Chapter Text
Adaine did not end up taking Ayda's offer to help teleport her to as many shows as possible; there were too many dangers involved in them to go to each and every one, if it became known she'd be there. But she was going to the one tonight, in Bastion City, which meant an overnight stay - the last train left for Elmville well before the concert would end.
Which had meant the rest of the party, plus Tracker and Aelwyn, plus of course Ayda were all going. Aelwyn was absolutely only going because she was worried about assassins, and Riz was probably the same with some desire to support Fig and Gorgug; Fabian and Kristen and Tracker were probably mostly going for the show.
Though Adaine wouldn't put it past them to also be prepared for trouble.
Probably not as much as Aelwyn, though.
"..Okay, I didn't say anything about the armor or the sword because it's still Solace, there'll be other people armed there, but the shield is too much." Adaine finally spoke up as she watched her sister consider the shield she'd started carrying and practicing casting while holding in what spare time she had. "It's probably going to be pretty crowded as is, you'll end up hitting people with it."
"Do you think so? It's really not that much, but I'm not very practiced with it yet. You're probably right." Aelwyn eventually agreed, setting it back down on their shared desk with a sigh.
Adaine frowned, glancing over her sister - she didn't look that much like a concert attendee; the chain shirt was concealed under another top, but it all was rather bulky in sum, at least for a rock show. "You could probably just use Mage Armor, if you're really worried? Or try to relax for the night? It'll probably be fine, and Fig's set me up with a bailout saferoom to teleport to if things start getting back. I prepared Dimension Door and Misty Step both as an elf and a wolf this morning, so all my bases are covered there."
Aelwyn glanced over, a matching frown on her face. "...I'm not going to relax, I'm going to help make sure you and your friends make it back safely, okay? If you all want to cut loose, you should be able to."
Adaine tapped her hand at her side, considering whether to press the issue further. "Everything I can try with a divination also came up clear. I don't mind you being prepared, but it's not work for you, right? At least try to listen to the show? I'm sure Ayda would really appreciate it."
That was an argument that at least had a chance at working, but Adaine wouldn't push it too far. She was just wearing a normal outfit, her jacket and a t-shirt, with a skirt in case she did end up getting overwhelmed and going wolf. Aelwyn made a noncommittal noise, and Adaine sighed and squeezed Boggy, putting him down on the desk. "Keep Moonlight and Jawbone company while I'm gone, Boggy." The rock show would almost certainly be too much for a little frog like him, but she'd rather let him be free than dismiss him if she didn't need to, even if it meant not having access to him for the night.
Half an hour later - twenty minutes after they were supposed to be - they arrived in a blink in a park in Bastion City that was familiar to Adaine, she realized. "Isn't this where we waited last summer?" She asked Ayda.
"Yes; it's much more reliable to use magic to reach places you've been before, and I have not been to this venue." Ayda said, as they started walking towards the venue. "I've missed two shows already on the tour because my Teleport from the written instructions was too inaccurate to get there before it started."
It wasn't too far a walk, and it was still daylight when they got to the club that the Cig Figs were playing that night, with more than an hour to spare before the opening act was going to come on. Fig and Gorgug had time to greet them and show them around the venue, including...
It was supposed to be a security closet, except no-one was actually working security in this club ever and none of the cameras were actually real, so what it was was a small, mostly insulated space she could hide in, and Fig had prepared it with some pillows and a blanket just in case.
"I hope you don't need it, but better to be prepared, right? And maybe just knowing it's there will help some." Fig had said, before Adaine had hugged her tightly, grateful beyond words for the consideration.
She still took it slow, most of the rest of the group - Ayda and Aelwyn excluded, but to her surprise including Riz at Fabian's slight pressure - indulging in drinks or drugs. Worried about the crowd that was already forming just for the opening act, Adaine held off.
Over the course of the opening act, she seriously considered casting a Silence bubble around herself; unfortunately, there would be no way to reserve that just for herself without hitting a large chunk of the room. She at least pulled earplugs from her Jacket, which helped a little bit; the thumping of the baseline still pushed into her chest, and something about this was horribly familiar, and her breath came up shorter and shorter with each one...
And then she wasn't seeing the same place, anymore. She was seeing the Black Pit around her, and someone who she loved with all her heart, who was her DAD, who wasn't in any control of himself was biting into her arm. Pain started wracking throughout her entire body, that first and damning transformation driven by the music of DJ Brainz, and...
...And the thudding baseline faded slightly, as she felt the tug of a Dimension Door pull her along, but she still wasn't seeing the present. Now, instead of the past, she was seeing.. somewhen. Now, or the future probably, but it was a place she'd been before. Only once, but it had been memorable.
She was floating slightly above the courtyard of Calethriel Tower, and looking at the sky it couldn't be now; it was just before dawn in her vision, and it would be night currently there now. The atmosphere was mostly quiet, and she spotted who appeared to be Kir striding across the courtyard towards the Tower when a loud cracking sound pierced the air.
Looking around, Adaine could not see what came of it, just watching Kir straighten with alarm and stare towards the tower as it began to collapse, dust and dirt covering the air, bricks pouring down around them. Adaine watched in silent horror, thinking of how large the tower was, how many people being held like Aelwyn and herself might be in there, whether truly for crimes or just at the whims of the elvish high council... Though maybe they were better off crushed by the stone of the tower than being trapped for who knew how long.
Maybe if she was lucky, her father would be inside when this happened, if she allowed it to happen. She could maybe stop it, maybe give a warning, though if it was the next morning it would be difficult to do so in time.
A stray stone flew for Kir, who raised a hand up and stopped it with a shield. A shame, that she would evidently survive this, if Adaine allowed this future to come to pass...
Should she? Could she even really stop it?
She came back to herself, still an elf, wrapped up in the blanket in that security closet, Aelwyn kneeling in front of her and holding her hands. "Breath for me, please, Adaine. In, slowly..." Much louder on the right than the left; she must have lost an earplug.
Aelwyn was trying one of the breathing exercises; they'd modified most of them, since Adaine was usually a wolf when they were needed, but Adaine didn't think a panic attack was exactly what had happened to her. The memory of the Pit had been so vivid, and Calethriel Tower was definitely a vision. She looked up at Aelwyn, who sighed in relief.
"Are you back with me? You started to pass out, out there, so I brought you back here just in case. Your eyes were glowing silver, as well. I wasn't certain if it was an Oracle thing or if you just got overwhelmed." Aelwyn explained, and the music even through the walls faded out, faint applause making it through.
Adaine shut her eyes for a moment, examining how she really felt. A slight headache, but nothing too bad otherwise. "...I'm okay, I think. I got a little overwhelmed. Um, I don't think I ever told you, but I got bitten at a club while loud music was going. By Jawbone, actually; the music was made to make werewolves and vampires lose control."
Aelwyn huffed out a breath. "I see." She certainly would be able to understand getting stuck on a bad memory, Adaine thought. Unfortunately, the next piece of news might inflict exactly that on her.
"I also, um, had a vision. Of Calethriel Tower collapsing. I'm not sure why, some kind of magical attack or something, but it's going to happen in a morning, and if it's like these kinds of visions normally are for me, it's going to happen tomorrow morning. Do you think we should try to prevent it?" Adaine asked, because she wasn't certain what it said about her that her default answer to that was 'no'.
Aelwyn's eyes went wide, and she snarled... "Of course not!" came out of her instinctive, almost ferally, Adaine convinced for a moment she could see fangs under what was normally a really solid grip that Aelwyn had on her own form compared to Adaine. But after a few moments, that passed, and Aelwyn seemed to deflate. "...Except. There's a bunch of people in there that have nothing to do with the Court of Stars, or are probably just as much their victims as anything else."
Adaine nodded at that. Aelwyn was right; she wouldn't put herself at risk for this, but at least giving them warning, giving them a chance to evacuate... Maybe it would buy her enough goodwill that they'd call off the bounty, though she wouldn't hold her breath.
She pulled out her crystal, looking through the past calls, back months and months to before she had rescued Aelwyn, the first day of school. Nearly a dozen calls from the same number. Hopefully, they would answer now.
"Traitor Oracle Abernant. I don't suppose you are calling to arrange turning yourself in for your execution?" sneered the voice on the other end of the crystal, Kalari making it extremely tempting for her to just hang back up, as she angled the crystal to make certain Aelwyn wasn't visible on the other side.
"Hardly. I was calling to do you a favor, actually, but if you're going to be like that..."
"Now, now, I didn't say I wouldn't listen." Kalari said. "Though in person would obviously be better."
Adaine just ignored that; this man was not the one who would die if she didn't get through to him. "If you don't do something to change it, Calethriel Tower is going to collapse, soon. Probably tomorrow morning. It looked like everyone inside would almost certainly die, in my vision."
"Is that supposed to be a threat, Abernant?" He said, and Adaine blinked, uncertainly.
"Of course not. I know how to make threats, if I need to make a threat! For example, if you call me Abernant one more time, I will find you and kill you, personally. It's O'Shaughnessey, as you damn well know. This is me, trying to warn you about something that's going to happen. Do something or don't, it's not my problem anymore." She declared, closing the connection angrily.
Fig's voice was coming muffled through the wall now, and then a much more familiar song came through the wall, just as loud as anything the opening act had done but somehow much more comforting, and Adaine pulled a replacement earplug out from her jacket, rubbing her trembling hands together. "..Come on. I have to at least see a few songs of Fig's." She told Aelwyn, who startled and nodded.
Adaine managed to make it through most of the set before she had to retreat back to quieter environs (and more importantly, less crowded ones) and just let herself go into wolf form to relax, sprawled across the pillows and under the blanket, listening to one of her two best friends in all of existence sing through the walls.
They had a sleepover that night in a hotel suite Fig and Gorgug had rented out for that purpose, knowing that the entire party was coming. Aelwyn, Tracker, and Ayda came along, of course, though Aelwyn mostly kept to herself and Ayda mostly kept to Fig's side, with Tracker sitting in Kristen's lap. Adaine just stayed in wolf form, resting between Gorgug and Fig, her energy just about used up staying with the concert as long as she could manage. She watched while the others gossiped, and laughed, and played cards. Ayda taught them a Leviathan game that heavily involved gambling; Adaine didn't bother warning them not to do that against Ayda, because if they hadn't learned not to bet against a divination wizard from dealing with her then they probably didn't need the money anyways.
She tried hard not to think about the deadline Calethriel Tower was most likely under, of the option she could have taken to send to Kir or Angwyn directly, if she'd really wanted to stop it wholeheartedly.
The Bad Kids mostly didn't make it to proper beds, falling asleep where they were, even Fabian. Adaine herself had ended up being used as a pillow for Fig, though she didn't rest well.
She was torn on whether she had done enough, or maybe even done too much. She hadn't decided it even by the time the next night that word came through that several Elven governmental buildings had been destroyed, Calethriel Tower included, and that what remained of the Fallinel government was blaming an attack by Solace.
