Yue

 7th December

05:08 GMT +5:30

Two, one-.

Lantern Stewart appears just in front of me. He spots me, and frowns. "You left after me."

"I'm an Illustres." I point at where a depressingly familiar giant figure made of shapeshifting rock sends a volley of stone tentacles at Diana, who weaves around most of them and punches the last into gravel. "Wonder Woman appears to be covering the retreat of the civilians there."

Five people: three adults, an adolescent and a child being carried by someone I presume to be his mother. They're carrying backpacks with food and cooking paraphernalia. They planned to travel. No other humans around. Terrain is rocky and lightly forested.

The giant stone creature has two thick legs and a mound of a body which is currently projecting two limbs on each side. It could be local… But I read this issue of Justice League, and there are plenty of ways to ruin someone's day when you control earth that it -or more likely he- isn't using. Soil elements match what I scanned in Jarhanpur, and it's shifting density and composition as it moves. Stone to hit, sand to move. Most forms of earth elemental I've read up on can't do that.

Diana punches the stone creature in the centre of its torso, rock cracking under the force of the impact! And then sealing back up again because it's a creature of magic. No blood to bleed, no permanent structures to break.

"I'll shield the civilians. Your mage slayer rounds should deal with that thing pretty easily, right?"

"No, not in this case. I'm afraid this is the time for reasoned discussion between intelligent adults."

"I'll get the civilians anyway."

He accelerates, the party ceasing their efforts to get away as they see him get into position to protect them. Diana-. Ah, yes. Not being limited to the human form for reasons other than convenience, the elemental fired a pillar of rock out at right angles from an existing arm, blindsiding Diana and slamming her into the ground. It stands still for a moment, then starts lumbering toward the refugees.

"Excuse me!" I zip in front of it… Can't see anything that looks like an eye. Just have to hope that the rocks are photosensitive. "Excuse me!"

Diana… Ah, I see. It's left a portion of its mass around her, reformed as carbon nanotubes and osmium. Her mouth is uncovered, but her arms and legs are bound and she's blindfolded by the stuff. I'm… Pretty sure that she can break out of that, given a few minutes to work at it. Assuming that the elemental can't remotely reform it. As soon as she feels the pressure forcing her into the ground ease up she shoots into the sky, attempting to get out of range.

Against a normal earth elemental, getting off the ground is a sound move. In this case…

"Excuse me?! May I have your attention for a moment, please?!"

The elemental stops, 'facing' me.

"Might I ask why you're doing this?"

Rock shifts, the outline of a face…

I bow in mid air. "Your highness. What brings you here?"

A rendering in stone of Rama Khan's face scowls at me. "I am apprehending fugitives."

"With all due respect, your highness, that's an awfully big avatar for chasing down five unarmed civilians."

"It is a matter of supreme importance, and they had a four day head start. I have been lucky to find them so swiftly."

Four day-? Ah. "Might I enquire as to why you are attempting to apprehend them? Or.. preferably, would you mind creating a smaller body so that we could discuss the subject like civilised people?"

"So long as you guarantee that they will not use the opportunity to flee, yes."

I glance over to Lantern Stewart. Ring, message him.

Compliance.

"Green Lantern, allow me to introduce His Highness Rama Khan, ruler of Jarhanpur. Since there could be legitimate reasons for him pursuing people and since Jarhanpur isn't a signatory to the League's charter, I'm going to request that you stay put for the moment."

The people within his bubble hear and appear to be protesting, Stewart himself doesn't look entirely happy, but gives a grudging nod.

"And could you possibly-?" Shards of something dense-. Osmium. "Wonder Woman-."

She floats down until she's beside me, pulling the last of the binding material from her face. "I heard. If he had spoken when I first arrived, I would have negotiated with him myself."

"You obstructed my attempt to enforce the law and save my people. I had no reason to speak to you."

The bulk of the elemental avatar falls backwards in a controlled collapse, shifting and gaining colour as it does so. It flows into a decent replica of his audience chamber, pillars supporting a slatted roof while a rough stone humanoid body for Rama Khan himself sits on transformed cushions. Diana and I descend, landing at the entrance and walking inside. I hang back slightly, letting Diana take the lead. Since she actually has legal authority to act here and I'm technically just a powerful nosy person.

"Lord Rama Khan. I am Princess Diana of Themyscira."

A very slight inclination of his head.

"Why are you pursuing these people?"

"The boy Jivan is my heir." Expected. It was either going to be him or the teenager, and it was a young boy in the comic. "He must remain in Jarhanpur until his education is complete."

"He is your son?"

"No. Jarhanpur's rulers are chosen by the land itself. We form a unique bond with it, and are enabled to shape it in accordance with our will." He holds out his right hand and a section of faux-flagstone fountains up to wash over his fingers before resuming its former appearance. "I have occupied this role for a long time, and now the land has chosen another. My last responsibility is to see that he is fully trained for the role, that when I finally die he will be a capable prince."

"Why does he flee from you?"

A scowl. "He flees because his mother is deranged. Four years ago, a group of refugees approached the entry point to Jarhanpur, fleeing from units of the Indian military. I opened the border and allowed them inside to protect them, granted them citizenship, healed their sick and injured and saw that they were educated in our ways. The land chose the young son of one of the refugees as the next prince, and so he was brought into the palace to receive instruction."

"And his family?"

"His only living family is his mother. She was given rooms in the palace as well. It has been many years, but I remember my own instruction, and I would not separate a child from his mother without good cause."

"I take it that his mother did not approve of the situation."

"When the wizard Nommo Balewa forced open a portal and allowed Orange Lantern in-" Diana glances at me and I nod. "-she and a group of confederates took the opportunity to flee. It was an insult to the hospitality I had extended, but I would not have taken action had they not abducted my heir. He will be returned to me, or I will take him."