Adrianna tilted her head as Lionel said he wasn’t looking for Kurt. Hadn’t he…just asked about the man? Was he really someone who remembered her face from years ago and yet couldn’t remember the question he had asked moments before? She opened her mouth to protest and ask him about it, but Lionel continued to talk. He explained the he wasn’t going to out her. Adrianna gave a small sigh of relief. Granted, she had been planning on leaving anyway, but there was no point in burning bridges here when she didn’t have to. Ideally, Adrianna might like to return to Mutebo one day. She might even want to help with their fighting more. She just…didn’t want to do that now. Adrianna had grown up doing exactly what others expected of her. She had followed their rules, obeyed their commands, and when she found out she was different, she still found a way to be what they wanted. 

Hearing Lionel repeat her answer for leaving, only vaguer, was less than satisfying. While she might have been a little vague, he knew her, so she hadn’t felt it necessary to go into more detail. He already knew that she didn’t know who he was, though, so the fact that he gave such a brief and nondescript answer annoyed her a bit. On the other hand, Adrianna was pretty confident that Lionel was quite familiar with annoying people. It seemed to just be his natural state. [i]So how come you don’t remember him?[/i] Adrianna was pretty sure he was a healer, though that was prompted mostly by him saying earlier that she was like him. He could have just meant a Church defector, in which case he might not have really left for the same reasons as her at all. He might have been a hunter. Adrianna didn’t…really imagine that he could do such things, but perhaps he was just very good with a ruse? [b]And perhaps you are simply way too paranoid?[/b]

Lionel hopped up and sat on a crate, and Adrianna shifted the bag on her shoulder. She could tell that he was going to say something else, and since he was capable of annoying her into stopping and listening, Adrianna figured it was easier to simply stand here and wait. She wasn’t really in a rush. If she wanted, she could even wait until another day. No one was kicking her out, but the weather was nice and she was feeling the itch to move. No point in forming too close of ties with anyone. As her thoughts drifted to what she planned to do next, Lionel asked what she was planning. Once again, she began to answer him, but Lionel continued to ramble, and so she waited until he was really done before she spoke. “I’ve spent the last few years traveling around, picking up different skills, and I plan to do the same. Nothing against Taliya and crew, it just doesn’t feel…right for me right now.” She didn’t want to say how eerily church-like it felt, since Lionel had just admitted that he was here now, helping out Taliya’s people. Perhaps he hadn’t noticed, or perhaps that had been his very reason for joining them. In any case, it wasn’t her place to criticize, not after the choices she had made in her life.

“I’m not sure, really. I plan to head out of town, probably today, though I’m not really in a rush.” [i]Apart from you knowing who I am and being completely untrustworthy—possibly.[/i] “If anyone else is heading out, I might join ‘em, you know, safety in numbers. But I don’t really have a direction in mind. Just going to see where the wind takes me. And you…are you going to stay here, help Taliya until…” Adrianna trailed off. That was the problem, really. With such fighting between the Church and the magi, and the Church still utilizing those with magic to carry out their dirty work, Adrianna didn’t know what the end would even look like. It was the Church’s hope that it ended when the mages against them were dead. And those who had helped them were…what? They certainly didn’t fit into the Church’s vision for the future. Would the loyalists be eradicated last for not fitting into the worldview? Or would the Church simply squash all future magi and let the current generation die off? Adrianna was a little cynical when it came to the church. She believed that they would continue to let loyal magi serve them, but tighten the reigns until the magic was nearly snuffed out. Why would they eradicate healers, for example, when loyal healers gave them near immortality?

Before Adrianna was able to come up with a proper way to end that question, she saw Lionel’s gaze wander back towards the main streets. She turned as well, and saw a quartet entering Mutebo once more. She thought she recognized at least one of the two in the front from being around Taliya, but her attention quickly shifted towards the pair in the back, who looked quite hurt. The man was cradling an arm, and looked like he was barely able to keep up with the ones walking in front. The woman had mostly bruises and bumps. Neither of them were on their death bed, but Adrianna could sense that it wasn’t just physical injuries. They hadn’t been jumped and robbed of their possessions, they had been fighting with their magic, and they were both quite drained. 

It was rather easy for her to pick up on the signature of magic exhaustion. She had seen it from the hunters, at least the ones who had to really work to dispatch their targets. They came back injured physically, but their aura of magic was also dim or flickered about rather than maintaining consistency. She never talked about this observation with others, and the one or two times she mentioned someone being worn out in such a manner, she was reminded that [i]of course[/i] they were worn out, they had been defending the Church against dangerous people who wanted to tear down its very foundation. Doing such holy work was tiring.

“Excuse me.” Adrianna couldn’t just ignore them, though. Whether or not they were fighting the Church directly, Adrianna didn’t like to see any one hurt and worn down in such a manner. They clearly weren’t prisoners, so she doubted they were enemies of Taliya. Though it certainly wouldn’t have been the first time she had healed Hunters, if they were. Not to mention the fact that it was rather dangerous, if there were to be an attack on Mutebo, for people to be in such a state. They wouldn’t be able to defend the city at all, and Adrianna much preferred for everyone to be in their best condition, physically and magically. Working in Taliya’s medical bay would have worn her down in days with such a disposition.

She turned and approached the group, though immediately heard Lionel’s feet hit the ground lightly behind her as he walked over to them as well. [i]Good.[/i] Adrianna walked right past the men chatting in front and moved up alongside the boy with the hurt arm. “Excuse me, I couldn’t help but notice that you look a bit roughed up…” She gestured to his arm but didn’t touch it. “May I help?” Her hand hovering near the arm began to glow a light golden color, the mark of her Luminous magic. She glanced to the woman who accompanied him as well, she was most certainly not Mura, but Adrianna hadn’t ignored her initially for that reason. The quite short Dimura was simply in better condition…and perhaps Adrianna would learn if Lionel really was a healer.