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Chapter 907 - Incline 44: Lady-King Morgihranur

"Do I need to let you hold my arm like this?" Nin asks, and I look up at him, smiling with such blatant cunning and honesty at the same time. My arms tighten around him, pulling me and him all that much closer.

"How else am I supposed to get you ready for your role at the victory party?" I ask right back, and I can just feel those eyes of his role. A giggle blows open my lips, and I snuggle up closer, just to tease him that little bit more. There's another reason, too. I just want to be immediately close to the man who saved my life in quite a literal manner. Though, I doubt Nin's got it in him to refuse a polite request while he's living in my palace home.

"For someone who looks so relaxed, you're very tense," he remarks, and I nod, my smiling going away a bit. My grip loosens up, giving him the freedom to move away, though he doesn't do so even with the whining.

"Just because I announce a grand party doesn't change anything. I've still got a kingdom to run, still have war reports to go over. The displaced commoners are certainly in my ears about everything, and the mess you left only amplifies it. Besides, it's about time I turn to the damage to my palace." I point out, letting him get the door so we can walk out into the open. The observatory path under our collective feet. 

"Right... The damage." Nin clicks, looking away with a painting of awkwardness no doubt covering his face. I'd love to see it at some point, actually, his face. It feels so strange trying to imagine what he looks like when I just can't see him. His fingers make it clear he's not human, and his double-jointed knees make it clear he's not even some wounded winssargu. No glowing antennae to clarify he's aelenvari, two few legs to be a kelbalid and way too tall for a hwardgon. 

He's an utter enigma of a mortal.

I'm honestly baffled as to how I should view my hero and saviour. It's a tantalising secret that I know I'm completely wrong to be invasive about. Still, I can't help but wonder, and that's completely fine. He has his boundaries for a reason, in the same a king such as myself needs them. Privacy is an awkward right all lives share, and we must fight for it when people like me are not around.

"I'm sure it won't be that bad. The observatory held up under the strain of everything else..." I go, carefully watching as I start to notice streaks and marks on the piping. Even the path has some loose bits on it. The nails and hooks Nin has been using are strewn about, not a nature-made care about them.

I give him another look as his body tenses up and it only gets worse from here. The very path is starting to show damage. Like something just broke the entire mountain in such a disastrously fine way. It's holding on, but it's broken. 

My eyes narrow at Nin, but to his luck, most of the damage is superficial. Still, I really have to wonder what in All-That-Remains did he do to cause this!? I know he had to get to me somehow, but was this needed...!? I have doubts the observatory will even still be standing!

"SEE! I haven't broken it all!" Nin calls out, his words no doubt testing the final limits of a few pebbles and the weakened pipeline. The magic in the area has been secured, but the damage is done. The piping alone has burst right open, and a chunk of the observatory roof is gone. Some of it barely survived as chunks on the floor. And the floor... I don't think I've ever seen bigger cracks, and the Crack in the Sky is a short back walk away!

"Nin... Nin..." I repeat, practically dragging him into the ruined building and letting him go. He gets the memo, and he heads for my art gallery. With a forced tug, he manages to get it all out into the open.

A sigh of relief leaves me, even with how I have long since left such a place like this behind. I approach and run my hands gently around the paintings and their covers. The protective glass is cracked at points, some bits clearly still having the responsible shrapnel. I brush what dust I can off, picking the bits of stone clean.

"THE CAVE PAINTING!?" I suddenly realise, rushing to my collection's centrepiece, only to find it perfectly fine. My body practically collapses, and I look away, not daring myself to check it closer.

"See...! It's fine... Mostly." Nin goes, his words once again only testing the patience of the divine. A piece of debris falls, and I gesture for him to get my collection back into its safe place. He does just that, the damage railings screeching for the effort applied to them to stop.

"You certainly... You certainly were in a hurry to get to me." I let out, and he timidly nods at my words.

"Yeah... Yeah, I was certainly aware of Alxxcron being on the move after a certain point. It's an easy thing to recognise when the rocks are suddenly alive and attacking," he goes, heading over to what remains of his control console. He picks a few pieces of it up, the damage clearly because of something more than just the magic alone.

"You can detect magic that far?" I ask, curious as to how he became aware when the view here doesn't have the Crack in the Sky anywhere near it. Even with the aggressive remodelling of the place, you can't see it.

"No, I saw it through the looking glass," he points out, his stretched out digit curling gently down as its wreck becomes the focus, "Or, well... I guess it's still past tense."

I smile slightly and sigh at him.

"My art is fine, the rest can fall apart further for all I care." I tell him, somewhat hoping I haven't actually jinxed such a thing. Nothing happens, and it only helps my smile grow.

"Still, it's a thing to mention the damage to the observatory." Nin remarks and I catch on to his point.

"The Crack in the Sky and what's left of the surrounding area?" I ask back, and he nods.

"I put a number on that place if this has you worried." Nin has no problem with saying, even as problems continue to develop from it. But I suppose that's the point of this, there's no reason to hide what cannot be hidden.

"I was in the presence of your power, Nin. And even then, I know you were hiding a lot of it. Damage is unavoidable." I tell him, shivering slightly at what he was able to pull out of the moments he was exposed to the kingdom's magical power. It's not even what he's fully capable of, there's so much more he can have. You can just... Tell.

"Still, I could've been cleaner about it. Alxxcron was not my equal at all. Sorry," he admits, and I struggle to find much to be angry about. There are things, like the bits of dust, that can easily catch fire near the candles and lamps. But at the same time, he's the reason there's a firebreak to the rest of my kingdom. It can't be helped.

Even I needed to master the way I used my magic just to show off without setting off the world around me. Nin's had no time at all to do that, he's just been focussed on filling himself up with power once again. He's not even full, and he's still more powerful than I've ever been. That kind of power doesn't belong here at all... It's why Daddy has me visit him, not the other way around.

"Don't worry about it, Nin. Focus on the fact the osibindah are dealt with for now. And well, at least future problems will cause no more damage." I point out and he shrugs at it.

"I won't be around for long after the party. I barely managed to convince the other two to stay and linger. At least, that's how it felt." he reminds me, and I give him that preferred gesture of his.

"I know, I know. I won't ask much of you, Nin. But if you could continue to be helpful, it would be very appreciated." I ask of him, and he returns my request with a nod.

"I can do that no problem. Best I can do after breaking so many of your things," he says, and I smile.

"At least you broke the easily replaced stuff!" I point out and I hear a quick laugh from him.

"Better to break nothing." he remarks, moving some of the debris out of the way and somewhere else.

"No, Nin, that's enough. Come to me again." I say, ordering him over, and he obeys the king of the land. Standing right at my side soon enough.

I throw my arm out, surveying the land with it. The view doesn't have the part we really should have, but I can make my point with this just fine. In fact, the lack of destruction helps in a way. There's no fires, ruins or anything for the entire view.

"All of this and more, Nin. All of this and more was saved, Nin. I can't tell you how much damage Alxxcron would've caused looking for you, but I know more than we lost would've been. Those monsters already caused enough, and the army that beat them back was slaughtered by that one bug. I was powerless to stop him. You being here saved my life, hundreds of thousands of lives. My entire kingdom owes itself to you, Nin." I explain, watching him even as he otherwise seems to keep his reactions to the confines of his mask.

"Thing is, that... That somehow still sounds unacceptable. I don't know why. Every time I've saved lives, there's always destruction and... Well, I guess I want to try and avoid it, to some extent. I want to avoid it. I'm sick of it. I don't know why." he explains, and I nod, thinking I somewhat get what he means.

"Life's about compromise. Reality is harsh, and it is our hopes and optimism that give us the drive to try and neuter such a concept. I want to do as much good as I can by my people, but I can only do so much. See, know. All of it." I explain to him, offering what I can about how it is for me. I can only guess so much as to how it makes him feel, but I hope it helps.

I don't know much about Nin, I can unfortunately admit to that much. I don't know much about his friends, either. I know one's a human with a smoking habit, the other's a hwardgon with something heavy on her mind. I barely know them, and even with all I have done with Nin and told him... I barely know him. 

We're strangers, but I hope I can call him my friend.

"I guess my problem is I'm too used to seeing damage. Getting into this situation to begin with saw so much damage... I don't think I could ever describe it. In fact, I would think that situation led to this situation if it wasn't for the fact there's some time since then." Nin goes and I'm tempted to put an arm up for him.

"It's a good problem to have, Nin. Always wanting to do better. It means you have a strong heart, a sense of right and wrong that will not bend easily. Your focus isn't on something selfish, it's how to better the world around you." I tell him, and he looks around at that very world.

"Guess we better get started cleaning up, then." he huffs, doing a few paltry sweeps of the ground with his best foot.

"You can do better than that!" I snap at him, competing with him to see who can brush aside the most menial amount of dust and fragments.

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