[b][color=#c45302]"Oh that's the wonderful thing about Magic,"[/color][/b] Archer snickered.  [b][color=#c45302]"You can't ever truly escape it.  Even in this place, low levels of Mana seep into the area from the plants, water, stone, and local fauna.  Even the air you breathe carries trace amounts,"[/color][/b] he explained, taking the final drag on his cigarette and putting it out in his foil pouch.  

[b][color=#c45302]"The ripples in the pond from acute manipulation will settle quickly, and my ability doesn't produce any Haze so there won't be any lingering disturbance... you have more to worry from our guest here, who involuntarily burns Mana and constantly produces a low Haze, even in her sleep,"[/color][/b] Archer grinned.  Yue immediately blushed, flinching like she'd been struck at the realization she was polluting Raudd's sanctuary.

[b][color=#CE2B95]"Oh fuck!  I'm sorry, I-I didn't- I can't turn it off, I just needed to be someplace... 'dim' to collect my thoughts, I didn't even think,"[/color][/b] Yue flustered as she hurried to get up.  Archer laughed.  [b][color=#CE2B95]"It's not funny!"[/color][/b]

[b][color=#c45302]"Settle down,"[/color][/b] he chirped.  [b][color=#c45302]"Part of the reason I came out was to help clean up.  Wouldn't do for us to leave our trash laying around this beautiful garden."[/color][/b]

Yue paused and took a deep breath to settle her spike of anxiety.  She resumed walking back towards the house after a moment, flicking Archer in the back of the head as she passed, eliciting a smirk from the man.

[b][color=#CE2B95]"Well.  Regardless, it's getting late.  I don't know if I will sleep, but some quiet time to read is in order at the very least.  New book and all, you know how it is,"[/color][/b] she teased.  [b][color=#CE2B95]"Good night."[/color][/b]

Archer stood up, dusting himself off and stretching for a moment before he lifted his hand towards the center of the garden.  A breeze picked up, rustling the leaves of groomed trees and shrubs, and blowing ripples across the pond below them.  The leaves, grass, flowers, stone, and water all seemed to respond.  For a fraction of a moment [color=6ecff6][Artemis][/color] was there, at the center of the gentle vortex.  Nature's primal beauty, and visceral danger pulled Yue's lingering haze to [color=6ecff6][her][/color] palm where it formed into an arrow.  

[color=6ecff6][She][/color] pointed a finger, and the tattoo on the back of his hand pulsed, an intangible bow flickering into existence for just a moment, just long enough to loose [color=6ecff6][her][/color] shot.  Unerring, the arrow carved a path over the garden and through the door to the manor, navigated the 90 degree turn and whipped out of sight nearly faster than the eye could track.  A fraction of a second later the crystal chime of the arrow striking the Manor's Arcane Drain and Yue's [b][color=#CE2B95]"Ooh!"[/color][/b] of wonder echoed softly into the garden.

Archer snapped his fingers.  It resonated through the [Immaterial] as he sat down, and the Astral Sea surrounding the garden, and for some distance beyond became as tranquil as though it had been untouched and unexplored for years.  Even Archer's presence was difficult to detect: if you weren't looking directly at him, one could easily forget he was there.

[b][color=#c45302]"I don't think you'll need to worry about Hera,"[/color][/b] he chimed in after a long minute of silence where he just gazed out over the manor at the cloying darkness overhead, probably longing for the days when the curtain of night wasn't blotted out by the progress of mortals.  [b][color=#c45302]"Our tree has since been relocated to Elysium,"[/color][/b] he gestured above them in the direction of the tower.

[b][color=#c45302]"And if you really are serious about marrying into the pantheon I'm pretty sure Apollo is single right now,"[/color][/b] he grinned, unable to hide the expression of amused mirth spreading across his face.  [b][color=#c45302]"He doesn't usually go for the outdoorsy handsome type, but he might come around once he finds out you're immune to the relationship ending by dying horribly."[/color][/b]