It's fucking cold out here!

[Bryden]

Ethel had remained silent for the rest of the night’s journey after being called an idiot by Xee. She didn’t consider it an insult, exactly, because Ethel was sure that Xee’s insults were famed for making large men cry. Though she did question Xee’s judgement. Sure, she had lived here for all of her childhood, but how could she judge whether there was magic creating the storm? Was she a witch? Ethel let it go eventually and was mildly relieved when the group finally stopped. Once she was sitting down in front of the fire and staring down at the unappetizing slop in her hand, Ethel’s thoughts had turned to the past. It was probably the dull quietness of the group’s cave that made her search for something in her mind to distract her. She wished that she hadn’t.
Black Ethel and her first mate, Craig, sailed through a raging storm, their crew of at least fifty men running about. They were sailing in the northern parts, icebergs seemingly popping up in the ships path every few seconds. The crew was dumping out some water that a huge wave had splashed onto the deck while others were trying to patch up a hole in one of the sails of the ship. In short, the entire scene was a disaster. Craig was at the wheel when the ship hit an iceberg. Loud curses were shouted above the raging winds. “Move!” Ethel shouted as she pushed Craig away from the wheel and took hold of it herself. She knew before she even pulled the ship away from the iceberg that a massive hole would be residing in the side of the ship. After about half an hour, all of the space below deck was filled with water. Ethel ordered all of the crew to get on the lifeboats but had stayed behind on the ship for a few more moments to get one last look at her beloved ship. “Come on, Ethel! You’ll drown if you stay here!” Craig shouted when he caught sight of her. Ethel wished that she could have just snapped her fingers, said a spell, and fixed the ship up like new, but alas, her powers weren’t strong enough to do that much damage control. However, she realized that she could teleport herself and one other to safety, but that would mean leaving her men behind to face the frigid cold where they would most certainly die. So, Black Ethel did what she had to so that Craig, her love, would live. She grabbed her first mate, muttered a spell, and took them both to safety.
Ethel’s thoughts were interrupted by Cos’ outburst about the quality of the food. It was followed by a story about Rosso’s unfortunate past. Sick of hearing and thinking about the past, Ethel thought about going outside and just creating a small magic shield around herself to spend the night in, but she was more inclined to listen to why the huntress thought that Cos was a threat. He seemed harmless, unbelievably bothersome to the group, but harmless nonetheless. He was undoubtedly strange, but Ethel could respect that. However, if he did prove to be a threat (he did carry a coffin…), Ethel wanted to be aware of it. To satisfy her mild anxiety, Ethel conjured up a bottle of rum, charmed her hand to ensure that the bottle’s contents wouldn’t freeze, and drank.


Cos stared back at Rosso, his head tilted to a side, he looked at the other person sitting next to Rosso, Maria. He didn't understand how Rosso could think Maria was evil. Mayhaps the red woman was just losing her marbles.
Losing her marbles, the silly figure of speech made him laugh. Who would become crazy after losing some marbles?
"You need a hug", Cos stated and embraced Rosso in a. . . deathwish, I mean hug. The masseur looked at his arms after the hug, making sure his arms hadn't been painted red.
Had it not been for Fury's speech and stare and for Xee's mention of his name, Cos would've never ever guessed Rosso was talking about him being the evil presence.
"Me? Did you lose your marbles?", Cos, again, laughed at the play of words.
But the silence - as Lena's munching had faded into the background - made the elf look up at everyone else, his companions were all staring at him, most interested. He suddenly felt the urge to go sleep, but even he knew he wouldn't get away with that lame, lame, sad, lame excuse.


Dareth grinned as Xee mocked him, she almost didn't mock him anymore those days, seeing her mockerism made him smile. Naturally, his curiosity made him listen to Rosso's story. It was one he had not expected. Probably everyone's had some tragic event that had lead them to be the warriors they were.
The tall man meditated at Xee's question. Who would exactly want to kill Cum- Cunni - Coneef. . . Who exactly would want to kill Cos? Everyone, as a law, had at least one enemy. Who was - or were - Cos'? Apparently the elf couldn't care less for the Ice Lord, Dareth couldn't answer the question.
Who exactly would like to kill Cos?
In his wonder, he'd leaned back, placing his pale hand on Xee's, he was so into his thought he didn't notice.


"What is in my dead man's chest?", repeated the elf after chuckling. Xee had called Fury and Rosso "Blue" and "Red", much like he had. The joke had gotten a bit old, but it still made him laugh.
"For your information, Xeemeea, this is a coffin", he said whilst embracing his heavy coffin, "A chest is what pirates use to store treasures in, right Erthell?". So he'd butchered two names, big deal, those two had never introduced themselves properly.
"Let me understand this (give the guy some credit, he could sometimes), you want me to tell my story?", Cos beamed, no one had actually asked for his story. In fact, not even those around him had asked him, he'd pulled the question out of his sleeve.
"You girls and guy sure?".


Xee growled. Her dagger was in her hand on moment, and embedded in the ice wall, a mere inch from Cos's head the next. His blonde pony-tail was a good half inch shorter, too.
"My name," the dangerous young woman growled menacingly, " Is XEE. And don't you dare forget it. Don't dare." Her face twitched imperceivably.
Her outside hand had moved, but the one on her other side, the side next to Dareth, remained still.
The assassin glanced at her twin through the corner of her eye. It flashed in her head, some vestigial instinct of emotion, of acknowledgment that they were "holding hands". And it actually made Xee.... happy? She wasn't sure. But she didn't move her hand.
"Spill it, dead man," Xee said to Cos, once again trying to shake off her thoughts, "Start talking and maybe I won't kill you. Today."
She looked warily at the coffin. What the Hell was in that thing anyways?


Fury cocked her head in the direction of the Angry One, " You know, you are quite the hypocrite." she spat quietly. It had not escaped her attention that the Angry One and the Quiet One were holding hands but more important at the moment was that the Angry learned to control her temper over trivial things. " You get upset and play with your little knives over him calling you Xeenia, because it is not your real name. If that is the way things work then I should have cut some of your hair a few moments ago. As you very well know my name is Fury, not blue. And the Stoic One's name is Rosso- not red. If you are going to throw a fit like a small child cheated of a sweet over the small matter of a wrong name then you should use names properly in the first place." Fury felt like she was a mother scolding a small child. Good, this child needed to be scolded.
Now she turned to the Weird One again. "Yes, do tell us what is in the coffin. And- if there is a good enough story that comes with it I shall give you my story in exchange." She told him kindly. He was weird, true,, but he made the faerie smile.


Maria listened politely to the conversation. She didn't really care what the food she was eating tasted like. Food was food and in her case, it would help her with regaining her strength. Truthfully, Maria didn't really care about what was happening around her. All she wanted to do was sleep. Maria jumped slightly when Xee's dagger bedded itself into the wall of their cave. Luckily, Maria was too tired to feel anything, let alone to feel trapped. Maria tuned into the conversation once they began to mention Cos's coffin. She was curious about it in the first place. He was so odd, but she couldn't help smiling at the jokes and trouble he caused. She just hoped that no one would ask for her story.


Cos, as unlike him as it sounds, was faintly humored by Xee's promess of murdering him. If only he was so lucky, if only she had the skill. But his black humor was replaced by a whiter one. Xee had cut his hair, that caused an unreasonable sized smile to spread across his face. His ponytail was very long, and he sometimes thought it had split ends. Probably Cos had his moments of vanity. But hey, don't we all? The most comical thing about it, was that Xee, THE Xee had cut his hair.
As instructed by Fury, Cos began his story, his eyebrows lowering into a serious position, but his smile still was on.
"I was named by my family Cuneamphe Orukae Sedona. Yes, it's a very funny, very long name. Cuneamphe is my name, name, name per say; Orukae is the name my family adopted as theirs a long, long long-long time ago; and Sedona is the name of the village I was raised in, it was in southern Q'thas", the elf cleared his throat. His name wasn't his favorite part of himself.
"My village was constantly attacked by all sorts of monsters, particularly water demons. Happens when you settle next to a mire, I say. But because of the attacks, my village became famous for the warriors it trained and the wizards it formed", maybe Ethel or Maria had heard about it sometime. Hopefully not.
"My family decided me and my siblings would not meddle with belic professions, and every last one of my siblings disobeyed," perhaps I was who disobeyed the most", they were only kids, many sucked terribly at their area of 'expertise', but they kept true to them.
"I decided not to form part of the killing jobs, and took massaging as a profession - and I daresay, many of you here present do need a masage or two - to relax people, to drive them away from battles and similar stress" and look where that left me. . . Cos still smiled.
"Once, I went to Sedona's neighboring village and. . . err. . . they just gavemethecoffin. . .as a present!", his stuttering made this part hard to believe.
"And then I met you guys at that one fishing port, fun!".


Dareth raised his eyebrows, the part everyone looked forward to the most, the part about his coffin, he had skidded through quite fast and with stutters. Well, if he died in the way to the Ice Lord's, everyone would just have a peek at the coffin. If he survived the way, they'd figure out a way to get Cos to show them.
As normal as it seemed though, Cos' story was full of holes. Why had he changed his name to his initials? Why was he the only one not to participate in war-related jobs? And what about the frikking coffin?
The thief realized his hand was over Xee's, and pondered whether he should leave it there or remove it instantly. As if to answer his own question, he looked at Xee's face. The light of the fire made her look. . . different. In a good way.


Cos wasn't about to let people inquire about his story. Mainly because the night was making him drowsy and he wanted to hear everyone's. But also because he didn't feel like answering.
In an intelligent maneuver, he turned to look at Fury, beaming at her. "Your turn!", he said joyfully. It didn't stop there, he chanted, "Your turn, your turn, your turn. Fury's turn, Fury's turn!".
Lena was quick to follow suit [or not, if Eva decides to be mean. . . definitely not then] and chanted along, "Fury's turn, Fury's turn!".
With such peer pressure, attention was sure to be directed at Fury.


Lena stared at Fury and smiled. She then continued her chanting. "Blue's next! Blue's next! Blue's next!" she said, accompanied by a little jig. The only real movement that could be seen were her legs, as the rest of her body was barely noticable under the bulk of her robes. With a pout, she sat down. Her booted legs crossed, and her feet were fairly close to the fire. After rapid blinking, the monk realized something. "Coffins are a common gift amongst the monks. They are given from a master to their apprentice as a sign of trust. But we don't carry them around. The only time someone carries around a coffin, Master Genjo said, is when you've committed a crime. It's to teach you to carry the burden of crime on your back. Fact." As Lena's high-pitched, girly voice belted out these facts, she seemed completely unaware of what she was saying. Like unconscious thinking. "I had to carry one around when I accidentally killed one of Master Genjo's other students. It wasn't fun." she added.


Xee's face twitched. She stared at Fury. If looks could kill, the piskie would probably be on fire by then. Xee opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted. Stupid Cos.
She's just chopped Cos's hair off, and missed his brain cavity by an inch, and he seemed happy about it. The freak.
She finally shut up and listened to his story. It seemed more relaxing then simply killing everyone right then and there. But he skipped over the part about the coffin. That said something, for sure.
But Xee didn't say anything. She was to pissed about that Fury trying to tell her off it was driving her mad. It took her a moment to notice that both her fists were clenched in white-knuckle grips. One around the hilt of a dagger, the other around Dareth's hand. She inhaled sharply, in surprise and in an effort to regain some self-control, and relaxed her grip.
Lena, meanwhile, was jumping around and chanting with Cos. Xee couldn't take it.
She released her dagger and her match's hand and got off of her parka. She pulled the thing roughly over her head and muttered something about getting some firewood and checking that the coast was clear as she ducked through the opening and into the sub-zero night.
outside, she leaned against the trunk of a wind and snow-beaten tree and inhaled the night. It smelled like snow and dark, and had a powerful calming effect on the northern-born young woman.


Dareth practically ran after Xee, he didn't exactly leave the premises of the story-hearing zone, he was too interested in everyone's tales. He hoped she had calmed down. Obviously Fury didn't know scolding Xee would get even more negative results.
"Xee, c'mon, let's go back, you don't want to get frozen to death. Not even you could wish for that", he put one of his long hands on Xee's shoulder. Maybe if she went back, she'd somehow be more empathic of everyone else.
Yeah, right.


Xee could still hear the ales from where she was standing. She gulped down the frigged air and listened, but didn't go back inside.
So the Faerie had had a though life. Like most of them here, apparently. Lot's of sob stories. Most people would be driven to tears or some other great surge of emotion. Xee wasn't most people. It just made her think a little bit.
It was a long time before she even acknowledged Dareth.
When she finally looked at him, it made her breath catch in her throat. His pale face was flushed slightly from the cold. Flecks of pure white snow caught in his dark hair. The dark birthmark, so like her own, stood out against the pale of his skin.
She wanted to say something. "Dareth- I..." but Xee trailed off.
The fearless assassin found she had nothing to say. Just this strange, foreign feeling in her chest somewhere. It was almost painful.
She didn't know what she was doing. This was so contrary to all that Xee was, it must have come from some inner piece of her, some instinct long forgotten.
The abrasive, brutal killer placed her arms around her match's neck, shut her eyes, and pressed her cold lips to his.
And she actually found it a nice feeling.


Fury wasn't satisfied by the Weird Ones story, but she had promised. So she relaxed slightly as Xee stepped out; though she noted that the Angry One was still within hearing distance. Fury's story wasn't a happy one but she relented and gave in to the chanting of the Weird One and the Clueless One.
"Well, my name is Fury fa Glasdianshatieghd, born to King Armough and Queen Techia fa Glasdianshatieghd about 19 years ago and I am the sole Heiress to the Throne of the Woodland Faeries." Fury sighed, it had been ages since she had last spoken her title and the memory still haunted her. " It is only possible for Faeries to bear one child and when you are royalty you are expected to have a son- since females are supposedly weaker in leadership positions than men. As a result of my being female I was scorned by nearly all and a seer woman prophesized that I would be the downfall of our Kingdom; the moment that prophecy was made I was shipped off to be raised by the military- I was 3. In our civilization it is an abomination for women to be trained in the fighting arts along men as I was, because of that I was periodically beaten by the fellow students and the trainers themselves. The beatings became more severe once I became a better fighter than the others- though the only reason I was better was because of the beatings they gave me, which is kind of ironic actually- but the beatings were never enough to kill me, it is illegal to kill royalty, so each time I was left near death. I had no friends or companions; I don't even really know what a friend is. The only act of kindness ever done to me was done by the Kind One when she healed my burns and the soup given to me by the Angry Ones mother. In the military I rose in the ranks and upon my 16th birthday my parents gave me my blades, although their true power I will be unable to unlock until I take the throne.
I was kept in the military for three more years and every meal, every stick of clothing, and every piece of supplies I had to pay for with blood and sweat, toiling away like a mindless drone locked in a void. It continued until three months ago when General haMinch dispatched me to the outside world to fight in the war against the Ice Lord, despite the fact that many are clueless that the Woodland Faeries even exsist. He sent me under the pretense of proving myself to those I am to rule over, but later on in private I was told the truth. The general knows that many things that seem trivial to everyone else are deadly to the Woodland Faeries at the touch- I dare not mention them here because all of you have several of them near you and stored in your packs. He told me that he has sent me out into the open to be killed, because if I die in a battle against the Ice Lord two things will happen. First, both of my parents will ride out into battle leading our entire army and rid the world of the nuisance of the Ice Lord. Second, the losses of thousands of lives will be on my parents heads and they shall kill themselves in a ritual, as it is done whenever there is a war, and the throne will go to my cousin, a male. He is greedy and will stop at nothing to rule over everything- he is in every way as bad as the Ice Lord. So I am here, after tracking you down for months, to help fight and hopefully not die in the process as it will mean the end of this era as we know it." Fury had told her story without much feeling- as she had accepted her fate a long time ago.
It wasn't a happy story, but it was hers, and she was curious to see how they would take it.


Once again, silence followed. Then Rosso stood up, walked over to Fury, and shook her hand. "Your character is admirable. That you travel with us is an honor, and one that I will not rebuke." she said. With those choice words, Rosso went back to her seat and said


"Now Ethzell, your turn!", Cos smiled. They were making progress!


Fury’s story gave Ethel a new appreciation for the blue fairy. She had detested her own parents, but they had never sent her away, though during her childhood there were many times she had wished they had. But what caught her off guard the most was Cos’ sudden mentioning of her name, as butchered as it had been. For a few moments, Ethel just stared at the elf with a look that was something between that of a deer caught in headlights and a twinkle of a death threat yet to be uttered. Ethel looked down at her bottle of rum, gulped down the last of her rum as gracefully as she could, and looked back up at Cos. Ethel was overcome with a strange quietness. She really would have preferred to sit in her spot and drink her rum, especially after disappointingly not finding out about the details about Cos’ coffin. She couldn’t really refuse to tell her life’s story after the others after some of the others had told theirs. Of course, she hadn’t agreed to tell her story under any circumstance. Nonetheless, Ethel took a deep breath and did her best to tell her story with the most apathy she could muster up.
“Ethel,” Ethel corrected Cos as she fixed her gaze upon the wall of ice across from her. “My name is Ethel. Well, I earned the name Black Ethel a while ago, but we aren’t on the high seas, so there’s no reason to call me that here.” Not that anyone would have called me that anyway. “I grew up pretty far west with my younger sister, drunken father, and monster of a mother. It was Hell, I hated it, blah blah blah. I left the place when I was 17 and joined a witch clan that I actually felt comfortable in. It was there that I really developed my witch powers. But, of course, that didn’t last long because they disbanded a century after I joined. I found out that my younger sister had died a few decades before, and to be honest I was glad the little wench was dead. Anyway, I didn’t feel like sticking around in my own time so I traveled forward a few centuries. That’s when the age of pirates will be at its peak.” Ethel smiled a little at her own recollection. “I took to being a pirate like a bird takes to the sky and I loved it. I did whatever I wanted to whoever I wanted whenever I wanted to. That was usually stealing from merchant ships at least twice a month and killing anyone who resisted, which is where I got that “Black Ethel” nickname. I had my own ship and all the riches a person could want, as well as plenty of rum. Drinking rum just became a part of my life, which everyone has probably noticed by now.” She added as she looked down at her empty bottle of rum. “But then I met a pirate named Craig.” Ethel paused once her gaze went back to the wall of ice. “And we fell in love.” Although she was trying her best to sound apathetic, those last few words had made her voice a little bit darker. “He was a mortal and so he died after I had been his wife for about fifty years. I couldn’t do anything about it then because I wasn’t in my own place in time, so I came back to the time that I left. But I swore that once I met Craig again, I would make him immortal and my heart wouldn’t break again.” My gosh, this is getting emotional, finish up the story. “I took up residence in a house on the outskirts of a small town that Xee happened to be going through at the time of the Ice Lord’s beckoning. He used me as his puppet to get the news to everyone that he requested their attendance. I’ve been with the group since Xee left the town, unwillingly being followed by a bunch of misfits.”

[Bryden]

Dareth was taken by surprise and his eyes were wide open as Xee kissed him. He'd developed feelings for her, and he'd been expecting something like that to happen, but the actual action was too unexpected at the moment, besides, he was kissing Xee, the fearless killer, the agressive thief.
Dareth pulled Xee away gently, he stared at her face lit by the moonlight, gray eyes empty of regret, she was gorgeous.
"I-I", the thief also found difficulty in expressing his feelings. And Ethel's story, what he heard of it, wasn't a helpful atmosphere. His arms, which had been doing nothing, hugged Xee, and he kissed her again. He loved her.


"Lena!", Cos yelled. He was treating every story like a child would a bedtime story. Listening intently, but not really caring.


Lena snapped to attention when Cos shouted her name. In spite of her chatty nature, she quickly shut down. "I was raised by a monk named Shera Genjo, and he taught me all that I know about fighting. And then I came here. The end." she said, rather forcefully. Lena stared each member of the party down, her shining green eyes much more intense than they had ever been. "I really don't think you guys would care about the details."


Xee's entire mind was consumed by happiness. This was something that did not happen often at all.
She simply found herself in the arms of someone she now knew she adored, actually kissing him. Xee had never kissed anyone before. She liked it.
After a few more moments of that, she pulled away and looked into Dareth's eyes. She whispered in her language, something to the effect of "If anyone ever tries to hurt you, I will hunt them down and drain every drop of blood from their bodies and break all of their bones." It actually sounded more romantic in the norther tongue, really. And it was about as close to "I love you" as Xee was capable of getting.
"You know," she finally said, "We really need to get back inside. They might come outside and bother us if we don't."
The assassin kissed the thief again, then took him by the hand and went with him back inside.
Once indoors, Xee quickly resumed her gruffness. "Ok, ok, stories mostly over. Can Maria tells hers so we can get to sleep?" she followed this up with a string of swears against everyone's mothers.
But the swearing was mostly just to hide the fact that she was breathing hard, and that the tips of her pointed ears and her birthmark were flushed bright red.

Cos pursed his lips at Lena's answer. So short, he'd actually expected Lena to take so long for him to go sleep. He yawned, out of boredom more than out of drowsyness.
"Maria, it's your turn to share!", he beamed at the unusually quiet witch. Speaking of quiet, where was Dareth?

Maria, jumped at the sound of her name. She had stopped paying attention awhile ago. She just stared at Cos for a second trying to get her baring and figure out what he was talking about. It took her a minute and then she remembered that they were telling thier lifes story. She almost sighed.

"I don't remember." Maria said. She was about to leave it at that, then realized that they deserved more than that. They had all fought with her. "I don't remember where I came from or who I am. I don't even know if Maria is my real name. I was found wondering in a great forest by a healer name Markus. He was my teacher, which is why I'm a healer, though I can fight with my magic. I left him a few years ago and became nomadic. I wondered town to town, learning what Markus couldn't teach me, and healing the sick to get by. I had just healed a young boy and stopped by a tavern after words when I joined Xee and everyone."


Xee listened to Maria's story with every bit of attention she felt it deserved.
So, she pretty much wasn't really listening.
"Great!" she said before the closing words had died in Maria's mouth. "Story time all over then? Good. That means we have maybe two hours to actually do some sleeping before we'll have to get up and get walking again."
Xee rolled over onto her side and placed the hood of her parka over her head, making rather a show of sleeping.
She felt Maria glaring at her back. "Oh, yah!" Xee said, not sitting up, "you had a rough life and we're all so sorry. Boo-bloody-hoo."
And after that, you couldn't get another word out of her.
Because Xee got very rude and very quiet when she was worried.


Fury was nothing if not relieved at how they all reacted to the fact that they were sitting in a cave next to Royalty- The Stoic One only shook her hand. She found herself dozing during the stories so it was almost a relief when the Angry One came in and told them all to sleep. The way she did it, however, needed some work. In Fury's opinion it was high time that they had a heart to heart.
So, as Fury fell alseep she grasped another one of her medallions and as soon as she was taken by slumber, she projected herself into Xee's mind.
There was fog everywhere- the girls dremas were as void as her personality. Once inside she called out to Xee so that they could talk while they slept. " Alright, we need to clear up a few things. I am not a little head nodder who is going to take everything you say in stride- you need to get over yourself and start treating everybody like what they are- people, of sorts. So what is with the constant bee-octhiness?" she asked. There was no venom in it, just curiosity.


Cos quite literally fell asleep like a log. He was tired and drained, plus the stories he'd encouraged others to tell had increased his drowsiness much more. So much he hadn't the will to ask Dareth for his life history. The masseur didn't bid anyone goodnight, it happened in two seconds, he fell back, closed his eyes, and started to soundly snore.
Nobody had beds, but the soil beneath the snow could make a somewhat comfortable space. However, Cos, had fallen asleep in a most uncomfortable position over his iron coffin. He wouldn't wake up the next day with a healthy spine.
Still, he managed to snore.


Dareth looked at Xee's 'sleeping' figure. He loved her. He hadn't quite grasped the feeling before as his curiosity over why they looked so much alike had subdued the feeling some. But he knew now how he felt about her. A strong feeling that made him wish they could be together for an eternity and more, that they could share every thought, every experience, everything.
He lay down next to her, but unlike Xee, he did sleep almost right away. Even in dreams, Dareth wondered how the others would take the news of their affection.
But Ethel already knew.

While the others slept, Rosso crept out and sat down outside. Her kind didn't need to sleep, so she might as well keep watch. It would've been cold for most others, but Rosso rarely felt temperatures, so once again the job was basically perfect for her. To pass the time, Rosso took a few knives from the band on her thigh and began to curl them through her fingers. She would occasionally throw them out into the cold darkness and summon them back, to check for intruders. It was so quiet, except for the snoring of others inside the tent and the whistle of the wind. Rosso liked the quiet, honestly. It made it easier to tell if someone was getting closer.


Xee, in her half-sleep, moved closer to Dareth. She knew she loved him. But she couldn't take that and verbalize it. It was like her mouth gummed up when she tried. But she was happy, right then. Where she was. It felt... safe when he had his arm around her. Even if he was asleep.
Meanwhile, the other half of Xee's brain...
"You bloody freak!" Dream-Xee thundered. "What is this? Where are we?" But she calmed down a bit as Fury talked. "I hate magic..." she muttered, but Xee finally looked Fury dead in the eye. And told her everything.
Xee described how hard it was looking different growing up. How, as a small child walking down the street, the neighbor children would throw rocks and chunks of hard ice at her and yell abuse. How even some of her siblings joined in against her. How isolated she'd always felt. And how she reacted by becoming stronger, tougher, meaner. How she learned to fight back. To not let anyone get close enough to hurt her. How, whatever emotion she ever had, she translated into anger and rudeness. Happy Xee? She was mean. Sad Xee? She was mean. Frightened Xee? She was mean. Hungry Xee? She was mean. That was the only emotion she was capable of anymore.
"So," she finished up, "I'm.... I'm.. gah. I'm 'sorry'." Xee spat the word like it was poison. "I don't mean everything I say. It's just who I am. But I'm not going to tune it down just because I offend someone. There. Can I go back to sleep now?"
Her dream figure glared.
Outside with Rosso, dawn was slowly coming.


Maria just ignored Xee, just as much as Xee ignored her. She didn't sleep though, but went into more of a meditative state that allowed her to regain some energy and magic. She felt the air stirr around her, and Maria instinctively tuned in to it. It was the fairies magic. She couldn't tell what Fury was doing, but since it was from her, Maria didn't pay attention to it. She slowly drifted off to sleep.


Fury nodded at Xee, " I understand completely. We aren't as different as you may think, and if you take the time to notice you will see for yourself." Fury cocked her head to the side, she felt a prescence coming in the real world... she knew she recognized it but she couldn't quite place it..
"And I don't expect you to change- I am simply telling you that i'm not going to be cowed by your anger or by you. I'm not going to be afraid of you are even intimidated by you; because I have seen scary and you really aren't it." She told the Angry One.
" Get your sleep. We will have company before long and i do not know if it is friend or foe..."


The rogue felt Xee's weight fall on his arm, it made him smile, like he (as brainless as it sounded)could protect her from harm. Not that she needed protecting. Even after drifting off to a dreamless slumber, Dareth continued to smile.
When he opened his eyes, the sun's rays were beginning to appear on the white horizon, his eyes, open barely above a slit, turned to a sleeping Cos. The elf snored too loud to be possible. Weren't elves supposed to be peaceful? Or graceful? Annoyed as he was because of the elf, Dareth realized he hadn't been woken up by the loud snores, but by Xee's restlessness. She didn't appear peacful, even in sleep - but she was Xee. The thief stared at her for a couple of seconds more and left the cave.
Some snow had blocked the entrance, but not gravely so. He was pleased to find Rosso out there.
"Had fun tonight?", he asked, sitting beside her.


Dream-Xee nodded mutely, and watched Fury recede into the mists before willing herself back to her body.
She'd been hoping she could slip back into sleep but nooo she had to jolt awake as if from a nightmare. This did nothing but piss her off. She turned her head and scowled deeply at the (soundly slumbering) fay.
Muttering under her breath, Xee rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. She noticed Dareth wasn't there, but it didn't worry her. She just kind of knew that nothing bad was happening to him.
The assassin shut her eyes and slipped off.
But before she'd slept even a few minutes, she jolted awake again. Something was wrong. She sprang to her feet, knocked her head n the snowy top of the ice cave, swore, and rushed outside.
It was a little after dawn. Dareth and Rosso were looking worriedly to the horizon, when a line of black seemed to be marching towards them. Xee yelled something very rude.
"We have to go, NOW," she told them urgently, "Or we'll be dead in the hour."

[Bryden]

Now where was he? Dorin had been lost out in the frozen North after sleeping in an inn, getting robbed of all his money...Again....and getting thrown in a prison for some silly little thing of a misplaced bill for the night after the trip. Now he simply walking on the frozen planes taking several roots and frozen plants that he crossed. He really did not need a coat, due to the potions he made before the trip that kept his body tempature warm enough to walk out with a cloak.
He came across a rare plant that he only read of, A frozen Dragon lily plant. It was vital for some of his more unique concoctions. He Took out his case and, right there, began making his potions. As he was half way into the brew, He noticed another figure out in the distance. Who it was, he did not know, but if it wanted to fight, Then he would of already been attacked. However this person was, he simply waved and continued brewing.


"Mistress! He saw us!"
Elsebee ducked behind a tree, and out of Dorin's sight. Near her were several people, some of whom were in a small white horse-drawn wagon. "Who d'ya think it is?" one of the men asked as he rubbed his hands. The ones in the wagon at least had fire, albeit a small one. "Whoever he is, I think he might know something about that group we saw earlier." Elsebee snapped. She held one finger up, signaling her team to stay put.
Elsebee waved jovially to Dorin as she marched towards him, her skin not even cold. "Hark, traveller! You must be right cold." she said. Elsebee squatted down next to Dorin and looked at his 'potion'. "Brewing up something fierce? Look, it's cold out here. My friends and I have a wagon, you can hop in if you want. It's warm."


Dorin Watched as the person hid and then reappeared. His eyes were calm as she approached.
" Oh I am not cold. I have drunk a potion that keeps my body temp high enough to fight it, but not high enough to kill. I think I have a few more hours before I must drink another. Oh and this potion should be basically a massive explosion in a bottle, or it will possibly set a fire that will burn for a month and a half. I can't wait to see which one it does. So tell me, What brings a pretty lass out here...well wherever here is.? Come to think of it, I am completely lost. The frozen north does not leave much to the imagination. Ooh it is done! "
He jumped to his brew and capped the potion. He muttered a spell of sealing so the glass did not break and put it in a special box.
" So I guess you know the lands. Can you help me find my friends. We got separated after I got arrested for being robbed. "


Maria jolted awake a few seconds after Xee had. She felt it too, but in a different way. Her bag was heating up. White everyone was distracted with getting their things together to get moving, Maria searched her pouch for the object. She quietly pulled out a small dagger in a brawn leather sheath. It's hilt was engraved with thin lines of gold against a blue background. Maria knew the blade was the darkest of black. She drew the chain that was attached to the sheath over her head and hide the blade under her shirt. She could feel its heat. Something was coming for them, something that wanted their deaths above all else.

Maria grabbed all of her possessions, even managing to retrieve her blaze perfume from Fury. She moved out of the cave and into the world. Maria was momentarily blinded by the sun reflecting off the snow. She saw Dareth and Rosso.

"Xee says somethings coming. We should get moving." Maria said.


Elsebee gave Dorin a kind smile and laid her hand on his shoulder. "We saw a group of people not too far from here. They might be your friends, I suppose." she said. Elsebee took Dorin's hand and led him to the caravan, at which point she hopped into one of the wagons with him. "Take us to the group we saw earlier." Elsebee ordered the horse-steerer, before she closed the curtain. The fire inside was enough to keep the group, which included both Elsebee and Dorin along with four others, warm for the time being. "So, what's your story?" The question had been asked to Dorin by a young blonde girl who was carelessly strumming on a small harp. Small comforts.


After Maria and Xee's shouting, a loud crash came from inside, and soon Lena was next to Xee, Dareth, and Rosso with everyone's stuff piled onto her narrow shoulders. "I've packed it all up! We're ready to go!" she said. Lena then looked over at Dareth and smiled. She held out a bunch of flowers to him. "I got these while we were staying at Xee's mother's house. I thought you would like them." she said shyly. Lena placed them in Dareth's hand with a smile.


" My story? "
Dorin said as he was at the caravan. Not many asked him about his life, many did not care. He was slightly taken aback.
" There is not a whole lot to my story. I was born into a family of mages where i spent most of my time studying the magical arts. I soon found that Alchemy was a strong subject for me to learn. Though I can cast spells, my real tricks are in small bottles. Then I heard of the Lord of Ice threatening my land. Curiosity peaked so I went on a travel to stop him. From there I guess you can say, my story gets interesting. I must admit that I do not know the outside world all too well. My first big city I went to, I was robbed blindly as I slept, and had to sell potions to get my way around. I met a group of people who wanted to stop this Lord of Ice. Strong warriors and mages who seemed to have been traveling before. I was even told of A half Dragon that was with them for a time. I wish I could of met him, Half Dragons are extremely rare where I am from. So anyway, we got onto a boat and was ambushed by a Kraken. I have one of their scales, an extremely valuable ingredient that I honestly have no idea what it is going to do. Then we got to the northern port city, where I was robbed when I was asleep again, got arrested because I had no money and they would not let me do anything about it, broke out of the cell, and somehow I ended up here. I hope you are not knights or anything. I would hate to of been led right back to capture so easily. So tell me, what is your story? "
He said calmly as he walked along side this caravan. Many of these people wore weapons and those who did not, he could feel a magical energy. These were not ordinary travelers. Most of them had a hard look about them. They had seen much in their lives. War, conflict, pain, all of these had been permanently burned into their eyes. He kept this to himself and really looked just oblivious to everything.


Fury’s eyes flew open- finally she had recognized the presence of those who were approaching and what it meant was either the deaths of the group or a price on Fury's head. Quickly she grabbed her gear and pulled her blades from their sheaths. The blue faerie sprinted out into the snow and the cold, staring out into the distance and praying that she was mistaken.
When she saw the figures fast approaching them dread filled her like a monsoon- These were faerie mercenaries who were sent out by either her cousin or the general. The traitor faeries had joined up with the Ice King in order to gain power.
"Thaenh bomanta fuathaigh!" she cursed in her native tounge. Turning to the others she explained, " We must go immediately. These aren't the good type of faerie- thse are traitors that are loyal to my cousin and their prescence means that my cousin has joined forces with the Ice King." Fury spurted.

Xee just grunted at Maria. It was about as close to "hey, thanks, I appreciate the hand getting everyone up and going" as she was going to get.
Meanwhile, she laced her boots and parka in a hurry. Things could get very bad, very fast if they didn't move it.
Just as Xee was getting up to grab her pack, it was snatched up by Lena. She was also carrying her own pack... and Maria's pack.... and Rosso's pack... and Cos's pack... and Ethel's pack... in fact, Lena was carrying everyone's belongings in a massive mountain of bags on top of her back.
Xee stared at the blonde girl, mouth slightly gaped. Lena was a decidedly... strange character. But Xee was not about to help her. She wanted to be a pack mule? Let her!
"Let's go," Xee said, eyebrows still arched and eyes still glued to the strange sight that was Lena. She shook her head, and was about to look away when Lena offered Dareth a handful of flowers. Xee wasn't sure why, but it made her want to hurt the battle-monk very, very badly.
”Let’s GO!” she repeated in a rough, urgent growl.
Cos was bustling with energy! His head was filled by much activity, there was so much to do! Enemies to avoid, friends to help, packages to deliver, notes to distribute, Generals to report to. Yes, indeed, the coffin-carrying elf's head was bustling with activities. His body, however, was not.
Explaining this would be very simple: Cos was asleep, and as it tends to happen with sleeping people, his body was motionless. Why was his head so energized? Well, Cos was dreaming he was a messenger-boy in the War of Magic, a war fought long ago. His dream was so vivid, his head was completely absorbed by it.

He was woken up when someone tried to steal his messenger-boy matress. Cos's eyes opened a fraction of a centimeter, his mind suddenly made sense of everything that was going on. Lena was taking his coffin - not matress - to carry it around, like he was doing with everyone's packs.
"Nooo!", whined the drowsy elf. It took some holding-on-to until he convinced the monk to release his mysterious possession.
Completely awoken by the coffin ordeal, Cos skipped to the entrance of the cave, where everyone seemed to be. There was something approaching fast. The elf giggled when Fury said something in a bizarre tone. His giggles only let him hear half of what Fury'd said.
"Are we meeting Fury's cousins? More faeries? Whoopie doo!", he jumped back and forth.


Dareth stared at Rosso for a moment. She had ignored him. He had no idea what the protocol for such situation was.
The thief was soon relieved of such strange position when half the group came running outside. He blushed slightly at the sight of Xee. She was even more attractive in the morning. However, his eyebrows knitted together at the sight of the approaching. . . enemies. Fury's cousin and his mercernaries. That was not good. Especially since they'd joined up with the Ice Lord.
"We must get to the Ice Lord quickly", he muttered, and his words went unheard because of all the noise going on. Not even the clueless Cos made his frown lessen. It was a very dire situation.


He was about to go retrieve his belongings when Lena appeared behind them, every pack and case the party had, she was carrying. Dareth supposed it was good, Lena didn't seem affected by it and everyone would be able to move much faster. Giving them a very slight advantage before the incoming faeries.
There was, however, something that replaced his worried glance for a surprised glance. An unexpected move by Lena. She was giving him flowers. Something didn't feel right at all. He shrugged the feeling off and grinned at Lena, sometimes he felt as if Lena was one of his smaller siblings. Of course, Lena didn't see him in the same way.
"Umm, thank you, Lena. . . that was very thoughtful of you", his grin grew wider, until his brain reminded him of what was coming.

Lena beamed extra at Dareth's acceptance and gave him a bear-hug before landing a surprise peck on his cheek. She reached into her own bag and pulled out a silver coin, which she held up for everyone to see. "If we use this, it'll transport us to the Monk Village. We'll be safe there, and tomorrow morning we can use the coin to come back here, when the faeries have left." she suggested. Lena looked around, to see if anyone agreed or disagreed.

He was answered with silence. This led to a rather unconfortable ride to where ever they were headed. Come to think of it, He never asked. He started feeling cold and realized his potion was wearing off. He took out a bottle that held an orange liquid and drank it. With in a few seconds, his body felt warm again.
" Well now, this works great. Judging by my last amount, I am good for another 24 hours. Just as long as I stay away from heat now to keep myself alive, I should be fine...Maybe I should make one to drop my body temp if we stop in heat. "
He said to himself. He then jumped into a wagon and began to brew potions.


Xee shot a glare at Lena. "No, I do not want to teleport us," she snapped icily, "How will we know when they've gone? No, what we need to do is try and get out of here before they get to us."
Xee shouldered what might have been the only pack Lena didn't grab and started walking.
After a few moments, the others started walking with Xee, too.
The group hurried across the flat surface, speeding up a bit whenever someone looked back and saw the dark line of Fey closing the gap. It was obvious how futile it was, and how they'd been caught sooner or later.
But no one expected the army to put on a massive burst of speed and close a good two miles within the space of a few minutes.
The faeries were horridly close now. Xee could actually see the whites of their eyes. (Figuratively speaking, of course. They all seemed to have the same inky eyes that Fury had.)
Xee stopped dead, whirling around and drawing out her daggers.
In her defensive stance she looked at the others of her party, informing them, without a hint of sarcasm:
"We are so Fu-"


Maria stopped and got ready. Her magic was in top shape, but she still didn't want to fight. It also didn't help that she didn't know much about Fairies. Her magical education was fixed mostly on healing and fixing problems with spells and potions, not other races. She could remove a werewolves curse if they were bitten, and the some with a vampires, but that was about as far as her knowledge reached. The only thing she knew was that Fairies didn't like iron. The bad part was all of Maria's blades were silver. Not ready to go down in a fight, she drew on of her knives from its sheath on her wrist. The dagger against her chest continued to heat up.


"Wo-ho!", Dareth muttered after Lena pecked his cheek. He was taken aback by the action. Instead of scolding the monk, like he probably should have done, the thief looked over at Xee. If the assassin had seen her, she'd probably dig up all the ice and earth under their feet and stick Lena inside the hot, boiling magma.
Luckily for everyone, Xee had just bothered in throwing Lena's plan of going to her monk village to the wastebasket. Dareth sighed in relief and turned to look at Lena, he needed to clear things up. He was prevented from doing so once he noticed everyone had begun to walk away from the faeries.
Once he'd built up the courage to tell Lena again, he was interrupted by Xee. Apparently, the army was too close now. Maria had drawn her blades, Xee her daggers and Cos. . . didn't look like himself, his face was completely serious, and his hands were fiddling around his coffin.
One of the faeries broke formation, and flew towards the group, a sword raised. Dareth mirrored his movement, and was quick to parry the first blows, but after some his arm was slashed, a cut appeared in it. The faeries were highly trained. "Ahem".


"AHEM", Cos repeated, louder this time. No one seemed to notice him, they were too absort in Dareth's fight. A one-on-one fight that seemed impossible to win anytime soon. That was one disobedient faerie, Cos knew they wouldn't stand a chance against a whole army.
Not unless. . .
It was time. Those people trusted him, and he had yet to trust them. He was going to save them, even if it meant giving his location away. The elf grinned that silly grin of his, it would be good to see their reactions.
Cos walked, if a bit rapidly, between and in front of Maria and Rosso. One there, he sat his coffin down in the snow, in a vertical position.
None had ever seen locks, nails or anything that kept the coffin shut, it just was. Everyone took it as another aspect of life not worth pondering over. Cos had his own way to open it. He removed the sole bracelet he wore, and placed it over the eye that decorated the coffin's lid. Almost as if he had turned a key, the silver decorations of the lid's corners separated from the coffin itself, screeching horribly. The lid fell off.
And a woman fell from it. She was the epitome of beauty, with hints of the elven kind, but not entirely.
Unlike some who had believed inside the coffin there was a dead body, this woman didn't look decomposed, or dead. She looked. . . inanimate, yet her standing body looked completely stiff.
"Ixaca", Cos whispered in the woman's pointed ear. He received no response or reaction.
The masseur gently put the stiff woman, Ixaca, on her feet. Feat easily accomplished as the woman's figure was frozen, in a way. Cos then lay his hand in the back of Ixaca and started moving them to a practiced rhythm. Only those observant could notice he was actually massaging the woman, putting pressure in certain parts of her body.
The faeries kept approaching. None of them taking a particular interest in what Cos was doing, unlike Xee's group. The one battling with Dareth had fallen to his bone daggers, not without the thief being wounded.
The masseur took some steps forward, making sure he was in front of everyone now. He lifted the woman’s arms, one bent, the other one completely stretched, both her palms facing the fae army. Next he hit with his index and middle finger Ixaca's upper neck. Heat began to radiate from the woman. Then, using his thumb, pressed hard against one of her right ribs, and the wind began swirling like mad.
The next set of movements were too quick to properly follow, but Cos did the same things over and over in different parts of her body. Thirty seconds or so later, a silent light beam grew in Ixaca's hands. It started as a small orb, but ended the size of a house. Cos traced a line in the woman's back, and she shot the light beam at the faeries directly in front of the beam. Nothing remained but the beam, which continued to flow out of Ixaca's body. Cos, apparently unharmed by the energy, turned Ixaca's body to the right and then the left, sweeping the faeries.
Minutes later, when the beam died down, nothing remained of the faeries. Absolutely nothing.
"People, this is Ixaca", he said with the same tone one would say 'I found a coin the other day'.


Tears as blue as the rest of her fell from Fury's eyes as she yelled at the group, "You dammed IDIOTS! Were none of you listening when I told you what was happening in the realms of the Fey?! None of you?!? By attacking and killing those mercenaries you have just cemented my cousin's alliance with the Ice Lord- and given good reason for the rest of my race to support him without my being dead!!!" She screamed. If word of this got to the forests in the south there is no telling what might happen.

" Dearg bomanta fuathaigh!" She cursed in her native tongue while she continued to try and show them the meaning of what they had just done. " If a faerie is killed by the hands of non-faeries before the faerie has attacked the other, than it is custom and essentially law that the nearest faerie take vengeance upon the killer for needlessly attacking and killing another. They hadn't attacked as a WHOLE yet! And now by all rights if word of this reaches the forests in the south - along with the word that their own Princess did not avenge one of her people- hordes of my people will swarm to the Ice King in favor of his allegiance to allow them their revenge on his land!" Now she was pacing, and after walking a huge trench in the snow she gave up on walking and took to flying both ways in the air.
"And as I told you earlier in the cave- if enough faeries join the Ice King and they kill me, my parents will set out and finish this war in my honor- they'll be on the good side. But after the war they must kill themselves in honor of the fallen Fey. Thus leaving only one heir to the throne- my cousin or one of his kin, who are by far much worse than the Ice King. The faeries will then sweep the land and take over, ruining any once of hope for peace this land once had."

Now she looked at them, searching to see if any understood that they might have just signed her death warrant- and that of the lands.


Rosso, having had enough of the stupid drama, stalked over to Fury and stared her in the eyes. "Then don't die." she snapped. Without waiting for a single word of agreement, Rosso walked over to Lena and snatched up her coin. "We can't stay here. We've attracted attention." she said. Rosso lifted the coin up, out of Lena's reach, and looked at the others. "All opposed?"


could do naught but stand there with a confused look on her face.
Actually, she looked pissed. That was as close to "confused" as Xee ever really got.
"What the Hell was that thing???" Xee yelled suddenly, making everyone jump.
She delivered a round-house kick to Cos's chest, sending him flying backwards and slamming into the coffin. Which, if anything, was now more mysterious then ever.
"Did you not listen to the blue [censored]?? She told us not to touch them, to let her take care of it, but of course you had to go and release some crazy dead mage woman, effectively damming us all!"
Xee was breathing heavily through tightly clenched teeth. She hated magic. Hated it. And now they'd been attacked by it, "saved" by it, in the process, damned by it, and now they'd probably be forced to use more of it to get out of it. Needless to say, Xee was less then happy about this development.
She swore a blue streak, finally ending after several minuets with by spitting in the snow and shooting a slightly wary glance at the "dead" mage woman. Thing.
Still breathing hard, Xee shut her eyes and said with a disconcerting calm, "Rosso, I don't give a rodent's arse what everyone else votes. Get us the Hell out of here, before I do something I might or might not regret."


Dorin looked as he felt a sudden rush of magic. He looked to see a flash of light. Whatever that was, it was by far the most powerful spell he had ever seen. No one he knew of would of had that kind of power. However, He felt like his group had did this. He looked on and then spoke.
" Excuse me, but I think my group is somewhere near that powerful explosion. I think i will head to it. "
Dorin packed up his things and hopped out of the cart. He then simply began to walk. It was not out of rudeness that he did not thank his guests, he simply forgot to do so. His eyes however were caculating everything about the explosion and the group he was traveling with when he got lost.
Dareth's mouth opened in surprise. He took a long look at the woman, Ixaca, she was. . . frozen, maybe. The weather was cold enough to freeze one with such a lack of clothes. Carefully, he stepped over to her, the woman had just shot a light beam of 3 meters in diameter, it kinnda scared him.
He pressed the back of his hand against her left arm. It was hot, yet her stare was frozen on the horizon. Maybe there was some magic inside her keeping her temperature.


"Don't!", Cos yelled at the thief. He was up and going, as if a kick from one of the worst assassins was nothing. He, the clueless and happy elf pushed Dareth away. Pushed. Shoved away. Showed ownership. Demonstrated egoism. He, Cos.
"No one can touch Ixaca", he said, protecting the woman with his body. He rubbed her back again and her body went back to being limp, therefore fitting back into the coffin. Cos closed the lid and glared. Glared. At Xee and Dareth and Fury.
"Leave me or take me along. Do as you wish, but Ixaca is a secret you shall take to your graves", the happy elf was happy no more.


Dareth looked at Cos. He was not being his usual self. There was no mystery to the coffin anymore, but now there were mysteries as to who the girl was and how Cos had 'acquired' her.
He looked over at Xee and noticed a figure behind her. He looked awfully familiar. . .
"It's Dorin", he whispered, shocked. The thief'd thought the alchemist had left them, along with the elves Ryntai, Saelen and Cuthian. It was good to see an ally back. He waved at the alchemist and turned to Rosso, "I agree with Xee, if anything, we should get out of here".


Maria looked at Cos, shock written all over her face. She didn't understand it, and she had seen nothing like it. He had been carrying a dead women, A DEAD WOMEN!. What she did wasn't even in the realm of magic, which was wear everything not logical was placed. Dareth's voice brought her back to reality. They needed to get out of here. Well, Maria could do that.
"Just tell me where and i can probably get us there." Maria said, sheathing her knives and grabbing a maroon crystal out of her bag. Just in case she didn't have enough power to get them there, the crystal has a pool of energy stored within it.


Sure enough, Dorin had refound his group. He walked over to the group with a grin and spoke, completely oblivious to everything that had just happened.
" Oh, there you all are....well minus a few. You can not believe what happened. I ended up arrested because someone stole my money...all two silvers...and When I got out, I wandered around until I found this unusual caravan of travelers. They were suprisingly nice for people who looked to support the Ice Lord. Lucky there was that powerful blast of magic or I would of never of found you. Speaking of that magic, what did that? You could feel it a mile away! The only thing that I could do to come close to that is, well, suicidal to say the least. "
He then looked around and saw how Cos was acting very diffrent from the last time and people all seemed on edge. He could deduce that whatever it was, must of came from Cos and there was a good chance it came from that coffin. As to what was in it, he wanted to say some mage of sorts, but there was still a chance that it was something else.
" Welp since everyone is ready to leave, I do have a potion to keep your body temp up enough to beat the cold. "
Other than that, he was ready to move.


Rosso tossed the coin to Lena, who caught it enthusiastically. "Okay, everyone hold on! This isn't very fun at all!" Lena giggled. She tossed the coin into the air, and just as the sun hit it, the entire group disappeared.



The group reappeared in a lush, forest-like area, although they were all laying in a pile. Lena pushed through the other bodies until she was standing, a large grin still on her face. "Come on! There's so much to see!" she said, waving her arm at them. As Lena ran through the trees, it became apparent that the area was far warmer and more comfortable than the ice lands, and the aroma was very pleasing. The sun was bright and warm, but not harsh. Vines, flowers, and a variety of hanging fruits could be seen in the trees, and occasionally animals would run across the area without much trouble. After a few minutes of running, Lena bent over in a huff, breathing heavily. She turned around and pointed behind herself. "Look!" she panted. The group was standing on a hill, and just beneath them, in a similarly forested area, was a large cluster of huts. "The Monk Village. My home." Lena said.


Fury felt like screaming back at Rosso that it would not be her choice to die and reign hell upon the world- and that she would prevent it if she could- but instead they were transported to the Monk Village. Of course, the fat that it was in a wooded area freaked Fury out beyond all reason, because that meant that the tree's would be watching her- and that the group had to be careful of what they said. Never underestimate the tree's.

Cos was still silent, and instead of him joining the group in looking at the village he chose to walk by his self along the outskirts of the tree's- it was there that Fury joined him. In a way she felt guilty, he was only trying to help, but she still knew that Iaxca might have just sealed Fury's death warrant in blood. Still, something had to be done.

For awhile they walked in silence until Fury broke the silence. " You don't have to talk if you don't want to, but if you would like someone to listen you have my undivided attention. Rest assured that Iaxca is safe and her secret kept- I shall not reveal her, Cos."

[Bryden]

Xee noted the reappearance of the alchemist, but didn't bother to acknowledge him. Not worth her trouble.
The teleport had made the assassin queasy. She rather wanted to sit down and take it easy for a moment, but she couldn't let herself show weakness.
But being in the human pile-up didn't help.
"If that hand that is doesn't move in the next three seconds, I AM GOING TO KILL THE OWNER OF IT," yelled Xee. Once they all got to their feet, Xee glanced around, taking stock of their surroundings.
"It's... hot," she complained, though no one was listening. Snarling, Xee fell into step just behind Lena, who was happily skipping and leading the way to the monks.
The sooner they got there and re-supplied, the sooner they could get back to the nice, cold North, and all the better for Xee.


Wa wasted motion, Dorin took out a vial and drank it. Sweat beaded down his face and he was turning red. Suddenly, he looked normal again.
" Ok, I am glad I made that. Uh, please, tell me we are going to switch temps before hand. I almost had a body temp high enough to fry my brains. "
He said as he fell to the ground, enjoying the cold feeling rushing over him. He took out a thicker coat and put it over his shoulder if it was needed and stood up.
" Welp, I guess we should move. "


Cos's frown itched and burned. His eyebrows were never in that position, it felt so strange. . . his face felt like it was stretching at weird places and shrinking at others. But he was mad, and that facial expression had to be present for the others to know he was angry. He wanted to show them - especially Fury - he was capable, and they were deserving of, a scolding of sorts.
They were transported to the monk village. He would've jumped around had he not been mad. He walked in the outskirts of the trees, following the group at a safe distance. Cos had already made the decision that he'd stay with them, probably. There were no other people that had 'accepted' him as much.
Then, the person he hated the most at the moment, the faerie had the audacity of walking alongside him. His shoulders shivered a little, he had no idea what the protocol required him to do at times like those. Cos was freaking out, in a way.
She asked him if there was something he needed to hear. The masseur broke into a series of sobs, and dropped into Fury's. . . back. He had to tell someone. She was willing to listen.
"I'm sad", he revealed. . . although that was obvious.
"Bluey, my name is Cuneamphe. I cannot use that name anymore, the shame is all too great", he said, between sobs. "Ixaca isn't a no one. She might've been my sister-in-law if. . . if", he started whimpering at this point.
"Ixaca isn't normal. She has never been. Her maternal grandmother was part of a witch clan that's existed for generations, the husband of her was a faerie, like yourself. They gave birth to a strange woman, but apparently normal. This fae-witch married an elf and they both became the parents of Ixaca.
"Alas, she carried the blood of three of the most magically-apt races in the world, in Q'Thas. Though they could probably argue against it, the two marriages previous to Ix were arranged. Arranged by Mr. Icey, the Lord of Icicles." Cos had calmed down some, but was still buried in Fury's back.
"She grew up as a normal thirdling, and met my brother, blah, blah, blah, they fell in love and became engaged. I had become a traveler in those days, but was invited back for the wedding. Two days before their marriage, I had to deliver the nature-blessed bridal dress. I got to her hut in my village, Sedona, and found a horrible scene.
"A very intimidating tall man was standing before Ixaca, some of my people, magicians all of them, standing around. They muttered different spells and shot them at Ixaca. She absorbed them, no harm being done to her. But she also released energy, killing all mages around, except the intimidating man. He disappeared, and he also looked like Xee and Dareth.
"I assume that, even for a woman with all the magical ability of faeries, witches and elves, the magic she absorbed was too much. Ixaca contracted catatonia". At this Cos's eyes started to water again.
"Catatonia is a disease in which the person cannot move, but is immersed in her own thoughts all the time, one with talent can move the person, like a wax figure. But only by putting pressure in certain points can you acquire proper movement, and by even stranger pressure points in the body can Ixaca release all the magic forever stored within her.
"She sometimes wakes up from her trance. But she dislikes using her magic. The wakings are so rare and unpredicted that she can't live by her own, even if magic feeds and attends to all her needs".
Cos looked into Fury's eyes now. "I couldn't leave her like that, and I couldn't let my brother see her in that way. I took my brother's bride and stored her in a coffin for protection against the Icey followers. I couldn't live like that way. I changed my name to my initials and have never returned to Sedona".
He picked up his coffin and followed his group. Not smiling, but not frowning either.


Dorin froze for a second as he heard the name Ixaca. That explained the power he felt, but It also made him remember a story he read while in the mage libraries. She was suppost to be a freak of nature, yet kind. A group seperate to his, a dark brotherhood as you were faced her to rid the world of her, yet was wiped out. It pained him slightly that Cos had carried a burden, not what was in the coffin, but what he had to do it seemed. Dorin did not make anything known, he mearly just walked to the Monk village. If only there- he stopped thinking and began pulling out a book. He began reading it so intensly that he hit several trees along the way. This only was a mild hinderance and kept walking. Where was it?

In spite of the drama around her, Lena was focused purely on finding her village. During the trek, she had removed several layers of her vast robes and clothing, so that now she was in a plain, thin grey robe and socks. After all, she didn't need so much to wear in the moderate, but cool, temperature they were in. After ripping several branches out of the group's way, Lena lead them up. They were now standing on a cliff, and beneath them was a grouping of trees with houses suspended on them, well above the forest floor. "The Monk Village." she said jovially. Lena turned to face the group, and with a toothy smile, allowed herself to fall off the cliff and into the trees.
Unsurprisingly, she was uninjured, as several people caught her when she reached the trees. The same went for the others, although with them the monks were more cautious. The village was beautiful. Several huts, connected by 'streets' of stone and wood that looked anything but shabby, surrounded a single hole in the middle. In this hole was a large expanse of sand, on which several young people were sparring. A few older monks watched, critiquing. Lena looked behind her back to make sure the others were safe. "This place is heaven. Not too hot, not too cold- nice winds, rain is common but it helps us train. Oh, Master Yang!" Lena ran towards the sand hole and latched herself onto a large, heavyset muscled man. He was bald, except for a long braid of black hair. In spite of his serious attitude, he was clearly pleased to see Lena. "Shera Lena! I'd thought we had lost you for good." he admonished. Lena looked somewhat chastened. "I'm sorry for running away again, but this time it was really important! I saw the Ice Lord's soldiers, so I followed them!" she explained. Yang looked unconvinced. "You always see something in those big eyes of yours. Who are they?" Yang pointed at the group with some anger. "My friends! I saved them!" Lena giggled. Before she could explain more, Lena was tackled by a large mass of fur. This mass turned out to be a thin monkey, standing at about 2'7 in height, that had the biggest smile one could imagine. "You're back!" it laughed. Lena stood up, holding the monkey in her arms. "Yes, Genjo. I'm back, for now." she said. The monkey, Genjo, wrapped his tail around her arm and looked at the group. He seemed just as agitated by them as Yang. "Those two, they look like they're from Q'thas." he hissed. "They are! Well, Xee is, but they're nice. Well, Dareth is, but they're my friends. Well-" Lena, as usual stumbling over her own inept explanations, was unable to sufficiently describe Xee and Dareth to her peer. Genjo merely glared at Xee and Dareth, barely paying attention to the half-lycan woman with the giant sword or the guy carrying the coffin. Yang, however, was more observant. "Lena, they cannot be here. Tonight is graduations, and although you're set to receive honors, we can't let these outsiders stay." he said. Lena thought for a moment on that. "We're allowed to bring our families. These guys are my family." she said. Yang sighed. It's not as if he could deny this to Lena; if she didn't have friends over to celebrate her graduation, then she, as an orphan, would have no one. So, he consented. "Fine. Just keep them in line." he ordered. Yang stalked off, and Lena let out another victory cry. "It's going to be fun! You guys will get to see us monks in action, and you'll get to celebrate with us!" she giggled.


" Thank-you, Cos." She said. It was all she could say, Fury had never known compassion or friendship- all she had knw was anger and pain. Thus, she wasn't very capable at cheering others up. Fury saw the others fall off of the cliff into the arms of the people below and she thought of a way to cheer up the elf.
"Cos, would you like me to carry you, and the coffin, and fly over the cliff instead of fall? It isn't often that faeries offer to fly someone...." Sh eoffered. And actually, faeries flew other beings a little as possible, and definately never royalty did the flying. But screw social policy, she had to make it up to Cos somehow.


"No", a quiet voice spoke, a bit muffled. The coffin opened from the inside, apparently one could open the heavy lid from the inside. "Thank you, Princess. You have heard Cuneamphe without passing judgement on him unjustly.


Dorin, who had so been focused in his studies, did not see the cliff at all. He simply kept walking until he fell right off the edge and finally paid attention while he was falling. He moved his hands around in a circle to create what looked like a slide of air. He simply slid down and landed on his feet.


"No", a quiet voice spoke, a bit muffled. The coffin opened from the inside, apparently one could open the heavy lid from the inside. "Thank you, Princess. You have heard Cuneamphe without passing judgement on him unjustly. If anyone is to thank, it is you". Ixaca had awoken from her catatonic state, for some minutes, at least. Her stare was forgiving, and somewhat sad. Her hands were balled into fists, but placed over her collarbone side by side, giving her a worried stance.

"Perfect timing, Ix," the masseur said. His posture was now upright, some weight had lifted from his shoulders.
Cos's stare had also changed, but his was of excitement. But he was also faced with a difficult decision: he could either jump off a cliff or be carried by a flying woman. He vaguely remembered being taught that only on rare occasions did faerires offer to fly others, but he also wanted to jump off a cliff.
"I can jump off a cliff any day. I wanna fly, Blue!" There clearly wasn't a bit of grudge left in his organism against the faerie.

Dareth couldn't stand it any longer. There was something he needed to do. He hadn't tried it because anything would undoubtedly anger Xee. However, half their party was now in the city below them and the other half were entertained with Ixaca, who had now woken up. He wanted to know more too, but everyone could do so once in the monk village.
Xee and he were on the edge of the cliff and when Dareth was sure no one was watching them, he grabbed Xee's warmer-than-usual hand in his own, and jumped. Corny? Surely. Worth it? Definitely.
But of course, the nice feeling only lasted a few seconds. The thief let go as soon as he felt the trees too close. He was caught, as was she. He stared at her and couldn't resist a smile.
But there was something else that caught his attention: a monkey that was observing them closely, he and Xee. His name was Genjo, if he'd heard correctly and could talk. At the end of the conversation, Lena was beaming.
"Sounds great, Lena." He smiled, meaning his words. Although the fact that they were going to witness monks battling it out probably shoud've worried him.

"You'll have to excuse me, Princess", Ixaca murmured. "But I've been told entering a monk village is a unique experience. I'll jump". There was little she could live of life, and, contrary to Cos, jumping into a sea of trees, knowing she'd land safely, was more appealing.

"Thank you", she told the monk that'd caught her. She took several steps around, fascinated by the sights before her. She hadn't seen Lena in action, so the battles in the sandy arena were phenomenal for her.
Her back tensed, she felt she was being watched. Not by the monks, those looked at her in a specific way, but there was someone who knew of her. Probably vaguely, but knew her still. It wasn't Cos or the faerie who made her tense so. It was someone else, from their own party.


Xee was too surprised to snatch her hand away from Dareth. She actually let out a scream as the fell, much to her embarrassment. She hadn't been expecting to be grabbed and pulled off a cliff. And she'd been dubious about jumping off on her own in any case.
Once they were on the ground, Xee considered treating Dareth to one of her tongue-lashings, but at length decided against it. He was just looking at her.. smiling and looking so pleased with himself.. It honestly made Xee want to smile back. But that wouldn't be very like her. She allowed a small half-smile that came out looking more of a smirk in any case.
The village seemed rather off to Xee. But one glance at Lena, who was hopping around, grinning like a fool, and giving out hugs to other monks, told her all she needed to know. Likely as not, these people were all just ass crazy and irritating as she was. "Super..." Xee swore to herself.
She slid up next to Dareth. In a voice that was low, though not enough to be considered "polite" she asked, "Did that monkey just talk or is the heat getting to me?"
Honest question, really. The heat was getting to her. As she stood there, sharp eyes flitting around vigilantly, Xee fanned herself with the flat of a thin knife. Normally she'd never use a good rib-splitting knife in such a manner, but any temp above low-60s changed the rules.
The chimp was staring at her and Dareth, she noted.
"What are you lookin' at, furry-boy?" Xee asked of the monkey, still fanning herself and (vainly) trying not to perspire.


"Uh, your...welcome?" she said to Iaxca befoer the woman jumped off of the cliff. THAT was definatley not expected. Now she turned to Cos and nodded, "Here we go!"
In an instant Fury was in the air, hold Cos up under his shoulders. She climbed high into the air and did flips, spins, flying quickly to try and give him the full effect of what flying was like. Then, in a big burst of wind, they tumbled down with the breeze until the point when Fury landed them lightly in front of the Angry one and a tlaking monkey.


"Q'Thas." Genjo said to Xee. Lena giggled, not entirely understanding what he meant but amused nontheless. A loud horn sounded, and Lena jumped up. "Oh! I wanna!" she shouted. The arena cleared, and the spectators stood or sat on the wooden sidewalk as Lena made her way to the center. Another monk, a heavily set muscled human male who was around his teenage years, joined her. Lena made sure that she was only in her bare essentials, as was the custom for these battles- just her plain, short grey robe, undergarments, and socks. The horn rang again.

While most people would consider the fight to be completely one-sided, due to the other monk's sheer size advantage over Lena(he had to be at least twice as thick as her), everyone present, except perhaps Ixaca and Dorin, knew what the small girl was capable of. Indeed, when the boy ran at her, Lena ducked down, used her arms to grab him by his shoulders in a suplex position, jumped into the air, and piledrove him into the ground. "Point to Shera Lena- Meteodrive executed!" the referee shouted. Any traces of the bubbly, hyper Lena were gone. She was focused, strong, and calm. It was almost jarring to see her looking so intense. The other monk regained his sense and, taking advantage of his momentary precedence, grabbed Lena by her leg and threw her into a nearby tree. "Point to Ahko Kirin- Throwing!" the referee shouted. Kirin smirked, but his smile disappeared when he saw quick rustling in the trees. From tree to tree, the movement quickly gained speed. He didn't know where to focus. Of course, Lena's agility did him in- she leapt from the tree to his left and tackled him, dragging both monks along the sand. Lena emerged unscathed, but Kirin wasn't as lucky. He was out cold. "Point to Shera Lena- Aerial Tackle!" the referee announced. Two to one, with the oppononet unconscious- she had won.

Lena left the arena, dusting herself off as she did so. "Wasn't that great?" she sighed, clearly worn out but still maintaining her usual energy. "Maybe one of you can try your hand at this." she said, jokingly. "I'm sure you'd do great, Dareth." Lena added.


He watched the fight with mild interest. Monk battles were a great way to see melee combat. He however was not one for fist fighting. He then noticed something on the tallest building in the monk village. It stood on the very tip, wrapped in monk robes from head to toe. Dorin could not make out the person's face due to wrappings, but there was something that caught his eye. It looked like dragon eyes. The figure did not move, even when a wind hit it. It just stood there motionless.
" I wonder who that person is. If I did not know better, I would say it is a dragon slash man thing. "

[Bryden]

Xee glared at the monkey man. "Yes, Q'thas. And what are you going to do about it?" she was very nearly snarling.
But she didn't get a reply. Instead, she watched Lena kick the ass of some other trainee.
Apparently, the annoying little thing had actually learned her skills from someone, rather then just being born with them. Now if only Xee could find out who taught her to speak in that irritating voice, so she could kill them.
Though everyone else seemed wrapped up in Lena's fighting, Xee herself could honestly care less. it was bloody well hot here, and The assassin was prespireing to a rather high degree.
It was damn embarrassing, if anyone should see the usually calm, cold demeanor of the killer being broken with just a bit of heat.


Ixaca saw what Lena did, her eyes rather wide. She had never seen such physical strength in a being, much less one of Lena's build and appearance. It was those few, big things that happened that made her love life. How much had she missed while in her last trance?
When Lena finished her battle, Ixaca was close to Dareth, and thus, heard the monk's suggestion.
She giggled, it was a soft, almost mute sound. "I'm sure Cuneamphe would fare well in a battle". She'd laughed, true, but her voice was so strange, her sentence didn't appear to be a joke.
Ixaca moved quietly around the arena, and spotted Dorin. He looked like the only person alligned with magical attributes. The faerie and the vampire, lycan hybrid had their own types of magic, too, but Dorin's was one she could relate to. Instead of striking up conversation immediately, however, she payed attention to his statement. And looked in the direction his gaze followed.
In a tall building a figure was standing. She could make out monk robes and wrappings in his body, and a motionlessness she could only find eerie. But. . . "A dragon man?" She asked him, certainly intrigued.
It was those few, big things that happened, that made her love life.

Dareth grinned at Lena. She was rather cheery, more than usual. Perhaps it was because she was back in her village, with the people she knew. "I'm not entirely sure about that, Lena", he said, smiling at the elf, "'Sides, it's your big day, you go ahead and knock everyone senseless." Although. . . he thought [/i]Xee could very well take on a monk[/i]. He turned to look at the assassin. Or on second thought. . . Xee didn't look quite like herself, the heat was getting to her.
Strange, they were both apparently the same, though he'd adapted to the heat long ago. If he remembered correctly. . . maybe.
"What about Q'thas, . . . monkey Sir? Is it troublesome that sh- that we're from there?" The thief wasn' completely used to the idea that he too, probably was from the same place Xee was.

"Whee. . .!" was all that could be heard of Cos while he and Fury were in the air. It was funner than he expected it to be. At first, though. The masseur tried to cling on to his good mood and the joy of being carried in the air for the most part of the flight.
But another sensation wsa replacing amusement: sickness.
By the time they landed, Cos's face was green, his eyes in an unfixed gaze. "That was. . . fun, Fury. . . than-thank you", was all he said before running beside a tree. "I feel sick", he whispered.
In fact, he was actually thankful, he'd been conceded the wish of flying. Who knew he was air sick, though?
"Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breath out". Cos was trying to calm his protestig stomach, and it didn't look good.
But after all, that was Cos.


Thorn jumped from the where he was and landed out in the middle of the fighting ring. He removed his cloak and his head wrappings to reveal his dragon face. His eyes were surprisingly calm as he used his wings to wrap around him. He waited for someone to challenge him. Most were hesitant to do so. However, he did not care about the others. It had been a while, but he finally was proud of what he was.


Dorin's eyes widened as he saw the half-dragon. Not of fear, but of interest.
" So that mad fool actually made half dragons? "

[Bryden]

Maria watched Lena. She was impressed. Maria had seen Lena in action before, but she had never had the time to actually watch her fight. She idly noticed Dareth and Xee behind her but take much notice of what was happening. Her attention was on the half dragon that had just jumped into the arena. Maria smiled, recognizing him from not so long ago, when she had first started this journey. It was nice to know that paths can still cross.

Xee watched the dragon-man with mild interest. She knew it was the man from before. The one who'd slipped away while she'd been getting Aundi.
She nodded her head in his direction, but was too busy staring down the monkey to actually bother talking to him.
"Maybe," she said sarcastically to Dareth, "That's all it actually says, and we're being fools trying to elicit a response from it?"
She looked down (way down, seeing as Xee was very tall and the monkey was... a monkey) at the talking creature.
"And in any case, who cares who it troubles? We're Northerners, people hate us, end of story." She sounded bitter, but who could blame her? What she said was true.

Genjo laughed at Xee's response. "Your body makes legs instead of brains!" he cackled. Lena swatted at him with her foot, causing the monkey to growl. He scampered up a tree and poked his head out to look at the others while Lena approached Thorn. "Who are you?" she demanded. Yang stepped in, forcing Lena back slightly. "Nah. He looks like a toughy. I'm ready for a challenge." Lena said, brushing past Yang and back to Thorn. "So, what'dya say, Scales? Wanna fight?"


" I am only known as Thorn. "
A smile...well half dragon smile appeared as his eyes got sharp as they stared at her.
" And Yes, I would like to fight. I have not sparred in a long time so I appologize if I overdue it. "
He jumped back and assumed a fighting position uniquely designed for him. His wings wrapped around him. His eyes were still locked on her , but as of now, he did not move. He simply spoke.
" Your move. "
His breath was steady and he was ready. Now it was time to see what she could do.


Fury giggled at Cos's reaction, the sound of her laugh was like the tinkling of bells, but all the same she rubbed his back in small circle's to ease his air sickness. " Well, if you want to go flying again you're going to have to work on that a bit. How anyone can get air sick is beyond me- first time for everything, eh?" When it looked as if his color was back to normal she patted him on the shoulder and moved towards the area. Wanting to get a better look she jumped into the air and decided to hover by the tree's.
From there she was so caught up in wondering if the dragon man could fly as well, it took her a while to noticed that there was a monkey staring at her. Again there was a tinkling of bells as she giggled, "Well, hello there. And how are you today?"


Lena reached into her pockets and took out a pair of leather gloves, which she promptly stretched over her hands. She fell into a fighting stance and smiled.
"Go!" the referee shouted.
Lena ran up to Thorn, faster than she usually was, and lifted her leg to kick him in the neck. To her surprise, not only did he not budge, but the half-dragon looked completely uninjured. With a grunt, Lena tried to move back but Thorn grabbed her leg and threw her into the trees, from which she fell with a thud.
The disturbance of his trees caused Genjo to shriek and jump down, inadvertantly, onto Fury's head. Thoroughly spooked, the monkey cowered in her arms and hid his face from the others.
Lena regained her equilibrium and focused back on Thorn. She grabbed a tree branch and swung herself from it so that she landed on his shoulders. The half-dragon tried to close his wings on her, but Lena pulled a fast one, and using the sheer force of gravity, she threw Thorn into the ground with her legs. Just as she was about to prepare for another attack, Lena felt Thorn's claw on her sneaker, and was promptly face-slammed into the ground.



Thorn Was inpressed with her skill level. He watched her get up after his slam and not a point was issued. They all seemed to be drawn in to the fight. He set himself into a fighting position and then suddenly vanished. It was his speed, and the dragon blood to make him faster. He managed to get the first punch to the right of her in, but his second was blocked and it resulted in a toss into the trees.
Thorn shot from the tree line, usining his wings for flight. He went upward and opened his mouth. It began to glow blue and he shot lightining right to the ground. It hit the ground around her keeping her trapped where she was as he arieal dived down to her. As she was in striking distance, He threw a punch. At the same time, she threw a punch and they both connected. He was sent several feet away and into the ground.
He slowly got up, with blood trickling down his head. However, his eyes were still sharp. She had been sent several feet in the other direction, still able to fight. The crowds were cheering loudly and not a point was cast yet.


Dorin looked on, completely amused by the fight. Those two were great fighters. The alchemist was now fully aware of his physical weaknesses, but he had studied both of them. Those two were nearly the same in style.


Lena shook herself of sand and stood up. Thorn was doing the same. Both ran at each other, and it became apparent that Lena was the quickest of the two, with her small frame and long legs, but Thorn had more raw strength. To make up for this, Lena decided to use tactics. When she and Thorn nearly reached each other, she dropped herself to the ground and came up underneath him so that she was grabbing him by the legs. She flipped him upside down and jumped up, into the air. They fell back down in a powerdrive, Thorn head-down. Lena emerged from the attack, but Thorn released yet another thunder blast that threw her back across the ring.

Thorn looked across the field. His eyes still as sharp as before, though a small headache was now present. She had speed and brains, be he had 300 years of knowledge in the ways of the monk and battle style. He spread out his wings as he ran making him more aerodynamic and at the last second, flapped his wings causing his speed to increase dramatically. He collided with her with a head butt and sent her into a wall. He however did not let go and had her arms grabbed. She kicked him in the face and did a partial backflip with it. She then placed her feet onto the wall and pushed off sending him stumbling back.
Throrn, still hanging on, used momentum to send her right into the ground face first before flying back for distance.

Fury giggled as the monkey jumped screeching into her arms- taking the hint she flew a little farther from the tree's. "Well, I guess that answers my question. Calm down, little one, it'll be over soon," she soothed, while petting his head lightly and watching the battle below her. Dimly a thought in the back of her mind wanted to join in, while another wanted to pound the dragon man with questions.
She amused herself by paying more attention to the still screeching monkey.


Dorin could not believe the fight. The half dragon was defiantly his first master's creation before he was executed for it. Dorin only knew his first master for a few weeks in the tower before the old fool set out. This dragon was an abomination, yet much like a person. His eyes scanned the battle, absorbing everything he saw. He even started writing things down.


:Xee watched the fight, looking bored and apathetic as ever. She yawned theatrically to cover the fact she was wiping sweat from her brow.
Lena threw a kick, Thorn countered it. Thorn tried to get the jump on Lena, she flipped him. Give-and-take, give-and-take. Honestly, they couldn't be boring Xee more if they were trying.
She nudged Dareth in the arm with her elbow.
safe in the knowledge that everyone else was too entranced in the fight to notice the two tall ones conversing, she whispered to him.
"Surely there's other things here aside from this horrible notion of 'honorable' fighting?" she said, "Let's go find these other things."
She grabbed his hand and subtly started tugging him away from the crowd.


Genjo stopped his panicking after a while and nestled further into Fury's arms. "I apologize. I'm usually more composed than this, but sadly my body causes me to become slightly agitated whenever abrupt things occur." he explained.

A sharp red sword lazily blocked Xee and Dareth. "I sense something interesting is about to happen." Rosso said, darting her eyes from the pair to the ring.

Lena once again shook her head free of sand and ran at Thorn. He grabbed her by her arms and threw her into a tree. Lena, though, landed on the tree with her feet, with the force of her body causing the many bright red leaves on the tree to fall from their branches. The spectators let out an impressed gasp at the beautiful display that had accidentally been created. Lena jumped down at Thorn and collided with him, with neither monk suplexing the other. A loud whistle blew, and the referee signaled the end. "Draw." he said plainly. Lena stood up and shook Thorn's large hand with her immensely petite one. "Good job." she said, tired. She looked up and saw a strange sight; the moon had become visible, even though the day was exceptionally bright.

[Bryden]

He took her hand and got up.
" Thankyou, you are a great fighter. I hope one day we can do this again. "
He then saw she was staring at something and he looked. His dragonic eyes were slightly widened. He felt a bad omen about that moon. He wrapped his body with his wings and could not even begin to think about what was going on.

Dorin clapped with the crowd, fully enjoying the fight. Once both fighters were looking at the sky, he did too.
" A full moon during the day? That is very odd. "
He said rather interested in the moon.

Fury hid her shock quite well over the fact that the monkey spoke and took the new information in stride. " Ah, well, we cannot always control our impluses," she giggled over how true that was. Shifting him slightly in her arms she continued, " My name is Fury, and I am most pleased to make your aquaintance." That was as far as she got before she, too, looked at the sky.
"Oh, drat. This can only mean horrible things for everyone, and by the looks of things everywhere- no one can handle any mroe horrible things to happen.."


Dareth's face went slightly red as Xee took hold of his hand. He hadn't expected the assassin to do that. Ever. Not that he didn't like it, but it was such a nice feeling Xee was making him feel and in his mind, the events were not congruent. Of course, he gladly followed her to wherever she wanted to go.
Alas, they were stopped by Rosso's blade. Which was promptly followed by a deep silence the party hadn't heard in a while and one of the strangest astrological phenomena Dareth had ever seen. The moon showing in the middle of the day. Possibly, the Ice Lord's doing? Dareth didn't know. Possibly, it had a connection with the Ice Lord? Dareth was sure. "Could he have found a way to toy with the weather?" He asked himself outloud.
Dareth turned his gray eyes toward Rosso, who'd alerted them. "Rosso, do you know anything about this?"


The moon is so beautiful right now. Ixaca stared at the natural satellite of Q'thas. She'd never seen it at that point of day, and it's beauty made her feel serene. The magical woman lowered her face and stared at the ending of the fight between Lena and the dragon man. She was quick to notice something she hadn't realized before. The girl fighting bore a dim resemblance to Cuneamphe and to. . .
Ixaca's train of thought was interrupted by Dorin's clapping and speech. "A full moon during the day? That is very odd." Was it really?
She looked around and gazed at everybody's faces. They were all rather disconcerted at the event taking place.
Clearly, Ixaca's slumber had been too long, enough for her to:
A) Forget basic knowledge; or
B) Not be able to distinguish between normal events and strange ones.
"What can this mean?" Her question wasn't directed at anyone in particular, but it several people were close enough to hear it.


Cos too, was looking up at the moon. However, unlike everyone else, he didn't think much of it. Perhaps he would've if he wasn't feeling horrible due to the air sickness. His face was green and his stomach rather loud.


Rosso sniffed the air. "No, I'm afraid that this phenonmenon is beyond my understanding. For some reason, the moon of Lunaria has become active in and of itself. No magic known to us on Q'thas can move the moons. Perhaps..." Rosso's voice lingered for a moment. "Do any of you know the legend of the Lunarians? The mystical beings who live amongst the moons, wise and powerful beyond human measure." she said wistfully. "Us lycans worship the moons for their power, their energy. The Lunarians are said to be the ones who made lycans, which explains our affinity to the moons." Rosso had closed her eyes and was recalling the stories of her mother, of what she herself had learned as a girl.


Lena was being strangely quiet, her eyes fixated on the moon. She turned to Cos and began to feel a sort of vibration between them. "Cos...I feel something coming from the moon. Do you feel it too?" she asked. Genjo glared up at the moon, but quickly looked back. "Er...well, nothing to see here. I'm sure it's just gravity or whatever." he snapped, ushering everyone.


Dareth had been inconcieveably calm minutes ago. No Ice Lord or evil faeries pursuing them, no tundra to remind them of their ultimate face off with said Lord and no worries at all. Lena had been happily fighting, everyone else - but Xee - had been happily watching. It was the first true moment of relaxation the group had had since a long time.
But at that precise moment, the rogue's face was of the utmost concern. partly because he was watching the moon, partly because of what Rosso had just said.
The Lunarians and the full moon in a specially bright day, there certainly was a connection, but just what kind of connection was it? Dareth had never heard of such stories, and they certinaly gave him a spirit of curiosity.
"Mystical, wise and powerful. . . powerful enough to move a moon?" Naturally, Dareth found that hard to believe, but if that was true. . .
We're having enough dealing with the Ice Lord, we don't need the moon to collide with the lands now. But, of course! The Ice Lord!
"No magic known to us on Q'thas, but what about the Ice Lord? He's been dormant for too long, perhaps this is his way of saying he's back".


"Oh my Ice. . ." Cos lamented. He certainly was feeling it, and somehow it was connecting him in a strange way to Lena. Oh, if he only knew what exactly 'it' was. There was the fact, though, that he hadn't thought much of the moon minutes ago, but now 'it' was making him 'think' of what was actually happenning.
He dragged himself over to where Lena was. "I sure feel it. . . my, my. . . and it's just making my stomach worse and worse". His air sickness was getting worse, honestly, although by some reason he still had it thirty minutes after Fury had flown him around.


" The air must be starting to thin. "
Dorin said as he began pulling out a book. He then began reading it feveriously.
" I know I have something on the Lunarians. Gah but where is it? The moon is getting closer and that means a lot more water will rise up on this world. More water, means more Ice and the Ice Lord can strech his domain for leages away! I just have to figure out the right incantation to stop it. It will take weeks for me to figure out how to move it back. "

Thorn felt something strange. His body felt like something was making him feel more Feral. He wanted to just attack everyone. His eyes began growing wide and his claws almost wanted to move by themselves. He then saw a mage trying to look for answers in a book and shouted.
" Hurry up! I do not know how long I can hold myself from attacking! "
He was hit by a vial and a blue substance poued down the dragon and to the ground. He then found that he could not move an inch. That mage threw something at him and now he was stuck.
" Thankyou, "
He said.

Dorin looked at the half dragon after throwing his vial.
" you owe me a scale for that. "
He said before reading more.


She had no idea what was going on, but now that she looked at the moon- it did look larger than usual. "Genjo, I don't know what you are talking about. Its getting closer by the second!" Knowing that this could mean terrible things for all of them, she flew over to Lena and put Genjo in her arms. Looking at all of those before her on the ground she said, " Be back. . . I want to go and see something."
And with that she flew off into the direction of the aprroaching moon. Being a creature of the fae, she could fly higher up that most any other creature- but she still had to stop when there was no more oxygen in the atmosphere. But it didn't matter, this would be close enough. Now it was time for her to use a little bit of Faerie magic, it was a simple enough thing, but it would tell them with all certainty who was behind the moon. She knew that she could no longer be seen from the ground- but any one who could use magic in their roup would be able to tell what she was doing.
Fury simply closed her sapphire eyes and threw out her hand in a twisting, complicated move. When she opened them, she saw a thread just the same blue as she, going down from the plummeting moon to whoever it was cast the spell to make it fall. The thread would still be active as long as Fury was alive. Flying back to the ground, she went to tell the others.


"Good job Fury," Maria said studying the connection and the movements of the moon. "I can't stop whoever's doing it, but at the rate that the moon is moving, ending the spell won't stop it's movement. It will continue with or without the spell. When you find that spell, Dorin, I'll say it with you."
Maria gathered her magic as she walked to where Dorin was, waiting for him to find the spell. Her eyes became dark.


Rosso sighed and crossed her arms. "I suppose that I'm just speaking for my own benefit. What part of 'No magic known to Q'thas can move the moons' do you people not understand?" Rosso looked at the blue thread made by Fury, and became cynical yet again. "I believe we already established who was moving the moon. And we already know where the Ice Lord is, so that hardly helped." she hissed. Not that she meant to be rude, but Rosso was becoming more and more agitated as the moon neared. She could control her lycan form perfectly, but the moon's closing proximity made this more difficult, just as it was during full moons.


Lena, however, was still strangely serene. "Look at it, Cos. It's so...pretty." she said, her childish voice in awe. Lena clasped her hands together and spun around to face the others. "The moon isn't going to crash into us. No, I get the feeling that its specific purpose is merely to show a warning against the Ice Lord, however strange the idea is. I assume that he is trying to draw the moon forth for the reasons that Dorin gave, and the Lunarians, if they truly do exist, are warning him to stop. I bet he'll think that Fury's spell is they're doing. Either way, this will all be over soon."
Everyone stared in awe at Lena's rational explanation which, amazingly, made sense. With a large grin, Lena turned around to Yang. "When are the graduation ceremonies, Sifu?" she asked. "I think we're going to hold them tonight, as long as the moon doesn't interfere with that." Yang replied. With another large smile, Lena looked back at her friends. "Go on, wander aimlessly! This place is very friendly, as long as you don't fall off the walkways. It's a very, very long way down, and the forest floors are covered in vicious predators." she warned. As if to demonstrate, Lena seized Genjo and dangled him over the side of a branch by his tail, and the monkey began to furiously fight back. With an affectionate hug, Lena set him back down. "Case and point."


" No magic known can move the moon, but there is one spell that can atleast stop it. "
Dorin said as he threw down his book and roled up his sleeves to his coat. He let out a heavy sigh and then began to mutter in an ancient tounge. It sounded like gibberish, but soon his hands began to glow a bright red. Dorin's eyes began to glow the same red as his body gave off an unusual steam.
His mutter grew louder and louder and soon the spell was noticeable, gibberish, but people were able to herar what he was saying.
" Courin doso nota mashelic han! Rieska normonic kalla han! DORONISA HORIS DAL MAKIA HAN! "
His body was now that bright red and he placed his arms together. The moment he did this, a powerful blast erupted from his hands. It hit the moon after a while and once it did, the red surrounded the moon like a net. The moon then stopped dead in its tracks. The red net, still in place, simply just stood there.
Dorin's body gave off a steam from the magic. His breath was shallow, but he remained standing.
" No magic known to this land can move a moon, but one mage several hundred years ago knew how to stop it. His teachings were passed on to me. Some say he may have learned this from a lunarian but many called it rumor. He did not tell me if he did or not."


"Look, Kaeli, the moon stopped."
Tarich Salfane and his cousin Kaeli were staring up at Lunaria, which only moments ago had been hurtling towards Q'thas. The two sat in one of the courtyards of the elevated monk village, ostenably claiming to have been studying but they were in fact sharing words about the goings-on of the monks. Once the moon began to act up, both cousins decided to talk about that instead. Now that it had ceased, though, they were now headed to the main fighting arena to speak to Shera Yang.
"Look at the freak parade." Tarich laughed as he approached the group. Kaeli sighed next to him. "Who stopped the moon, Sir Yang?" she asked. "That man." Yang replied, motioning to Dorin. "Oh. And...they are?" Kaeli looked at the group. "Friends of my student. Lena." Yang said.


Maria moved behind Dorin, placing her hand on his shoulder, and just as Ethel had done for her before, pushed some of her energy into him. He looked like he was about to fall on his face. She hadn't known that he was a spell caster, just a potion maker, but then again she shouldn't have been very surprised for she used potions and spells.


Dareth look consterned, just what was happening with the moon? He looked at Dorin and nodded his head, thanking him. But still, what Rosso had said about no magic in the planet being able to move the moon worried him. True, it appeared that the chemist had stopped it, but what if it moved again? What if it hadn't stopped but instead decreased its pace?
If it had been the Ice Lord, then there was no knowing what would come next. If it wasn't, then it surely looked like another enemy had its sight placed on Q'thas.
Dareth looked at Rosso, she appeared to be losing her calm, collected self. She was part lycan, maybe it had to do with that. Lena was also acting out of character. She was unusually serene. This didn't stop the thief from following her advice. He turned to face Xee.
"You said you wanted to look around, let's go, shall we?" He suggested, tugging at her arm.


Ixaca stood behind Dorin the whole time and applauded his actions. To think that during her sleep people had found a way to move moons! It was amazing. Why had she been condemned like that just when interesting discoveries were beginning to appear?
When Maria arrived, the magically-enhanced woman looked at her. Another magic user, surprise! This one felt less untrained than Dorin felt, but Ixaca could also relate to her magic easily.
After the man's spell, the witch placed her hand on his shoulder. Ixaca could feel the energy being transmitted from Maria to Dorin. She followed suit and placed an arm of her own on Dorin. It wasn't like she could run out of energy anyway.


Cos was staring at the moon, hypnotized. There was something about it that [i[called[/i] to him. His mind told him that even if he'd wanted to gaze some place else he wouldn't be able to. But Cos had no intention of gazing at anything else. The moon was there, it was a miracle of some sort! He felt the need to keep watch over it from that day to the rest of his life.
"I know Lena is right." He said, albeit in a whisper. And in all seriousness. Cos, like Lena, had stopped being. . . clueless for a moment. He was being serious, and was not speaking, he was whispering.
And he continued like that, in the same pose, performing the same actions: He stared at the moon, whispering rubbish. At least, what appeared to be rubbish.


Xee nodded to Dareth, taking his hand.
She didn't know what the hell was going on, but it was freaking her out.
the moon was not supposed to move. It was supposed to stay up in the sky, nice and far away from everyone on Q'thas.
The fact that it was moving deeply bothered Xee.
It had to be magic. And Xee hated magic with something of a passion. It wasn't to be trusted. This ponly proved that.
with Dareth, she slipped away from the crowd, careful to avoid Rosso, Lena, Cos, Fury, the monkey, and basiclly everyone else who might possibly be there to stop them.
She'd much rather be with Dareth then stand there staring at the moon. At least with him she could pretend such things didn't bother her at all.
Once the two had made it past the gathered crowd, Xee took off in a full on run, pulling Dareth with her. Long legs meant fast running, and when one was over six feet in height, that meant some very fast running.
They were a decent distance apart in no time.
Finally, Xee stopped, leaning aginst a tree and breathing slightly harder.
"So," she panted, "what the Hell do we do now?"

[Bryden]

Dareth looked around. They were pretty far from the arena and everyone they knew. In fact, they were pretty far away from anyone. His gaze turned to Xee, and he kissed her. He'd come to the realization that he'd loved the assassin for a long time. Since they'd met he'd been fascinated by her, by their resemblance. It felt right, she and he.
After they stopped, he stared at what was in front of them. They appeared to be in the limits of the monk village and Dareth could look way down, it was a long fall; and the sun was beginning to set before them. To him it seemed rather romantic. To Xee. . . he could bet otherwise.
"There must be something to do. It's not always that one finds himself in a monk village." He turned to Xee again. "Explore the floors below, meet monks, look about, wander. . . " his voice trailed off, his mind kept thinking about things to do


Fury had no idea what to do now, so she fly over to the dragon man. After looking at him for a bit she spoke up in her little perky voice, "Can you fly???"

Oh how wonderful it would be to have someone to fly with, at home she;d might as well have had the plague, no one would fly with her there. And her she was the only one who had wings!!!

" My spell will not hold for much longer. "
Dorin said as he recieved a lot of energy and his voice was not tired. He even felt more prepaired to cast off even more powerful spells.
" I thank you for your sharing of energy. I am fine now. He said as he turned to the two and bowed to them. He then looked back at the moon.
" Only a Lunarian has the power to move it back, but I give it a day before the moon moves this direction once more. We have to find a Lunarian to fix it. "

Thorn looked to the Fairie and nodded before his wings spreaded widely.
" I think we should help with the moon problem. Let us fly and see if we can not find anything of use. "
He then began to flap his wings and jumped. He shot up in the air and began to look around. He had no idea what he was looking for, but he was sure he would know it as soon as he saw it. If not, then just flying with someone would make it all worth it.


"Lunarian, I've never heard of such a thing." Maria said, looking at Dorin. She tucked a stray hair behind her ear as she thought about it. She had traveled the world for years. "What are they like?"


A sound similar to the cracking of a lightning bolt split the air for a fraction of a second. The sound preceded the entrance of an intoxicated Black Ethel.
The pirate in a red captain's jacket took a few wobbly steps forward before surveying her surroundings. She was standing on the ground, which she thought was a good thing, and she was rather close to a crowd surrounding some sort of arena. Black Ethel nodded and said clearly, "Phew, that was close. But it seems I lost him. That's good enough for me."
She took a few strides forward and looked up at the sky. For some reason, the moon was out, full as a new coin, in broad daylight. Black Ethel raised an eyebrow and looked at the bottle of rum that she clutched in her right hand, then back at the moon. She looked back at her rum once more and murmered, "I didn't think this stuff had an effect on me anymore." Ethel shrugged and tilted her head back as she drank a few more gulps of rum.
Ethel wiped her mouth with her sleeve and continued wandering around. The place seemed safe enough to her, aside from the moon being awfully close. She looked around some more, actually seeing the faces of the people transfixed by the celestial body encroaching upon their small speck in the universe. Ethel began to recognize a few of these faces -- something that she sorely wanted to avoid. There was a blue fairy with a...monkey? She recognized the energetic monk, Lena, and the nearby half-wit Cos. Ethel also saw a dragon-like man. She vaguely remembered seeing him some time ago. Thorn, I think, was his name, she recalled. Ethel grimaced. Xee must be nearby. Heh, if she sees me, I don't doubt I'll get an earful about leaving without an explanation....
Ethel didn't enter the crowd of people immediately so she wouldn't bump into any of her previous acquaintances. Instead she walked a few steps in the opposite direction of the arena, drank some more rum, and kept a wary eye out for the tall assassin.


" I have no idea what exactly they look like, but they know magics far greater than any mortal being. As you can see, they can move a moon. I feel my spell weakening. The moon is going to continue to move toward us soon. Let me see if this spell works. "
He closed his eyes and looked to have fallen into a deep trance. He then opened his mouth and began speaking in a language that was not known to this world. Lunairian magic was impossible to master for anyone not Lunairian, but there was still a way to communicate with them. His master had taught him that Lunairian language was more complex than the elven dialect, but one could atleast learn to speak it....badly.
" I laced it with magic to travel far and let us hope a Lunairian can hear it. I want to talk to one to figure out why they sent the moon towards us.


Ethel continued to stay on the outskirts of the crowd, but she heard something that made her ears prick up. It was someone speaking an ancient magical language. It was vaguely familiar to Ethel, being the powerful witch she was and knowing most of the magical languages. The voice was faint, too faint for most on the edge of the crowd to even register, but Ethel certainly heard it. Lunarian, I believe, Ethel noted, how interesting. Then she straightened up a bit and looked back up at the moon. She smirked. "I knew rum couldn't affect me anymore," she said with some strange sort of triumph. Ethel downed the rest of her rum, snapped the fingers of her left hand, and made the bottle of rum disappear until she needed it again.
Ethel strolled over to where she heard the ancient magical words coming from. She had to admit that it wasn't the best pronunciation of the language that she had heard, but any Lunarian would have been able to understand what it meant. However, Ethel wasn't a Lunarian, therefore she actually didn't understand most of what the voice had said, but she'd sung the language enough to recognize it when she heard it. Ethel continued to follow the magical trail that led to where the voice had come from. To her dismay, it was someone she recognized.
It was Dorin, a magician of some sort that had joined the group after they had stopped to dock at a port where a few others joined the treck towards the Ice Lord's fortress. Ethel sighed, but she knew that she had to face those people sometime. So she walked up to Dorin once he had finished sending his message to the Lunarians and she said, as pleasantly as she could muster, "Hello Dorin. Remember me?" No, that wasn't strange, Ethel thought as she mentally chastised herself while she waited for his response.


He looked at Ethel and smiled warmly.
" Ahhh Ethel is it? It is good to see you again. Well you have come at the most interesting time. It seems the Lunairians have decided to send a moon flying toward us. I managed to stop it, only I do not know for how long. We need to talk to the Lunairians. I do not want to fight them because they are simply the most powerful in magic I have ever heard of, but if we can communicate with them, then maybe we can find out why they are trying to crash the moon into this land. "
He began talking in Lunairian again hoping to get a response from them.

Thorn was airborn. He still was trying to find something that would help. He soon saw a figure shining in light coming from the moon. Just what was it?


IC: Lena stared at Dorin, her face twisted in mild confusion. "They aren't sending the moon at us. Someone else is. I can feel their emotions. They want the moon to stay where it is, they don't want it to move." she said, her childish voice making the words sound dreamy. "You're trying to speak to them, but you aren't like them. They don't understand you. Cos and I can feel their minds." she said matter of factly. She didn't even have to ask Cos if he felt them, because she could tell. She smiled at Dorin and Ethel. "They're talking to us. I can't understand them, but I can tell they're saying nice things."


Ethel looked at Lena and raised her eyebrow slightly. Just as odd as I'd left her, Ethel thought, almost comforted by the fact that not much had changed since she'd left. The monk's claim was peculiar but not unheard of, though Ethel could hardly fathom why the half-witted Cos could feel the emotions as well. She decided to humor the girl. "How pleasant," Ethel remarked aloud. She ventured so far as to ask, "Do you have any idea who this person saying such nice things about us is?"


Fury flew with the strange dragon man, its was amazing to not only slice through the air by herself, but with someone by her side. As she was enjoying this feeling, and the sun glinting off of her sapphire skin, she saw the streak of light come from the moon. Eagerly she raced towards it.


"Of course not." Lena said peppily. She looked up at the sky and frowned again. "Fury shouldn't do that. It's a really bad idea. Oh! Time to get ready!" Lena giggled. She hopped up and skipped off to Yang, who led her into a nearby shack. Of course, Lena waved spastically as she did so. Genjo squeaked and followed as fastly as he could.

Rosso wove past the crowds, stopping near a tree with a scooped bottom. A pool of water rested in the scoop, and Rosso slipped her shoe off and dipped her left foot in. Relaxing. The moon was aggravating her, but this soothed the irritation.

Ixaca felt a tingling sensation withing her body. In fact, she'd been feeling it ever since her hand had been touching Dorin's shoulder, sending him some of her own magical energy. The fae-elf hybrid had never supplied another being with magic of her own, in a way, this new experience fascinated her. But she couldn't help ask, what exactly made her insides tickle? Maria also was suppling Dorin, but she didn't look diferent (taking into consideration that Ixaca had only known Maria for about two hours). Hmm. . .
Like she'd guessed, the tinkling sensation could be attributed to the loss of magic she was experiencing; but this she didn't know: for all the giving she'd been doing, the tinkling was the only signal that showed her magic 'supply' was shifting. If, say, a magician had been giving as much magic, for the same amount of time Ixaca had been giving Dorin, he'd be too tired to continue suppling to another being. Of course, Ixaca wasn't aware how big her magical 'reserve' was.
A sound like that of lightning caught her attention, and a witch appeared. Almost immediately, Ixaca felt the witch's magical aptitudes resembled Ixaca's own more than Dorin's did. Because of this, her gaze was now fixed on this witch. To her surprise, she approached her location to talk to Dorin - it was here that Ixaca learned the witch's name to be Ethel. And, merrily, she followed the conversation between the chemist and Ethel, and thus, heard Lena's interruption. Cos could feel. . . or hear these Lunarians too?
Here, her attention fell on Cos, who was standing around alone, with only his mouth moving. He was barely even blinking! Worried, she withrew her hand from Dorin's shoulder, and walked over to her friend.
"Cuneamphe, is anything the matter?" She waited for a response, but got none. All Cos was doing was staring up at the moon, and muttering words alien to Ixaca. Something, indeed, was wrong with him.

As Thorn got closer, the light grew farther. He took a while, but he finally understood and stopped flying. He hovered in his spot and spoke.
" It seems we were not meant to get close to it just yet. It has a powerful magic about it, but it is man made to say the least. "

[Bryden]

A loud bell rang over the village, causing everyone around to look up. The gray-clad monk pupils let out excited gasps and immediately fled their areas. The stampede led to a large tree, upon which a temple-like building was suspended. One of its doors flew open and Lena, clad in a form-fitting blue uniform, rushed out. She grabbed Cos and Ixaca's hands and pulled them forward. "The graduation is starting! Hurry!" she whined. Several people were rushing around, some of them students who were merely trying to make sure that they were fully prepared, and others were teachers helping said students. Yang appeared at Lena's side and laid an arm on her shoulder. She let out another whine-like sigh. "Please, gather the others and take them to the Elder Tree. Genjo and I have to get ready." With that, Lena and Yang disappeared into the crowd.


Ixaca let herself be dragged along by Lena, staring at everything that was happening. It was amazing what the ring of a bell could do in a monk village. Cuneamphe was still in the trance, but Ixaca wasn't worrying over it too much anymore.
"Yes, of course." She assured Lena and the bald man save for a ponytail. Since her friend was still moongazing, the responsibility to gather everyone fell on her shoulders. How exciting! This was a way to bond with the people she'd been unknowingly travelling with.
First up, were the magic users, the closest to her position. With light steps, she made her way towards Dorin, Ethel and Maria. She found them in the same situation she'd left them in. She was afraid to ask Dorin to leave, since he was doing the tiresome job of keeping the moon at bay. Once she gathered enough courage, she spoke: "Lena and one of the monks want us to go to the Elder Tree" she pointed at one of the biggest trees in the village. "Something big is about to begin".
Thorn and Fury were flying closeby, but out of earshot. Ixaca waved at them with both hands and signaled to the same tree. Hopefully, they'd get the idea.
Now, for the thief and the assassin. They weren't around, and she could percieve nothing from the thief, since he couldn't control any sort of magic. The assassin, Xee, on the other hand, had a very unique magical pattern. Ixaca follwed it. She certainly had taken a long road away from the village, it took her a long time finding her. Once she did, she was happy to see Dareth with her. "Lena wants us to meet at the Elder Tree", she said. Since said tree couldn't be seen from their position, she described it to them.
Next, to her final target, Rosso. She ran towards her. Dreading the moment she'd have to talk to her. The woman scared her, her magical aptitude was of the greatest bizzarity. She found her with a foot in a pond, strange.
"Uhm. . . Lady Rosso, Lena. . . Lena wants us to meet at that tree" she told her quietly, unsure if even Rosso had heard her. She avoided further eye contact, and walked towards Cos, and next, to the aforementioned tree.


Maria nodded, turning her back to hte strange moon. Ixaca's voice had shocken her out of some sort of trance that she had been in. Now, shaking Dorin to get his attantion. She started to head towards the Elder Tree. She liked the feel of this tree. SH ecould tell it was old and it reminded her of ehr home.
The entire group was gathered around the Elder Tree, seated upon carefully crafted wooden seats covered with vibrantly patterned cloth. Rosso leaned forward in her seat, squinting to see the students at the top of the tree. To her right were Cos and Ixaca and to her left Xee and Dareth. Maria sat directly in front of her, with Ethel next to her. Dorin and Fury were somewhere behind her, she couldn't tell. In the crowd of faces, Rosso noticed the boy from earlier, Tarich, with his friend Kaeli. But someone else was there; a vibrant, chatting blonde elf who had a large smile. Rosso stood up and approached the elf, staring. "Setra?" she demanded. The elven woman turned around, her eyes round. "Rosso! Oh, dearest, fancy seeing you here! Why are you here, dear?" Setra asked. "My...ally is graduating today. Shera Lena." Rosso replied. Setra's face flashed with shock but she composed herself quickly. "That's so nice. Kaeli, Tarich, and I are enjoying the sights." Rosso sighed went back to her seat; Setra was always doing strange things, and this was no different.
The clatter of bells sounded the beginning of graduation. Groups of four stepped forward, three students and their teacher. Rosso scanned each of them passively, barely noting their faces and uniform blue kenpo-gis. Then, she saw a flash of blonde hair and a monkey, and knew that Lena and Genjo were up. Lena's hair was arranged in two Odango pigtails, giving her a slightly more sophisticated look. Next to her stood a dark-haired boy, whom Rosso had never seen before, and Genjo was on her shoulder. A beaming Yang stood in the middle. "Sensei Shera Yang and his pupils: Shera Neede, Shera Lena, and Shera Genjo. All-Gold class, S-Rank in Sand Tournament. Sheras Lena and Neede placed among the top five of the Jungle Frenzy." the announcer said, her voice droning but clearly proud of every student she was addressing. The monks all smiled, just as proud of themselves. In a methodical order, iron medals were placed on the necks of Neede, Lena, and Genjo. As with all of the other graduations, loud applause rang out. The trio and Yang raced down the Elder Tree's stairs and into the crowd; Neede split off to meet with his visitors, but Lena and Genjo of course stuck together. Lena made a B-line for Dareth, Rosso, and Xee and wrapped them all in a hug. "Isn't this amazing?" she whispered, close to tears.

[Bryden]

And... DONE!