Innvasion

Elsewhere :

Tiffania sits on the bed in her and Michael's shared inn room while skimming through the magical theory book yet again. She'd read through it completely at least three times by now, yet she still wasn't comprehending the various magical subjects spoken about.

She'd continued to meditate in the meantime as her mother had taught her, and while this had helped her control her magical energies, she didn't have any effective spells to direct her power, making essentially making her a horse without a carriage.

Something she did find useful to practise though was direct manipulation of the elements, Wind specifically. Nowadays, with but a flick of her wand she could knock a grown man down, though, this would take the majority of her magical energies due to how inefficient she still was with it.

She hoped that Michael would bring back another book, but she understood just how difficult such a request would be, so she didn't mention it to avoid distracting him from the tasks he had set before him.

Tiffania sighs and falls back onto the bed wondering just where this was all heading. They didn't really have anywhere to go, so unless they tracked through the entire world to reach Elven lands, or hid in the wilderness for the rest of their lives, they'd never find peace.

She couldn't ask Michael to accompany her to elven territory either, as they might just kill him on sight. Plus the fact that the elves might not even accept her for her half-heritage, or whether wanted to leave humanity behind.

She knew he had a 'plan' that he hadn't told her yet, whatever that was, but she had a niggling feeling that things wouldn't turn out well for either of them if they continued like this. She was worried about Michael's fixation on getting revenge as it seemed to come up whenever they spoke, even about things that weren't related to it at all.

Even now he was out in Londinium risking his life to get back at those who'd hurt him. Not that she could blame him but, she felt he was being too hasty... Why enter the capital during Prince Wales assassination when defences would be most alert? She knew he liked to rationalize his decisions after the fact, but to her it just showed how single-minded he was when his grudges were concerned.

Tiffania's thoughts are interrupted when she hears a knock on the door... She scrambles to get up and throw her cloak over her head, realising that the knock wasn't the one she and Michael had agreed upon, meaning it was someone else.

"Is anyone in there?" a gruff voice asks, and Tiffania contemplates whether or not to answer. She decides she has to though, as it may just be the inn owner checking to see the state of the room... Or something like that. "Y-yes! Do you need something?"

...

Upon not getting an immediate response, Tiffania readies her wand, not wanting to be caught off guard again. She'd meant those words she said in Cendri, she didn't want to be a victim anymore, and she certainly didn't want to cause Michael any more trouble, which getting hurt or kidnapped undoubtedly would.

*Click!*

*Creeaaaa-*

The lock clicks open and the door opens, revealing a man wearing expensive-looking armour and holding a wand-sword. "You, would you mind putting down your hood for me, little lady?" he politely asks, though, there was a clear threat in his tone.

Tiffania slowly nods, reaching up for her hood, but changes tactics and flicking her wand at the man, "Erase!" she chants, causing white light to strike the man who'd already put up his defences.

A magic shield appears before him, but the light seems to pierce it, causing his eyes to widen as they go glassy as his memory of Tiffania is stripped from his mind.

When he stills, Tiffania lets out a long breath, relieved that he hadn't managed to block her spell, she looks at the knight blankly standing there, "Sir, weren't you just about to chase a pickpocket who'd escaped into the slums with your coin pouch?" she asks, walking over and taking said pouch from his belt.

This wasn't a mind control despite might how it might sound, it's just that the after-effects of the mind erase spell to allow her to make suggestions that wouldn't conflict with the person's personality or intentions.

There was also the question of how she'd been discovered, the man might check back at the inn after not finding the pickpocket she'd sent him chasing after, so she and Michael would need to find somewhere else to stay...

The man leaves, and Michael arrives in the room not long after, he tosses the wet bag he was holding to the side, causing it to give a loud *squelch!* in response. "Tiffania! Are you alright? I saw the knight leave this place and figured the worst." he quickly says.

She smiles and nods, "I am, but we need to leave. He might be back soon, maybe with more men than before..."

"How did they find us?" he asks, his eye squinting his thought.

"I don't know... Maybe the innkeeper? I think all inns and taverns would be watched as Prince Wales execution is coming soon." she says, and he nods.

"Yeah... That sounds about right... Come on, let's go, if we can't find a good spot in the slums then we'll have to stay in the sewers for a bit." he states, causing her to frown at the thought of the stench. The slums alone were hell on her senses, so the sewers sounded like torture...

"Ah, did you get what you needed?" she asks and he nods, showing her the rather grisly-looking pufferfish livers all squished together in his sack. "... I see..."