Suddenly, Indigo wasn’t sure what she was feeling. Not nervous, not afraid, but not calm. Nothing. All they knew was that they couldn’t make herself open the door, for some unintelligible reason. Perhaps the silence, stillness, and dimness of the hidden corridors was comforting. To go into the light, where people crowded together and to expose herself to them was what made them pause. They still did not feel connected to these humans and half-Fae. They were still strangers. Perhaps this would not have been the case if Lor had introduced them to everyone, but it was too late now. Well, not too late to meet everyone, but it would’ve helped moments like these.
Still unsure, but summoning some courage, she knocked on the door. Letting the light in their skin dim, they waited.
The activity within quieted for a moment, and then the door was opened. Thankfully for Indigo, it was Arabelle who opened the door, and her eyes found Indigo immediately. "Ah, there you are." she stepped back so Indigo could come in. "Are the rumors true, then?" she asked, gaze searching the half-fae across from her.
Indigo whimpered, though wasn’t sure why. With relief, with fear? At seeing Arabelle greet them, or the many pairs of eyes that peered at her across the threshold of the room. Or simply that everything was starting to become overwhelming to the point where she couldn’t contain it anymore. It was impossible to tell.
After a moment of hesitation, she stepped inside. Immediately turning to Arabelle, they said. “He’s dead. Prince Riven. You’re a good planner and strategist, Arabelle.”
Arabelle's gaze flickered for a moment, and her mouth pulled faintly to the side. "He's dead?" she echoed, processing that. "That's…I was not expecting that to happen so quickly." she gently took Indigo's arm, pulling them into a side room, away from all the curious looks. "Tell me what happened."
Indigo stared dumbly, letting Arabelle take her to a more private area. She blinked, then sat down. “I… I wasn’t expecting it to happen this quickly, either.” Taking a breath, they closed her eyes, trying to recall the order of events and details she could.
“After Lor gave me the poison yesterday, it was easy to spike his wine with it while he was gone…” they paused, and took out the letter they wrote for Lor. “He came back in the late evening and consumed two glasses, and mild symptoms set in after ten to fifteen minutes, I believe,” they continued, summarizing a little from the letter. “The symptoms increased substantially in severity overnight; he was quite unable to get out of bed.” Then she set the letter down with a sigh. “To keep up appearances I had a guard fetch a doctor, but by the time he came it was too late. Other doctors came. No use. He took hours to die, though. When he finally kicked the bucket I came here.”
Arabelle nodded a little bit. "I see." she said slowly, sitting down and taking in the information that Indigo had given. "I suppose it must have been a stronger poison than I thought. Well. One royal dead, the rest to go." her mouth quirked faintly, her eyes moving up to the ceiling for just a moment.
Indigo looked down at her hands. They were shaking slightly. She sighed, almost feeling the need to cry for some reason. “I… I’ll stay here, for a bit,” they murmured. “Lor was going to introduce me to the other rebels, but we haven’t had the chance. After that…” they ran a hand through her hair. “I’m going to try to leave the palace. There is nothing here for me. There never was.”
"Yeah." Arabelle said softly. "We have safehouses. On the outskirts of the city. They aren't much, but…they're safe. It's in the areas where free humans and half-humans live, so you would blend right in." she kept her gaze on them. "And using one of those houses doesn't make you beholden to us. Not for this."
Glancing back up at her, Indigo paused as their hand drifted to the back of their neck. “Safe houses?” she repeated, their mind already forming a plan around this new information. “That would be… very useful.”
Arabelle nodded faintly. "Yeah. If you're interested in it, you can stay in one of them. It's the least we can do, considering what you've done for us." the death of Riven.
She nodded. “Alright. I am interested. It would definitely help, getting back on my feet and all that.”
"Of course. I can have one set up within a few hours, if you would be alright with waiting here? It is probably safer to do that than for you to leave here and have us be unable to find you." she replied, running a hand through her hair.
“A few hours? Alright then. I can wait, I honestly thought it would take longer.” Indigo reached up to mess with their hair again, unconsciously copying the other half-fae.
"We keep the safehouses ready, it will just need preparation. A few others might come in and talk to you for help creating some false identification papers for you." she said, straightening a little bit.
“I see,” she nodded. “That’s fine, anything that would prevent me getting caught.”
She already murdered the prince, so doing this seemed only natural. Creating a fake identity would muddy things, even if they did find the poison. Indigo took the letter to Lor back out, and set it between them and Arabelle. “By the way, we might want to destroy this, seeing as it’s evidence.”
"Of course." she took the letter, glacning at it. Then she crumpled it and threw it into the fire. "Done. Just wait in here, then, and we'll get everything taken care of so that you can get to one of the safehouses."
(Fire has entered the chat ig lol)
“Convenient,” Indigo remarked, staring at the fire for a moment. Looking back at Arabelle. “Alright. And thank you. I definitely wouldn’t be able to make it on my own.”
(jkgbkjsbh fireplace ig lol)
"Well, better than eating it." she replied with a laugh. "And fire is a good way to destroy it, so…" she trailed off, shrugging a shoulder. "And you're welcome. You've…done a very difficult thing for us."
Indigo cracked a smile, then nodded. “Yes. I…” they paused, then chuckled mirthlessly. “Sorry if this is a little personal, but I feel as though I shouldn’t feel any remorse, but I do. I’m… I’m horrified by what I did. And I want to atone. If nothing else, I would like to do that.”
She nodded. "He may not have been as…outright terrible as the rest of his family, but all he lacked was power and he would have been just as bad." she sighed softly, closing her eyes for a moment.
“That may be true,” they shrugged, “but I still murdered someone. No matter who he was, or who he might have become, I still took his life.”
She shrugged a shoulder. "If it helps, I gave you the weapon and put the blade on it. You just gave the final slice." she replied.
Indigo grunted. “A little. I still want to do something.” She paused. “Perhaps I’ll come back to this rebellion again. When I do, I would like to help people. Maybe that will make up for it.”
"Yes. We could find a place like that for you. Perhaps with medical? Or helping displaced families? I'm not quite sure, but we can find a place for you to help."
