"Greetings, Fox-kin. I am Zara Zuki, Elder of the wolf-kin, and I demand an audience with Council member Teyla." (Zara)
Teyla feels a buzzing start low in her gut, radiating outward in a way that sends shivers through her limbs. Her lips involuntarily twist into a giddy grin.
'It's them...'
She can't believe her luck.
She glances at the two unconscious Daima on the ground in front of Zara, who's paying them less attention than trash in the street. Teyla's mouth twitches. She can't help but like the girl, which she kind of expected from the reports.
As for her Daima? Truthfully, she couldn't care less. She wasn't kidding when she told Xu and Wei that she'd execute them to appease these people if they screwed up. And she has no doubt that's exactly what these two Daima must have done. Why? Because the human boy is here, and Teyla is certain that he likes to keep a low profile. The only way they arrived at the current circumstances is if those idiot guards forced their hand.
However, revealing that doesn't exactly serve her agenda right now. She has a rare opportunity to probe them with some plausible deniability – what kind of ruler would she be if she just capitulated to random people breaking down gates in her city? She's also very curious how the two of them knew to ask for her by name, but that particular curiosity can wait.
Teyla puts on a regal, disinterested expression, then she walks to place herself between her entourage and Zara. Zara's eyes snap to her, narrowing slightly. Teyla gives her a cold, practiced smile.
"Greetings, young wolf-kin...I am Teyla Zang, Head of Central Tail. If you were really the revered wolf-kin Elder I've heard about, then I'd be happy to give you an audience. Unfortunately, I very much doubt your claim, as you come here with no diplomatic escort, with no notice, launch unprovoked attacks on my guards, and destroy my precious city.
"Daima – subdue and apprehend her. Nonlethal force only." (Teyla)
For the last command, Teyla locks eyes with the commander of her Daima, letting her gaze communicate the severity of her intent. Naturally, she also uses Common to give her orders – she wants their two guests to hear her insist on nonlethal force, so she can more easily de-escalate the situation later.
With great anticipation, she watches her twenty or so Daima begin fanning out around Zara. To her surprise, she notices the human boy roll his eyes at the order, while Zara merely lets out a sigh and unsheathes her sword. She sees the boy cut a glance at Zara, who isn't paying any attention to him. Then, Zara suddenly glances back at him and shakes her head, and the boy merely shrugs and steps back. Teyla watches the silent exchange with an increasingly curious expression.
'Is she telling him not to interfere? How curious...'
Except for the boy's profile, Teyla actually trusts the guild records she saw on this party's abilities. If the elf or that monstrous woman were here with the two of them, Teyla wouldn't even have bothered with this little subjugation attempt – all the Daima in the city wouldn't be enough to even slow them down, and she'd get no new information. She's sure the boy will only fight as a last resort.
With what she knows of the wolf-kin girl, though, Teyla imagines that she can only handle ten or fifteen of the Daima at most. And that's Teyla giving the girl a massive amount of credit. That means...Teyla will get to see the boy fight. Or at least, that's what she thought.
Right up until Zara disappears in front of her eyes, and Teyla's pupils constrict.
'What!? Did she-'
Teyla doesn't get a chance to finish her thoughts before the screams start.
BZZZZZT!
"GAAAHHHHH!"
In the span of just a couple breaths, Teyla watches in horror as three of her Daima are inexplicably wreathed in crackling blue electricity, screaming in pain briefly before they collapse onto the ground, smoking and unconscious. She feels a cold shiver run down her spine.
'How is this possible...is that little wolf-kin girl really doing all this? Invisibility? Electric attacks? Enhanced speed, maybe? What a monster...'
BZZZZZT!
"GAAAHHHHH!"
Another breath passes, and another four Daima collapse. Teyla watches as the remaining dozen or so Daima struggle to keep the terror on their faces under wraps, and they collapse into a defensive formation.
It doesn't help.
BZZZZZT!
"GAAAHHHHH!"
Another two Daima down. Teyla shakes herself out of her stupor, turning to the equally horrified Xu and Wei. She can feel her window of opportunity closing fast. She speaks, her voice an urgent hiss.
"Xu, Wei...quick, the human, while she's occupied! No lethal force!" (Teyla)
There's a flicker of hesitation in their expressions before they nod and take off towards the human boy, making sure to give the area near the helpless Daima a wide berth.
Teyla watches with rapt attention as they close in on the human, and she sees the boy note their approach with a slight raising of his eyebrows. He slowly pulls his hands out from behind his back, pulling them into loose fists in front of his chest as he widens his stance. Then, he waits patiently for Xu and Wei to close in on him. The sight fills Teyla with a rush of excitement.
'Is he really planning to fight them with his bare hands? He has no weapon, yet he's not even concerned. There's no way he's normal...'
Xu arrives first, pulling a blunted training sword from his belt and swinging it. At the same time, Wei – an earth-affinity elemental class – summons a rain of rock bullets and launches them at the human from the side. Teyla's eyes focus on the human, watching his lips for evidence of incantations, watching his movements for evidence of physical enhancement.
Then, the human moves, and her pupils constrict to pinholes.
He ducks under Xu's sword strike, simultaneously twisting his body as three rock bullets miss him. He steps again, bringing himself inside Xu's guard, and contorts his body once more, dodging the remaining rock bullets by the barest of margins. Then, before Xu can counter, his hand lashes out, pressing two fingers into Xu's neck in a seemingly harmless gesture. However, the moment the human's fingers connect, Xu's entire body appears to go slack, before collapsing onto the ground unceremoniously.
Before Xu's body even settles on the ground, the human has already pivoted towards Wei and started sprinting. Wei launches another round of rock bullets at him, larger and more plentiful, but the human doesn't even slow down. Teyla watches incredulously as he seems to dance through the barrage, rocks whizzing past him so closely that the blowback constantly whips his shirt around his torso. And yet...no matter how infinitesimally close the rocks seem to get to hitting him, they never quite connect.
All the while, Teyla's eyes are glued to his face – no signs of incantations, no strain, just a completely placid expression. She clenches her fists at her side, her jaw tightening as something awfully close to anger takes root in her eyes.
'He's toying with me...he has to be.'
That's the only conclusion she can come to, because the boy's display seems to ride the line between mundane and supernatural. He's fast...very fast, but not quite to the degree that would require physical enhancement to explain. And yes, he's dodging every attack, but by the barest of margins...just enough that one could maybe believe he's honed his skills to human limits. Yet, his form seems...amateurish, rife with wasted energy.
His movement and fighting style reek of someone used to skating by on pure physical prowess, yet a magic-less human shouldn't be able to do what he's doing without exceptional skill and technique. Then, there's how he took down Xu – a single strike to the neck, with no evidence of him muttering an incantation.
She won't discount that there are maybe people, incredibly skilled people, who could do that. Pressure points or some other nonsense. But he's not displaying refined martial technique on par with such an individual.
In Teyla's mind, that leaves one clear conclusion.
'He's pretending. There's no other explanation. I don't know how, or what kind, but...magic has to be involved. It has to be...'
As the suspicion solidifies in Teyla's mind, the boy closes in on Wei. Another performative set of fingers to the neck, another of her subordinates collapsing gracelessly. She glances back towards the wolf-kin girl's fight, just in time to see the last couple of her Daima collapse in a pile of smoke. A couple breaths later, she sees Zara rematerialize a few meters from the human boy, a light sheen of sweat on her brow, but her gaze sharp and calculating.
Now, it's just herself, Zara, and the boy. For the first time, it sets in for Teyla – if either of these two wanted her dead or worse right now, she wouldn't even have time to flee or call for reinforcements. The realization is like cold water on her prior excitement, sobering and uncomfortable.
Zara turns towards her with an unbothered gaze, their eyes meeting. Zara speaks, tone full of the kind of performative condescension that Teyla herself is all too familiar with – a move meant to convey she's being magnanimous and reparations are owed.
"Despite your blatant, unprovoked hostility, I've kindly left every one of your subordinates alive. I trust that my identity and intentions are beyond question now?" (Zara)
Teyla quickly gets a lid on her emotions, but her mind continues to race with questions. How did a wolf-kin just exhibit so many non-alteration class abilities? What is the human hiding, and how did he incapacitate Xu and Wei? How did these two know her name, and what do they want? Yet, she forces those to the back of her mind as well. Now isn't the time for curiosities, but for damage control. She still has a little game to play with Zara.
Teyla forces a stern, uncompromising expression to her face. She addresses Zara, making sure to layer her voice with the cold, haughty tone of a leader with the moral high ground.
"I'm inclined to believe that you're who you claim, but that is beside the point. You stormed into my city's precious Sanctum, and injured the guards in your way – I'd hardly call my response 'unprovoked' after that. If anything, I'd say that my orders to not use lethal force were rather...magnanimous." (Teyla)
Zara's eyes narrow, her voice measured.
"That's a flawed assessment of the situation. I came here, legally and showing proper courtesy, and announced both my identity and intentions to those guards. I even provided them with two forms of verification of my position among the wolf-kin. Their response was to blatantly lie about the availability of your city's Council members, and refuse me access to anyone of authority.
"But you see, they had the audacity to use the fox-kin language to discuss their deceit right in front of our faces, even mentioning you by name. Fortunately, my companion here speaks your language. He shared that fact with the guards, insisting on allowing me to see you. When they learned he knew fox-kin tongue, they tried to arrest and then kill us. Knocking down your gate was a side effect of defending ourselves.
"Now, perhaps you didn't know any of this when we arrived inside your Sanctum, but you knew who I claimed to be, and you could clearly see that I wasn't actively trying to harm anyone. Yet, you didn't even bother giving us a chance to explain the situation. For that reason, and the fact that a leader is responsible for her subordinates, the blame today falls on you." (Zara)
Teyla freezes, her eyes sliding to the two guards in question.
From the beginning, she expected that they'd done something foolish enough to justify Zara's actions. Though, hearing the specifics, she must admit that they behaved even more moronically than she could have imagined. Still, she's not surprised that Zara's response absolves her and the human of any serious wrongdoing. It was always Teyla's intention for that to happen, allowing her to accept the explanation open-mindedly, de-escalate the situation, then offer apologies and reparations to build ties with them.
Unfortunately, those plans are currently slipping through her stupefied brain as she fixates on one piece of information from Zara's story. She turns a disbelieving gaze back to Zara, before her eyes slide to the human behind her. She speaks, her voice incredulous.
"Do you really speak our language? {fox-kin tongue}" (Teyla)
She thinks she sees surprise and confusion flicker across his face in quick succession. Instead of responding to her, he casts a questioning look at Zara, who meets his gaze. After a moment, Zara speaks to him audibly, but in a language Teyla doesn't recognize. She feels a rush of awe.
'So he speaks Common, fox-kin, and I'm guess this is wolf-kin? Just when and why did he learn them?'
Zara and the human finish their exchange, and he nods. He returns his gaze to Teyla. As their eyes meet, she feels a rush of anticipation.
Then, he speaks.