Welcome to Gaia! ::

Aesa gives Wilhelm no more than a cursory glance, breezing right past the establishment without a second look. She turns another corner, the shadows of the buildings getting longer and darker. Darker still are the paths of her mind, filled with more dead-ends than a labyrinth as she desperately seeks an escape. Had she stayed at the inn, she would be pacing like a caged beast. Wandering is preferable, though perhaps dangerous. The woman stops suddenly. Why all these thoughts of self preservation? Wouldn't the simplest and most logical conclusion be to just surrender to death?

No... she thinks, slightly horrified, I would never be forgiven for such a thing... She crosses her arms, her gaze drifting up to the colorful canopies erected over the numerous stalls that line the streets here. The witch is not seeing them, she is seeing instead the faces of all the people she loved back home. Literally worlds away from her now. If I live, they may die. If I die, they may yet live. I've been gone so long they must think me dead anyway... And with that, she relaxes. Problem solved. No more calculations or spells. This is the easiest solution to the problem!

"How shall I die?" she asks herself quietly.

Apparently, Aesa did not have to run from anything. Her brain is still sluggishly trying to argue with Leon about how she is not actually that tiny, thankyouverymuch, and that her plan is actually very logical. She stands in a daze, squinting in the candlelight at the other prisoner as the reality of all that just happened slowly dawns on her; Yet another lunatic had drugged her and carted her off to a strange place against her will.

"s**t." She says, quietly at first. Then again, much louder, "s**t!" Panic and anger flares in her as she tries to take inventory of her situation. The other prisoner is gagged and chained, though she herself was left without any restraints. Tomorrow, he had said. "What happens tomorrow?" She asks her cell-mate, though she knows she can't answer. Would he kill her? That would be convenient, but she doubted it. Aesa intended to die, but being sold into slavery would make death a long term goal that she didn't have time for. Luckily, the idiot didn't seem to realize he just walked off with an empathetic elemental mage. Stress on the pathetic part, she thinks bitterly.

The witch crosses the room, caution long gone. When she gets a closer look, Aesa realizes that she recognizes the woman from the dreams. "Small world." She finds herself saying as she removes the gag, "I do believe someone I promised to save you."

OOC: may edit later, at work right now, but I wanted this to keep moving.

"I needed space." Aesa answers flatly, "I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I barely registered what was happening. Seems that he drugged me and marched me right onto the ship." She begins undoing the restraints, hands still shaking a little, betraying what her voice does not. The woman doesn't look well, so she wonders how long she had been kept here.

Once she works Adia free, she puts an arm around her to offer support. "I'm--" Aesa pauses, unsure of how to introduce herself all of a sudden, "I'm Aesa, I guess."

"Are you going to be strong enough to run?" the witch asks, helping her to the door they know to be locked. "I could get us out of here without a fight if I knew the city better but..." I really just want to fight. Being manipulated so easily had unsettled her; it knocked her straight out of the melancholy and right into rage. She wanted to die, but it would be on her terms.

Aesa closes her eyes and casts her senses outward, reading the air on the ship. Immediately she feels the exhaustion and the vague beginnings of hope from the woman beside her. Further out, there were mild feelings of annoyance, pleasure, and amusement from what she presumes must be the crew. However, radiating from higher above was calm and satisfaction. That must be the smug b*****d that brought me here. How had he done it? How many people had been captured and traded in this way? Fixing on him, she can tell that there is something different about him. Traces of magic cling to him while they were in a world where it should not. A side-effect of her crossing. This was her fault. She is so angry with herself, with her decietful professor, and now her captor, that she has no room for guilt or self pity.

"If you're up for it, I might like to sink this ship."

Ooc: let's keep moving!