~The First Step~ a Hermitcraft AU

Chapter 47

wc: 2043

"Grian," someone whispered, shaking him awake. "Wake up, idiot."

He blearily squinted at the ceiling, whacking whoever it was on the wrist. Further inspection showed that the culprit had been Joel, and Grian groaned. A glance around the room at all the sleeping hermits meant that it was probably early morning.

"Whaddya want?" he mumbled, sitting up on the mat he had slept on and stretching.

"We're about to send off all the copies of the thing you wrote," Joel whispered. "I was checking the papers and stuff, and it seems like the info that you escaped has been pretty widespread." He smirked. "The Listeners that work here are very good at their jobs."

Grian straightened, black spilling into the roots with a quick brush of his hand over his head. "What time is it?"

"Right before sunrise," Joel replied, standing with Grian as they moved out the door. "Once the sun rises, it'll be morning grocery runs and going to work, so that's when we plan to distribute it." He handed Grian a strange, heavy cloak. Grian took it with a confused face, tugging it on over his wrinkled shirt.

"What's this for?" he asked, feeling the heavy fabric weighing down on his shoulders. He was surprised to realize that there were no wing holes.

"It's for veterans of war," Joel told him. "A lot of soldiers lose their wings, since they're the most vulnerable parts of our bodies. These cloaks are pretty well known."

Grian thanked him with a nod, throat tight. "Does this mean I'm going out into the city?"

Joel nodded. "Here's the plan. We're going to spread out over the city." Joel opened his hand, a stack of flyers appearing in it. "Fly over, and then drop it and let 'em fly." He grinned.

"How are you guys going to get in the air?" Grian asked. It would be suspicious for them to fly any higher than normal air traffic height, and they definitely couldn't do it from there.

Joel looked surprised for a moment. "Oh, you didn't know? Since you've escaped, there's been a ban on flying. Everyone has to get everywhere on foot. If we go from the back of the mountain, then we can lift off without anyone noticing, probably." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Worst case scenario, your friends brought some incredibly helpful and illegal potions over, so we'll be fine if we borrow some of those."

"Nice plan," Grian said. They made their way into the conference room.

A group of Listeners stood in the room, talking quietly. Stacks of flyers littered the table. There were a couple bottles of invisibility potions, but other than that, their seemed to be no other equipment. Grian noticed out of the corner of his eye that a stack of books that Stress hadn't put back was sitting at the edge of the table.

The group hushed when Grian walked in. There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Um, hi," Grian said, giving a little wave.

A couple people waved back, surprisingly friendly. A couple came up, wanting to shake hands; the rest of the group followed, and Grian hoped his face wasn't too red as his arm was enthusiastically pumped by a rather excited Listener. "No, no, the- the honor's all mine," he kept repeating, as more and more people gushed their admiration.

Joel elbowed him once the crowd had dispersed. "Quite the celebrity," he teased, laughing at Grian's red complexion. He received a slap on the arm in return.

"Here's the plan," Joel said, raising his voice over the group. "Grian here and three others will spread out in the city to see how well the notes are received. The rest of us will go out with stacks of paper and drop them from the sky all over the city." His smile was huge. "Xerion told me to do something more lowkey, but who cares what he thinks!"

Someone whooped in response. Grian sighed.