The Search for Lexxie: Part 3
----- Crystal Moments -----
"I know. I know it's risky. But we're running out of food and we don't have enough money on hand to pay for more and there's no telling what we can hunt that won't kill us."
Paige frowned and crossed her arms as she looked to Nalla. The asura frowned and knitted her brow as two clawed hands reached up to tug on her ears. Paige could almost hear the gears turning in the other woman's head as she puzzled out the solution to the problem at hand. In the few days that they'd been working on the ruins' teleportation crystal, Paige was quick to pick up on the hints and clues to the other woman's mood.
"So what are you thinking?" Paige asked.
Nalla sighed and looked at Paige. "My ears, I don't think we can get something stable set up. We might be able to open a portal if we jack into the waypoint network. But..."
Paige said, "The Arcane Council won't be happy, will they?"
Nalla nodded. "Not in the least. If only Lexxie were here. She's a genius with this kind of technology."
Paige crossed her arms and said the first thing that came to mind.
"What if we hijacked the network then? Like, in the next few days."
Paige glanced at Nalla and saw the asura tug on her ears. Paige knew that the timing was poor as it made it sound like she dismissed Lexxie, which was her admitted reason for coming here in the first place. Paige smiled and held up a hand in apology.
"No no, I'm not saying we just do it and stop trying. But, if we can set up something temporary, we can go home, get supplies and come back and find Lexxie. See..." she smiled a bit wider at Nalla, "...I remember Ruijai, my mentor, mentioning that every Asura keeps their tools back home, so that nitwits and booka don't lose them in the field. If we go home, we can visit Ruijai's lab or yours, get the tools that Lexxie will need for the project and then save time once we find her."
It was a lot of what-ifs and if-thens. But it made sense to Paige. She had to protect her people from her lack of preparation. It was true that she packed for an extra week to the journey, but now she was wishing she packed for double the expected time in and out. Still...she had to make do.
"What do you say," Paige asked, "do you want to try? We will find Lexxie, because I won't let down my new knight. But, I want to make sure we're prepared for the job this time and that means we have to take a chance on long odds. What do you say?"
Nalla exhaled a deep breath. While she had grown quite fond of Paige, the woman seemed a bit lackadaisical with the rules; at the very least, with less adherence than Nalla had been accustomed to. Both in the Pact and before that, as a Peacemaker, Nalla had been used to serving under strong leaders. Paige was, by all intents, this type of leader; however, she garnered such compassion and absolutely overflowed with heart. It was this quality in her poobah, that Nalla found so… appealing, and it was this quality that made her trust the woman.
“As long as we’re not gone too long,” she finally said. “I can not bare not knowing what’s going on with Lexxie. She’s… Well, she’s kinda… special, and does not communicate too well. She’s brilliant though, and I really think she can tap into the leyline energy the waypoint systems use to make our transport permanent, and she undoubtedly knows of a way to keep it unregistered.”
Nalla sighed and her eyes glazed over, prompting Paige to put her arm around the Asura’s small shoulders. At once, Nalla fell into Paige’s embrace and quietly sobbed.
[To be Continued...]
