenly vanish, the suspicion for your escape will fall on her... and as a bonus you won't have to risk turning yourself in and being at the mercy of the priestesses.” The elf looked at Verena hopefully.
The woman smiled. "Yes... but that is because people, lack proper communication to pass on their desires. So the outcome done by some other person you asked to do something, will always be lacking to you. The question is - is that bad?" Only now, Catherine got a better look at the woman.
The woman cocked her eyebrow at Alyndra's comment. "That... could work. I could make one of the- well, I can't make the entire body..." The witch paused, deep in thought. "I could make a temporary head. But the head alone should be enough. Still," She crossed her arms under her bust. "I am not willing to give away the book you are asking for."
The woman struck Catherine as odd. She was way too clean. Almost refined, but out in the middle of nowhere without any place to be. Catherine was confident the whole story behind it at all was very exciting, but the anxiousness of the prospect she'd lose still ran on strong in the back of her brain. Even with enough experience to know things wouldn't always go her way, Catherine never really developed a lot of emotional maturity to truly accept any outcome that wasn't in her favor. "Leaving things to others and hoping for the best, is simply irresponsible. The only reliable bit of knowledge is that the best laid plains can always be sabotaged by other people's idiocy. Trusting people to make the right decisions isn't ever going to produce a result you enjoy. Barring that, it's aside from the point. I have far more vision than my partial blindness would suggest. My goals won't be accomplished by simply waiting for things to fall into my lap."
"Anything we can do to help you create more than just a head? While I'm sure we can't compare to you in skill or power we both have some skill with magic. Can we be of any assistance? Or should we just sit by and watch?" Celine half-asked and half-suggested. “Also, there's no need to give us that particular book, but we do need something to give to Juanita – something she can use to dispose of Carina. As for the high priestess herself, she does not require any artifacts from you, as she will just send people to search your hut once it is empty – I believe I mentioned that already.” The elf paused as a thought occurred to her. “Actually, mind telling us what you know about the priestesses, and Carina and Juanita in particular? Maybe that'll give us an idea how to best approach the issue...”
"And yet... people band together to achieve greater things. When building massive structures numerous people work together to finish their projects. When creating new magics, people use discoveries of those that were before them. Whether you want it or not, you are part of the world and can't live apart from it. The question is, can you use it to your advantage?" The woman looked back into the forest, enjoying the breeze of wind.
"I will just use one of the heads of the cultists' - they were rather rude to me, pointing sharp objects in my direction, telling me what they would do with my body and soul..." the witch said darkly, then shook her head. "Changing it will be rather easy, and since the head is rather small, I will be able to make it last. No need to help me. I can give you the trinkets that the cultists brought with them, they had nothing that I would like to keep. It should be enough for your needs." She paused as she thought for a moment. "I know nothing of the priestesses except that Carina is a leader..."
"Hmph. I've had legions under my command before." Catherine never really missed an opportunity to bolster her own ego, gazing off in the same direction as the woman. The pirate had a proud smile on her face as she typically did before devolving into stories that were somewhat exaggerated. "Fleets that spanned across the ocean. Hails of canon fire that would level entire forts. My men who would do anything under my command, giving their own lives for the crew. An unstoppable force that the navy considered a suicide mission to mess with. My last voyage was just like that. We went out on The Bitter End. My personal flagship, and the ultimate vessel to ever grace the sea. The admiral could do nothing while we decimated his fleet. Backed into a corner, the old bastard realized his time was short and invoked black arts to cause a great beast rise from the depths of the ocean. He screamed into the sea, and it screamed back. Out from the calm blueness came the kraken, the most fierce monster to ocean traveler kind. It smashed apart some of the ships and brought it's face down on to the deck of my own ship, threatening to devour us whole. We fought back with everything we had and with a keg of gunpowder in it's mouth, it was blown apart. The yell of it's death throes, so loud that it deafened the men standing too close to it. But the day was ours! My daughter had even recovered the compass from the admiral." Catherine stopped her spill for a moment, her face suddenly going back to looking neutral again. "......the ship crashed......I ended up here. That's it." Not willing to go into details, she just went into a sullen silence at the end of her story.
