A little side road.

"It won't be able to outrun an arrow. And they don't run at full speed everywhere they go, short distances only, and supremely easy to track."

His people weren't as fast as some of their prey in a sprint either, but it was endurance that mattered, not maximum speed.

“It looks like you’ve had a bit of an accident, young one,” The voice came from behind Nine, startlingly close given she had walked over that patch of road moments ago. “That hand of yours looks rather painful. Perhaps I can help ease your pain.”

Shrouded in her robe, Grandma’s eyes glinted as she offered the girl a curious smile. One hand gripped tightly onto her cane while she used her other to pull back her hood, revealing wispy white hair that was pulled back into a bun.

“Well, this isn’t exactly what I was expecting to find. Yet what I sense is...”

While the words weren’t directed at the girl, she’d still be able to make out the old woman’s musings.

Grandma’s gaze wandered over Nine’s body for several long moments before it finally returned to her face. The girl appeared to be frightened, but was that a genuine reaction or simply a ploy? This ‘child’ was overflowing with magical energy, enough that the enclave had requested she deal with the situation in their place…

“I go by ‘Grandma’, I’m a traveler of sorts. Perhaps you’re unaware… But your presence here has caused a bit of a stir. You’re giving off enough raw magical aura to disturb the Isran Enclave… Which I can assure you is no small feat. I assume you teleported here or you would’ve been detected before you made it this far into Isran lands, yes?”

It was hard to know what she was dealing with, but until she did, Grandma intended to be exceptionally careful. Pulling in magic from their surroundings, Grandma watched carefully for a reaction from the girl. Any mage worth their salt would notice such an action, but that was the question wasn’t it. Was this girl a magic-user or something else?

Narrowing her eyes, Grandma took a few incremental steps towards Nine, examining the orb with a quizzical expression. The fact she didn’t recognize any of the runes on it was not quite as useless to Grandma as it might be to some.

There was a brief silence as the old woman seemed to be contemplating something. A flock of birds broke it, hundreds of them chirping as they took off from a nearby field. Her eyes flickered towards the sudden commotion, her lips quirking upwards upon identifying the cause of the disturbance.

“So your arrival here was complete happenstance. Perhaps this is simply a bit of a misunderstanding then. So long as you mean no harm to Isra, you have no reason to fear me. Here, accept this as a token of my goodwill.”

Extending one hand towards Nine a thin, pale mist snaked its way towards the girl’s hand, quickly enveloping it. A soothing sensation cut through the stinging of the blisters, the pain in her hand quickly dissipating as if it had never been.

A single bird from the flock plummeted lifelessly to the ground.

“You’ve never heard of Isra…?” Grandma’s eyebrows furrowed, clearly caught off guard by Nine’s response.

Either this girl was from very far away indeed or she’d lived her life completely cut off from the outside world. At least, those were the only good explanations Grandma could think up for why she’d never heard of Isra before.

“I refer to the Isran Empire, the most powerful and prosperous nation in the known Overworld. Where exactly are you from? Even people from remote places like Tawakoshi and Gauldin have heard of Isra.”

Perhaps this girl wasn’t even from the Overworld? If the girl truly had accidentally teleported here, she’d gotten rather lucky with her landing location. After all, what would have become of her had she landed in some godforsaken desert?

“You don’t know where you’re from? Have you been locked up in some cell your entire life?” While a situation such as that would explain why she’d never heard of Isra or the other nations mentioned, Grandma wasn’t likely to believe such a tale without solid evidence.

At the very least, Grandma would want a description of wherever this girl came from and an explanation of the massive amount of magic leaking from her. Letting a potentially unstable mage inside of Isra was something Grandma had no intention of allowing.

“Also, as I mentioned previously, you have a dangerously large amount of mana leaking out of you. Have you not been trained in the magic arts to control such things? In your current state anyone nearby capable of sensing magic would immediately have their attention drawn to you, something I dare say you don’t want to occur.”

Regarding Nine with a hawkish look, Grandma considered the options before her. On the one hand, she could ensure that she wasn’t a harm to others and bring her back to the capital, either having the Enclave or Naoki take a gander at her. On the other Grandma could simply make this whole problem simply disappear and personally investigate this little girl sized anomaly…

“For the time being, I shall take your words at face value. However, once you’ve had a chance to get cleaned up and get a hot meal in your belly I will have more questions for you about this ‘Garden’.”

The girl seemed disoriented enough that her story was plausible, but even if it was true that only meant Grandma had that many more questions to ask.

“I’m glad you’re quickly understanding how precarious the situation you’re in is. To answer your question, yes, it is possible someone outside of Isra could track you. This ‘Garden’ you speak of if you’ve truly been held captive there your whole life I can only assume they would be very displeased to find you missing. I’m making some assumptions here, but they could very well possess a way to find you specifically.”

Firmly planting her cane in front of her while grasping it with both hands, Grandma looked the girl up and down before nodding.

“I suggest you come with me back to Isra. It’s one of the few places you’ll be safe from pursuers and I think I might even be able to do something about that excessive amount of mana you’re giving off. If you get that dealt with, you’d be one step closer to living without the fear of constant pursuers.”

The truth was, the girl didn’t really have too much of a say in this matter, but it was far better to frame it as a request rather than a demand. She was a teenager after all.

Grandma had to repress the desire to let a self-satisfied smile form on her face. That wouldn’t be becoming of this situation after all.

“You might find things becoming a bit… Dizzying. Please brace yourself the best you can.”

The gem of her cane flickered ever so slightly with the faint glow of arcane light—their surroundings began to spin. The grassy fields became no more than a blur of green, the clouds and sky merging to become one, and the flock of birds only visible as thin streaks of black.

“Listen to the sound of my voice, try to focus on it instead of your surroundings. But worry not, for we are almost there.”

While audible, Grandma’s words were distant and her voice distorted. The blurs of color began to rapidly shift and change, a whirlwind of colors threatening to overwhelm one’s senses.

And then it was over. Nine would find herself standing in the middle of what was presumably someone's office.

Fiona had been pleasantly surprised by the hand’s usefulness in creating the map, but she still kept it at arm’s length as much as possible as she still didn’t entirely trust it. Why would she? It could have belonged to a strangler or a pervert before the thing that is Foxgloves severed it. She didn't trust Foxgloves either, but the diamonds were real, and its true what they say, they are a woman’s best friend.

She sits high in the trees, out of sight, as she watches the road ahead. She knew they would be expecting an ambush, and an ambush is what they’d find, but not from Fiona. Her job was to get on top of the carriage while the guards are distracted and get into said carriage unnoticed. She had told the others ‘no killing’, but… she knew that wouldn’t be the case. Not with that Azra’il in play. The elf… well, she still isn’t entirely certain that he wouldn’t faint at the smallest sight of blood, but at least he’d had something to eat, even if it may have been at her expense. Being the most wealthy of the group, she had only thought it fair to buy the group a meal or two to get their strength up.

Now… she continues to sit and wait, her outfit darker than before. Her red corset had been changed to a dark brown leather piece of attire, and fitted with more pockets, that kept her chest bound and tight, and the leather buckles on her shins and arms kept the dark material of her breeches and tunic close at hand to avoid it snagging on anything. Her scarf now matched her corset, and both it and her hood were up, hiding her identity.