Lakshmi only stands, when he goes to leave. Her voice low, unable to keep the warmth from it. "Thank you for your company, Admiral. It was much... appreciated."
Because she doubts she'll see him again this evening, from the sound of it. Maybe it was for the best. Falling about drunk on the floor was hardly a decent thing for either of them. If any of this could be decent at all. Think, Lakshmi, with more than loneliness.
Rather, unfortunately, however, it does leave her with Devi giving her a far too accusing look. Which - she orders over the top of. She needs to be prepared for bed. Which took care of most of the time looking her lady in the eye. Not exactly untrue. After so much wine, there was nothing else to do but take all her snatched kisses to bed with her for the evening. Sleep of the worst of it until the morning. Which repays her all her indulgence with... well, a blinding hangover.
Made appearing for the meetings come morning about the next plan of attack, an utter misery, as she waits for him to appear with the rest of his staff. The ships light a sharp cutting agony. But she was firmly put back together again. Nothing open now, sitting with her arms on the table between the simplistic maps of her own people, to the complex screens of his. At least Kashi was kind enough to keep feeding her water without saying very much about it as they worked. Inevitably drawn into a debate while her temper was short, as she and Quinn went over plans - "The risk does not matter - I must get word to the other leaders on the ground. They will want to know what to expect before they suffer the frustrations of the UC for our victory." It's bitten out, snapped unhappily. She never did take well being told she had to sit on her hands and wait.
MIles, meanwhile, spends the rest of the evening calming down the Dendarii. At least the group diffuses once they see how furious he is (and how frustrated at being distracted, goddammit, why did they misbehave tonight); he spends the rest of the night making sure the rest of the units aren't going to give him the same trouble tomorrow. And then, when he's done, he falls into bed for a few hours of distracted sleep. He can hardly close his eyes without thinking of her. And tomorrow he has to go back to work, to getting more success before he can see her again, likely...
He strides into the meeting the next morning looking a bit hungover himself. Still nursing that quiet frustration - but delighted to see Lakshmi again in any capacity. He just hopes that she'll be happy to see him after last night. Or ... um, hpapier in general? He looks over the situation, frowning a little. "We can't spare a full assault," he says with a sigh. "We do need time to regroup. Quinn is right."
She leans onto the table, working a hand into her hair, pushing it out of the way over her face as she looks over the plans for the millionth time. Meeting his eye, once and hard - and it's there, if only between them. If only for them to know. Because she says nothing, reacts not at all, but how she looks, looks and looks at him like there is nothing else ( how she wants to push it all out of her hands, sends his people and hers away and - )
But it does not matter, it cannot matter, that belonged to last night. There is work to do. Frowning deeply she goes on, "What then?" Her nails drum. "They will be waiting for word, after yesterday. The UC will tell them we have been chased back, regardless of the truth."
Oh. Oh. Miles' self control is not quite so good in return. He stops a moment, breath catching. So that night just drunkenness or desperation. The thought warms him instantly; it distracts him from the planning for just a moment, making him think of her instead, how lovely she is.
God, Miles, focus. He did come here to do a job, and she's clearly agitated. And he needs to think up a way through this. "A messenger," he says after a moment. "One, maybe two people moving quickly."
"Agreed. They need some hope." She goes quiet, not looking at him then. Realising something, belatedly. Something that even as she thinks, forms it, she loathes it.
"How do we accomplish that? I can tell you a dozen landing sights that might help you pass unnotice, but -" she doubted, heavily, it could be that easy.
Of course it won't be easy. But - but. Miles thinks it can be done. At great risk, perhaps, but it can be done. "I'll go myself," he says, to the alarm of all the Dendarii in the room. "They'll get the message, and I can help coordinate your people."
And to the chorus of all of them, she speaks it far more bluntly - "No! That's madness, not by yourself. The desert will eat you whole."
She rises sharply up her hands planting onto the table. Leaning over it.
"It's utterly ridiculous, unless you take me with you."
- her people are not so quiet in their alarm. They shout the refusal almost immediately at the suggestion. Kashi is at her elbow almost immediately with it, tugging at her but Lakshmi does nothing more than straighten, one eyebrow raising in flat challenge to him or anyone else that would stop her.
God. He loves this woman even more now. To the point where he realizes it's probably clouding his judgement, but - fuck it. IT's a good plan, even if it is also risky.
"You would know the lay of the land," he says. "And you would be their best hope. I'll just make sure you get there successfully."
More outcry from the Dendarii in turn. Taura is insistent on coming with them, at least, to give them some protection.
Her look to him is utter pleased triumph, brilliant through her whole face before she schools it far more serious. "Then it's settled." She can give a sympathising look for Taura at least, nodding in agreement to it, at least. but there is a certain joy to being Queen, from time to time. That she looks at her brave Admiral, feels her smile so barely hidden and speaks with the comfort of absolutes. Even if her people object they always do as ordered.
"Kashi, you will stay with Damodar here. Vijay and Jhalkari will accompany me." She sits once more. Sorted, then. They have their orders, and it is a dismissal, go pack what little they have.
The Dendarii are rather more democratic, so there will be arguing. But. Taking Taura will alleviate the more legitimate fears, at least, and at that point he can barrel on ahead. He smiles at her, giving her a light bow. "Then we'll prepare. I'll meet you at one of the shuttle bays in two hours."
"Land near Chittor. The mountains there will give us cover... And if I have my dates correct, we will be hardly be noticed."
She thinks she has it right, it has been too long, since she had kept the days of her home, but not so long as to forget rhythms as long as her life. But she goes after a moment, her hands meeting palm to palm, bowing over them to his bow in return.
And when she is there those two hours later it is dressed how she had met him, the first time. A snatched moment in the dark. Though the armour, it's mix of old and new, heavy plate and light polymers. The helmet under one arm, long pieces of fabric draped around it. Her guards match her, where they stand at rest, waiting for whatever preparations had to be made. Quiet, at least, until Damodar following so closely behind his mother, broke to grab onto her, for all Kashi did her best to keep him back.
But all the same she picks up her son, armoured and all to hold him, fiercely and tightly. Murmuring to him as he clung with both arms around her neck, his face pressed into her her cheek, that he would be strong when he was amongst other warriors, that he must learn to be as great as the Admiral's men. That if he was with them, she could not worry. Hangs onto him, holding her son in both arms until Naismith himself arrived.
It might have been years since her son started walking, since he no longer needed his mother to attend his every little need. but there would never be a moment where it did not grieve her to let him go, as she set him back down on the floor. Her fierce boy, all his father, all his kindness. (and let him never become her, for whatever mercy God could give man.) Schooling her expression flat again, as Damodar left her to go back to his bodyguard of a nurse. Clearing her throat pointedly.
Miles isn't sure what she means, but he is inclined to trust her. A local festival perhaps? They ought to blend in if they can ... So when he meets her, he is in plain clothes, armed only with a stunner and his dagger, tucked into an unornamented sheath on his belt. Taura is bristling with enough weapons for the both of them - and also her claws, painted in bright, feminine colors. She bares her teeth in a smile as they meet.
He holds back a moment, watching that tender moment with utter fondness. Admiral Naismith can't be babymad, but the little Lord Vorkosigan looking through his eyes sure could be. Ah, how he longs for children. He briefly has a fantasy of marrying this lovely woman, of her son returning to Barrayar with him and to see that planet too, or him staying here and helping to raise him to lead her people in turn ... Pure fantasy and he knows it. Just. Keep your head in the right place, Miles, there's a hell of a lot to do today.
"We are," he says, giving her a nod once she's done. "On your command, we make for Chittor."
She nods in agreement. One last moment, to drop down to kiss her son on the forehead before she straightens, nodding to him to lead on. "Good, the Raj there owes my family a favour." She hoped, at least, that Nana would honour it.
But with it, she steps onto the vessel that they were to leave on, enough time now had to have passed that this still was not impossibly strange to be travelling in space in such a way. Trusting him and his pilots at least.
Because it's impossible to miss once they get there - the mountains are huge, mighty rocks jutting out of flat landscape, that one side gives way to greenery, the other is nothing but desert. A cusp, and impressively so.
But more so, she muses, when they see the fortress, she supposes as she waits to leave, getting herself ready for that strange feeling. Waiting for him and Taura, leaning forward to give them explanations they'll need. "Tonight will be Diwali, the city will be flood with light. Not even the UC dares deny us this day, so we ought to be able to slip in, procure transport, then leave before anyone even notices we have come."
The desert, eh. At least Miles has some experience with that courtesy of his years on Beta Colony. This will still be a pain, though, he's sure of it. The fortress is more comforting; he can see the outline of her plan as soon as she points it out to them.
"Good," he says with a nod. "If all goes well, we'll be there before they realize." And if not ... well, they'll deal with that. Hopefully well.
"Such is the hope. I do not fancy the torture if they catch us." Or the humiliation she would suffer far beyond that. But the grimace is brief before she settles in. The slip of something eager and bloody back into her hands. Seized at once with that purpose that turns everything muted, fdar off to the loud ringing note, home, home, home. How many days, weeks, months? The desert, the rivers, hidden away deep into the stone of the earth itself.
Would he find it as beautiful as she did?
But she falls quiet, after that, her mind sinking into the role she must be here. The teasing and laughter of falling into his arms the night before gone behind it. Queen in her kingdom, once more.
When she's needed she directs the pilot to help them land where the easiest route could be compromised for. Every word clipped, rolling on her heels with the tense impatience. It is only as they come close that she speaks to him once more, the liberation at being back that wells up as she ventures the words to him before they land. "Welcome to Jhansi."
The rest follows and it's her guards that keep her dignified, from tearing out of the ship back onto the land of her home like a mad thing. Immediate is the heat, a blaring bright sun. Blue skies over brown, sandy earth that her lifts a hands reflexively to block from her vision, looking out at the place they disembark.
It's likely not possible for him to find it as beautiful as she does. But - her enthusiasm is infectious, and he can't deny that this world has its own charms. The edge of the vegetation, the desert rolling before them, the heat and the earth and the whole presence of it, people and places and things. He's openly fascinated, looking around with wide-eyed amazement before schooling his face again. God knows he and Taura going to stick out like sore thumbs regardless; he ought to at least pretend like he belongs.
"Jhansi. It's a lovely place," he says as he heads down the ramp. "Where do we go from here, my lady?"
The mountains stretch up, jagged teeth jutting up, and when she turns back to him, her visor had flipped back down to hide her eyes from the glare of the sun. Though it won't be for too much longer - the 25 hour days certainly were bright, but they were heading towards the end of the day, good - good. The celebrations would begin, soon. But until then.
"This way. It may take a moment - hidden passages are always a bother." She waves him on, to where Vijay and Jhalkari are already looking at the stones that made up the closest stone wall. Until it's found shortly enough. A pile of stones that seem like not much until they get to work pulling them away. Little by little revealing the passage behind it. "Rao - we have been friends since childhood. He promised he would always keep a path for me when I returned." Warmth enough to the words, before she gives up watching entirely. Too eager - she begins pulling the stones away herself. Until at long last it's clear enough to step through, a dark tunnel was cut into the earth itself.
As simple as she had ever said, there is no electricity here - the lights of his ship, of earth, were long gone now. Rather she looks for the torches on the wall. Holding it still while Vijay lit them with a strike of flint against a long left piece of cloth. At least the cobwebs made easy kindling. Going up in a fwoosh of light to fill up the space. It's then she turns back to him. Smiling faintly but she unhooks pieces of material from herself and tosses it lightly to Taura, trusting at this point easily in the other woman's reflexes. One for her, and one for Naismith. "Cover your hair, Taura, you will look strange to be bare headed once we reach the surface, and you Admiral, keep it draped around your shoulders."
She wets her lips, looking towards their path, and with the light stretching further, it showed stairs that they had to climb, waving them both on to follow her. "Once we do - speak as little as you can, your accents are much too strong, and if you must, try not to talk of your technology too much. Most know so little of it, you will seem strange as soon as you do." As if the pair of them - impossibly tall, very short wouldn't stand out enough. But at least a little less so now. "Not that I expect you'll be required to speak much. If the music is at it always is, I doubt you will be able to be heard." That is a little more eager. To see the things she knew so well.
Torches, goodness. It's one thing to know that this place is behind on its tech and another entirely to see it first hand. But hadn't Barrayar been the same way not so long ago? Hell, it still is in certain backwater areas of his own district. He wishes he could comment as such, that this is making him homesick, quite frankly. But Admiral Naismith, clone of Evil Lord Vorkosigan, shouldn't say anything of the sort. Sigh. He just takes in a deep breath of the smell of earth and smoke and stone and looks rather more content than he should.
Taura catches the cloth easily; she seems quite pleased at being asked to cover her head, finding the fabric to be quite beautiful. Miles, too, is happy enough to take his and put it around his shoulders. Blending in, eh? He knows he will be a poor sight regardless, but it's to pretend like he's going to blend in here. "As you recommend," he says with a quick little bow. Though. He mimics her tones now, doing a reasonable job at copying her accent. Not perfect, not as natural as his Betan accent, but possessing some of the same skill. He's pretty good at accents. "What else can you tell me about the festival? Should we be keeping an eye out for something in particular?"
Or for Rao for that matter. It's good to see he's kept his word so far ... and a little nervewracking. Surely something else will go wrong instead.
"Diwali is the Festival of Lights. We light candles, let lanterns fly up into the sky - so mind your hair and loose fabric. It will begin at sunset and continue long into the night. Fireworks begin once it is dark." Toothy, sharp. "So if you must shoot anyone, I would suggest then."
But that aside - Ah. "Of course, that reminds me - for the horses. We don't have much of a value for credits or the like. We are not allowed to have them so no one trades in them. So you'll need real items, in case we get separated." She fishes about herself then, transferring the torch to her left hand so she can use her right to dig around in satchel she carried, drawing out what was most definitely jewellery, all gold. More so - definitely hers. But if she grieves to part with something precious, it doesn't show on her face. Offering it up in a handful to him. "We are heading to the gate that leads toward Agra, if you have to ask. The fastest way will be through the Palace, so we will be heading that way. Rao should receive us... but if you... you lose me and must speak with him. Tell him - "
She looks over Naismith, and smiles briefly, amused utterly for a moment. "... That Manu has more elephants than he does, now. He will know it is me you speak for."
"During the fireworks," he confirms. Hopefully he won't have to shoot anyone, but. Just in case. "I'll be careful."
He swallows a bit as she divests herself of her jewelry though. Of course this makes the most sense, but it pains him a little to see her do it. If only he had anything remotely valuable on himself, other than the dagger. "You can tell him yourself," he says firmly. But - he'll commit it to memory too, just in case. "I'll find him if I must, but I expect to meet him together."
The steps go on and on, up and up. Enough to make the breathing hard for a while. This could not be a more direct path into the city, the ones outside took meandering winding paths through the hills and rocks, but it was a steep one to take upstairs that were roughly carved into the rock itself. Not walked on enough to be smooth. After all, it was a secret tunnel, if there were workers in here shaping every stone, it wouldn't be that secret, she supposed as she kicked a stray stone in the effort of climbing them.
Until at long last, they do start to hear the sounds of life - people, rumbling above them. Until they reach the top of those endless stairs, and what lies in front of them is an assuming wooden door. Old, rough looking. Eagerly she stepped toward until rather more pointedly, Jhalkari cleared her throat. Nodding to the door and the unspoken - Rani, what if it is a trap? that makes Lakshmi pull back to let the other woman go first. Watching her open it only a fraction, enough for her guard to slip through to the dim light that left her paused and nervous next to him. Her own nervous tick, of sinking her teeth into the inside of her lip playing in the anxiousness of waiting. "She will come as soon as it is clear."
At least he has no trouble navigating it with his slight frame; poor Taura is bent down in spots trying to get through the tight tunnels. But they make it to the door eventually. Miles is eager to get moving, but - no, Lakshmi stops him, which is probably for the best. They'll just wait for a moment. Here in the dark, close together, waiting to see if disaster or deliverance waits on the other side.
"I'm sure she'll be fine," he breathes. "We've come this far, haven't we?"
She sighs, looking across to him into the half-dark of firelight. Behind the door the music could be heard now - could hear... what she hoped was her guard, moving through the rooms the other side, and more distantly, the drums that beat loud enough to be heard all the way even in here. Where had Rao said they would be? At the edge of the slums but before the merchants. Near the main thoroughfare, close enough that no one would think too much of strangers coming and going.
Nothing for it for the moment, she dropped down to bob on the balls of her feet. "She will, but... " they had come so far, and in the moments where she ever had to be still, there was the uneasy feeling of what she had to lose, too.
He really shouldn't do this. But - he can't help but reach out and put a hand on hers. To steady her. Focus on him if you must. "We'll deal with it either way," he murmurs. "Just trust me, my lady"
And by all rights, she should push that hand away. Demand to know what he is thinking. As if is, Vijay makes sure to keep his eyes on the wall to not pry on her more than inevitably happened.
She doesn't touch him turn, but there is the turn, however slight, of her head towards his hand, how she had turned up into him the night before. That must be enough for now, and for that, it is everything. "We will." I do. and she realises as she thinks it, that she does, she trusts him, implicitly, with her whole being. More than for stolen kisses, than the warmth of his body against her. With her life.
This isn't the time. She hears more movements, and then the door is pulled open and Jhalkari appears again, dusty, but none the worse for wear. Rattling off her report as she makes room for everyone to come through, a hour or so until the festivities began. But clear for now.
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Because she doubts she'll see him again this evening, from the sound of it. Maybe it was for the best. Falling about drunk on the floor was hardly a decent thing for either of them. If any of this could be decent at all. Think, Lakshmi, with more than loneliness.
Rather, unfortunately, however, it does leave her with Devi giving her a far too accusing look. Which - she orders over the top of. She needs to be prepared for bed. Which took care of most of the time looking her lady in the eye. Not exactly untrue. After so much wine, there was nothing else to do but take all her snatched kisses to bed with her for the evening. Sleep of the worst of it until the morning. Which repays her all her indulgence with... well, a blinding hangover.
Made appearing for the meetings come morning about the next plan of attack, an utter misery, as she waits for him to appear with the rest of his staff. The ships light a sharp cutting agony. But she was firmly put back together again. Nothing open now, sitting with her arms on the table between the simplistic maps of her own people, to the complex screens of his. At least Kashi was kind enough to keep feeding her water without saying very much about it as they worked. Inevitably drawn into a debate while her temper was short, as she and Quinn went over plans - "The risk does not matter - I must get word to the other leaders on the ground. They will want to know what to expect before they suffer the frustrations of the UC for our victory." It's bitten out, snapped unhappily. She never did take well being told she had to sit on her hands and wait.
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He strides into the meeting the next morning looking a bit hungover himself. Still nursing that quiet frustration - but delighted to see Lakshmi again in any capacity. He just hopes that she'll be happy to see him after last night. Or ... um, hpapier in general? He looks over the situation, frowning a little. "We can't spare a full assault," he says with a sigh. "We do need time to regroup. Quinn is right."
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But it does not matter, it cannot matter, that belonged to last night. There is work to do. Frowning deeply she goes on, "What then?" Her nails drum. "They will be waiting for word, after yesterday. The UC will tell them we have been chased back, regardless of the truth."
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God, Miles, focus. He did come here to do a job, and she's clearly agitated. And he needs to think up a way through this. "A messenger," he says after a moment. "One, maybe two people moving quickly."
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"How do we accomplish that? I can tell you a dozen landing sights that might help you pass unnotice, but -" she doubted, heavily, it could be that easy.
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She rises sharply up her hands planting onto the table. Leaning over it.
"It's utterly ridiculous, unless you take me with you."
- her people are not so quiet in their alarm. They shout the refusal almost immediately at the suggestion. Kashi is at her elbow almost immediately with it, tugging at her but Lakshmi does nothing more than straighten, one eyebrow raising in flat challenge to him or anyone else that would stop her.
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"You would know the lay of the land," he says. "And you would be their best hope. I'll just make sure you get there successfully."
More outcry from the Dendarii in turn. Taura is insistent on coming with them, at least, to give them some protection.
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"Kashi, you will stay with Damodar here. Vijay and Jhalkari will accompany me." She sits once more. Sorted, then. They have their orders, and it is a dismissal, go pack what little they have.
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She thinks she has it right, it has been too long, since she had kept the days of her home, but not so long as to forget rhythms as long as her life. But she goes after a moment, her hands meeting palm to palm, bowing over them to his bow in return.
And when she is there those two hours later it is dressed how she had met him, the first time. A snatched moment in the dark. Though the armour, it's mix of old and new, heavy plate and light polymers. The helmet under one arm, long pieces of fabric draped around it. Her guards match her, where they stand at rest, waiting for whatever preparations had to be made. Quiet, at least, until Damodar following so closely behind his mother, broke to grab onto her, for all Kashi did her best to keep him back.
But all the same she picks up her son, armoured and all to hold him, fiercely and tightly. Murmuring to him as he clung with both arms around her neck, his face pressed into her her cheek, that he would be strong when he was amongst other warriors, that he must learn to be as great as the Admiral's men. That if he was with them, she could not worry. Hangs onto him, holding her son in both arms until Naismith himself arrived.
It might have been years since her son started walking, since he no longer needed his mother to attend his every little need. but there would never be a moment where it did not grieve her to let him go, as she set him back down on the floor. Her fierce boy, all his father, all his kindness. (and let him never become her, for whatever mercy God could give man.) Schooling her expression flat again, as Damodar left her to go back to his bodyguard of a nurse. Clearing her throat pointedly.
"Admiral. Are we away?"
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He holds back a moment, watching that tender moment with utter fondness. Admiral Naismith can't be babymad, but the little Lord Vorkosigan looking through his eyes sure could be. Ah, how he longs for children. He briefly has a fantasy of marrying this lovely woman, of her son returning to Barrayar with him and to see that planet too, or him staying here and helping to raise him to lead her people in turn ... Pure fantasy and he knows it. Just. Keep your head in the right place, Miles, there's a hell of a lot to do today.
"We are," he says, giving her a nod once she's done. "On your command, we make for Chittor."
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But with it, she steps onto the vessel that they were to leave on, enough time now had to have passed that this still was not impossibly strange to be travelling in space in such a way. Trusting him and his pilots at least.
Because it's impossible to miss once they get there - the mountains are huge, mighty rocks jutting out of flat landscape, that one side gives way to greenery, the other is nothing but desert. A cusp, and impressively so.
But more so, she muses, when they see the fortress, she supposes as she waits to leave, getting herself ready for that strange feeling. Waiting for him and Taura, leaning forward to give them explanations they'll need. "Tonight will be Diwali, the city will be flood with light. Not even the UC dares deny us this day, so we ought to be able to slip in, procure transport, then leave before anyone even notices we have come."
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"Good," he says with a nod. "If all goes well, we'll be there before they realize." And if not ... well, they'll deal with that. Hopefully well.
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Would he find it as beautiful as she did?
But she falls quiet, after that, her mind sinking into the role she must be here. The teasing and laughter of falling into his arms the night before gone behind it. Queen in her kingdom, once more.
When she's needed she directs the pilot to help them land where the easiest route could be compromised for. Every word clipped, rolling on her heels with the tense impatience. It is only as they come close that she speaks to him once more, the liberation at being back that wells up as she ventures the words to him before they land. "Welcome to Jhansi."
The rest follows and it's her guards that keep her dignified, from tearing out of the ship back onto the land of her home like a mad thing. Immediate is the heat, a blaring bright sun. Blue skies over brown, sandy earth that her lifts a hands reflexively to block from her vision, looking out at the place they disembark.
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"Jhansi. It's a lovely place," he says as he heads down the ramp. "Where do we go from here, my lady?"
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"This way. It may take a moment - hidden passages are always a bother." She waves him on, to where Vijay and Jhalkari are already looking at the stones that made up the closest stone wall. Until it's found shortly enough. A pile of stones that seem like not much until they get to work pulling them away. Little by little revealing the passage behind it. "Rao - we have been friends since childhood. He promised he would always keep a path for me when I returned." Warmth enough to the words, before she gives up watching entirely. Too eager - she begins pulling the stones away herself. Until at long last it's clear enough to step through, a dark tunnel was cut into the earth itself.
As simple as she had ever said, there is no electricity here - the lights of his ship, of earth, were long gone now. Rather she looks for the torches on the wall. Holding it still while Vijay lit them with a strike of flint against a long left piece of cloth. At least the cobwebs made easy kindling. Going up in a fwoosh of light to fill up the space. It's then she turns back to him. Smiling faintly but she unhooks pieces of material from herself and tosses it lightly to Taura, trusting at this point easily in the other woman's reflexes. One for her, and one for Naismith. "Cover your hair, Taura, you will look strange to be bare headed once we reach the surface, and you Admiral, keep it draped around your shoulders."
She wets her lips, looking towards their path, and with the light stretching further, it showed stairs that they had to climb, waving them both on to follow her. "Once we do - speak as little as you can, your accents are much too strong, and if you must, try not to talk of your technology too much. Most know so little of it, you will seem strange as soon as you do." As if the pair of them - impossibly tall, very short wouldn't stand out enough. But at least a little less so now. "Not that I expect you'll be required to speak much. If the music is at it always is, I doubt you will be able to be heard." That is a little more eager. To see the things she knew so well.
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Taura catches the cloth easily; she seems quite pleased at being asked to cover her head, finding the fabric to be quite beautiful. Miles, too, is happy enough to take his and put it around his shoulders. Blending in, eh? He knows he will be a poor sight regardless, but it's to pretend like he's going to blend in here. "As you recommend," he says with a quick little bow. Though. He mimics her tones now, doing a reasonable job at copying her accent. Not perfect, not as natural as his Betan accent, but possessing some of the same skill. He's pretty good at accents. "What else can you tell me about the festival? Should we be keeping an eye out for something in particular?"
Or for Rao for that matter. It's good to see he's kept his word so far ... and a little nervewracking. Surely something else will go wrong instead.
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But that aside - Ah. "Of course, that reminds me - for the horses. We don't have much of a value for credits or the like. We are not allowed to have them so no one trades in them. So you'll need real items, in case we get separated." She fishes about herself then, transferring the torch to her left hand so she can use her right to dig around in satchel she carried, drawing out what was most definitely jewellery, all gold. More so - definitely hers. But if she grieves to part with something precious, it doesn't show on her face. Offering it up in a handful to him. "We are heading to the gate that leads toward Agra, if you have to ask. The fastest way will be through the Palace, so we will be heading that way. Rao should receive us... but if you... you lose me and must speak with him. Tell him - "
She looks over Naismith, and smiles briefly, amused utterly for a moment. "... That Manu has more elephants than he does, now. He will know it is me you speak for."
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He swallows a bit as she divests herself of her jewelry though. Of course this makes the most sense, but it pains him a little to see her do it. If only he had anything remotely valuable on himself, other than the dagger. "You can tell him yourself," he says firmly. But - he'll commit it to memory too, just in case. "I'll find him if I must, but I expect to meet him together."
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The steps go on and on, up and up. Enough to make the breathing hard for a while. This could not be a more direct path into the city, the ones outside took meandering winding paths through the hills and rocks, but it was a steep one to take upstairs that were roughly carved into the rock itself. Not walked on enough to be smooth. After all, it was a secret tunnel, if there were workers in here shaping every stone, it wouldn't be that secret, she supposed as she kicked a stray stone in the effort of climbing them.
Until at long last, they do start to hear the sounds of life - people, rumbling above them. Until they reach the top of those endless stairs, and what lies in front of them is an assuming wooden door. Old, rough looking. Eagerly she stepped toward until rather more pointedly, Jhalkari cleared her throat. Nodding to the door and the unspoken - Rani, what if it is a trap? that makes Lakshmi pull back to let the other woman go first. Watching her open it only a fraction, enough for her guard to slip through to the dim light that left her paused and nervous next to him. Her own nervous tick, of sinking her teeth into the inside of her lip playing in the anxiousness of waiting. "She will come as soon as it is clear."
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"I'm sure she'll be fine," he breathes. "We've come this far, haven't we?"
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Nothing for it for the moment, she dropped down to bob on the balls of her feet. "She will, but... " they had come so far, and in the moments where she ever had to be still, there was the uneasy feeling of what she had to lose, too.
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She doesn't touch him turn, but there is the turn, however slight, of her head towards his hand, how she had turned up into him the night before. That must be enough for now, and for that, it is everything. "We will." I do. and she realises as she thinks it, that she does, she trusts him, implicitly, with her whole being. More than for stolen kisses, than the warmth of his body against her. With her life.
This isn't the time. She hears more movements, and then the door is pulled open and Jhalkari appears again, dusty, but none the worse for wear. Rattling off her report as she makes room for everyone to come through, a hour or so until the festivities began. But clear for now.
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