02: Peoples
As Alexa walked up and down muddy banks, scrabbled as delicately as she could through the swamp, her mind was simultaneously in this hamlet with the lizardfolk and far, far away at the Capital. For all her mockery of him, she could see that Lucas was a well trained fighter with a developed, methodical style. And she knew - having learned from Vee and the others of her personal guard, that style tended to be consistent. She also knew that this was a hamlet smaller by far than Breezy Point Bay, minuscule (if you ignored the physical size of the lizardfolk) compared to Shining Capital. She knew the rough population. In size alone, if what Lucas, Spider and Vee said was right...this hamlet could disappear without a second thought.
This was the first time that Alexa simply did not want to be seen. At any other time she would have smiled and waved at the young lizardfolk. Such was her nature and upbringing. But here...now...with thoughts weighing so heavily on her, Alexa couldn't even bring herself to make eye contact with the people - yes, definitely people - they passed. She couldn't tell them apart, but she could see their social structure, could see the curious responses, the whispers, the culture, the ornamentation. She could tell that apart. They looked like brute beasts, but this was most definitely a society. A society with houses almost like her own summer home out of the city.
"I'm here to help," she murmured to herself. What was the point of coming here if not to help?
The queasy feeling in her stomach intensified as she almost slipped, caught by the ever present and watchful Vee. She absently thanked him and kept moving. If she couldn't persuade the leader of this place to help them...all of this would be gone.
That was why she couldn't look at them. Eye contact meant seeing each individual person in the moment of their death. And these people were huge, yes, they were huge and naturally armored, but against a hundred Lucases? With fifty Spiders to sneak in first and fifty Vees to help protect them? Even with ten heartless Alexandries to send killing waves and heal allies...
This was more than a job. It was...beyond money and that was okay. Something somewhere deep inside her loosened, like freeing a knot slightly.
She was here to help. La Chanson wanted her to help. That's why she was here, why she was on the quest at all. Her stomach stilled and she stood a little straighter. If she was going to convince these people of a course of action, she couldn't look weak, not to those of lower status on the fringes of the hamlet, not to the leader in its centre. She may not be able - she shouldn't keep this oath made under duress. She was a Donadieu after all - a house famous for its decisive action. A house created and driven by fate.
Clenching her fists, she looked out at the people. Afraid, she met their gaze. Unsmiling (smiling was beyond her for now), she met their eyes unflinchingly.
'I'm here to help,' she thought. 'I'm here to save you all.'
