Meeting a Valkyrie

The building that served as the gang’s hideout, the same building in which Ash had spent all the productive years of her life was, by no one’s standards, large. It had once been used for the storage of goods, but that time was long past. The rest of the neighborhood had fallen into disrepair and then abandonment, leaving only those with nowhere else to go. Anything of even the faintest value was stripped out in short order. That had been years before Ash had moved in, and the interim had been filled by rotating squatters of every description. Ash first moved in when she was thirteen, taking the opportunity created by the untimely deaths of the previous occupants. The building became the home base for her growing gang largely because she was already there, but it served well. It was a squat, ugly thing of cracked grey stone and a rotting wooden roof, but it was home enough for the little group of thieves and beggars.

Ash knew every inch of it, but as she walked with Tienne, the short, twisting hallways stretched on well past any reality. Although Tienne was seemingly cooperative, Ash still expected her to lash out at any second. It was, in her mind, the sensible reaction to getting politely shown the door by your kidnapper. Then again, Tienne had already demonstrated a lack of sense by ending up there in the first place. But who knew how rich-girl Valkyries thought? So Ash walked gingerly, as if one wrong step would enrage Tienne, cause the guards to bust down the door, or invite some other colorful disaster.

It took only a minute to get to the front door, but Ash could have sworn it had been years. However long it took, their journey had not gone unnoticed. Other member of Ash’s gang-men, women and children of all ages and species-had emerged from their various corners and crevices to gawk. Already alerted by the commotion in the meeting room, all were aware that something out of the ordinary was going on, and they needed to know what that was. In their life, ‘out of the ordinary’ usually meant ‘dangerous,’ and there was little more out of the ordinary than a clearly well-to-do girl in armor walking around their decrepit home. They may not have known what Carvus had done, nor Tienne’s exact profession, but they certainly knew that there were few innocent explanations for someone like her being in their presence. When Ash and Tienne reached the door, they had accumulated a small orbit of wary observers. They were keeping their distance so far, but the tension was clear to see and feel. There was little time to get Tienne out and away from the hideout before someone did something unhelpful. Ash resolved to not think about what was yet another challenge to her position. Figuring out how to explain the situation in a satisfactory manner could come later. She turned to Tienne and struck an overly polite bow.

“Well, here we are. It’s been great knowing you, but-”

Before Ash had fully figured out what she was going to say the door, and much of the wall around it, simply fell apart. There was no break, no bang, nor anything that would normally accompany such damage. One second, the door and wall were their normal, ill-repaired selves. The next, there was a massive line cut across them at a steep angle from floor to ceiling. Then, nearly half of the structure collapsed in on itself without any fanfare. There was barely even any rubble left. Suddenly exposed to the tender mercies of gravity, the remainder of the door wobbled on its already loose hinges and fell to the ground with a weak thud. The closest onlookers scurried away.

On the other side of the sudden ruin, behind a dissipating cloud of the orange specks, was another woman. A few things immediately stood out about her: first, she was an adult elf, short waves of brown hair falling to her neck and perfectly framing pointed ears and olive-skinned face. Secondly, she was dressed identically to Tienne, with her hood thrown back to give a clear view of a smirk and green eyes bright with amusement. Third, she was holding some strange sort of stylus in her hand, which hovered just in front of where the wall had been, leaving no doubt as to the cause of its collapse. Fourth, Ash was completely screwed.

“If it isn’t my wayward student,” the woman said, just barely suppressing a laugh as she tucked the stylus back into her cloak. “I’m assuming you did not find what you were looking for in this…lovely establishment?”

“My lady, please forgive me. I made a terrible mistake.” Tienne dropped to one knee, voice somehow even more serious than it had started.

“Evidently. Who’s your new friend?”

The elder Valkyrie looked straight at Ash, which caused the young girl to make a noise that had absolutely nothing to do with dignity. Up until that moment, she had held out an absurd hope that the woman would simply take Tienne and leave. Now, with the woman’s attention focused squarely on her, Ash had no idea how she was going to make it out of this alive. It was somehow worse that the elf woman didn’t even look angry, just bemused.

“Ashrieda Solace. Ma’am.” This was accompanied by a loud swallow, and more trembling than Ash would have admitted.

“She is the leader of the criminals who accosted me,” Tienne said, standing and suddenly as confident as ever. Ash got the grim sense that she was happy to make someone else the object of the woman’s potential ire.

“As I told your student here, that was a terrible misunderstanding,” Ash said, the need to get out in front of further accusations driving words out of her mouth faster than she could process them. “I was just showing Tienne out, and warning her to be more careful around town. I was even going to help her find this keystone.”

“Ah, I see my student has already told you and Stars know who else about her secret investigation,” the woman said, flicking her gaze to Tienne. Whatever courage the girl had gotten from making Ash a scapegoat withered instantly. The woman sighed dramatically as she turned back to Ash. “But what’s done is done. It sounds like you’re quite confident in your knowledge of this city?”

“Y-yes ma’am,” Ash blurted out, eager to agree to whatever she needed to keep the Valkyrie happy.

“That’s perfect, then. As you say, dear Tienne has been having some small trouble finding what she’s supposed to, and I must admit that it has been far too long since I’ve visited the wonderful city. So, it would be a great help if there were a local who was willing to show us around. Especially, say, a local who needed to keep the fact that her minions had kidnapped a Valkyrie under wraps.”

The woman smiled broadly at Ash, and all the young girl could do was go pale. The older Valkyrie technically hadn’t even asked anything, but there was no doubt whatsoever that Ash had no choice in the matter. Getting further involved in this business was the absolute last thing Ash wanted, but all she could do was accept.

“It would be my honor. Ma’am.”

“Good,” the woman said, smile unbroken. “I am Blossom Knight Solenia Swiftmind, Delighted to meet you.”