The Reborn - Finishing What Was Started IC [M]

[Minkasha]

M for all sorts of adult like buffoonery including but not limited to: grim deceptions of death, sensual encounters of the fourth kind, escapism through moralistic means and exploration of a broken heart.


OOC (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=68779)


Universe I: A Marriage Best Left Undone I & II (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=53425)

Once upon a time you were born for greatness. There was destiny, a greater plot and a role that you fulfilled. The weavers of fate spun you in their webs and gave you hope. But then…there was pause. And it lingered, and all time stilled…the quest ended so quickly…so…incorrectly…so…incomplete.

Eventually, your vision turned white, it burned, you screamed into the dying universe but you were forgotten. Somehow, in some cruel fashion, you were liberated from your webs. Left adrift in the sea of nothingness, its waves going to and fro with the corpses of multiverses unsung and undone.

And the light, all four saw the light singularly. They moved through this journey, their minds able wander when their bodies couldn't. Was this god? Had they died? Put perhaps the most frightening question was: would this ever end? Its length of time was tangible, floating in whiteness that had spanned infinitely but gloriously, it felt like a miracle. But even as pleasant as this stasis was, it began to change.

Slowly, just noticeably in the edges of their vision, did all begin to fade. Dimmer and dimmer became what they had learned to accept in that long but undefined time, their internal sense of passing uncertain. Dimmer and dimmer…shapes were starting to come, walls and figures, though just vague.

But in a sudden burst of reality, the light vanished, leaving them dazed and blinded. For Georgina and Vahşi, a letter had appeared in their hands and there was a compulsion to read it. For Baka and Calamity, their bodies felt the sensation of being on their hands and knees, looking down at letters that appeared on the ground below, they too were forced to heed its call.

Ignoring all around them, and even each other, the words came from paper and into their minds. Before they even begin to ask themselves what its vagueness meant or reread it, the letters faded and left them. A new surrounding now pulled to them.

All four were in the same room, a large foyer made of pure white marble. The entrance spanned two hallways long, joined in the center in the square room they were standing in. The marble floors were decorated with sprinkles of black spots, shining off the light of each chandelier that came one after another down both halls. Between the doors were statues of gold taking the shape of naked fit men or women in display poses, end tables with exotic vases and blooming flowers.

The square room itself vaulted up five stories, the stairs that began near the thick decorative marble archway and double doors. Following the stairs, railed with swirling black gothic designs, it made a zig zag pattern from floor to floor. To look straight up at the crossing stairs, they could see that standing in the right spot formed a sigil of two gold dragons, standing with their backs touching and breathing fire out. Moving slightly, they could see the sigil sparkle, and at the feet of the dragons was a banner with the word ‘Nikas’ on it, the letters elegant cursive that flowed perfectly from each set of stairs it spanned.

Along the northern most wall was another large set of marble doors, two men standing strong in firm, guarding it.

Baka and Calamity, in their submissive pose of hands and knees, were wearing similar cloth garments that could only be described as humbling. Calamity was adorned in a white dress that tied together at her shoulders and held at her waist with a thick yarn, yellow belt with tassels. The purple eyed woman wore simple brown sandals with strings wrapping at her ankles, and her hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail.

Baka, wore what appeared to be a giant piece of cloth with a hole in it and short sleeves for his arms. It was tied to his waist by waist by an identical belt, his feet covered by identical footwear. The garment ended two to three inches above his knees, giving him quite a draft as he was positioned. Within their hands was a large sponge, dripping with water and soap from having just been squeezed. There was gray bucket filled with soapy water between the two of them and lined with dry white cloths lying around its edge.

Georgina however was dressed head to toe in money. Her body was accentuated with a skin tight red dress that that came with built in cups attached to a string tied up behind her neck, pushing up her breasts tremendously. The way of her hair was styled, wavy and vivacious, kept the wound at the side of her neck hidden, through the straps of her dress were pressing into it. Dressed on her wrists were bands of diamonds and a bangle of gold and the black heels with a zipper down the front with straps she could have easily guessed were of some high fashion line. On her shoulder was large black purse she was defiantly sure was expensive. She found herself standing proudly, near the double doors that had the two men standing. The clothing of the two men consisted of very loose robes that folded over on itself stylishly across their chests, white with gold edging. On their hips were holsters with pistols and their faces were stern, perfectly straight at the other set of marble doors.

By those doors was Vahşi, adorned in a robe that did not cover his chest but instead had a bunched tail of red silk flowing down his left shoulder to his hips, more red material tied, holding the robes up right below his pectorals. The rest of the robe was white silk, with well cushioned strappy sandals.

As confused and baffled as the four were, the two guards remained stiff, not even looking at them. Between them all was a strange connection; each could feel the relativity of direction and closeness of the other and with all of them having the front of their right forearms exposed could see what appeared to be a small tattoo of the infinity symbol near their wrists.

There was a click of heels coming from the left hall, and a pouting huff of a higher pitched voice. As the being walked in, the two guards nodded their heads.

"Prigkipissa" The regarded her with great respect.

She was simply stunning. This woman had soft and supple pale skin, lightly blushing cheeks, a soft, small nose and well traced lips, her jaw was soft with a squaring of her chin. The most striking things about here were the crystalline aquatic blue eyes with bold lashes and she had and wispy straight hair that was actually some strangely beautiful fusion of silver with the lightest lavender tint.

The heels clicked louder and Baka saw that they were white with anklet straps, her feet small and toes painted red. He also noticed that she almost stepped on his foot, not even acknowledging his existence. This silver-lavender haired woman was approaching Georgina in a short white night gown embroidered with black lace, the chest was a bit flat, but her figure was short and petite anyways. There was a pain in her gorgeous jewel eyes and she appeared to be on the verge of tears.

“We need to talk about your older brother” She looked over her shoulder at Vahşi before returning her gaze back to Georgina “away from him”.

[The Cockatiel]

Vahşi flinched as the light vanished. He could sense other beings nearby, and could even see one in his peripheral vision, but his focus was compulsively forced onto the letter that had appeared in his hands. The words swirled through his mind like snow in the breeze, but almost before he understood them the letter disappeared. Only a vague, nostalgic sense of longing was left, tempered by pain. In its place were new surroundings, different than the limbo world they'd been briefly trapped inside.

Vahşi's gaze moved quickly around the room as if on instinct. Any fool could have seen that the building was built with absolutely no spared expenses, but Vahşi knew better than most just how expensive everything around him was. The marble floor, frequent chandeliers, golden statues, exotic vases and flowers - all would have been expensive if used to furnish just a single average room. But even the room spoke of spent money, with its high ceilings, decorative stairways, and elaborate sigil.

Despite the expenses given to building and decorating the place, however, it seemed as though money had been saved with personnel. Guards flanked each doorway, true, but other than that there were only three other beings in the place, one of whom was obviously not a servant. Having come to the decision that nobody in the room wanted to kill him yet, Vahşi took the time to admire the woman's clothing and figure.

Within a few moments, however, it came to him that he had no idea what he was wearing himself. It certainly didn't feel familiar; it did, in fact, feel a bit sparse. He glanced down at himself and immediately decided that, although nobody in the room wanted to kill him, he certainly wanted to kill somebody in the room. Although he certainly wouldn't argue about his second chance at life, there was absolutely no way he would keep his mouth shut about this. Unfortunately, nobody around seemed likely to be the mysterious benefactor that had brought him back. The letter, the one had that disappeared, had mentioned its author being in a cage. Besides, even without the letter, it was obvious that the woman by the door didn't exactly know where she was either. Neither of the guards seemed to be at ease, despite their regulation stiffness.

Something clicked on the floor and Vahşi's hand moved to his hip, where he found exactly zero of his weapons. He looked down just briefly enough to confirm that his artificial defenses were gone, noticing a strange tattoo on his wrist as he lifted his gaze to focus on the area where the sound was coming from. It was almost like he could feel other copies of the symbol in the room, three others to be exact, but he didn't pay much attention to that phenomena at the moment. A huffing noise came with the clicking and Vahşi realized the sounds' source was a humanoid just before the woman entered the room.

Vahşi generally wasn't seduced by what some would call 'feminine charms' but he was willing to admit that this woman was more than beautiful. If all freeborn females in this world were like the two he'd seen so far, he wasn't going to object to staying. Even though her hair wasn't particularly a natural colour, and her eyes almost artificially clear and sharp, they tied together beautifully with her complexion and figure. He quickly noted that she seemed distressed about something and was dressed in what looked like nightclothes.

"In case you didn't know, 'him' can hear you," he said to her. Though his voice was refined and he'd obviously had some schooling, there was a gravelly undertone from his years of dealing with the scum of the underworld. "And he wouldn't mind knowing where and when the hell he is, and who with."

[valkoordb]

Baka's vision swam. He was unsure what was going on. He knew instinctively that there was someone beside him, a bit too close for his liking. However he couldn't bring himself to turn. Instead he watched as words on the floor in front of him appeared. The second he had read them, they vanished leaving Baka more than a bit confused. It was then he was able to move and view his surroundings.

As if he wasn't confused enough. He was in a giant room more ornate than he could describe. He looked around at all of the lavish decor. This was far beyond that of his small island home. 'The island! What happened to everyone! Hikari? Taylor? Are they ok? What about Ryuu, Fantome and Lan had gone with him through that door, shouldn't they be here? I have to find them.' He looked around at the people with him, but none of them were familiar.

He looked to his side to see a girl dressed in rags. Then he noticed he himself was in rags. He flushed at the lack of covering they gave his legs, but quickly got over it. He noticed the bucket and sponge in his hand and realized the situation he was in. 'Maybe talking isn't the best thing right now.' He noted the guards as he thought this. Instead he began to wash the floor silently, listening for a hint of information that would help him.

Then he felt it. He hadn't noticed before because of the shock of it all, but there was a weird feeling. It felt like the beat of a drum vibrating him, but without any sound. It was centered on his wrist which he noticed had the infinity symbol on it. He then closed his eyes and focused on the pulses, there were three of them. One pointed to the girl beside him, the other two across the room to the two finely dressed man and woman. He was about to ask the girl beside him a question, but fell silent as the clicking of heals passed by him.

His first impression of the woman who passed was flawless. Then she nearly stepped on his hand. His eyes narrowed and he instantly wrote her off. As she walked to the other side of the room to talk to the other woman who was well dressed Baka turned to the girl beside him. He whispered just to where it would barley be heard, "What's going on?" He turned to her with an honest face. Baka wasn't a good at masking his emotions and his face projected confusion.

[G]

She remembered the pain. The world of confusion, the cries that had echoed around her, that she hadn't realised at first were coming from her own mouth. The feeling... indescribable. Empty. Terrifying.

Then the light had shone forth, and she was driven to her knees. Despite her position of prostration, the feeling of hopeful bliss lingered - then the words of the letter filled her again with uncertainty, before it faded out of view.

The next she knew, Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility was staring down at a floor of sheer white stone, shot through with black, blinking rapidly as her eyes adjusted to the shifting light. The marble was cold, it's chill seeping into her legs through the thin cloth of the unfamiliar dress. Water trickled down her forearms, and she stared blankly at the sodden sponge clutched in her hands before dropping it, her face scrunched in an expression of distaste. Eyeing her soapy hands, she sat up, holding them suspended in the air for a moment before reluctantly using her dress to dry them.

Her gaze moved next to the scruffy-haired youth across from her, his face a picture of confusion as he, like her, absorbed the lavish surroundings. He had been brought here, too, then? He was dressed in similar, strange clothes to her, and also held a soaking sponge. What was the meaning of this?! For a moment, she considered the possibility that this was a punishment, a way for Sensibility to shame her into obedience. But the letter... what had it said? The words drifted teasingly just out of reach of her conscious mind, and the girl sighed, lifting her eyes to further explore the room. It wasn't home, wherever she was, and the guards were unfamiliar. They didn't even look at her, or anyone, in fact... until she entered the room.

A single glance told Cal that she was royalty, or at the very least important; the reaction from the previously poker-faced guards confirmed it. Takes one to know one, she thought, her lips twisting into a rather snobbish pout. Not that you'd know it, to look at me now. She sat up straighter as the woman passed, but the stranger offered her no recognition, or acknowledgement of any kind - she simply swept past, making a beeline for another unfamiliar face; an elegantly dressed woman standing a small distance away. As the silver-haired beauty spoke, a third joined the group, and Cal eyed all three with suspicion. Were one, or all of these people responsible for the situation she found herself in?

"What's going on?" the boy beside her hissed, and Cal met his eyes, her expression resolved.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out."

With as much grace as she could muster from her current position, and dressed as she was, Calamity rose, stepping toward the three with a haughty expression.

[Azazeal849]

The white light flashed and faded. Gina sucked in an involuntary gasp as she was left blinking blindly in the fractal light of the chandeliers. Her arms wavered in an automatic attempt to steady herself, and there was a papery crackle as her hand tightened on something that had appeared in her fist. She looked down to see a scrap of parchment in her hand, scrawled with writing.

Dear Gina,

I have taken you back. Who am I you must be asking…that is a mystery that even I sometimes ponder upon. But it does not matter WHO I am but rather WHAT I want, dear Gina. And what I want…is….freedom. My power I thought nigh unstoppable. But even I have been cast into a cage. I cry out, I send these letters across all boundaries of existence. You’ve been chosen, given redemption through me. Find me…

The words were dark red, the ink flaky and crusted. Blood, Gina realised, but at that exact moment the parchment turned to smoke in her hands and vanished. Her mind racing, Gina groped for the silver scissors that she had hidden inside her sleeve. They weren’t there, and instead of her cotton uniform blouse she felt bare skin and something metallic. She looked down to see her wrist encircled with a glittering diamond bracelet. Her hand dropped to her stomach as she registered that she was clothed in a skin-tight red dress made of a soft, silky fabric, complete with black heels and an expensive-looking purse that hung lightly from her left shoulder.

It’s another one of Their tricks. she thought, her heart rate spiking with adrenaline, It has to be.

She looked around but her fellow survivors had all disappeared, and she was no longer in the gloomy mansion gardens but in a vaulted hall of white marble, her bewildered face reflected back at her by the golden bodies of statues that ringed the chamber. Her hair had been styled into elegant waves falling over one shoulder, and she could feel the halter neck of her dress pressing uncomfortably against the puncture wounds in the side of her neck. The gauze pad that had been there, like her hidden weapon, had vanished.

Flanking the door behind Gina were two armed men in gold-edged robes, but despite her obvious confusion they remained staring rigidly ahead; a living mirror of the golden statues. The only other people in the hall were a teenaged boy and girl who knelt scrubbing the floor, and a shaggy-haired man standing opposite her. Gina’s attention automatically latched onto the man - he was dressed in an incongruous, almost Grecian-looking toga of red and white silk, but he wore the same disorientated expression as Gina herself.

What…? Gina mouthed at him, something making her reluctant to speak out loud. The man groped for something at his hip, and at the same moment a thought came to Gina. She snapped open her purse, and found a smooth, slim-line mobile sitting on top of an assortment of makeup and manicure items. Fishing it out and fumbling for the single button on its topside, she was rewarded by the flat screen lighting up with the unfamiliar letters Μαιμακτηριών - αʹθ. Below that was the text η:δ. Gina stared helplessly at the Cyrillic script, but then she felt a tingle in her wrist and the letters seemed to dissolve and shift, until they read December 19th, 8:04am.

Gina only had a moment to feel alarm about the date - for her it had been August - before she looked closer at the hand holding the phone and saw that a black figure-8 had somehow tattooed itself onto her wrist. She stared, rubbed the mark with her free hand, and snapped her gaze back up to the shaggy-haired man opposite. He too was looking at his wrist, and what’s more so were the two teenagers on the floor.

Gina was still grappling with this new revelation when a sound of footsteps against marble made everyone turn their heads towards the hallway on Gina’s left.

“Prigkipissa.” the two guards nodded from behind Gina, almost making her jump.

A short but striking woman emerged, dressed only in what looked like a lace-embroidered nightgown and white sandals. Her wispy hair was dyed silver-white, and her beautiful, delicate face was on the verge of tears.

“We need to talk about your older brother.” she said to Gina, before looking over her shoulder at the shaggy-haired man. “Away from him.”

Gina didn’t have an older brother, and she felt her heart rate rising again. She hesitated.

Don’t make yourself a target. Just play along until you can figure out what’s going on.

She opened her mouth to respond, but the shaggy-haired man interrupted her first.

"In case you didn't know, 'him' can hear you." he said to the newcomer. His voice was low and gravelly. "And he wouldn't mind knowing where and when the hell he is, and who with."

Oh bloody hell. Gina thought. Just as the petite woman with the silver hair turned back round, the teenage girl on the floor rose and approached them. Perhaps emboldened by the man’s speech, her strong-featured face was determined.

Later! Gina mouthed hard at both of them behind the silver-haired woman’s back, trying to buy them some time. They still had no idea what was going on here, or how much danger they were in. In an attempt to distract the petite woman, she gently touched her upper arm.

“Ignore him.” she told the woman as levelly as she could. She took a step towards the hallway arch, hoping that the woman the guards had called ‘prigkipissa’ would follow. “What’s happened?”

[Minkasha]

It took Vahşi’s lupine senses a moment to understand the scents around, the body odors of those in the room him coming to him first. The woman in the red dress was just caked with perfumes. Secondly his nose picked up the unpleasant experience of...too clean an unnatural fragrance of pine that was easily identified as artificial by his great sniffer. It was all around, along with the shine everything had, it came with the burden of this off-putting smell. But third was much more pleasurable, now that the woman he had spoken to entered he could take in the flowery imagery her unique, yet somehow natural, scent gave off. It was light and gentle, invigorating like mint and elegant, a field of flowers. But the last thing on her mind looked to be the appreciation of her own charms.

The silverlette faced him now, her eyes rapidly blinking, arch shaped brows raised. No longer could she hold back her tears, his words provoking her off the edge. With a graceful flair did she put a hand up to her heart wounded, narrowing her eyes. On back of appeared a symbol tattooed, much like his own upon the wrist. However, hers took a different shape, a circle with a cross stemming from its bottom. Somehow, everyone knew in the room that the symbol, and thus by extension, the small woman, was important and connected in some way to their current predicament.

In the light of the chandeliers, the crystal tone of her eyes nearly made the sapphire color become neon. Her face flashed with anger before she looked at the woman in the white dress. Gina’s attempts to hold attention failed.

The two guards immediately stepped from their position from the door, taking noticeably good care to avoid both Georgina and the silverette, stepping around them respectfully. But that respect was not given to the teenage girl, one of the men clutching the back of her hair. His fingers dug deeply, sending fire to the tugged strands through the surface of her skull.

“You forget your place!” The man yelled in her young face. His other fist struck into her stomach, the air taken right out of her. Throwing her back down to the ground, she slid a little, her left arm and face being covered in soapy water she had tried to liberate herself from. She could feel it soaking into her flimsy dress. “You are a slave of the emperor, you do not approach the royals unless asked” The man spoke down to the teenage girl cruelly.

Running down the stairs was an older man in his forties, wearing something much like Baka was. His hair was balding, sharp jags in the hairline at each side and his lined face showed hardship. Stepping before Vahşi, he bowed, getting on his knees and bending down at the hip so his face nearly touched the ground, completely submissive before the man.

“Welcome home, how may I be of service?” Entering all their ears were the sobs of the small woman in the nightgown.

“You’re upsetting the Akraiean prigkipissa!” The other elegantly dressed guard hissed to his counterpart. The man, still staring down at Calamity put two fingers up to his ear, to an earpiece.

“I need additional staff…for management” the guard spoke softer, regretfully.

“Is the emperor so cruel!?” Her voice high with emotion, now she shot a glare at Vahşi before running to Georgina. “Why are your brothers so horrible!?” she wailed, running back down the left hallway where she had come from. Even through all the drama, the man at Vahşi’s feet did not move at all, waiting for command.

Baka, had been ignored the entire time, though he was only a foot away from the struck Calamity. The silverette’s scent lingered in the room, even as she was fleeing. But the sense of importance she had for all four of them remained.

[Azazeal849]

Gina couldn't stop her mouth from falling open in shock.

“You are a slave of the emperor, you do not approach the royals unless asked.” the man spoke down to the teenage girl cruelly.

Mortified, Gina took a risk and stepped forward. The guard had, after all, stepped respectfully round her and referred to royals, plural.

"That's enough!" she said, snapping to try and stop her voice from faltering.

The guard froze, stopped and stepped back. "Yes, lady Georgina." he said smartly before rising and taking a step back from the stricken girl.

It was too late for the silver-haired woman though, who had burst into tears.

“Is the emperor so cruel!?” she sobbed, her voice high with emotion. She shot a glare at Vahşi before running to Georgina. “Why are your brothers so horrible!?” she wailed, running back down the left hallway where she had come from.

“You’re upsetting the Akraiean prigkipissa!” the other elegantly dressed guard hissed to his counterpart. The man, still staring down at Calamity, put two fingers up to his ear, to an earpiece.

“I need additional staff…for management.” the guard spoke softer, regretfully.

Gina swallowed, and decided to push her luck further.

"I'll deal with her." she told the guards, pointing at Cal. She coughed to clear her throat before shifting to point at Baka. "Him as well."

She raised her eyebrows at the two, gesturing them up before turning her head to look down the corridor where the 'prigkipessa' had disappeared.

"You'd better come too..." she told the shaggy-haired man, who was still looking down at the older servant prostrated at his feet.

Taking Cal by the wrist, she hurried out of the vaulted chamber as quickly as she dared. As soon as they were out of earshot of the two guards by the door, she paused and rounded on Cal and Baka.

"I don't suppose you know any more about what's going on than I do?" she asked them quietly, hugging her elbows.

[G]

She had barely made it half the short distance to the trio when the guards made their rapid approach, and a hot rush of pain exploded through her scalp. Her head was wrenched backward, and a cry of pain escaped her lips, her eyes a mask of confused terror as she looked up into the livid face of the man who held her.

"You forget your place!" he was screaming at her, calling her 'slave.' Her muscles constricted in protest, and her first instinct would have been to narrow her eyes at him in a poisonous glare - had they not been swimming with painful tears. Then his fist met her stomach, the air driven sharply from her lungs, and she gasped - not enough breath left to scream again.

Thrown bodily to the floor, she remained where she had landed, a crumpled heap on the damp marble. The young princess struggled to catch her breath, not daring even glance back at her assailants. The pampered girl had witnessed more than her share of inflicted pain - but it had always been someone else, the victim. The servant.

Where in the hell where they?

A hand touched her wrist, and Calamity flinched; half-expecting another blow. But none came, and when she looked up, it was at the face of the young woman that with royal airs had approached - putting on some airs of her own, it seemed. But as obvious as it had been to the raven-haired heir to her realm (though whether that still meant anything seemed questionable at this point) that the first woman had been royalty, despite her shaken demeanor, so it seemed the opposite with this woman - though she played the part well enough, it seemed, to get the three of them away from the guards, it seemed just that - a part she was playing.

Her question confirmed it, and Cal just shook her head.

"Clearly, if I had known the delicacy of the situation, I might have approached it... differently. Still, it is them I feel sorry for, really. When my mother finds out about this!" she gestured her pale face, where the hint of a dark bruise was already forming on her left cheekbone, its tones a dimmer reflection of her striking, violet eyes. Her pouting lips were slightly bloodied on the same side. The words were an attempt at a brave face, but Cal had a sinking feeling they were empty; something told her she would not be seeing Sensibility again... the tyrannical woman would never allow someone to call themselves 'Emperor,' under her rule. Wherever they were, it was a long way from home.

[The Cockatiel]

"Wait here for me," Vahşi told the man bowing in front of him, managing to drop his confusion and use an authoritative tone. He had absolutely no idea what was happening but he wasn't intending to let things stay that way. The silver-haired woman, whose flowery scent had whirled through the room, had left in some sort of emotional breakdown. Unfortunate, perhaps, but at the moment he wasn't going to chase after her.

His next words were for the guard who had requested additional staff. "The next time something happens, you will bring the incident to me, and me alone," he said. "Or I will be requesting management for you." It was a gamble, but what or who was Vahşi if not a gambler? Hopefully, if he was lucky, he wouldn't get a knife in the back. He was willing to bet, or guess, that he had some standing, considering the fact that he hadn't been struck for speaking, that the guard had mentioned royals in plural form, and that there had been a man bowing to him.

The guard started to reply but Vahşi held up a hand to stop his words. He crossed the room, keeping a haughty look and stride until he came around the corner. It didn't take long for him to follow the quiet words of conversation and find the three others that his mark had connected him with. Although he had no trouble following them, he did almost run over the young woman who had been struck. He sidestepped, pivoted on the ball of his foot, and stepped back before briefly scanning each of the three with a look. None carried any weapons, and their body language indicated no attack. His clenched muscles relaxed from an active to a dormant state - ready to be called upon at any moment but not visibly ready for attack.

"Do any of you know anything?" he asked. Judging by what already happened, he was more than willing to say the answer was negative, but he asked anyway. The girl who had been struck in the main room seemed to be the only one injured. "Like how we can get out of this ridiculous clothing or where our belongings are?" There were a dozen other questions he wanted to ask, but they could be saved for a later date when anyone actually knew what was going on. However, he had asked the two most important ones. Whatever he was wearing, it was not something he wanted to stay in. However, based on the clothing and architectural styles he'd seen, he didn't think he was going to be able to change anytime soon. Still, he was hoping his things were somewhere. It wasn't like he'd been dropped into a world fully grown but without any belongings.

[Azazeal849]

"Still, it is them I feel sorry for, really. When my mother finds out about this!" she gestured her pale face, where the hint of a dark bruise was already forming on her left cheekbone.

Gina stooped to examine the girl's bruise, thinking back to her first-aider's training and glad to be faced with a problem that she knew how to deal with. Calamity flinched again, as though she might pull away from the older girls' scrutiny, but after a moment's suspicion she stood still, tilting her chin toward the ceiling obstinately.

"Are you from West Hills too?" Gina asked, trying to recall if she had seen Cal's face among the younger students. The girl had very distinctive violet eyes, and her cheek was slowly turning a similar colour. "We'll have to find you some ice for that..."

"It's fine." Cal cut her off, though the gratitude at the first bit of compassion she had received in this place was not entirely hidden by the tone. "It wasn't as bad as it looked." She lifted a hand to gingerly touch the darkening skin, and the involuntary wince that followed betrayed her brave face a little.

"Let's just worry about figuring out where we are... and why I'm being treated like a... like a... slave." The word stuck in her throat a moment, as if difficult to say. And where in Serroc was 'West Hills?'

The three broke off as they heard rapid footsteps behind them. At that moment the shaggy-haired man came running down the hall, almost running into Cal.

"Do any of you know anything?" he asked. "Like how we can get out of this ridiculous clothing or where our belongings are?"

Gina began to shrug apologetically, but then she remembered something.

"No," she said as she snapped open her purse and dug the phone back out from under a palette of eyeshadows and a pair of gold-stamped Gucci sunglasses. "But I might have something that can help us find out..."

Cal's face was pure bewilderment as she looked between the object that the other girl held and her expression of concentration. The object appeared to be a small rectangular box, some unknown light beaming from within it.

"But how will that help us find anything? Is it..." again she paused - another word she seemed to find difficult to say aloud. "Is it magic?"

"Magic?" Gina repeated, nonplussed. Then it occurred to her that the girl might have been concussed by the guard's punch.

"Where are you from?" she asked, hoping that the simple, direct question would allay her worry.

Cal's back straightened as she responded, the gesture unconscious. With a tone of indignation at having to be asked (when was the last time someone had not recognised her? Even dressed as she was - Alexander's rebels had known her as the Princess even in the peasant garb she had been wearing before) and her chin still tilted upward at a proud angle, she said:

"I am from Serroc, of course. Where else would I live, in the woods? The future ruler of Serroc, as a matter of fact."

Though if she'd ever see the place again was something she was starting to question. Would that be so bad? The thought surprised her, and she frowned. She had never wanted to become her mother. Perhaps this was her chance, to be someone else; a possibility that had never occurred to her before. Clearly, her mothers' claim that Serroc was the only civilised place left - the rest of the world a vast expanse of chaotic, Fae-ruled woodland - was untrue.

The girl seemed coherent enough, but Gina could only meet her proud declaration with a blank expression. “I’m afraid I’ve never heard of it.” she admitted.

"I am Calamity Isis Mae Sensibilit.... uh, Cal."

The shaggy-haired man introduced himself as Vahsi, from a place called Merriweather.

Definitely not West Hills students. Well, Gina thought, twisting her mouth, There goes that theory.

Unless these three were also figments of the illusion, something was going on here beyond the ghosts of West Hills. And even Samnite's mirrors weren't this vivid.

"What about you?" Gina asked, turning to the other teenager.

Baka spoke for the first time, still hesitant to speak for some reason out of character, and said: "I'm Baka. From a place called Destiny Islands."

Serroc…Merriweather…Destiny Islands. What is this, Final Fantasy?

Gina looked from one to the other. “I’m Gina.” she said, somewhat lamely. “Er…from Leicester.”

Baka, Cal and Vahsi gave her the same blank look that she had just given them.

Baka merely listened to everyone else speak. Something inside him was telling him to keep his mouth quite for the time being. Though thoroughly confused and desperate for answers, He didn't reply to any of the general statements. I might as well let the situation settle a bit before I get involved. Everyone who knows me knows I tend to cause quite the ruckus.

“And none of you recognise this place?” Gina ventured without optimism. When they all shook their heads, she realised that they were going to have to suss it out for themselves.

She looked back at her phone, swiped the touchscreen experimentally, and was relieved to find that there wasn't a passcode. Perhaps royalty had too much security following them around to have to worry about something as mundane as having their phone stolen. Instead, the screen lit up with a black chevron logo and the text Lambda Industries, followed by a familiar series of app tiles. Gina hovered her thumb over the screen for a moment before starting with the phone's recent texts.

The first to grace her eyes from the electronic screen was from the sender 'Bestie love', the message saying: Hey Gigi, I heard you got to blow Mr. Adonis '12!?!? I'm so jealous!! Pictures?? The second was from an 'Alexandre' promising that they were to meet tonight at 8pm and he was going to bring the 'goods' if she brought the 'fun'. Scanning even faster only blurred her vision with more sleazy texts and nude pictures of fit men. And from what the phone showed, she - or rather 'Gigi' - was an enabler to it all.

"Well, fuck me." Gina murmured quietly to herself. She couldn't deny getting up to some slightly mad shit back when her life had been simple - passing round joints at Katie's house parties, borrowing Izzy's ID to get into Zanzibar and Mosh, and having her dad absolutely lose it with her for stumbling in wasted once too often - but her alter ego seemed to have her beaten hands down.

A quick scan of her emails revealed only purchase confirmations for clothes and accessories, all of them in the triple-digit price range. Her Twitter page on the other hand, under the name of @GelaGoddess, was the most shocking because it was full of pictures - unquestionably of her, but in situations Gina had never been in before in her life. One shot showed her posing in a blue bikini on the deck of a yacht in the middle of some sun-drenched bay, with her arms around two stunningly attractive young men. Another showed her dancing in a classy nightclub, wearing a dress she wouldn't have been able to afford even if she's convinced her mum to combine both her Christmas and birthday presents to pay for it. The crowning jewel though had to be the profile picture at the top of her page: a selfie against a mirror surface, caked in more makeup than she had ever worn and giving her best sexy face. The page revealed her actual name to be Georgina Nikas.

Nikas, Gina thought, suddenly remembering the dragon flags that had been hanging in the central chamber. She glanced back at her phone, and for the first time noticed the comments ranked up below her Twitter photos. There was a jarring mix of praise and slut-shaming distributed through the threads, and a few posts in vitriolic capital letters screaming that her family were all tyrants who the posters hoped would die and rot in the underworld.

Gina felt her cheeks prickling in spite of herself as she held out the phone for her curious fellows to see.

"Apparently that's me." she grimaced as she scanned her Following list, hoping to recognise either the faces of her companions or the mysterious prigkipessa.

"Georgina Nikas?" Cal read the name aloud, wondering briefly where it had appeared from on the small square of light that adorned the box’s front.

“Normally it’s Georgina Wright,” Gina answered, “And I don’t own a boat.”

Still holding the phone out for the others to see, she tapped the small Chrome icon to try and find some recent news. The top hit took her to a website called eKathimerini, which was splashed with alarmist headlines. 'The Divine family in distress! Says Itanos is damned!' 'Gela Empire pushes claim on the Crete!' 'Akrai and Itanos peace treaty over! The royals divorced!'

The latter article was accompanied by a picture of an enraged man, caught in mid yell against the background of a blurred crowd. The man appeared to be in his late thirties, with long sideburns and cold sapphire eyes, but what drew Gina's attention to him was his hair - shining silver with hints of purple, just like the woman who had fled the vaulted chamber. Tapping the headline, Gina discovered that the man was apparently Vangelis the Great of the divine family Lambros, patrician of somewhere called Akrai. Judging by the text of the article, there seemed to have been some sort of fiasco between Vangelis' relative Panos Lambros and a man called Nero Drusus, who had somehow shamed Panos on several occasions. This so-called sacrilege against Panos, and by extension the holy Lambros family, had caused those faithful to Vangelis to condemn Nero's home nation - another city-state named Itanos. Something called the Gela empire was taking advantage of the discord.

"Gela..." Gina murmured, thinking back to her alter-ego's Twitter profile. Gela Goddess.

Lambros, Akrai, Gela and the rest were words that meant precious little to Gina. Wherever she was, for all its similarities, it clearly was not the world she had just left. Wikipedia, thankfully, still existed, and she was able to look up the Lambros family - from a quick skim of the page, she learned that the Lambros family were said to be descendants of the ancient Greek god Dionysus; throughout history, their bloodline had always had the silvery-purple hair that Gina had taken to be hair dye, supposedly evidence of their divine blood. They had many followers, and those who took Dionysus as their patron god by extension took the Lambros family in the highest regard. In general it appeared that their divinity wasn't even questioned, though scientists who had wished to study their blood had apparently been denied on multiple occasions. The Lambros family tree was minimal, even though the small graphic that represented it seemed to go back for hundreds of years. It didn't spread out, only grew down; it seemed that whenever a generation of the Lambros had multiple children, only one was recorded as carrying on the bloodline.

The family ruled the city-state of Akrai in what the map told Gina was modern Greece. By all accounts the city was small and peaceful, and renowned worldwide for something called 'Lambros wine' - the highest selling wine in the world.

Still trying to make sense of it all, Gina punched her alter-ego's name into the search bar on a whim. Searching Georgina Nikas pulled up an entire page dedicated to her, which was an odd feeling even though the page was comparatively small. It was topped with another picture of Georgina that she had never taken, this time all dolled up in a sparkling ball gown. The text of her page focused mostly on her being the daughter of Atreo Nikas and Chloe Nikas, and the middle sister to Lycus and...Vahsi.

"There you are." Gina said, pointing. "Looks like we're brother and sister. Here at least..."

The page went on to say that Gina's parents had been the former rulers of the Gela city-state. Former, because her older brother Lycus had murdered them and taken the throne for himself. That was a year ago and, apparently, the murder was openly known. The fact had not removed Lycus from his seat.

"Fuck me." Gina breathed a second time. If that was the brother that the prigkipessa had been talking about, then no wonder she had been upset. Whatever place they had landed in, it was clearly in crisis. She exhaled slowly, and turned to the others. "Okay, I'm going to try and find the girl. She obviously wanted to talk to me about something."

Baka looked at the phone briefly before turning away. The information on it didn't really help with his confused state. However a very loud grumble from his stomach, which drew some looks from the others, reminded him of something.

"So does anyone have any food? I've not eaten anything except a paopu fruit in the past two days."

Gina blinked at the unexpected tangent, then twisted her mouth sympathetically, having spent the last few days surviving on stolen food to avoid the drugs that had been lacing their school meals.

"Not on me, sorry. But if we're supposed to be royals I'm sure we can get hold of some." She gathered her immaculately waved hair over one shoulder, thinking. "Vahsi, that other girl didn't seem to want to talk to me with you there - maybe you could find some food while I try and ask her what's going on? Try and make it something you've prepared yourself."

Just in case. she thought. Paranoia died hard when she wasn't even sure where she was.

Cal's stomach growled at the mention of food, the desire to eat distracting her from the unfairness of the situation. They had been plucked from their lives and into new ones, and the girl who was taking the lead seemed to be royalty. She, on the other hand, was a slave. The teen didn't quite understand how Gina had discovered all this from the small box in her hand, but she seemed to trust the information she gleaned from it. Having no other source of knowledge on hand, Cal would have to trust it too. Besides, she couldn't think of a better course of action than the one Gina had suggested.

“What about Baka and I?” she asked, “If we're…” Her nose wrinkled as she voiced the next word, as if it came with a bad smell, “…slaves, we should appear to be so. I have no desire to add to this.”

She gestured her cheek, which had grown darker now; the skin slightly puffy where it had swelled to protect her eye.

"One of us should go with each of you. I don't think we should all separate."

Gina nodded. “I think you’re right. How about you stick with me so we can keep an eye on that bruise, and Vahsi and Baka can get food.”

It occurred to her that they could use a method of keeping in contact – assuming that phones were a thing in Serroc, Merriweather and Destiny Island. The way the other three had been looking at hers suggested that they weren’t. Gina glanced at Vahsi, tilting her smartphone towards him. “Do you have a phone on you? One of these?”

The man shook his head. Gina bit the side of her tongue. “Okay, so much for that idea. Alright then, we’ll meet up back here in half an hour. Okay? Cool.”

She exchanged nods with the others, and took off uncertainly down the marble hallway to look for the prigkipessa.

[Azazeal849]

With Georgina, the royal in red, leading and the purple eyed slave in tow, they left the foyer and journeyed into the left hall. Each step Gina took was loud on the marble, and also painful for the wound at her neck. The straps held her in place, but momentum and gravity were not her friends, causing cruel pulls and tugs. Beauty is pain, and this was certainly true for the former immigrant student.

The doors they passed were made of beautiful redwood, with symmetrical ridged lining of something akin to gold, causing the thin lines to reflect the lights. For the two teenaged young women, their eyes were dazzled by how many reflective surfaces there were: from the ground below them, the walls, and the nude statues along with the doors. It was bright and all very expensive.

Though beautiful, there was no indication of where the prigkipissa could have gone. The clicks of her heels and her cries had vanished, and the doors were all shut with no extra markers as to what they were for.

They were beginning to consider giving up before they got lost, when round the corner came another patrolling guard. He flashed a confused look, staring at Cal with discontent.

"Does she insult you, Lady Georgina? Shall I make her bow before you?"

Gina felt her stomach give a nervous twinge, but she managed to only hesitate for a second.

"That won't be necessary." she told the guard, and hoped that her position would dissuade any further questions.

"I'm looking for the princess." she added, disguising a roll of her neck as tossing her hair as she tried to ease the pressure on her bite wound. "Have you seen her?"

The man nodded. "The holy prigkipissa has gone to her art room."

His features calmed, now simply disregarding Cal.

"Do you wish to be escorted?" He gestured down the hall that the two girls had yet to see.

"Yes, thank you." Gina said, nodding.

The guard bowed his head and guided her through more of the marble and gold halls. As beautiful as it was, it in a way was almost monotonous, seeing the same style everywhere. It was also disorienting through its winding halls, for already they had taken several turns with many more passed as possible options. Angry eyes cast themselves on Cal each time patrols came and went, but other than the guards it was noticeably empty through the entire building they wandered through. Gina cast a few nervous glances at Cal as they walked, worrying that they might not be able to find their way back without the help of another guard.

Cal glanced back at the redhead, the barely hidden distaste at the treatment extended to her from the guards showing through her attempt at a blank, subservient expression. It was difficult for the young Princess to bite her tongue at such disrespect - but perhaps she would have to stop thinking of herself that way. It was strange - she had longed to be free of the shackles of her heritage, but now she was (and ironically encased in shackles of a different kind) it was difficult to let go.

The door the guard led them to had that same redwood design to it as the others, but the man seemed confident that it was this door, compared to so many that they had passed, which led to the woman they was seeking. Gina glanced at Cal again, then back at the guard who was still standing rigidly to attention.

"You can go. Thank you." she told him. She waited for the guard to turn on his heel and sweep out of sight before turning back to the door. She bit her lip, and knocked.

"Hello? Princess? Can I come in?"

Slowly the door opened ajar and the silverlette peaked out through the crack, her crystal eyes wet. The hand holding the door taunted Gina and Cal with the symbol of importance; now she got a good look at it, Gina recognised it as the symbol of Venus - a circle with a cross below.

Cal swallowed, gulped down her indignance, and adopted what she hoped was the dutiful, attentive expression of a handmaiden - she had seen it expressed toward her enough times that she hoped her mimickry was passable. The guards were one thing - this Prigipassa, or whatever they had called her, was clearly used to deference, and Calamity feared what might befall her if she was to overstep her place. Fear... an interesting emotion.

The girl only looked up at Gina through the crack, silent and hesitant. Gina raised her eyes from the girl's wrist back to her face, and hoped that things would go more smoothly this time.

"Hey." she began. "Uh, I'm sorry about earlier. Do you still want to talk?"

The woman took a pause, her visible eye looking at Calamity. There was a heavy sense of pity in her gaze, looking at the bruised slave. Gina dared to relax slightly, thinking that the prigkipessa wouldn't give Cal the same treatment as the guards had. It belatedly occurred to her that she might have asked their guide to fetch drinks and ice, so that she could make an ice-pack for the younger girl's wound.

"Can we come in?" she prompted the prigkipessa gently.

"O-okay..." the beautiful girl answered. She stepped back, a clank of her heel echoing in the room she was in. Opening the door, Gina discovered how bare the room was in comparison to the rest of the elaborately decorated building. There was only one light source: a light with a long thin cord and a metal circular cover. It hung over a large easel that stood on a circular raised platform. A large sheet of crinkled plastic covered the platform and the surrounding area, just ending where the light did. The room was dark, the marble walls barren and the room empty.

In the painting that was propped up, a victorious and handsome man stood over a ruined city. He was strong, with broad shoulders and each of his muscles visually defined even through the torn and bloody robes he wore. He was a commander, but there was an overwhelming element of danger to the dark-haired man that the woman had painted. Lurking in his lowbrow, ice-blue eyes was a deep, almost evil and bone-chilling monster. He was a man for conquest; bloodshed no stranger. In many ways he was classically handsome: strong jaw, bold and high cheeks, and even a beauty mark on his right cheek. But the eyes dominated, pulled attention past everything else.

The eyes of a murderer. Gina had seen them before; more often than any person could be comfortable with. Them; Gelda, Vlad, Samnite - even Roze if we can't save her. Thinking of the half-vampire Rozaria brought an uncomfortable throb to the wound in her neck, and made her worry again about how she was supposed to get back to her friends. Some instinct was telling her that the prigkipessa had something to do with it. The infinity symbol on her wrist twinged again.

Gina subconsciously rubbed the tattoo with her other hand as she looked again at the picture. She was pretty sure of who the handsome, dangerous conqueror was supposed to be. Perhaps the eyes were just the prigkipessa's interpretation, but after what her phone had told her Gina suspected them to be accurate. This was Lycus Nikas; the usurper emperor of Gela, and as far as everyone here was concerned, her brother.

"This is really good." she said truthfully, gesturing towards the painting as she gathered her thoughts.

The woman wiped her face with a sigh, turning to look at the heroic portrait.

"Your brother drags me out here to his palace, but now he won't even stay in bed with me...obsessed with his...war...."

War. Gina recalled. Gela Empire presses claim on Crete. The prigkipessa's complaint might have seemed peevish, if she wasn't so obviously unhappy. Gina found herself wondering if the incongruously bare and cheerless art studio was a reflection of the other woman's mental state.

"And what do you think about the war?" Gina probed carefully, keeping her tone sympathetic. Were she and the prigkipessa friends? Or had she just preferred to confide in another woman? She couldn't help but wonder why the prigkipessa had been so hostile towards Vahsi.

"I hate it." There was a slight echo in the room; the gusts of AC blasting heat into the studio. The Lambros woman sobbed. "I was humiliated!"

Putting her back to the wall near the door, she slid down to a sitting position. Her purple and silver hair flowed down the marble as she tilted her head back.

"But now this is all I know." Her hands gestured down to her nightgown. "I've become a transvestite and everyone praises me for it."

You what? Gina narrowly stopped herself from saying. At first she thought she had misheard, but then she took a closer look at the prigkipessa and belatedly realised the significance of her slightly too-flat chest, the slight squaring of her chin and the tell-tale bump of an adam's apple. Well, fuck me.

Once the penny had dropped, she didn't quite know what to say. She slipped her bag off her shoulder, smoothed the back of her gown and lowered herself onto the floor next to the princess - or rather, the prince.

"Where would you be if you had the choice?" she asked, skirting the cross-dressing issue as one her companion might not want to talk about directly right now. A sigh came from the male's pouty lips.

"I..." He looked up to Georgina and then back down at the palms of his hands. "I came here because the emperor made me feel things I've never felt before."

"Oh." said Gina.

The prigkipessa covered his eyes with his hands and the women saw the Venus symbol glowing a bright white; a tingle in their infinity symbols bubbled. Cal's eyes shot to her arm, shocked; between her bewildered indignance at her change of station, and the cruel and painful method in which she had learned of it, the dark-haired girl had failed to notice the symbol before, even with the more subtle sensations it had awoken with earlier. She didn't have time to wonder over it then, though - the Princess... or, Prince; was speaking again.

"And no matter how I dress or present myself for him...he just goes off..." He sighed in defeat.

The light of the symbol faded and he put his hands to his face now, crying heavily again. The feeling from their wrists faded.

"Maybe I should just go back home...he says he loves me but I don't see it..."

Gina nodded her understanding. It was difficult to gauge the prince's age through his make-up and delicate features, but he had to be young. Gina herself had had the dual, perhaps unfair advantage of having a very rational head on her shoulders and of getting her first doomed romance out the way relatively early in her teens, but she could empathise with someone dealing with their sexuality for the first time. The time when nothing in the world seemed more important than being with that one person, and the complications were a hundred times worse if you were gay or otherwise "abnormal".

And your fixation is an emperor who murdered his parents. Gina thought. Now that is complicated.

"How about," Gina said, tugging thoughtfully at her hair. She wasn't about to encourage the young prince's crush based on what she had read so far, but she didn't want to pressure him without knowing more either. "How about I go and talk to him for you?"

The prince looked over in shock, pushing some of his divine hair behind an ear.

"You...would do that? But you've only known me for a little over a week..."

"Well," Gina said with a slightly strained chuckle. "Don't judge me just by what you read on Twitter."

The prince sighed and shook his head. "You are my only friend here...thank you..." Pulling his knees close to himself, with a scratching sound from his heels scraping the marble, he hid his face between his knees.

Gina chewed her tongue for a moment, before asking, "What did my other brother do to upset you?"

"Ever since I've been here, he's been staring at me. I can never tell if he wishes to harm me or touch me. I hide in here..." He gestured to the art room. "I haven't told Lycus, maybe if I did he would stay with me..." He glared up at Georgina. "Your younger brother is a creep!"

"I'll have a word with him too." Gina said, wondering just how Vahsi would react to that news. "I wouldn't tell Lycus though, at least not yet. It might not end well."

It wasn't so much her natural disdain for petty moves like trying to make a partner jealous instead of just talking to them - she was worried what a man who had already killed two family members might do to Vahsi...or to Panos himself. Her advice, however, made the young male glare. Propping himself against the wall, he worked his way up onto his feet.

"And what has made you so insightful suddenly?" Now his words were spiteful, humphing in distaste of her. Harshly stepping away from Gina, he made his way to the door, heels loud. The slam of the door boomed in off the marble walls, echoing slowly into silence.

Wrong-footed, Gina shot a look at Cal as she jumped up and headed for the door, her purse hanging from one hand. She hadn't expected the prince to call her his only friend one minute, and then take offence and storm out like a child the next. Then again the prince was clearly high-strung at the moment, and she herself hardly had a good grasp of the situation. She tried not to be annoyed as she pulled open the door and looked left and right.

"Hey!" she shouted after the prince. "Wait!" To her right she could see the royal walking furiously away, a guard now escorting him.

"Don't run away when I'm just trying to help you." she said more quietly as she trotted after them as fast as her heels would allow.

The prince turned around, still as unhappy. Even the guard looked at her with disapproval.

"Please do not speak harshly to the divine-blooded, Lady Georgina." the man asked her firmly.

"I'm going to my bedchambers." the prince announced. "If you're going to help me, why don't you speak to your siblings like you said you would?" His sapphire eyes glanced over to Cal's injured face before he turned gracefully on his heel, exotic hair flying about before he walked off again. With each step away, once again the women felt a tingle of the important symbol distancing itself from them.

"I will." Gina called after him, a slight frown on her face as she shouldered her purse. She stood with her arms folded for a moment as the prince disappeared round the corner of the hall, then looked again at the strange mark burned into her wrist.

"Well," she said uneasily to Cal as she turned to look at the younger girl. "He definitely needs our help." Against a psychopath he has a crush on. Oh Jesus. She gave Cal's cheek a sympathetic look. "How's that feeling?"

Calamity's first reaction was to scowl - there it was again, the pity. She had seen it in the Prince's expression earlier, and now Gina, too. But scowling tightened the muscles around her eyes, her cheek throbbed with pain, and she winced instead, giving her a moment to let go of the childish annoyance at her new ally simply showing her concern.

"It's... fine. At least, I don't think it's going to get any worse from here."

"It doesn't look like you've fractured anything." Gina agreed. "They must have ice around here somewhere." she added, resolved not to repeat her earlier missed opportunity with the guard. "Hopefully that'll stop it swelling up any more."

It better not, thought Cal. The afterthought was unhelpful, but unavoidable. Cal's eye was slightly swollen, but not enough to hinder the girl's vision, and her puffy, discoloured cheek would heal. "The guard called him divine-blooded. What does that mean?"

"I think he's a Lambros." Gina said, digging her phone out of her purse once again and showing Cal the Wikipedia page. "The people here think they're the sons of a god or something."

"And where did this come from?" Cal asked, holding up her forearm. "I felt something, when you were talking to him, then I looked down and there it was. I didn't have it before! At least, not on Serroc..." The girl trailed off. Honestly, she wasn't sure when it had first appeared, not having spotted it until the art room. "It's something to do with him, I'm sure. We have to help him."

Her voice resolved as she agreed with Gina's earlier statement, giving a small nod.

"What if he knows something about how we got here?"

"Maybe." Gina said uncertainly. She traced the tattoo on her own arm with a fingertip. The fingertip itself was scarcely less strange; the nail longer and far better manicured than Gina herself usually found time for. They still knew next to nothing about this alien world, and even about their own supposed places in it. With the prince no longer in a talking mood, there didn't seem to be any better plan than for Gina to do as she had promised and speak with emperor Nikas.

"I suppose we'd better start with heading back to the others and finding this emperor." Gina said, gritting her teeth and reaching up to loosen the halter-neck of her dress against her bite. She took off back up the corridor with Cal, doing her best to recall the route they had walked. As they made their way down a long, straight corridor of gold and marble, she pulled out her phone and Googled Lycus Nikas.

The searching of her supposed brother turned up a lot of contrasting results. Pages of information were listed, some focused more on his personal history while one link alluded to his battle strategies. There were memes about him, praising his appearance and making lewd jokes about his desirability. Funny what they'll forgive celebrities for, Gina thought quietly to herself. Murdering your parents is a new one though. She had been right about one thing - as she saw a picture of him pop up in the search, the man in the prince's painting was indeed the emperor, and those eyes were not merely a translation.

Through the halls, Gina was able to summon another robed and armed man to her side, who followed without hesitation.

"I need you to take me to my younger brother." she told him. "Where's the emperor right now?" she added after they had been walking for a few seconds. "I need to see him as well."

[The Cockatiel]

Vahşi said nothing as the woman talked. When she suggested that he and Baka find some food, he nodded curtly and glanced sideways at the other man. The women left and he started off down the hallway in the opposite direction, back toward the hall where he'd first appeared. "I'm guessing that you don't know much more than I do about this place. So, who are you, exactly?" he asked Baka, assuming that the other men was following him.

If it hadn't been for the fact that he'd had someone waiting for him in the hall, Vahşi wouldn't have been sure where to go. As it was, he still didn't know what he was doing, but his confidence, assumed or real, would probably get them through the rest of the day at least. The man he'd left in the hall seemed to be some sort of servant of his, or something like it, so he was guessing that he wouldn't say no to Vahşi's requests.

"My-my name is Baka!" He spoke up with nervous energy. He scanned around again, this was so different from his island life. It was exciting as it was nerve wracking. The man in front of him seemed really tough, but somehow he felt connected with him. They were in this strangeness together? Just like with the two girls?


"Nice to meet you. My name's Vahsi, or hey-you-bastard if someone's angry at me. I guess you got here in the same way that I did. Everything was black, then you appeared in a netherworld with a strange letter in your hands? I felt your mark just after we appeared here. So I guess we are all in this together. I don't suppose you know about anyone or anything here?"

Baka shook his head fast, the blonde hairs about.

"No..." Vashi seemed like a good guy to have on his side in all of this. But right now the islander had nothing of use to offer in what was going in.

Vahsi led the way back into the main hall. The man was still where Vahsi had left him. A few guards were still in the hall as well, one of them the one that Vahsi had threatened earlier. The guard looked over at them as they entered and Vahsi, subtly changing his posture to be aggressive, stared directly back at him until the guard looked away. Vahsi motioned for Baka to follow him and crossed the room to the servant.

The servant had been very still, dropped down on the cold marble ground without fuss at all. Head down, bare skin against the stone without any hesitation. Vashi, was in complete command of the people around him.

"Hey, you," Vahsi said to the servant. "Uh, may you stand up?" If everyone was obeying him, he probably had quarters here. Unfortunately, he had no idea where, and even though he'd been shown marked deference so far, he didn't want to push his luck by wandering around the castle. "I want you to lead us to my quarters, then have some food prepared for four persons." The servant would obey him, right? The middle aged man had squabbled up to his feet, still his head hung down. Baka felt uncomfortable by how broken the man was acting, this was nothing like his...old life?

"Of course Sir Vashi..." The man was weakly leading them up the steps. Under their feet was the hardness of the stone, red carpet flowing up the middle. The area was eerily empty, and a bit cold for the nearly half naked Baka who was following, shivering, and hold himself. The servant walked gracelessly, sort of lifting the side of his hip to raise his left foot and raising his right leg undisturbed.

He led, hobbling up two levels of the sharply turning sets of stairs. At each level was a little square platform that led to either the floor or the next set of stairs. The second level had yet another hall of doors, without the statues, only three doors in before there was a sharp turn to the right.

When they got to the third floor Vashi and Baka were witness to beautiful baroque paintings on the walls where doors would have been, long hall of art as if it were telling a story. They contained various naked men and women, some being lovers, others enemies, fields of grass or chasms of rock with thunderous skies and legions of sword and shield armed men.

"I will bring the prepared food immediately" In his thin white high thigh cut robes he dropped to his knees again when they stood before the wood, gold lined door. Baka scrunched his lips as he looked down at the guy, his face showing a bit of unease for what he was seeing.

Through the building they could feel the girls still on the first floor, walking further away from them. It was an odd sensation for Baka to know exactly where someone was standing, feeling some strange tether to them.

"Could you not kneel down every time you talk to me?" Vahsi asked the servant. "New orders. You stay on your feet, okay?" He had no idea if he was breaking any rules of protocol but this was unnecessary for both of them. Besides, the rules were more like guidelines anyway. No need to follow them. "And ask someone to bring a set of clothes befitting a freeman to my quarters. Two sets," he corrected himself. "Thank you. I think that will be all for now."

He could feel the prickling in his wrist tell him where the women were but he decided not to ask the old man to do anything else. The man looked like he was about to fall over from old age. Vahsi turned to Baka and added in a low voice, "I don't know what the girls are doing but once they get back to our meeting place we'll need to get a guard to bring them here. For now we need to sit tight."

[Azazeal849]

"He is in the war room, Lady Georgina." The man answered evenly. In the foyer they saw the middle aged man that had dropped before Vahşi running his way back down the stairs and going past them, with a bow to Gina.

The guard escorted quietly, just started walking away and up the stairs. The girls had enough common sense to figure out he was leading them to Vahşi's room.

Variety was not something this home had in its flavours of beauty, passing pantings that matched the statues below. As they walked they could feel the nearing presence of Vahşi and Baka.

On the third floor the guard had escorted them straight to the two males, who were just about to open the bedroom door before they came.

"We'll have some drinks and ice, please." Gina remembered to say.

The guard nodded and walked off, leaving the four of them be. Though Baka and Cal were glared at, no doubt because they were not bowing before their leaders, or perhaps because they were not the ones tasked with relaying the drinks order.

"Welcome back!" Baka nervously waved at them.

Cal smiled back, relieved to see another face that wasn't completely unfamiliar - and unlike the other two, Baka was in the same situation as she; where Vahsi and Gina had become royalty, Cal and Baka had been given rags. She caught sight of the guards' steely, disapproving glare as he exited, and dropped her head hurriedly. Was it already become second fucking nature, she thought; angry at herself, to act subservient under any scrutiny?!

Her stomach growled, providing a welcome distraction from her fall from grace. She looked up at the two males again hopefully.

"So, did you find us something to eat?"

"We sent a servant to get something from the kitchen," Vahşi explained. "And I told him to bring a different set of clothes for Baka that will be a little more comfortable. But unfortunately we didn't think to send for some clothes for Cal." He shrugged as he glanced at her. "Sorry about that." He clearly wasn't use to apologising, as he nearly stumbled over the words and didn't seem at all sure if he should say something else. His voice rose a bit at the end, as if he were asking a question, but the same look of self-confidence remained on his face.

Gina was oddly unenthusiastic about the fact that Vahşi had successfully found them food, chewing her tongue pensively as he related that it was a servant bringing it rather than something they could be sure hadn't been drugged. After West Hills, it was difficult not to be paranoid.

"Well," she said, trying to distract herself from her fears and focus on the bigger mystery. "We talked to the princess - or rather, the prince."

She shrugged at Baka and Vahsi's surprised expressions. "Prince?" Vahşi repeated. "That's something we didn't expect." He didn't think that the princess/prince gender difference would pose much of a problem, but there was no way of knowing if they were in a matriarchal or patriarchal society.

"I'm afraid he doesn't like you very much, Vahşi." Gina admitted. "He said you'd been perving on him. I know!" she added defensively, raising her hands. "It looks like we did a lot of stuff before we arrived here. I mean, it looks like I'm into coke and gang-bangs. The point is, I think he needs our help."

She hitched her bag up on her shoulder and tugged thoughtfully at a lock of her hair.

"He's...uh, a bit stressed out. He's not been here long and he's hating it, but he's also totally in love with our brother - you know, the emperor. The emperor's being pretty cold with him."

She cleared her throat, aware of how much like a petty lovers' tiff she was making it sound.

"No way I'm going to encourage him when this emperor sounds like a complete psychopath, but I did say I'd talk to him. It seems like as good a way as any to find out what's going on."

She looked up and down the corridor, conscious of being overheard.

"Shall we?" she asked, putting a hand on the engraved doorknob of Vahşi's bedchamber and pushing it open.

"I don't think anyone is going to stop us," Vahşi said. "Even if it's not really ours. But the servant will be back soon so let's keep our conversation benign."

The room was a simple square shape, the flooring a light tan carpet to give heat where marble would not. The sounds of heat blasting through vents, a welcome modern comfort, came from the walls. A bathroom was to the right as seen from the open door, closely adjacent.

Everything was simplistic and empty. The room was void of much personality, only having necessities. The left corner was cut off by a tall and narrow bookshelf, littered with eclectic hard backs. The bed was shoved up against the wall to the right, next to the bathroom door and a closet, and had sheets scattered with the Nikas family sigil. On the bed was a book that felt vastly of importance, much like the young boy with the symbol on the back of hand. It was hard bound and difficult to tell what subject it was, as it was lying face up and open.

Baka frowned. "What is that feeling?"

Gina returned the frown, uncertainly, and slipped her handbag off her shoulder to drop it onto the bed.

"I don't know." she murmured as she gingerly approached the bed and sat down to examine the book.

"Is that supposed to be mine?" Vahşi asked. He guessed that they wouldn't find a public library's barcode on the book's spine, but he couldn't remember ever seeing a book even vaguely like the one on the table outside of a city's archives.

Gina's eyes could see the hard back book's newly-printed white pages. On the left page was a bold, black symbol that took up its entirety. A circle crowned with a crescent lying on its on it side, pointing up; and south the circle, a cross. Gina - who was no student of astrology beyond the ubiquitous male symbol and the feminist Venus cross - didn't recognise the Mercury sign. She was, however, put closer to the right track by the right hand page, which contained a list, titled in artistically swirly words: The planets and their qualities.

Spaced apart below the heading were the calligraphic names Mercury and Venus, and under each was a list of words. Mercury was listed with Intellect, Knowledge, Communication, Learning, Logic and Reasoning, while Venus held Love, Romance, Beauty, Compassion, Femininity, Sensuality, and Unity.

"Just some zodiac nonsense." Gina frowned in confusion. She would have turned away, had the tingling in her wrist not urged her that there was something important about the book. The prince had the Venus symbol on his wrist too. she remembered, although she still had no idea what it might mean. Whoever had sent them here and given them the bloodstained parchment was clearly trying to give them a clue, but she couldn't see it yet. The thought frustrated her, warring with the apprehension that she had no reason at all to trust the sender. She turned the page.

Behind her, Baka suddenly yelped in surprise.

"What's up?" Gina said in alarm, half rising.

"My wrist." the blonde boy replied, holding up his forearm. Gina looked at her own arm and saw the skin on the inside of her wrist darken with the outline of a second tattoo. It was the Mercury symbol from the book, now reproduced in miniature below the sideways figure-8.

"The hell...?" Gina murmured to the others, just as confused as they were. Rubbing futilely at the tattoo, she turned back to the book to see that the symbol on the left hand page had disappeared.

"It's gone." she told her companions. "The symbol from the book. It was on the page and now it's on..." She broke off to look down at her wrist again, and began to flick through the pages of the book in earnest. To her consternation, they were all blank.

Cal, staring in shock at her own wrist, squinted as she gazed down at the new symbol there.
She had no idea what Gina meant by 'zodiac'; Serroc did not lie beneath the same stars as the older girl's home. But the symbol looked so familiar...

"Isn't this the mark that was on the Prince's arm? No, it's a little different. There were no horns," she remembered, running a finger along the crescent that topped the mark.

"Mmm hmm." Gina nodded in agreement. "The mark he had was a Venus cross. It's a sort of generic female symbol." Struck by sudden inspiration, she dug her phone out of her handbag and Googled planet symbols. The first images that popped up confirmed that the mark that had translocated itself onto their arms was indeed a symbol for the planet Mercury.

"Maybe it's trying to tell us something?" she guessed as she looked again at the list of words on the book's only remaining full page. Venus. Love, beauty, femininity. That might describe the prince, after a fashion. Did that mean that they were supposed to act as the things that the Mercury symbol described? Learning...reasoning...communication. Perhaps they were supposed to be the ones to facilitate understanding. The prince and the emperor were one thing, but there were also all the things she had read about in the news - breaking alliances, family fueds...

Bloody hell. Gina thought, feeling more than a little overwhelmed. She wormed her fingers into her hair and rested her temple on her palm. Okay. Think. First thing first. We need to talk to the emperor.

"I hope you didn't just put a curse on us," Vahşi remarked coolly. "We'd better keep this second mark secret until we know for sure that it won't get us into trouble. So far we don't know anything about where we are, or who we are as far as this world goes. Except for the supposed drug addict and the supposed chaser." He laid heavy sarcasm on his last few words but was obviously in earnest. "Do you girls want to look in the closet for something to change into? I doubt you'll find anything but it might be worth looking."

Cal looked down at her thin, sparse dress and sighed, lifting a hand to gesture at her swollen face. "Probably better I stay in this." She said nothing more, but the look on her face spoke volumes; clearly, the girl had no desire to find out the consequences for a slave dressing inappropriately.

"Maybe you're right." Gina opined, rising from the bed and grimacing slightly as she slid two fingers underneath her halterneck to relieve pressure on her bite. As nice as it would be to get Cal and Baka out of those demeaning clothes - hell, right now she herself would have been happy to slum around in some trackies - it didn't seem like a good idea. "We don't want to be drawing too much attention, and we definitely don't want anyone getting hit again."

Bringing up Cal's wound made Baka frown; he was powerless to stop the abuse, just another slave himself. He stared at the book Gina was flipping through - it felt important still. He wanted to grab the book and hold it, feeling the instinct that somehow keeping the book safe was a good idea.

He stepped up next to the bed, seeing that the few other pages the book had were blank. Much like the rest of this place, this book was odd. It seemed out of place with the rest of...wherever they were.

There was knock on the door. "I'll get it," Vahşi said. "This is supposed to be my room, after all." He went to the door and found the servant he'd sent out to get food, holding a tray of seafood and dolmas.

"Food, as you have requested." It was the voice of the middle aged man that had thrown himself on the floor before Vahşi. Baka turned his gaze between the two royals. Every choice here seemed to matter...and something as simple as opening a door seemed very scary now. The damage done to Cal's face should have been proof enough for her and him.

"The Emperor wishes to speak with you personally," the servant said. He kept his head down in Vahşi's presence.

"Thank you," Vahşi said, standing aside to let the servant enter the room and gesturing at the nearest table. The servant put the tray down and went back out the door. "I'll be out in a moment," Vahşi told him. He closed the door behind the servant and turned to the trays of food.

Gina waited for the servant to retreat before crossing to the bathroom, retrieving a hand towel, and filling it with ice out of the tall glass decanter that had arrived with the trays. Bundling it together, she offered it to Cal to hold against her face.

"Here." she said. "It'll make the swelling go down quicker." Hugging her elbows, she turned to Vahşi. "I suppose we had better all go with you."

She doubted that Lycus Nikas would be expecting her to come along too, rather than being at a party somewhere. But she didn't want Vahşi going into a potentially dangerous encounter with the murderer-emperor alone, either.

"So, is this emperor the lover-but-not-really-lover of the prince that said I was stalking him?" Vahşi asked. "Because things might get a little complicated if you all come. If you do, we should have a few weapons. Even if they're just daggers. The guards would probably murder a servant that had a knife, so those of us that aren't should carry a pair so we can hand them off to Baka and the girl if we need to."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea." Gina answered. "All the guards I've seen have guns, and how do you think they'll react if we take something that looks like a weapon near the emperor?"

They weren't even close to safe here, Gina knew that much, but all her instincts were telling her to keep a low profile as far as they could. Where would we even find daggers around here? she wondered, her attention turning briefly to the knives and forks that were wrapped in gold-edged napkins next to the food trays. She had hoped that they would be silver, something she could use if They really were involved in this, but for all the palace's opulence the cutlery was only stainless steel.

No use against men or ghosts. she thought grimly.

"We should at least take this." Baka ventured, picking up the book from Vahsi's bed.

Gina considered. The book was something else that might look odd for them to be carrying around, but Baka was right - there was something important about it.

"I'll shove it in my handbag." she said after a moment.

[Azazeal849]

Baka was already staring at the green wraps. They glistened in how moist they were, and the smell of fish reminded him of what he was used to eating. He had glanced over at Gina, trying to avoid looking at her pushed up womanlyness, and instead put his youthful eyes on her purse where the mysterious book was placed. He shoved a wrap into his mouth, holding the last half in delight. Taken by the enjoyment, he savoured the spritz of lemon and the sprinkle of spices across the warm rice.

"Yummmeh" the blond male told everyone in the bedroom as he kept chewing. He was the only one smiling, the tension thick.

Cal sidled over and grabbed a wrap herself. She had to keep one hand holding the makeshift ice pack. Baka beamed at her as she took a wrap.

Cal smiled back. "Thank goodness! I'm starving!"

The pungent, but tasty smelling fish reminded the young royal of Ockilsetter, the fish man who had lived amongst the rebels. That had been the last time she'd eaten - the stew he had given her. How long had it been? The girl's stomach growled at the thought, and she bit into the wrap hungrily.

"Are you guys feeling okay?" Gina asked cautiously after they had taken a few mouthfuls. Baka was rapidly nodding his head.

"Mmmm," Cal managed a satisfied sigh through her mouthful. The food was delicious, though chewing exacerbated the pain in her cheek. Swallowing, she looked at Gina quizzically. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"I've, um, had to deal with a lot of drugged food lately." Gina explained, reasoning that it wasn't any weirder than anything else they were currently dealing with. "Can you remember the last...stressful thing that happened to you?"

"Yeah," Cal couldn't help but laugh, "I was transported here, from my home, by persons unknown." The young teen giggled, the presence of food in her belly obviously having put her in a better mood.

Gina matched the grin, grateful for the moment of levity. "Fair enough."

The older girl massaged her wrist, thoughtfully. That's the million pound question, isn't it? If They didn't bring us here, then who did? And perhaps more importantly, could they be trusted. Paranoia aside, Gina was wary of anyone who deliberately addressed and then sidestepped the question of their identity, in a note that was written in blood.

"Before that," Cal went on, " I was kidnapped by rebels, discovered who my father was, and..." she trailed off, for the first time since she'd found herself in this place remembering the mysterious jewel she'd been given by the fae who'd proclaimed himself her biological father, and the strange sensations she'd felt upon touching it. Obviously, the gem was gone; taken by whoever, or whatever had placed her in these strange clothes. The possessive feeling that had been overwhelming in it's presence was weaker now, but still enough that - for reasons she was unsure of - she decided not to mention the treasure.

Gina made a sympathetic expression. "As soon as this is done, I think we owe it to each other to hear our stories. Our real stories, I mean. Not the parts we're playing here."

She took a breath, letting it out slowly as they stepped out into the corridor. First, they had to navigate their way through their meeting with the emperor.

Baka had shoved another wrap in his mouth, worried that as a slave he might not get this much food later. Stuffing himself, he ran up to the wooden doorway and stuck his head out, seeing Vahsi, Gina, and the other real slave man, who had apparently remained waiting outside the door.

Cal placed the makeshift icepack reluctantly on the table beside the food and followed the others, sticking close behind Gina. When she caught sight of the slave, she hurriedly swallowed the rest of her mouthful, attempting to conceal the wrap she had begun eating inside behind her back. Her eyes were fixed on the floor as she shuffled past the servant, mimicking the lack of eye contact that she had witnessed from the other subservient people here.

"Psst." Baka tried to get Gina's attention as she was clicking off with each step of her strange but interesting footwear. "What are we supposed to do?" He whispered harshly, Cal and him would ...die or something before an Emperor, right?

"You're our personal assistants." Gina said. She couldn't bring herself to address them as slaves. "Just keep your heads down and me and Vahsi'll look out for you."

She glanced back at the middle aged servant, who was keeping his head low before Vashi. He either had not caught Baka's actions or was ignoring them.

"How may I serve you?" he was asking.

"Take us to the emperor," Vahsi said after a moment. The slave bowed, still keeping his gaze away from anyone's face, and backed out of the room, holding the door open for Vahsi to pass through. As Vahsi followed him down the hall, he hoped he wouldn't get anyone killed doing this. If anyone got hurt, it would be his fault. His responsibility. Casualties and injuries happened in war, but this wasn't war yet. Just a bunch of crazy fakers traipsing around an unknown castle.

"Was he just hanging around for us or was he listening in?" Gina murmured, wondering aloud.

The younger girl couldn't help a worried glance at the man at this thought, shifting her gaze quickly back as their eyes met. She had been beaten for merely daring to speak earlier, what would the consequences of helping herself to food intended for royals be? Or for entertaining the idea of an audience with the Emperor, for that matter!

Gina had her nose in her phone again as they walked.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for clues." Gina answered, glancing up briefly. Oddly, a search of her messages had revealed nothing from or about her supposed brother Lycus, and now she was looking uncertainly at the text cascade to her so-called bestie love who had eagerly demanded pictures of her last sexual escapade.

Lets hope the lack of messages doesn't mean Lycus hates me. Gina thought wryly as she started typing, doing her best to mimic the syntax of her previous texts.

Hey sweetness, the divine Lambros kid just asked me to talk to Lycus for him, what do you make of that!? xxx

Bestie Love's response was swift.

*Gasp!* She's so pretty! Oh my Gods, you better be careful! *Frown face* Don't make him angry again *Frown face*

Jinxed it. Gina thought, twisting her mouth. Not registering the others' curious glances at the buzz and chime of her phone, she typed a reply.

Do you think he's still mad? Did I do the wrong thing? Vahsi's coming too xxx

Gina's phone buzzed again and she saw something that was both unhelpful and rather foreboding: a simple frown face emoticon. It seemed that Bestie didn't think much of Vahsi either.

Baka was following behind, keeping his shoulders slumped and his head down, he didn't want to pull attention. But he kept shooting side glances at Cal, he worried about her. They were in the most danger.

[Azazeal849]

Guided, the four of them were taken to the first floor. Their path down the halls took them further in then they had ever been before until they came face to face with a door purely made of dark metal with no noticeable handle. Adjacent was a keypad outlined by identical metal and its keys black with bold numbering with a small dark square above.

The middle aged, balding and injured slave only turned before the royals and kept his head low. The lavish halls were only occupied the rare passing security personnel.

"...What do we do?" Baka whispered to Calamity but his voice was loud in the halls filled with nothing but the white noise of air cooling ventilation.

Cal shot a worried look between the strange door and the patiently waiting servant. It seemed logical that the pad would open the door; though it was unfamiliar to Cal the absence of any keyhole or handle left it as the only method of entering. Nervous of seeming too inquisitive in a place the slaves seemed to know better than any other, she dropped her head downward, fixing her eyes on the floor once more and responded to Baka without looking at him.

"I think..." she whispered back, painfully aware of the echo of her muttered words, "he's waiting for them to open it."

The girls' heart thudded in her chest, the half-eaten wrap still clutched awkwardly behind her back, though hopefully it would just appear as if she were holding her hands dutifully behind her. When they gained entry to the room... if they gained entry, for she had no reason to believe Gina or Vahşi had any more idea of how to open the door than she, she would throw herself to the floor as she had seen others do, she decided. Hopefully she would be able to discard the food while doing so.

Gina glanced at Cal and then back at the elderly servant.

"I don't want to barge in on our brother without some sort of warning." she said to the servant, thinking on her feet as best she could. "Can you go in and announce us, or call ahead on the radio or something?"

The slave who had been ever so humble, surprisingly looked up into Vahşi's eyes for conformation of Gina's words.

"Yes, I think that would be best," Vahşi agreed, looking completely confident. He'd quickly realized that none of them knew how to open the door, and he'd been rapidly running out of ideas that would keep them out of trouble.

The middle aged slave hesitantly faced the metal door. A rap of his knuckles on the metal door gave way to a deep, cold sound gave way. For a pause, nothing happened and Baka swallowed hard. Vahşi glanced back at the others for a moment, wondering if they'd broken some unknown protocol but hoping his and Gina's status as royalty would protect them in some way.

Drawing up, the door raised, slowly revealing a guard in the silken garb, colored black and armed with a much more lethal weapon than a mere pistol. Held across his chest was a large, ribbed long barreled intimidating gun.

Baka flashed a look to Cal to drop to their knees, he already doing so. The young princess has clearly had the same thought as she descended to the floor beside him, her mind flashing over what had been revealed in that brief moment before her gaze only showed her the cold, sterile ground again. Whatever the guard had been holding, it looked dangerous; as did its owner. His stature was obviously above their own; the far greater quality of his attire had shown that instantly. Amid her quick descent she allowed the food to slip from her fingers, where it bounced once against the otherwise impeccably cleaned floor and rolled some distance from their small group. Cal placed her hands innocently in her lap, her eyes downcast.

The olive skinned man's face was harsh, trained discipline and obedience. He had not given any of the slaves a moment of his attention, his eyes on the two royals.

Behind him they could see yet another door the mimicked the security features of the one he was guarding them from. This man lacked the formality of the guards outside, simply staring down the two royals in wait of them to speak.

Gina cleared her throat, feeling her heart rate rising.

"My brother and I want to speak to the emperor." she told the guard, invoking Vahşi after sensing from the older slave's behaviour that he possibly held more authority here than she did.

The guard scanned the two royals one last time. A click of his gladiators on the marble flooring came as he stepped aside for them to walk in. While Gina and Vahşi exchanged a glance, debating if they should simply walk in, Baka had decided he was going actually crawl on his hands and knees behind them, fearful of showing any resistance. Cal grimaced at the thought of crawling along the floor, however clean it might be. If she were home, she would be the one being guarded - the shame of this... She followed Baka's lead all the same, but it was probably a lucky thing her face was so close to the floor, and downturned - the disgruntled expression on it was not one she could mask.

As they shuffled through the first door, the guard utilised the keypad of the second. The heavy door pistoned upwards just like the first, and revealed behind was a large room, lit only by huge wall-sized screens. The one to the group's right showed a map of the Crete that Gina could recognise from her phone searches, while the screen directly in front of them was showing an olive-skinned woman talking into a handheld microphone. Behind her was a war-torn urban environment, terrified people scattering for cover at a stumbling, hunched-over run. The leftmost screen rapidly flashed with data and numbers, too fast for Vahşi and the others to understand without studying it.

The room held six older men, each intimidating with their signs of age and wisdom. The exception was a young man wearing a crown made from golden olive branches. His intimidation can through the brutality of his muscular figure, displayed by the exposed skin that the silks he wore did not cover. His eyes were a cruel ice blue, his jaw was strong and a beauty mark on his left cheek accentuated his fearsome handsomeness. Gina recognised the man from the prince's painting instantly, but even that intimidatingly lifelike portrait did not do justice to the frightening reality of emperor Lycas.

The emperor's hand was playing with a table-wide touch pad that sat atop a raised dais, dominating the floor. The horizontal screen depicted the Crete, superimposed with moving two dimensional depictions of soldiers, warplanes and military vehicles.

The emperor studied Georgina and Vahşi. His expression did not show pleasure in their company. "What do you want?"

Several of the older men had stopped what they were doing and were now also frowning in their direction. Gina got the uneasy feeling that her plan to talk to Lycus about his upset partner probably wasn't going to bear fruit in front of all these stoic, forbidding witnesses. Baka was trying to hold himself from shaking; the cold, dark room and its occupants clearly sending fear pumping through him. Gina half wished she could offer the younger boy encouragement, but a demeanour of obvious terror might actually be Cal and Baka's best defence right now. Too bad me and Vahşi don't have that option.

Trying to ignore the cold sweat that was threatening to break out on her own skin, Gina straightened her back and blanked the other men out, facing the emperor.

"I tagged along when I heard you wanted to see Vahşi." she began. "There's something important we need to talk about." She paused, glancing at the nearest steel-haired, steel-eyed adjutant. "Probably best if it's in private."

Lycus Nikas pulled away from his war table, standing at his full six feet, and stared at one of the prominent men in the room. His cold stare generated a nod in response, and the emperor walked around the table to approach his siblings. Lycus had taken his eyes off Georgina to stare at Vahşi. The servant that had guided them crawled backward to hide himself further behind the royals and two other slaves.

Vahşi realized that he was probably supposed to say something. He'd guessed from Georgina's words and the old servant's behaviour that this was the emperor. An emperor that had wanted to see him regarding a subject unknown. But it wasn't as if he could just say, 'Hey, what's up?' to someone he'd never met before. He'd rather gotten the impression that wherever they were, the culture was built on a respect - and fear - of the ruling class. The emperor was glaring at him now, which usually wasn't a precursor to friendly conversation, but in a few seconds the silence would be getting uncomfortable.

"I know you wished to speak with me, but the matter between us should wait for a few moments. What she has to say-" He indicated Georgina. "-is on a subject that cannot wait to be attended to." Not to mention that he didn't really know why he was here, himself, and would prefer to put off their own conversation as long as possible.

Oh Jesus. Gina thought, as Lycus Nikas' eyes went away from Vahşi and back onto her once more. Thanks, Vahşi. So much for easing things in under Bestie's advice to try and avoid pissing off their murderous brother.

Imperious in his blood red silks, the emperor looked back to the older, high-ranking military men. He growled his words.

"Leave us."

Each of the silver haired men stood back from their digitised maps and screens, and stepped out of the metal door. There was a heavy sound as it closed. Gina and the others were now alone with the emperor.

"By the gods." the emperor asked his 'sister' sternly. "What can be so important that you have to interrupt me?"

Gina felt herself flushing slightly at the obvious contempt in his voice. Well, fuck you too, she thought. But she had made her plan of attack, and even if it was coming out sooner than she had intended there was nothing left to do but pitch it.

"It's about the prince." she began. "I've been talking to him and he doesn't seem very happy here. Now, fair enough, I don't know anything about wars..." She tugged at her hair, hoping she had found an angle that would grab the emperor's attention, "But I looked at the news today and half the world's up in arms over what Nero Drusus did to him. I don't want it to end up with them saying the same things about us." She hesitated. "Maybe we should send him home, so he can see his family? So he can be safe?"

So he can be away from you.

[G]

The emperor's face flushed and twisted with apparent embarrassment, and a hint of anger that could be seen by the singular bold line that formed between his furrowing brows.

"And what am I supposed to do? I have an empire to lead. I find him precious and - unlike you two sloths - an inspirational being." His bearing became dominating and explosive as he pointed a finger at Vahşi. "You have done nothing but hide with cowardice in your chambers. It is time you become useful. And you," His ice blue eyes glared at Georgina, "Are nothing but a drug-fueled whore. What possible insight can you give me on my personal affairs?"

Vahşi fought a rising urge to throttle the emperor. The insults against him made little impact, and the faded sense of a forgotten memory indicated that he was used to such things. But despite his own shortcomings, which he'd been told over and over, there was no reason to speak to Georgina that way. The emperor was fortunate that he was too important to make striking him viable. Vahşi moved his gaze to the far wall, not trusting himself to speak again or to look the emperor in the eyes.

On the floor, Baka felt his stomach twisting in knots. Nervously he crawled closer to Calamity. The floor was freezing on his bare exposed skin; nothing about this room gave any sense of comfort. It told him to be submissive and fearful.

Gina forced herself to stand her ground. The insults stung, even though she hadn't done anything to earn her alter ego's reputation. She dropped her handbag, still containing the book, onto the floor next to Cal and Baka, and folded her arms.

"It was him who came to see me." she told the emperor. What has made you so insightful suddenly? had been the prince's reaction to her as well. It wasn't a good feeling, sensing this underlying contempt from everyone who wasn't a servant. "I'm sure you do find him inspirational. But he told me he wants to be seen as a person, not an idol."

She was trying to choose her words carefully. She still didn't know the full story between the emperor and the starstruck young prince, and she didn't want to encourage her proven murderer of a brother into something that said prince would quickly regret.

"I think he's lonely." she finished, letting her arms fall to her sides.

Emperor Nikas stared at her intently. He looked around at the war room for a moment before he pushed Vahşi to the side to walk between his "siblings" to the door. Vahşi flinched as the emperor's body contacted his, but managed to stay standing where he was instead of backing up. The older slave and Baka practically had to roll to avoid being in Lycus' walking path; Cal was fortunate enough to simply not be in his way.

"There is going to be a gathering of my highest ranking." the emperor growled at Gina and Vahşi. Vahşi met the emperor's angry glare with a defiant stare of his own, fear tinging his stronger emotion of dislike.

"Be useful and attend to boost morale." the emperor continued. He glared at Georgina. "Come sober."

Gina jerked her head slightly, as if trying to physically shake off the rebuke. Lycus Nikas turned to the door and opened it, barking at his men to return to their work.

"We're not done." he warned Vahşi as he left through the other doors. Vahşi made no verbal reply, only nodding as the emperor departed.

As the stony-faced ruler left the room, Cal exhaled; a long, tremulous burst of air she hadn't even realised she'd been holding. Well, that had gone...honestly, she wasn't sure; but they were all still breathing, so not terribly at least. Her back and shoulders ached from kneeling on all fours for such a length of time, and her muscles screamed to be released, to stretch. Sitting upright, she turned her stiff neck left and right; and realised what she hadn't been able to see from her prone position on the ground; one of the heavily armed guards was watching them intently.

Shit.

Her eyes scrambled for a reasonable excuse for her movement, and, trying not to let it seem like an act of desperation, she reached over to retrieve Gina's bag from the floor, holding it up for the 'royal' with her eyes cast down to the floor again. This didn't seem like the kind of place where people of Gina's stature would have to stoop for anything. Surely it was a reasonable excuse. She hoped, too, that the older girl would take the hint, and make an exit; she needed to breathe, and to stand. The guard was still staring at them, waiting for them to leave.

"Come on." Gina said to her three companions, looking down at Cal and taking both the bag and the hint.

Gina walked a little stiffly as they all exited the war room. They seemed to have achieved something at least - even if I keep getting slated for stuff I had no part in. She glanced sideways at Vahşi, wondering if he was feeling the same. Vahşi returned her glance, his gaze echoing similar sentiments, although a darker part of himself seemed to brood below the surface of his irritation. After the emperor had called him a coward and useless, Gina realised something that she should have picked up on in the book-filled room. Maybe the doppelganger Vahşi was just an extreme introvert, and the staring that had offended the prince was simply a lack of decent social skills. She wondered what her own backstory was, beyond the superficial evidence of her Twitter feed. Looking at Cal and Baka, she felt her stomach twist in sympathy at how they must be feeling.

"So." Gina said with a rather strained smile as the door rumbled closed again behind them. "Your place or mine?"

"Let's try yours." Vahşi suggested. "Once we're there, we need to talk."

"Can you take us to my room, please?" Gina asked the older slave. They could use some time to gather their thoughts and plan their next move. And, she thought as she pulled the tie of her gown away from her neck wound once again, maybe even get out of this fucking dress.

The slave bowed, with a nervous shake, and glanced at Vahşi for confirmation of the order. Vahşi nodded to the older slave, a bit ruder than he'd acted before. Hadn't he requested clothing for Baka? The overly-clean smell of the palace irritating his nose did not help his edgy mood.

The slave started off down the corridor and Vahşi followed, feeling as if he had nearly remembered something crucial during their audience with the emperor, only to forget it more completely than before.

While the middle-aged slave guided the group, Baka studied the bruise on Cal's face.

"Are you okay?" he whispered to her. His stomach bubbled, digesting the wrap he had eaten - a noise which pulled the attention of one of the patrolling guards. Baka threw his head down instantly to become invisible again.

Cal's only response to the question was an infinitesimal nod; she had almost blown her cover a moment ago, and wasn't willing to risk it again.

The older slave led them through the golden corridors to yet another redwood door, and prostrated himself on the floor until Vahşi gave him curt permission to leave. Gina shook her head, a pensive expression on her face, before turning her attention back to a more practical problem and fishing a bottle of eyeliner out of her handbag. She barely registered the Gucci stamp as she unscrewed the top and marked a subtle streak of black kohl under the burnished doorknob.
"That might help us find it again if all else fails." she commented as she rose and took a breath. Okay, let's see what Gigi's room says about her...

When she opened the door, she found herself greeted by a softly-lit room, with a succession of small square lights lining the four marble walls. Decorative lines of contrasting black marble were inlaid around each individual light, and stretched between them in a repeating pattern of square spirals. The walls were decorated with thick-framed modern art showing simple, artistic swirls, and the marble floor was covered almost from wall to wall by a circular, black velvet rug. The rug was emblazoned with a huge image of a dusky-skinned glamour model, clashing sharply with the room's subdued black-and-white aesthetic.

To Gina's left was another door which she assumed led to a bathroom, and directly across from the entrance was a huge walk-in closet; well lit, and with long racks of clothes neatly organised by colour. They even had matching heels, wedges and flats lined up underneath the hangers. The careful organisation did not extend to the rest of the room, as the modern vanity dresser by the bathroom door was scattered with makeup cases and brushes, and some of the drawers had been left carelessly half-closed. The circular bed to Gina's right stood on a raised marble platform, and was underlit by white LEDs studded around the base. The lights illuminated discarded makeup items that had rolled under the bed, and the floor itself was scattered with dresses, heels, and the odd piece of lace underwear.

Gina twisted her mouth. She was hardly the tidiest person in the world, but the room suggested the careless indifference of someone five years younger who knew that their mum would tidy up after them. A mum or a slave. Gina thought. She twisted the dial of the light-switch beside the door to raise the lights, and turned and looked at Cal and Baka still hovering behind her. Cal's cheek was still red, turning slowly purple.

"Sit down, guys." Gina said, indicating the bed. "I'm going to be sick if I have to watch you act like slaves any longer."

Cal raised her arms above her head, grimacing (then wincing; the movement sent a pang through her bruised cheek) at the tiny clicks and cracks from her shoulderblades and back as she stretched like a cat. Her muscles were stiff from her subservient position, and as she lowered her arms, she lifted a hand to rub small circles over her shoulder.

"You're going to be sick!" she said, frowning, "Even when I was kidnapped I was treated better than this!"

"Kidnapped?" Gina asked in alarm, but Cal was already in full flow.

"If I was treated like this at home, these floors would not be nearly as clean. Mother has killed for less. If she could see her Princess now, on her knees, beaten..."

The teen trailed off with a small shudder. She wasn't actually sure what the Grand Sensibility would do. Certainly, those who expected this behaviour of her would be punished... and harshly. But Cal had let them frighten her into submission; that was not how she'd been raised, and Lyr would not respond kindly to such a display of weakness.

"If she ever finds out about this, I'm fucked." she continued. The afterthought followed swiftly; "If we ever get home, that is."

She surprised herself with the lack of worry in her voice at the statement. Did she even want to go back? With a sigh, she sat down where Gina had gestured.

Gina slumped down next to Cal, her elbows resting on her knees and her fingertips supporting her temples.

"Well, we're getting somewhere." Gina said after a moment, straightening. "But I don't know how much getting the prince and the emperor talking is going to help. God, what a prick!"

On Cal's other side, Baka looked around the room, clearly disgruntled. He didn't know what to say or do. Gina pulled the book from Vahşi's room back out of her handbag and flicked through the blank pages, as if in the hope that it would offer the group some new insight. Dropping it back onto the bed with a shake of her head, she looked up at Vahşi, who was still standing.

"Are you alright?" she asked him, "You looked about ready to commit murder back there." Her eyebrows knitted together as she remembered his dark expression leaving the war room, and his insistence that they should talk.

Vahşi shrugged. "I don't know if I'm all right," he told her, not bothering to lie and say he was fine. "I've met some pricks, but the emperor is more like a grove of cacti."

Intentional or not, the pun drew a brief laugh from Gina.

"When we were in the War Room," Vahşi went on, "I felt like I was starting to remember something, but..." He made a vague gesture with his hand that indicated his hopelessness and frustration. "Now it's like whatever barriers were up in my mind have built themselves higher. I can't remember her. There was some woman, that I was thinking of when I was trying to think of something to calm me down, but I can't remember her name or what she looked like."

She would have had to be important to him, if he had thought of her at such a time, and he wished he could remember. Gina looked sympathetic, then worried.

"What happened?" she asked. "To make you forget?"

"Forget it." Vahşi said. "We'll figure it out eventually, I guess."

Gina shifted around in her seat, winced, and slid two fingers under her dress' strap to pull it away from the side of her neck yet again.

"Can you unzip me please?" she asked Cal, and excused herself into the en-suite after picking one of her alter ego's day dresses from its hanger, more or less at random.

The bathroom was all white marble, with organically-curved cream fixtures and polished silver faucets. As Gina unfolded her chosen item clothing, she saw that what she had taken to be a simple, short-sleeve beige dress carried a Prada label, and no doubt a four-figure price tag. It was detailed with intricate patterns of silver thread, forming a double band around the hem, and a third band encircled the collar and ran across the shoulders to edge the cuffs. Even Gina had to admit that it was gorgeous.

She changed, folded the red dress haphazardly over the bath and turned to the mirror, gritting her teeth uneasily as she turned her head to examine the bite on her neck. The twin puncture marks had closed, but they were surrounded by dark, blotchy smudges where the skin had bruised over. Looking at the wound brought back the unpleasant image of Rozaria's leering face; invisible, but outlined in blood as they tore at each other in the deadly hedge maze outside West Hills. Gina shivered involuntarily, and began to worry where the rest of her classmates were now. How long had she been gone? And what the hell might be happening to them while she was away?

Becca, Olivia, Sam, Dave...Gina didn't think of herself as a leader, but they all as good as looked up to her as one. Did whoever brought her here not care about abandoning them? She heard Cal, Baka and Vahşi conversing softly outside the door, and reflected that she could hardly abandon them either, even if she had been able to. She looked again at the bite on her neck, and then down at the twin symbols branded onto her wrist. Whoever had brought them here seemed to be toying with them - making Cal and Baka into slaves while she took the role of a spoiled princess, and taunting Vahşi with memories he couldn't quite recall. Back in West Hills she would have blamed the drugged food, but this wasn't West Hills.

"You're a sadist." she accused the marks on her wrist quietly.

Ill at ease, she rearranged her hair over her shoulders to cover Rozaria's bite as best she could, and exhaled a deep breath as she leaned over the sink to stare at her reflection. If nothing else, she thought, she had to admit that her alter ego Gigi was a dab hand with a curling wand. She unlocked the bathroom door and stepped out, slightly self-conscious in her new attire.

"How noticeable is it?" she asked, figuring that if the others could see what she was talking about, she would need to pick out a scarf.

"Ummm." Baka began, noticing her dress before anything else. "What is noticeable?" He scanned her again, seeing nothing wrong with her.

"Right answer." Gina said, a smile tugging at one side of her mouth. "I've got a bite on my neck that I don't really want people seeing."

"A bite?" Cal asked, her own eyes on the new dress with just a hint of jealousy in them. She had hated the fineries her mother had forced her into at home, but after spending the day in the guise of servitude, she found she missed the privileges of her old station more than she'd realised. "From what?"

"Would you believe that one of my classmates is a vampire hybrid and tried to take a bite out of me?" the older girl replied, twisting her mouth. To her obvious surprise, Cal nodded, accepting the answer instantly. Though the revelation worried her slightly, she was more relieved; this was perhaps the first thing of Gina's past she had heard that she could relate to her own world.

"A vampire? That's a type of Fae, right?"

Gina shrugged. "I don't know where they come from. But in Roze's case a crazy scientist stuck a needle in her."

"Ouch." Cal winced. "It's not... contagious, is it?"

"I don't think so." Gina said, and wrinkled her nose. "But wouldn't that just cap off a really shitty week."

She padded over to the walk-in wardrobe and picked up the silver-threaded flats that went with her dress. She made a point of dropping her old red dress into the clothes bin nearby, so that at least none of the palace slaves would have to pick it up. It seemed a rather small and futile gesture, which irked her as she sat back down on the plush white stool in front of the vanity dresser. Pinned to one of the triple mirrors was a glamour photo of Gina herself, winking out at her. Gina got the sense that her alter ego was simply spoiled rather than vindictive, but she found Gigi's obliviousness vaguely offensive. Well. she resolved, It's time for her to grow up and step out of her bubble.

Standing near the dresser, Vahşi could pick up a mix of perfume scents; powdery, artificial and unpleasant. Behind the flowery fragrances was the hint of a more toxic smell. He frowned and leaned a bit closer, careful not to touch anything.

"Does anyone else smell that?" he asked, looking over the items scattered across the dresser.

Baka got up to look, his eyes noticing a bag of some sort that was poking over the lip of a half-closed drawer. He grabbed a plastic bag filled with what looked like tiny hard sweets, imprinted with stylish symbols such as smiley faces or little cartoon characters. Baka had no idea what they were; they looked tasty but were hard. Maybe they were hard chewable candy? He opened the plastic bag and began to grab one. As he opened the bag the scent whiffed right into Vahşi's strong nose.Gina noticed what he was doing just in time and lunged across the table to snatch the bag away from him.

"Sorry." she apologised. "Um...trust me, you don't want to be taking them right now."

Guess Gigi was an E girl. she thought as she hurriedly stuffed the pills down into the bottom of her handbag.

[Azazeal849]

"You know," Gina said as she stood back up. "I still feel like I know more about Georgina Nikas than about any of you guys."

She padded over to the wall and leaned against the marble in between two of the modern art paintings.

"I mean," she continued, folding her arms and looking at Cal. "For you vampires are something normal?"

"Well, everyone knows about the Fae," Cal replied in a matter-of-fact tone, although the disbelief in Gina's face didn't equate with that statement.

"Everyone in Serroc, anyway." she amended. "The vampires mostly live in the woods. Only the more normal ones - the ones who can hide it, I mean, live in the city. With the faeries, the witches, people with just minor magic. They're not allowed in the main part of the city, of course, but we allow them to live on the outskirts. That's where I was captured. I snuck away from my guards, and changed my clothes, but the rebels still recognised me."

The once-princess sighed, a frustrated hiss of air that seemed to deflate her a little, her shoulders slumping forwards. When she spoke again, her frustration was evident in her voice.

"Maybe I should have listened to mother. I was just so sick of being Princess Calamity. I just wanted to enjoy myself for once, maybe have a conversation with someone. Most people were too frightened to speak to me. It gets tiring, you know, the airs, the clothes..."

She looked up at Gina with the last words, habit sending her gaze to the older girl's beautiful, but casual (albeit clearly expensive) dress.

"Speaking of clothes... you aren't wearing that to the Emperor's 'gathering,' right?"

"You what?" Gina asked, wrong-footed.

"I mean, it's stunning, don't get me wrong. But he said all his highest ranking would be there. You definitely need to change before we...before you go. I suppose slaves probably aren't invited." Her still puffy lip curled with the word.

"Bullshit." Gina said decisively. "If they'll let us take you into the emperor's war room they'll let us take you to a party. I'm not giving them the chance to hit you again."

She pushed herself off the wall and crossed over to the wardrobe, beckoning Cal over.

"Okay, you clearly know more about this princess thing than I do. Talk to me."

"Well, like I said you need to change your dress. Some jewellery wouldn't go astray, either." With each statement, some of Cal's entrained haughtiness returned - her back straightening, her eyebrow raised slightly, and her tone carrying a hint of command. She didn't seem to realise it until she'd finished speaking.

"No offense," she added quickly, "You just don't want to look out of place."

"No, it's fine." Gina reassured her, turning back from the wardrobe hangers to look at Cal. She wasn't about to criticise the younger girl for getting some of her battered confidence back.

"Why?" Cal added as an afterthought, as though only now recognising she'd given something of a speech about herself, without a thought to the others.

"Why what?" Gina asked as she pulled out a shimmering silk ball gown at Cal's direction.

"Are vampires not heard of usually, in Leicester?

Gina grinned. "I'd have to say no."

Cal looked at Baka and Vahsi. "Or Merriweather, or Destiny Islands?"

Cal spoke the place names as if they were taken from a bard's tale, giving a small shake of her head after she'd spoken.

"I still can't believe there are so many other places. I thought the woods just carried on forever, outside the city walls." It seemed rather stupid, now she said it aloud. But what reason had she had to disbelieve it, until now?

"I know how you feel." Gina nodded, smiling through pursed lips. "I didn't think ghosts existed until a bunch of them tried to kill me and my mum. And until a week ago, I'd probably have drawn the line at vampires."

She rubbed her forehead with the heel of her hand.

"There were Heartless, but I never got to see them." Baka mentioned to the girls. He was still frowning slightly at Gina for taking the 'candies' off him. "They were...uh..well, heartless."

He gave a cheesy smile and rubbed his hand up and down the back of his head. "Don't know what a vampire is. Are they heartless too?"

"They can be," Vahsi said with a shrug. "We had plenty of vampires but most of them were nice enough. They kept to themselves out by the witches' village on the moor. There were a few up in the city, of course, but most of the city dwellers were lyrians or vulpians if they weren't human. Out in the forest, though, you'd find anyone." A smile crossed his lips for a moment. "You'd find villages of all kinds of folk living together. If it was a full moon, they'd be wary of strangers of course, but usually they were kind people. If you were running from something, it was the best place you could go to find shelter and help. Or at least it used to be like that."

"What happened?" Gina asked, as she entertained the slightly absurd thought of what West Hills might have been like if they'd had a friendly vampire to deal with and not a sociopathic sex predator.

"The humans were afraid of us - the lupians, lyrians, shapeshifters and all the rest. We were a threat to them because of our abilities, and a danger because some of us didn't know how to control them or couldn't."

"Them?" Gina asked. "You're not...uh...human?"

Her tone was more one of surprise than fear - Vahsi had so far shown no signs of wanting to hurt them - but to look at him she would never have known that she was looking at yet another supernatural being.

"No, I'm not what you'd call human," Vahsi said. "But I'm not dangerous - at least not to my friends."

Gina nodded slowly. I should probably stop being shocked by stuff like this.

"Usually there was a clear difference between, say, werewolves and lupians. But sometimes the lines blurred, and the humans started to be afraid of all of us." Vahsi shook his head. "If it weren't for us taking them in when they first arrived, the humans would have all died off in just a few months. Once they realized they weren't the dominant species in their new world... They repaid our kindness by trying to exterminate us. Eventually their government and economy collapsed under the weight of all the bounties being collected, and the responsibility of dealing with us fell to whoever decided to take it. Most of us ended up in laboratories or as slaves. Farla and I were in one of the military labs, and then suddenly I was here."

"Farla?" Gina asked, unsure what to make of the rest of the story but picking up on Vahsi's expression as he said the name.

"Farla is the woman I love, unless you want to restrict the usage of the word 'woman' to humans only. She's a lupian, same as I am. I don't know what's happened back home since then, or even if it's still there."

Gina's face fell in sympathy.

"I've got friends I want to go back and help as well." she nodded, her eyebrows knitting together. "They've already killed five of us, and I don't know yet if my mum even got the email I sent her..."

She halted, registering the blank looks that the other three were giving her, and took a seat on the bed.

"I'm starting in the wrong place, aren't I? It all started when my mum dropped me off at West Hills." She stopped again. "Actually no, go back even further than that. It really started when my mum and me moved to America, after her and my dad got divorced."

She dropped her gaze and began to pick at the embroidered hem of her dress.

"I was just so..." She shook her head. "So angry at her. And I know I shouldn't have been. She needed the job, and she was just trying to make the best of things for the both of us - but all I saw was her pulling me away from home and expecting me to get on with it, pretending everything was okay and insisting we were all going to be fine..."

Gina shook her head again, her eyes still fixed on the floor tiles.

"I think it was the fact she wouldn't say dad's name that set me off, I don't know. I was so unfair. I called her a coward and everything."

She coughed, as if to clear a lump in her throat.

"Anyway, we moved to a town called Austere which was going cheap, even if it was a fair way off mum's commuter route. The first person we made friends with was another out-of-towner called Aiden."

"How did you meet?" Baka asked.

A brief smile flickered across Gina's downcast face, and she raised her head to look at the others.

"He nearly ran me over with his motorbike! He was stuck for somewhere to stay, so we let him crash with us for a bit. And then we met Yv."

She winced slightly at the memory - not for the Yvette that she knew now, but for the broken-doll thing that had come crawling and spasming up the corridor towards her, a dozen monstrous faces leering at her from behind the helpless girl's own.

"We thought she was just a normal girl at first, but the locals all acted really strange around her. And then our next-door neighbour turned up dead."

Another slight wince.

"We knew something was wrong when the coppers wouldn't do anything about it, saying it was a heart attack and the screaming we heard must have been foxes... The whole town had this conspiracy of silence going on. We had to put it together from old books and records in the library, and even then we didn't get it until another out-of-towner called Remy told us about a legend he'd overheard from the locals. And then he turned up dead as well."

She paused, looking at the others as she reached the part of the story that she still sometimes had trouble believing herself.

"Yv was possessed. By ghosts." She glanced around the others. "I don't know about you but in my world ghosts are not supposed to be real. It was fucking terrifying. But I couldn't run, no matter how much I just wanted to jump into mum's car and drive away... We were sitting in a café, me and Yv, both of us pretending that there was nothing wrong...and she looked right at me and said help me."

She shook her head again, this time pensively.

"I couldn't just leave her behind, not after that."


* * * * * *

An asylum, Gina thought to herself as she padded forward, trying to keep the tread of her Converse silent on the rubbish-strewn floor, Why did it have to be a sodding asylum?

Her fingers were trembling with what she hoped was adrenaline, causing her torch-beam to waver as she panned it across the peeling walls. They were filthy with damp and spots of mould, and in several places the ceiling was cracked and sagging ominously. The torch grip was rough but slightly slippery in Gina's fist, and her nose was full of the sickly sweet smell of the petrol can she was carrying in her other hand.

The bones they were looking for had to be around here somewhere. Gina hoped to god that this was going to work. The legend had already been right about the silver, hadn't it? If only Aiden hadn't gone running off after Yv himself - poor, naive, noble Aiden. Gina wanted nothing more than to turn around and bolt, straight out of this place and not stop until her distance-runner's legs had carried her into the next state, but she couldn't have lived with herself if she'd left anyone else to die.

She realised that she had slowed to a stop, and she lowered the petrol can to the floor as quietly as she could to ease the burning in her arm muscles. A gentle hand on her shoulder almost made her jump out of her skin, until she saw her mum looking down at her. Gina and her mum shared the same auburn hair and blue eyes, although Jenny Wright was a half-hand taller and a shade longer in the face. She was wearing the same look of pained concern as she always did when she sensed that her daughter was worried about something. Instead of the helpless, bitter resentment she had felt so many times at that same look until the night before, she saw the obvious. So much had changed, but they still both cared. Why had it taken them so long to simply talk?

"Mum..." Gina whispered, on a sudden impulse. "If we don't make it out of this..."

Jenny shushed her gently, and put her free arm around Gina to pull her close enough to kiss the top of her head. "Don't say that Georgie. We will."

It was a nickname that Gina had always hated, but right now she didn't care. She laced her hand into her mother's, and at that moment, the torches they were holding both began to flicker.

"Oh shit." Gina said in a thin voice, looking down at the device in her hand as it slowly faded out. The torches were dying - that meant that They were close.

A deeper darkness seemed to close in around the corridor; a darkness that was something more than the simple absence of light. Gina felt a frigid breeze ghost across her cheek - a breeze that her misfiring imagination tried to turn into cold fingers. Both she and her mum instinctively clasped each others hands tighter, and then whirled as a low hiss emanated from behind a rust-streaked door to their right. The door itself slammed back with a deafening squeal, the old lock shattering and falling to the floor.

Yv was standing in the middle of the ward beyond, surrounded by the rusted skeletons of beds, and a young man that Gina recognised was laid out cruciform at her feet. Ragged shafts of moonlight sifted in through the cobwebbed windows, draping over the scene like a shroud.

"Aiden!" Gina whispered, her eyes darting from the dishevelled girl to the body at her feet. He was still breathing, because she could see his chest rising and falling in shallow gasps, but his eyes were closed.

"We know what you are." Gina's mum said, in a stronger voice than Gina herself would ever have been able to muster. "Let her go."

Yv smiled a broken-mirror smile. Then she went rigid, her arms trembling at her sides. She convulsed as if about to vomit, her head lurching back and her mouth snapping open. Black smoke poured out of it, splitting and coalescing into a dozen hovering figures with shadows for bodies and dark mist for cloaks. Each one was grinning with feral intensity, blurring a kaleidoscope of faces beneath their misty hoods. Gina saw her dead neighbour, and Remy, and a dozen other faces that she didn't recognise.

"One would have been sufficient to open the portal." they rasped as Yv slumped to the floor, the voices like sand sifting through dry bones. "But you are welcome to join us."

Glancing at each other, Gina and Jenny dropped their useless torches and clawed instead for their silver knives. The shadows were faster - even before the broken torches had pinged off the hard floor, one of them flew at Gina. A high-pitch screech filled her ears and the smoke became something cold and solid as it lifted her up and hurled her against the wall of the ward. The rotted plaster gave under her and she fell hard into the dusty space between the walls. Something cascaded down on top of her, and she let out a yelp as she scrambled free. The objects were hard and pale and irregular. Bones.

Gina scrambled up onto her knees and lunged for the petrol can, her mind seemingly too full now for fear. As she fumbled with the cap and spun back towards the hole in the wall, one of Them let out a piercing shriek and swooped into her, sending her skidding forward across the floor. Gina felt a sharp pain as something sharp on the filthy tiles tore her jeans and gashed her knee, and then she went down hard on her elbows, spilling the box of matches she was groping for and sending the can tumbling out of her numb hands. The can landed on its side as the cap bounced away, and a wash of clear, stinking fluid spread out towards the pile of bones.

"We won't be stopped!" They shrieked at Gina. "There are more of us than you can imagine!"

One of the shadows swooped again, only to bank away with a screech as something metallic caught the light and Jenny Wright dived into the phantom's path, slashing at its smoky cloak with the sterling silver kitchen knife. Gina didn't wait; she lunged on her hands and knees towards the can, threw it straight into the centre of the bone pile, and struck one of her remaining matches into the spreading pool.

The flame was just a blue flicker as Gina and Jenny scrambled back, almost invisible as it leapt along the trail of spilled gasoline. It was eclipsed utterly by the red flash and the wrenching shriek as the shadows simultaneously caught fire, came apart and evaporated.

On the floor, Yv and Aiden's eyes snapped open as they sucked in a breath like someone held underwater to the point of drowning.


* * * * * *

"We beat them." Gina finished, with a kind of savage pride. "We killed them, we saved Yv. And until last week I thought that was the end of it, but it turns out Austere wasn't the only town where these things lived. They were crawling all over my new school at West Hills as well. It was..."

She looked at the floor again, dropping her head into one hand.

"It was a clusterfuck, basically. Like I said five people died already, and god knows what's happening to the rest of them." She looked up at Vahsi. "I know exactly what you mean when you say you don't know what's happening to your friends."

She paused again, the pensive look back on her face., and Cal nodded, a worried look passing over her own.

"If anything happens to the friends I made back home, it will be all my fault," she chewed her lip. "I mean, they did kidnap me. But only because they were desperate.. and they treated me kindly. I think they just wanted me to see, as much as get information about mothers' keep. And I did... the way she treats them, it's like they're not even people!" Cal flipped through the dresses in quick, angry movements, not really looking at the gowns.

"I don't doubt mothers' gathered half the orderlies by now to storm down to the fifth district. They'll kill anyone they think had anything to do with my disappearance."

"Maybe that's what we've all got in common." Gina said, rising to her feet and hugging her arms. She put a hand on Cal's arm to halt her angry raking through the wardrobe. "There's people we need to get back and help."

And somebody knows that. she thought forebodingly. The same somebody who keeps putting tattoos on us and seems to want us to help this prince with his love life.

"You think whoever wrote the note will help us?" Baka asked.

"I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to trust anyone who rips people out of reality and signs notes to them in blood." Gina said flatly. "But right now they seem to be the only lead we've got. So we've got to help the people here."

She let out a breath. It was, after all, the whole reason she wanted to become a paramedic: to help people, to save people. It just seemed that whatever cosmic comedian was writing the script to her life seemed to like giving her opportunities to do so which shouldn't have been physically possible...and which carried the most horrific dangers. Gina chewed her lip, and a look of determination came over her face.

"And that means going to this meeting with the emperor."

[Minkasha]

The illustrious bedroom of the imposed princess seemed to be one of the very few places where the four of them could remain together safely, but Vahşi had wandered off on his own during the downtime before the party. The candy-like pills that Baka had almost eaten had continued to give off a harsh scent as the time passed, and eventually Vahşi couldn't stand it any more. He'd given some excuse and had almost bolted from the room, giving a wolf-like snort as he passed through the doorway. Since he wasn't familiar with the palace, he simply ordered a passing servant to lead him back to his quarters. When he got there, the old man was waiting for him, and Vahşi took the opportunity to send him off in search of a different set of clothing.

It took only a few minutes for Vahşi to become bored with his solitude. He left his quarters, again commandeering the service of a palace worker - this time a guard - to lead him to the armoury. The wide variety of weapons locked behind the heavy doors were more than tempting to one such as himself, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to walk out of the armoury fully loaded with weapons. Settling for a pistol and small dagger-like knife, he returned to his quarters, by which time the old man had brought his change of clothes.

Soon afterwards Vahşi was comfortably arrayed in a new outfit (https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/53/c4/94/53c49403d7331d66cc2cc8adf2016d94.jpg) of dark jeans, a grey shirt and a high-collared cashmere blazer. The pistol he slipped between his skin and the back of his jeans, relieved by the familiar feeling of steel on flesh. The knife he slipped horizontally against the inside of one of his new shoes, which were sneaker-like things with metal webbing laid against the instep. Grabbing his old clothing, he went back to the room he'd left earlier, following a guard most of the way until he recognised the halls. He knocked on the door, waited to be let in, and flung himself down on one of the couches along the wall, dropping his red toga-towel-thing at the foot of the furniture and stretching to his full length.

Georgina's phone displayed the time to be 7:50pm, their shared existence just shy of twelve hours together in the foreignness of the cruel, cold, marble palace. The teenage boy, Baka, had decided to splurge on the food Gina had ordered for them and was sleeping off his stuffed stomach on miss Nikas' bed. According to Gina and Cal, his happy-faced rest was nearing its third hour. He had invited others to join him, but the interest wasn't shared. The two young women had been busy trying to learn all they could about their surroundings, and from Gina's phone they now knew a little more about the Gela Empire and its neighbouring city states of Itanos and Akrai. It seemed that Gela had only recently become newsworthy, now that emperor Lycus was throwing his military weight around in a series of appallingly bloody takeovers. Itanos seemed to be in a shambles; its matriarch Livia Drusus holding onto power with white-knuckled fists. An attempted alliance against Gela had fallen through when Livia's son had married and then quickly divorced prince Panos of Akrai, and now the luckless prince had been passed on to emperor Lycus in an attempt to save his home city from Gela's wrath.

It was alarming to think that the person who had brought them here seemed to want them to solve this country-spanning mess on their own. Certainly, intervention from outside didn't seem likely. Beyond some toothless condemnation from world leaders that Lycus was steadfastly ignoring, the world at large appeared to care little for the Greek civil war; perhaps because of the relative lack of weight the city states seemed to have on the global stage. Even Akrai, prince Panos' home state, seemed an unremarkable city beyond the supposedly divine blood of its ruling family, and - apparently - its world-famous wine.

After they had read that, she sent a dismissive text to 'Alex' stating "Can't make our appointment because Lycus has called a meeting :/ xxx" to remove him being a complication. Gina had hit upon the idea of retrieving a bottle of Akrai's Lambros wine from the palace stores, on the logic that a gesture to make Panos feel more at home might make him more inclined to talk to them again. Taking the opportunity to explore the palace a little more, Gina was now reasonably confident of the route between Vahşi's room and her own, as well as how to get back to the main staircase that led to the kitchens, a ballroom and the entrance hall that they had all first appeared in. The palace seemed almost unnecessarily difficult to navigate, although according to a guard Gina had asked it was a deliberate defensive strategy, in case the mansion was raided. Evidently, aggressive paranoia ran in the Nikas family.

While Gina had gotten her bearings, Cal had retrieved both the wine and their lunch from the kitchens, where an older slave had given her the rather ominous warning to keep her head down. She had been given the impression that she was a new arrival here, and that abuse from the higher ranks of the household was far from uncommon.

Back in Gina's room, there was apparently little to do but finish picking out their clothes for the evening. Cal barely noticed Vahşi's re-entry as she stood beside the vanity where Gina sat, idly picking through a jewellery box that sat atop it. Every now and then she plucked out one of the array of beautiful necklaces and held it up in the redhead's direction, appraising its combination with the gown she'd helped the older girl choose for the soiree.

Looking up at her own battered reflection, she lifted a silver necklace dripping with tiny, purple gems to her throat and gave an almost imperceptible sigh before dropping it back to lay amongst the others.

"You know," Gina offered, picking up on Cal's wistful expression, "You can wear that to the party if you like. I'll tell them I wanted you to look nice."

Cal looked at the necklace. Would she ever be allowed to wear something like that again? Certainly not while they were here - the warning she had received from the robust woman who ran the kitchens still echoed in her ears, and even trying on something belonging to a royal would no doubt bring on violent retribution, if seen by the wrong person. She cast a sideways look at Gina.

"You should take care not to be too nice to us; Baka and I, I mean. At the party."

From what the slave had told her, it would be out of character for the other girl to do so - it had probably already seemed strange, when she had saved Cal from the beating she'd received earlier.

Gina looked uncomfortable as she touched up her makeup, no doubt still hating the enforced power dynamic between them, but she nodded. "Yeah, I suppose you're right."

"This one," Cal said with a small nod, changing the subject. The princess moved to stand behind Gina, fastening the ornament around her neck. It was a choker with bands of silver looping over each other to form a wide, intricate pattern that both complimented the other girl's dress, and hid the bite on her neck from view. Cal nodded again, happy with her choice, and smoothed her own dress, her eyes rising once more to her reflection. She could not dress up, of course, but she had found another plain dress - similar to the one she had been wearing when she appeared here, and free of the stains and water marks that being thrown and crawling across the floor had left it with. She'd washed her face, hands and feet in the bathroom adjoining Gina's chambers, marvelling over the plumbing system as she did so ("The water, it just shoots out of the wall!") and combed out her tangled hair, tying it back again into a neat ponytail when she was done. Aside from her still-swollen face - which, from what she had learned of the royals' cruelty toward those who served them, would not draw much notice - she looked quite neat and presentable...albeit very common.

Sitting plugged-in to its charger on the vanity, Gina's phone suddenly buzzed as it received a text from someone called 'Personal Service', warning her of the party's time. It was to begin in ten minutes, downstairs in the large ballroom past the entry foyer. It was the first outside contact that they had received after being left to themselves in the clothes-strewn bedroom.

"Shit." said Gina, and disappeared into the bathroom to swap her dress and shoes for the ones Cal had picked out.

The beeping of Gina's phone started Vahşi out of his half-doze and he rose to a sitting position, but once he realised the source of the sound he made a muffled, perturbed grunt and lay back down, turning his back on the room. The irritating scent of the pills had returned to him as soon as he'd come back to this room, entering his nose in acrid fumes and refusing to leave, and he didn't feel much like being sociable while the chemicals were pulsing obnoxiously through his system. His shirt pulled up a bit at the back, revealing part of the grip of his pistol. With Cal not having seen a gun before, he wasn't challenged on it until the bathroom door clicked open and Gina reappeared, giving her well-curled hair a self-conscious, last-minute brush with her fingers. The gown that she and Cal had eventually settled on was made of rich, claret-coloured silk, bias cut so that it fell in an elegant spiral. A sash woven into the material followed the curve and formed a diagonal drape over her left shoulder.

"Cal, can you zip me up?" Gina asked, and then "Jesus, is that a gun?" as she caught sight of the rough-sided pistol grip poking out the back of Vahşi's jeans.

Vahşi turned over with a sigh, realising he wasn't about to go back to sleep any time soon. "No," he said. "It's a carrot."

Gina made a face at him. "You know what I mean. Where'd you get it?"

"The armoury. They didn't stop me, so they can't be too worried about us walking around with weapons." He stood up and stretched, then glanced down at himself. "I guess I won't get away with going to the party dressed like this?" From the smirkish smile on his lips it was clear he knew the answer already, and he bent down to pick up his former clothing. "If you girls could part from the bathroom for a moment, I promise not to shoot up the shower."

Gina hesitated for a moment, still looking wary, then stepped aside. Vahşi disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Picking up her handbag and the bottle of Lambros wine, Gina crossed over to the bed and gently shook Baka awake. "Come on, lazy. Time to go to the party."

She said it encouragingly, but she took a steadying breath as she clicked over to the door on her silver heels. Her mouth was dry again, and it wasn't just because she didn't look forward to dealing with the understated contempt that Lycus seemed to have for her and Vahşi - never mind the overt contempt that Cal and Baka would be getting. With their tattoo-planting guide practically demanding that they make a scene of some description, she was equal parts nervous for what they had to do, and for what their tyrant of a brother might do.


**

In a series of heel clicks and sandal flaps against the speckled marble steps, the four Multiverse Travelers steadily moved from the second floor to the first. Gina's red silk dress (http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr253/momohubo/P15N024_CLR_MAIN_zpsexou4jew.jpg) left a small trail that Baka almost tripped on when he followed behind her. Instead of taking her down with him, the boy stumbled off the final step and crashed on the marble beside the other three with an awkward thud. Vahşi's ears picked up the finer details of the teenager's fall and sigh of pain, the others were having their ears drowned out in audio opulence.

What could be estimated as roughly one hundred guests or so were walking from the foyer, and steadily entering into the ballroom. Though the guests lacked variety, consisting of older men whose shades of color range from almond tanned to sun darkened fair skin and wearing the similar variations of silken robes. A few men had many more decorative square pins of honor at the chest, giving some distinction. Women were few and their roles looked fairly decorative compared, younger females at the arm of the older, more distinguished of them. Their dress was more free form than the males, able to explore different cultural backgrounds in their presentation. Beyond them, there were a sprinkle of slaves all wearing the same short, skimpy, frumpy white tunic-like attire Baka and Cal had found themselves in when first arrive. Their expressions showed oppression and submission. The Lupine could smell all their various body scents, perfumes, the overly squeaky clean pine smell of the walls, and, more satisfyingly, well cooked food from the ballroom that was filling up.

No one paid attention to Baka who had fallen, and he felt his knee ache. Pulling himself up to his rear he saw no wounds and waved off the other three with a cheesy smile. One of the men walking from the front to the ballroom looked over and glanced at Calamity and Baka, his eye narrowed with sleazy intent on the much younger male but he didn’t stop walking in. Baka shivered, things here were a bit different than they were at home.

Calamity’s young, attractive features weren’t missed all in part to Gina’s eye pulling red dress. Onlookers, who seem to prefer the females, gazed at Gina, some even smirking as if to exchange some sort of recognition with her, while others looked from her to Calamity for selfish reasons. Baka was getting really tiffed off that the girls were being grossly ogled – cheeks flushing with anger. You don’t treat girls that way! he thought angrily.

No one particularly gave Vahşi any attention.

The ballroom, or what they could see of it from the stairs and past the heads of graying haired men, was a large room so tall they couldn’t see the ceiling from the double doors, a windowless room that had evenly separated red drapes all branded with the Nika’s sigil in the center.

[Minkasha]

The ballroom, or what they could see of it from the stairs and past the heads of graying-haired men, was a large room so tall they couldn't see the ceiling from the double doors, a windowless room that had evenly separated red drapes all branded with the Nikas sigil in the centre.

Delicate strings were being played by a trio of white-robed men, and the wealth around Georgina came off endless. As she bobbed up onto her tiptoes and scanned over the crowd, hoping to catch a glimpse of either Panos or emperor Lycas, another man draped in a red silk chlamys with a dagger brooch strolled into the ballroom. He turned his head and let his eyes slide deliberately down Gina's dress, then up again to offer her a smirking grin.

Having spent a number of weekends scamming into Leicester nightclubs with her friend's borrowed ID, occasionally while dressed in far less than was strictly necessary, Gina wasn't a stranger to being subtly and not-so-subtly appraised. Receiving such looks while she was sober, however, was rather more annoying.

Well to hell with standing here like a wallflower. she thought. If you can blag your way into Mosh you can handle this.

"Let's go then." she said to Vahşi and the others. At Cal's suggestion she had handed off her handbag with the book still in it to her so-called attendant, but she hung on to the bottle of Lambros wine as she clopped forward to catch up with the man in the red cloak. He had stopped next to an older, sun-weathered man with a much younger woman on his arm. The second man wore the same square rank pins that Gina had noticed on the officers in Lycas' command centre, and both he and the young woman had long champagne flutes balanced in their hands.

"What's new?" she challenged the man in the red cloak as she drew level with him, hiding her distaste for the man behind a sweet smile.

Georgina’s words compelled the two decorated men to look at her. Their leering gazes reminded her yet again of the floozy persona she was superimposed in as the two older, ranked men took her in as much as the champagne in their glasses. The red cloaked put on a belittling smile, his nose raised in a way that made it clear her royal airs were being snubbed off. White noise chatter filled the silence until the man in the red cloak finally spoke.

“Is the lady to make her rounds tonight?” he asked her flatly.

Gina had expected something of the sort, but it still stung. "Why, are you feeling left out?" she retorted automatically, abandoning her fake smile. It earned her a look of disgust from the red-cloaked man, and the latter a meaningful, slightly patronising look from the elder general.

Yeah, I know. Gina thought, taking a slightly perverse pleasure in the men's annoyance. Ignore lady Georgina, son; she's just at that annoying age where if she isn't high all the time she's just a little bitch to everybody.

The tanned woman, who looked to be in her early thirties, pointed with the arm that wasn't wrapped around the elderly officer towards Georgina’s swirly, decorative case of wine. It seemed that she instantly recognised the elegant bottle.

“Do share.” she said.

Gina turned her attention to the woman and pointedly ignored the two men, who only looked likely to give her aggro rather than any useful information.

"Sorry." she apologised. "I would, but I brought it to give to prince Panos."


**

Vahşi split off from the group, confident they wouldn't manage to get lost in the room. He lifted a glass of something alcoholic from a passing tray and kept going, not bothering to stop and mingle. Using the more sensitive lupian senses that his human companions were unable to command, he examined the room and found little of interest. Pacing along the wall helped him locate the exits and security, after which he casually made his way back to the others. The sight of a servant's entrance intrigued and attracted him but he knew better than to wander off into the backstage areas of the palace while he was supposed to be mingling with the other guests.

Speaking of the other guests... He had yet to see the emperor. While this world also utilized some form of "fashionably late", and the emperor didn't seem all that popular, Vahşi would have thought the emperor would be one of the first to arrive. He bumped into someone and apologized without really paying attention to who he'd contacted. One of the girls would likely have some thought on this, as they seemed to fit in well to such social situations. Vahşi had always preferred quick, stealthy work. Partygoing was new to him.

Vahşi’s social blundering was picked up by three black robed military men who were as aged as the others but wore fewer color squares of honor. They shared smirks and sipped their wine. The more Vahşi looked around it became obvious the men were looking at him with amusement, he the center of a joke he didn’t’ know about.

Vahşi noticed three men watching him with evident amusement and he glanced quickly away. The last thing he needed was to get irritated and start going wolf, especially in a huge and crowded room like this one. It was probably a good thing that he hadn't managed to conceal a weapon on his person. That would complicate things even more. He scanned the crowd for his companions, noticing Baka being dragged off to help and Cal being shoved a purse. Gina wasn't too far off from his current position but plenty of people separated them. Starting to work through the crowd, Vahşi decided to forget about the men watching him until he was in a position to do something about it.


**

Baka was awkwardly standing around while the mass of people filled the large room, he stared to Cal wondering what he should say to her. Bewildered on his duties, he was swiftly reminded when an older slave grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away from Cal.

“Hey!” Baka protested to the man but he didn’t stop until they were at a corner, it was the injured one from before.

“Don’t be young and stupid” The man lectured, pointing with a tilt of his head to a group of men looking at them expectantly. “Get them drinks” The boy not knowing what else to do fumbled around the ballroom, looking for where he could get drinks to serve


**

Cal was disturbed by a young woman already starting to drink, shoving her purse at her. The dark blue leather smashed into her breasts and the woman didn’t say a word, expecting her to do something with it. She, in a dark blue velvet dress, kept still in front of Cal, busy with swallowing down her wine.

The tiniest of gasps escaped the former Princess's lips as the surprisingly heavy bag slammed into her chest, painful where it struck her; in the midst of puberty, that was a tender area. Her forehead creased, but she regained her subservient expression quickly, accepting the bag without protest as she searched the throng of people for her companions. How had she lost them so quickly? Inwardly, she cursed the woman; would she now be expected to remain nearby, in case the partygoer needed to retrieve something from the purse? The weight of it alongside Gina's bag and the heavy book it contained, was already wearing on her skinny arms; unused to labour of any kind. Still scanning the crowd for her friends, she slung the bag over her shoulder, wondering if she should speak to the woman and deciding against it; she was in no hurry to suffer more violence for speaking out of turn.

The decidedly less than subtle looks from the men around her were not lost on her either, and unlike Gina, Cal was not at all accustomed to being ogled in that manner. A flush rising in her cheeks, the relief in her eyes was plain as she caught sight of Gina in her eye-catching dress. She looked right at home.

Glancing at the woman whose bag she was holding, she decided to risk moving. With a small half-bow, half-curtsy, mimicking the actions she had only received, rather than performed in the past, she began to slip between people, closing the distance between herself and her 'royal' friend.


**


Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility & Georgina Wright

Behind Cal's back she could hear the woman call out in distress. The beautiful teenager and newly made slave shuffled her way through the people just in time to see Gina quip off to a group of two high ranking and aged men with a woman as arm candy for one of them.

"Prigkipissa Panos" The arm candy said nervously in what Gina could assume was religious fear, drawing her hand back and subsequently ending all conversation to do with the holy wine.

The man swished his red cloak in subconscious, humbling display of his superior rank to the military men around him. It was only now noticeable after Cal had walked in that there was a good five foot bubble or so of space around them.

"A girl like you surly will writhe and rotten sooner rather than later" He snubbed Gina once more. "I do wonder what you will do after, live a legacy of suckling the emperor's teat?"

"You thstupid little bitch!" A lispy woman's voice damned Cal loudly. "Thath's my pursth and where do you- GIGI!" The woman squealed and now that Gina and Cal could both see her face it was not debatable that she was beautiful; but, the way her right brow was just so permanently poised inadequately higher and raised angled than the other, and noticeable makeup cracks on her face suggested that wasn't the face she was born with nor she woke up with either. "I talked to the help and. By. Hera.- you are here with all thethse thsiver gentlemen!"

Blue dress made union with red as she came forward, waves of black hair held down by heavy product Gina came to become personally acquainted with, when the woman embraced her. The hair shoved against the front of her face, breasts mashed together, arms circling around Gina's arms and back, and maybe a smug of the woman's makeup transplanted from her face to Gina's jawline - feeling a spot of greasiness. She continued to squeal, smelling of shampoo and the sweet scent of wine from her lips, jumping and forcing their chests to shift together gracelessly.

Her energy was off the wall, already moving on to something else when she pulled away, keeping one arm around Gina's back. The two men watched the two women with patronizing amusement, the red cape chuckling as if his judgments were only bloomed by this woman's dawning, stupid, light. This energetic woman pointed back to Cal.

"Tshe needths to be...maybe...retrained" She scoffed. "Thsheth's not even bowing for you. Gross - I love you my little Dite" Her caked nose rubbed on Gina's cheekbone.

The two men stared at Cal. Red cloak's cloak swished once more. He had stopped chuckling.


**


Vahşi

Vahşi's inadequacy was culled by a man's voice ten feet across the room. His super hearing picked up the voice across the string instrument music and chattering white noise. When he stood next to the women his nose couldn't help but notice how fake their fragrances were. Up close it was repugnant.

"Sir Vahşi!" The man's voice called out again.* He stood under the rounded, marble rimmed platform, a series of curved stairs along the wall led up to it, what was behind it blocked by red curtains.




Notes:

*I will PM you his description

[Minkasha]

Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility & Georgina Wright

"Prigkipissa Panos." the arm candy said nervously, in what Gina could tell was religious fear; she drew her hand back and subsequently ended all conversation to do with the holy wine. While Gina was digesting this, Red Cloak felt the need to have the last word in their previous argument.

"A girl like you will surely wither and rot sooner rather than later." he snubbed Gina once more, "I do wonder what you will do after? Live a legacy of suckling the emperor's teat?"

He swished his cloak in a subconscious, humbling display to the other military men around him. It was only then that Gina realised a good five-foot bubble of space had formed around them.

A powerful guy then, Gina thought. Not a wise man to openly fight, but not a man she was resigned to taking shit from either. Getting Gigi taken seriously is going to have to start somewhere.

"Who knows where any of us are going to end up." she answered coolly, her hands finding their way to her hips as she turned to look at Red Cloak once more.

"You thtupid little bitch!" A lispy woman's voice suddenly damned Cal loudly. Gina looked around at the sudden shout, and belatedly saw that Cal had fallen behind her, and had been accosted by a dark haired woman in a blue velvet dress as she tried to catch up.

Fuck! she thought, the curse directed at herself more than anything as she took a step away from the hostile officers to begin running to her friend's aid.

Cal has frozen in place between the two women, glancing from her friend to the extravagantly dressed woman, wincing at the harsh, shrieking tone of her voice. Her muscles tensed, ready for another blow.

"That'th my purth!" the woman in the blue dress was shouting. "And where do you- GIGI!"

The name caused Gina to forcibly choke down the rebuke she had been forming, and stopped her midstride. There was only one person she knew of here so far who referred to her by that name.

"Bestie?" she said stupidly, caught flat-footed and only then realising that she had said it aloud.

The woman squealed. Blue dress made union with red as she came forward, waves of black hair held down by some heavy product that Gina came to become personally acquainted with when the woman embraced her. The hair shoved against the front of her face as their breasts mashed together, and Bestie's arms circled around Gina's arms and back. Gina just about managed to keep her feet and unsteadily return the hug, glad that only Cal could see the surprised look on her face as Bestie's shoulder crushed against her throat. A smudge of the woman's makeup transplanted itself from her face onto Gina's jawline - she felt it as a spot of greasiness. Bestie continued to squeal, smelling of shampoo and the sweet scent of wine from her lips, as she jumped and forced their chests to shift together gracelessly.

"Oh my god, hi!" Gina managed, succeeding in hitching up a smile as the other woman finally retreated to arm's length.

Now that Gina and Cal could both see her face, it was not debatable that the other woman was beautiful; but the way her right brow was just so permanently poised, raised higher and more angled than the other, and the noticeable makeup cracks on her face, suggested that it wasn't the face she was born with -nor the one that she woke up with either.

"I talked to the help..." she went on. Her words came in nervous machine-gun bursts. "And...by Hera. You are here with all theeth thiver gentlemen!"

Her energy was off the wall, already moving onto something else as she pulled away, keeping one arm around Gina's back. She reminded Gina a little of her school friend Meena, who had been almost absurdly melodramatic and could have talked for Britain, though Gina was not as impressed as Bestie by the gentlemen of her brother's military.

She glanced back, and saw that the two men were watching them with patronising amusement. Red Cloak was chuckling, as if his judgements were only bloomed by this woman's dawning, stupid, light. It suddenly occurred to Gina to hope that her alter ego didn't just keep Bestie around so that she could have someone to lord it over. The hyperactive girl's lisp certainly wasn't an excuse to bully her. Though her attitude towards Cal might be.

She took Bestie's hand in her own and tried to tug her away from the two older men, flicking her eyebrows in signal to Cal. Following Gina's gaze, the energetic woman pointed back to Cal.

"Thee needth to be...maybe...retrained." she scoffed. "Theeth's not even bowing for you. Gross. I love you my little Dite." Her caked nose rubbed on Gina's cheekbone.

Gina's stomach sank slightly as Bestie's comment brought the attention of the group onto Cal. The two men stared. Red Cloak's cape swished once more. He had stopped chuckling.

Cal's cheeks burned at the eyes on her, and she forced her eyes to the ground, once more keenly aware of the thin, skimpy cut of the slaves' attire she had felt it wisest to wear. Masked by the bags she held, her hands clenched into fists. And how exactly was she supposed to bow, carrying around their belongings like a beast of burden?!

"Leave her alone." Gina said firmly, addressing Bestie but with her eyes fixed on Red Cloak. "She's my new personal assistant. She picked out my dress for starters."

She gave Bestie's hand another, slightly more insistent tug.

"Come on, if this gentleman doesn't have anything to say except for how much of a slut I am, then I think staying to talk's a waste of everyone's time. Have you seen prince Panos come in yet?"

Gina's change of conversation pushed away the two men, the older one dragging his female companion along. Red Cloak grabbed his decorative red cloth one last time and pulled it after him in a swirl as he turned and walked away. The other guests parted for him as he passed, before slowly crowding back around Gina and the others.

"Prigkipitha ith thoooo gorge...but, no." Bestie said, with a heavy frown. The young woman scanned Gina, taking her in with her strong gaze. "The thlave picked your dreth out?"

Gina nodded. "Her name's Cal." she said, probing to see how much she could get away with. "She's great."

Bestie turned to Cal in shock. She studied her in turn, reaching out to grab her hand and making a train of the three women.

"I like your eyeth." she commented.

Well that's a start. Gina thought hopefully. As long as she doesn't snap right back... She shot Cal a subtle nod.

"I was hoping to talk to Panos again before the announcements." Gina explained as they found a convenient marble column to cluster around. She put down the wine bottle and stood up on her toes again to look around, as much to check if anyone was listening in as to look for the prince. Shit, and where have Vahşi and Baka gone? "You know how I told you on the phone he was asking me to talk to Lycus. Well I did."

Gina noticed that Cal was still struggling with her bag and Bestie's purse, so she took the two of them off her on the pretext of checking her phone before dumping them at the base of the column, next to the bottle of wine.

"It's complicated as fuck." Gina went on, nudging her handbag out of the way with a foot. The packet of MDMA tablets at the bottom of the bag crinkled quietly under the weight of the zodiac book, though Gina was too busy watching Bestie's reaction to notice. "Panos basically told me he's sick of being treated like an idol. And he's obviously crushing a bit on Lycus - but I don't want to encourage him when Lycus is a bit...well, you know. Not ideal boyfriend material."


**


Vahşi

Vahşi walked over, having no where else to go and no clues to follow, to the man who welcomed him with a hug. The Lupine did not hug back, but the man didn't seem to mind, the shadow of the overhead platform darkened them, a semi-private conversation from the wealthy mass.

"I know how hard it must have been with the loss of your mother." His features saddened and he took another heavy sip of his wine. "It was a loss for all of us. Tonight is going to be it." his words came out a grave message of some sort.

"Losing my mother was, of course, a heavy blow," Vahşi agreed, dropping his gaze to the floor for a moment as if remembering. It was remarkable how much of his life he spent bullshitting his way through things he knew nothing about. "And you still believe it to be the best course?" Vahşi asked, catching the meaning of the others' words. This might be something he would have a harder time getting through, relying solely on luck as he was. He had to get back to Gina and her phone to try to figure some of this out.

The man stared at Vahşi with a shaking head.

"You wanted this, we both do. Don't pull from the waters now"


**


Everyone

On the balcony above Vahşi and the man he was speaking to, came out the two figures they had been missing. The tingle of importance coming from the one with the venus marking on his hand. Together they looked happy, the Emperor donned with two dramatic draping half cloaks, the golden vine wreath, and black robes for power. Panos dressed in a flowing white dress, shoulders and back decorated with a spider web backdrop of stringed diamonds, a shining silver cuff choker on his neck, and in his beehive hair styled locks, evenly dispersed hair pins tipped with a single diamond. He sparkled under the light in nearly every direction, everywhere. But his young nose was held high and he held greedily onto Lycus' arm.

The music had ended, people were clapping at their entrance. The loud sounds echoed even more in Vahşi' ears. The powerful emperor raised his hand.

"No!" Only Vahşi's sensitive ears picked up picked up among the crowed. It was Baka's voice...pfft the sound of a hushed gun shot and then the louder thud. The Lupine heard it, but all of them felt a sudden loss of one of their bonds, as if Baka had suddenly vanished from their senses. The clapping world around hadn't noticed. On their forearms burned a new mark, several finger spaces below the Mercury symbol came a circle with an arrow pointed to the to right.

"I have gather-"

"Lycus!" Panos screamed, diving before him and turning back to the rim of the balcony. A bullet pierced through the younger one's right shoulder, the webs of diamonds intricately covering his small back began to fall apart and scatter all over the floor and ground below, blood coming out from his wound. The lupine's senses were filled with the scent of flowery iron and Gina, Cal and Bestie were witness to the horror of Panos falling from the balcony.

The screams began and the guards were drawing their guns. When the people were dispersing, Gina and Cal now noticed Baka's bloody corpse on the floor, the abdomen soaked through his humble clothes. He laid there still and glossy eyed.

"Oh my goddthsths!" Bestie screamed in the panic, trying to pull the girls away while she still held to their hands. The man beside Vahşi paled.



Notes:

Vahşi could catch Panos if he wishes. Gina and Cal can break from Bestie's grip too. Vahşi's scent and smell who fired the gun. It is a man dressed as security in the middle of the crowed, standing at 6'4'', a handsome Mediterranean man who has tears in his eyes and is about to fire again, in Lycus' direction.

We are about to switch universes! You only have one symbol left and he's falling off the balcony!

[G]

There they are. Gina thought, as beside her Bestie let out a gasp of awe. But what are they going to say?

The music had ended, and people were clapping at the royal pair's entrance. The powerful emperor raised his hand.

Gina felt a sudden, horrible lurch in her stomach - half as if the floor had just dropped out from under her, and half as if someone had just kicked her in the gut. She staggered sideways, half into Bestie, and almost crushed the other girl's hand as she automatically grabbed her tighter in an attempt to keep her balance.

"Gigi!" Bestie yelped. "What'th...?"

On the balcony, prince Panos staggered too. He had his hands on Lycas's shoulders, and a spatter of red droplets had appeared on the emperor's face. Panos tottered backwards as another line of red trickled down his back, diamonds raining from the severed netting of his dress. The backs of his legs hit the balcony railing, went out from under him, and he fell.

"Oh my godth!" Bestie screamed in panic as the prince toppled into the crowd below. Next to the girls, two guards fumbled for their sidearms. Bestie tried to pull Gina and Cal away while she still had a hold on their hands. The former princess gave no resistance, staring wide-eyed at the horrific scene unfolding before them. Her arm throbbed with the arrival of the new mark, and there was an ache in her belly.. or was it her heart?

"Get down, get down!" Gina urged Bestie, unfreezing as the guards barged forward with guns held low. Gina half pressed Gigi's friend to her knees herself as she tore her hand out of the other young woman's grip. "Stay here." she advised. "Cal, come on!"

Cal disentangled herself, leaving the whimpering Bestie behind. Gina began to run towards the balcony, her heels less of an obstacle than the constricting red dress as she tried to push her way through the panicking, surging crowd. She stumbled into a sudden clearing, and saw why when she registered Baka lying prone on the ballroom floor. The abdomen of his humble clothes was soaked through with red.

"No!" Gina said aloud as she reeled to the boy's side. "No no no no no, fuck!"

I shouldn't have left him alone! I shouldn't have left him alone!

She dropped to her knees beside him and jabbed her thumbs into his collarbone to try and get a reaction. "Baka! Baka can you hear me?"

Cal dodged between the fleeing revellers to where Gina stood, her eyes fixed on Baka's corpse. She felt numb - death and chaos where not new experiences for her, and her defence mechanism was to freeze herself against it, but a solitary tear still escaped her right eye. It rolled down her face to leave a small, damp spot on the floor.

Baka lay there still and glassy eyed. Pushing her hand against the bullet hole in his stomach to try and staunch the bleeding, Gina went through her worse than useless first-aider's checks. Baka's airway was clear, but she couldn't feel him breathing - and the blood oozing from his stomach had no pressure behind it. She would have started doing compressions anyway, had a strong hand not seized her upper arm and pulled her away from the body.

"Hey-!" she began, and twisted round to see one of the cloaked guards trying to pull her close so that he could shield her with his body. Jostled by the guard as he moved to grab Gina, Cal fell, her knees striking the cold floor painfully next to where Baka lay.The guard however didn't seem to notice - he was bald, stony-faced, and if he thought it strange that Lady Gigi and her attendant were running to the aid of a dead slave, he did not show it. His eyes were on the emperor, who still stood in immobilised shock up on the balcony, Panos' blood spattered across his face.

The crowd surged again as people screamed and ran for the doors. The press in front of them briefly parted, and Gina saw another guard standing in the middle of the ballroom, this one tall and handsome in his ceremonial garb. He too was looking up at the emperor, with tears in his dark eyes. But this man's arm was outstretched and he was pointing a gun - sleek and black and lethal.

***

"I'm not pulling back," Vahşi told the man, almost snapping. It was his stubbornness and pride getting him into trouble again, as it had so many times over the years. His mark tingled for a moment and he couldn't help clenching his fist. A muffled protest in a familiar voice came to Vahşi's ears and he turned toward the crowd, searching for the source. The sudden sense of loss hit him hard, at the same time as the burning of the new mark, and Vahşi growled to himself in a brief moment of pain. His momentary discomfort was completely driven from his mind when Panos' body fell from the balcony.

Vahşi's expression suddenly closely matched that of the man beside him. Their location gave them a good view of the panic spreading below them. For a moment Vahşi was reminded of one of the gladiatorial contests he'd often seen in his youth, when an injured wolf had escaped the arena and sprung into the rows full of spectators. They'd run then the same way the royals in this world fled now. His absentminded reflections brought a half-smile to his otherwise deadpan expression, as if the chaos was somehow amusing him now, as it had on that long-ago day.

Gina's voice slipped into his conscience, returning him to the present. What had happened to Baka? He stepped forward to the railing of the balcony he stood on, and leaned out so he could see the crowd better. It was easy for him to find Gina, flailing around in a brightly-coloured dress as she was, but it took him a moment longer to find the still form sprawled across the floor. He wasn't sure what he said, but he cried out in protest. The gunman was still standing where he'd fired the first shots, with tears in his eyes but also the unmistakable look of a man about to kill. Vahşi pulled his pistol from its hiding place and cupped it in both hands for a moment before firing twice.

He didn't stop to see if his shots had hit their mark, or even hit anything at all. Putting a hand on the railing, Vahşi slid his hip across it and fell toward the floor. A sharp pain twisted up his ankle when he landed, but he rolled to the side and then to his feet without stopping to assess his own damage. Getting through the crowd of people was easy; they saw his weapon and made a path for him as he approached Gina.

"You let her go," Vahşi snarled, looking more like the shadow of a wolf than a human. Flipping the pistol in his grasp, wincing at the feel of the hot barrel against the flesh of his palm, he clubbed the guard holding Gina across the head. the guard collapsed from the blunt truma. More guards were pulling out their rifles amongst the screaming mass. The Emporer was running down the stairs, guards flocking Panos was falling, two men catching his bleeding form. But there was crossfire that was hitting the fleeing crowed.

The guards were turning on themselves, the man that had been speaking with Vashi came over to him and the two young women.

"Now's your chance!" He hissed as he pointed to the flushed faced, terror stricken Lycus who was with the three guards surrounding Now laid out Panos. The growing sense of Pano's importance grew in the three traveler's hearts.

"We thshould run!!" Bestie cried to Gina, trying to yank her away.

Cal, still kneeling and unnoticed, found her eyes glued to the prone body of the Prigkipassa, the sorrow she felt at Panos' fall overwhelming; greater, even, than for her fallen friend. While Vahsi freed Gina from the guard, only for her to be snagged by the hysterical 'Bestie,' the youngest of the trio rose, slipping between the chaotic crowd to the Prince's side. The distraught Emperor paid her no more attention than the guards did; their eyes outward, scanning the screaming masses for any further danger to the Royals.

Silent tears streamed down the teens' bruised face as she reached them, most of Panos' form concealed behind his mourning love. An arm dangled around the Emperors' side, a mockery of a last embrace, and on the smooth skin his mark shimmered, even as Cal's own still tingled. She reached out, her delicate fingers circling his forearm, and swept her thumb in a gentle caress over the sign...

[Minkasha]

Their vision was marked and spotted with white as Calamity’s sweeping touch of her thumb landed upon the Venusian symbol. The spots grew into sheets that blanketed all sight, then all the senses. Fading away the screams, the bullets, the wild footsteps, the sensation of ground and gravity; whiteness had taken them wholly. In this land their consciousness ended, drifting away through the nothing.

The light took them elsewhere now…

Universe II: Advent Dawn* (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=47034)

Kysmæt


Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Georgina Wright, & Manisha Leos

When the sheet began to pull away, their sense slowly returned. First came the soulful understanding that two of those who they were connected to were vastly far away. Second was the deep inhale of clean air, tickled with the scents of cooking meat. Sounds came next, of talking voices and running, laughing children. Weight came next, feeling their bodies standing firmly on uneven ground. The weather was humid and warm onto their skin. Sight was last. What they came to see was a market composed of several wooden stands down each side of a dirt road, grass growing healthy and wild. Each of these stands were filled with rows of meats and herbs with one having unusual looking guns of a bulky, black, light covered designs.

None of the people walking or running about up and down in light layers of handmade robes and tunics were human. They were of a feline appearance, their bodies covered in various colors of fur, faces bearing the cat nose and eyes with human lips.

Behind the stands, on each side of the dirt road, were steel metallic dome homes that were being covered by free growing vines. Cat people stepped in and out of them through their automatic doors. Each of them were dressed in dark gray robes that were airy and of soft cloth. Gina’s neck wound was free to breathe again. Bestie opened her brown eyes wider in panic as she looked around. She appeared ready to scream. The three women stood in a triangle, facing each other in the middle of the road. For now none of the cat people were giving them much attention other than walking or running around them.

Inside the inner part of Gina’s elbow was a woven basket filled with an alien flower of wide orange and teal petals and smelled of a mixture between vanilla and pine cone.


Akinasha


Panos Lambros & Vahşi

When the light lifted for the two adventurers, nothing was the same. They were in a green field of grass beside a tall apple tree on a gentle hill. The wind swept and softly touched their skin. Vahşi was leaned against the tree, red apple in his hand wearing basic leather armor that left his sides exposed as the torso piece was bound by leather straps. Panos was dressed in lightly mud covered dress shoes with deep green khakis, tucked in deep brown button up and closed lab coat.

Vahşi felt the distance of three companions in the far off sky, beyond the sky elsewhere. But he also felt the bond with Panos. The silverette felt shooting pain through his right shoulder and he convulsed in pain, dropping to his hands and knee. Blood was starting to seep through the right shoulder blade of his lap coat, Panos not able to focus on anything other than the pain taking him. He collapsed into a ball on the grass, feeling warmth cover his upper back but a chill fill his body. To the Lupine, the more Panos bled, the greater the young person’s exciting, springy, grapevine flowery scent was also iron filled.

A mile to the right looked to be a village of small hill-hidden homes with round doors and round windows. Beyond that, what Vahşi guessed to be three to four miles was a white winged vehicle the size of a three story home with two large tilted down wings, and a rigid rectangular body that end at the front with a glass that reflected the light and prevented his viewing. **



Notes:

*All races and their concepts were created by their original writers. I have taken liberties to fill in the blanks and hope I can do them some justice.

**It's a spaceship, but as Vahşi is not aware of what that is, I had to describe it otherwise.

@Az & G, the planet is a large rain forest jungle from that Cal and Gina can see in the greater distance, the thick tropical trees blocking any view inside.

@The Cockietal, the world you're on so far nothing more than gently rolling hills, fruit bearing trees sparsely about and lush plains grass.

[Azazeal849]

"You let her go," Vahşi snarled, looking more like the shadow of a wolf than a human. Flipping the pistol in his grasp, wincing at the feel of the hot barrel against the flesh of his palm, he clubbed the guard holding Gina across the head. The guard collapsed from the blunt truma. More guards were pulling out their rifles amongst the screaming mass.

"Vahşi." Gina gasped, before hunching down in instinctive reflex against the deafening gunfire. She looked around for the man who had been aiming his pistol at Lycas, but he had either fled into the crowd or vanished beneath it after being knocked down by Vahsi's wild shot. Rifles banged from seemingly every direction at once; bullets zipped over their heads, and up on one of the balconies a guard raked a line of bullet holes across the carved ceiling as he tumbled backwards.

The emperor was running down the stairs, following the guards who were flocking to where Panos had fallen. Two men had caught his bleeding form, but there was still danger from the crossfire that was hitting the fleeing crowd. As the guards turned on themselves, the man that had been speaking with Vahşi came over to him and the two young women.

"Now's your chance!" he hissed as he pointed to the flush-faced, terror stricken Lycus; who was now with the three guards surrounding the laid-out Panos.

Gina snapped round to look at him. "You...?" She broke off as she looked down at her arm, noticing the new tattoo blazing there for the first time. It was a circle and arrow, set below the horned Mercury symbol and the sideways figure-8. Gina knew it as a generic male symbol, but from looking up the zodiac a few hours earlier she also knew it as the sign of Mars, and Mars was the god of...

"Oh shit!" she swore. Whoever planned this was either an idiot or a psycho.

"We thould run!!" Bestie cried to Gina as she came stumbling through the crowd. She grabbed Gina by the hand and tried to yank her away. At the same time Cal rose, slipping between the chaotic crowd to prince Panos' side. The distraught emperor paid her no more attention than the guards did; their eyes were outward, scanning the screaming masses for any further danger to the royals. Gina realised that she was right - they had to help Panos. That was the whole reason they had been sent here.

"Vahşi," she pleaded, realising that she was shouting after being half-deafened by the gunfire. "No more shooting. We've got to help Panos first."

She hesitated, sparing Baka's cold body a final glance, before tightening her grip on Bestie's hand and instead pulling them face to face.

"Bestie." she said. Her eyes were beginning to swim, but she was surprised by how calm her voice sounded as she seized the other girl's hands and looked into her eyes. "Get my phone. It's in my bag. Call an ambulance. And a tonne of..."

The blurring got worse, until it became a total white-out. Gina felt for a split second as if she were falling, but then she was assailed by heat, the sound of laughter, and her vision cleared to show a bustling marketplace.

"...tonne of police?" she finished dumbly. Her ears were still ringing from the gunfire.

Bestie tore her hands away from Gina's and jumped back in shock, while beside her Cal was scrambling to her feet. The zodiac marks on Gina's arm remained, but Baka's blood was gone from her hands as if it had never been there. She cuffed at her eyes and looked around.

What the...? The market was lined with wooden food stands and dome-shaped buildings covered in climbing creepers, and the humid air was fragrant with the smell of cooking meat and the vaguely vanilla scent from the basket hanging from her elbow. The people going to and fro, and the children dodging around them were...not human.

Oh, not again. What is this, Quantum Leap?

"Where's Vahsi?" she asked Cal, looking round. She could only see Cal and Bestie, dressed in the same simple grey robes as herself.

If Gina was shaken and confused, Bestie - who hadn't suffered this kind of displacement once before - was worse. Her pointed jaw was clenched tight and her brown eyes were widened in panic. She looked ready to scream.

"It's alright, it's okay." Gina told their impromptu travelling companion quickly, laying her hands on the panicking girl's arms. "Don't panic. Let's just figure out where we are, okay? Cal, do you have anything in your pockets?"

They had to find out where Vahsi was, and Baka's...

As she patted herself down with her free hand and looked about for any sort of clue, she realised that her hands were shaking.

[G]

Calamity's cheeks were still damp with tears as the world refocused around her, bringing with it a new and unfamiliar landscape. The sense of loss remained - though different now, and she knew, innately, that Panos and Lycus were out of reach, at least for now; they had been separated when everything shifted. The encapsulation in a world of white had been no less jarring than the first time, though perhaps her breath had hitched a little less - some part of her knew what was happening, this time around.

The same was not true for Bestie, who Cal realised, with a start, was still with them. Remembering the violent reaction she had received in the unfamiliar world they had just left, when she had made it apparent that she did not belong there, the young girl stiffened.

"Don't scream. Stay calm!*" she instructed the new member of their party, the commanding tone she had used so often as a Princess strong in her voice. She couldn't see herself, didn't know if her bruises had faded along with the clothing from that other place, but in either case she had no wish to attract more attention - or violence - to herself.

"Pockets..." she registered Gina's question, and her small hands moved over the robes she wore, but if there were pockets concealed in their folds, she did not find them. "No, nothing."

Though her eyes had registered the feline nature of the passers-by, they showed no sign of shock. Outlandish features were not uncommon in the outer districts of home, and these... people? were certainly far less strange to look at then the fish man, Ockilsetter had been.

"Who are we now? This is a market, maybe you're supposed to be selling those," she gestured to the basket Gina held. "Let's just hope I'm not a fucking servant here, as well."

The profanity was a mark of the subservient, fearful side that had been brought out in her in the last place dissipating; the teens' potty-mouth returning with her old confidence. "Maybe..." she hesitated; caution had not yet left her entirely, and the suggestion had a questioning tone, seeking Gina's opinion, "maybe we should just ask someone?"

[The Cockatiel]

Vahşi initially thought he'd been taken home. The reminder of his fellow travellers remained with him, so he knew he couldn't be a native of this place, but the scenery was familiar in a primal way that hinted he might belong to somewhere like this. A gentle breeze twirled his hair around his chin and slipped lightly across his exposed skin. The weight of the leather armour was familiar, and the leather pressed familiarly against his shoulders and stomach. He rubbed his thumb against the apple in his left hand as his gaze cut a matching arc across the landscape. It took him only moments to notice Panos' body; at first Vahşi thought it was Baka but the scent was distinctively different.

Panos' clothes puzzled him for a moment, but years of battle experience prompted him to ignore the clothing for the wound. The slender man fell to his hands and knees and Vahşi instantly took a half-step back, familiar with the violent thrashing that often proceeded death. When Panos didn't seem about to die, and instead curled into a ball, Vahşi moved closer again. The flowery scent that had clung to Panos since their meeting was now tinted with the metallic scent of blood.

Vahşi looked for any sign of habitation. The first thing to catch his eye was not the homes but the huge vehicle sitting beyond them. Once he asserted that the massive thing wasn't about to come after the two of them, his attention focused on the cluster of houses. It was the only obvious sign of habitation in the area, which meant it was probably Panos' only chance at survival, but Panos didn't seem to be in the mood to do anything but lay on the ground.

"You have to get up," Vahşi told him sternly, setting the apple up on one of the branches of the tree. "If you keep laying here, you're going to bleed out and die. Then you'll never make it back home to the person you love." He knew instinctively that Panos loved Lycus, just from the way he'd protected the emperor. "Get up. Let's go." If Panos didn't get on his feet by himself, Vahşi was going to pull him up and carry him if he had to. Baka, it seemed, was lost; Vahşi didn't want to handle another death on his conscience that wasn't supposed to be there. This place looked too much like home, the home he only half-remembered in a primal part of his brain, to become bloodstained so soon after their arrival.



[OOC - Mink, could you let me know what kind of gear and weapons Vahşi has on him, if any?]

[Minkasha]

Kysmæt


Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Georgina Wright, & Manisha Leos

Bestie had opened her mouth to scream, ignoring Gina’s reassurances but when Cal spoke, she was suddenly compliant. Her mouth had held open for a second before she shut it, relaxed her features and stood evenly.*

“Okay” The brown haired woman told Cal, she stared around at the Cat-people and the dirt that made the thoroughfare of the market. “It’th dirty” She noticed she was wearing sandals that had wood flats and a leather strap at the toe. “Where are we and what’ths going on?” She asked calmly the other two girls. For a second Bestie narrowed her eyes at Gina.

Cal was hissed at by two Cat-children who were to her waist and covered in robes with wrapped fabric over their heads. One had black fur and green feline eyes, the other a gray coat with white streaks and blue eyes. Gender was hard to determine from their young bodies. They hissed up at her, fangs barred before laughing at each other.


Akinasha


Panos Lambros & Vahşi

Vahşi couldn’t get much reply out of Panos, picking him up. He was a light load, groaning when his body was moved. Walking down the hill the nature here gave itself away as a simple beauty, the grass under his feet and the wind still giving a soft breeze. The closer he drew to the hill homes the more he could start smelling the scents of a basic society: the cooked foods, stored ingredients, the faint smell of feces. But more came to his nose, fighting past the Panos’ bloody scent, the scents of people like his own. Their olfactory markers a mix of man and animal, he smelled variations, but with the blood and flowers at the end of his nose he couldn’t gather any more scent information.

Panos’ sapphire eyes were narrowed in pain but when he looked up to see Vahşi, his first reflect was to push him off. He put a weak hand to the armor, but Panos continued to stare. Wait. His mind processed a simple but fearful thought: Vahşi was never Lycus’ brother. This man was a stranger. Worse than a reclusive pervert. He couldn’t scream for help as his mouth was too busy gritting teeth to endure the pain, eyes weepy. Every step the man took made his shoulder jostle, shooting fire through his nervous system.

“You strange man!” Panos hissed at the black haired man.

Vahşi had carried Panos into the villiage to be greeted by the people he could smell. All of them, the forty or so he could see doing various mundane tasks**looked no older than Panos. The silverett in his arms arguably appeared older than the youths consisting of the hill homes. Little dirt paths led to each home, some with basic wooden fences and little fruit bearing bushes.

These little young peoplehad animalistic qualities: cat ears and tails, or small wings of various feather colors, or fox ears with orange fluffy tails. He scanned seeing even those with wolf ears and tails, smelling them out as most like him. Not a single one looked over the age of fifteen in appearance. Two females, a blue bird girl and a fox girl were walking past Vahşi and looked up at him. In their round, youthful eyes was a look of disappointment, frowning at him before they continued on with their woven fruit baskets.

Vahşi’s sight quickly noticed a human bolting straight to him. This human looked to be young as well, in his late teen years but his body was tall as he was almost six foot. He had teal eyes, a thick volume of brown hair cut into a crew cut, even brows, a fuller lower lip and a narrow but defined jaw. His dress shoes stampeded over the dirt, moving through the little people who stared up at him with tilts of their head or moving out of the way with confusion. This young man wore similar clothes of the bleeding Panos.

“Akishan, hand him to me this instant” the young man looked and spoke firmly, but his annunciation was so sharp that his consonants gave him an accent that had him huffing out air in irregular beats of his dialogue. He slowly displayed his arms out, ready to hold Panos.



Notes:

*Calamity's cohesion magic was successful.

**If you require more description, Cockatiel, PM me or OOC message

[The Cockatiel]

Panos didn't seem to feel like answering, so Vahşi just picked him up. His weight was much lighter than Vahşi had been expecting, and he set out for the cluster of homes he'd spotted. The multistory vehicle still drew his attention but he focused his senses on the village as they got within shouting distance. No guards or soldiers seemed to be around, or if they were they didn't think Vahşi and Panos to be a threat. That was a good thing, since Vahşi seemed to have some bone-deep look to him that put every honest officer on the alert as soon as they saw him. He usually swore he wasn't responsible for whatever had gone wrong, but he was usually lying when he did so.

As Vahşi got closer to the village he realized that these people weren't fully human. Panos' scents were blocking him from getting any specific information, but these people definitely seemed to be similar to his own. His nostrils twitched but he knew he had to focus on his current task of getting Panos some help. Later, though, he would defintiely come back here. When Panos reached up to try to push him off, Vahşi looked down but made no effort to stop him. In his current shape, Panos wouldn't be able to do much to him.

"You strange man!" Panos hissed at him, obviously in pain and angry.

"I'll dump you on the goddamn dirt if you don't shut up," Vahşi replied calmly. "You can bleed to death out here instead of dealing with someone who actually wants to keep you alive. Do you want to get back to your emperor or not?" Vahşi had apparently been planning to murder aforementioned emperor, but he decided to keep that news to himself.

Vahşi's attention was caught by a few teens with canine features similar to the ones he sometimes had himself, and he nearly veered off to speak with them until he remembered Panos' weight in his arms. He noticed them frowning at him in disappointment and a quizzical look formed on his face. However, he had little time to think on this, as a human dressed similar to Panos was charging toward them through the crowd.

"Hand him to you?" Vahşi repeated, raising an eyebrow. Akishan, apparently, was his name, or maybe a title. He would have guessed that his name would have been the same in this world, but he wasn't about to question it and bring unnecessary attention to himself. "I bet you'd love that. You lead the way and I'll carry him. He's bleeding out even now, and any movement he makes will risk making him bleed to death. So, unless you want to be responsible for him dying, lead the way. You're in charge."

[Minkasha]

Akinasha


Panos Lambros & Vahşi


Following the young man, he was being led through the hill homes that were loosely clustered together, along the way continuing to draw attention. They did not exchange words for the six or so minutes they had walked, the village small. The man’s teal eyes fell back on Vahşi, then down to Panos. An expression on concern crossed his face.

“Faster” He urged Vahşi as he took his first steps off the dirt road to the large white metal, winged construct. Panos’ shoulder had seeped through his clothes, the Lupine’s arm and hand getting stained in flowery blood. He hadn’t made a sound or moved, limp. The brown haired man ran up to the back of the construct where Vahşi could see gray topless dome shaped protrusions. Between the back wall sudden showed a door, the outline first being made suddenly and the door disappearing in the wall as it slid in. A silver ramp came down from the opening, stretching down to the mud and grass. Vahşi eyed the movement of the ramp like he thought it was about to bite him but moved forward, following the teal-eyed man. He didn't hesitate but his muscles tensed as he stepped up onto the ramp.

Vahşi winched slightly as his steps instantly turned into heavy thuds as he went from the gentle grasses to the metal of the ramp. Following up into the construct he was greeted with a small white hallway, it was without decoration, nor was it painted, some sort of material of white each and every direction. Light was emitted evenly under the white walls and floor, making it impossible for shadows to exist. The scent of the construct was nonexistent, there was nothing natural here. Panos scent was flooding his nose now, it was pleasant but the sharp smell of metal was bolder than before. More blood. Vahşi was about to mention to his guide that they should hurry when the man seemed to realize the increase in bloodflow himself.

“This way” The young man seemed even more panicked, running to the first door on the left, four in total in this little white hallway. Entering, Vahşi saw a man completely made of a smooth silver metal that reflected warped shapes. It too carried no scent, the room stinking of artificial sanitation.

“Bolton sir, how may I assist?” The metallic man’s voice wasn’t real, it was warped in a way Vahşi couldn’t explain. The lupian eyed it suspiciously, put on guard by the lack of scent and emotion. This thing didn't seem like a real human, but at least he now knew his escort's name. The young man fixed his collar again.

“Please tend Panos’ wounds” Bolton requested.

“As you wish” The metal man said, turning its head, black knobs of eyes focused straight on Vahşi and walking straight to him. “Please hand me the researcher assistant.”

Vahşi carefully transferred Panos to the metal man. He instinctively disliked the inhumanness of the metal surface, but Bolton seemed to be perfectly knowledgeable about what he was doing. The mention of 'researcher assistant' didn't pass him, and he wondered just what Panos was supposedly researching. A quiet thought proposed that Panos' previous actions had had to do with the village nearby, but Vahşi focused on the strange actions of the metal man rather than on his own thoughts.

Panos was placed on the medical table, the robotic individual starting to flip him over. A small incisor came out from its finger tip and it began to cut away at Panos' blood stained lapcoat, revealing that it had also cut through the shirt at the shoulder. Pulling away the layers, the open wound, potent with flowery iron scent, was exposed.

"What's going on here? Report" The male voice was equally as unnaturally crisp as Bolton's. An older man of five foot eight came in, balding up top with gray sides and mean murky green eyes. He looked to be in his late fifties, dressed similarly to the other males. He shuffled his lab coat and openly stared at Vahşi "Why are one of the subjects on board?" Vahşi noticed the term applied to him but didn't reply to it. He was getting a bad feeling about this place, despite the help it had afforded Panos. The reference to him being 'on board' something made him wonder if this building was somehow meant for transportation. Although he was far from being a sailor, he knew enough about seamanship to recognize the meaning of 'on board'.

"Sir" Bolton said, straightening his posture and raising a hand to salute the older man. "The Maki Akishan subject's wounded Panos Evanson in the upper right section of his torso." Lie, Vahşi thought, dropping his gaze to the floor so the emotion in his eyes wouldn't betray his thoughts. It was the assassin at the palace. The one who killed Baka. "He is displaying an unusual amount of sentience and intellience for the race."

"An unusual amount of intelligence?" Vahşi repeated. "You must be popular at parties." The fingers of his right hand twitched subtly as if grasping for a weapon, but he forced his hand to be still.

The older man unholstered a black gun, though it was complicated to look at as it was chunky and had a very long black barrel which was pointed his way now. "You have been bad, Akishan" The older man was speaking down to Vahşi, as if he were a child, and Vahşi instinctively hated him. "You must go to a bad place for a little while."

"Do you know something?" Vahşi asked softly. "That's almost exactly what they said to me the first time they tried to lock me away." The older man glanced past Vahşi to Bolton, a confused look on his face, and the lupian charged him. In the few seconds it took him to close the gap between them, the older man raised the weapon in his grasp, but he never had the chance to fire. Bolton shrieked somewhere behind them. Vahşi knocked the man's weapon hand aside, twisting his fingers around the weapon as he slammed the side of his body into the older man's chest. The man grunted and let go of the weapon as he stumbled back. Vahşi kicked him further away, raising the weapon himself as the man's body tumbled to the floor. His opponent gave a scream of anger and rushed toward him; Vahşi parried his blow and sent him headlong into the wall. Once he crashed into the unyielding surface, the man lay still and didn't seem to breathe. Vahşi turned to focus his weapon on Bolton. "What did he mean by 'subjects'?" he asked, voice harsh and demanding. There was little room to doubt that he wouldn't hesitate to injure Bolton to facilitate getting some answers. "What are you doing to that village?"

The brown haired researcher looked over his shoulder to the medical table, seeing Panos' wound being sprayed with something out of the metal man's hand and the wound being sewn shut with the other.

Bolton swallowed hard when he looked back to Vahşi. But the young man held his ground, as if he was protecting Panos behind him. Vahşi guessed that he wouldn't be facing any trouble from him as far as hurting Panos was concerned, and he lowered the weapon. His fingers still curled tightly around the stock, ready to fire at any moment if attacked, but he at least presented a slightly less threatening picture. "I won't hurt him," he said, indicating Panos with a nod of his head. "Tell me why you're here."

"We were studying what your people are." Bolten said, almost spitting a crispy tone at the man with the gun. "We collected data" His teal eyes stared, fear and bravery swirling in his young male expression. He was standing up for something, or someone. "My people are people," Vahşi said curtly. "Not your lab toys. You didn't have the right." He tilted his head as he studied him, wondering what would prompt him to be helpful. A woman? Nobody would be this loyal to a job. A mundane scented blood crept into Vahşi's nose. The man he had slammed into the white wall was now bleeding from his skull unto the white illuminated floor of the strange winged white building. Vahşi tilted the gun toward the body to indicate it. "I don't want you to end up like him. You haven't done anything to me, and you've helped Panos. If you cooperate with me, I'll give you my word that I will keep you safe." It was the last thing he wanted to say, but he delivered the words smoothly and meant them. Whatever promises he made, he kept; and while this Bolton certainly didn't know that, Vahşi didn't particularly care. He needed to find the others and navigate this ridiculous adventure until he got back home.

[Minkasha]

Akinasha


Panos Lambros & Vahşi


Bolton hadn't been very responsive to Vahşi, not even asking for his name while the time passed. It had been six or seven hours that Vahşi had remained in the white winged building. His wait had begun to take effect, slowly making him hungry and the nap he had taken on the couch of an entirely different place and era was fading from him. If it hadn't been for the fact that Vahşi was on his own (he didn't count Panos as any kind of ally, at least not at the moment) he would have been more than happy to find somewhere to lay down. Sooner or later he'd need food as well, but he didn't trust Bolton enough to send him off to find something and he knew better than to leave Panos on his own.

Bolton had the metal man clean up the older man's body, since Vahşi didn't see the logic in leaving him laying on the floor rather than helping him. Once he woke up, though, Vahşi wouldn't let him lay around in the same room. Bolton had spent the time holding onto Panos' delicate hand and staring down at the unconscious and now half naked young person intimately. At a time Bolton had looked at Panos' forearm to rub his fingers confusingly over the strange tattoo markings that were there. He had the metal man scrape a small flat tool across the surface to put into a small plastic round container and close it with another plastic disk. The metal man's movement had caught Vahşi's attention but once he'd realized that Panos wasn't being hurt, he ignored what was happening.

The blood had been cleaned off of the Silverette, the subtle purple hues of his hair shining brighter in the all around light of the winged building. Vahşi had been denied any comforts, simply because Bolton had not extended conversation to offer them. He only had a white squared off chair to sit in within the lab or wander the hall, the other three doors locked and did not open for him. The confinement irritated Vahşi, but he said nothing about it. At least he would have warning if anyone entered the room.Through the time spent around Panos it had become conclusive that the flowery scent he carried was his natural fragrance, pleasing his nose with every whiff and keeping him wide wake with its natural springy zest that was laced in it. Without it, Vahşi doubted he would have stayed awake.

Panos slowly stirred, feeling a subtle sting in his right shoulder. The movement warned Vahşi that Panos was starting to wake, but he simply sat back and waited to see what was going to happen.Panos slowly parted his lips, eyes closed and still seeing the darkness behind his eyelids. Lips touched his, the reminded him of Lycus, full yet the kiss was firm and full of emotion. His memory was a blur, he accepted the affection with a soft moan, slowly sitting up as he did. Words were coming to him, they were chunky and ungraceful nonsense until suddenly his ears could comprehend them.

"...I'm so glad you have been able to heal" a strange, voice said to him. It was far younger that Lycus, and Panos shot open his crystalline sapphires eyes to see a teal eyed man smiling back at him. Panos looked down to see a sheet was covering his body, his torso bare. He slipped his fingers out of this man's touch while he rubbed his own lips, remembering. There had been Straton, the gun...light...and an impostor. Panos fluttered his eyes for a moment before the Lambros narrowed them in anger.

A high pitched twhap came and went through the medical room as Panos slapped the strange person across his face. He hated strange men touching him, period. Where was Lycus?

"Do not touch me, you do not have that right" Panos hissed, holding the white sheet up to cover himself. The man had no right to see his body either.

"I'm sorry I was not aware of the subject's wild behavior" The brown haired young man said rubbing his cheek and looking very upset. Vahşi glared at him but made no verbal comment. Getting in a yelling match wouldn't help anything. Panos scoffed, what nonsense was he talking about.

"You are a strange pervert" Panos lashed at him again, he should know, having a history with one. A name Panos wouldn't allow crossing his mind or his heart. Vahşi couldn't help laughing at the repetition of the phrase, but he checked his mirth in favour of curiosity about Panos' current state. He flipped back his silver hair and stood up, to see the other in this alien-esk white room. The impostor, a man who was never Lycus' brother. Though how did the Emperor, so cunning and intelligent fall for this idiot's deception? He looked as subtle as the dumbest fishermen of Crete. And, secondly, why did he have this strange feeling when looking upon the man? A feeling within the stomach that said he was standing right in front of him, and that three other individuals were off somewhere else far way. The teen divine-blooded shook it off and Panos raised his soft nose, not intimidated by both men who were taller than him, carrying himself with graceful, yet imposing airs of command. "I want clothes, immediately and I wish to see Lycus"

Bolton swallowed hard, looking at Vahşi inquisitively. The lupian shrugged in reply, having nothing to add to the conversation. He didn't really understand it himself, after all.Then Bolton looked back at Panos, still rubbing his slapped cheek.

"Who? My partner, this isn't funny anymore."

"Oh," Vahşi said, the dots connecting in his head. His culture had no taboos on sexual orientation, and he didn't care about Bolton's evident interest in Panos or Panos' relationship with Lycus. Now that he'd apparently gotten a front-row seat on a love triangle featuring mistaken identity, however, he was realizing just how quickly the situation was likely to deteriorate. "Bolton, don't antagonize him. Panos, keep yourself under control. Neither of you know what's going on here." Needless to say, he didn't have all the answers himself, but he know a lot more than either of the others.

Panos raised a purplish silver brow at Vahşi. The lupian glared back challengingly; whether he meant it or whether it was his default expression wasn't clear. Panos' slender pale shoulders shook with snide laughter. The teenage, feminine figure put the side of his hand by his opposing side of his mouth to continue chuckling.

“The hypocrisy” Panos’ eyes twinkled with intelligence and arrogance. “The impostor to tell me to control myself:. Vahşi chose to ignore these words, due largely to the fact that at the moment they were both impostors in this world.

“Maybe you should lie down to recover” Bolton, the other young person said, putting a hand on the small of Panos’ bare back. His affections were spurred as Panos slapped the hand off his flesh.

“Clothes. Now.” The Silverette focused his inhuman colored gaze into the touchy feely man’s eyes and watched him leave the room. Vahşi was amused by the display but it didn't show. The door made an odd swoosh noise as it opened and closed. It left him alone with the stranger whose name he knew. “Vahşi, by all the gods you will tell me who you really are. Because it is not my Emperor’s brother”

The feminine boy only had his looks and scents as his advantage in this situation. Vahşi was certainly able to calculate numerous ways of pinning or killing him without much hassle. Panos was pressing himself firmly into the reins of social power between the two of them. Or, at least, he believed he was.

"It's about time you figured out my name," Vahşi said. "After all, it seems like we're stuck in this world together until we find passage off the planet. Seems like these humans don't take to my people very well, so us going anywhere is going to be determined by one of two things - your powers of persuasion or my shooting skills. Which one is up to you. I don't know anything about 'your' Emperor's brother, but he's not me. I don't know who it is and I don't care. What matters is what's happening right now. If you don't help me I will have no problem with abandoning you here or locking you up." Panos stared with absolute hatred. He had never had anyone talk to him like this, spare his father, and these strange riddles. He pursed his pouting lips as he stared up at Vahşi. The lupian stared back, without the hatred in Panos' gaze but his expression equally harsh.

"You wouldn't do that..." Panos said with more vulnerability, his expression softening into sadness and confusion. Who was this black haired man?

"You think I wouldn't? Just try me," Vahşi dared him. "We both know I have the upper hand physically, even without the gun. It would be easy for me to hurt you without meaning to, and I don't want to do that. So, the only way this situation works out for both of us is if we work together. Help me. Then we can both get back home to the person we love. What do you say?" Vahşi usually would have abandoned diplomacy for brute force in these situations, but he felt sorry for Panos. He was as alone and scared as Vahşi was right now - maybe they weren't so totally different as Panos thought. The Silverette stared longer, looking ever more insecure about the situation.

"Ah!" Panos screamed when the doors opened to reveal a robot straight out of the sci-fi movies. Vahşi had the gun up before bothering to assess what had made Panos scream. When he saw it was the robot he lowered the weapon and watched it come closer.Panos side stepped away from the door, nervously getting closer to Vahşi. "This is only for mutual sake of surviving." Vahşi didn't answer. Panos' eyes scanned the robot, its silver frame and its flat head turning to look straight at him. It made his heart rush with fear, which Vahşi could hear with his sharp lupine ears.

"How is your status?" It's metallic voice asked him.

"F-fine. Goodbye" Panos waved a hand at it.

"Goodbye." It walked out the swooshing doors and Panos sighed, putting a hand over his heart through the sheet that he still held to cover himself. The stranger next to him seemed like someone who wasn't capable of any emotional spectrum. He turned his skeptical eyes on Vahşi. The lupian glanced back for only a moment before looking away again, glancing around the room as if to make sure no enemies would spring out of the walls.Was this some trial of the gods? Panos sent a silent prayer to Dionysus, or was this Hera's punishment for failing his marriage so terribly with...him?

The other man walked in with a folded piece of clothing that turned to be a black shirt that was small enough to fit him. Timidly Bolton handed it to him, Panos snatched it and turned his back to both men when he put it on. From the back, Vahşi's perception of Panos' gender became even harder to tell, his features soft and refined like female flesh, and the lithe curved hips suggested the female gender, it was a trick of the eye, a turn of Panos' body and suddenly it looked female.

Bolton stood around uncomfortably. He shot a look at Vahşi.

"Why are you still here? We will be leaving your planet. I received your message" He glared harder now. "Mr. Arkwright was a prominent scientist. And you killed him."

Vahşi raised a hand to stop him from continuing. "Just because these are my people doesn't mean that this is my planet. I belong somewhere else, and so does Panos. Somewhere that you're going to take us. And I didn't kill your Arkwright. He attacked me with a weapon and I defended myself. His death was his own fault." Vahşi glanced at Panos, realizing he had a lot to explain. "We need to leave immediately. When will you be ready to go?" Bolton's lower lip quivered with anger, his brows as furrowed as possible. Panos stared at the situation. The disconnect from this situation had his mind spinning to put it all together. He was questioning reality itself at the moment. Only now did he realize the symbols of the Gods on his right wrist below the infinite symbol. Aphrodite, Ares, Hermes...a test of the gods? Then it was true, was he to feel fearful or confident in knowing the gods had put him in this situation? Had the bullet killed him and this was the trial of his soul? He didn't like asking these questions, his sapphire eyes glistened in the thought of dying before ever getting to bond with Lycus. He was just sixteen.

"How do you know we weren't sent here for a purpose?" Panos asked the muscular killer, Vahşi. There were people far away from them, but perhaps they had their own quest.

Vahşi hesitated, turning this new idea over in his mind. Until this point he'd been focused on reuniting with the others, but Panos had brought up a valid point. Although he hadn't seen the point in his or his companions' presence in the last world, it had probably been because of their collective presence that Panos was currently alive.

Bolton looked ready to cry tears of frustration as his eyes went back and forth to Vahşi and Panos. He grabbed Panos' wrist. Vahşi's grip shifted on the gun, but he'd known from Bolton's body language that he wasn't trying to hurt Panos, so he didn't bring his weapon up to a defensive position yet.

"You've become mentally unstable. Emergency protocol dictates I can man the ship and return us to Quita."

"Panos is not mentally unstable," Vahşi interjected. "Now that his body is healed, his condition is as good as mine." This, perhaps, was not an entirely convincing argument to Bolton, who seemed to think Vahşi had wantonly murdered Arkwright.

Panos shot a look at the man and then at Vahşi. He put his hand's the man with a frown.

"Please, I'm sorry for the trouble we've caused you." Panos began to weep quietly, half true half not. An outlet for his frustrations. He gently slid his hand down the man's palm, brushing down the man's fingers. Bolton's face switched with confusion, changing between anger and sadness.

Vahşi watched them warily. He still didn't trust Bolton, although he was half-convinced that he was no threat to Panos. The trouble, as far as he was concerned, had mostly come from Arkwright, but he wasn't about to bring that up again. "Panos, do you want to stay here?" he asked. He kept his voice quiet so as not to scare either of them, but he obviously wanted an answer.

"What else are we suppose to do?" Panos shifted his eyes over to Vahşi, stroking Bolton's hand to keep him quiet, though he didn't want to. Vahşi could see the other, taller teenager standing around not knowing what to do, all his confidence gone. "We were sent here for a reason, we shouldn't leave yet"

"If you figure out what that purpose is, let me know," Vahşi said dryly. "For now, you're in charge of dealing with Bolton. He likes you a lot more than me." In fact, if Vahşi and Bolton were left alone together, someone was likely to end up injured. "Do you want to go back to the village? I'd like to take a look around but I'm pretty sure that if I leave you two alone he'll find a way to kidnap you and take you off-planet."

"I'm right here" Bolton said in his own defense. "I'm going to figure out what happened to you Panos" He stared down at his partner with worry and he too started to cry, though less pretty about it than Panos was. Panos let go of Bolton's hand and held himself at the chest. He wiped his eyes. Wasn't Bolton a sad, sad thing caught in whatever this was?

"I am not sure you'll find much" If it was the gods' will, then it was simply done without the ability of man to understand. Vahşi only shrugged, confident that he would find out something. After all, the people on this planet were the same as him. Something would develop, of that he was certain. Panos looked up to Vahşi, "We should get out of here, there must be some clues somewhere." Sliding himself between the two taller men, Panos got into the main hallway, seeing this kind of design right out of the fiction he had seen in media. He guessed the taller door at the end of the hall to the right to be the way out and he began to towards it.

Vahşi waited until after Panos had passed him to give Bolton a warning glare. Panos was safe from him, he was sure of that now, but the lupian still didn't trust him. He followed Panos into the main hallway, catching up before they got to the outer door, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Take this," he instructed, holding out the gun. "But don't shoot anything. Especially me. I'm not really a pervert, despite the fact you were yelling that I was."


Together Panos and Vahşi had left the winged building, Panos making a passing comment to himself as he looked back at it about the reality of ‘spaceships’. Panos’ emotion of confusion wasn’t hard for Vahşi to be receptive to, all over his divine-blooded face. But while they walked over the grass back onto the mud path onto the village his nose was once again brought back into the simple culture scents. Without Panos profusely bleeding, he could smell past the flowery grapevine to get a better understanding of the small animal people that continued to do minuscule tasks. The scent was animalistic like his, but weaker. Surely he could fight a slew of these young individuals and overcome them easily, if truly their scent was indicative to their level of natural strength.

Panos looked at the people they were drawing closer to with open disgust: seeing creepy children looking people dragging around carts, mashing herbs, and running around with hideous smiles of crooked or yellowed teeth. The young prince gagged when his sapphires landed on a robed bird girl who looked no older than twelve covered in muted colored robes and heavily pregnant. Even Vahşi looked troubled bu her young age, though he'd seemed almost pleased with the rest of the village. In fact, to Panos’ ever growing disgust of the hill-home people, they all looked between the ages of a youthful fifteen to no lesser than twelve, seeing the minority exceptions of smaller children and starkly elderly.

“This is too much for me to bear,” Panos scoffed and frowned at all of them, walking into the edge of the village. Vahşi rolled his eyes but ignored him. He'd already realized that he'd have to deal with things he usually wouldn't tolerate. Panos had been royalty in their last adventure, and it would hardly be normal for him to calmly adjust to this new place.

“Hi!” A female one with long brown hair, orange ears and a fox’s tail said, waving to both of them. Vahşi waved back, a slight smile on his face.

“Eww, it talked to me.” Panos put a hand over his pout lips.

"No need to be rude," Vahşi said, glaring down at Panos with a look that clearly stated he didn't want Panos speaking about the natives like that. "They're no less human than I am."

In the mud path thoroughfare a gathering of these little people was forming, they had small pikes, a bunch of male ones with leather armor very similar to what Vahşi wore, looked seriously as they could with their rosy cheeks and baby fat cheeks. The twenty of so clapped once in unison. The noise and weapons caught Vahşi's attention, and he stopped walking to watch.

“Hunt time!” said a male in front with choppy black hair and the tallest spear. He too was a fox little person. But when he raised his spear Vahşi’s sight caught a tattooed symbol on his forearm that pulled him to look with a sense of urgency. It was of a cross and a hooking tail. Vahşi tilted his head an shifted his weight, staring curiously at the mark. Perhaps Panos had been right in saying they had a purpose here.This marked fox little person smiled his crooked teeth to the group, turned tail and began to run down the mud path in the direction away from Vahşi and Panos. The group of males rushed after. The more the marked little person fled, the sense of importance followed, much like when Panos bore the symbol of Venus upon his hand.

“Maki…” Another little person said in concern as she was making a paste in her stone bowl. Panos stared around at all of this with an overwhelming repulsion, clearly missing what Vahşi's stronger senses caught. The smells Panos could pick up were below him. Panos was certain this had to be a trial by the gods.

"We're following them," Vahşi decided, pointing after the group that was running, led by the marked vulpian. "There's something about that kid." He motioned for Panos to follow him and started after the group, his interested growing with each step. Panos stared down at his dress shoes, it was strange for him to actually be in male attire after all the dramas previously, and oddly enough for it to fit him. But these starting to be specked with dirt shoes weren't going to be any great support for this unbecoming terrain of mud and grass.

The Lambros prince sighed heavily and tried to keep up behind Vahşi. Following, the two of them had various troubles keeping up - Vahşi clearly having less difficulty. Despite their weakness they were lightweight and speedy people. Any rectangular formation the males had while standing together had broken apart while running through the grass fields - the ones with the vulpian features noticeably ahead of the rest. In the run Vahşi was able to enjoy a calm breeze going through his hair, the tranquil sun on his face, back in a natural world. He appreciated the way this world was different from the last one - especially the fact that he had normal clothes this time. The red robe he had been subjected to in the last world has been absolutely ridiculous from his point of view.

The run had lasted two miles, entering into the scattered forests, the trees mostly evergreens. With the blowing wind cut in half within the trees it stilled the scents giving Vahşi a glimpse back to the wild life. None of the smells here were refined, but none of them were foul; all organic, the permeating bark and foliage, the animal life and its variances. It was all for Vahşi to take in, his feet crushing cones, fallen leaves and more grass.

Although Vahşi was having no trouble, and was in fact enjoying himself, his sharp hearing could also hear Panos in the distance behind him struggling and coughing, not as physically inclined as any of the other males here. The village males walked forward, lowering their spears into a pointed attack position.

"Hunt big meat and food!" The marked vulpian told the others and they all shouted with their young voices, running and scattering about the forest. He stood alone near the edge of the forest, his fox ears twitching and raising his nose, sniffing for something. Vahşi approached him cautiously, stepping lightly as if unsure of the ground he stepped on. "That mark on your arm," he said, dropping his gaze to it as he spoke, then looking back at the vulpian's face. "What does it mean? What's your name?" He wanted to ask if the boy felt the same connection he did but decided to take it slow.

"Oh gods," Panos panted when he crashed into a tree at the very rim of the forest to lean against. His right shoulder ached deeply and he let that arm drop to dangle. Vahşi's ears picked up the noise of the collision but he was focused on the young vulpian.

The marked vulpian shot his ears straight up, and glared at Vahşi with a growl, his orange tail standing straight up. Vahşi shifted his weight away from him in case the growl prefaced action but stayed where he was. Annoying children seemed to be an intergalactical occurrence.

"You maki, no one likes maki." The vulpian pointed at Vahşi, up to him since none of the little people were taller than three and a half, maybe four, feet. "Go hunt, hunter then being maki okay again." In the distance of the woods the lupine heard the little people marching around, spears clanking and thudding, some striking living animals and their death cries. Though one cry seemed sharper than the others. Vahşi glanced in the direction of the hunt. The invitation was certainly far from unwelcome. "All right," he agreed, a smirk curving across his lips. The young vulpian and his fellows were probably unaware of how much stronger he was compared to them. He started toward the sounds of the hunt, using all his senses to determine what was going on.

As he sped through the high branch forest, Vahşi's ears picked up the sounds of branches breaking near by, and he smelled a leaf grazing animal. Canine instinct told Vahşi that it was his prey, and he changed course to chase after it. Once his senses told him he was close, the lupian hid behind bushes filled with red berries. Looking over he saw what looked like a boar with a brown coat. Unlike any other boar Vahşi knew of, however, it had three sharp tusks each side of its mouth. It seemed to be walking cautiously, its nose and ears twitching. It was searching for something, its gaze slowly turning towards Vahşi's direction. The lupian's ears picked up more screaming in the distance, but he was sure this time it was some of the little people, their young voices curdling. The boar was staring suspiciously at the bush Vahşi was hiding behind, and the lupian held still. He knew wild boars were unpredictable, violent creatures, and he had no wish to engage this one in hand-to-hand combat. The boar seemed to lose interest in him when it saw no definite threat and looked away, grunting as it searched the forest floor for food. Vahşi burst from his hiding place, running at top speed, and the boar squealed in anger and fear. Instead of attacking it, however, Vahşi was running past it, pushing himself to get to the source of the voices. Trouble, his instincts warned him. Find the younglings. He slipped into wolf form almost unconsciously, knowing he could run faster that way.

The wolf differed from the man. His armour and clothing had disappeared with his human skin, but the intelligence and hard edge in his green eyes showed he wasn't an animal. Dozens of scars cut across his thick, shaggy black pelt. In most places they were thin lines like a spider's web, but there were two marks that were unmistakably bullet wounds and one patch of scar tissue that spanned half his left ribcage. Running as he was, it took little time for him to come into view of the young people who had been screaming. He paused for the briefest of moments, ears pricked forward and nose twitching.

What he had found was a boar tore through one of the little people warriors, through the gut and had crashed him against a tree where the bleeding out body shivered. On the ground elsewhere was another already dead with its spear snapped in half, the pointy end still in the boar. There was one youngling left, he had black wolf ears and a black wolf tail. He looked, to be of the fifteen age looking little people and he had nervous round green eyes. His ears kept twitching and his tail swished. He looked at the wolf form of Vahşi and pursed his lips before crying.

"Brother help! I'm not strong yet!"

Vahşi scanned the clearing with as many senses as he could bring into play. The sight of the bodies made his stomach clench. They were too young. Too small. Neither were going to survive; he knew it instinctively. The boar had caught sight of him and grunted in warning, shaking its head. It glanced from Vahşi to the youngling, indecisive about which to attack, then lowered its head and charged the boy.

Vahşi snarled and leaped forward. He lowered his head and rammed the boar with his shoulder, knocking them both to the ground. A tusk ripped open one of his forelegs and he yelped instinctively. By the time they were back on their feet, the boar had clearly decided Vahşi was the more dangerous creature in the clearing. It charged the lupian, and Vahşi met it halfway, snarling and biting. He got a hold on the side of the boar's throat but it raked its tusks against his side so deeply that he had to let go to avoid being gutted. Vahşi backed away, keeping himself between the boar and the boy, snarling even as the blood flowed from his wounds. Eventually the boar could bleed out from his wound, but Vahşi wasn't willing to bet on it. Despite the pulsing pain in his leg and side, he started forward again, keeping his body low against the ground as a growl rumbled through his chest. Teeth bared and ears laid back, he circled the boar, which moved as he did to keep its tusks facing him. The boar kept spinning, bleeding, beady eyes on Vahşi but it yelped when the one who called him brother struck his spear into its side.

The little person grunted through his tears and did what he could to shove the spear deeper, blood pouring out and in fear the boar ran off, yanking on the spear the little lupian was holding, dragging him a few feet. The boar crashed into another tree and fell over, dying. The little lupian rolled around, holding at his elbows that were torn up and his ears kept flapping around, tail lowered. He whimpered and looked at Vahşi.

"Brother, brother, you okay?" He rushed over to put one of his adolescent hands on Vahşi's bloodied coat. Vahşi nuzzled his hand briefly and laid down, tired from the battle. His wounds were still leaking blood, and he knew he'd probably have to get help from Bolton and his metal man.The marked vulpian came with a the remaining males. The males under the vulpian's command frowned but the vulpian himself sneered at Vahşi's proclaimed brother. Vahşi's hackles raised in dislike. Marked or not, this vulpian youngling was almost distasteful.

"You did okay," he said snidely, not content about something. "I make you hunt again today." The little lupian nodded.

"I will make you happy leader. I promise." The corpses were pooling blood throughout the grass where they lay, young appearing bodies still and lifeless. The scent filled Vahşi's nostrils and he whined softly. So far he'd only seen younglings, but they probably had family. Family that had to be told what happened. Vahşi returned to being human, the transformation cloaked in a swirl of opaque green light. The blood was pouring faster now, and he stood up, holding his injured arm across his stomach. Another couple inches to the side and the boar would have ripped open his vein. He laid his other hand across the deepest part of the wound, instinctively trying to stop the flow of blood, and started walking in the direction he'd last seen Panos. For now, the bodies would have to stay where they were. Even Vahşi knew he needed help.

"Wait! Brother!" The little teenage lupian soon followed after with concern in his watery green eyes, cowlicks all over his black hair. A smile twitched at the corner of Vahşi's mouth and he waited for the teen to catch up with him before continuing. The other little people moved aside, parting and looking up at Vahşi with mixed faces as he walked off. When he got back to the tree Panos had been crashed against, having to hear concerned yipping from the little lupian along the way, Panos was laying his back against it, eyes shut - looking like he was taking an opportunity to model himself even though that wasn't clearly the case.

The purple hued silverette looked over at Vahşi with a vexed expression when he saw the blood pouring down the scared man's right side and the arm.

"By the gods, this does nothing good for us." Panos' sapphire eyes shot at Vahşi, who glared back, while he got to his feet and held his aching shoulder "What did you do?"

"We need herb help!" The little lupian told Vahşi, waving his tail with distress. Vahşi wasn't entirely sure what 'herb help' meant, exactly, but just about any kind of medical care would work for him. The bleeding needed to stop.

"They tried to take on a wild boar," Vahşi explained. "And when it went after this one I wolfed out and attacked it." A thought struck him and he looked down at the youngling. "What's your name, anyway, kid? You never said." The little lupian cocked his head.

"We need to go back to the ship." Panos heavily sighed, rubbing his right shoulder. He didn't give much of any attention to the littler lupian.

"Tuna," the mini person answered. "Why does big brother ask little brother name?" Vahşi decided not to answer this question but committed the name firmly to memory. Tuna grabbed Vahşi's unoccupied hand. "Home now for help!" Tuna tugged. Vahşi gave an accurate older-sibling groan and let Tuna pull him down the path. Panos sighed, he felt stiff and sore with all the running. The shirt made his nipples hurt. And begrudgingly he started waking the two miles back. Usually Vahşi would have no problem with such a hike, and even in his wounded state he kept up with Panos. About half a mile from the village, though, he tripped over his own feet and crashed to his knees, barely avoiding faceplanting into the ground. He muttered several curses and staggered back to his feet, shaking his hair out of his eyes. For the first time he noticed the path of blood he'd left behind him, and he stared at it in mute fascination for a moment before turning in the direction that would lead him to the village. The blood loss was affecting his mind and dulling his senses. He'd be fine in another day or so - lupians healed quickly - but at the moment he was rapidly deteriorating.

"Come on" Tuna said fearfully, holding tighter to the hand. Panos was dying, covered in sweat and pushing his hair that remained flawless behind his ears. A trial of the gods.

Panos turned to see Vahşi's state with tired but wide eyes. He needed him to make it through what was required to be done, whatever that was. The other teenager accompanying Vahşi grabbed onto his unwounded side to help keep Vahşi balanced. Although Vahşi would usually have objected to this much physical contact, at the moment he didn't mind half as much.

"You got yourself into this bloody affair and now you need to get yourself out of it." perhaps that was Panos' way of being kind. Vahşi glared at him for a moment but couldn't help a bit of a smirk from forming briefly on his lips. Together the three of them marched forward the last half mile. Inside the village Tuna began to flee to one of the hill homes on the right. Vahşi watched him go but didn't try to follow. Panos however, panting and straining, was trying to keep the bleeding Vahşi going forward to the ship. "Vahşi do not go limp now..."

"Shut up, Panos," Vahşi growled, his teeth clenched so tightly that his words were barely coherent. "And when we get there make sure Bolton won't keep Tuna out." Despite the fact he was nearly bleeding to death, Vahşi had his mind on the little vulpian youngilng. Hopefully Bolton would overlook Vahşi's supposed murder of Arkwright when faced with Panos, but Vahşi wasn't optimistic. In all likelihood, it would be a healer from the village who would be most helpful.

"There are only so many...grievances I'll take from you..." The silverette hissed hoarsely while keeping the slow, blood-trailing walk going. Vahşi managed a momentary grin despite the situation, but it quickly faded into a grimace of pain.Little people stared, dismayed, but did nothing. There was still another mile of the village itself to get through before the ship and a 5'6" slender built teenager who was already exhausted could only do so much. Both were hungry and the younger person had a shoulder wound that ached all the way through.

Vahşi's blood dripped and watered the mud path along the way. By now Panos was too broken to even complain or judge Vahşi. The miracle of getting to the edge of the village was the last of Panos' strength as he fell to a knee by the lupian, the man smelling his own blood overwhelmingly so. Vahşi couldn't keep standing on his own and fell gracelessly on his back. He stared up at the sky for a moment before closing his eyes against the rays of the sun and turning his head sideways. For a moment he considered wolfing, just to get himself to the help of the metal man, but somebody was moving toward him.

By the grace of the gods did Panos see Bolton running to them. He had bent down to help Panos stand and hold him close, the Lambros too tired to say otherwise.

"Help him..." Panos groaned and Bolton looked carefully, cautiously at Vahşi. Vahşi glared at him despite the fact he should be trying to avoid the one person who could actually help to heal him. Panos breathed in deeply, and then did nothing but turn around with Panos until the teenager coughed. "Please," Panos knew the magical words men wanted to hear "I love you." He gripped tight to Bolton's body and his fingers felt lab coat fabric covering a lean body. "I need you to...do this..." His sapphire eyes glinted and he looked up to Bolton with desperation. "Please," the Lambros began to cry tears down his sweaty face and he saw Bolton fold through his dropped facial expression.

"Fine, come" Bolton took hold of Vahşi to lead him to the ship, his blood getting over the floor of the craft too. Vahşi was too exhausted to even growl at him. One of his feet slipped in all the blood on the floor and he staggered against Bolton, who wrinkled his nose in distaste. In the medical room the metal person came, and without asking started to unhook the leather stands than bound Vahşi's armor. Bolton fled to get Panos that had been left outside.

"Remain still during treatment," the robot asked of Vahşi.

"I don't think I'm about to go anywhere," Vahşi replied. "Just hurry it up." He hated being at the mercy of anyone, human or not, especially in his wounded state. He didn't flinch when the robot sprayed something against his skin but his fingers clenched tightly and he was clearly distrustful of what was happening. The needle and thread were a more familiar sight, and he held still as the metal man started sewing his wounds together.

[Minkasha]

Akinasha


Panos Lambros & Vahşi

Panos was stuck on the mud ground, his legs too sore to move him on. It was disgusting to feel the wet mud under making contact with the skin of his arms and elbows. He had been fighting to keep himself up from laying on the grass entirely, not seeing it as something acceptable, but his body crashed before his ego could and the Lambros prince fell face first into the mud, his signature hair flailing each way till it fluffed down across the blades of nature.

This wasn't acceptable to him. The person the gods have paired him with was a reckless daredevil who accomplished nothing but murder and nearly get himself killed. He was a useless oddity that Panos didn't like, Vahşi showed no respect to him. Of the men that had been in his company, Vahşi was nearly as anger provoking as his ex-husband.

He picked up on the footsteps coming his way but did nothing about it, his vision changing from dark to light when he found himself in Bolton's arms looking up to the brunette man. The teal eyes stared at him with a needy gaze that struck a cord of irritation within Panos' psyche. Don't be emotional, just help me. His brain ticked with pondering futility of the gods' trial.

The steps Bolton took made him bob around. He hated it, and decided, with great hesitation, to lay his head on Bolton's chest.

"You are in there. I know it" Bolton's crisp voice said, but Panos didn't respond to it, taking in the vibrations his voice made when he spoke. It made him dream of Lycus. He wanted his emperor, the man's skin at his fingertips. He wanted his empire, every luxury at his fingertips.

The teenager was taken into the ship, Bolton working to not step on the trail of blood that was a sharp contrast of the singularly white lit surfaces. To the end of the singular hallway of the ship was a black wall which transformed into a doorway by simply evaporating an archway to walk through. A circular platform carried the duo a floor, another wall to go and come back with Bolton's passage - technology that Panos didn't have the mental strength to process.

In this hallway Panos was led into another room, this room actually dark till the man carrying him stepped inside - a bedroom. He saw the bed fold out of the wall, large with white sheets. He was placed on it, welcomed to some sense of comfort he used to have before the gods took him.

The Lambros prince was kissed once more, Bolton bent over him. Panos gripped the man's collar of his shirt, but his grasp was feeble. He didn't have permission to touch him.

"Remember me, Panos." Bolton whispered as their lips pulled apart, the divine-blooded kept his eyes looking away to one of the many blank white walls, denying contact of those teal, needy, eyes...

Vahşi awoke. How long it had been, he wasn't sure. His right side felt much better, sprinkled with light soreness. But his arm pain had gone away completely, seeing his skin shut with clear stitching holding the wound shut. No doubt this was how his side appeared to. He was half naked, his dried blood a crusty pool by the right side of the white dimly illuminated table. There was a delay to realize but he was not in the medical area that he had been left in before. When his senses registered the difference in location, he sat up and cautiously probed where his wounds had been. Once he was satisfied with the work the metal man had done he looked around, trying to blink a lingering tiredness away.

He was in a cell. The realization that he'd been betrayed while unconscious hit him suddenly, and he had no doubt that Panos had helped or at least stood aside and let it happen. For a moment he thought he was going to fall asleep, and it felt like half his mind had been replaced with a ball of fabric, but he forced himself to set his discomfort aside to look around. When he focused on specific parts of his cell, the tiredness ebbed slowly away until it was lurking in the back of his mind rather than coming close to sending him to sleep.

What Vahşi saw was a string of white bars of a wall, through them he saw an empty cell across. To his left was a toilet built into the wall and a plain sink made of the same smooth material of the walls. There was a bag of clear fluid being suspended by a hook on the wall that the table was folded out from. It was flowing through a tube into his veins. He felt a sprinkle of tiredness hit him but what was really predominate was his hunger. As if to confirm this, his stomach growled quietly. Vahşi ignored it as a sound reached his ears, sounding almost muffled at first but growing clearer as the source came closer.

There were clicking steps and Bolton showed his angry filled young man features. He stood firmly at the other side of the bars. Vahşi's face twisted in hate for a moment, and had Bolton been standing even remotely close enough for Vahşi to reach him the lupian would undoubtedly have gone for his throat. As it was he simply sat on the table and fought his emotions down. In a few moments his features were a neutral mask, and he stared dully at the young man. He wanted to ask if Tuna was safe but he didn't want to risk giving Bolton an idea to kidnap the youngling.

"You are the strangest specimen, dangerous. As a courtesy to my partner I keep you conscious. But in Quita you'll be examined more thoroughly."

Vahşi didn't bother answering. He pressed his spine against the corner of the cell and closed his eyes, resting the back of his head against the wall. Although he appeared indifferent, he hoped Bolton would go away. The human's scent irritated him. It wasn't the first time he'd been locked up. It wouldn't be the first time he would escape. Except, this time, the red-haired woman wasn't with him. His Farla. For a moment his eyes opened and bestowed a look of hopeless longing on the blank wall opposite him. Bolton's threat about Quita didn't bother him. Not having Farla with him prompted worry that she was on her own and in trouble, just like he was.



The sludge of brown slid down Panos’ pale skin as the warm waters rushed down his lithe curved body. The mist of the heated water filled the white bathroom, his eyes felt clear but his heart felt heavy. Too many questions plagued him, even after his sleep. The stands of purple tinted silver fell down him in a watery grace, pushed back over his healing shoulder. He hissed but quieted himself when he heard steps come into the bathroom. The show was clear, its surface never fogged, leave him in full exposure to a stranger he had no affinity for or knowledge of. But Bolton looked at him like some sad painting Panos had painted years ago.

He saw Bolton rub his eyes in wariness.

“Partner, we are going to depart for Quinta after I clock in the necessary hours for flight” The silverette blinked, feeling a few water droplets fly away. His heart, heavy still, skipped. That wasn’t what the gods want, surly. Though he knew nothing he also felt that something was undone here, an intuition. Gut feelings were new and strange to the introvert, the only other being his fluttering, quick desire and passion for Lycus.

“May I…ask for the sudden choice?” Bolton stared, Panos kept his body turned to keep the most vulnerable parts of himself away from eye’s view.

“I am concerned for your condition; your wound and your bloodwork have come up suspiciously. The medical bot says your wound matches that of a 20th century weapon and your blood couldn’t be analyzed coherently.” Panos was to protest but the taller teenager raised a hand “I know you feel well, but things have not been the same. I must be sure, objectively sure you are okay”

The prince found himself unsure of how to proceed, afraid. Afraid that this spiral of choices, if allowed, could ruin everything. His mind spun to calculate, how to out play Bolton and stop this from happening. While thinking he wrung out his hair, water loudly splashing below, buying time.

“And Vahşi, what of him?”

“W-“ Bolton stammered and Panos turned fully to look at him, slowly pushing the glass that kept them apart. He grabbed a towel, again, buying more time. “-He is going to be a newest Akishan specimen. Whoever designed them made this strange exception, leap in intellect and prowess” Bolton began to rub his smooth skin chin. “I have to dabble in that, we need to when you’re better. It will do well for our careers. I’m affirmative on it” Panos kept his face its stone cold beauty, walking closer with the towel wrapped around him at the chest. As much as he’d enjoy the imposter to be sliced and diced, it was against the greater goal: his survivability.

Bolton rubbed his eyes again.

“And those markings on your arm. Spontaneous tattoos were not part of our technological capabilities.” The young man chuckled, but Panos found it sad, pitiable. He stepped out of the bathroom to the bedroom. Asking him to see Vahşi would be too obvious…

“You’re tired” Panos said dryly, going to the tall white dresser and pulling the same copy and paste scientist clothes to wear. “Go to bed”

“I will” Bolton nodded, slowly starting to undress with his lab coat first. He was watching Panos dress. “Where are you going?” The watched teenager pulled up black dress pants, strangely finding them to fit his odd frame, and zipping them up.

“Lab notes. I need to get myself back together” Panos frowned to Bolton’s direction.

“I don’t believe you, partner. I’m sorry”

“You don’t trust me?” Panos kept himself calm, a mask as he was trying to guide this situation the way he needed it to.

“You are erratic in your current state” A white button up was thrown on, slowly being done.

“I am not sure what else there is to be done or said if you cannot trust me. I speculate if there is much about us if you cannot have trust”

Bolton frowned.

“You do not even speak the same…where’s my swearing little scientist?” The teenage researcher said with a crack in his overly accented voice. He came forward and grabbed Panos’ shoulders, wearing nothing but white underwear. “I’m scared and confused, I will be honest. Where are you in there Panos?”

The Lambros prince froze while he was being shaken back and forth. It broke his ability to be calm and he smacked Bolton’s face a third time since knowing him. Bolton backed away and stared wide eyed.

“STOP TOUCHING ME!” Panos screamed, feeling fear and anxiety, his heart palpating too fast. Bolton looked around with this teal eyes, an aggressive stance and expression. A hand went down his face and he began storming out of the room in his undergarments. “W..Where are you going?” Panos asked, wiping away his fright filled tears. Bolton didn’t answer.

Panos followed him to, seeing him on a war path to another room. It was a lab, with many aching white legged tables that had beakers, computer screens built into the surfaces, and protruding scientific machines from the walls Panos couldn’t begin to guess what they did. But his sapphire eyes did see Bolton picked up a syringe.

“What are you doing?” Panos asked, he couldn’t stop his tears. He couldn’t endure strange men touching him. Men liked taking.

“It is a sedative, for your safety” Panos need not hear more before he began to flee, barefoot and shirt half buttoned to the end of the hall. He remembered, and just as it had done for Bolton before, it vanished and prompted the platform. “PANOS!” Bolton screamed, making the prince lean up against the back wall in terror - the sides of his jaw dripping with tears.

The platform went down, and he came out with a mad dash to the one door that was open, the medical bay. But Vahşi wasn’t in there. He screamed at the robot that was standing still in the center of the room.

“WHERE’S THE SUBJECT!?”

“Subject is on third floor, in cell B” Panos paled, already hearing Bolton’s slapping steps. He ran further into the medical bay, but there wasn’t anywhere to hide, all the laying surfaces had no solid bases, only covered legs or were held by the wall they extended from.

Bolton showed up at the doorway, he too was crying and that made Panos all the more afraid.

“Stop this” Panos pleaded. “You’re scaring me” His voice shook with genuine emotion. Yet, Bolton shook his head.

“I know this must be disadvantageous from you current perspective. But it is for your safety” Panos whipped his head the direction of the robot.

“He’s trying to detain me”

“He has activated protocol A-Com X112” Panos didn’t need further word from the metallic voice to understand he was alone in this. Bolton drew closer, Panos desperately looked around and grabbed a medical tray, but the robot put a hand on his wrist before he could raise the tray. The robot wasn’t strong, but it was enough to hold him down.

“Stop, please…stop please!” Panos jumped around more as Bolton came, he was failing his gods. When Bolton towered over him, the needle pointing to his flesh, the divine-blooded felt a euphoria bubble from within him, a sudden sense of power. From this feeling came forth an outside reaction that had Panos speechless; from his hands grapevines bearing purple and green grapes sprung out. Their thin wooden tendrils curving and snaking up Bolton who screamed violently. The vines came up to wring around Bolton’s throat and detach from Panos’ hands. He saw Bolton struggle with them, falling to his knees. Panos took the syringe off the floor and ran. He felt the blood presence of his godly heritage, giving him enough courage to keep going.

The royal teenager fled to the platform, yelling at the walls for it to go the third floor. It worked somehow as when the wall went away he saw cells instead of doors. Panting and still fighting his fears he ran around till he saw Vahşi. Slamming his hands into that cell, he shook the bars, but rather it shook him. He didn’t know how long that’d hold Bolton.

Vahşi had waited until he was sure he was alone before removing the tube from his arm. It wasn't long before the effects of the drug faded even more, leaving him able to function at his normal levels. Only a few moments were needed for him to find that there were no hidden escape routes out of his cell. The door was operated by some kind of lock he couldn't break, which didn't really surprise him. Everything about this white building was strange. After bodily slamming the bars of the cell several times he returned to the surface he'd been laying on when he first woke up, ribs and shoulder aching.

The last time this had happened, he'd spent most of his time waiting. Building up information on the guards, shifts, and weapons. It had taken him months to break free. This time he didn't have months. Panos was going to be more or less helpless on his own, the lupian was sure. So far he'd displayed very little strength or endurance. Vahşi propped his elbows on his knees and threaded his fingers through his hair.

After what seemed like hours, Vahşi heard yelling. He lifted his head and focused on the noise. Panos' voice rose into his hearing but there were no clear words to be distinguished. The lupian got to his feet and moved toward the front of the cell, searching for more information. Bolton's hateful tones joined soon afterward and Vahşi growled instinctively, feeling it vibrate in his chest more than hearing it. A door down the hall from Vahşi's cell made a dinging noise and Vahşi stiffened, backing a few steps away from the front of the cell. Rather than Bolton, whom he'd been expecting, it was Panos who came into view.

Vahşi's face showed complete incredulity that Panos was there. His expression grew to ludicrous proportions when Panos slammed into the bars, his body shaking as much as the cell. "Don't do that," Vahşi said, speaking as fast as he could while keeping his words distinct. "Look for a key or code that you can use to open it the way it's supposed to be opened. If I couldn't get it with force you won't be able to. Hurry," he added, unable to stop himself. "Please." Despite the fact that he'd never been captive on a spaceship before, this cell held memories and fear, and he needed to get out. His fingernails scratched briefly at the bar supporting the lock as he stared desperately at Panos. The prince shook the bars again, fearfully looking where the doorway was to be. He whipped his head quickly up at Vahşi, his sapphires reddened by his tearing. Vahşi was growing increasingly worried but tried to keep his face straight. Panos was obviously panicking himself.

"I..I..." Panos bit his bottom lip in stress and slapped the wall by the bars, as there was nothing. Nothing like the movies showed or anything Vahşi said. Deciding how the platform worked, Panos opened his mouth and yelled, "OPEN!" Vahşi jumped at the sudden noise, but to the surprise of them both the bars slide down and Panos stepped back, his body sore and he fell on his backside. "Help me please." Panos wiped his face. "He just attempted to drug me." Panos stared fearfully at the doorway wall.

"We need to get you weapons," Vahşi said. "You need to find some way to get us to the armory. They have to have one. Do you still have the gun I gave you when we went hunting with the younglings?" Panos looked at him, stupefied by the question. Vahşi noticed the syringe in Panos' hands but didn't consider it a very reliable weapon, especially in the hands of someone as untrained in combat as Panos. For himself, he was confident that between his human combat skills and sharp-toothed wolf side he would be able to handle anybody they found on the ship.

"I...dropped it, I think. I was tired I don't remember." Vahşi rolled his eyes and huffed a sigh but couldn't really be that mad at Panos. After all, he had come here specifically to rescue him. Panos pursed his pout lips, staring up at Vahşi. He tossed the syringe at Vahşi's feet. "Don't let him drug me, please." Panos pleaded again.

"He won't drug you," Vahşi promised. He glanced at the ceiling and rolled his eyes as if about to do one of the stupidest things in his life. "Once we get closer to where Bolton is, you need to stay behind me. No matter what happens, keep me between the two of you. I'll handle him much better than you will." Vahşi started walking down the corridor toward the lift Panos had come out of. "This thing will probably only answer to you, so tell it where to go. I know you're not going to like this, but we need to go back to wherever you left Bolton so that we can contain him."

Panos slowly worked himself back to his feet, grunting in pain. He hid behind Vahşi as the doorway gave up its secret and showed the platform, and cylinder tube, white walls. When they walked in, it was crowed with the two of them side by side. More so Vahşi dominating the space with his wider and taller body.

"I think it would be wiser to simply go out the main exit of this building..." The feminine prince took a moment to collect himself, but he shivered. "Then we could run into the cesspool of a village and hide. You have a tendency to get yourself wounded...running would be the better solution." Panos put his soft fingers to his lips, lightly curling them nervously.

Vahşi waited until Panos was finished before shaking his head. "If we run, he won't have anything stopping him from leaving the planet and coming back with reinforcements. Then we'd be putting the village in danger and sacrificing our chances at finding the others." He glanced critically at Panos and added, "They would make sure you stayed safe. Bolton wouldn't let them hurt you even though he wanted to drug you. So if you want to run you can. I wouldn't let him take me alive again. That means I need to deal with Bolton now. He'll keep coming after me." Panos pushed back some wispy strands of his purplish silver hair behind his ear, a tic of his unease.

"It would be completely stupid to leave you..." Panos kept behind Vahşi and heavily sighed. Vahşi shrugged as if he was indifferent but he was glad Panos was stayign with him. In all honesty, the last thing they needed was to split up. "First floor." Instantly the wall was sealed and they felt a sense of decreased weight as the platform dropped. Vahşi snorted in alarm but kept his feet, though he swayed a bit with the motion of the platform. It only took several seconds before they were greeted with an underwear sporting Bolton at the end of the hall on one knee, aiming a long black chunky modeled gun, length of Bolton's forearm, at the open doorway. Panos shrieked and Vahşi flinched at the assault on his sensitive ears, frowning at the prince.

"Panos, you're sick..." Bolton had shaky hands and his face while focused through a scope, was still manic and stuck with emotion. "Maybe it is magic. There is a way to take care of you. But you need to trust me, partner. Please."

"Tell me you know he's lying," Vahşi said to Panos, tilting his chin toward his shoulder so he could get a glimpse of Panos.

Magic? Panos curled even more behind the lupian and looked at his hand. The tingle of divinity, of his ancestor Dionysus had been in him. He knew it, felt it. Was it a gift to endure this godly trial? Bolton's manic behavior brought back a past he loathed.

He said nothing to Bolton's words. But he didn't know what Vahşi was to do in this situation. Where was Vahşi to go if Bolton pulled the trigger?

"Panos isn't sick," Vahşi said to Bolton, slowly raising both his hands. Although he was confident in himself, he didn't want Panos getting caught in the crossfire like he had in the last world. "But most of all, he isn't yours. Whatever he does has to be his own choice, not one he makes for you. Put down the weapon, Bolton. You and Panos can talk this through. While I'm sure you would love to put a bullet in me, what if you accidentally shoot him?"

Bolton gritted his teeth and pulled the trigger. The black gun shot out a red beam of energy projection neither Vahşi nor Panos had ever seen before. It zipped fast, but Vahşi had been tensed and ready. He spun to grab Panos and slammed the prince and himself against a wall of the lift. The lupian had no choice but to press himself firmly against the soft bodied Panos who was already in a state of shock. The prince groaned as it made his sore shoulder spike in pain.

Panos coughed as the air was knocked out of him by bony joints and muscular limbs. Bolton fired a few more times, each of the shots landing with an electrical sound to the back of the open platform leaving black circular stains and to Vahşi the scent of electrical charged smoke. Vahşi ducked his head instinctively, even though there was little chance of Bolton's shots hitting them. Panos' breath hit Vahşi's chest, and everything went quiet for Panos' ears.

Vahşi could hear Bolton whimpering mutably. The aftermath of the shots were much better for him than if it had been a regular gun with a loud discharge. Having so many shots in close quarters would have deafened him for days. "Don't look," he told Panos, rushing his words as he turned away from him and ran for the doorway of the platform. He moved so quickly that his boots barely gave him traction on the slick floor. Just outside the doors he threw himself forward, but landed on all four paws rather than hitting the ground. He jumped to the side to avoid another wildly fired shot from Bolton's weapon and snarled at him, daring him to try again. His hackles bristled as he bared his teeth and lunged toward Bolton, hoping to disarm rather than to kill but comfortable with either outcome. Bolton screamed and his body limped in fear of the oncoming wolf.

Vahşi's teeth dug into the flesh of Bolton's neck, not having much choice as the researcher had rendered himself defenseless and all but threw his neck into his wolf bite. The taste of blood filled his lupian muzzle, making crimson of his teeth and tongue, death coughs filled his ears, vibrations filling his body. His paws crashed on Bolton's bleeding body, the young man in nothing but underwear shaking around and gurgling on his own blood, white flesh filled with bite marks. Vahşi tasted the iron in his mouth. It reminded him of the fight with the boar, when Tuna had been crying behind him. He hoped Panos would obey him. The last way he wanted to tell Panos he was a lupian was by ripping a man's throat out in front of him.

Panos had covered his eyes but the sounds of death down the hall weren't missed and Vahşi could hear Panos cry out again, not aware or knowledgeable to death. The Lambros prince felt sickness fill him when Bolton kept gurgling. He slid himself down the wall of the platform into a ball, body sore and mind wrecked with anxieties from multiple sources past and present.

Vahşi witnessed Bolton's teal eyes squint and quiver with his lips as he made ugly expressions of death. Blood pooled from his neck, artery and veins broken. He was dying in nothing but his underwear. When he finally stopped struggling beneath the heavy weight of Vahşi's canine body, the lupian released his hold and stepped back. Bolton's weapon laid near his hand but Vahşi didn't go near it. He still wasn't sure exactly how the thing worked, and he didn't want to risk hurting himself with it by nosing around while still a wolf.

In the medical room Vahşi's nose struggled over the blood, but managed to smell a copy of Panos' flowery zest coming from the medical room. His head tilted in confusion. Just a minute ago he'd ordered Panos to stay on the platform, and the prince hadn't passed him. Vahşi didn't know the source of this other scent. Moving cautiously, Vahşi left Bolton's body and approached the medical room, one forepaw tracking bloody prints across the white floor.

Coming into the medical room Vahşi saw the robot rushing past him with its metal ribbed legs to Bolton's corpse. He moved out of its way, offering a soft warning growl as to its proximity but nothing else. On the floor were beautiful green leafed grapevines ripped apart and laced with individual green and purple grapes in wild assortment down its think golden brown wooden, vine body. The perfumed Panos' fragrance and the berries had the dimmest golden glow within their succulent surfaces. Vahşi sniffed at them but was careful not to touch, since he had no idea where they had come from.

"I DO NOT WANT TO BE HERE ANYMORE!" Panos yelled with distress from the platform. Vahşi whirled from where he was sniffing the grapevines and ran back to the place he'd killed Bolton. The metal man was bent over the body but Vahşi focused on the platform. He trotted toward it, nails clicking on the floor, and remembered to return to his human self just a few feet from Panos' view. Now his boots scuffed the floor as he carelessly joined Panos. "You hurt?" he asked, scanning Panos' body for injuries. He saw the statuesque prince hold himself small, pulled into a ball crying his sapphires out once again.

"You killed him, didn't you?" Panos asked the lupine, looking up to meet his harsh eyes. In the lupian's stomach it was becoming ever more aware that it had not eaten in some time.

Vahşi nodded."I only meant to disarm him, but he didn't defend himself. It was like Arkwright again." The Lambros prince pondered quickly just how much of a unintentional killer this man was, compared to his intended kills.

Panos looked down into his knees and hid himself.

"I don't wish to see him." His muffled voice picked up by Vahşi's ears.

"Yeah, I bet you don't," Vahşi said sympathetically. He understood Panos' reluctance and there was nothing derogatory in his voice. The fact that his stomach chose to loudly make its hunger known at that moment rather undermined his words. "Panos, I don't want to push you but this place won't respond to me. As you can tell, I need food. So do you, probably. Come on. Gotta get on your feet." He kept his voice gentle but there was a definitive edge to his last words that showed he intended on being obeyed. With Vahşi's help, Panos was able to standing on his throbbing legs. It was then, in passing of the killer's bare chest, that he saw so many scars, really notice them and he frowned. Vahşi saw the look and what caused it but said nothing. What would he have said, anyway? Later, maybe, he could try to explain it, but for now his stomach demanded he settle himself on a different task. This man was nothing but violence, Panos thought. Why was he always surrounded by violent men?

"It's hard to stand currently." Panos' face dripped a tear or two. "I need a moment..." He paused, remembering he had said those exact words to a specific violent man in recent history. He couldn't come here and harass him, could he? Vahşi huffed a sigh but waited for Panos to say he was ready to go. His stomach growled again, low and rumbling, and Vahşi gave Panos an almost pleading look. Though he said nothing, he was clearly impatient to get a move on.

Panos covered his eyes with a hand and took meek steps forward from the platform. It didn't take him far for him to smell Bolton's blood. The metallic scent allowed the prince's imagination to fill with gory imagery, making his body stiff. Vahşi noticed Panos' stiffness and had a good idea about its cause. He kept an eye on the metal man, suspicious of any being that didn't have a scent to it.

"Beginning sanitation process. Moving corpse to morgue." The prince swallowed hard, seeing nothing but the lines made from his held together fingers.

"Robot, we need food. Give us food...please."

"I will retrieve two nutrients. Please step aside." In Vahşi's opinion, 'nutrients' didn't indicate a very appetizing meal, but at the moment he wasn't about to complain about any edible things that came his way. What Panos didn't see that Vahşi did was the robot using its metal ribbed arms to hold Bolton's dripping corpse to its chest and begin walking down the hall in their direction. His sharp hearing picking up the quietest dripping noises of Bolton's spilt blood.

Panos jerked from Vahşi to lean against a hallway wall. The lupian didn't try to hold him back. He'd seen people deal with their first up-close death experience in various ways. At least Panos hadn't shut down and refused to process anything in his world. Maybe he wasn't as hopeless as Vahşi had initially thought.

It occurred to Vahşi that he could still hear Bolton's blood dripping on the floor. He glanced casually over his shoulder in the direction he'd last seen the metal man and did a double take. "What are you doing?" he demanded harshly, instantly going on guard. Since this metal man was the last thing he'd seen before waking up in a cell, he heartily distrusted it. "Panos, stay behind me." He inhaled, trying to sense anything unusual about the metal man or the corpse it held.

Panos said nothing, but gave Vahşi a huff as his answer. Yet the robot kept walking forward, simply carrying the corpse and going past both of them to the platform. Vahşi realized he was being paranoid but he didn't really care. The scentless metal man disturbed him. It wasn't natural.

"I will return with requested nutrients momentarily," the robot said before the wall filled in.

"Why am I always stuck being associated with people like you? Murderers." Panos' soft voice condemned, his eyes guarded from the droplet trail of Bolton's drying blood.

Vahşi shrugged uncomfortably and leaned back against the wall. "I didn't mean to kill Bolton," he pointed out. "Or Arkwright." He ran his hands over his face and sighed. When he spoke his voice was muffled by his fingers. "It all started with those damn humans turning against us." He tilted one arm and rubbed a finger in circles over half a dozen small scars just below his elbow, marking where the needles had dug into his skin, again and again. "They drugged us to keep us under control. The only time we weren't half-conscious was when they were teaching us how to kill people. When it started I hated it, but I was willing to do whatever kept me out of the drug's false reality. Eventually it didn't matter. I was too messed up. But I guess you're gonna have to tolerate me until we get out of here. And you, you're lucky, you know that? You had your Emperor to take care of you." Vahşi nodded to himself. "I hope you get back home someday. That's where you belong, with him. In the meantime, I'm sorry you're stuck with a murdering wolf-boy." He spoke the last word with a darkly bitter edge; it had been the humans' derogatory term for lupians held under their control.

"Wolf-boy..." Panos repeated quietly. Why did this murderous man have a dissociation with humanity? A new emotion came into Panos' angst cauldron: confusion. The more Vahşi spoke the more it provoked questions to be asked and assumed answered to shown erroneous. But the fundamentals of what reality was were already in the back-burner of Panos' mind, why would this many be any different? Why would this man be a consistent factor from his sense of reality?

This philosophical dive gave no cure to any of the prince's troubles.

"You never knew that cost of what it took me to meet my Emperor," Panos corrected "Wh- no, what are you?"

"I'm human enough to be a 'who' rather than a 'what'," Vahşi told him, sarcasm tinging his words. "Although I'm not really completely human, I'm lupian with probably some vulpian back in my lines..." His voice trailed off as he realized he'd probably completely lost Panos and he waved a hand dismissively. "Let me just show you." For a moment his body was wrapped in a solid cone of green light, and when it lifted the wolf stood in Vahşi's place. There were more scars visible on his canine body, ones that didn't show up when he was human. There were several marks like rope burns across his snout and behind his ears where he'd once worn a muzzle. The scars on his body were even more obvious now, since they were hairless patches in an otherwise thick coat. Vahşi looked up at Panos, and if a wolf could smirk he was doing it. Surprise.

And surprise it was, because the fair prince braved putting down his hand, his eyes quickly picked up on the pool and droplets of blood to fall straight onto the battered wolf in front of him. Vahşi didn't even have time to react, left to witness the quickening speed of the prince's face pale face turn even more so, his sapphires gloss and his smaller body crash to the ground. He fainted. Vahşi nearly laughed at Panos' reaction. It was better than he'd be expecting, honestly. While he couldn't have said exactly what he was expecting, it would have included a lot more yelling and panicking from Panos. Since Panos hadn't hurt himself in the fall, Vahşi decided to leave him where he was until he woke up. He saw nothing unusual in sleeping on the floor, having done it for years himself.

The platform wall opened up and the robot came back with two black plastic bags that were thick with water and what the wolf could smell were grains and other natural ingredients. Vahşi was grateful that the 'nutrients' weren't filled with synthetic materials and also mildly surprised he didn't smell any poison. Thick tube straws were sticking out of the top.

"Nutrients are prepared."

The wolf disappeared into green light for a moment before Vahşi reappeared. Since Panos was unconscious on the floor, he decided to take both bags and reached cautiously for them, still wary of the metal man.

"Enjoy your meal"

[Minkasha]

Kysmæt


Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Georgina Wright, & Manisha Leos


"It's alright, it's okay." Gina told their impromptu travelling companion quickly, laying her hands on the panicking girl's arms. "Don't panic. Let's just figure out where we are, okay?"

"Don't scream. Stay calm!" Cal instructed the new member of their party, the commanding tone she had used so often as a princess strong in her voice.

Bestie had opened her mouth to scream, ignoring Gina’s reassurances, but when Cal spoke, she was suddenly compliant. Her mouth had held open for a second before she shut it, relaxed her features and stood evenly.

“Okay.” the brown haired woman told Cal.

Gina's eyebrows knitted together as she turned from Bestie to Cal, confused but grateful.

The younger girls' expression was a mirror of Gina's own - relieved, of course, that the woman had heeded her words, but bewildered by her sudden change of temperament. Then again, it wasn't as though Bestie had been a picture of normalcy before - perhaps she was just prone to erratic behaviour. Besides, there were more pressing questions at hand.

"So, who are we now?" she asked.

Gina looked around. "Do you have anything in your pockets?"

They had to find out where Vahsi was, and Baka's...

As she patted herself down with her free hand and looked about for any sort of clue, she realised that her hands were shaking.

"Pockets..." Cal's small hands moved over the robes she wore, but if there were pockets concealed in their folds, she did not find them. "No, nothing. This is a market, maybe you're supposed to be selling those?" She gestured to the basket Gina held. "Let's just hope I'm not a fucking servant here, as well."

The profanity was a mark of the subservient, fearful side that had been brought out in her in the last place dissipating; the teens' potty-mouth returning with her old confidence. "Maybe..." she hesitated; caution had not yet left her entirely, and the suggestion had a questioning tone, seeking Gina's opinion, "Maybe we should just ask someone?"

Gina seemed to take a second to register the question. When she did, she chewed the inside of her cheek as she looked around again. "Well, there isn't much else we can try. But..." She looked at Bestie. "I think we've got some explaining to do first."

Bestie was looking around at the Cat-people, and the dirt that made up the thoroughfare of the market.

“It’th dirty.” Bestie commented, as she noticed she was wearing sandals with wood flats and a leather strap at the toe. “Where are we and what’ths going on?”

She spoke calmly to the other two girls, but for a second she narrowed her eyes at Gina. Game's up. Gina knew.

"Let's get out of the road." she suggested, indicating a deserted corner between two of the vine-covered buildings where they would be less likely to be overheard.

As they began to move two of the cat-children came pattering up to them. Gina almost didn't notice because her ears were still ringing. The two Cat-children stood to Cal's waist and were covered in robes with wrapped fabric over their heads. One had black fur and green feline eyes, the other a gray coat with white streaks and blue eyes. Gender was hard to determine from their young bodies. They hissed up at Cal's bruised face, fangs bared, before laughing at each other.

"You got a problem?" Gina challenged them sharply.

Cal took a small step backward, wrong-footed at the sudden intrusion despite Gina's surety. Growing in confidence she might be, but it hadn't been long since she had had to act in faux servitude. The impertinence that came with her youth shone through in the glare she threw down at the two children, but she said nothing; a sinking feeling blossoming in her stomach as she wondered at her place in this new world - her larger size didn't seem to intimidate the furry children at all.

The two cats lowered their ears, their slit irises expanding, and they whimpered. When they had begun to speak the first sounds they made were of a long vowel drawn language they couldn't understand until it suddenly shifted.

"...Why is our nurturer being mean?" the gray furred child asked, tail raised up and stiff. The black coat swished their tail staring with sad cat eyes.

Gina blinked, and exchanged a glance with Cal. They're ours?

"Sorry." she said contritely, hitching the basket back up into the crook of her elbow and trying not to sound awkward. "I'm just a bit stressed right now and you startled us!"

Cal at once felt a surge of relief that the behavior of the kittens had been playful, not threatening, and a pang of guilt at having upset them. With a twinge of nervousness, she reached out for the closest of the two, stroking the child's' black, furry head, between it's pointed ears. The child purred, Cal's fingers feeling the cloth and the soft fur underneath.

"Nurturer." the white one hugged Cal, the cat-child's head below her chest, and the teen wrapped her free arm around the childs' back, unable to hold back a smile as she was embraced. They were so cute!

Gina too let out a breath as Cal managed to mitigate her mistake.

"Sorry." she said again, offering her own arms to the second kitten.

"What happened to your face?" the purring one asked Cal, eyes lowered. Its young voice was filled with concern.

"My face..." the former princess paused for a moment, before smiling again in what she hoped was a reassuring way. "Don't worry about it. I just tripped, that's all. An accident."

"They are kind of cute." Bestie commented, flicking her hair back. But again while her face and demeanor was calm, she did manage to shoot Gina another glare. Gina started to feel uneasy again. She mouthed okay to her new companion before catching Cal's eye.

"We'd better set her straight, huh?" she suggested.

Cal nodded, then looked down at the kitten-children again, chewing her lip. Obviously they couldn't discuss it in front of them, but she was at loathe to send them away; the two were their best chance of figuring out where - and who - they were.

"Shall we go home, little ones? So I can tend to this?" She gestured her bruise and split lip. "Run along ahead, and ready a bowl of water and some cloth to clean it, will you?"

She hoped it wasn't out of line to command them, but all children had chores, didn't they? Well, she hadn't. But for common children, it shouldn't be remiss to ask.

The black-furred one lightly pulled on the gray one's wrist. They looked, vision singularly up to Cal, and meowed. Together they ran down the thoroughfare.

"Thanks for keeping them happy." Gina said, letting out a breath as the kittens scampered away. "I nearly fucked that right up."

She rubbed an eyebrow with the heel of her hand as she watched the kittens run down the street. A female cat-woman with orange fur and black lines on her face called out to them as they almost bumped into her. She appeared to be working at one of the stands, as she had picked up a fallen flower to return it back to her simple display of fanned out blooms. As she made eye contact with Georgina, she offered her a polite but reserved smile.

Gina returned the smile as she followed the kittens' progress down the street, so as to be sure of which house they disappeared into.

"That one there seems to know me." Gina said quietly, touching Cal's arm to direct her attention toward the stall. "Maybe we can find something out from them as well?"

A sigh brought her attention back to Bestie, who was looking at her nails. They had lost their polish in the hop.

"Sorry." Gina said again, this time to their otherworldly companion. "Like I said, I guess we've got some explaining to do..."

She looked around, and took a breath once she had judged that they were out of casual earshot. She noticed that her fingers were shaking again, and clenched them.

"I'm afraid I don't know where we are right now." she admitted. "Because someone's...I can't think of any way of saying this that doesn't sound mental...someone's throwing us between worlds. This is the second time it's happened to me and Cal."

She swept her arm between herself and the younger girl.

"I don't know why it's happening, 'cause all the person who's doing this left us was a note saying we had to find them or something. They keep leaving these zodiac signs on our arms..."

She rolled up her right sleeve of her robe and showed Bestie the symbols.

"If we work together we can figure this out. But...I have to be honest with you. Whenever we...jump? Whatever you want to call it...it looks like we take someone's place. I'm not really Georgina Nikas - my name's Georgina Wright. I don't know where the real Georgina Nikas is. And Cal's a princess from a world called Serroc, so if anything she's the real royalty..."

She bit her cheek awkwardly, wishing she could think of a better way to explain everything, and looked to Cal for support.

The younger girl nodded, watching Bestie cautiously to gauge her response as they made their way slowly after the kittens. "Was royalty. Now..." she shrugged, "Who knows. Nurturer means something like parent, I guess. The last place, we were there to help Prince Panos, so I guess there's some reason we've been brought here, too. We just have to figure it out..."

She trailed off, glancing from Bestie to Gina. It sounded ridiculous, complicated, when trying to explain it. She still barely understood what was happening herself, how could they expect Bestie to grasp it all in one conversation?

"Can we start from the ground up?" Gina asked Bestie earnestly, hugging her arms. "I'm afraid I don't even know your real name."

"I thould be freaking out right now." Bestie said, eyeing Gina. "But. I'm jutht not."

"I know, it's a lot to try and deal with at once." Gina sympathised. She was almost glad of not having the time to stop and process things; judging by her own shaking fingers, she suspected that once they did she would break down. "I'm really sorry for having to lie to you."

Bestie crossed her arms. "Manithha. My name'th Manithha." the brown haired woman said displeased. She looked at Cal. "Tho, you were a princeth or thomething?"

"I was the princess. On Serroc." A touch of haughtiness underlaid Cal's words as she replied, her back straightening. "Future Grand Sensibility and supreme ruler of the world... though, that was when mum had me believing the world was only as a big as our city. I guess it's bigger now."

They were drawing even with the flower seller who had given Gina a smile earlier.

"Just play along until we can figure this out." Gina suggested to Manisha in a whisper. "And keep your eyes open."

Cal paused, wondering if she should apologise for the cat children. They were supposedly hers, after all.

"Sorry about those two," she decided to risk it. It would give them an opening with the woman, an Gina had suggested they might try talking to her. "They get a little over-excited." She smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring way.

The orange cat woman returned the smile, though not as brightly. She was slightly taller than the three young women, her feline green eyes narrowed on Cal. She frowned and bent down behind her stand to pull out a small, dark-grey sack. When she dropped it on the wooden surface, by the flowers, the girls could hear something inside slapping wetly.

"Will help your pink human skin heal faster, rub on and let sit for half hour." She looked expectantly at Gina. "Trade two flowers." She indicated Gina's basket of alien flowers.

"Yes, of course." Gina said, glad of the information that they had something of tradeable value. She pulled two of the fragrant flowers out of the basket at her elbow and placed them on the table just as the cat-lady had done. She smiled and nodded. "Thank you." The reaction provoked from the Cat-woman was a slow nod of her head, and a mild swish of her orange-furred tail.

"Taar and Mita show strength we need our children to have. This must be exciting for you, young nurturer." the standing cat-woman went on to say to Cal, her eyes still fixed on the purple-eyed beauty. Manisha kept staring around, absorbing the strangeness as it came into her view.

Gina exchanged a glance with Cal. Taar and Mita. Well, we've got their names - that's a start. She went about examining the stall more closely while Cal answered.

"Yes, of course." Cal nodded. "They are wonderful children. I am blessed indeed, that they are mine."

The girl gave the response she thought was expected, smiling as she did so. Though inwardly she was rather stumped on what else to say. It was clear she was filling the role of provider for these children, but what did she know of parenting? She'd hardly even had to look after herself, back home. The names were indeed a valuable piece of information, though - the children seemed their best bet at discovering their purpose here. The mention of her 'human' skin was not lost on her either - it was a separation, between they and the cat people. But of what kind? The woman seemed carefully courteous, but not friendly. It reminded her of the way people approached her when they recognised her as the princess - someone they had to treat a certain way, though they may not enjoy her presence.

Cal thanked the woman for the ointment, scooping it up from the table as she turned to take her leave. When they were out of earshot, she shared her suspicion with Gina.

"Does it seem like we're not entirely welcome, to you? I think we're classed above these creatures...and I don't think they like it. Something about the way she smiled, reminded me of home...I could be wrong, though. The kids seemed affectionate. But she called me nurturer, not mother."

"Well," Gina said, cocking an eyebrow, "Taar and Mita don't exactly look like you birthed them, do they?"

She tugged at her hair, curling it around her finger pensively as they walked towards the building that they had seen the two children disappear into.

"I don't know about us being better than them though. Maybe it's just because we're different - and let's face it, we're pretty different from everyone else around here..."

"I feel tho left out right now." Manisha said with a huff as she followed behind the other two girls. She pointed to the first house to their right. "The little cutieth went in that one!"

The dome-shaped home awaited them, its metallic door swooshing aside on some kind of motion sensor for them to enter. The vines growing over the building brushed against Cal and Manisha's faces as they passed in.

Inside they could see a small, lowered wooden square and a single step - some kind of porch. The wall was lined with pairs of sandals and a dark green mat that clearly looked to be for rubbing feet. The kittens' little feet had left dirt marks, scuffed footprints that looked almost human apart from their claw-like toes. The cat-people apparently preferred to go barefoot, since the girls hadn't observed any of them wearing shoes out in the street.

Gina looked down to examine the row of sandals as she kicked hers off. Her sandals joined a group of smaller sandals and a few pairs of larger ones. All of which shared similar styles to each other.

Taar and Mita had ran back with their coverings lowered from their heads, exposing their ears. Both of them had one ear raised and one lowered, matching, as they presented a small gray bowl of water and a cloth. They appeared to be looking directly at Cal.

"Did your friend play push you again and hurt you?" the black-furred, green eyed one asked with a tilt of its head.

They didn't buy the trip story. Gina noted, feeling a slight twinge in her stomach. Perhaps it was because the kittens' phrasing reminded her a little too much of a girl she'd known in year 2, whose dad had turned out to be beating her mum black and blue. She tried not to overthink it and kept quiet, thinking it best that Cal be the one to reassure them.

"Uhh..." Cal was nonplussed for a moment on how to respond. I guess whoever I am isn't a stranger to bruises, she thought, reflecting on the irony of that. Both of the roles she'd thrown into shared that fact, so far removed from the life she'd been dragged out of..

"It was an accident," she smiled, going down what she hoped was the safest route, and confirming the child's assumption. She accepted the bowl and cloth, dabbing at her split lip with the damp material. "Thank you," she smiled down at the young ones.

"I'm going to go tidy up a bit." Gina said, wanting a pretext to explore the house for clues. She looked at Manisha. "Want to give me a hand?" Manisha pushed back some of her brown hair and looked at Gina plainly.

"Not really, but," she shrugged quickly, "Okay"

The youngest of the trio nodded at the redhead, taking the hint, and looked from the bowl in her hand to the two children, who still stood before her.

"Shall we go and put this away, and make something to eat?" As soon as she suggested it, the girls' stomach growled - they hadn't eaten since before the party, and witnessing a shooting, then jumping across universes was hungry work. "You can tell me what you've been up to today?"

She wasn't sure she was coming across as a very convincing caregiver. She'd only had one example, and that hadn't been great.


Akinasha


Panos Lambros & Vahşi

Nutrient bags were bland, Vahşi's taste buds told him while he had drank them away. Panos had remained unconscious for over an hour and the robot had protested that both must consumed within fifteen minutes of preparation. The taste was something of a pasty mud with the sprinkle of mint that failed to cover it. But, with both bags it helped quiet his stomach, needing to recover from the blood loss. Despite the taste, Vahşi felt distinctly better after eating. While this wasn't the first time he'd nearly killed himself, he preferred not to do so on a full stomach.

The lupine had once again been stuck in a position of not being able to do anything. The most exciting activity he could do was use the first floor bathroom as the door had finally unlocked for him. Since he hadn't managed to find his armour anywhere, he decided to wash the blood off as best as he could. Panos would probably faint again if the lupian kept walking around covered in blood. Once he'd done that, however, there was nothing else to do. Since it was mildly cold in the ship, he returned to being a wolf since he had a fur coat and improved set of senses, but even then he was bored. He laid down, head on his forelegs, and closed his eyes while waiting. He waited alone, since the robot had left him to clean blood and stand perfectly still in the medical room.

When the white walls were starting to drive Vahşi mad, Panos finally stirred with soft sounds and rubbing of his head. Vahşi's eyes fixed on the prince and he raised his head, curious as to whether Panos would remember what had made him faint. At least the metal man had cleaned most of the blood off the floor before retreating to the medical room.

Panos felt his head ache, as did his stomach. He felt himself getting ever more hungry. His effimnate hands reached out, feeling the cold floor and its plastic-like smooth gloss. He pushed himself up to a sitting position on the side of his hips, rubbing his eyes. What had happened?

When his sapphires came open he was greeted by a scarred covered black furred wolf staring straight at him. He screamed at the top of his lungs in fright.

"VAHŞI!" Vahşi was on his feet in moments, one ear cocked forward and the other back, trying to figure out why Panos was screaming. He hadn't quite considered the fact that not looking human when Panos first awakened would be a bad idea. The Lambros felt his palms give a warm tingle before grapevines sprung forth at quick speed to wrap themselves around the wolf's neck and feet, splitting to wrap around each limb with gripping strength.

This miraculous act had Vahşi completely pinned as even with his strength he could not pull from the perfumed vines, his paws pulled together and his neck restrained. Vahşi tried to bite the vines apart but none of them were close enough to his jaws for him to do any damage. The hallway now rained with Panos' scent and screams as he kept calling out his name in distress. Vahşi rather thought that he had more reason to be yelling than Panos did, but as a wolf his voice was lost and all he could do was growl at Panos.

Panos stared at the grapevines, seeing their bases emerged from his palms. He panicked and waved his hands, making them detach and drop to the ground. The prince stood up and held his arms to his chest in fear of the wolf. The prince prayed the vines would keep him safe, Dionysus' linage becoming ever more evident. Vahşi barked in irritation, considering Panos' actions to be horribly over-the-top. After all the times he'd saved Panos on this world, he was trapped by the prince himself. Panos cried when the wolf barked at him.

He was looking around desperately to find the...wolf... Panos twitched his fine silverlette brows and then stared at the wolf again. He pointed firmly at the wolf.

"Vah.....şi?"

Vahşi was really tempted to growl at Panos again - who else would it be? - but had just enough common sense not to. Instead he nodded, an awkward motion as a wolf, and settled for glaring at the prince. Since his eyes were the same colour as when he was human, he was hoping Panos would make the connection and let him go. Being tied up on the floor wasn't exactly comfortable and he wanted his freedom back.

Panos came to the wolf's side. He took another moment to study everything while he was crouched: the scars and patches of fur, the wolf's eyes, the grapevines and the fruit that dimly glowed. What was impossible was becoming more true than the teenager could expect, or want. He felt light headed but reached out his hand to touch the vines.

"I'm...sorry." Guess, his intelligence served him well as his contact with the vines made them limp and freed the black-furred animal. He held the vines in his hand, the surface of the vine was of very smooth wood and the leaves were delicate. Bands of the vines laid on the floor and he pulled them to himself.

Vahşi scrambled out of the vines' reach and shook himself. He glared at Panos for a moment before returning to his human shape. "Yeah, I hope you're sorry," he grumbled, more to himself than to Panos. "No thanks for being a hero any more. Save someone and they wrap you up in vines."

Plucking off a purple grape from the vine he stared at its golden core through its purple skin. He wasn't afraid, but he wasn't certain either. He parted his lips, putting the grape to them. The purple rested against the pink, Panos debated it for a second before it popped it in and began to chew.

It instantly reminded him of the family wine, a sweetness that elevated his mood. Yet there was a warmth about its juices that made his body feel well suddenly.

"Mmm" Panos made a small sound in delight, taking another, a green one to eat. He made another sound with a closed lip smile and continued eating them off the vines.

Vahşi's head cocked as he watched Panos, eyes narrowing slightly. He abandoned his attempt at reasoning with a shrug of his shoulders and stretched his left arm out to the side, rotating his shoulder in its socket. "You can really hit a guy, you know that?" Panos stared up at him while he kept quiet, chewing. It was surprising how fast these were filling him, and he felt overall better, relaxed.

"You are a wolf person." Panos finally said after swallowing and effeminately waving his hand at Vahşi to make the issue not as dramatic before "And I have my godly ancestor's blood." The prince gave a small smirk while rushing to pluck the other grapes and put them in the pockets of his black dress pants, gathering sixteen in total. He had no control of what just happened, but he felt a familial pride in the fact he could do it. A passing thought of his brothers came, taking away his smirk.

"There's actually a name for what we are," Vahşi explained. "And it sounds a little more adult than 'wolf person'. Wolf-boys were what the humans called us in the lab. It's considered an insult, so don't call me that. As a people, we call ourselves lupians. Individually, my name is Vahşi. I think you remembered that part because you were yelling it while trying to choke me to death." He wasn't quite sure what he thought about Panos' remark about godly blood - he definitely couldn't explain the grapevines - but he was willing to consider that it might be the truth. He noticed the smirk falling off Panos' face and asked, "What's wrong?"

Panos shook his head and stood, holding onto the plucked vines. Lupines, things of fiction, but real. The prince looked Vahşi up and down and sighed. Vahşi looked back, raising an eyebrow, but made no comment.

"It would be to our benefit if we continued. There is a reason to be on this planet. I'm quite irritated with asking questions without finding any answers." The teenager wrapped the vines around his hand. He walked around the Lupine to head to the ramp. "Open." The silver metal began to lower, revealing to them that it was no longer daytime, but dawn as the sun was slowly rising and giving the sky a pink hue.

"Looks like Bolton had us drugged for a while," Vahşi commented. "Do you remember where Tuna went yesterday?" He glanced at the rows of houses but they all looked more or less the same to him, especially since he'd been half-dead last time he'd seen them. "If it even was yesterday. We could have been out for days." That wasn't entirely likely, but Vahşi wasn't going to put it past Bolton. Panos sighed and tossed the fruitless vines onto the grass and mud alongside the ship's ramp.

"Tuna, unfortunate name." The prince finally finished buttoning up his white shirt. "To answer your question, no. I do not recall." Panos walked down the ramp in new dress shoes until he got off. He looked up to Vahşi "I'm sure they will have something for you. You were originally wearing more. Unless there is a reason you are walking around half-naked."

"Apart from being drugged and kidnapped, there isn't really a reason," Vahşi said. "If we're lucky we'll find some kind of village armoury or something." He realized that he'd once again left a perfectly viable weapon - Bolton's gun - laying on the ground and sighed. He was getting sloppy. "Let's take a look around, but be careful. Lupians don't like being surprised by strangers. And please try not to grapevine anyone, present company included."

Panos gasped and blushed, holding his hands to his chest.

"It was not by choice and I was under the impression I was to be harmed!" he protested to defend his honor.

"I was laying on the floor," Vahşi pointed out. "Whether you acted on instinct or not, I wasn't exactly acting like I was going to attack you. Try putting your hands in your pockets or something. And since we're in a lupian village, any canine is likely an inhabitant rather than a pet. Don't whistle at them or say something like 'Nice doggy.' Okay?" Panos' crystalline eyes rolled and he gave Vahşi a huff before starting to walk to the hilly village.

Vahşi smirked and followed. He liked this time of day best, the way the sun wasn't hot and the damp smell of the dew accentuated the scent of the grass. Walking through the village in this quiet moment reminded him of home and he sighed softly, glancing off to the side. If he were home, Farla would be coming from the direction of the closest group of huts, but in this world nobody stirred there.

When they came, there were few little people out and about, the handful being a few patrolling males. Panos wrinkled his nose and pointed to the left, the third hill down.

"I believe that is where the one named Tuna went." Vahşi turned in the direction Panos indicated and didn't wait to see if Panos would follow. He sniffed and could sense Tuna's scent on the road but couldn't figure out if it was the way to his home or not. None of the guards gave Vahşi any acknowledgment but they did look at Panos as if he were an oddity. The door was short, wooden and circular. Both of them would have to crouch to enter if they wanted. Panos looked at the pink sky once more, Vahşi's exposed skin felt the coolness of the weather. "Are we to knock or do some other sort of greeting?"

Inside, the Lupine's ears could hear the feint sounds of an adolescent male and female voice weeping inside. Panos seemed unaware of it as he was still looking up to him with a questioning expression. Vahşi frowned and rapped on the door twice. "Tuna, it's Vahşi," he said, and opened the door without waiting for anyone inside the hut to answer him.

He had to keep low, stepping on a holy, dirty, green walking mat. The whole building was made of arching wooden halls that were still too low for Vahşi. In the little home the floor was comprised of dirt, basic furniture of woodworking, unpolished. It smelled of Tuna's scent, and the strong scent of two other little lupines. They were at the end of the hall, holding each other. The male was brown haired with uneven cut locks at the ears, wearing leathers and the female had long black hair in a simple gray wool dress. Their green eyes looked up to Vahşi, neither looking older than a miniature fifteen.

"Son," the female said sorrowfully. "Tuna's gone-gone."

Vahşi stared at her a moment, eyes going almost blank. Panos was suddenly forgotten behind him, and he found himself shaking his head in disbelief. He went down the hall until he was just in front of the lupian couple and sat down cross-legged. "What happened?" he asked, barely getting the words out. The weeping couple went out to hug Vahşi around his neck to pull him in. Vahşi had always hated strangers touching him, but he sat still because under the circumstances it was the best option.

"He went hunting. Leader say he need to prove he good hunter. Tuna wanted to be good hunter like you and Tuna go...then...then..." The male cried even harder with the female, unable to finish the rest. He was stroking both Vahşi's black hair and the female he was crying with. Vahşi didn't even notice the contact now. Tuna had gotten killed trying to be like him. Dead because 'the leader' had decided a little kid needed to prove himself. "Where's the leader?" Vahşi asked, his voice level. His jaw clenched and he breathed in deeply.

"Leader in woods," the male said. Vahşi stood up, having to stoop because of the low ceiling.

"You been gone. Stay home, join howl for Tuna." The female shot her red eyes in Vahşi's direction.

"I'll be back," Vahşi told her, sounding suspiciously like he was going to cry. "I-I promise." He carded a hand through his hair as he left the hut and stood up outside. "Tuna's dead," he told Panos. "The leader said he had to prove himself and he went out hunting alone." For a moment Vahşi stared off at the trees; then he blinked and came back to reality. "I've gotta go after him." Vahşi cast a quick glance at Panos' face, looking almost ashamed for a moment, and turned away toward the forest.

"I.." Panos began but Vahşi was so fast that he decided to not chase. The prince sighed and leaned against the grassy hill of the home. Slowly he sat down and curled into a ball. He wanted no more to deal with death.


**

Vahşi rushed through the morning plains, the sunlight coloring him and the wind rushing around his body. With the strength of the sustenance, his supernatural healing and the advance medical tech of the robot, the lupian's speed was full force. Trekking the two miles took little time. His nose filled with the forest world and he could smell a few of the little people, including one scent he knew to be the leader.

Only a few trees in was the black haired, squared faced adolescent with the unique mark. The sense of importance struck Vahşi, yet the Vulpine smirked.

"Hello maki, your brother not good hunter like you. Very sad." His expression and tone was mocking. "You be good hunter." The little adolescent man gestured to his chest. "But I be leader and you are bad for being maki. Maki need to hunt again, bring meat. Maki help no any way but hunt."

Vahşi spat at the youngling's feet. "I'm not hunting for you," he growled, staring the boy straight in the eyes and squaring his shoulders. "You're going to do something for me. You're gonna tell me why I shouldn't kill you for being responsible for my brother's death. And it better be a fucking good explanation or I'll tear your throat out." Under most circumstances this would have been a rather empty threat, but any threat coming from Vahşi was in dire likelihood of being carried out in any circumstances. Considering that he currently blamed this lupian for the death of his brothers, 'empty' was definitely not a considerable term of use. The vulpian folded his fox ears but glared.

"You don't fight leader!" The vulpian pointed up to Vahşi. "Tuna not good hunter, Tuna dead, maki!" the younger appearing one spat with anger back to the lupian.

"Maybe your clan doesn't fight their leader, but you don't have any authority over me. Tuna was a better youngling than any dozen of you put together." Vahşi glared at the marked vulpian. "Unless you're too much of a coward, fight me. Fang on fang, wolf on fox. You win and I hunt for you. I win and you explain everything about that mark on your wrist." Vahşi arched an eyebrow and smirked at him, daring him to do something. The vulpian's hostility completely dropped into confusion, he tilted his head, exposed his arms and looked down at them. His fox tail swished.

"What?" He looked at both wrists, acting as if he saw nothing. But in Vahşi's eyes it was clearly there on his right wrist.

Vahşi realized that the vulpian either didn't see the mark or was acting like he couldn't so Vahşi would drop his guard and come over. He balanced his weight on the balls of his feet, ready to dart backward if the vulpian evidenced signs of treachery, and moved forward until he was barely within arm's length of the vulpian youngling. "Let me see your right arm," he said in a commanding tone, reaching out a hand. The vulpian bared his teeth and pulled back his limbs.

"You not leader, you listen, not tell. Hunt now!"

Vahşi had instinctively recoiled when the vulpian moved, but as soon as he realized the youngling had pulled back he returned to his former spot. He seemed rather amused by the vulpian's defiance until he ordered him to hunt. "I've got to be twice your age," he said in a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me voice. "And yet you're ordering me around? Come on, behave." Instinct told him to get the youngling under control in a much more physical way, but once his anger had had the chance to fade into curiosity Vahşi found the vulpian entertaining more than anything else.

The Vulpain grit his teeth, hissing and ears perking up, tail swishing.

Vahşi snorted at the hiss. What was this kid trying to do, be a cat? "C'mon, kid, cooperate. We're wasting time here."

"I'll get others. You will listen to leader! I'm older! I'm adult!"

Vahşi very much doubted that the vulpian was older than him, but he certainly could run. It took only a few moments for the lupian to realize he wouldn't be able to catch up the way he was. The green light lasted only a second, shorter than before due to his hurry, and the black wolf darted after the vulpian with a bark of warning. He made quite an intimidating sight, especially considering the fact that the vulpian he was chasing had the stature of a youngling.

The marked vulpian whistled loudly to get five other little people of various animal traits to join him. The males looked very seriously to their leader and the leader pointed to Vahşi, who growled in return.

"He try to fight leader, maki no respect." Damn right 'maki no respect', Vahşi thought. The little people gave each other concerned looks after looking up to Vahşi's height. But ultimately they pointed their wood spikes at him. Vahşi lowered his head, flattened his ears, and glared at each of them in turn. He was after the vulpian. The rest would be collateral damage, which he wanted to avoid despite the fact they were all pointing spears at him. He started moving toward the vulpian 'leader' in a hunter's crouch, snarling softly all the while. The little people, following the leader's lead took, steps forward in their leather armors but they went forward, their metal sharpened edges came to strike the lupian, but he dodged them with a simple lunge into the air. The leader screamed as the wolf's shadow began to descend upon him.

Vahşi landed neatly on the leader's shoulders, knocking him to the ground. By the time they both hit the dirt, Vahşi was human and still ready to fight. He pulled the leader up in front of him and held him against his body in a headlock. "So far I've been trying not to murder you," he growled in the leader's ear. "Call your boys off and we can talk. Otherwise I'll kill you now." Spit landed on his cheek, and two spears plunged into him, one in his left leg and one in his right ass cheek.

"You show no respect! Die maki!" The little vulpian under Vahşi's grasp bared his teeth and tried to cut at the lupian's face but his nails came short and missed. Fire shot through Vahşi's wounds, feeling blood trickle into his leather armor. If he didn't move, they would strike his bare skin next, his combat senses told him.

Vahşi had warned him. Besides, they'd stabbed him in the butt. What kind of heathens did that? He thrust the vulpian leader away from him and slipped his hand up to the vulpian's chin. The neck twisted to the breaking point and gave way. Vahşi dropped the body and wolfed out on instinct, dodging the next spear thrust and snapping the weapon in his jaws. Something burned across the pad of his left forepaw and he leaped aside, assuming he'd stepped on a broken piece of wood or metal rather than recognizing the burn of another mark. He neatly slammed his body into one of the younglings, his shoulder against their chest, and broke through their ring of weapons. Rather than keep running, as common sense insisted, he stopped out of stabbing range and eyed them carefully. Even though they'd just tried to murder him, they were still kids.

Four little people looked at each other, the fifth struggled to get back to his feet. Vahşi watched him long enough to figure out he wasn't hurt, then turned his attention back to the group at large.

"He killed leader?" One of them asked the other, his little red wings flapping. Another poked the vulpian's body.

"Leader dead."

The one who stood up pointed at Vahşi.

"Maki leader? Strange."

"Maki...leader..." The five young faces stared at the lupian with reverence and puzzlement.

Vahşi considered this to be a favourable turn of events. He returned to human shape and stared quizzically at the younglings. They stared back at him. "First of all, my name isn't Maki," Vahşi said. "So stop with that. My name's Vahşi." He took a deep breath and tried to think of what to do next. Never in his life had he expected to be the leader of an alien race that looked almost exactly similar to his own. Now would be a great time to have Panos, he thought. While it was nice that the prince had missed out on Vahşi murdering yet another person, cementing Panos' hey-Vahşi-is-a-psycho theory, it was well documented on this world and others that Vahşi had zero social skills. "We're going back to the village." He only remembered at the last second to say it as a command and not a question. What was he getting into?


The five faces pursed their lips and then nodded.

"We bury Ato's body?" The five little people looked between Vahşi and the little person he had just killed. The body limp in the grass, leaves, and fallen branches.

"Yes," Vahşi said. "I'm going back now. Once you bury the body, follow me." He glanced over the little group, shook his head, and started down the path back toward the village. He was going to have a hard time explaining this to Panos.


Vahşi's travel back to the village was a pain in the ass, literally. His right cheek flared with irritating muscle contractions each step of the two mile journey he took, though he had felt far worse in life. It still made him have a hitch in his walk. The left thigh burned a bit more each time he used it, but his travel wasn't heavily impeded. The Lupine smelt his own blood gather around his small piercings under the leather garments. The wounds could have been worse.

Coming back, the sun was still rising, little people slowly coming out of their homes to walk down a path at the end of the village to their right, not in the direction of the two story sized ship for it was to the left. Entering, the wind carried Panos' fragrance, a trail of rejuvenating flowery smells guided him back to the prince. Though it had looked like two things had occurred: within the forty five to hour passing of time Panos had managed to fall asleep. Somehow Vahşi wasn't surprised. After all, he wasn't expecting Panos to be eagerly awaiting his return, and there wasn't much to do here for someone like Panos. Secondly, he had gained an admirer.

The Lambros prince was laying in front of Tuna's house, beside the door, legs curled up to his body, but an arm laid out. When he wasn't wrinkling his nose in constant criticism it would take a blind individual to not notice the supposed god-blooded's serene doll-like features. His unique hair was scattered about over grass. On top of him was a brown stitched blanket, underwhelming patchwork.

And the admirer was a smiling little person. He must have been one of the guards who caught whiff and couldn't resist, as he was standing over Panos with blushing cheeks and, from what the lupian could smell, woodsy male pheromones of arousal. Vahşi's eyebrows briefly disappeared into his hairline as he realized one of the natives had a crush on Panos. Gods help them all, because now Panos was definitely going to freak out. His dirty blonde cowlicks that made up his hair bounced around as he went back and forth on the heel of his foot, staring with his dull blue eyes, no sparkle of intelligence. The miniature fifteen year old appearing little person gave Vahşi a glance.

"She's very pretty. I like her. I like weird girl."

"Uh... He's not a girl," Vahşi said. "He's a guy. And I'm pretty sure he's firmly taken. Can't remember if he's married, but he's not looking. Sorry about that. Ah..." He stared awkwardly at the youngling, having no idea where to go from here with the conversation. Deciding, or rather hoping, that he would go away if ignored, Vahşi turned to Panos and nudged the prince's side with his foot, then stepped back with a wary expression. Considering the way Panos had reacted last time he'd awoken to seeing Vahşi, the lupian was in one of his rare moments of caution.

Panos groaned.

"She, girl." The little person whiffed loudly to indicate the scent, as definition of gender. "You maki and no like girl." Vahşi shook his head and gave up. The youngling clearly had no intention of listening to him so he wasn't going to waste his time arguing.

The prince rubbed his face, something had shaken him, yet he felt warm. Slowly he sat up, just starting to open his sapphires. He glared at the quit that had been put on him.

"It's dirty!" Panos said with absolute disgust, throwing it away from his body. He saw a little person staring down at him with a smile, and Panos frowned deeply when he saw the person's privates pushing on his leather. The teenager pushed himself up using the grassy hill. "Foul! Get away!"

"Are you always this charming in the mornings?" Vahşi drawled, giving Panos an amused smirk. "Let me take a chance and guess that none of your friends have seen you first thing in the morning." Panos crossed his arms, he was getting sick of men. Big men, little men, they were all the same. Vahşi glanced at the youngling and simply rolled his eyes. "Can you go into the forest and help the hunting pack?" he asked.

"Leave Panos alone." The little person was smiling at Panos, still swinging his hips forward and back with the up and downs of his toes.

"You can leave," Panos said with a judgmental gravitas to the pervert. Nothing happened, the blond didn't move and the prince gave him a cold shoulder, looking at Vahşi. Since the lupian didn't want to reveal that he'd murdered someone during Panos' nap, he followed Panos' course of action and simply ignored the blond.With a quick scan Panos noticed the symbol of Cronus on the lupian's hand. He bit his lower lip.

"What did you do?"

"Oh, you know," Vahşi said. "Having what passes for fun among us murdering pervert lupians. Straight answer being that I got in a fight during which I got stabbed in the butt and these guys are little heathens, I swear." Considering Vahşi had been relatively emotionless through most of this journey, he was being surprisingly vocal. "Tell me it's not just lupians who consider that really underhanded." A flip of the prince's hair dismissed the question.

Panos crossed his arms again. Vahşi's antics were coming up to par to his ex-husband. Maybe worse, maybe.

"Did you kill anyone?"

If anything, Vahşi looked chagrined that he had to admit to murdering yet another person. "Okay, first of all, I warned him and I tried to talk to him rather than just leaping at him. And second of all, he tried to murder me first. So that kind of evens things out, right?" He tried a lopsided grin but quickly realized Panos didn't appreciate it. The prince yanked at his silver hair.

"By the gods, I'm done with you. Completely!" Vahşi flinched slightly at his tone, as if by instinct, but didn't physically move. The teenager turned away from both the staring little person and Vahşi. No doubt the gods gave them more of a challenge than slaughtering everyone. His brain thumped with irritation. A reaping Titan was Cronus. He stared at his own forearm to the symbols again. "What are these for? Have you any idea?" His voice shook with frustration, a solemn expression to stare at the tattoos.

"Absolutely no idea," Vahşi said, relieved that the conversation had turned away from his homicidal tendencies. "I've never seen anything like them before. Do you know anything? After the grapevines-out-of-the-hands thing, I'm not ruling any weird stuff out." The little person suddenly ran off and Panos didn't turn to face the lupian.

"They are the gods. Hermes, Aphrodite, and Mars. My people worship them. And they must be the ones challenging me...with you."

"Come on, I can't be all bad," Vahşi said. "No, don't answer that. Do you happen to know why the gods are branding us and shoving us around to different worlds? Kind of a weird thing to do, isn't it?"

"I feel like I am about to weep, you make me so angry." Panos' mood had been wrecked, in thought of Vahşi and his murderous rampage. What stopped the murderous wolf-man from killing him? "I know nothing of their intentions but I pray I live through them." People of the village seemed to all be going down the right path at the end of the hill-homes. The prince leaned against Tuna's grassy residence.

Vahşi fairly bristled at Panos' words, and when he spoke his words were sharp. "Well, I sincerely apologize for being drugged and brainwashed into a compulsive murderer. Sorry it's so hard for you to deal with." He seemed like he was about to say something else when one of the five little people ran up to Vahşi. He could remember the face.

"Oot tell Elders you leader now!"

"Yeah, surprise," Vahşi replied. He looked at Oot with an expression that was half quizzical and half cautious. "What do you want, kid?"

"I let leader know."

"Leader?" Panos asked unable to turn at look at Vahşi.

Vahşi nodded at the kid, still considering him an unknown entity. "Go ahead," he said. In reply to Panos he simply made a vaguely noncommittal noise, since the prince obviously considered him a psychopath by now. In a zip the prince came up and snatched Vahşi's hand with the tattoo, the man's hand was rough. Vahşi's instinct was to yank his hand back and growl at Panos, but he held still.

Panos grit his teeth, if only he knew what it meant.

The little person ran off. Vahşi watched him go and the Lambros sighed deeply.

"Cronus was the Titan of reaping, harvest, discipline." His fair brow twiched, his soft smaller hands holding the hand still while he studied. "How did you get this mark?" Panos stared up to the Lupine's eyes through his long lashed, crystalline gaze. "Killing that little thing?"

"Yeah," Vahşi answered. "A Titan of reaping and harvest? What are we supposed to do, settle down as farmers?" He gestured vaguely to the village with his free hand. "While this place is nice I would prefer not to stay here indefinitely."

"As if I would allow that to happen," Panos responded immediately after Vahşi finished his words. The prince sounded highly offended and Vahşi nearly smirked at his tone but hid it. Vahşi's hand was shaken a little while the prince wiggled it in frustration. "The gods must have known you were bound to kill him, or, anyone and gave you the symbol..." Panos muttered to himself, a whispered a thoughtful criticism.

Vahşi's eyes caught a flash. In the corner, to the left, the lupian looked to see the white ship was suddenly flashing red lights along its top in a line.

"Something's going on," Vahşi said, instantly suspicious. He pulled his hand from Panos' and started walking toward the ship. "Do you see those lights? Was there anyone else on the ship that Bolton mentioned?" Panos turned to witness the flashes of the aforementioned space vessel, he pursed the Lupine in haughty stride.

"No, I think you killed every living person on board," Panos said.

Vahşi rolled his eyes. "You're just determined not to like me, aren't you?"

Little people they walked past gave a head tilt to the direction of the flashing red, but with dull eyes kept their paths onward without falter. Panos expected no less of their behavior. But along the hurried walk the horned blonde from before had returned with a raw squirrel corpse in his bloody hands.

"I feed pretty girl, girl like me."

"Shut up," Panos said without a head turn. The spaceship had remained stagnant, blinking its drawing color but taking no motion. "I...do not trust this..." The royal teenager said warily. He pinched his fair nose and scoffed at the squirrel corpse being waved around him.

"You don't trust it? I thought I was the paranoid one. But whether you trust it or not, we need to make sure nothing's wrong," Vahşi said. "And I don't think the youngling will come inside," he added, gesturing toward the blonde. He walked up the ramp, leaving Panos to decide whose company he wanted to keep. While his nose and ears told him nobody was aboard, he still wanted to check for himself. The little person flapped his small red feathered wings. Panos made sound of disgust and promptly went up the ramp after Vahşi, nose still held shut. The lupian snickered but refrained from commenting.

Coming into the ship, Panos had let go of his nostrils and peeked around nervously on the first floor. The back left door swooshed open to reveal a pure white closet that was tall and had rows of shelves and clear boxes in a small little walkway.

"Here is your chest piece, do put it on." The teeenager told the lupian, walking around to go back to the robot. Vahşi made a pleased noise when he saw it and started running his hands over the pieces, instinctively feeling for any flaws before pulling it over his head and securing its fit around his waist."What is happening?" he asked the metal man.

"The ship is flashing its detection lights to help squadron find its landing point." Panos' face paled. Squadron?

"How much longer till they land?"

"One minute."

Vahşi came out of the side room, having gotten his armour to lay the way he wanted it to. "Did that thing say there's a squadron coming?" he asked, voice sounding a little strained and tinged with something like fear. "I've gotta get out of here." He started toward the door, his mind already several steps ahead of the present moment. "Sorry to abandon you, Your Highness, but if a bunch of soldiers corner me I'm going to wolf out worse than before. Bad memories. I'll stick around long enough to make sure the squadron isn't here to hurt you but then I'm gone for a couple days."

"What!?" Panos' voice jumped several octaves in fear. He looked at the robot and then at Vahşi. "No, please, take me. Don't leave me to whatever they'll do. Please take me Vahşi!" He was desperate. If Bolton had been willing to drug him, what would the others do in order to help him?

The seconds ticked by.

"Oh, come on," Vahşi snapped. "What do you think they're going to do, shoot you on sight? If anyone is going to wind up dead because of them, it'll be me. Trust me on that. Besides, if they find the ship alone, they'll probably start looking around for you anyway." Vahşi turned to issue one last word of advice and caught the brunt of Panos' look of fear and desperation. He glared at the prince for a moment before sighing. "Gods damn me for I deserve it. Fine, come along, but keep up." By the time he reached the top of the ramp leading out, he was a wolf again. He wasted no time in looking around; instead, he set off for the closest part of the treeline at a rapid trot.

Panos tried to run, going down the hall but his legs were already on fire from yesterday. Yet he rode the waves of adrenaline to push himself physically faster than he ever had before. Already above him he could hear the sounds of something flying through the sky, but the prince didn't look. His thighs and calves agonized, magma numbed by fight or flight. He had never been speedier.

Vahşi had beaten Panos into the woods by a long shot. He had turned to wait for Panos who took another full fifteen seconds to come, the prince looked physically impacted by all of this: flushed with facial contortions of pain. By the time Panos was just entering the tree line Vahşi saw a square winged ship, silver with metal plates of red sprinkled through, coming down. It was half as tall as the white ship, but twice as wide. In the chaos of all of this the youngling perusing Panos had scurried off somewhere.

When Panos entered the treeline he crashed completely, sliding into a land of leaves, mud, and branches.

The lupian's sight revealed that as the large back ramp of the squadron ship opened its mouth, six figures dressed in black combat metal gear that was chunky yet near form fitting in design. They had giant shoulder strapped guns, black and with two handles to hold and two muzzles. Vahşi's hackles raised when he noticed the latter. Their helms had a large rectangular visor that glowed neon blood red and their movements showed elite squad training as they kept in circular pack formation. The first action they took was board the white ship immediately.

Vahşi growled softly, his ears pricked in anticipation of danger. While it wasn't very likely that the squadron would come back out and start spraying the brush with bullets, he'd learned to never underestimate humans when they were hunting lupians. They were beyond dangerous when they were searching for blood. Vahşi cast a last glance in the direction of Tuna's parents' dwelling, then stepped back from the treeline.

Panos hadn't gotten up from the earth's surface. Vahşi trotted over to him, nudged the prince's arm with his nose, and moved a few paces further into the woods. Then he stopped and waited, eyes fixed on Panos. It was clear that he wanted to keep moving, but he wasn't going to abandon Panos. Yet, there were limits on what a body could achieve. The prince was all but down and out, he reached out a soft, thin arm as if it were an attempt to make himself move forward, but he couldn't get up. Vahşi had to either carry him or leave him.

Vahşi quickly realized this and stared at Panos with the closest thing to a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look that a wolf could manage. He sighed and a moment later he was a human again. "If you grapevine me for this I'll leave you for the squadron," he grumbled, and pulled Panos to his feet. He put one of Panos' arms over his shoulder and put his other hand on Panos' waist. "And don't pass out on me." Considering the height differences, it was the most awkward way for the lupian to help Panos, but manageable. Together they walked.

Panos was heavily breathing, his front covered in blotches of mud and leaves that stuck to it. Though, fabulous as always, was his hair that he flipped over to look up at the lupian with his feminine features. He was too exhausted to be sassy.

"Fine." Perhaps he did have some energy left in him. The deeper woods was calm, the comforts of an evergreen wood, a place a lupian person could call home. Vahşi followed his nose, guided to a source of water. Panos had kept quiet, focusing on taking each step he could muster. He looked to be in a bit of pain, for he was. Vahşi glanced down at him every once in a while to make sure he wasn't about to collapse but generally ignored him.

But the source of water was reward, at least a mile and a half in the woods was a small stream with large rocks decorating its flow of water, cascading down slabs of earth as it decreased in elevation. The trees would provide shelter and the abundance of animals in the area that were picked up by Vahşi's nose would be more than enough to feed them. Vahşi stopped next to one of the trees and removed his arm from Panos' shoulder. "This should be safe enough, for now," Vahşi said. "I'd like to move further in, but I don't think you would appreciate it." He turned in a slow circle, using all his senses to detect the source of every wisp of breeze and every whistle of birdsong. "Yeah, this'll work. I'm going to get dinner. You start getting some firewood together. Dry stuff, nothing green, and some tinder."

It was now the prince's turn to look up at Vahşi with a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look, and unlike the lupian, the royalty could deliver. He lifted his arm, and it fell to the ground like flopping jelly. He had just helped him walk for an extended duration. The percentile chance of the prince being able to move now was zero.

Vahşi snorted and rolled his eyes. "Fine. Stay here and scream for me if anything attacks you." Shaking his head, he turned away and wandered off; by the time he got to the edge of the stream he was a wolf again. He stopped for a moment to get a drink, then jumped across the stream and disappeared into the trees, tail wagging.

Exhausted Panos took in the sight of the green energy that had enveloped Vahşi and transformed him. Being in this bodily state forced him to take the sight as is, with no pulse of fear available for him to tap into. The sapphire eyes watched the tail swinging and wondered just what other elements this godly trial could bring.

The first night was quiet. And not because of the nature sounds, for they were plenty among the living things that called the forest home. But interpersonally it was silent. Panos had nothing to say to the lupian. The man had brought back meat, even cooked it, but the prince had none of it. He vehemently denied it, instead he kept to his dimly glowing grapes, their golden inner radiance all the more visible in the dark wood. At first Vahşi had argued with him to try to change his mind, but eventually he gave up Panos as a lost cause and kept the meat to himself.

For the prince it eased his sore body and elevated him enough to endure what was happening, pulling back from the brink of depression. He suckled on the juices, thinking of his bloodline, family, his ancestral god. The adolescent was coming to a point where he truly pondered the purpose of his life. The night never gave him an answer.

By morning the prince's body was lame with numbed soreness. Still did he keep his silence, letting the lupian do his rounds and explore the woods without comment. Vahşi had kept to himself with no attempt to initiate conversation. He would have said that was more interested in making sure their hideout was secure, but in all honesty he was slightly poutish over Panos' refusal to eat. Coupled with the reticent tendencies he'd been taught in the lab he'd once been kidnapped in, it made him about as talkative as a mute man. The Lambros teenager kept his eyes on the flowing water, rubbing a purple grape between his fingers. His clothes stuck to him, mud adhered to him. He felt miserable, alone, scared and puzzled. It added up to a weight that sat on him, leaving him lethargic.

The two of them remained disconnected all day. Panos hadn't moved an inch. Yet the sun overhead had finally gone from a rising sun to a falling one, the sky turning dark purples while night was looming more by the minute. Vahşi had been roaming the forest all day long in his wolf form, but as he returned to their camp he returned to his human shape and called out to Panos before becoming visible. Since he walked with practically no sound, he didn't want to risk getting grapevined again because Panos felt threatened. He sat down by the fire and noticed that the mark on his hand had faded so much that it seemed more like a smudge of charcoal than the blackly solid shapes on his arm.

As if responding to the fact that he'd noticed it was half-gone, the mark suddenly flared with a burning pain. Vahşi yelped and tilted his hand toward the light of the fire, searching for a reason why. There was nothing to indicate a wound or insect bite, and his hand was skin temperature to the touch. Under the skin, however, the mark was burning. Vahşi displayed his proficiency in cursing for several moments. "I'm guessing that wasn't you," he said to Panos. He started poking at the mark as if to see if that would make it hurt more, his brow furrowing as he examined it. Making his first movements against the tree, Panos adjusted himself to look over at Vahşi.

"I did nothing" Panos said flatly, working himself to his feet, the joints of his knees popped giving the prince a moment of relief. He stared on while Vahşi kept playing with the back of his hand, and now did Panos' brows furrow at the sight of the mark. It had lost its shading. Panos moved to be before Vahşi and stared at it closer. "It had some connection with the individual you killed, perhaps it would be beneficial if you investigate people you 'rule'. There may be a connection." The grape that had been in his hand was taken into his mouth, chewing quietly.

"I don't really rule any of them," Vahşi said with a shrug. "Considering that I had to run before most of them even met me. But you might have an idea, with taking a look." He eyed Panos for a moment then said, "Thanks." It sounded like he wasn't really sure if that was the right thing to say but was making an effort to be, if not sociable, at least not antagonistic. He stood, one thumb still rubbing over the half-faded mark, and said, "I'm going to go check out the village. If I'm not back before dawn something went wrong and I'll probably be dead or as good as. See you." He spoke casually, as if he wasn't speculating about his possible extermination, and wandered away from the campground like he was going for a walk. It didn't take him too long to cover the ground, and as he got closer to the village he returned to his wolf body and slipped closer, crouching as low as he could manage. His paw continued to feel the embers under his fur and he growled softly in irritation.

The wolf saw that the ships were gone and his ears pricked in anticipation. His nose told him that the squadron had indeed left, but there was another smell that warned him something was wrong. He trotted into the open, unafraid now of human danger, and saw that the humans were indeed gone. But what had become of the hilly village could be defined as a controlled extermination. The dome structures were burnt, to the point that there wasn't a single arching piece of architecture left standing, the over twenty or thirty homes gone over night. The fires did not stretch, showing the actions were deliberate as the grass adjacent to the former homes, and the dirt road remained untouched by damage.

Rows of blackened diminutive bodies laid in perfect lines down each side of the dirt road, nothing could be made of them other than the basic shapes of their skeletons. It was neat, orderly, and dead: finely executed. Vahşi whined softly but he didn't bother going any closer to the village. He knew they were all dead. The squadron had been made of humans, and humans destroyed lupian villages just like they had destroyed this one. He sat down, the tip of his tail brushing against his flank. A soft whine came from his throat as he looked down the row of bodies. He raised his head and howled mournfully at the moon, a growling bark of anger mixing with the sound. Eventually he stopped and looked again at the village. Then he stood and trotted away, from both the village and Panos' hideout. He broke into a run that led him in a direct line away from anything he'd seen on this planet so far. Panos would have to fend for himself for a while.

Vahşi disappeared into the forest world of the alien planet...


**

Panos stared up at the moon. Strange how it looked similar, yet its hue was slightly blue. The surface had different craters across. It was all subtle reminders that the earth that was around him wasn't Earth. It was something else entirely.

The water of the stream was cold, and while normally he wouldn't have lowered himself into this behavior, there was no other option. He bathed, watching the water drip through the cracks of his joined, cupped, hands. It trickled back into the flowing mass below, peaceful.

"Destiny..." Panos whispered to himself, entranced by the lunar body. His stomach twisted when Vahşi's bond to him grew further and further apart. He looked in the direction, through the trees though they blocked his vision. Had something happened? Where was he going?


**

The burning sensation on Vahşi's paw had disappeared once he'd seen the corpses, but it took him several hours to realize that it no longer hurt. Eventually he stopped, but only because he was exhausted enough that he nearly tripped over his own feet. He reverted to human shape and threw himself down on the nearest patch of grass. Rolling over onto his back, he dug his fingers through his hair and stared up at the canopy of trees overhead. In a few places he could see the night sky, but the stars flung a harsh, distant light that made him feel even lonelier. Without realizing it he began crying softly. Ever since he'd first come to consciousness in a red robe, there had been a nagging thought in the back of his mind that he was forgetting about someone he was supposed to protect. During the first world, he'd remembered Farla, and during this world he'd felt almost at home. Then he'd lost Tuna, and then the village, and now he was just tired of it all. "I want to go home," he whispered to himself. "I want to go home!" he screamed at the unforgiving sky. Nobody answered him but he kept staring upward, hoping for some kind of sign that somebody he knew was out there looking for him.


**

Death. Panos' mind had been lost on the sight of the slaughtered village. It held with him through the hours of his slow journey. Somehow, he had received comforts from slowly eating his grapes. It gave his body strength to continue, he needn't eat anything else, three grapes gave him his fill. The slowly dwindling amount in his pocket the singular comfort of his old life, his true self he had left.

Vahşi hadn't come back all night, the day left to Panos to make of it as he willed. He decided to go after the lupian. What else was there to do? After the field of death, the world had grown quiet, it was full of life, but it felt barren. Even if they had been annoying things, outright murder had never been on his table of options.

The prince pushed himself, crossing the great field of plains to enter another set of woods, the murderous man hid himself in here. He followed the bond they shared, taking each step that brought him closer till he found Vahşi, who hadn't really moved from where he'd been laying last night. Although he'd felt Panos coming toward him through the same bond that had led the prince to him, he hadn't bothered trying to run again.

Panos frowned.

"Vahşi..." the youth said softly as he leaned against a tree.

"Fuck you," Vahşi answered, managing to sound both dead and heartbroken at the same time. "If you want to grapevine me, now would be an amazing time." The silverette pushed back some of his purple hued hair and sighed. This man was too much like his ex-husband.

Drawing closer, Panos sat down, slowly chipping away his care that his clothes were tattered and pathetic. He was drawing in his breaths, his body a numb fire yet again.

"Fuck you, too," The Lambros royal back in a whisper. He let the silence hold.

Vahşi barked a laugh that held a hint of real humour. The silence lasted between them for a few minutes before he snorted and glanced over at Panos. "I needed that," he said. "You saw the village?" Panos hand nodded. Vahşi couldn't quite hold his stoic demeanor when he asked, but for once he didn't really care. "It would be nice to bury them but I don't know how we would manage it. No tools."

"And we are short of coins," Panos added quietly through is pout lips, the feminine figured studied Vahşi. "It is customary to give the bodies coins in their mouths so they may pass on..." He sighed and laid down on the forest ground once he pulled his hair over a shoulder. "Have you considered that you and I are already dead? I was shot, perhaps, I didn't...endure." Panos paused, staring up at the sky past evergreen branches. "You were a false brother of Lycus when I first met you. But, from the things you said...there was an existence...before that?"

"I don't think you would have come with me if you were dead," Vahşi said, speaking slowly as if he was thinking through what he was saying. "Besides, the metal man on the ship saved you. You couldn't have your life saved after you were dead. As for me, there was something once. I don't know what happened. We had finally escaped the lab, and we were running. Farla looked back at me and she was laughing. The next thing I knew, I was standing in that palace with the others. I don't know if I died or not. I don't know if she did. Maybe so."

"Was the Farla woman a lupian as you are?"

"Yeah," Vahşi said. "She had bright red hair and her eyes were kind of an amber colour. Sometimes they looked like they were made of gold. I could never figure out which. We knew each other before the humans caught us. They got her first and I made sure they knew what they'd gotten into." A sad smile twisted one side of his mouth. "Drove her crazy, all the times I got in trouble. Funny thing was, half the time she was responsible for it too. I always thought we'd be able to find somewhere quiet to live. Never thought of anything like this." Panos openly sighed sadly.

"I did not think it was possible to think this was going to happen. It is beyond imagination" The prince sighed again, the way Vahşi spoke about Farla made it clear that he loved her. There wasn't much to gain by dreaming. But, to know that seventy two hours ago, give or take, he was in Lycus' palace. And that in whatever time it had been for the lupian, he had been with that woman. "I just wanted to be happy..." Panos admitted to the sky, feeling his eyes stinging with tears.

"Yeah, you and me both," Vahşi said. "I guess that means we can't give up. We gotta keep on trying to get back to 'em. Me to Farla and you to your emperor... Lycus, right? I would have been an awful brother. Didn't even remember his name at first." Panos took a dainty hand to wipe his eyes.

"You-" The prince stopped himself suddenly from making a joke, in light of the village. He said nothing, sitting up, huffing more tears and wiping them away. "I had only met him. I wanted to love him, I hadn't the time..." The teenager brushed his tears aside, standing. Overhead was a high pitched sound that cut through the air. Together they saw a golden shape fly through the sky to the village. It was Vahşi who saw it was a sleek narrow ship with two wings that were feathered with its golden metal to mimic a bird's.

Panos sighed and leaned forward, hands on his knees. His hair spilled down to hide his tearing face.

"I had only just arrived, now I am to walk again..."

"Do you want me to carry you?" Vahşi asked, a smirk playing around his lips. He stood up in a single fluid movement that continued into a stretch. "I'm sure I'll be able to manage if you can't." There was a suggestion in his voice that Panos would never hear the end of it if he accepted Vahşi's offer. Panos sat on the ground, he grunted a little when he tried to bend them, forcing them to cross.

"I object to this," Panos said with a haughty huff, turning his head away. "Go ahead and be curious. I will be here."

"You are such a child," Vahşi grumbled. He crossed the space between them in a few long strides and picked up Panos bodily. The prince was lighter than he'd expected, and turning on his heel, Vahşi set out for the village. "And don't you dare try to bite me. I'm helping both of us out." The flowery prince glared daggers through weepy sapphires at Vahşi's near face.

"Biting is below me. I'm royalty, and not at all blood associated with anything bestial or feral."

Vahşi went on, out of the woods he had secluded himself from to see the ship landed on the plains next to the former village. It was almost a story and a half tall, a ramp was open at the back, facing them. The ship sparkled with golden metal, working to reflect the sunlight. Walking before the burnt corpses was a tall figure adorned in matching golden armor. It flowed as a single piece battlesuit, small wings were decorative on the shoulders and the sides of the full encasing helmet the figure wore, the lupian could see the shine of crystal decorate the wing accessories as trim.

Whatever this figure was, it had a visible aura. Lightly gray with swirls of red that whirlpool around the being, the aura spanned two feet above the person's head and out each direction of the body, seemingly generating this visual color field. They were raising its right wrist, a golden technological light scanning up and down the burned corpses on the floor. The being flapped their large white feathered wings, majestic in their size.

Panos stared at the winged person and held around Vahşi's neck with a grit of his teeth. He didn't trust the extremes of this reality. While his view, a half mile away, wasn't as fine as Vahşi's, the prince knew that any space person wasn't going to be good news, especially drizzled in gold. It was too pretentious to be trusted.

"Am I the only one thinking that this entire thing looks ridiculous?" Vahşi asked. "Let's go down there and see what happens." He started walking closer but moved more slowly than before, being cautious now that he could see what was going on. Because of his lupian super healing, the minor puncture wounds from before had sealed, and his walking was smooth and even. The closer they got, the more they saw this figure's definition. Vahşi guessed it was a male due to its V shaped body. The possible male, flapped wings after the golden light had stopped scanning all the bodies, ceasing to be emitted from its wrist device. The helm had two little holes where the nose was to be, and two set in rectangular eyes, the pixelated sunken in rectangles glowing with a dark golden light.

"I see..." He heard the voice, a man's, as the man spoke to his wrist device. Quickly he drew a gun, shaped like a hand canon. Panos shrieked and held onto Vahşi's neck tightly. The lupian made a harsh coughing sound as Panos' arm cut off his breathing. The man's aura twinkled diamond patterned specks of light and pink burst from him into the aura. "Apologies." The man's voice came through his helm and he lowered the gun. "What association do you have with this crime?"

"Panos, will you let go," Vahşi said. He was tempted to drop the prince but decided not to. When he next spoke, he addressed the winged man. "It was probably our fault," he admitted. "The villagers were the same kind of people as me, and there were humans who were studying them. I accidentally killed one of the researchers, which made the other one attack me. I meant to disarm him but killed him in self-defense. There was a squadron sent from the researchers' home planet and they razed the village in retaliation. We had already fled since we were warned the squadron was coming. I knew they would keep me in a cage for the rest of my life so I ran. The squadron left the planet sometime yesterday." The prince eased up on his choke hold to stare at the armored man staring at them and suddenly Vahşi could breathe again. He bit his bottom lip and he saw the figure tilt his head just so as he did. The timing made him suspect he had been watching him through his covered gaze, making him all the more uncomfortable.

"They had attempted to drug me as well," Panos remarked quickly.

"And the Sebacean said the were above genocide, fucking as if." Vahşi made a snorting noise that might have qualified as a laugh. The man's white wings came together and fluttered, red overtones took over the dim gray that had been the dominating shade in the bubble of colors around him. He took a last second study of the bodies before using his finger to type some things onto the wrist device. "I am reporting the crime. By The Light, justice will be served." Panos blinked, wrinkling his nose in the almighty arrogance this man threw around. Vahşi eyed him curiously, interested in the strange technology he was seemingly proficient with.

"Who are you?"

"Justice Kalton." The screen of his wrist device turned off and he put his arms to his side. Justice Kalton studied Panos. "I sense magic in you." Pink water colored the red aura. "I do not know your features, are you Terran?"

"Wait," Vahşi ordered. "We don't know you, or whose side you're on. And unless you're taking us in that-" he indicated the ship, "we're stuck here. So, what are your intentions toward us?" It was really hard to look threatening and ready for action when there was a skinny prince hanging around his neck, but Vahşi tried.

Justice Kalton nodded.

"You two look misplaced, it is strange to see you not among your Fenris pack?" Vahşi had no idea what a Fenris pack was but kept his mouth shut. There was a noticeable tone of dislike, but Kalton showed no hostile signs. "And you. I have no idea where you belong, but I'm willing to help for The Light's sake if for anything. Because here's fucked and nothing can be done yet, sadly." Panos frowned, taking in the view of this golden winged man.

"Sir." Panos fluttered his eyes "We are just lost, tired, and desire to be home again."

"I am able to transport you. You don't seem like you'd be with him and the Fenrisian. Rough bastards they are."

"People get killed, it happens," Vahşi said with a bit of a shrug that made Panos bounce in his arms, he gave out a muffled gasp in surprise. "Doesn't always mean we like it that way. What's your intended destination when you mention being able to 'transport' us?"

"Fenrisian capital, Wolfinal. I would let them and their government deal with you as they see fit. I do not know if you had fled their planet or willingly left, but a wolf needs to be with his pack." Again as he spoke about them, there seemed to be a note of irritation in his voice, the aura of red sparkled a little, yet the pink and grays were swirling clouds inside.

"He is my friend, and he has saved my life. I am to be with him in his journeys." Panos' burst of loyalty surprised Vahşi, considering the fact that in the last few days Panos had alternately hissed at him, called him a pervert or murderer, or tried to strangle him. How many wolf-people existed in this galaxy? Panos looked at Vahşi, trying to get him to nibble on this trail. It could lead to something.

"Lupians, werewolves, or wolfshifters?" Vahşi asked. The three were similar but distinct. Lupians were a species, werewolves were a story based on feral lupians, and wolfshifters were people who had dabbled in magic to allow themselves to change forms or were shapeshifters restricted in their abilities. "And how many people are there? Wolfinal is a name I've never heard before, but if they are my people as you seem to think I would be glad to go there." Panos grabbed hard, well for his weak grip, on Vahşi's shoulder. Why was Vahşi being so stupid? He was provoking this man to act weird to them.

Justice Kolton flapped his wings and waited for a second.

"They are wolf-like, there is no other way for me to describe the bastards." Vahşi tilted his chin up with a rather proud smile hinting at the corners of his lips. Whoever these Fenrisisans were, Vahşi was proud of them. Justice Kolton crossed his arms now. "For the record, why are you with him?" The man nodded to Panos.

"We both woke up imprisoned by the scientists here. We were to be experimented on with the local population here, I think..." Panos bit his lower lip "I'm not sure, we've been having trouble remembering things. Right?" The prince squeezed Vahşi's shoulder again.

Vahşi nearly rolled his eyes. Way to be subtle, Panos. "They were already doing some experiments. I think the effects hit Panos a little harder. His memory fades in and out every once in a while. We wolves heal faster." Panos swallowed down a scoff. Justice Kolton began to walk to his ship, taking one last look at the bodies, and then at Panos before going.

While the two were not quite in earshot, the Lambros looked at Vahşi with irritation.

"What is wrong with you?"

"A lot," Vahşi answered dryly. "Be specific. Do you want to stand on your own two feet now? You only weigh about fifty pounds but I've been carrying you for miles. Plus I'm not carrying you when we're on Fenris." The silverette rolled his crystalline eyes.

"Your retention is another problem. Fenris are the people, we are to be going to Wolfinal. As gods awful as that sounds." He shuffled in the Lupain's bridal hold. "I..." the Lambros paused "Can take a few steps. Thank you," Panos said begrudgingly, not looking into Vahşi's green eyes.

"That's the crankiest thanks I've ever heard," Vahşi said, setting Panos down. A smirk quirked across his lips. "People say something like 'You're welcome' when they're thanked, right? Assume I replied with whatever's socially correct and let's go. Come on, I want to see what's inside." He was definitely curious about the ship and the humanoids in it.

[Minkasha]

Akinasha


Panos Lambros & Vahşi

It didn't take long for Vahşi to fall asleep despite his strange surroundings. He'd learned long ago that sleep was taken whenever he could find it. Despite the fact that he'd probably gotten at least five solid hours of rest, the noise bringing him back to the real world wasn't welcome.

Vahşi's eyes shot open wide when there was a soft rapping noise on the bedroom door. There was no lazy twilight moment where he wavered between sleep and reality. The fragrance that had put him to sleep now woke him instead, the zest of the flowery scent giving him a soothing jolt into consciousness. For a moment he thought he was back home, that it had been nothing more than a radical dream. He turned over on his side, reaching for Farla, but it was Panos' body that met his gaze when his fingers were just inches from the prince's skin. Vahşi yanked his hand back before he made contact, his heart suddenly hammering against his skin.

Panos hadn't moved an inch in his sleep, still breathing in and out slowly.

The door was knocked on once again. Vahşi exhaled harshly, almost a snort, and got out of bed. His footsteps were quiet as he crossed the floor, blinking rapidly several times to banish all traces of slumber from his expression. He opened the door and looked up into the face of the person standing there. "What?" Justice Kolton with a raise of his brow and a light reddening of his aura.

"We're over Wolfinal, your queen is a piece of work." The man fluttered his white wings, unaware that a white feather fell on the ground before Vahşi's feet.

"Damn right she's a piece of work," Vahşi said, a proud grin quirking the corner of his lips. Rather than stand in the doorway, he slumped sideways into the door frame and fixed the winged man with a daring glare accompanied with attractively pouted lips. He had no idea who Kolton was talking about, but he got the general idea that the ruler of Wolfinal was making trouble for outsiders. That was good enough for him. His gaze moved to the feather as it detached from Kolton's wings, but Vahşi only gave it a brief glance before returning his gaze to Kolton's face. "How are we getting planetside, darling? Is she letting the ship dock?" He slipped the name in instinctively, determined to provoke Kolton as much as he could get away with.

"I would punch you in the face, but you are the victim of unjust criminal activity." The man's aura reddened to a shade of a tomato's skin, which might have been menacing if it weren't for the fact it also sparkled fervently. He crossed his arms across his chest. "I am awaiting permission from their government to return you back to your kind."

Vahşi barely kept himself from laughing, but as it was his grin was nearly too wide for his face. "Punch me? Don't be like that. Justice Kolton." He drawled the name, pulling out the syllables as far as he could. "Are you ever going to see this poor victim of unjust criminal activity again? I'm sure I can get permission for you to dock on Wolfinal if you're ever in the area. After all, I am wearing your underwear. I never really thanked you for that." The man simply turned on his metal heel and walked back to the cockpit. He bent over and grabbed the headset, leaning his hand on the dash he held the earphone to his ear.

Past the bent over Justice Kolton, Vahşi could see a gray planet with large continents, healthy clouds and a good amount of green among the lit up cities he could see from space. The lupian straightened up but didn't bother to move. He couldn't tell much about the planet from this viewpoint, but then again he was orbiting hundreds, if not thousands, of miles above it.

"Permission granted? How much longer does verification require? No one else fucking has this ship design."

"It must be because of your charming attitude," Vahşi called into the cockpit, smirking again. He shut the door before Kolton could respond and let himself laugh for several long moments. While Panos would undoubtedly have disapproved, it had been a long time since Vahşi had done something like that. It felt almost normal. He crossed the room to the dresser and started buckling the armour on, tugging on the fabric of the shirt at various points to keep it from bunching up under the leather.

Panos' body slowly moved, making sounds on the sheets until he pulled himself into a sitting position. The long sleeve wiggled around was he rubbed his eyes, lashes fluttering. He adjusted his hair, and looked like usual self without a single struggle. The prince saw Vahşi and sighed loudly before chewing on one of his mysterious grapes, having not eaten anything but them for the last few days. Panos didn't question it, feeling confident and trusting in his father god. He looked at the pocket of his robe, counting the few he had left. His bare feet curled.

"Why were you laughing?" The silverette asked with another heavy sigh and flip of his hair.

"We murderous villains always start the day practicing our evil cackles," Vahşi said. "I thought you knew. Actually I was laughing at Kolton. Kolton and I, to be precise. He's working on getting us clearance to land right now but a few seconds ago we were talking for a minute." Panos took no measure to hide his boredom of Vahşi's words as he played with a strand of his own hair and yawned. The prince was also too busy focusing on the soreness of his body.

"Oh I see. I did not know you enjoyed the Justice's company." Panos said, verbally waving off the lupian and getting to his feet. Vahşi watched the effeminate prince dramatically fall to the wall next to him with a huff, hands catching him. "Oww," Panos whined, limbs and core hurting. But his eyes stared at the bathroom door. How many days had it been since he brushed his teeth? He wouldn't let that level of disgust linger any more.

And Vahşi was developing a sensation of hunger that was starting to bother him as day two of not eating was dawning.

"You do know you'll have to walk sometime today, right?" Vahşi asked. "Hey are you hungry?" He crossed the room, having finished putting his armour in place, and opened the door. "Kolton? If we could get some food before being sent off, we'd appreciate it, sweetheart. Can't let a couple good-looking guys starve because you can't get over your feelings for one of us."

Panos turned around to glare at Vahşi.

"Just what are you trying to antagonize!?" The teenager scoffed across the room. "And who said you could comment about your looks, whatever you may have. Or mine, do not include me in your low behavior." Panos end to to push himself to the bathroom, drawing claret one step at a time.

"Murderous bastards like myself just wanna have fun, princeling," Vahşi said, glancing back over his shoulder. "Can't blame us." He turned back to Kolton.

Vahşi had the pleasure of seeing the Justice glare with his red aura over his shoulder before standing up straight.

"I will be sure to add thorough detail of you in my reports. Cause trouble and the system will tag you and the Justice will see your troublemaking." The man walked off to the other door, it swooshing open. "You'll get your food," Justice Kolton said coolly while walking into the room and the door swooshing shut behind him.

"Well, we have food, but I think the Justice might be a bit perturbed with me. Don't see why. You ready to be stuck on an entire planet of lupians that you can't grapevine?" He left the door to their room open and crossed the floor to the bed. He dropped onto it like a stone and put his hands behind his head. Panos fumbled through the silver drawers of the metal cabinet, going through the toiletries. He didn't know what toothpaste of a space reality would look like, but he had seen a black toothbrush on the counter; apparently it didn't change much.

"Don't call it that," Panos spat from the bathroom. "And how do you know that? Your assumptions are dangerous. Ah!" Panos found a spare, brush and toothpaste which now came in a circular container similar to foundation makeup.

Vahşi heard the bathroom sink turn on and the mundane sounds of Panos brushing his teeth.

"What else do you want me to call it?" Vahşi asked. "'Strangulation' sounds too mundane for an amazing grapevine-spawning prince like yourself. What do you think they feed people up here?"

"I'm getting tired of your satire." When did the murderous lupian become a pseudo comedian? Panos spent another brushing intently, getting his tongue.

The door was swooshed open, the long coiled haired man came in. The large wings fluttered and his nose wrinkled all at Vahşi's causal, messy sight all over his bed. Vahşi winked at him for the hell of it, already smelling what the man had brought: fish. Looking over, he saw the golden armor man carrying a metal tray with two large metal bowls of minced fish, sprinkled with green herbs, pepper and brown rice.

"This should be nutritional for both of you," Justice Kolton said, looking away to Panos in his bathroom. His brown brow twitched as his aura also sprinkled with pink. "I see you found what you needed." Panos blushed, making his eyes water with guilt with a hand to his cheek.

"Um, I'm sorry...I was so desperate. I hope...you...um...can understand." The feminine prince batted his sapphires at the winged man and he watched the Justice smile contently. "Oh thank you," Panos said with a frail voice. Though the moment he turned his head back to the sink he rolled his eyes, wiping his conjured tears.

Vahşi rolled off the bed with a soft snort and approached Kolton. "Food smells good," he said, moving to pick up a bowl. He raised an eyebrow suggestively and said, "I'll have to thank you later, babe. Did you get permission to land yet?" He could only imagine what Panos thought of him right now. He was sure he'd hear about it later. The Justice blinked his clumped lashes together, staring at Vahşi.

"Yes, we are to land when you are finished eating." On the tray was silverware for Vahşi to grab at his leisure.

"I could imagine the burden one would have associating with you, young wolf-being."

"You're breaking my heart," Vahşi said with a dramatic sigh. He picked up the silverware laying on the tray and leaned against the wall. He dipped his head forward and fixed Kolton with his gaze. "But surely you'll be sad to see me go." He started eating, handling the silverware in a most civilized way considering he usually hunted his own food in the woods.

The man's wings fluttered once more. Panos struggled to get to the door way and the Justice noticed. Panos bit his lower lip in genuine frustration of the numb aches his body had been fighting past for so long now. He was near lame, sleep only made him wake feeling even closer to true lamehood. "Do you need help?" The brown haired man offered.

Panos nodded, not looking at the man who approached and picked him up. He felt a feather brush against his face, his hair against the man's wing as he was being lifted.

"They...are...spectacular," Panos came to admit with a cross his arms at his chest and a wrinkle of his nose.

"Trust me, they get in the way easily." The golden armored man with pale skin to match Panos' laughed a bit, chuckling. "You are magical somehow..." Justice Kolton paused, looking at Panos. "Do you require sustenance?" His head gestured to the tray left on the floor.

"No. Not in that form. I am able to tend to myself in other ways."

"Strange," Justice Kolton said, but seemed to accept it. The prince had noticed Justice Kolton's expression every time he talked about magic. If such a concept was accepted, practiced, and real in this reality...was a force like that a good thing or a bad?

The Lambros prince decided to raise his nose at Vahşi, giving him a silent judgment about his silverware usage. The lupian took a break from eating to stick his tongue out at Panos. Suddenly the prince found himself sat down on the bed.

"Huh?" Panos asked with wide eyes, he was getting accustomed to being carried.

"Excuse me, I'm to land the ship." The Justice walked off and the door swooshed behind him. Panos scoffed, he didn't do what he wanted.

"I'm so impressed you can eat like a person."

"Most of us don't spend all our time as wolves," Vahşi pointed out, waving his spoon vaguely in Panos' direction.

Panos pointed to the second bowl with a small hand. "Another, strengthen those muscles of yours for all your barbarism I'm sure you and your lupine friends are to do." After the teenager condemned Vahşi once more, he popped into his mouth another grape, eleven left. The tally had him frowning to himself.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the grapevine," Vahşi said. "Although if you're not going to eat, I'm not gonna let food waste. We never got enough in prison." He put down his now-finished bowl on the dresser and picked up the one Panos had abandoned. "Cheers." Panos huffed again while Vahşi went out, pouting. While he was thinking, he stared at the lupian. The man made him think of his first, regrettably so, lover. The black haired man ate, Panos furrowed his brows.

"I know people usually can't keep their eyes off me," Vahşi said, "but what is that look for? You kinda seem like you're about to smack me or something. Night terrors last night? Or do you still think I'm your emperor's brother who's a pervert?"

"Your behavior with Justice Kolton would suggest you are a pervert." Panos manipulated some of his wispy hair with a discontent expression on his face, upset even. Though he didn't look like he was going to address it. "I was not aware you were inclined to someone like Justice Kolton."

"Nah, I'm not 'inclined'," Vahşi said. A wry grin appeared on his lips but he still managed to look sad. "I just like teasing him. We all did, back when we were in the lab. Teased each other. Wasn't much else to do except listen to the voices in our heads. The ones of us that wanted to live, that didn't want to go crazy, we found ways to keep busy. Everyone flirted with everyone. It was a way to pass the time, kind of. Nobody wanted to talk about deep things, so we joked around. You can't tell me you've never flirted with someone for the hell of it."

"I've only been with two men," Panos began, looking at the door to the rest of the ship. "And I only use my charms in cases of survival. My father had taught me one useful lesson in his judgmental life." The prince shrugged. "Men like malakia and I plan on using that to keep myself alive. It is to be my greatest weapon, to my grief."

"The good weapons are the ones that feel like part of your body," Vahşi said, as if reciting. "The great weapons are the ones that kill you as much as your prey. That's what they always taught us. Maybe the little bastards told us the truth every once in a while." His eyes seemed different, like his dark thoughts were reflecting in their colour. "Who knew?"

"Right..." Panos' hand slowly pulled from the lock of hair he had twisted, it unwinding without his finger to curl around. The ship jostled just a little, a very faint sensation. Ten seconds pasted and the door opened. The man hadn't said anything, grabbing his helmet, twisting his hair up in a small flat bun quickly before he did. Instead of the brown eyes came back the deep set golden rectangular robotic stare.

"We are here." His aura was lightly red with sparkle. Panos was picked up, the prince putting an arm around his neck. Justice Kolton looked at Vahşi. "The queen has sought audience with you." The Lambros frowned at the mention of that.

Vahşi looked surprised at Kolton's revelation, but nodded. "If the queen wishes a response before we join her on the planet, tell here I am most honoured and will join her immediately upon landing on the planet."

"I apologize that we had not the time to make your bed..." Panos said biting his lip and looking at Justice Kolton.

"It is fine. I've given two people justice. I fucking hope."

Vahşi shrugged. "We'll find out."


**




Wolfinal, Lemanian


Justice Kolton, Panos Lambros & Vahşi


He led them to the ramp, the stairs slowly coming down. The lupian was bombarded by the smells of outside air, though it smelled of gunpowder, not particularly fresh. When they stepped down they were taken to a concrete world that had old gray mason built towers to add age with the city's dilapidated urban look. They must have been on a square corner of a giant perimeter because each way they saw long, thick stretches of concrete covered mason fence that was two stories high.

Vahşi quickly learned what the lupian people here were like as someone came up dull stairs built into the gate to greet them. He was at least eight and a half feet tall, his eyes were golden, his skin light and ears pointed. He was a hairy man of several hundred pounds of muscle, blonde hairs down his arms that were bare from his black undershirt and vest. His tan pants showed the outline of huge leg muscles and his face was scruffy with facial hair. His pheromones reeked with strength: this would be one hell of a man to fight, and the odds wouldn't be in Vahşi's favor.

What made it worse was from this gate vantage point, Vahşi could see and smell more of these people going along the gray walking paths, men and women. The people of this planet were fierce. He had gone from the guppies to the sharks, each of them taller than he and more than likely his superior in direct competitions of brutality. He hated and loved it at the same time.

"Oh my gods," Panos stammered when the golden eyed man came up.

"Oh, hush," Vahşi said lazily. "Not everyone is as short as you are."

The large lupian openly raised his large nose into the air, taking in a deep whiff of something and stared at Panos for a second before glaring down at Vahşi. The prince had put a hand to his mouth, fighting a new fear. They were in a land of murderers now. He held closer to the Justice more than ever. Vahşi rolled his eyes. If Panos had been standing on his own two feet the lupian undoubtedly would have kicked him in the shin to get him to stop it.

"Queen Anadel wants you, little kin." Even the sky itself was gray, an overcast on a gloomy place, and in the distance of the urban world an even gloomier square, mason work castle whose maroon colors had been dulled in the rays of melancholy weather.

"The last person to call me 'little kin' was my mother," Vahşi said with a snort. He tilted his head in a way that seemed both easygoing and cautious, and added, "Let's go see the Queen, then." He would have thought the leader of a lupian community would have been called an alpha, as on his own world, but then again he was on an alien planet of giants. Nothing was supposed to really make sense here. The large lupian bared his teeth for a fleeting second, showing his fangs. His hands, covered with body hair at the outsides, had thick claws for nails.

He said nothing to Vahşi, turning to go back down the stairs. Following, Panos kept a hand at his mouth so he may spread his fearful or disgusted opinions about everyone and everything of this planet. Vahşi glanced sideways at him, half amused by his fear, and decided not to say anything.

Among the people and buildings, a lot of the lupians were openly taking whiffs and looking at their way, looking for the direct source of the smell. The Justice was ominously silent and Vahşi was literally dying to do something to pester him. The people were dressed in vests, dress pants, or corset dresses with frills and breasts pushed up to eyeful levels. Vahşi really hoped he wasn't expected to dress that way as well. These golden eyed, sharp eared, lean people were staring at Vahşi with solemn expressions to match the mood of everything else. Everything was down, the people's morale was not well. Vahşi wasn't sure if Kolton or Panos had picked up on this but decided to keep it to himself until they weren't surrounded by aforementioned people.

Buildings were doorless, giving views into bars and indoor markets, the concrete outside only used for traveling. A few of the lupians were Vahşi's stature, but their hairlessness and fresh faces denoted youth. The young looked at Vahşi with confusion, unable to tell if he was their age or not. Panos' smell seemed to make the children smile or giggle happily.

Justice Kolton was seething a red aura the whole walk through. Vahşi reached out to poke him in the ribs but realized at the last possible second that he'd probably lose at least a hand for his trouble and dropped his arm. The Justice had given Vahşi a golden, cold hard glare through his helmet. He adjusted Panos in the bridal carry he had him and fluttered his wings, looking forward to ignore the lupian. Vahşi snorted in amusement.

Walking another three miles through one story buildings and bell towers they got to the mouth of the castle, only two or three stories high, and its shape a large square, a large courtyard in the middle from what Vahşi's enhanced sight had seen from the distance. Two lupian men in thick, bubble like armor that make their eight foot taller statures ever wider and bigger, stood firm. Their guns were huge black metal monsters with dangling belts of bullets. Like their kin, they took whiffs, one smiling at Panos and the other only giving the prince a passing glance before they opened the double metal doors.

But to Vahşi they growled, smirking arrogantly at him. They were showing dominance over the much shorter, smaller, unarmed man. Though he could ignore the challenge and walk inside.

Vahşi growled back but kept moving, following Kolton and Panos. He had barely just enough common sense to not stop and fight it out with them, but he was physically incapable of not replying to the challenge. He fixed mistrustful eyes on them, fingers clenching into fists, and his gait stiffened. For once in his life he kept his mouth shut. When he took his first steps into the castle, the two guards slammed the door right behind him, the booming sound of the metal ringing painfully into his ears.

The Justice turned his head to look back at Vahşi, who wore a chagrined smile despite the pain in his ears.

"These are your people, and that is your judgment." His voice through a clear mic of the mask sounded sad. The golden pixelated eyes watched Vahşi gather his wits for a second longer before turning forward. "You shouldn't be here, not for too long," he whispered down to Panos. The prince, seeing their massive guide, was inclined to agree.

The gray stones of the walls were dripping with unattended age: spider webs spun in the corners, dust so strong that it was visible on the brick and the deeper they walked the more the air was stale. Though there were other signs that the Justice was staring at attentively, that Vahşi could understand.

Bold cuts were slashed violently down the stones, chipping away inches. They were claw marks, wildly thrown the inner halls, being the only decoration. The lupian had his nose filled with the scent of old, dried blood, halls cleaned just enough to make it not visible. But the history of this castle was in Vahşi's nasal senses. Their single turn had been rigid, taking a left and being stopped at a set of wooden doors. Two men of similar appearance stood guard. They bared their fangs at the group.

The guide turned and looked directly at Vahşi, his golden eyes fierce yet his expression near blank.

"She wants you. Only you." The winged Justice took a side step as if inviting Vahşi to go, but he kept his lips sealed. Panos frowned at Vahşi, an expression of concern. Vahşi shrugged slightly as if to say 'What can you do?' Panos was afraid of what could happen without him around. They needed each other if they were going to accomplish whatever the gods wanted. Vahşi's wellbeing was going to be everything for his own personal success. He turned his head to look at the guards, opening his mouth to speak but sooner than any words could escape, the prince was barked at and he yelped. "Only you," the guide said in a zombie like state to Vahşi.

"Don't do anything stupid until I get back," Vahşi said to Panos and Kolton, giving them a debonair smirk. He turned to their guide and nodded to indicate his willingness to proceed. "Let's not keep royalty waiting."


**

Proceeding, Vahşi was cut off from the only people he knew with the shutting of the wooden doors behind him. The throne room was tarnished, with slash marks across the walls, and red rugs that must have once guided people as a decorative walkway were shredded, scattered bits allowed to sit around the legs of wooden chairs and round tables.

The room had the strongest scent of blood. On a two step rise was a decorated wooden chair that had thick gold finishing around its edges. And upon the chair sat the queen, laying one leg over an arm and sitting lazily in her position of power. She was beautiful, in the standards of the Fenrisans Vahşi had seen thus far. Her cheekbones were bold and high, cat-eye-shaped eyes, red full lips, curly auburn hair that flowed to her shoulders and covered the right side of her face.

The deep red corset dress she wore took advantage of her warrior's figure, her breasts large and full. As with all the Fenrisans Vahşi had seen, her arms had noticeable arm hair. And, because of her dress having a slit almost to her thigh, he saw her legs were unshaven, and very long to match her eight foot stature.

Gingerly Queen Anadel looked at the lupian, her golden eyes, off . The color wasn't glossy, but it was dulled. Her eyes showed no sense of focus; she was looking at him but she truly wasn't. Her eyes had the lost vitality of the dead. Unnervingly, her living and dying leer held onto him. His hand began to tingle. Her wrist bore the mark.

"Aren't you cute?" The woman said with a slurring voice, waving a hand his way before rubbing her forehead with her fingers and leaning her head back on the wood and gold.

Vahşi let a smile slip across his face at her words but kept his expression and tone in check. He sketched a slight bow before speaking and made sure not to make eye contact. "It has been a long time since a member of a royal household has favoured me with words, your majesty. Yet I cannot say that any of them could hazard an approach on your stature and beauty. The news that you wished to see me was of the greatest surprise, but not less welcome for being so. May I ask why the queen has deigned to honour me by requesting my presence?" The Queen laughed and pushed herself to stand. The loud thud of her red heels clanked on the stone below her. A flip of her auburn bangs showed her face to be of an oval shape.

Coming closer, she stumbled a few times along the way. Vahşi could smell the desire coming off her, the pheromone, a weapon only a female lupian had when mating desire came to her. It touched a primal part of him, giving him a peek into unbidden thought. But as with all pheromone urges, self-control was possible for those who wish to. She had to be aware, as she came closer.

"Pretty talk doesn't get you far in these lands." The Queen towered over Vahşi, another two feet at least on him. The Fenrisan Queen had stopped two or three steps away from him. "You look grown, but you are so little. It is amusing. I wonder what little-grown men can do." In the throne room they were alone. And while the pheromone teased his primal mating natures, her other scents warned him of crossing her - the woman a feral beast her self.

"If kind words don't work, I'll feel a lot more comfortable," Vahşi said, dropping his stiffer posture. "Seems like there's not much room in any world for regimes that rule on talk and tradition." He flung the hair out of his eyes with a quick jerk of his head and eyed the Queen almost lazily. "My question still stands, your majesty. If you don't rely much on pretty talk, you wouldn't be the kind to call me here just to gawk at me." He could sense her pheromones and felt a sharp peak of desire, but kept himself in control. He had somebody waiting for him at home, with laughing eyes and flaming hair. Queen Anadel seemed lost for a moment, staring past him, randomly at a wall.

She rotated a bit on one of her heels, an aimless action that held a female's grace but looked genuinely meaningless.

"I want to see what the little-grown man can do. For my own fun, I will have you fight a man." She looked over her shoulder. "If not..." The auburn haired queen slurred once more and through her hand out to side in dramatics. "My men have more than enough bullets for all of you." The Queen laughed with uneven breathing, spinning, leaping and hoping back to her throne. As suddenly as her rear came back to the chair she became like stone and turned stiff. "It will be a fun event for the public, mmmm." She moaned to herself, shutting her eyes and slamming her head on the back of the throne chair.

What the everlasting fuck had Vahşi gotten himself into. Fighting for sport, or his life, was as natural to him as breathing. Facing a queen like this one was completely outside his experience. Even in the humans' lab, when hallucination-causing drugs had been pumped into his body with every heartbeat, he'd never seen something this weird. "I'm looking forward to almost getting murdered," he said, a smirk inching up his lips. "Although I'm sure my friend will have a different opinion. I assume we'll be given quarters in the meantime?" The queen kept her head slumped back, still moaning away until he finally stopped speaking, allowing their silence to linger. She crossed a leg with the other, kicking her heel back and forth.

"Well..." Queen Anadel's lips pulled back to show her fanged teeth, staring at her foot. "No. I want him to die more so now than later, mmm." Lunging from her throne, she landed confidently and pointed at the door Vahşi came from. "You and your friends are to attend the courtyard while the DEATH RING-" She bellowed, screaming voice echoed off the walls "-is being arranged." She clapped several time in excitement. "He has been trouble since the day he was born. Put him out for me, or you all die. Mmmm, motivation, mmmm." She shooed Vahşi with her hands. "Open the door," she commanded him.

"Yes, ma'am," Vahşi said, rolling his eyes once he'd turned away from her. This lady - Vahşi wasn't going to bother thinking of her as a queen any more - was absolutely psychotic. Panos was going to murder him, if his Death Ring opponent failed to do so. He wasn't even sure if he'd be able to open the doors, considering they were nearly twice as tall as he was, but he grabbed the handle and pulled against it with as much strength as he could muster.


**

Panos stared at Justice Kolton. Did he just hear 'death ring'? The prince had nothing to do, stiff and holding onto the Justice's neck. He kept his eyes off the guards who were surly staring at he and the Justice.

Vahşi managed to open the doors and their guide, the massive husk of a man, stared down at all of them.

"To the courtyard, follow."

"Under Valkure Galactic Justice Neutrality Laws, I insist you inform me of what is happening." The golden Justice said to the tall guide. But the winged man never got an answer. He put Panos down quickly but gently to make sure he was standing against the wall. Panos sneezed from the dust. From his hip the Justice pulled his golden hand cannon appearing gun. The two guards held tighter to their large automatic guns but hadn't flinched more yet. "Or there are some less neutral ways of getting my fucking answers." The man commanded, seemingly unafraid of their larger statures and larger guns.

Vahşi rolled his eyes. "And Panos thought I was the psychotic murderer. No wonder I was flirting with you."

Panos paled, staring from the red aura Justice to Vahşi. One of the guards at the door, caved, though it was more of an irritation.

"Little kin is going to have a welcome home death match." A tsk came out of the Justice's mask.

"It's legal," he sighed and put his gun back while speaking directly to Vahşi. "As one of her people, she can do what she wants. The Fenrisan continue to fail joining galactic wide legal agreements" His aura sparkled more.

"Legal, illegal, who cares?" Vahşi asked. "In the end there's not much of a difference."

"Umm, and myself?" the prince mumbled, trying to keep his nose from the dusty walls.

"You're legally protected as a non-citizen. I am obligated and willing to ensure your safety." Panos frowned, but he stared at Vahşi's hand, seeing the mark on his skin. Catching the lupian's eye he touched the back of his own hand to make sure the wolf man was aware.

Vahşi glanced down at his hand. "Yeah, I know," he said. "Crazy place here, right?" He grinned, baring his teeth in a feral expression. "I like it." This was posturing more than truth; he belonged here as much as he'd belonged in the last planets.

"Truly?" Panos asked with a scoff, it was just a string of murders.

"If I gave you a true answer you wouldn't sleep at night," Vahşi promised. "Come on, we're supposed to be staying in the courtyard."

Panos' sapphires looked at the Justice's gun. He had at least something to keep him protected. Lame among massive wolf people, the gods were pushing him, and at times the teenager felt like he could cave at any moment. His eyes passed over the diamond rimmed metal wings of Justice Kolton's armor when he came over to him. "What has made this place so...inhospitable?" The Justice didn't answer yet, picking up Panos again and walking with Vahşi down the hall from the guards at the door, though the guide was still in front of them.

"I will say, shifts in government." An answer that tasted poor in Panos' mouth. "I've never heard of Lemanian hosting death matches before, another atrocity of the current system." He openly defamed the government but the guide continued walking without hindrance of expression of listening. "He stinks of bad magic," The Justice whispered to Vahşi and Panos. "Xanael magic."

"What the hell is a Xanael magic?" Vahşi asked.

"They use soul magic. Taking people's very spiritual lives and using it for their own gains. One of the galaxy's greatest crimes. We are at war with the Xanael for a reason, and the Fenrisan make shitty allies in that fight."

"Which side are they on?" Vahşi asked. "And what happened to their Queen?"

The helmet eyes looked over to Vahşi while they walked. The lupian could almost feel the irritation, her saw it in the man's aura. Vahşi really wanted to dare Kolton to do something, but he clenched his mouth shut for the sake of listening.

"The Fenrisan people are conquerors. That is all that they add to this galaxy. And the Xanael only strive to make their magic stronger, at the cost of everything and everyone. Both are cesspools of black. Their leadership is shit. Your people fight the Xanael only out of the convenience of location." He tsked. "You know nothing, your race is near to Xanael space."

"So it's just meaningless war?" Panos asked sadly.

"In the eyes of the Valkyries, most war is." Justice Kolton was a Valkyrie? The prince pursed his lips. He hadn't seen the queen, but if it was her doing to send Vahşi off to a death match, no doubt she must be of an ill-nature. Justice Kolton went on, "As for Queen Anadel, I know nothing other than she had been accused of murdering her husband five years ago and has ruled since. Your race keeps everything but its bloodshed to itself. And I particularly don't care. Both sides are a pain in the ass and need to get some basic grasp of just law."

While the Lambros royal continued to be carried by the Justice, he stared at Vahşi's hand. He thought of the conditions of the symbol's appearances and disappearance. His sapphire eyes had a focus to them, connecting the dots. The most obvious pattern came to him, though he dare not share it in the presence of the Valkyrie. Strange word Valkyrie was, to a mythology not popular in his reality. A strange mix of elements had the gods mixed in this trial. Panos made a small, diminutive huff to himself.

"Well, if they're a pain in the ass and don't have a grasp on the law, they can't be too distantly related from me," Vahşi said with a grin. "That sounds like just about everybody I know."

Panos pointed to Vahşi firmly, his long sleeve flapping with his movement.

"After all that's been said, I'm disturbed with the possibility that you're enjoying this."

"Hey, the murderous brainwashed assassins take all the fun times they can get," Vahşi said, grinning at him. "This is shaping up to be one of those times. As long as nobody I like gets brutally murdered, it all turns out good in the end, right?" He seemed a bit too cheerful for a discussion of violent death, but then again Panos really shouldn't be surprised.


**

The Justice kept his eyes on the back of the Fenrisan guide. The square shape of the castle kept their walk simple. Windows, some broken, began to show what the courtyard looked like. A surprise to Vahşi's nose was the fact that it was an area free of blood that was heavy in the hallways.

Through the windows they saw a small forest made of two acres of land. Old evergreens just as tall as the castle that boxed them in grew with thick bodies and vibrant needles. Panos dropped his mouth open, not expecting a place like this to have any aesthetic value. Bright flowers of purples, reds, and yellow grew around the trees, and there was a small pebble path from the side of the courtyard, flowing into the land of trees. The colors of the petals fought hard against the dullness of the sky above.

Arching double glass doors taller than any of them were opened by the guide. Inside the woods Vahşi picked up the scent of a male Fenrisan.

"You stay here until we get you." The guide demanded and the Justice fluttered his wings with irksome feelings showing in his aura. There hadn't been a time yet where the red had gone away. The guide walked off, back into the castle without saying anything else, shutting the door.

The Lambros prince bit his lower lip, holding it with his teeth and looking at the lupine.

"Can we talk, Vahşi?" the teenager asked with a soft voice.

"If it's about one of my many problems, real or perceived, then no. Otherwise, go ahead, although I doubt you'll pay attention to my one rule of communications." Vahşi was wary about giving Panos what was nearly the equivalent of a free pass to talk to him, but he had just enough trust in Panos to do so. "Since I haven't murdered anyone recently, I'm guessing this is about something else." He shrugged. "Shoot."

Panos looked at the Justice holding him and then to Vahşi again.

"In private?"

"As long as you don't try to murder me or express your unrequited love, sure," Vahşi agreed. "Don't worry, Kolton, I won't let him get killed while he's with me."

"Oh be quiet." Panos rolled his sapphires.

"Justice Kolton," the Valkyrie corrected while setting Panos down. The prince quickly regretted doing this because as his bare feet touched the ground, his legs had to bear his weight. He was annoyingly but bearably sore.

"Eh, whatever," Vahşi said with a shrug.

"Thank you," Panos told the Justice, picking up the hem of his blue robes that to the outside observer fit more like a dress too long for him. "Come with me." Panos pointed to the courtyard forest. Vahşi scuffed his heels against the ground as he followed, practically dawdling so that he didn't outpace Panos. The prince took lead, walking a little slower than usually, crunching grass. Vahşi was almost irritated with how slowly Panos was going but knew the prince wasn't exactly in condition to keep up with the lupian's faster pace. Panos refused to step on the dirt. When they were more secluded behind one of the trees, the Lambros spoke softly. "I have an idea of what has caused your Cronus marking to return."

"Which would be...?"

Panos pointed to the mark, staring.

"Leadership. You killed the first leader, getting the mark. The village was destroyed, your mark went away. You might have to..." Panos frowned. "No that can't be it..." He hesitated.

"If you're worried about my capability of murdering someone, don't be," Vahşi advised. "Professional murderer, remember?" Something like guilt flashed into his eyes, and for a split second he looked lonely and vulnerable, but it might easily have been a trick of the light. Panos stared up, Vahşi's words not really reassuring.

"We have to be careful" He said in quiet concern. "It might not even be that simple...But I'm certain you have to do something with leadership. These people have...traits similar to you much like the others did. It means something, I know it Vahşi." The teenager passionately clutched a hand at his chest. In the distance the lupain could hear footsteps, the male Fenrisan from within the wood was coming.

"Looks like someone's coming," Vahşi said. "We'd better leave this for later. Last thing we need is you getting into trouble." He turned away from Panos to face the approaching Fenrisan.

"Forgive my eavesdropping." A man emerged, coming around the curve of the forest path to reveal himself. They were easily dwarfed by this muscular man who stood nine foot and then some. Meaning, Vahşi's head was to the man's lower abdominals and Panos' head was to his hips. For the people of Wolfinal, however, he was only a bit above average height. Still, to the prince, seeing a massive wolfish man emerge in such an intimate setting was frightful. Panos held onto Vahşi's wrist in concern, having to look straight up to meet this man's eyes. Vahşi rolled his eyes at Panos' skittishness but let the prince hang on to him.

He was also very study, through his dark gray stitched vest and white shirt covered with a sweat stains, one could see the large muscles of his body. His pheromones spewed strength, an even match for Vahşi would be a nightmare, his natural senses told him this. His hair was cut very short, yet the auburn color still showed strongly even as it was buzzed. He had the queen's high cheekbones, but his were stronger and more masculine, coupled with a square jaw, pointed nose, auburn stubble and strong golden down turned eyes. He had the oval face shape of the Queen. He looked much like her male counterpart: her son.

His hands and claws were covered in dirt, knees as well as he was wearing dark dray dress shorts. The Fenrisan continued speaking, his eyes dead set on them. "But leadership among our people is done through blood. And spilt blood makes a scent that draws the pack." He peered deep into Vahşi's eyes confidently. "You do not want to draw the pack, strange kin." Vahşi was about to remind the giant that he actually had a name but decided to save it for later. In all likelihood they wouldn't be staying here much longer anyway. The Fenrisan took another whiff, his expression dropping into a pleasant expression. He looked down to Panos. "Fair maiden I would be careful with your words. We people have strong ears." He put one of his large hands, tipped with a claw rather than a fingernail, to his earlobe and played with it for a moment.

Panos froze, the man had to be royal. He spoke the way royals ought to. How much of the conversation had he heard?

At any other time, Vahşi would have taken full advantage of Panos' shock and teased him mercilessly about talking too much. However, the Fenrisan's description of the prince prompted Vahşi to nudge Panos with his hip to get his attention. "Fair maiden?" he repeated, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you said you were a guy." Panos shot a glare at the lupian. The man raised a thick auburn eyebrow.

"You also have strange jokes, strange kin," the man said, taking in another whiff. The man's dirtied hands had the smell of earth and flowers. But it was obvious he was enjoying a new flowery scent altogether - Panos. The prince kept his glare at Vahşi. The man was a complete moron. Panos was aware of how he looked, it was this presentation that he used to his advantage and the lupian was trying to blow it out of the water. They couldn't share whispers because the wolf man surly had just as sharp hearing as Vahşi. Hopefully, he would have some intelligence to be able to see the use of his appearance.

"My friend always plays weird jokes," Panos said slowly, keeping his eyes on the green of his companion. "And usually they are not funny."

"Oh, we're friends now?" Vahşi asked. "Yesterday you weren't acting so friendly. It was the opposite."

The Fenrisan laughed.

"I can tell, may I welcome you to my courtyard." With his long legs he took strides to the group and knelt to grab Panos' hand. "Would you like a tour? It is something I take great pride in." He gave a glance at Vahşi as he had just remembered the man existed at all.

"I obviously have murderous wolfy things to do," Vahşi said, gesturing vaguely over his shoulder in the direction they'd left Kolton. "So I'll leave you two to your tour." Hopefully Panos would be able to play on the Fenrisan's attraction for him and get some information. "Have fun and learn about all the trees and stuff." He backed away from the pair, then turned on his heel and started wandering off toward Justice Kolton.


**

Panos watched Vahşi step away with a rising beat of his heart. This had quickly turned unfortunate. The man's hand had engulfed his while he held it, Panos frowned at their shared contact.

"Oh, my hand," the large wolf man said withdrawing his dirtied hand. "Forgive me, I was excited." He pulled out a deep blue handkerchief from his pocket and began to clean his hands. "My name is Jerk." His golden eyes stared deeply into Panos' sapphires. How fitting, Vahşi thought. Although he knew very little about this race besides the things he'd assumed, he was fairly certain that 'Jerk' was a name rather indicative of the society as a whole. "What would yours be?"

"Lacey," the unnerved prince revealed without a skip. He already had that name prepared for a situation like this. 'Ug, there's dirt on my hand,' his mind zeroed in on, hating to see the dark spot on his pale skin.

"Lady Lacey," the man said slowly, grabbing Panos' hand once more and wiping the dirt off before putting the handkerchief back into his dress pants. "All your ways are strange, but highly enchanting. May I?" He stood to extend his hand with royal airs. Panos bit on his lower lip, looking all the way up to this Fenrisan.

"I am unable to walk much at the moment, health concerns." He dripped fragility into his words and with feigned insecurity held himself across the chest. His legs hurt, the man was more than willing, and Panos wanted to keep his feet clean if at all possible. "Difficult journeys have put me in this position, and these ill fitting clothes." Jerk laughed, taking Panos into his arms to carry him. Vahşi nearly laughed. Health concerns? Only if the frequent cases of cardiac arrest due to his own bad ideas counted.

"My, as small and little as you are, Lady Lacey, I will have to dig through my sister's child clothes." Panos slowly put his arm around the Fenrisan's neck, feeling the bristles of auburn neck hair scratch at his forearm. Sister? If Panos wound up wearing childrens' clothes, Vahşi intended on never letting him forget.

"You would be so generous?" Panos asked, the man's face close. Jerk's touch only shrunk him further, he nearly felt like a toddler in a parent's arms with the size difference. His world began to gain speed, Jerk was walking.

"Our people are ruthless to its enemies and strong for their interests. It is as a man should treat a lady." Panos rolled his eyes inside his mind.

"How...chivalrous" He said in a wooing tone and a small closed lip smile. "You said you had a sister?" The Lambros' face paled when he saw the royal Jerk scowl.

"Yes." The tall man left it at that. Vahşi stiffened, hoping he wouldn't have to do something ridiculous like nearly get himself killed to save Panos from a pissed Fenrisan, but Jerk left things as they were.

"I...apologize...I was...trying to...get to know you..." The teenager twisted a strand of his hair, giving glance to the evergreens and flowers being passed.

"I have one sister and three brothers." It was all evident on the golden eyed man's face that his relationship with them was unwell because his scowl held through it. "Where do you come from? Had you been on this planet I would have known you much sooner."

The silverette stared into the large face staring back. Where did he come from? He put a hand to his chest because it was palpating with anxiety.

"My friend and I had been exploring Terran worlds." That was what the Justice had said? Terran? Panos hated taking the risk. Vahşi had no idea what a Terran world was, although he'd heard Justice Kolton refer to them. He wondered if Jerk knew what those worlds were like.

"Inferior they are," the Fenrisan said, hastily throwing his opinion out. Panos was slowly realizing that this man wasn't at all showing him his greenery.

"Hmmm," Panos simply said, looking around while Jerk followed the windy path.

"Why had you come to the courtyard?" Jerk probed him. The prince took the time to throw on a frown.

"Queen Anadel wished to see my friend combat for his life, and..." Like an actor he looked to the deepest parts of his psyche, when he had been wounded the most. The abuse of his father, the abuse from his ex-husband, produced tears. "And..I'm not sure what will become of him." Vahşi was definitely not letting Panos forget about this.

"He will be fighting one of my brothers." What? Panos fluttered his lashes, dripping his wet drops of sorrow.

"Why would that be? That's so horrible..." He could bond-feel Vahşi near by, he hoped lupian's hearing was strong enough to pick up this conversation. 'Horrible is the way things go...' Vahşi thought. Just keep him talking so we know what we're up against.

"My brothers turned traitor and tried to start civil war against our mother. It is a family affair. Don't cry, Lady Lacey." It wasn't much of a family affair if it also had the consequence of killing Panos' only connection in this galaxy and his only chance of getting out of this godly trial alive.

But the symbol lined up well. Vahşi meets a queen, to meet a head defector. Leaders. Leadership. Vahşi was starting to realize that there was a common pattern here, and he was wondering if he was somehow being used as a personalized genocide tool. First the miniature lupians, now the oversized ones.


**

The Justice had walked up to the lupian who was leaning against a border tree of the courtyard forest.

"And where had you left Panos?" The man had waited a bit of time before finally asking. Yet before an answer could be given, the guide stepped through the doors and stared at them.

Vahşi shrugged, eyeing the guide moodily. "He went off to look at the trees," he said. He turned away from the guide, ostensibly to search the grounds for some sign of Panos, and silently mouthed He's with one of the Fenrisans to Kolton. "Said he was okay." Hopefully Kolton wouldn't make things awkward by running off to try to rescue Panos. But it looked like he was going to as he took steps to pass Vahşi.

"You will have your match now," the guide told Vahşi bluntly, without emotion.

Vahşi put his hand out to stop Kolton and spoke urgently, trying to cram his words into as short a space as possible. "Get Panos and tell him it's perfectly fine to grapevine Fenrisans trying to kill me. If I finally get myself murdered, get him off planet. Tell him to tell Farla I'm sorry and I loved her." His gaze flicked in the direction Jerk had taken Panos, but there was obviously no time for him to go after Panos himself. Casting one last glance at Kolton, hoping the Justice would relate his message to Panos, he turned to follow the guide. He was so fucked.

[Azazeal849]

The house, as Gina discovered, was surprisingly familiar. Whether the other houses in the village boasted the same kind of interior she had no idea, but this one held a number of recognisably human furnishings. She followed a short hallway as Cal and the kittens pattered left into the kitchen, and another motion-sensor door swished aside to reveal a bedroom painted in dark green, the walls following the curve of the house. The carpet was dull grey, but soft beneath her bare feet. Everything seemed very clean and orderly, from the large double bed to the tall dresser, to the simple flat table with an hourglass-shaped piece of frosted glass that Gina thought might be a lamp. The door closed quietly behind them, muffling the sounds of Cal, Taar and Mita clattering about in the kitchen. Gina was glad to note that the ringing left in her ears by the gunshots was gradually dying away.

"Let's see what we can find." she said quietly. She turned to regard Manisha, and twisted her mouth. "How are you feeling about all this so far?"

Manisha was still staring at her with a look of quiet discontent. However, she still walked in and stared, touching a wall and then looking at her fingertips, repeating the action.

"It'th not a dream, ith it?" Manisha said in a gloomy whisper. "I really want thith to be a big big dream."

Gina's face fell in sympathy. "I know exactly what you mean. One minute I was in West Hills and the next I was in your world with no idea why...I didn't know what to think."

She gathered her hair over one shoulder and stood there toying with the ends.

"I'm sorry you got dragged into this. And like I said, I'm really sorry that I spent the last day impersonating your friend. I didn't know what else to do while we sussed out where we were." She shrugged helplessly. "For what it's worth, your text helped quite a bit when we were trying to work out how to deal with Lycus."

Mainisha did not seem at all comforted by what Gina had just said. The young brunette leaned her body against the wall she had been touching and looked ready to sob.

"Thee wath my betht friend." Her lisp dominated her words. "Thee wath my beth friend and now I don't know if thee'th alive or dead!"

It was this outing thought that pushed her over the edge and she started to cry.

"My betht friend! Thee wath my thithter!"

"Hey..." Gina said gently, taking a step closer to Manisha and tentatively putting her hands on her arms, half expecting the other woman to pull away.

The fate of their doppelgängers was a question that had occurred to Gina - now that they were out of Manisha's world, were the people they had replaced back in their own skins, or were they still stuck in limbo somewhere? Manisha's tears brought the unfairness of the situation home - viscerally. Gina had had to leave good friends behind when she left the UK, and she had failed a number of other people since...but she hadn't had to deal with a complete lack of explanation, and she certainly hadn't had a strange lookalike following her around reminding her of the loss.

God knew they could all do with a minute to process things - and in a way, having Manisha to support was a blessing. It stopped her own worries from pushing too far to the front of her mind. She took a breath.

"I know where you're coming from. I do, and I'm so sorry. I promise you, we're going to find whoever's putting us through all this and make them send us back. And that includes all the lives they've messed with along the way, like yours and Gigi's. If they can pull people out of reality, they must be able to put them back."

Once again, Gina couldn't help but think that the person who wanted her to free them might not have the best intentions, judging by their methods. And yet, the only way to confront them was to follow the trail that had been laid out.

"What was she like?" she asked; looking at Manisha with an earnest expression, trying to connect. "Gigi?"

Manisha kept against the wall to soothe herself. She looked away from Gina.

"Thee wath the thluttiest, betht bitch a girl could athk for." She had went on to say with sobbing admiration while she stared at the door of the bedroom. "Thee wath confident and funny and got all the men thee wanted and no one could tell her otherwithe. Thee wath hot and thuper thexy and the queen of Crete..."

Gigi Nikas, Gina thought, and almost smiled. A queen for the Skins generation. She wondered how Gigi and Manisha had ended up as friends, and reflected that there was always something admirable about people who simply didn't give a shit about what anyone else thought. It was good to know that Gigi really hadn't kept Manisha around just to lord it over someone less desirable than she was.

All the while, she was certain Manisha was telling her that Gina herself was not all of the things she had pretended to be for a day. She wasn't about to deny it - her party days had ended with the move to Austere. That didn't mean that she hadn't flicked through her old Facebook photos more than a few times, wishing that things could go back to being so simple. She was still thankful to Izzy for not putting up the pictures of her sitting in the middle of a living room pillow fort, wearing a manic grin and pupils that were dilated as wide as saucers. That was a great night, even if the comedown was fucking horrible, and dad grounded me for a month. And to think that Baka might have ended up with the same saucer eyes if she hadn't been there when he mistook Gigi's E pills for sweets!

The flutter of humour died and curled into a fist behind her navel, mirroring the awful tug she had felt after the first gunshot. Baka's dead. She swallowed away the lump in her throat.

"Gigi would've made a better queen than Lycus made an emperor." she said after a moment, musing in response to Manisha's description. It wasn't entirely a lie - while Gina doubted Gigi's ability to take responsibility for anything, let alone a country, it was still better than a murdering tyrant who wanted to burn down the neighbouring city states.

"How did you meet her anyway?" Gina tried instead.

Manisha gave her complete disregard, pulling herself into a ball and becoming further swallowed in her emotions. "A party yearth ago. Thee was a friend of a friend, but I thought thee wath amazing. I had to be her friend. I got her all the drugth I could and then we thtarted hanging out and became the best of friendth, doing everything together...thee wath my thithter."

Manisha went to wipe her eyes that wouldn't let up, fat tears dripping. But she glared up at Gina and looked away. She looked to be done with talking to her for now.

"I'm sorry." Gina said again, gently. "I know how shit this must be for you, getting dumped here and watching me parade around in Gigi's skin..." She shook her head. "I promise you that we're going to find out where she went, and how to get her back."

She turned to face the room, rubbing her arm.

"Back in the palace the symbols on our arms acted like they were supposed to be some sort of clue. If we can find something similar around here it might be our way out."

Still standing next to Manisha, she looked around. The large double bed was covered with fitted sheets and hand-quilted blankets in various shades of green, though oddly there were no pillows. On the walls around the bed and dresser drawers were dreamcatcher-like decorations made from dangling leather straps and beads, as well as pinned-up paintings and doodles that Gina assumed had been made by Taar and Mita. Most of them were of stick figure cat-people, some holding what looked like spears or guns.

Gina looked up at the dresser thoughtfully. It was six drawers tall; the top one almost too high for Gina to see into even if she stood on tiptoe. Frowning, she padded over to the dresser and pulled out the top-most drawer experimentally, thinking back to the multiple sets of sandals she had seen in the porch.

"Do you think someone else used to live here with Cal?" she asked Manisha as she pulled out various sets of miscellaneous garments.

Manisha shrugged at Gina's question.

"The little cute cat children would thay thomething." she answered with a mumbling, lispy voice.

Gina considered. "Yeah, I think you might be right. Maybe we can find a roundabout way of asking them over lunch."

Seeing Manisha's discontented look, she bit the inside of her cheek.

"Listen, I'm sorry, you don't need to help right now. If you need to take a moment, take it. And if you need to get anything off your chest, talk to us. It doesn't have to be me - you can talk to Cal if that feels less weird. She's a smart girl, not to mention she was a princess back in her world, so she'll know a hell of a lot more about the palace life than me."

She rested her hand on the open drawer.

"I'm going to have a scout around for clues. The faster we figure out what we're supposed to be doing here, the sooner we can get us home and you and Gigi back together."

Manisha glared through her teary eyes.

"You don't have the right to thay her name." With that, she turned her head to avoid contact.

Gina exhaled quietly, but let it go. "Maybe not. But I'm still going to help you find her."

Turning back to the dresser and rooting around in the drawer, she was gaining little more than socks, folded up shawls and scarves. Odd garments for what so far looked like a jungle environment, she thought. Maybe Cal did some travelling. Just as she was wondering, one of her fingers brushed a leather bound surface under a pile of socks.

"Hey up." she muttered, and pulled out a small personal journal with a small closing strap. On the surface of the brown journal was the Mercury symbol, which Gina instantly recognised.

"This is just like one we found in Vahsi's room." she said, showing the book to Manisha, who gave it a dismissive side glance. Just like the book from before, most of the pages were blank spare one in the middle which had the familiar Mercury and Venus signs. Now however, there was also the male symbol of Mars, together with a description of action, violence, masculinity, assertion, potency and rage.

"We should keep a hold of this." Gina mused aloud, "It helped us before."

When Manisha remained unresponsive, she chewed her cheek before putting a hand on her hip.

"We'll work out what we're going to do next over lunch. But I want us to work together, when you're ready." She crossed to the door, and paused as it glided open. "You know where I am."

Leaving Manisha to her own space, she took stock of the hallway. A small, tight staircase made of white tiles spiralled up from an alcove to the left of the bedroom, leading up to a second floor. The handrail was grooved and twisted to resemble a vine snaking up the outer edge of the stair. Gina gripped it as she made her way up, consciously watching her step.

The upstairs floor, like the one below, was divided into three rooms, their walls sloping with the dome of the house. Apart from the bathroom were two smaller mirrors of the downstairs bedroom - one with blue walls, one with sea-green. The beds were much smaller than the ones downstairs.

These look like Taar and Mita's rooms. she thought. Me and Manisha must live somewhere else.

Looking at the walls, she wondered if the paint colours had been chosen to match the kittens' eyes. Each room had a small bedside table with a fluted lamp, and a bookshelf of painted wood was secured into the straight inner walls.

Now we might be getting somewhere. As she looked at the small collection of hardbacks that filled the shelf in the teal room, she felt a tingle in her mark-branded wrist, and the fat squiggles along the spines of the books became recognisable English. Just like Gigi's phone, Gina realised, massaging her wrist as the tingle faded.

Picking two likely-looking titles, she headed back down with the three small books under her forearm. A closer inspection of the downstairs rooms revealed a sitting room and, more importantly, a small study with another bookshelf. There were no photos, and no phone - in fact, despite the modern-looking appliances in the kitchen and bathroom, there didn't seem to be any sort of telecommunications at all - but at least there were books. Finding something that looked like a history book, Gina sat down in the living room and skimmed through it while Cal and the kittens carried on cooking.

From what she could determine from her crash-course studying, the planet they were on was called Kysmæt, and the cat-people called themselves the Bayn’gül. There were several references to a great disease they called The Enemy Within, which caused a crippling sensitivity to pain and had killed a lot of their people. Kysmæt was apparently an untamed rainforest jungle for the most part, filled with violent beasts if the children's books were to be believed. We'll have to watch our step outside the village.

An appetising scent of grilled fish preceded Cal and the kittens as they carried a set of loaded plates into the room. It was the first good food Gina had seen since the palace, and she didn't have to worry about it being laced with amnesiacs either. She hadn't predicted how happy that little piece of normality was going to make her feel.

"That smells good!" Gina said, smiling genuinely for the first time since their arrival. She glanced towards the bedroom door, which was still shut. "Manisha?" she called, "Food's up!"

Taar and Mita scampered around them as they set the plates down, pausing only to knead their feet into the soft carpet. It was such a cat-like mannerism that Gina had to smile again.

"Look what I found." she said to Cal as she joined her on the sofa, putting down the zodiac book with its signs and descriptors facing the other girl.

[G]

As Cal followed the two youngsters into the adjoining kitchen, she caught her companions in her peripherals, slipping away to explore the rest of the house. Hopefully they can find out more about why we're here, she thought, knowing she had better try to do the same; though she would have to be cautious in how she questioned the kittens. She had almost given herself away with her initial reaction to them, though she had managed to recover on that occasion.

Though the kitchen's furnishings weren't outlandish, Cal still paused in her progress, chewing her lip.

The first step in appearing to be the person she was supposed to be, right now, was to cook. Something the spoiled girl had never actually done before, she realised now that the situation was at hand.

"Okay," she muttered under her breath, approaching the door of the fridge and pulling it open, stalling a moment while she pretended to survey the contents. "You can do this. Just pick something simple, it can't be too hard..."

Her eyes fell on a platter of filleted fish, already descaled and prepared for cooking. She nodded to herself, and retrieved it from it's shelf, turning to the children.

"Some nice grilled fish, how about that?" she smiled down at them. Cats loved fish - or at least where she came from they did.


The two kitty children purred and nestled each side of Cal, their furry faces soft against her bare forearms. The girl smiled at the affectionate display, unused to such; her mother had never been the hugging type. Around Cal were strange kitchen objects that she had never seen before. On the faux marble counter, a sharp distinction Cal could now tell after setting in a palace of pure genuine marble, was a silver device that had a silver bowl and inside were two stick with windy ends, along the counters was a silver square box, with a glossy surface that had four dark spots embedded. The blue screen above its handle on the front asking for temperature.

Taar wrapped his tail around Cal's thigh, purring and rubbing away. Mita was staring at the fish with her blue feline eyes and pursing her human like lips together. They both were waiting for her.

Raw fish in hand, the teen looked around, hoping the puzzlement wasn't plain on her face as she searched for the fireplace where she might cook the meat. Finding none, her eyes fell on the unfamiliar objects in the room; hovering by the silver bowl containing the unfamiliar metal sticks before moving to the box that took precedence in the room. It's place of pride in the centre of the counter suggested it was important, and she could see no other options. But how did it work? Setting the plate on the counter, she leaned on it's top with one hand, fiddling with one of the dials on the front with the other. The markings on the glowing screen on the boxes front flickered and changed as she did, and Cal nodded. Though she wasn't sure what she had done, she had made it do something.

Aside from the display, nothing about the box seemed to have changed - focused on the dial, she did not immediately notice the temperature under her hand growing; the flat surface, once cool, had moved from comfortably warm to blistering hot in a short period of time. The girl yelped, lifting her hand hurriedly from the surface to find that one of the previously dark circles now glowed a fiery orange-red.

For a moment she just stared, nursing her scalded hand. The fire... it's inside this box! But how? A nuzzle on her arm, and concerned gazes up at her from the children brought her sharply back to awareness of her situation, and she managed a smile, reaching out with her uninjured hand to stroke the closest of the kittens (Mita, she thought, I must start thinking of them by their names.) between the ears.

"I'm alright," she reassured them, "I'm just tired. Lack of sleep makes you silly, sometimes!"

At least I'm getting somewhere, she thought. If the pain in her hand was anything to go by, the heat emanating from the box was certainly strong enough to cook the fish. Opening the door to the cupboard closest to the box, she exhaled in relief to find that it contained dark metal pans. It would not do to go rummaging through every cupboard, revealing herself to be unaware of the location of things in her own kitchen. Placing it on the hot circle, she laid the filleted fish inside, the pieces beginning to crackle merrily as they took in the heat.

"Now," she turned to look at the children, leaning against the bench. Her burned hand was curled against her belly, though she tried not to let on how badly it was still stinging.

"Weren't you two going to tell me about your day? What did you get up to while I was out?"
Both cat-children were looking at her, finding her unquestionably strange. The slits of their eyes drew narrow, tails swishing as they looked at Cal's burnt hand. They seemed upset with the frowning of their lips coming into a deep set expression.

"We were learning how to hunt in the jungle" Mita said first.

"Koolkal a really good mentor, he is making us tired" Taar looked like he was straining to elevate the social mood as his expression was one of confusion and strife while studying her.

"He made us really hungry today..." Mita said, biting her lower lip and swishing her gray, white streaked tail.

"Well, we better get this food ready for you soon then," Cal gave a rather desperate looking smile, ignoring the beads of sweat on the back of her neck. However the children's 'nurturer' normally acted, she certainly didn't seem to be hitting the mark. She glanced nervously between the kittens, gulping down a lump in her throat at their narrowed eyes and swishing tails.

"I'm proud to hear you're working hard," she fumbled, pulling a pair of metal, pincer-like items from a drawer and using them to flip the fish in the pan, which was starting to emit a delicious aroma.

Glancing back and seeing them still eyeing her suspiciously, Cal managed another smile.

"Now don't worry about me*," she told them firmly, "I'm fine! Everything's fine*. Taar, will you get some plates? Mita - cutlery, please." Both cat children put a hand to their head, groaning, oddly simultaneously. After a pause the two cat-children looked up at her and smiled.

"Okay" Taar said, he went to fetch the plates from a silver metal shelf under the counter. The girl had to be agile as she jumped up on the counter with feline grace, doing so in one motion, standing to open the cupboard.

Cal simply stood and stared as the kittens, after their momentary outbursts of pain, turned to comply with what she had asked. What? she thought, A moment ago they were suspicious, and now...

Shaking her head, she, for lack of any other way to check it, used the tongs to break off a small piece from one of the fillets, blowing on it before she ate it.

"Done!" she announced with a triumphant, albeit small, smile. Well look at that - I can do things for myself! Taking the topmost plate from the stack Taar had pulled from the shelf, she transferred the fish from pan to plate, her stomach grumbling at the smell.

Unsure how to stop the heat emanating from the stove, she fiddled with the dial that had created it, winding it in the opposite direction than she had initially until it gave a small click.

Hopefully that's stopped it. I don't want to burn down their... our house, she thought grimly, and turned back to the kittens, who seemed much more complacent toward her now. Odd, she thought again. She knew she had a commanding nature - it had been bred into her - but surely it wasn't enough to make them change so suddenly. She wrinkled her nose - perhaps Gina would be able to shed some light on it.

Thinking of Gina and their new companion, she frowned. She really should have tried to find out more about who they were - she had become distracted with the childrens' suspicions, and really hadn't found out much, other than they trained with this Koolkal, whoever they were.

"Shall we go and find Gina and Manisha, and let them know the food is ready?" she smiled. "You've met them before, haven't you?" It was a risk... but perhaps she would be able to bring them around again, if they once more grew suspicious. Taar and Mita had stopped enjoying their plates and stared at Cal as she finished asking. Their eyes lingered for a long pause, expressionless till Mita clicked her mouth and swished her tail.*

"Yesss" The cat girl suddenly laughed and the cat-boy joined her.

"You're silly, nurturer"

Cal forced herself to give a little giggle along with them.

"Of course. Silly me!" she smiled. "Let's go find them, shall we?"

Though she faked a casual air, inwardly she was frowning, disappointed with herself. She dared not risk pressing them with more questions, when they were already clearly suspicious.. albeit switching between that and their normal, carefree attitudes. She hoped the other two had been able to find out more than she. At least she'd managed the food part well enough.

The fish and kittens in tow, she exited the kitchen.

[Minkasha]

Wolfinal, Lemanian


Justice Kolton, Panos Lambros & Vahşi


Led back into the gloomy streets of Wolfinal Vahşi traveled alone spared the hairy blonde man who was leading. As a singular individual he drew more attention from the population as he was looked at with confusion from children and the towering adults. The Fenrisans though kept to themselves, all behavior quiet and tame. Vahşi had been expecting a bit more interest but he didn't mind the others' preoccupation with themselves. Hopefully Kolton would get Panos out of here if he got himself murdered.

Ten to twelve minutes of walking passed till he was taken to a square concrete building that wasn't taller than a story nor longer or wider than fifty feet. Inside, as the door was opened for him, Vahşi saw that it looked like a bar. There were wooden tables and chairs knocked over and propped up to make a large square in the center of the basic layout of the bar. Only a few, thirteen or so, Fenrisans were here including Queen Anadel who laid on the bar to the left of the little 'arena' The people with her were dressed in their gentry clothes as the mundane population ones, spare the exception of one hulking armor wearing, giant bullet gun wielding guard by the door on its inside. When he looked over the large bulky pauldron of his silverish blue armor, he sneered and then smiled with his fangs as a welcome.

The Queen raised a glass in Vahşi's direction.

"I had friends who wanted to see what the little-grown man could do!"

"Always happy to die in front of an audience," Vahşi said, his usual smirk slipping back onto his face. He was no stranger to battling for his life, having done so just a couple days ago, but this was the first time he'd be so outmatched. Though he would never admit it, except perhaps at a much later date, he was starting to feel just a bit scared. Queen Anadel's dulled golden eyes stared at Vahşi, dead inside. She childishly pouted.

"Do be much more fun then you were in the throne room..." She teased the little man with a peek up her dress by pulling open the slit that went up her leg. He had been flashed with her long, auburn-haired legs, and questionably her center, but she had dropped the fabric too quickly to be certain. "I want my little boy to enjoy himself."

A floor hatch was pulled open and two male Fenrisans were dragging up an obscenely tall man of ten feet. He was half naked, arms bound behind him and his chest swallowed in chains. He was also a handsome fellow, with the same cheekbones the family shared. He had an oval shaped face like his mother but with a stronger jaw covered in blonde stubble. His eyes were hooded, his brows still high and thick at the center to thin out mildly by the almost straight messy tips. He was lean despite his great height and well-proportioned.

To Vahşi, the moment he saw him he could also feel a sense of importance come from him as it was also coming from the queen. Queen Anadel laughed and clapped her hands together, alcohol spilling over the side of the glass.

"My little love, why had you to be so stupid and dim-witted to hurt your own mommy?" The chained wolf prince said nothing, growling at the men pushing him forward. The gunned guard at the door had his weapon aimed at the bound captive. "Now, now, I know that this fight seems so unfair! So let's even it!"

The queen laughed, making her friends join her.The tables and chairs were pushed wide open, enough to shove the prince in the impromptu arena after he has been unchained. His muscles neatly outlined through his lightly toned skin. He kept his glare on his mother.

The queen looked at Vahşi again and pulled back the auburn hair that had covered the right side of her face. She teasingly wiggled a foot his way.

"You get a free shot! Simply tell my guardian friend where you'd like a bullet lodged in my little boy and he'll do it! But!" She swished a finger into the air "Don't pick anywhere vital because that would ruin the fun and none of us here would like that!" The other wolf people cheered in agreement.

"And he'll do it!" The falsely cheery voice pushed Vahşi back into another world and time. The pistol grip was rough and cold against his fingers. He angled his body toward the child and held the weapon out in front of him, cupping it in both hands. "One shot and we'll be done," the leader finished in a cheery voice, smiling confidently at the military generals watching them through the glass. He sounded more like a doctor reassuring a child than someone ordering a murder. Vahşi raised the weapon and turned toward the leader before he fired. As always, his eyes closed before he pulled the trigger. When they reopened he was back in the Fenrisan arena.

"I would not so dishonour my opponent," he said. "A long time ago, I was a prince as well. Whether he kills me or not, he has my respect." After all, he doubted the Fenrisan wanted to battle for his life just so a class he was no longer a part of could be amused. Vahşi understood that. Before the humans turned on them, his family had been the rulers of one of the lupian clans. The irony of the situation was not lost on him. "Let's begin." Queen Anadel's son shook his head, moving his wavy blond hair that went to his shoulders.

Queen Anadel sighed and adjusted herself on the bar to lean on her other side. She took another sip of her glass.

"Mmmm, no. Not fun. I'll pick." She looked at the guard by the door and slapped her left knee. A piercing sound came through the room, a bullet flying so fast by Vahşi's face that he felt the heat and speed move his black locks, and went into the man's left kneecap. Through his dress pants the area was exploded with red and the man hissed.

"FUCK!" the wolf prince screamed, going down to his other knee.

"Mmm, that's delightful" Queen Anadel said before waving at Vahşi's direction. Neither of the opponents seemed to have quite the same definition of 'delightful' as the queen. The guard shoved his stinging hot end of his fired gun into the lupian's back to shove him into the arena. Vahşi winched at the heat but moved as directed. "Yesss, my little Love, do put up some good fight against the little-grown man. It would be an insult to your father if you lost."

The blonde hissed. Gritting his teeth as he dug his claw like fingernails into the wooden floor, digging into its thick surface. He looked at Vahşi with ferocity and life in his gold eyes.

"The bigger insult would be his own mother shooting him," Vahşi snapped back. He wished for a moment that he was surrounded by humans rather than Fenrisans, with bodies that broke and bled under claws and fangs. It was the dewanee, the wolf-madness, that the humans had harnessed in their assassins. It was something he was supposed to fight against, Farla had insisted. But Farla wasn't here, and Love was, and Vahşi was angry.

The wolf prince stared at Vahşi and gave a heavy sigh. The lupian's nose was taking in blasts of blood from the bullet wound. The ten foot man looked to be waiting for Vahşi to take the initiative and come to him. The crowd was cheering them on. They wanted them to fight, to bleed.

Vahşi didn't think he would be able to manage to get both himself and Love out of the arena alive. That had always been a problem Before, when lupians had been pitted against each other for human enjoyment or education. Eventually, one either made a mistake that got them killed or stopped caring. Vahşi stepped forward, circling around Love, looking for any weaknesses other than the obvious gunshot wound. A pool of blood began to come from the knee, bent onto the ground so the Fenrisan prince was on both knees. Thus his position was really weak because he would not spread his legs apart into a lower position, making him easy to tip over if Vahşi tried. But basic body mechanics also told Vahşi the man had way longer arms than him and if he wasn't fast enough could get clawed by the man.

Well, what's the worst that could happen? Vahşi thought to himself, eyeing the weakened prince. Imminent decapitation or the like, probably. Oh, fuck it all. Vahşi leaped forward, slipping into wolf form as he did so, and hoped he wasn't about to die. Going for it, Vahşi was oncoming to the alien wolf prince, the blonde's gold eyes never left the lupain as he was oncoming. The crowd was in gasping awe, clapping at Vahşi's magical transformation.

The wolf was small compared to the wolf man on his knees, teeth bared and lunging. But Love snatched him straight from the air with one of his massive hands, gritting his sharp teeth as Vahşi's teeth bit into his forearm. He roared when he shot his other hand up to snatch Vahşi wholly by his coat and slam him sideways onto the ground. Laying on top of Vahşi, the outer world was buried with screams and jeers of the few people in the bar. To the wolf-formed lupian, he felt some of his ribs bruise and his hip hurt from being slammed down so hard.

Heavy breathing entered his wolf ear, prince Love having put his strong well shaped lips up to the side of his skull. Vahşi noticed on one of the forearms pinning him down the same tattooed symbol marked on the spectating queen.

"The man with the gun is my friend. When I throw you at my mother, you kill her."

If the wolf-prince's friend had shot him, he wasn't exactly looking forward to meeting any of Love's enemies. "You got it," Vahşi said, growling the words out. He wasn't accustomed to speaking in his wolf form and the words were a little mumbled but the sentiment was clear. His body tensed in preparation of what may or may not be one of his last acts on earth.

"Crom carry you," Love said into Vahşi's ear before violently rolling his body and slinging Vahşi in the air like an easily lifted sack. Who the hell is Crom? Vahşi wanted to ask, but there wasn't exactly time for that. With the momentum of his roll the wolf man prince flung the black-furred wolf, Vahşi's sight heading straight to Queen Anadel who was still laughing and sipping more of her alcohol from her glass as she laid upon the wooden bar.

The collision of their bodies was awkward as the wolf smacked his head into her abdomen, causing her to scream and roll off the bar. Vahşi went down with her, the eccentric queen and scar-covered wolf spiraling down and crashing on the floor behind the bar from the spectators' view.

The wolf was underneath Queen Anadel, his lupine paws pushed up into her corset and breasts, her neck near his teeth. She smelled of her drink, of a wolf woman's lust, of soap and lingering blood. The beautiful auburn haired queen, the other being in the room to share the same symbol, looking down at Vahşi with a stupor of an expression. She was too drunk to take him seriously, the wolf after all was only half her size. Queen Anadel snorted, not aware of just how easy it would be for Vahşi to puncture her neck with his teeth should he wish to. But the phenomenons of her womanly wiles were starting to sway his judgment. He needed to make his choice quickly, or be taken in by a woman's primal call.

The crowed was gasping, feet moving hurriedly. But with tumultuous force a sudden stream of thunking gunfire began to pour out, silencing all other possible noise in its profanely loud scream of mowing death of those who were once scurrying.

The gunfire brought Vahşi back to his senses. He snarled at his own weakness and lunged up for the queen's throat. For now he was holding back the dewanee but he wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen if he was on a strange planet alone in wolf form with blood in his mouth. Panos was going to kill him if he made it through this.

Queen Anadel screamed with the toothy thrashing of her throat. Vahşi relentlessly took away from the woman's soft but strong neck, making it a meal of gore. His muzzle was soaked, the black fur glistening with her life force. The bloody bits fell out of his elongated mouth and her body rocked with the seizures of death, collapsing by his side when she had tried to push herself off of him. Vahşi didn't bother with the body. Even lupians in the grasp of the dewanee, or pushing the boundaries of it as Vahşi currently was, never touched the flesh of their own kind. Though he nosed at the queen's body to make sure she was dead he kept his mouth closed.

The rapping of bullets turned Vahşi's hearing into a high pitch numbness, hurting his skull. He growled in irritation, his ears flattening against his head. The scent of blood was overwhelmingly strong, as there were a plethora of sources filling his nostrils. His nose depicted a scene of desecration on the other side of the bar. Madness rising in his blood, but leashed by the wariness necessitated by an alien world, Vahşi moved back toward the arena. Love was standing in the middle of the ring, his friend the guard walking toward him. The floor was covered in bullet casings, bodies, and blood. Nobody seemed to be alive. Vahşi returned to his human form and approached Love, wiping the blood from his mouth on his forearm. "Guess this makes you the new ruler," he said casually to Love once he'd cleaned his face as best he could. "So where does this leave me and my friend?"

Prince Love slowly stared up at Vahşi.

"Not that easy," was all he said, his eyes showed how distraught he was. His world of inner emotional turmoil was so strong it was able to overcome his blown out knee. The man in the chunky armor had finally shoved aside the barrier of the 'arena' and now stared at both of them.

"We need to move," the man said. "Our brothers and sisters heard that."

"I know," Love said. The ten-foot-tall young man struggled to stand but managed to do so. He looked over Vahşi to the bar that kept the sight of his mother's corpse from his towering gaze. His lower lip quivered but his expression turned to stone. Turning, he looked at the hatch he had been pulled from. He finally registered Vahşi. "Friend? You're going to have to follow me or get gunned down," he told the smaller wolf-man matter-of-factly.

Vahşi's ears rang with the echos of the gunfire, making everything being taken in a strain for his mind as he had to focus past the sound to truly hear. His hip would heal within a few hours of a good nap, but it ached and his steps were clunky. Wounded and chased by angry people with guns, he though, an expression of disapproval flickering across his face. Just like old times. This episode better turn out better than the last few. He wiped the blood from his hands onto his pants and noticed the mark on his left hand was black again rather than a faded grey. He tilted his hand from side to side for a moment, looking it over, before following Love. Panos was with Kolton, who seemed fairly capable of keeping them safe. For now he had to think of himself first.

[Minkasha]

Wolfinal, Lemanian


Justice Kolton, Panos Lambros & Vahşi

Vahşi followed prince Love down the hatch and through the hidden door in the back of a closet within the stone hallways. The man was hobbling and bleeding terribly, but he said nothing. Not since he had crawled over to see his mother's body, and spent a minute with her before urging Vahşi to follow him. It was clear the man had loved her dearly.

Now they were in an even narrower stone wall, all the while Vahşi following a man whose symbol continued to tether at his senses, an important figure - somehow. The blonde hair he wore kept bobbing with his hobbles. He was sweaty and doing his best to not breathe loudly.

The smell of mildew, and wetness filled Vahşi's nose. The hallway was long, only lit by small, built-in, bulbous, yellow-tinged lights installed sparsely.

When Vahşi finally spoke, he did so quietly. "Love, where are we going? I'm under obligation to my friends to keep them safe and you're dragging me off alone in mysterious underground tunnels." Although Vahşi was sure Justice Kolton would do his best to defend Panos, on a planet like Wolfinal, Kolton wouldn't be able to do much if he was under serious attack. Vahşi had only a slightly better chance at defending them, but it was better than no advantage. His suspicions of Love's motives were an undertone to his words. Love took more steps before he spoke, his blown knee was a disaster to the eyes and nose, but he was going on still. The wolf-prince leaned on the wall with an arm.

"Your single option was coming with me. You were going to be gunned down if you stayed. My friend sacrificed himself for us." At this Love turned his face to look at Vahşi. "My father was the founder of our people, and everything has been shat on. For his legacy, and for Crom, I have to take the throne. My mother was warped somehow...and she was lost already. You gave her mercy and I am thankful for that. I need every hand for revolution."

"You don't have to thank me for that," Vahşi said. "No reason for me to not be merciful. And I'm not complaining about you saving me. But I still have an obligation. Whatever your plans are, I need to know where they leave me and my friends."

Love's golden eyes looked at the ground, carrying sorrow in his expression. Vahşi could easily speculate it was for the loss, the physical loss, of his mother. His knee wobbled and he looked back up to Vahşi.

"Your friends need safe keeping? My revolutionary pack can keep them secure underground." Weakly, Love gestured to the mildewy tunnel they were in now. "And you, I do not know where you come from, but I can smell your kinship. I know you can help us. I saw it in your eyes." Love turned his back to Vahşi, slowly pushing himself off the wall to keep going forward.

Vahşi waited for Love to get ahead of him a few steps before following. "Sometimes I think I don't know where I came from either. But if you need help - if you really want to make things better here - I can help you. Or at least do my best."

"Where are your friends?"

"I don't know. Justice Kolton might have taken Panos back to his ship, but it's more likely that they're still on the ground. There was a man called Jerk that they might have gone to, but I'm not sure." A smile twitched at Vahşi's lips and he added, "I should go with whoever you send to get them. Panos can be a little... difficult, when he's surprised or under pressure." It would have sounded much stranger to come out and say that Panos would probably grapevine somebody, but Vahşi wasn't sure what he said had sounded much better.

"A Justice is in Wofinal?" the wolf-prince asked with a bit of surprise, giving Vahşi a glance over his shoulder and pressing on. He said nothing more about it but the man made small sounds of thought to himself. "To get your friends would have to wait till nightfall. It's the only way my pack can get into the castle, and it is still dangerous then." His bad knee gave out for a moment and he stumbled but recovered quickly.

"I take it you don't often have Justices here," Vahşi said wryly. "It was his ship that picked up Panos and I from the last planet we were on." He wasn't particularly pleased with hearing that they'd have to wait until nightfall but he nodded in acceptance. "Will I be allowed to go with whoever you send?"

Love's head nodded in yes. Vahşi got his answer and followed on.


**

The intermittently lit tunnel finally started take a turn, a long undefined time of walking, another turn. It would have been easy to get lost in here if one did not have a sense of smell. The turns had options, each marked by different men, different scents marking the hallways. Love must have had the scents memorized because he would sniff once or twice and struggle to take himself down that chosen direction. The wolf-prince had quietly left a trail of his blood as their journey went on. His breathing finally turning into panting, but still made no comment about it.

The stone hallway they were in now had a strange inconsistency: there was a rectangular hole half its height in the wall. Love had to duck, Vahşi only had to walk, the top almost grazing the top of his head. It was a half jump down to another half level lower in this underground system.

After the short jump, they were in on the first of a series of small jumps down to a massive square room that must have been the base of their operations. The stone ceiling was at least sixty feet tall and sixty feet long, a warehouse-sized room that was littered with several dozen Fenris, whose sense were sharp. Despite Love's and Vahşi's distance, several were already looking toward them.

The room was chopped up into four sections with black metal shelves shaped like a plus in the center that almost extended out to each wall. This space cut in fours was the each made into small camps as Vahşi saw each section have large and small tents with barrels scattered about, a flame to make flickering blooms of light through the dark expanse.

The scents were various, many men, a few women. Definitely a lot of gunpowder and metal was picked up. Looking at the sets of jumps, Love did sigh before he took his first jump, landing on his legs with a silent shudder. He forced himself through the additional twelve jumps down till they were on the first floor and Love's Fenris came to swarm him. All were ranging in heights over Vahşi's head; he was easily the odd man out, as they were eight to nine and a half feet. They were dressed in more casual cotton garments of various state of cleanliness and sweatiness.

"Welcome him," Love whispered to the six people at his side, being helped off in one direction. An unbecoming young Fenris turned to Vahşi. He had none of the looks of Anadel or her children, and was certainly not comparable to Vahşi, Panos or Kolton. He was tall, but stocky and very hairy with black hair across his body and his arms. He looked nearly feral with how mangy he was, hair down to his shoulder unpleasantly and his face hyper-masculine to the point he look animalistic. He looked like he would be one hell of a fighter, however, wild and without reservation.

His gold eyes showed he wasn't a very controlled man, violent even.

"Welcome," the young man simply said, licking his lips as he looked down at Vahşi and scrutinized him. The others walked off with Love, looking concerned for their leader.

Vahşi had to look up to be able to look the other man in the eyes. "Thank you," he responded simply. It was obvious that the stranger was working with Love, but Vahşi wasn't sure how Fenrisian custom dictated he proceed. Deciding to proceed as he would have with a lupian from his own world, he added, "My name is Vahşi."

"Alf," he said, naming himself in return. He sniffed Vahşi's scent in one more time. "You have the queen's scent on you," he said with a slight lick of his lips in an unreadable, odd, expression.

"The queen requested audience with me when I landed on the planet," Vahşi explained. He didn't think coming right out and saying that he had murdered the queen would be the best way to go. Every revolution had spies in their ranks, it was just the way things went. Alf hadn't proved himself either way yet, and Vahşi was wary. The Fenrisian gave Vahşi a cautious side eye, as if thinking the same thing himself.

He waved his hand for Vahşi to follow, leading Vahşi through the massive stone room to the one of the quadrants where a small camp of tents was. They passed several barrels holding fires burning in their metal chambers. The lupian was taken to a tall tent that was square rather than triangular in shape. Going inside he saw rows of cots, with a tattered pattern of rugs, laid out to give the tent a much warmer floor than the stone.

Now Vahşi saw the women he had smelled. They were five of them, three of them young women and two of them older. They were tending to the children Fenrisian who were the only ones to be shorter than Vahşi. A young man sat with them in a wooden chair, legs spread. He had black hair like Alf, and they shared the same bulky nose, but this young man had better looking features and seemed more put together, beardless and hair kept close to the skull.

"Who's that, Alf?"

"Love's friend."

"He smells of the bitch." The young man crossed his arms defiantly as the women narrowed their eyes on him.

"Something 'bout planet," Alf said, licking his lips. The children giggled and were distracted by wooden toys, a small child being breastfed by a blonde in a rocking chair near the back of the large tent. This group of tall wolf-people looked at Vahşi to see what he would say.

Vahşi decided he'd have to explain things. "I'm from a different planet," he told them. "A Justice picked up my friend and I and brought us here, thinking I belonged under the jurisdiction of your ex-queen. She wanted to welcome me to Wolfinal by forcing Love and I to fight to the death." Might as well explain the rest of it. "Love convinced me to kill her instead." The metallic taste of blood washed across his mouth as he thought of the feel of the queen's throat between his fangs. He swallowed and pushed it away to the back of his mind. "Now I'm here, and if you're worried about me betraying Love, you don't have to be."

"He made the meanie queenie go away?" a small girl asked, sitting on the floor on her bent legs with a little horse in her hands.

The room had gone silent as the adults all looked at each other.

"You killed Queen Anadel?" the man of some relation to Alf asked in disbelief. He gestured to himself. "I am Alfonz. Alf's older brother, and Love's appointed protector of the women and children." He raised his nose up in charismatic exuberance in pride of his title. Indeed he had a bastard sword, which for their great height was much longer than usual, leaning against the chair and a black semi automatic gun of some sort on a wooden table by the chair.

The women shot looks at Alofonz.

"Goodbye,"Alf waved. He licked his lips and walked off. Alfonz narrowed his eyes and then looked at Vahşi with his golden eyes.

"My brother was born off," he explained quickly.

"It's no problem," Vahşi replied. "I've met many a stranger man."

The blonde breastfeeding from her ample, milk-filled chest stared. The baby enjoyed the breast out of the frill of her dress.

"You ended her life?" The women all still seemed in disbelief of Vahşi's claim. While they were indeed taller and probably stronger than Vahşi, it was still noteworthy that the women's physical bodies were still proportional to the men. They still looked softer and weaker than their male counterparts, even if they could slap Vahşi around senselessly. Though these feminine, dress-wearing women did not look trained in any combative way.

"Yes," Vahşi confirmed. He had a feeling this was going to become a pattern whenever he revealed his role in the overthrow. "She wasn't expecting it and I was a wolf. It wasn't much of a fight, but I got lucky. Considering the physical differences between us, I wouldn't have had much chance in an even fight. Without Love's help, it would have been impossible. We worked together and managed to do it."

"Hm," the blonde said, going back to rocking her baby and feeding contently. The two other women, fresh-faced in what Vahşi could guess was their version of early thirties or mid-twenties, giggled. Alfonz took a whiff soon after.

"Oh, that's nice," he said with a very small smirk. It soon after hit Vahşi. It was the pheromone Anadel had released. It was obvious the women of this wolf species had a firm control of the reproductive cycle through these silent cues. It made Vahşi feel a pleasurable tingle, an in innate understanding that these two women were fertile and healthy.

"That is impressive." The brunette was creamy complexioned, full hair to her shoulders with a generous chest. Her womanly scents of fertility were strong. The other woman was also very beautiful, a second blond with wavy hair down to her mid back in straight streaks, with a similar body type. They giggled again.

"What is your name?" the brunette asked.

"What has Love asked you to do now?" the blonde asked, golden eyes on him. Alfonz seemed content taking in the smells with a lopsided smirk on his face, tapping his foot slowly.

"My name is Vahşi," the lupian repeated. "As of now I have no assignment, but after nightfall I'll be accompanying a team of Love's warriors. I have two friends still on the surface of the planet. I owe them a rescue, especially if they're in trouble. Until then I have nothing to do, unless Love asks something of me."

The two women stared at each other and then looked at him again. The two older woman, both late middle age, narrowed their eyes on the young women. It was a look of annoyance.

"Maybe we can give you a tour..." The blonde suggested, though her tone of voice implied more than a tour.

"I'm sure the pleasure of your company would be better enjoyed once my friends are safe," Vahşi replied. He had no idea if this was customary or even allowed, and he hardly wanted to get (literally) caught with his pants down on a planet he had no chance of escaping from without help. On his own in the middle of a strongly armed camp of giants? Making one wrong step could easily be the end of his life, his role in killing the queen notwithstanding. Plus, he was fairly certain Panos would try to murder him for making out with one of the women, even if he was feeling a very strong desire to do so. Regardless of his thoughts, his body had its own ideas, but Vahşi did his best to keep his calm. Spurned, the two women looked away and went to the children, starting to play with them and giving Vahşi a cool shoulder.

Alfonz hummed and got up from his wooden chair, taking in a final primal whiff of the womanly ripe scents. He came closer to Vahşi, the gun put on his hip in one seamless motion. Alfonz's smirk came to quickly end when he was within arm's reach and put a hand on Vahşi's shoulder, the hight difference became all the more obvious side by side.

"You said you had friends...you are kind of diminutive" Alfonz spoke his words slowly, the young man's words surprised as if it had just come to hit his awareness. A lopsided smile came and went, he took in a whiff of Vahşi, as a Wolf he knew the man was trying to get information about him, the man wrinkled his nose a bit but said nothing about it. "Those friends of yours?" Alfonz prompted, leaving the women and children be.

"One is a travelling companion of mine," Vahşi explained, mindful of just how much he was going to share but knowing better than to refuse all information. "The other is more of a friend of my friend than one of my own. He's an acquaintance at best, but it was his ship that brought us here." Although there was probably another way for him to describe Panos and Kolton, that was the most accurate thing he could come up with that didn't require more complicated explanations. Even Vahşi didn't really know everything behind the reasons he'd come to be here in the first place.

Alfonz stared at Vahşi but pulled away and turned his view slightly to the women and children.

"The leader wants you here, you're welcome. Probably want to stay until he calls for you. Until then, got any good war stories? You look like a man whose been around the field."

"Yeah," Vahşi agreed. "I've had a few interesting calls." Alfonz seemed interested, so Vahşi started talking about a random encounter. He wasn't sure if it was one he'd been in or not, but the words came easily and he was familiar with them for some reason.

[Minkasha]

*Trigger warning for allusions of sexual abuse.


Wolfinal, Lemanian


Justice Kolton, Panos Lambros & Vahşi


Alfonz kept Vahşi company, the women keeping their away in the tent; apparently Fenrisian women did not find it arousing to peruse a resistant mate. It hadn't taken long for the fertile females' smells to wither away while Alfonz continued to listen to Vahşi's words with curiosity. He would obnoxiously lean forward on the table and rub his hands back and forth against the wood to keep himself occupied while Vahşi went on.

His mentally deficient brother, Alf continued to frequently visit at intervals no longer than a half hour or at times even sooner. He lamented repeatedly that Prince Love's health was improving and he was healing from the gunshot. Alfonz did not seem bothered by Alf's constant visits, each time they greeted another in the same exact same way.

Alfonz kept trying to pry deeper into Vahşi with questions about his past, curiosity deep in his golden eyes. The lupian didn't go into too much detail but figured it was hardly a good idea to refuse to tell Alfonz anything. He mostly spoke about the more militant parts of his life, when he'd been fighting for some cause or other. Vahşi's internal sense of time was not well attuned to being underground, but gradually the women were beginning to yawn and the children cranky. Both men were kicked out with Alfonz giving the women a deep bow before closing the tent behind him. He stood attentively at the flaps while they stood and talked. Alfonz shared with Vahşi about planet Fenris and how the Xanael were perverse magicians that had somehow weaseled their way in and ruined this place from the inside out.

From what Vahşi remembered, that was through the Queen. Alfonz said she had once been a strong fighter on the inter planet battle, fought with her husband King Leonel using guerrilla tactics. She had been dubbed the 'Ambusher'.

The young man rubbed the back of his head, yawning after he had finished sharing some of the brighter days of the capital. The lupian could smell Love and others approaching and when he turned around he saw Love now in similar bulky battle armor.

His Fenrisan eyes stared at the two of them before the tent. He extended his arm out, the thick black rifle for Vahşi to take. The lupian took it, checking for a safety and what position it was in, before snugging the end of the stock against his shoulder, angling the barrel toward the ground. Guns had always been a human construct rather than a lupian one, but he'd learned to use one early in the days of the conflict on his home world. It was suicide to try to attack gunmen with weapons lesser than the ones they held.

"I cannot promise your friends will be unharmed, but I will promise the honor of attempting to save them. May Father watch over us." He said gravely, the seven men behind him nodded slowly. Alfonz had become uncharacteristically silent around the prince, keeping his head low in some sign of respect.

"I cannot ask for any promises as to their safety," Vahşi agreed. "But thank you for agreeing to try to rescue them." He wasn't all too sure himself that they would find either Panos or Justice Kolton alive, but so far Panos was the only person that had any idea what the marks on Vahşi's skin meant. And besides, the guy hadn't even wanted to come along, not that Vahşi had had any choice himself. This probably counted as kidnapping in a way, the way he'd gotten stuck with Panos, even though he didn't particularly care.

Love shifted where he stood. Vahşi's gaze moved to him, instantly on the alert for some kind of order or action.

"Tunnels are going to lead us through till one block before the castle. I will make sure you get in, from there you need to find your friends by yourself." Vahşi nodded in agreement. "When," the blonde lowered his eyes and cleared his throat, "I take the throne, I will look for you to assist." He gave a commanding gaze to Alfonz. "Get this man oatmeal, it will make for a shit last meal, but it might also be the thing to keep you alive."

Vahşi knew firsthand that that was very likely true. While oatmeal wasn't the best last meal he could have asked for, it was definitely better than nothing. It didn't take long for him to eat and then they were on their way.


**

Traversing through the tunnels beneath the city the lights had been dangerously irregular - black patches of hallway for many steps. But Vahşi simply had to follow the eight men stepping with hard metal steps against the tan stone bricks. None of them had been talkative, Love taking the charge. Vahşi could increasingly feel himself getting closer to Panos, his senses smelling more of the world above as they used ladders to rise levels in this underneath world. The air was cool, Vahşi could smell it through the different floral smells that the daytime had, more grassy.

Shoving the sewer lid off, moonlight and chill shot down onto all of them. The leader of the pack grabbed the dark metal of the ladder. Together the pack took a whiff, Love paused. Vahşi tensed slightly, wondering what was wrong. He couldn't sense anything out of the ordinary but he wasn't at all used to this planet so that didn't say much.

"No one at the gates," he said morosely. Vahşi hardly found that to be a problem but he said nothing..

"That wouldn't happen," a man said skeptically but sniffed again. Even Vahşi couldn't smell any odors to belong to the Fenrisians.

Another man rolled his shoulders, the rest shared glances. The tall blonde gritted his teeth and began to climb. Vahşi followed him, using his heightened senses to search for any potential danger.

Diving through the cracks of the masonry buildings, the men huddled to the rough walls, in their vision was the gloomy castle with its double doors slightly open and no one attending. Love narrowed his eyes, thinking deeply.

"Is something wrong?" Vahşi asked, keeping his voice quiet. In the gleam of moonlight, the city of Wolfinal surrounding the castle was eerily silent, all surfaces drowned in a blue hue of night light.

The prince stared seconds longer before responding.

"My brother wouldn't be so stupid," Love told Vahşi, raising his gun. He gestured them forward, away from the ally of two homes to begin crossing the masonry street. While the men tried their best to be quiet and calculated, metal against brick was still audible for all of them - the lupian races had sharp hearing. It created a tension, nearing the double doors and knowing full well that any within the entrance hallway would hear them. Vahşi made sure the safety of his rifle was off and stepped off to the side of the group so he could bring his rifle up. If anyone came out from the doors he'd have a shot at them without a member of the group getting in the crossfire.

However, the nearer to the metal doors they came - new scents were birthing in their nasal cavities: first was blood and plenty of it, the second was a delicate flowery scent that held within its perfume a springy kick. Like spring, elegant and drawing.

The men paused before pushing the doors open, no footsteps. Whiffing the eight men looked at each other, compelled to continue to experience this blood soaked drenched smell of bliss. Vahşi searched the area he could see, looking for enemies, and saw nothing. That didn't mean much since he was so much shorter than the others but his nose was more accurate than his other senses and he still suspected nothing. With all the blood, though, it was hard to know for sure.

"It is beautiful..." One of the other seven remarked, closing his eyes to filter out his other senses - reaching for it past the gouging amounts of blood hanging onto the scent.

"It is not Lemanian..." Love said hesitatingly, but smelling again himself, raising his nose towards the doors. Vahşi knew all too well what smell that was, beyond the layers of blood which he could confirm wasn't from the person of suspect, the scent was Panos'. The blood must have been spilt Fenrisan.

"It's one of my friends," Vahşi cut in. Hopefully Panos would still be alive, although with all the blood he could smell, Panos was very likely wounded. Sidestepping around one of the Fenrisans, he took a cautious step, easing forward a little at a time but staying quiet. He knew better than to call out when he didn't know what was in store for them. From the bond Vahşi shared with Panos and his companions somewhere off in this galaxy, he could feel Panos was above him, the second floor and somewhere to the right.

Stepping in the castle, he slid between the parted metal doors, as they were too large and too loud to move. His vision was greeted with a castle guard laying down the hall on the right, dead. The smell of Panos was both down the right and left hall - but, the smell of Prince Jerk was down the left hall. But without knowing the layout more than what he had seen before of this square castle, it was also going to be a guess where the access of the stairs would be.

The Fenrisans came in after Vahşi.

"Another coup?" One of the men asked stupefied, staring at the corpse.

Love growled.

"No one else would stand against the crown, this is shit." He looked left, sniffing. "My brother." The blonde man spat, raising his hand he gestured down the left, his men going in formation. He gave Vahşi a final look. "I will pray for your friend," he said softly, whiffing in the air and going down the direction.

"Thank you," Vahşi replied. He wasn't much of a religious person but he figured Love was only trying to be nice. Since Love and his men were going toward the left, Vahşi took the right-hand corridor. Between not knowing what was ahead of him and being on his own, he kept the rifle up and ready for action. Without the knowledge of the castle's layout he could only hope that he found some way of getting to the second floor before anything happened to Panos.


**

Vahşi stalking down the former queen's halls, he was able to focus past the scratch marks that marred the walls. Blood hadn't been seen down the length of the right hall, nor were there any doors. He had no choice but to go forward down the narrow, red carpeted walkaway. When the first turn came, a left, the blood struck again.

More corpses, more of the men that should have been attentive at their posts. They were in various states of armor, one of the three bodies naked in nothing but the lower legging and footwear of the bulky armor that was scattered bout. In their hands were Panos' vines and gently glowing grapes, their dead expressions happy or maddening depending on how wide the smiles were, froze expressions. Panos' scent perfumed this hall, but it was a tease - the vines smelled exactly like him. In reality the bond showed Panos to be above him.

Vahşi didn't understand the expressions on the corpses' faces, but he wasn't about to go poking among the bodies to check things out. Panos had obviously killed them, or at least his vines had, so he kept moving on. They could deal with the bodies later, in whatever way Love's people were accustomed to dealing with the bodies of their dead.

To the right, past the corpses among the royal home was a spiral staircase going up, straight ahead would vaguely be what led him to either the throne or the courtyard - assuming his memory was correct. Vahşi went up it, keeping his gun at the ready in case something happened.

Oddly, as he narrowed himself to the stairs a whiff of Justice Kolton's blood from down the hallway came and went, and as he traveled up the steps his sensitive hearing began to pick up maniacal laughter of at least four different male voices. Their words were nonsensical, delirious with ever shifting pitches and howls of pleasure. They were in constant motion, the shifting sounds of metal and cloth. Vahşi paused for a moment, trying to figure out what was happening, but no explanation came to mind so he continued, albeit with more caution than before. Even though he was probably closing in on Panos, the fact that there were other voices that apparently belonged to insane people was not very comforting.

Ending the small spiral up, from the doorway he saw the entire hall these men had been through was littered with broken glass and Panos' vines. Shards and grapes lined with irregular fragments of what may have once been dishware lingered between the Fenrisan men's feet. But they seemed so oblivious, so joyous, that even as one of the men twirled around in the nude, his feet having light cuts, none of them stopped. Guns were in their hands, but they had become more like toys than anything else. Beyond them, past a redwood square door, Vahşi felt Panos' presence, and his scent was strong now. The men were too loud, blocking any sound he may have gotten from the room.

Vahşi had to stop and stare. Of all the strange things that he had seen, this was by far the strangest. He kept his rifle at the ready but otherwise he was completely caught off guard by the sight. It was obvious that Panos was in the room behind him, so Vahşi readied his rifle and started walking through the hall, intent on getting through the hall even if he had to shoot his way to the door. His steps were cautious, when he approached them, the functionless group, he paused - nothing happened. They trotted slowly, one in circles, the other three in back and forth lines.

Sickly, their chuckles, smiles, and laughs made an off putting display of happiness tipped over the extreme, pouring out to levels of the unnatural - golden eyes glazed over with joy. Vahşi had no idea what had happened to him but hoped he would run into no more of it. Gore and torture he could deal with, but unnatural happiness was something he had absolutely no experience with. He didn't like being faced with things he didn't know how to handle.

Shoving one aside, the tall man simply slumped down the wall in his battle suit, Vahşi stopped just before the door. Another feminine smell came into his nose - a female Fenrisian was inside and he could smell her blood to be heavily split as it came in a wave of sensation. The smells of musk - sex, merged disgustingly only starting to paint a very grim picture. There was also a man, a strong Fenrisan man inside. His scents were similar to Prince Jerk's, but not exact.

"Come inside, I have a gun aimed at the lovely non-lady's head." A jovial and low voice teased Vahşi as he stood outside the door.

Vahşi had only an incomplete idea of what had happened in the room, but he was sure that Panos had managed to get himself into a hell of a lot of trouble. Where had Kolton been during all of this? Dead or imprisoned, Vahşi guessed, although it was totally possible that he'd run and gotten himself back to his ship so he could flee the system. He wasn't quite sure he actually wanted to go into the room, but he double-checked the safety of his rifle and stepped inside, keeping his rifle at the ready.

As the door creaked open, the smells only hit harder in a flowery ill that cocooned his nose. There was so much tragedy and moral depravity within the room it was hard to pinpoint a single location of where to look. A beautiful bedroom consisting a generously sized fur covered bed was giving comfort to the woman adorned in a white nightgown. She was certainly one of Anadel’s children, nearly having her face – a little more masculine brow line, laid with her arms and long auburn hair flaied out in what looked to be the ends of a struggle far too done for Vahşi to attempt to change.

She was dead. The white nightgown dyed in layers of red from the center of the chest and bled out in a large circle each direction. Her Fenrisan eyes hadn’t been shut, the young moon shaped face was void of any peace in death. Tears stained her pale cheeks. Vahşi's gaze only lingered on her body a moment past the moment he realized she was dead. The purpose and manner of his death didn't matter to him, since he couldn't do anything about it, but he should probably tell Love about what had happened here.

The weapon that must have been the thing to take her life was now within the hands of a massively tall Fenerisan man. Anadel’s pack was a good looking sort, this man with long red wavy hair all the way to his mid back, it was thick and masculine as waves were folded over to a side and strands fell down in front of his face. His cloth vest was a mess, gray and half unbuttoned to reveal his strong body – a massive man of eleven feet of height, Vahşi calculated. His pants looked hastily put back on as the dark cotton breeches were not tied properly, but he stood confidently with a long meat cutting knife. His golden eyes were reminiscent of the queen’s: the same detached mischievousness but his burned with mania as his pupils were strikingly small, beady and honed wildly. He was very much there while his mother had never been, he was in this moment wildly, breathing heavily and on the verge of laughter. Vahşi instantly knew that he was going to be trouble, especially if he lost his rifle.

In his other hand a nearly grape-barren vine was held in his hand with shaking gravitas.

“I…am…greater than all the gods! The God-King will be meeeeeee!” He hissed, teeth bared and hungry. Vahşi had no idea how to respond to that. He was, however, completely certain at this point that the Fenrisan was crazy.

Then there was Panos, behind this man. The change of several hours had been drastic, he was now wearing a sky blue corset dress that would have seamlessly made his image the same womanly visage Vahşi had seen him with when he first laid his eyes on him had it not been so raggedly torn to the point one half of the chest was peeled to show the boy’s flat chest. He, and the dress, were ravaged, many of the blue ribbons tied on its frill layers around the legs were scattered over the floor, claw marks took many of those frills away and underneath Panos was a small pool of blood – surely his. His legs were drawn close, crossing, small feet curled – arms were held up by chains and cuffs that were too short for him to let them down. His pale skin was stamped with bruises down his forearms, wrists, across his collarbones.

Panos was silent, his head down so his exotic balanced hair hid much of his face. His shoulders quaked weakly with obvious misery. Vahşi figured that as long as he wasn't dead, there was a chance of them getting out of here alive. Or at least mostly alive. Panos was obviously injured and scared, so Vahşi didn't think he'd be any help at all as far as taking down the Fenrisan went, but it was better than finding him dead.

The man raised the vine to eat a grape, rolling his eyes back and humming sweetly with every succulent chew.

He did not have a gun as he had proclaimed.

Vahşi knew how to handle crazy people who potentially wanted to kill him. Facing such a person who had a friend of his captive, well, that was an entirely new scenario. He hadn't been very interested in getting friends throughout his lifetime, with the notable exception of Farla. Panos was weaker than any of the people Vahşi had fought alongside before, and that did nothing to help either of them. "Where did Kolton go, Panos?" he asked, keeping both eyes and his rifle on the Fenrisan. "Is he still on the planet?" All instincts told him to just kill the taller man and be done with it, but he needed to know if he had to get someone else out of trouble, and Panos had never been particularly coherent after watching Vahşi murder someone.

The Lambros shuddered at the mention of his name, but any response greater did not seem possible for him now. Vahşi probably shouldn't have expected anything else but it would have been helpful if Panos had been capable of giving him more information.The Fenrisan however smiled his fangs at Vahşi and answered with, "Unfortunately his wings were plucked". As far as the lupian was concerned, that meant he was dead or as good as. The meat cutting knife was quickly raised, commanding presence several feet in the air above the wolf man.

Vahşi instantly fired, a bullet striking the Fenrisan in the shoulder before the bullets swept up to mar his throat and face. The bloody mess and screaming thunder of his rifle came together in a fit of death, knocking over the tower of eleven foot tall flesh. The red headed wolf man fell face first upon the bedroom floor. The body never let go of the vine clutched in its fist. He paused for a moment, alert and wary, before dropping the angle of the weapon's barrel toward the floor and approaching Panos. Since he was wearing what amounted to half a dress, Vahşi figured he'd have to find something for him to wear, but given the height of the planet's native population, it was probably going to end up literally being the shirt off Vahşi's back. Now that there was no immediate threat presented, Vahşi's focus turned to the chains. "I'm going to get these off you and then we're going to leave. If something happens you need to find Love and tell him you're the friend I was here to rescue." He rather doubted that any of this was getting through to Panos, so he flipped the safety of the rifle on in case of accidents and leaned it against the wall before reaching to finger the chains.

Panos' vision was blurring white and searing bright, turbulent between the forms of chaos taking his mind. He felt nearly non-existent, nothing. The cold of the cuffs was gone, the heat of his innards that had been forced open was gone, the sound of his own cries and yells to stop had been gone for some time already. Everything was no longer with him - his body was gone to him.

"...Shame..." Panos' voice weakly whispered, a taunting of consciousness and an unveiling of a dead soul trapped inside a body stripped of dignity. Vahşi was able to twist the locks of the cuffs, Panos' hands crashing to the ground. Slowly they raised to hold himself across his bruised and half exposed chest. His skin was sweating, legs pulling in even more, turning his body into a shrinking vessel of suffering.

Everything was freezing, but nothing was cold. His brain was dreadfully exhausted...it couldn't...wouldn't...tell Panos what happened. But it was replaying so vividly, that his mind also seemed unable to tell him that it was over.

Panos reeked of the man's sexual emissions and the blood under Panos was of both a dried and wet texture.

Vahşi picked the rifle back up and flipped the safety off. Since Panos wasn't chained up any more, the lupian's common sense told him they should be getting out of here, but Panos was hardly in any state to walk out the door with him. He checked the room over again before searching through the wardrobe for something small enough to fit Panos. Nothing showed itself so he went back to his original plan. Leaving the rifle on the bed, Vahşi pulled his shirt off and went back over to Panos and crouched down next to him. "You need to get changed and then we need to leave," he told him. "The sooner we get out of here, the sooner I can get you somewhere nobody can hurt you." As he extended his hand, he felt a tingle of his forearm. Giving it a glance he saw the symbol that had once been on Queen Anadel and on Prince Love's, and his own hand was now placed near the bottom of the forearm. Mercury, Venus, Mars and now Cronus, so Panos had called it.

Even in his state, the Lambros was forced to look at the call of the symbol finding its way on his forearm, pulling it away from his torso just for a moment before embracing himself again. Panos turning his head cautiously Vahşi's direction, his sapphires gracefully broken, red and raining without a cringing wrinkle of ugliness to sully his face. But his gaze was pained.

Panos had the anger towards Vahşi fucked out of him hours ago, now when he saw this man he saw only the fact that this had truly happened and it was not a painful dream. He would want death now if he had confidence the river would take his soul...but this...the gods...did the gods...did they...?

"...The pain..."

"I know it hurts," Vahşi agreed. "But the fact that you're still here means that you were stronger than anything he did to you. As long as you're alive, there's hope for something better. No matter what happens there will be someone who will take care of you. Right now that's gonna be me. Are you okay with me helping you get changed?" He really didn't want to startle Panos in his current condition and get grapevined again, but they really did need to get moving. Vahşi was hardly equipped to be a caregiver, but there was doubtless someone who could help Panos more than he could back at Love's camp. The youth's level of physical and psychological shock didn't seem to allow Panos to process the question. He shivered and stared at Vahşi.

Coming from down the hall the lupian did not need super hearing to hear the blast of bolt gun firing that must have killed the crazy men in the hallway - bodies dropping echoing. Because of the rank and pleasant smells coming from Panos and the room it was impossible to use his nose to figure out the gunman.

Vahşi paused just long enough to realize he couldn't figure out who was out there. He immediately got up, leaving his shirt next to Panos, and snatched the rifle up from the bed, checking to make sure the safety was off and moving between Panos and the door. The other was obviously in no position to be of any help or do anything so whatever happened next was going to be up to Vahşi. Given the situation he was more than happy to shoot whoever came through the door if he didn't recognize them, but he hoped it would be Kolton or one of Love's men, although he doubted it. He was in luck, hopefully, as who came through the door was indeed one of Love's men.

The man took the scene in absolute horror.

"Princess Talia....Prince Erlingur..." The Fenrisan whiffed the air and stared at Vahşi and Panos behind. Clearly he did not know what to make of the situation, blood coating much of the room from bed to floor. But he eventually glared at the vine in the redhead's dead hand and then looked at Panos again. "The witch got what she deserved," he said harshly to Panos, giving Vahşi a questioning glare and turning. "If that is your friend, it is going to be better if you leave sooner than later," he said and walked out of the room.

Vahşi didn't respond to anything the Fenrisan said. If it weren't for the fact that both his and Panos's lives depended on staying in Love's good graces, he would have been sorely tempted to shoot the other for his words. As it was he let it go, guessing they'd be out of here without much delay, whether it was on their own or because of the symbols on their arms.

"Panos, we've got to go," Vahşi said, leaning the rifle against the wall. "I'm going to help you get changed." Truth be told, he'd probably be doing all the work, but at the moment he didn't want to risk setting Panos off and getting hurt. The Fenrisans didn't seem very inclined to treat Panos nicely, if the one that had just left was any indication. He carefully put a hand on Panos' shoulder so he could turn him around to get a better idea of how the dress was supposed to come off. The prince flinched at Vahşi's touched and stared at him with a jolting gaze of fear - silence between them.

Vahşi felt a little guilty at scaring Panos like that, but they did need to be on the move. "I'm not going to hurt you," he told him quietly, trying to not look directly into his eyes. While he was mostly oblivious about how he was supposed to handle a trauma victim, he knew instinctively that taking an obviously dominant role and posture wouldn't help things. He tried to touch Panos as little as he could as he untied the back of the dress. Black lacing was carefully plucked, the joined ends of the corset slowly coming undone from the top down. Spreading apart, sheen covered pale skin was being revealed, slipping down the shoulders.

Every inch gained of taking off the garment made Panos' body more engrossed with goosebumps - as if Panos was expecting impending doom once it was taken off him. Vahşi could tell the Lambros was uncomfortable with what was happening, but they didn't have many other options. If he stayed in the dress he was going to get more strange looks, and it would probably be an invitation to the looser of Love's men to try the same. While the lupian was always up for a fight, he'd rather not have to go up against a company of Fenrisans considering their superior size and strength. Eventually he was a step away from getting the dress untied. Naked, Panos was left exposed to Vahşi seeing what the sum total of what happened to him. Panos continued hiding his body, legs and arms crossed, his shaking view stared at Vahşi. The lupian could see he was starting to fall in and out of consciousness.

"I...scared..." Panos whispered, his mind could not endure surrendering its awareness, the blackness was creeping in to take him away from the troubles of his physical self.

"Yeah, that'll be hard to get through," Vahşi said. "But you're gonna make it." He pulled the shirt over Panos' head and started searching around for some kind of pants that would fit him. Ideally he'd be able to find the Lambros' old clothes somewhere, but that hardly seemed possible so he started looking through the dresser nearby. Filled inside were finely stitched long-johns, cotton under layers and other button ups. The room must have belonged to one of the prince's, presumably the one dead and full of bullets on the floor.

The dead Fenrisian's equally dead sister must have been over eight feet tall herself, making her bloody nightgown ill fit as well. Though Vahşi was able to find raw fabrics on the bottom layer of the dresser. Where Panos' robe might have been, clearly wasn't going to be discovered.

As the lupian was shifting through the dresser he heard a thud, turning he saw Panos fall over on his side - modesty kept by his limbs, unconscious on the floor. Vahşi sighed at how much harder things had just gotten, but there wasn't much he could do about it since Panos was already out cold on the floor. He grabbed a couple pieces of fabric after sorting through them for the plainest ones that would be long enough, and went back over to Panos. With no other options, he'd have to tie one around Panos' waist. Going around half-naked was not an option, especially given what had just happened. Vahşi just hoped that Panos wasn't going to come to halfway through Vahşi dressing him and try to murder him. The lupine was swift, getting the white silk fabric dressed around Panos waist. But as long as Vahşi lingered in his room his senses would be surrounded by death and savagery.

While Vahşi was no stranger to being in bloody surroundings such as his current ones, he needed to get Panos out of there. He had very little idea of what had happened in the room as far as specifics went, but he'd gotten the bigger picture easily. Justice Kolton's ship undoubtedly had some kind of medical bay on it, so that was where he needed to take Panos, and as quickly as possible. The longer they stayed on the planet, the more they risked running into one of Love's men, or the prince himself. He managed to get Panos off the floor and over his shoulder without hurting him, and he adjusted his grip to make sure he wouldn't fall before leaving the room.

The hallway was littered with the men Vahşi had seen before - dead. Their deaths looked carefully calculated as their bullet wounds had been through the skull and their bodies shoved to the side of the hall to clear the walkway. The vines that had been with them were taken. Vahşi was highly suspicious of that, but had no desire to stick around and figure things out. He guessed it was Love's soldier that had killed the men, which he had no problem with as he'd likely have had to do it himself to get Panos out. The fact that the vines were missing worried him slightly, but he didn't think the Fenrisians would be able to do anything with them.

Coming back down the stairs, Vahşi's nose flared with Justice Kolton's blood in the far distance of the hall, down the direction he hadn't been since entering the castle a second time. The smell of Love's men and the man himself marked the hallway. When Vahşi had taken his final step down the windy decent and out to the hallway there was on one to guide him. He had to choose: go out of the castle with Panos and figure it out himself - only knowing where the winged golden ship of the Valkyrie was, or, go to the men who seemed most likely to maim or harm Panos as he seemed to have a strange connection to the things that happened to the men of this castle.

Vahşi hesitated, glancing down the hall toward the scent of Love and his men. While he hardly needed to anger the new ruler of the planet, he'd have a lot to answer for if Panos got hurt. Huffing in irritation, he hefted Panos into a slightly more comfortable position over his shoulder and started toward the last place he'd seen Justice Kolton's ship. Although he didn't know if it was still there, at the moment it was his only chance of getting off-planet.


**

Going back through the capitol was a vast experience apart from the one before. Word must have spread about the change of power because the populace had come out in jubilation. Vahşi's ears hummed with ringing through the collage of cheering - a great deal of the population had come out of their solemn homes to fill the walkways, dance and pass bottles of alcohol. The spirit of revolution swept fast within the castle-watched city.

While Vahşi was trying to make it back to the gates with wounded Panos over his shoulder, an assault bolter rifle in his other hand in primal leather armor - he was bound to get looks. The mix of blood and flowery scents first drew in random people among the main channel that led from the castle straight to the gates. They stared hard - unsure what to make of it, deciding if to intervene or not.

For most, Vahşi was able to simply walk through, being such a small man he now had a presence among them and was able to part them by his being's attendance alone. The smells of perfumed blood drawing people's eyes but repulsing them from him.

He walked through the crowds of towering wolfish gentry for over a half hour - seeing the Justice's bird-like ship still sitting on a landing pad atop the gates when drunken men came over with their suit jackets half undone and their faces sheepish. Vahşi had almost thought that he'd be able to get through the crowd without issue, but it didn't seem like that was going to happen now.

"What do you have there with you? Who's she?" The pack of three, eight foot men were laying against the steps against the gate - with the city wide crowd only a few feet behind Vahşi. His nose told him that these were men from Love's hidden base below as he could smell the tunnels off of them. If it weren't for Panos with him, he'd have been more than happy to make a break for it, but with an unconscious person over his shoulder, that was not the way to do things.

"Love gave me permission to get my friend," Vahşi said. "This is her. She got hurt inside the palace and I'm taking her to the ship that brought her here. It has the kind of medical equipment that she needs." The men raised metal cups of alcohol in their own individual paces to their mouths to swallow gradually.

"She smells really good." The Fenrisian tracing his fingers along the stone and closest to the starting of the steps said with a slow drawn out tone of his voice. If there was anything that Vahşi was not in the mood for, it was a couple of Love's men looking for trouble. On his own he would be fine, but with Panos as dead weight, he didn't want a fight.

"Smells as if something happened to her." The middle one adjusted his collar and stared at Vahşi. Now that he lingered in one spot longer than passing the scents of blood and fading semen must have reached their noses. "You have a funny way of treating your friends." The taller wolf man licked his lips and narrowed his eyes aggressively. "I do not think Love would appreciate that kind of treatment and this is his kingdom now."

"I wasn't the one that did it to her," Vahşi defended himself. "She was like this when I found her in the palace." Things would be so much easier if it was just one Fenrisian. He would have been able to dump Panos on the ground long enough to kill the taller one or knock him out. With three facing him, though, he didn't have much chance of doing that. Vahşi was stared at long and hard by the men, holding against Vahşi's strong stance till finally the man in the middle looked at him with disgust and walked off. The other two noticed his leaving and quickly followed him away.

Vahşi gave a sigh of relief and moved on as quickly as he could. Panos didn't seem to have had any difference in his condition since the two of them had left the palace, but that didn't really mean anything since the Lambros was still unconscious.

When Vahşi stepped up to before the golden winged space vessel, a golden ray emerged from an eye shaped metal hole that had shown itself from the bottom of the ship's tail end. The end result became the gradual letting down of the stairs that led back into the ship. The lupian entered and the steps closed behind him, slowly sliding up with a quiet hiss and thudding of rejoining metal. Remembering the right room was the bedroom, Vahşi walked up the small three steps and down the white hall on the right side of the entrance to enter the new room.

On the left side was a white lit table with a golden panel attached to it, the table against the wall and caved in by golden cabinets that appeared handle-less. Their expanse the length of the wall with their square shape of various sizes. On the right were surface areas and furnishings for cooking.

'Charges of the Justice are welcome to emergency equipment.' A female robot voice came from above, several squares on the left glowing a neon vibrant gold. 'Justice Kolton's status remains critical. Emergency flight to Valkure will embark soon.'

Vahşi had no idea what or where Valkure was, but if they got off the Wolfinal, they probably wouldn't end up anywhere more dangerous. Kolton had seemed to be part of some kind of peacekeeping initiative, so while Vahşi was hardly a candidate for a peaceful life, they should at least be able to get help for Panos. "Did you say Justice Kolton is alive?" he asked, depositing Panos' body on the table with the golden panel. Unfamiliar with medbays though he was, it looked like his best bet. Panos' weight on the table provoked another scan, this one going over Panos' body. Red flashes appeared on the panel and it spoke of deep hemorrhaging and signs of blunt trauma in golden - blocky letters.

'Yes. Justice Kolton is currently experiencing the conditions of: severe blood loss, and undetermined limb detachment. 'Undetermined' sounded sketchy to Vahşi, but this was hardly the time to get into a discussion about it. 'His critical status has been alerted to all Justices. Please give patient feeding tubes of fluids.'

Some of the boxes lit up brightly, indicating which ones he should touch. Vahşi really hoped that he wasn't expected to figure out what he was supposed to choose. That was far outside his skill set. Fortunately the boxes opened on their own and displayed versions of IV bags.

'I will guide you though the steps to help the patient, we are beginning flight.'

Vahşi could feel the ship begin to move as the followed the voice's instructions. A couple times he had to wait for the ship's movement to stabilize before he could continue with his work on Panos. Eventually the movement evened out and a mechanical voice announced that they had left the planet's orbit and the time it would take to get them to Valkure.

[Azazeal849]

As Cal turned the pages of the zodiac book, Gina couldn't help but notice that the younger girl flinched and flexed her hand.

"Are you alright?" she asked, putting down her fork.

Cal flushed, looking down at her scorched palm. "When I was cooking..." she responded, her voice low, "I didn't know about the box with the fire inside. It burned me."

"You twit." Gina said, the corners of her mouth tugging upwards. Then she frowned. "Let me see."

She hmm'd as she looked at the slightly reddened skin on Cal's palm.

"It doesn't look too bad." she said after a moment, "Come on, let's get it under some cold water."

She trotted back through to the kitchen and ran the tap, letting Cal hold her hand under it while she refilled the wide, shallow bowl they had previously been using to clean Cal's bruise.

"How did you manage that anyway?" she asked.

"Well I couldn't just ask them how it worked!" Cal retorted, a little defensively.

Gina caught herself. "True." she admitted. "Sorry. I forgot that maybe you don't have kitchen hobs in Serroc..."

"Hobs?" Cal glanced at the box again. So that's what it's called. She shook her head. "No. How do they get the fire inside it? How do they keep it burning, with no way to put wood inside?"

"It's electric." Gina replied.

Silence.

"Ah." Gina said, and wondered how best to explain it. I probably should have guessed after she didn't know what a phone was. Crap, I never did like physics. "Er...the same stuff as lightning, just less powerful. It flows through a coil underneath the ring and heats it up."

She looked at Cal's hand again before letting her immerse it in the bowl. "It'll sting for a while, but hopefully it won't blister up too much. We could try putting that cream the cat-lady gave us on it?"

"Good idea." Cal smiled, then frowned thoughtfully. "These cat-people - they're strange, aren't they? The kittens are, anyway. They seemed suspicious, when I burned my hand. But then the next moment, they were fine, happy again."

"I expect they trust you." Gina offered.

The princess gave a disappointed sigh. "I don't think I'm very good at this nurturer business. I tried to find out something more about why we're here, but I guess they're not used to their carer asking them so many questions. They know you two, though," She gestured with her dry, unburned hand, in the direction of the next room where Manisha still sat. "But I don't know why, or who you're supposed to be."

"I think we should look for mine and Manisha's houses next." Gina said, leaning up against the kitchen counter as Cal soaked her hand. "We might find another zodiac sign, and if nothing else we'll have a better handle on who we are here. Unless you've got any better ideas?"

Cal shook her head again. "No, you're right," she agreed. "The children might know where you live."

The tugging feeling, the attachment the three shared to Vahsi and the prince, wherever they were, niggled at her thinly, as though it were a slim cord stretched over a long distance.

"Maybe we'll find some clue about where Vahsi ended up, too."

Back in the sitting room Taar and Mita were busily eating the fish and licking their paws clean, while Manisha seemed to be trying to resist making adoring noises. Her face hardened when Gina entered, and she started to stare down at her plate instead, eating mechanically. Biting her cheek as she sat down to her own plate, Gina thought she might as well ask the question that she and Manisha had come up with earlier.

"So, kids, how are you getting on with just you and Cal here?"

The kittens gave her the feline equivalent of a funny look.

"It has always been just us and Nurturer." said Mita, who appeared to be the more observant and assertive of the two.

"I know," Gina said lightly, trying to gloss over the error. Perhaps the too-tall drawer in Cal's bedroom was just designed with Bayn'gul in mind, rather than short-arse humans. "I mean, what have you been up to?"

"We are happy." Taar said as he licked his paws clean. "Koolkal made us tired in hunting practice today."

"That's good!" Gina said, nodding and smiling. "The harder you work at it, the faster you get better."

She stopped to chew a forkful of the spiced fish, and decided to try a different tack.

"This is really good, Cal, thanks." she said before turning back to the two young Bayn'gul, "I remember the first time I had Cal's fish...do you remember when we first got here?"

Mita's ears cocked forward. "It was fun being so little, then being given to Nurturer. Nurturer always made delicious fish."

Mita's tone quietened as she spoke to Gina about Cal, and both kittens' ears began to flutter again. Seeing that they were uncomfortable, or perhaps that the questions weren't appropriate for her as-yet-undetermined relationship with them, Gina decided not to press them any further.

"She certainly does." she agreed, standing up and picking up the empty plates to take back to the kitchen. She paused and looked at Cal and Manisha. "Hey, this is a bit random, but do you guys mind if I have a shower before we head out again?"

When Manisha seemed interested in the fact that there was a shower available, Gina let her go first. She hoped that the small dose of normality would help their new companion's nerves, even if Gina's own interactions with her remained strained for the time being.

When Gina's turn came she kept the water cool, to help keep away the tiredness that was starting to come over her. By the time of the Greek palace they had left it was coming on for late evening, while here it still seemed to be the middle of the day.

Despite its other modern conveniences the house seemed to lack a hair drier, so she simply wrung out her wet hair and pleated it up before climbing back into her brown robe. When she got back downstairs the others were already waiting. Cal had put the Bayn'gul ointment on her hand and face, and her bruised cheek was already looking less black. Gina packed the zodiac book into a woven satchel that Cal had found in her room, and added a number of the red flowers from her basket - just in case they needed to trade something a second time. She stopped the flowers from getting crushed by putting them inside a box from the kitchen, which appeared to be made of something more or less like Tupperware.

Without any better pretext to get Taar and Mita to lead them to Gina's own home in the village, she and Cal suggested to the children that they race.

"We are going to race...?" Mita purred, pursing her lips.

"Yeah, I gueth." Manisha said, cautiously eyeing Gina and Cal as they stepped back outside. Her brown hair was heavy against her shoulders from her recent shower.

Two hours had passed since the girls had gone inside, and the sun was only a silver over its peak, eastbound. Gina looked up at it for a moment when she noticed the seemingly backwards direction of travel. I guess Kysmaet must spin the other way. Regardless, the world around continued to live on, the market filled with Cat-People - or Bayn’gül as they had now all learned from Gina's books.

"Mhm...?" Taar agreed with his sister, though he looked hesitant about it too. Their feline eyes met Gina and Cal's encouraging smiles. Manisha scratched her nose. The Bayn’gül children clutched their hands and ran back down to the dirt thoroughfare, taking a right and rushing through the market.

"Lets not lose them." Gina said, as she took off after the two at a slightly awkward run. She was a good track runner, but not quite so good in sandals and a loose robe, with the unbalancing weight of the zodiac book thumping along in her shoulder-satchel.

Trying to keep Taar and Mita in sight as they tore off through the market, Gina couldn't help noticing that the other Bayn’gül didn't seem particularly pleased by the undignified display. The adults were swishing their tails with irate expressions as they looked down at the children, rushing through the scattered market shoppers. Hisses quietly seethed from their lips.

"Sorry!" Gina called out as she weaved past them.

Cal was a little way behind the redhead - running was not something she'd ever had to do much of, but she kept Gina and the kittens in sight as they dodged between bystanders who definitely did not look pleased at the disturbance. It couldn't be helped now, though. Glancing back to make sure Manisha was still behind her, Cal continued through the crowd, trying to avoid the eyes of the irritated market populace.

Hissing Bayn’gül judged their every step through the market, the two children going ahead with laughter just as when the young women had met them. Manisha was running behind, hands on her breasts and gripping to hold them down, face cringing.

The length of the market concluded when they were led downhill to a view of loosely dense trees, each several stories tall. Sunlight spotted through the branches. Winding through them the dirt thoroughfare continued - it seemed that these exotic trees were the homes of the people. Built into their massive trunks were wooden domes, steps rolling their way up to the domes from the roots. The visible population of Bayn’gül jumped from two dozen to over a hundred. The feline people were walking from tree to tree, deeper into the woods or trekking up the hill. They gave the women small nods but smiled at Cal.

Gina returned the nods of the nearest Bayn’gül as she glanced around. She had seen pictures of redwood trees that were big enough to hollow out and drive a car through, but she hadn't seen literal tree-houses. She didn't have time to stop and appreciate the engineering though - she halted just long enough to look back and see that Cal and Manisha were still with her before running on, following Mita's grey-striped head as it bobbed away through the crowd. The children were not stopping, diving straight down into the back and forth traffic of their people.

Cal couldn't help but pause momentarily; the forested area, though vastly different to the dark woods that surrounded Serroc, set off old alarm bells. The wood there had not been a place one roamed carelessly, and the last time she had been there, it had been as a prisoner. Manisha caught up to her as she paused, and Cal took a breath, knowing she must plunge onward if she wasn't going to lose sight of...

"Shit!" she cursed, for in the growing crowds, she could not see the redhead in front of her, let alone the kittens, who had not slowed as they raced onward. "Come on!" she urged the newest arrival to the group, taking Manisha by the wrist as she hurried forward again into the trees, eyes scanning the crowd for Gina's telltale red hair and lack of feline features. Was that her, just ahead? "Do you see them?" she asked her companion, a little breathless as they hurried onward.

Manisha gave her held wrist only the quickest of displeased glances, while her other hand pointed instantly to where Gina had been. Her eyesight must have been sharp, to know where the young woman was among a mass of Bayn’gül taller than her.

"There." Manisha muscled around Cal, trying to take the lead herself and yanking the purple-eyed teen beauty with her.

Gina reappeared ahead of them, strands of her ginger hair frizzing away from her windswept scalp and pleat. For a moment Cal caught a look of panic on the other girl's face before she zeroed back in on her and Manisha. No doubt, after what had happened to Baka, Gina was paranoid about any of them getting lost in a crowd.

"Okay guys?" Gina queried as an expression of relief relaxed her features. "Just letting them race, just a bit of fun." she added, the explanation directed at one of the nearby Bayn’gül. The cat-people had indeed been giving them glances and smiles as they passed, though with their urgent chase of their Bayn’gül children, the smiles they received were short-lived and became confusion.

There was nothing for it but to press on after the laughing children, until Taar and Mita spiraled up a tree about half a mile into the tree village. The wood steps were smooth but showing the nicks gained over time, and the girls' thighs were given a straining test as the steps were tall from one to the next. The winding stairs mercilessly spanned up several stories tall, to meet a dark and glossy-finished wooden door.

"Well done!" Gina panted at the kittens, leaning gratefully up against the doorframe to catch her breath as she joined them at the top. "Little hunters in the making."

A rail followed the steps up around the tree and Manisha held onto it all the way, looking fearful of both the amassing height and the pain they forced her legs to go through.

"Time out," the Greek girl wheezed as they approached the top. "Thith is tho difficult. Oh Areth..."

Gina tried not to cringe as Taar openly frowned at Manisha when she finished her raspy-voiced, lisping words. Cal, inwardly sighing with relief that they had not lost each other in the crowd, arrived at the top a moment after the other two, breathless and red-faced. Seeing Taar's questioning look, she struggled to keep her composure; luckily, years of practice made it a less difficult feat than it otherwise would have been.

Mita looked up at Gina after staring at the door for several seconds - no one having opened it. Upon the door was no knob, only a flat metal square where one should be. The square was large, assumingly the size of an adult Bayn’gül hand.

They hadn't said whose home this was going to be, but Gina took her cue from Mita's expectant look. Still panting, she let go of the doorframe and instead placed her hand experimentally against the metal plate.

Curious, Cal watched as Gina pressed her palm against the door. She couldn't see how that would work, but it would scarcely be the strangest thing she had seen on her travels so far. She touched her own palm, her thoughts returning for a moment to the device Gina had called a hob.

Upon Gina's contact the door swooshed open quickly, almost taking her hand with it in its speedy pull into the wall. She stumbled over the doorway but kept her balance as her feet awkwardly danced on deep-brown hued wood. When Gina managed to look up, she saw an odd alien equivalent of a studio apartment; she could see the furnishings of a bedroom, kitchen and small study compromised of one bookshelf and a chair that faced the windows - all in one square room. Aside from the entrance only one door led off, into a small enclosed cubicle that Gina took to be a bathroom.

Through the windows, the light of the sun filtered through leaves and left nature's shadows on the floor. The bed was the only thing messy - wrinkled by a Bayn’gül man sitting on it. His coat was pitch-black, reflecting the sun's rays. When Gina's surprised eyes met his, his feline green irises zipped to everyone behind her and then sought the ground at his feet shamefully.

He stood, showing he was quite a bit taller than all the women, but when the three took a moment to stare they saw upon his forehead was a P shaped symbol, with a strong horizontal line stemming from its base. The rune looked to be shaved to make a fleshy symbol, rather than tattooed as Panos and the travellers' marks had been.

"That'th important, right?" Manisha asked, slapping Gina's shoulder and proceeding to openly point at the Bayn’gül man.

Yes probably, Gina thought, But some subtlety might be nice. She condensed the thought into a sharp nudge of her elbow into Manisha's ribs.

The Bayn’gül cleared his throat. His long night-black tail swished gracefully and he rubbed his arms - the girls able to see the slight indents and flexion of muscle through the fur.

"Koolkal comes here?" Mita asked, very puzzled and confused.

Cal looked from the kittens to the adult feline - so this was Koolkal. Mita was clearly surprised to see him, and his expression was one of someone who had just been caught somewhere he should not be. She supposed this must be Gina's house, since the door had opened so readily for her, but what was the children's hunting teacher doing h...

"Oh!" Cal said aloud, the most obvious solution dawning on her; then she blushed crimson at the thought. A princess did not have relationships outside of marriage, of course, but she knew what men and women were wont to do well enough; servants and commoners had lesser expectations than she had, and she wasn't entirely ignorant of their dalliances. The teenager giggled, sneaking a look at Gina to see her reaction - which transitioned from hesitant confusion to the perfect oh fuck expression as she realised what Cal was suggesting. Cal remembered herself just in time, and tried to seem composed.

"Hello, Koolkal," she greeted the Bayn’gül with a nod - obviously the children's nurturer would know their teacher, and it would be odd if she didn't greet him. She tried not to seem surprised to see him there, hoping it would allay the children's curiosity if it seemed their carer was unfazed by his presence.

Koolkal hastily fixed the bed and began walking straight towards them - but they could see on his face that he wanted to go through them to leave.

Cal didn't move from where she stood, in the doorway. The symbol, if their past experiences were anything to go from, meant he was important somehow - they had better try to find out why before they let him go. Gina seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"Wait..." she blurted out at the towering Bayn’gül, "Stay. Please."

Koolkal halted, stuttered something, and looked away.

Gina took a deep breath, looking from Cal to Manisha and trying to think of any other possible explanation. He can't be stealing anything because he'd have just bolted. He isn't my flatmate because there's only one bed. And if he was just a friend visiting he wouldn't look so bloody guilty...

"Everyone just...make yourselves at home." she said, to stall for time as she put her satchel down on one of the surfaces of the kitchenette, and used the excuse to unpack the flowers and the zodiac book. She let the latter fall open on top of the Tupperware box - if Manisha had recognised the symbol shaved into Koolkal's forehead, then it was probably Greek...and therefore might be one of the book's clues. Shifting through the many empty pages, the book opened with the symbol boldly printed on the left page, while on the right its description was simple - imprinted in the center, "Pluto: Sexuality, Obsession, Pain, Rebirth, Disease, & Secrecy".

Oh great.

Gina caught Cal's eye and glanced down at the book, stepping aside so that the other girl could look at the clue. As she shuffled back round to the front of the kitchenette, she could see that her invitation for everyone to relax had been about as successful as she had expected. Koolkal's eyes kept off all the women, and even the children picked up on the tense social environment and kept quiet. The Bayn’gül tails wagged, man and children, in the silence.

"Tho....why are you here?" Manisha asked Koolkal, who in turn glared at her feet and looked away once more.

Too far away to elbow Manisha in the ribs this time, Gina raised her eyebrows sharply at her in an expression she hoped the other girl would read as stop talking, now.

Oh god, we need some privacy for this.

"Can you give me and Koolkal a minute?" she asked the room in a strained voice, before taking a hold of the Bayn’gül's furry wrist - too big to close her fingers around - and tugging him towards the front door.

To her relief, the taller and stronger-looking Bayn’gül simply allowed Gina to pull him to the door. Touching a matching silver panel on the inside wall sent the door swishing open again, letting her guide Koolkal out into the warm, breezy air of the balcony beyond. Gina steadied herself against the wooden railing as the door closed behind them. Her heart was beating against her ribs, out of a nervousness that had nothing to do with the tree-trunks tapering away downwards or the speck-like Bayn’gül milling around on the ground below.

"So what am I supposed to tell them?" she asked Koolkal, looking up at the kittens' hunting teacher.

"Is humiliation a new punishment you will give me?" Koolkal asked. He never looked or spoke in challenge to her; rather he was keeping his head low and his eyes to the side. His tail wrapped around his leg loosely - the very end of the tail spasmodically twitching until it calmed against his thigh. "You promised me pain, in private...between us."

Oh for fuck's sake. Gina thought, caught between the pressure of the moment and the absurdity of it all. Am I his Dom?

"Remind me why you deserve it." she told the huge Bayn’gül, injecting a little sternness into her voice and hoping it would mask her thudding heartbeat.

Koolkal whimpered deep in his large torso, and his body shivered - eyes never leaving the ground but moving to Gina's feet.

"Because I'm filthy, diseased." he said with self loathing, "Sick and you still love me, break me."

"That's enough." Gina snapped, only half in character. "Now listen. What are you going to tell Cal and the others?"

"It was a mistake for me to be here. I am nothing to you..." Koolkal replied back steadily.

"I don't think you understand." Gina said. She blinked, marshalling her thoughts.

He's got a mark - we need to keep him on side. Obsession; rebirth; secrecy.

"Did I tell you to leave when the others came in? No, I asked you to stay. We..." She hesitated. "What's between you and me is our business, no-one else's. I didn't bring Manisha and Cal here on purpose. Taar and Mita went running up before I could stop them. So what do you want to tell them?"

The Bayn’gül man's dagger-thin irises scanned up from Gina's feet to stop at her lips - taking interest in them.

"I was...hiding here to improve their searching through the jungles..." His voice lacked command as he remained before her.

Gina nodded, relieved. To be fair, it wasn't much worse than any other excuse they might have come up with on such short notice.

"That'll do." she said, and beckoned the tall Bayn'gul back towards the door. "Come on."


* * * * * *

As Gina and the children's tutor conversed outside, Cal took the opportunity to look around the room. The information given about the symbol on the books' open page seemed to confirm her suspicions about the two's relationship, though the inclusion of the word diseased gave the princess pause, her small nose wrinkling in instinctual distaste. Finding no further information she could glean there, she turned her attention to the rest of the abode, determined to be more useful here than she had proved in her own home.

At least I got us fed, even if I didn't find out much, she excused herself.

The small space didn't take long to explore, and she quickly found her way to the desk and chair that provided an office space. Trying to seem casual and natural, for the children were no doubt watching, she opened the desks drawers, her eyes flickering over their contents.

The first drawer offered no real clues, containing only the writing tools one would expect to be stored in such an area. The second, on first inspection, seemed to be no more help. As her gaze moved over the small collection of herbs and the blade within, her heart twinged with the memory of all that had befallen their party in the world they'd first been plunged into - the Prince's shooting, Baka's death. Impulsively, she reached in to pick up the knife, holding it uncertainly for a moment before slipping it beneath her robes, tucked into the band of her undergarments. As her fingers touched the bottom of the drawer, the wood seemed to shift slightly beneath them. She frowned, reaching back in to prod at it, and pull at its edges. The bottom lifted; it was false. The space beneath held several unfamiliar tools - cylindrical tubes tipped with wickedly sharp-looking metal points. Each was filled with a green-yellow liquid.

Shaking her head in confusion, she moved to the third and final drawer, her nose wrinkling again as she opened it. The smell that hit her nostrils was rather overwhelming. As her watering eyes focused on what it held, they widened. Were these instruments of torture? Or... again, the girl blushed as she closed the drawer, hiding the collar, whip and leather gags and bands from view once more. They reminded her of similar 'tools' she'd seen in her mother's chambers... and she wasn't entirely sure it was torture they were used for.

The two children sniffed, their noses wrinkling before they giggled and looked away embarrassed.

"I'm mithing thomething." Manisha said while looking at the two children share their joke. Coming over to where Cal was, she peered inside, gasped and started to laugh. Her hand dived straight for the collar and grabbed it. She lingered on it with a tinge of pain - missing her Bestie. The gag and collar must have reminded her of the woman she admired. She pulled out the whip.

"Maybe the people will trade thtuff for thith later..." she suggested, shaking it to make the flailing ends dance. It also sent the scent spraying out, and the children looked increasingly uncomfortable as they neared the door and kept their heads low.

The door hissed open to readmit Gina and Koolkal, the former stepping around the Bayn'gul kittens and offering them a smile as she set eyes on them.

"Koolkal explained everything." she told them. "He was hiding up here to test your hunting skills - I just wish he'd told me first..." She frowned as she registered their twitching ears and tails. "Are you two okay?"

Cal's eyes shot from the obviously upset kittens (no surprise, she thought - though the smell had no particular significance to her, their feline noses would be more powerful than her own) to Gina and Koolkal, re-entering the room, to Manisha, quite comfortably holding the whip in hand.

"Manisha!" she hissed sharply, a little panic rising in her chest and calling her to the ingrained defense mechanism of her royal heritage; control and command. "Put that away! Now!"

Manisha stared at the whip, playing with its tassels one more time in fond memory. But she was suddenly ready to move on.

"I'm going to put it back now, maybe no one would want it..." she outwardly reasoned, setting it back in the drawer and shrugging. She turned to Gina and the cat people with a slight tilt of her head. "Hide and theek on the bed...I've played thothe gameth before."

Her voice lowered into a mischievous chuckle. Her brain began to tingle and she rubbed her forehead; she had really wanted that whip.

Cal stepped forward, partially obscuring the other woman from view as she smiled at Koolkal, outwardly accepting the reasoning for his being here, though mentally she doubted that was the truth of it.

"Your commitment to their learning is wonderful," she said, "And you found him! Good hunting!" she smiled now at the children. Their tails and ears still twitched, and she wondered what they would make of the object Manisha had revealed, and the odour that came with it, which Koolkal would surely smell too.

Koolkal nodded to the children who clapped their hands and both placed their touch on his arm. He had almost flinched, a twitch of his facial muscles, but his body held stiffly. Taar and Mita accepted the worlds easily enough.

"We were lucky!" Mita said up to him. Yet again the children wiggled their noses and looked at the open drawer with uncertainty, while the black Bayn’gül secluded himself from the reaction with an aversion of his eyes. Manisha stared one more time down into the leather holding box and finally pulled away, just as Gina crossed over to them. The redhead hurriedly closed the drawer holding the bondage implements, but frowned when she saw the herbs and, more importantly, the barbed tubes sitting under the displaced false bottom of the drawer.

Gina shot a quizzical look at Cal and Manisha. When Cal responded with raised eyebrows and a tiny shake of the head, Gina frowned and ran a hand across the bookshelf behind the desk, as if she were looking for something. Evidently she didn't find it, but it didn't seem to deter her for long as she bit her lip, looked down at the sprigs of herbs again, and lifted out the false bottom they rested on to place them on the top of the desk.

"A quick test for you, little hunters." she said, closing the door and turning around to smile at Taar and Mita. "We know you can track but how good's your fieldcraft?"

She carried the herbs on their wooden slate over to the kitchen worktop. There were two kinds - one white, one pink.

"Who can tell me what these plants are and what they're for?"

Mita pointed to the leafy green plant with four square white petals. "Apercon, that makes people sleepy and warm!" the young one recalled with excitement.

Koolkal stared at the openly displayed flowers with shock, that he swallowed down and averted with a turn of his head. Taar had moved himself over to the stock of flowers to stare down the pink ten petaled flower with black dots.

"This one is for really sick people..." he whispered.

"Rosenon..." Mita whispered with shock, and covered her mouth with her hands, gasping.

"Don't be frightened." Gina said gently, hiding her anticipation that they might be on to something. "And do you know what it does?"

The two children were enthralled with fear as they lingered on the herb Mita had called rosenon.

"It slows the sickness." Mita said, whipping her tail around. Together with Taar, she looked at their nurturer with worry.

"Why does she have that...?" she asked, while the two took pulling steps away from Gina to Cal and indirectly Manisha.

Alarmed, Gina had to think fast. She was careful not to accidentally glance at Koolkal, keeping her eyes on the children. She didn't try to pursue them as they backed away, and instead pulled up a stool next to the worktop and sat down.

Cal's mind was racing - Gina was the one who seemed to be good at making up explanations, not her! Both the children were looking at her expectantly, seeking reassurance. She reached out her arms to them, allowing them to sidle closer, and recieve affection if they wished.

"I bought it a while ago, because I thought I should." Gina said quietly, saving Cal from having to respond, "You never know who could be suffering in silence, do you? I wanted to think that they could come to me for help if they needed. Without the...stigma."

Throughout the act, she was still careful not to look at Koolkal. She shrugged, and stood up.

"Don't mind me, guys. I'm too sentimental for my own good. And don't you two worry," she soothed the kittens. "There's no disease around here."

She scooped the herbs up to put them out of sight in her satchel, still on the kitchen worktop. Her attempts to soothe however seemed to have failed, as the children still sought comfort from their nurturer.

Cal knelt to pull both of the cat children firmly into her arms, one hand clutching each of them in a quick embrace before pulling back to rest a hand atop eithers' shoulder.

"You have learned so much!" she exclaimed, the image of a gushing parent - or so she hoped. "I'm very proud of you both. I know Koolkal is too!" she added, throwing an unintentionally warning glance at their teacher, who was still acting like a scared dog with its' tail between its' legs. It was only reaffirming her first assumption - clearly he had everything to do with the strange things they'd found in Gina's house, and was not happy about them being exposed. But what had at first seemed funny, now annoyed her. The children were already suspicious, and his odd behaviour would only exacerbate it. And yet she didn't want to send him away - what if they had more to learn from him?

Giving each child a kiss on the forehead, she released them, standing to cross to the door and open it. Peering outside at the afternoon sun, she had a thought.

"Koolkal," she said, her voice regaining some of its prissy authoritarianism, "We are going to Manisha's dwelling, now. You should accompany us. Help me ensure the children do not wander."

With a glance at the book, her thoughts returned to the mention of sickness, and the children's reactions to the healing herb. Was Koolkal sick? Or Gina? She gave a worried look to her friend. Was it life threatening? And if so, was she putting them, and the children at risk by asking the feline man to join them?

"How are we going to go to my place?" Manisha asked Cal audibly, poking her shoulder for input. The Bayn’gül children stared at her briefly and scratched at their heads while they held onto Cal. Their eyes had cast concern and bewilderment to one another with the purple-eyed teenager in the middle.

Gina chewed her tongue. Manisha, will you please think before you speak!

"Can you guys wait for me at the bottom?" she asked the others quickly. "I just want to tidy up a bit before I go."

Cal cottoned on quickly to Gina's plan. Being pulled by the young princess, everyone left Gina to 'tidy' her high-rise treehouse home. Wasting no time, Gina herself set about searching the studio flat, kneeling to open the studio cupboards and rummage through the food items and folded clothes that were variously stuffed inside. Nothing was hidden under them, and when she checked the small bathroom she similarly found nothing untoward. Biting her cheek thoughtfully, her eyes fell on the bed as she turned back to the main room. Stepping up to it, she ran her hands cautiously under the pillows and across the mattress, then hauled up a corner to look under it. A flash of white paper caught her eye.

Reaching under the bed, she pulled out a small bundle of folded, discrete documents. Flattening them out; she saw a language of patterned scratch-like pen marks, but with a familiar twinge from her wrist they translated before her very eyes into text she could read. The enlarged text at the top of one read Asylum Application.

Gina took a breath and slowly let it out. According to the papers, she had been planning a trip to the planet 'Valkure'. Underneath was a red-inked stamp of approval. The documents revealed that people from this planet Valkure were due to take her and KoolKal away, on the eve of the thirtieth day of the fifth month. Reasons listed were 'For hostile social environment and medical grounds'

Gina's heart began to beat faster. Between Koolkal's mark urging secrecy and the kittens' fearful reactions to the rosenon herb, she could well believe that it would be dangerous for her and Koolkal if news of his sickness got out. Well, that or they really frowned on humans and Bayn'gül shacking up together. Was that their mission here - to get Koolkal to safety?

The robe she was wearing didn't have any pockets. Twisting awkwardly, she refolded the asylum papers and stuffed them into the side of her bra. Now she needed to find out if Koolkal knew about her plan - after his hesitant, accusing words on the balcony, she didn't think so. She would have to find a private moment to tell him.

But what about Cal and Manisha? Their names aren't on the papers...

First, she needed to know what the date was. The thirtieth of the fifth month might have been today, or tomorrow, or half a year away for all she knew. She scanned around hopefully for a calendar hanging in the kitchen, but she was out of luck. Knowing that Koolkal and the kittens would begin to wonder if she took much longer, she went back to the desk by the window and made sure that the false drawer was back in place. She hid one of the hypodermic needles at the very bottom of her bag next to the herbs, and put a pen and a few sheets of paper from the desk on top of them, followed by the Tupperware box full of flowers. On an impulse she pulled down two of the books from the shelf above, but the blurb of one revealed it to be only a romance novel, while opening a random page of the other showed a surprisingly graphic picture of two Bayn'gül performing a sex act.

"Some porn you're into, girl." Gina murmured to her absent doppelgänger as she straightened. She piled a few more items into the top of her satchel, including a toothbrush and what she thought was a tube of toothpaste from the bathroom, and a couple of fruits from the kitchen that looked a bit like apples.

Exiting the flat back into the dappled afternoon sun, she watched the door slide closed behind her and assumed hopefully that it would lock itself. Climbing down the steps was certainly easier than climbing up, and as she neared the bottom of the spiral stair she saw Cal and the others waiting expectantly. As she trotted down the last few steps, Gina pulled one of the sheets of paper from her satchel and rested it on her hand, scribbling in one corner with the pen until the ink started to flow.

"What's the date again?" she asked, looking at Koolkal as she pretended to write something on the page.

Koolkal looked at Gina's feet. "It's the 28th." he mumbled. "Of Fifth."

[G]

The sun's descent was well underway as they neared Manisha's house, but Cal's thoughts were elsewhere. Her mind was buzzing over everything Gina had filled her in on in the hushed conversation they'd had after leaving the house, drawing back to allow some distance between the three girls and the felines. The mention of the asylum papers worried her; what if Gina was whisked away without her? And Manisha, came the afterthought. The displaced girl was their responsibility now, and it wasn't one Cal wanted to shoulder on her own. It was enough trouble trying to figure out how to get herself through this whole mess alive!

"It's only two days." Gina whispered. She was glancing around periodically, trying to be sure of memorising the route they were taking through the trees. "We just need to keep our heads down and our eyes open. We'll think of something to make sure these Valkure people take us all with them."

Gina won't let us be seperated, the princess thought, glancing at the older girl to reassure herself. She was good at all this - figuring it all out. It made Cal ever more determined not to just be dead weight; so far the only contribution she'd really made was her apparent aptitude for bossing Manisha around.

"Do you think we should ask Koolkal if someone can babysit the kittens?" Gina thought out loud as they walked.

Manisha wiped her hair back, the brown strands beginning to gather a shine of sweat, and she clicked her tongue before she spoke.

"You thould take them. They lotht their mom and you keep lying that the'th thtill around." she reasoned to Cal, as if challenging the younger girl to own up to her lies. "They are your rethponthibility now."

She gave a quick glance to Gina as she finished.

Yes, I know. Gina thought wearily.

She knew it wasn't her fault, but she still felt bad for Manisha and Gigi. The worst thing was still not knowing where the people whose lives they were being forced into had gone. Gina was keen to find the Note Writer and wring some answers out of them. If they can pull people out of reality, they must be able to put them back. she thought, remembering her promise to Manisha back at Cal's hilltop house.

Manisha had a point about the kittens, though. Gina mulled it over - she didn't want to put the kittens in danger, and after the shootout at Panos' palace she had a horrible feeling that something like that might happen again. Then again, would they be safe here without their Nurturer?

Grimly, she realised that there probably wasn't an option they could take that would avoid causing Taar and Mita pain. Take them with us, away from their home...or leave them behind without their Nurturer...or flat out admit that we aren't who they think we are...

"We could ask them?" she suggested. "We'll have to tell them about Valkure sooner or later. Maybe the best thing we could do is let them decide if they want to go or stay."

Cal chewed her lip - the nervous habit had been reverted to so frequently of late. Her teeth were starting to leave an imprint on the soft skin. Her eyes were on the kittens, just ahead.

"I don't know!" she said, the frustration evident in her voice. "Manisha's right, they're my responsiblility but... I'm not a parent! I'm not even of age yet! If we could just figure out whose doing this to us...what they're doing to the ones whose places we took..."

She had the brief, curious thought that she had no idea what was happening in her own home - was there another princess there, accepted by everyone as Cal? Even if they could find their way free of this whole mess, would she have a home to go back to?

Manisha gave her another judgemental look, but the Greek girl's biggest judgment was directed at the series of stairs that wound up the trunk of the next tree, as Koolkal began to climb them with the kittens scampering after. This must have been Manisha's house, judging by the fact that the Bayn’gül were collectively going up them. Manisha's verdict on the stairs came in the form of a heavy groan. For all three young women the journey up was sure to set their thighs on fire.

"Here we go again?" Gina murmured, offering one hand to Cal and the other, somewhat optimistically, to Manisha to help them all up the gruelling staircase. The Greek girl took it, however, and they climbed.

The second set of stairs definitely felt harder than the first. Even Gina, who liked to think of herself as reasonably fit, was feeling the burn by the time they reached the top. Climbing up and down these trees every day would certainly be one way of staying in shape. Taar, Mita and Koolkal were all waiting on the balcony platform, seemingly untroubled by the climb. They stood expectantly beside a panel-activated door, identical to the one on Gina's tree house. Manisha remembered how to open the door, using her hand to do so.

Inside, Manisha's house followed the same studio-flat layout as Gina's, although it was significantly less well kept. A strong flowery scent hit them as soon as they stepped inside, mixed with a slightly musty smell that reminded Gina unpleasantly of her old school's changing rooms. Rumpled clothes were scattered everywhere, on the floor and on several of the horizontal surfaces, and scattered among them were what looked like herbs. The sharp, sweet smell of the plants tickled the girls' noses and made both Cal and Gina sneeze. Looking at Koolkal and the kittens, they saw that all three had bared their teeth in apparent disgust.

"Bloody hell." Gina opined, scratching her nose. "I think we'd better tidy up a bit..."

The children began laughing openly at Manisha as she stared at the surroundings with wide eyes. "Where'th the help around here?" the Greek girl asked, with a disgruntled raising of her privileged nose.

Cal looked equally as disgusted with the thought of touching anything in the dingy room. She sighed, her shoulders relaxing out of the haughty stance she had been bred into. Well, this is a day for firsts, the royal thought, First cooking, now cleaning, too?

"Are you thirsty, little ones?" she asked, licking her own dry lips. They had done more exercise than she was accustomed to in the last few hours, and she was parched. Picking her way through the scattered clothes to the studio's small kitchen, she opened a few cupboards until she located the one that stored cups.

Pulling a few from the cupboard, she wrinkled her nose at the grime on them and rinsed them thoroughly under the faucet, pleased with herself that her deduction of where to source water (the pool of it in the basin below the tap had tipped her off to this worlds' equivalent of a well) had been correct. Filling them, she passed two to the children first, then drank herself.

"Now, you two sit down and rest, while I help Gina," she instructed them, then turned to the redhead. She assumed the older girl would want to use the tidying as a pretext for searching the room for anything that would help them figure out why they were here.

In the end, it was Manisha who found the first clue. The Greek girl was kicking clothes aside with the edges of her feet to sloppily 'clean' the room, when she discovered a silver chain among the crinkled layers, holding a matching coin talisman. Picking it up, she saw its symbol to be of a small claw mark, oriented to the right side of the coin.

While still evidently disgusted, Koolkal's eyes vertically narrowed as he witnessed the talisman.

"An honour by the First Sister?" his grim voice was quiet, but held the hint of a growl. The children meanwhile seemed to instantly take Manisha in some higher regard as they looked up to her with straighter posture.

Gina and Cal looked up from their cleaning. Cal had been busy binning the herbs, while Gina crammed dirty clothes into an appliance with a steel drum which she was 90% sure was a washing machine, and wondered vaguely whether the water for the flat came down from a tank above, or was somehow piped up through the middle of the tree. The idle thought evaporated as soon as she saw Manisha and Koolkal both staring at the necklace in Manisha's hand.

Koolkal kept his suspicions up. "What have you done to earn her honour?"

Manisha blinked, looked at the flowers on the ground and shrugged.

"Gave her herbth, got her fucked up. I know the good thtuff."

Gina narrowly controlled the urge to smack her own forehead with the palm of her hand. Koolkal stared at Manisha, heavily.

"You found a rarer herb for the First Sister?"

"..." Manisha slowly nodded. "That'th what I thaid." She went on to further overcompensate with a forced scoff of superiority. Koolkal lowered his head - whether it was in respect or in shyness was hard to determine.

Gina exchanged a brief, strained glance with Cal, wishing that Manisha had thought of a more evasive answer. Something like it was private, or she wasn't sure if she should say. Alright, ten points for quick thinking, but minus about a hundred for the claim we can't back up. Drugs, for god's sake?

"Have you seen the First Sister recently?" she asked Koolkal, picking up on the possible significance of the name to the three Bayn'gül. "How is she?"

Koolkal shrugged in ignorance.

"The Khal'caan is coming in two suns for..." The large animal-man lowered his ears diffidently. "The cleansing of the tribes"

The two children proceeded to lower their ears in mirror of their hunting teacher.

"There are many sick this year..." Taar mumbled sorrowfully.

The cleansing? Cal repeated in her mind, shooting a significant look at Gina. The other girl looked worried. Was this the reason for the papers they'd found at her house? That the timeframe coincided exactly seemed a clear enough indication that it was.

"Well, I'm sure they'll get better, once they're cleansed," she said reassuringly, smiling at her young charges. "They must come back home, eventually, right?"

What would be worse - to take the children from their homes without a way to return them, or to leave them here, alone? Koolkal was the only other person the kids had mentioned knowing - they needed to find out if there was someone else who could care for them.

"Is there anyone else you'd like to visit today?" she asked them, unsure of a better way to probe for that information.

Taar and Mita shook their heads. "Training." they said.

"Do you think we could go and watch, maybe?" Gina asked, directing her question at Cal, but broke off as she realised that was something was wrong with Koolkal. The silky-black Bayn'gül looked away as his left hand began to spasm, a few fingers twitching.

"I will see you at setting sun." he told the children as he began to take his leave towards the door.

Gina glanced worriedly between her companions and the retreating Bayn'gül as he put his paw to the inner door panel and it swished open. Apparently, unlike the outside touch pad, it was universal.

"I'm going to tell him." she whispered, before bolting after Koolkal. The closing door almost snagged the hem of her robe as she ran out onto the balcony outside. Koolkal was already several steps away down the tree's spiral staircase.

"Koolkal," Gina shouted after him, "Stop!"

The Bayn'gül froze at the sharp command; one hand gripping the outer bannister of the staircase, his ears twitching back against his skull.

Swallowing, Gina hurried down the steps after him, glancing round anxiously at the leafy tree canopy. The people on the ground were too far away to hear them, and she didn't see any other Bayn'gül in the nearby trees, or lurking above. Secrecy, she thought as she joined Koolkal on the sunlit side of the tree, the trunk painted gold by the lowering sun.

"I've got something I need to tell you." she told Koolkal, quietly.

Once again the tip of the Bayn'gül's long tail twitched, and for the first time Gina wondered if the spasms were a symptom of his disease rather than simple discomfort. After the kittens' lack of reaction to Cal's reassurance, Gina hoped that the Cleansing was indeed a sending away rather than the murderous purge it had first sounded like - but she was still worried about anyone else discovering Koolkal's secret before the people from Valkure arrived. Her abdomen twinged, and she found herself thinking ruefully that any more of this paranoia was liable to give her stomach cramps.

"I've got us asylum papers." she blurted to Koolkal as she circled round the step he was standing on and looked at him face to face. "They're coming in two days, to take us away to Valkure."

Koolkal stared at her. If only for the slightest moment, an iris-narrowing hostility swept the gaze of his eyes; and it had been aimed at her.

"That is dishonorable..." he replied. "I should be put to rest like all others. It is the natural way. Do not command me against that...mistress..." He whispered her title, black ears twitching sheepishly.

Gina blinked, wrong-footed. No question of how, or why, just 'honour'? While she sensed that she might be able to force him, it didn't feel right to try - especially when she didn't have the full picture yet. She paused for a long moment, trying to decide on the right words.

"This is one thing I can't command you to do." she said, resting her hands on her hips. "But I can ask you. I mean, what good are you to the people who need you if you're put to rest? Is that really what you want?"

Her words inspired the Bayn’gül to flicker his tail in a slow and thoughtful way. His large body expanded with a breath, and he rolled his shoulders. His features, fusing alien feline and familiar humanoid, held defeat thoroughly. Gina felt a dull pang at his expression.

"The healthy are those who will keep our people strong, not me." was his answer to her, as he turned to continue walking away. Gina put her hand on the bannister, blocking his path with her arm.

"Are you calling Taar and Mita weak?" she challenged him. "They are growing up to be hunters because of you, disease or not. Just this morning another Bayn'gül told Cal how strong they were and how proud she must be. That was you. And..." She hesitated, unsure of the part she had to play, before taking the plunge. "And I don't want to lose you."

Koolkal's tongue came out to lick his chops, staring. Gina could feel the tension of his conflicting thoughts and emotions.

"I was the mistress's toy. We were not bonded, it would be...forbidden."

"If you really think that," Gina countered, "Then why were you upset at the idea of you being nothing to me? It's like I told you, Koolcal - what's between you and me is no-one else's business."

Koolkal gazed down over the railing, to the plethora of Bayn'gül in various states of light, noting how far below they were from the height of their tree. He turned his eyes to the tops of the other trees, the other homes empty of passers by. Gina realised that, like her, he was checking for anyone who could see them, though she wasn't prepared for what he did next.

He purred quietly, coming closer; his feline presence was masculine. He showed only an ounce of dominance before kneeling down and licking her foot, the buds of the tongue scraping across her skin.

Oh.

His tongue was rough and sand-papery against the open top of her sandal, and Gina was glad that he didn't look up and see her knitted eyebrows and parted lips before she was able to wipe the surprised grimace off her face. The fact that her feet were the one part of her body that was absurdly ticklish didn't help either.

She maintained her poise with an effort, and swallowed to clear her throat.

"Get up." she ordered Koolkal a moment later, then softened her voice a little. "I'll see you a bit later. Just act as if everything's normal, and meet me at Cal's house on the eve of the 30th." The shaking of his frame shared outwardly his experience of a shiver going down his spine. Whether it was from pleasure or fear was uncertain. But Gina could easily speculate Koolkal to enjoy a mixture of the two more than anything else.

"Koolkal," Gina added, suddenly remembering something as the silky black Bayn'gül turned to leave. "About Manisha's honour...what does someone normally have to do to get an honour from the First Sister?" The Bayn'gül's tail swiped once in a smooth pacing.

"Give to something great in the sciences, or" he tapped the side of his skull, "the mind" His expression to her was curious but he turned to walk away.

After watching Koolkal leave, Gina climbed back up to Manisha's door, knocking for the other girls to let her in when the touch pad didn't respond to an experimental push of her palm. She wondered if it was fingerprint sensitive or something even more alien as she stepped inside.

"Good. All good." she said, a little quickly, in response to Cal's raised eyebrows and Manisha's furrowed ones. "Shall we finish up here so we can get Taar and Mita to their training?"

Cal nodded, her furrowed brows betraying her curiosity. The redhead would fill her in later, she knew.

Gina glanced out of the window, where the light through the trees was turning from gold to red; creeping towards the sunset where Koolkal had promised to meet the two kittens. Gina stifled a yawn - now that the light was fading, their 18 hour rollercoaster of a day was really catching up with her. Catching the movement, Cal yawned too; curious, how those things seemed to be contagious. She gave a little shudder as that word played through her mind, thinking again of her fear that whatever Koolkal was afflicted with might have been passed on to Gina. But if they were involved, as it seemed, surely it musn't be. Koolkal wouldn't risk her like that, or the kittens, surely.

She yawned again. It seemed ludicrous, to think of sleeping in their situation - but if they were stuck here for two days more, at least, then sleep they must.

"Come on, little ones," she said, smiling at the kittens; who seemed as alert as ever. Cats were nocturnal, she supposed. Her affection toward them came easier than it had at the beginning, and the spoiled girl was surprised to find herself feeling regret at the thought of leaving them. The kittens treated her with a familial care she had never known from her birth mother, and it was something that would be difficult to lose.

[Azazeal849]

Two suns and moons had passed, and the three women had managed to copy the behavior of the others around them enough to continue blending in. Taar and Mita seemed tense, though they were keeping quiet about it. Their animistic instincts guided them to uncertainty within their dome home. But their lives continued, with the kittens leaving for hours to train with Koolkal and then returning - coming back stronger and more mature by the day. They had presented kills for Cal to see; strange alien things looking similar to squirrels, but with prickly fur and long teeth. Each time the children had skinned the catch and prepared it for eating. Gina had thought that the meat tasted oddly like the beef jerky Aiden had introduced her to, shortly after her move to America.

On Gina's suggestion, they had all spent the last two nights sleeping over at Cal's house. The intention was to keep them all safely together, although it also had the added bonus of not forcing them to climb up and down the gigantic trees. Luckily, staying with Cal did not seem to have raised any suspicions or reactions of note from the Bayn'gül. During the hours that the children were out with Koolkal, the three young women had busied themselves with reading Cal's books, exploring the town and engaging hesitantly with the villagers, to try and get a clearer picture of their places here on Kysmaet.

From the books, it seemed that the Bayn'gül were a passionate yet very oppressed culture, held back by the Enemy Within and by the hostile nature of the planet around them. One thing that Gina had noticed was that the Bayn'gül only seemed to consider history or cautionary tales to be worthy of being written down. All other lore was passed down orally, from teacher to student - and that apparently included herb lore. Gina considered it lucky that no-one had come to them looking for the herbs stored around hers and Manisha's houses. Because if they had, we'd be totally fucked.

Travelling around the town with the others, Gina had been surprised to note that the Bayn'gül seemed to be giving her slightly more respect than Cal - which she found odd, considering Cal was the one who was "Nurturing" Taar and Mita. Eventually, from the way a couple of the cat-people addressed her, she had worked out that she was something called a Gatherer. This apparently meant that she could safely navigate the jungles around the village, to gather herbs and other useful plants without being killed by the dangerous wildlife that had claimed a number of the Bayn'gül. Without the benefit of their alter-egos' experience, the girls had immediately resolved to stay within the safety of the village unless they really had to do otherwise.

If the Bayn'gül were respectful of Cal and Gina, they seemed to view Manisha as a nuisance. They smiled and tended to her needs, but the sense of forbearance was definitely there. It had irritated Manisha to the point that she had suggested wearing her First Sister's honour openly. Cal and Gina had initially agreed, in the hope that they could find out more about the First Sister and the imminent Cleansing. But when the first few Bayn'gül had responded with bafflement and a distinct air of grinning and bearing, Gina had made Manisha take the necklace off.

"The First Sister's going to be arriving tomorrow!" she had reasoned.

"Tho?" Manisha had replied, irritably.

"So," Gina had countered, as patiently as she could manage, "No-one else around here seems to know that you had it. What if your other self isn't supposed to have it, and the First Sister calls you out on it while she's here?"

Manisha had relented, albeit with bad grace. None of the three girls had been particularly cheerful over the last two days, apart from a few moments of levity with the children, and the occasional ice-breaking joke or story of home. Gina was worried about them being found out, and by the fact that they hadn't found any more symbol clues despite being here for several days. Cal meanwhile had been getting more and more stressed about what they were going to do with the kittens. She had gently probed to see if Taar and Mita were close to any other Bayn'gül, to see if there was someone else who could look after them in her stead, but none were forthcoming. Asking about the kittens' biological parents had only depressed the children's moods, as the girls learned that they had both been killed in some sort of hunting accident. Cal had cringed at that.

Gina stacked the last of the clean dishes on the rack next to the sink, glad of the distraction that the simple manual task provided. "We'd better go and check on Nisha." she said to Cal, who was drying the dishes on a chequered cloth.

Cal's response was a weary nod. She placed the plate she was drying on the pile beside the dish rack, and transferred them to their place in a corner cupboard.

If mother could see me now, doing maid work and tending to an invalid, she thought, though these sorts of thoughts were coming to her less and less frequently now. Although in reality it had been mere days since she'd been pulled from her home, her former life was beginning to feel a lot further in the past than that.

Gina rolled down her sleeves and wrapped her arms subconsciously around her stomach. One of the more mundane problems that being thrown between universes had caused her was that she didn't have access to her pill, which she had last taken the morning she had been yanked out of West Hills. Now, three days later, she could feel the twinge of approaching cramps in her lower abdomen. Small inconvenience though it was, on top of everything else it was enough to convince her that whoever was doing this to them fundamentally hated her guts.

Then again, she thought glumly, Manisha had it worse. Whatever drugs she had been hitting back in her home universe, the Greek girl was going through some extremely nasty withdrawal symptoms. She had been irritable on the second morning, twitchy by the evening, and today Cal and Gina had woken up to find her in shivering sweats. It had gotten to the point that Manisha was scaring the children; luckily Taar and Mita were gone for now, but they would be returning soon from training with Koolkal and Gina didn't relish what would come after that. She had briefly considered giving Manisha the apercon that Mita had identified to her, but without knowledge of the safe dosage or even how to administer it, she wasn't willing to take the risk. Cal, for her part, had been horrified at first - thinking that Manisha had been afflicted with some strange disease until Gina had explained something of drugs and withdrawals, and the young princess had been placated at the knowledge that Manisha's state was, hopefully, temporary.

Gina and Cal crossed the hall, and were hit by a strong acidic smell as soon as they opened the door to Cal's bedroom. Held inside, Manisha was a mess of sweat and bucket-held vomit. Cal wrinkled her nose in disgust, a hand moving to cup her nostrils, though it did little to block the smell. She hung back in the doorway, sidestepping to allow Gina clear access - the redhead had shown over the last day that she had far better knowledge of how to deal with their companions' state than Cal; who'd never so much as held a friend's hair from their face during a drunken purge. Blood she was used to, though she'd never had to clean it; vomit was an entirely different matter.

"Oh jeez." Gina said with a grimace. She sidestepped around the bed and sat down on the edge next to the bedside table. "How are you feeling, Manisha?"

The poor girl's only responses were mumbles and whimpers. Gina picked up the glass of water they had left on the bedside table and closed Manisha's clammy fingers around it. "Here, try and drink this. We don't want you getting dehydrated."

Manisha sipped at the water, but shivered as it went down.

"Can you watch her for a sec?" Gina asked Cal, as he picked up the bucket and carried it away to empty its pale, lumpy contents down the toilet. It reminded her of looking after Izzy after she got really wasted, and to be fair Izzy had returned the favour at least once.

The youngest of the group followed Gina with her gaze as she left the room, before turning her head to look awkwardly at Manisha. As the bedridden woman groaned, Cal took a few steps toward her. Stiffly, she patted the other girl on the shoulder.

"You'll be alright," she said in what she hoped was a reassuring tone; affection had become easier for her with the kittens, but she was having trouble counteracting their bad start with Manisha. It was still a relatively new concept to the royal; she'd never really had friends, until Gina.

Gina returned after she had flushed the vomit away and washed out the bucket, and crossed over to the window. She pushed it open to let some fresh air into the room. The market outside was quieter than it had been on the previous days, she noted with foreboding. As a consequence of having to stay inside and look after Manisha, the Cleansing had not been seen by them, but its echos were visible as a noticeable amount of people were missing, including the orange-coloured cat woman who had greeted them shortly after their arrival. It was unsettling, to think of how the female Bayn'gül had shown no signs of discomfort or fear when they had talked to her. Then again, Gina thought, Why would she have admitted it to us?

Manisha suddenly started screaming and crying manic things, her begging cries given to either young woman who would listen to her. Cal's hand shot away from the woman's shoulder, and she looked to Gina with a horrified expression, her small mouth open in shock.

"Woah, woah, shit!" Gina exclaimed as the glass of water went flying, and joined Cal at the bed to take hold of one of Manisha's hands. "You're alright Manisha. You're okay. Look at me. We're here. We're right here with you."

In dire straights, Manisha grabbed onto Gina's wrist and forearm. Beads of sweat stuck to the sober woman, sticky against her pale skin. Manisha's brown eyes, which had been opening and closing, were wide with desperation.

"Pleath make the pain thtop, give me what I need!" Manisha was starting to scream, violently shaking Gina's arm in the process.

"Manisha, STOP!" Cal cried, reaching out to grab at the girls' arm in an attempt to stop her manhandling of Gina. Manisha's chills and quivers ceased with a single groan from her lips as she threw herself back on the bed and stared at the ceiling, breathing heavily to express herself instead.

Cal looked dumbfounded from the suddenly quiet woman to Gina, who was mirroring her own round-mouthed look of surprise. The princess swallowed.

"Tell us what you need." she said firmly, her eyes fixed on the wide-eyed Manisha.

"Wait!" Gina said suddenly, slapping down the hand that Cal was holding out towards Manisha. "What're you doing?"

She looked in concern between Cal and the unnaturally rigid Manisha.

"That's not normal. How're you doing that?"

"I... I'm not doing anything!" Cal said, flustered.

"Then how do you explain that?" Gina hissed, jerking her head towards Manisha, who was still lying stiff as a board and panting loudly.

"I need drugth." the Greek girl belatedly answered Cal's question, after a long delay.

"No, you don't!" Cal shot, confusion and a bit of fright at Gina's words turning into frustration. "That's the last thing you need right now, you need rest!"

Manisha blinked at her, then abruptly turned over and closed her eyes, although she continued to moan quietly.

"Stop it!" Gina half-shouted. "Whatever you're doing to her, stop it!"

"I'm not doing anything..." Cal repeated, shaking her head as Gina leaned over Manisha as if to check that she was still breathing. "I'm not fae, I can't be! My mother is...." She paused, the events of the days before she'd been swept from Serroc, and her home, flashing through her mind. Her mother, no. But her father...

"I can't be," she repeated, her voice less certain. But it wasn't the first time something like this had happened, was it? The kittens had so quickly gone from suspicious to cheerful, when she had told them to. She wasn't unaccustomed to people listening when she commanded them, but this...

Gina was gently shaking Manisha's shoulder, as the Greek girl rolled over and clutched the duvet hard to her chin. "Manisha? You okay?"

"Fuck off." Manisha mumbled, screwing her eyes shut and shivering slightly. "Wanna thleep."

Gina looked from Manisha to Cal and back again, trying very hard not to jump to conclusions. Back in her world, messing with people's free will was Their trademark. But of course, she wasn't in her world any more, and Cal was from somewhere else again. She swallowed.

"Alright, back up a sec." she said, sitting back while leaving a concerned hand resting on Manisha. "What's fae?"

"People with... magic," Cal said, her voice dropping to a habitual whisper at the last word. "They're shunned, in Serroc. You're not allowed to use it, even having it is dangerous! Mother would kill me if she found out!"

She shot Gina a frightened look, her wide eyes making it perfectly clear that she did not mean the statement figuratively.

"I didn't mean to."

"Okay, I believe you." Gina relented, taking a breath and tugging at the hair that fell across her shoulder. "But...how dangerous are we talking? What did it just do to Nisha?"

"Oh," Cal looked at the other woman, then back at Gina. "I meant dangerous for the one using it. I wouldn't hurt her! I...I don't know what I did to her. There's lots of different kinds of fae...it seems like she just did what I told her to." She tried to remember if she'd ever met a fae like that before, but her experience with them was limited.

"I might have done it to Taar and Mita too - when we arrived, and I made them suspicious with my questions. I told them not to worry, and they were fine, all of a sudden."

"This is well fucked up." Gina said uneasily. She twisted her hands.

"How did you do it?" she asked, looking pensive. "I mean...can you control it?"

Cal chewed her lip. She didn't want to ostracize the girl; she knew all too well how fae could be cast aside by those that had been their friends.

"I don't know," she said honestly. "I just told her what to do, and she listened. But it's not always like that. I suppose I was worried, with her and the children, before. Maybe being emotional sets it off?"

It was certainly true that she'd lost some of her stiff self-control on this unexpected adventure. And she'd heard of fae before, whose magic flared up when they were angry, or frightened.

"Okay..." Gina said slowly, running a hand through her hair. "I'm not gonna lie, I really don't like the idea of messing with people's minds...but it's maybe better if you can control it rather than randomly firing it off, right?"

She exhaled a long breath and stood up, brushing down her loose robe and gathering her hair over one shoulder.

"Alright, let's test it. Tell me to do something."

"Oh...okay." Cal swallowed, looking decidedly uncomfortable with the idea. "Erm...sit down."

Gina blinked at her, and after a moment, shrugged. Cal chewed her lip, frowning.

"Sit down!" she said again, more forcefully this time, but the result was the same. She made a quiet, annoyed noise and shook her head.

"This is stupid - it's not going to work."

"Just try it again." Gina suggested. "Maybe think about how you were feeling when you said it to Nisha?"

"What good is magic if I can't even control it!?" Cal demanded. "What if I get angry, and make someone hurt themselves? Or hurt someone else?" Her lip was beginning to tremble, tears prickling the girls eyes. She'd never asked for this, or wanted it! It wasn't right, it wasn't fair!

"I need to be able to do this, or who knows what I could make someone do!? Come on, just sit DOWN!"

Gina sat down cross-legged, and looked thoughtful.

"Okay." she said, reaching down and tugging her right foot tighter against her left knee. "It's alright, what if..."

She looked down at her foot, and stared at it for a long moment.

"Fuck off!" she exclaimed, and tried to stand up so fast that she tangled her legs and fell down hard on her backside.

Cal's mouth dropped open as the redhead stood up on her second attempt. She looked up at her friend in shock. "It...it worked! Jump up and down! Spin in a circle! Clap!"

"Yeah it did!" Gina agreed in a shocked voice, as she spread her arms and executed a twirl in the middle of the bedroom floor. As she turned back to face Cal and brought her hands hard together, her expression changed to one of dawning comprehension.

"Hey!" she complained, "Stop it!"

Her cheeks still wet with her frustrated tears, Cal began to giggle. The heavy emotions of their adventure had been weighing on the teen more than she realised - it was the first time she'd laughed since she'd been torn from her home, and once the child started, she found it impossible to stop. Her laugh grew louder and more hysterical until she was crying again - at first, tears of laughter - but they soon gave way to real tears.

"Hey, hey." Gina said gently, and Cal felt the older girl sit down next to her and wrap her arms around her. "It's alright. It's just a test..."

"This...all of this...it's too much!" Cal forced out between sobs, rubbing furiously at her eyes in an attempt to staunch the flow. "Who is doing this to us? What do they get out of it?"

"I don't know." Gina admitted as she linked her hands around Cal's upper arm. "Maybe they've got a plan for something, or maybe they really do want our help. Or maybe they're just fucking with us..."

She rested her cheek on the top of Cal's head.

"You know, I asked the same thing back in Austere. But in the end it didn't matter. They were hurting people, and I wasn't just going to let that happen. We're not going to let that happen now."

Cal gave a shuddering sigh, propping her elbows on her knees, and her face on her fists. "Well, we've just got to carry on, don't we? It's not like we have any other choice."

"Until we meet them." Gina said firmly. She leaned forward to stay with Cal as the young princess hunched over. "Do you know what this means? We work on this some more until you can control it, and don't have to worry about setting it off by accident, or around people who don't like fae. And when we get to the end of this bloody trail, you tell whoever wrote the note to put everybody back where they belong."

Cal blinked, peering at the other girl over her shoulder.

"I... I could, couldn't I?" It was the first suggestion that her magic could be a positive thing, and the princess gave Gina a wobbly smile. And if she did go home.. maybe she could change things there, too.

[Minkasha]

Only an hour more had passed, with Manisha waking up shivering but uncharacteristically more compliant ever since she awoke. Even if she needed the bucket, her actions were competent and she had not complained or begged once. Gina hoped that she had gotten over the worst of her comedown, and that it wasn't solely due to Cal's accidentally-enforced cognitive dissonance.

"What were you taking anyway?" she had asked, as she and Cal brought their new friend some dry toast and jam to line her stomach with. Manisha took it with a shaking hand, eating it soon after. The young woman used the excuse of chewing and slow, jittery, bites to avoid answering - eyes turned away from the girls.

In any case, a crisis had been averted when Taar and Mita returned from their night-time hunt. The Bayn’gül children were now licking their fur to rest from the arduous tasks of learning the harsh ways of the alien world. Yet their plans were cut swiftly when Koolkal came in, and seemed to be hesitant to leave again.

Following his mistress' words he had arrived, waiting for the Human woman. He was more decorated than the last time the girls had seen him, in leather armor plated with bronze-like metal and a loose armament of two black, chunky guns - one on each hip - and what Gina could guess were futuristic ammo clips across the belt. A sword was in a sheath behind him.

Taar and Mita were staring up at him, wagging their tails and purring in admiration of their teacher. Even Gina couldn't help being impressed, although probably not in the way that Koolkal wanted. Being around guns usually made her feel a little uneasy, but the fully-armed Koolkal was a solid, almost comforting presence in a mysterious and dangerous world.

"Looking good, Koolkal." she said with a smile. "Sit down. Hopefully we won't be waiting long."

Her gaze lingered for a moment on the Pluto brand on his forehead, the mark that only she, Cal and Manisha could see.

Koolkal's return smirk showed her he was swooned, feline eyes shifting in hesitation but he still managed to follow her command. The weight of his armor and weaponry clicked and shifted around with his movements - he carried a heavy air of uncertainty. The children were amusing themselves by following their teacher. The smile fell off Gina's face as she regarded them.

"Shall we...um...call the kids through as well?" she asked Cal quietly. They still hadn't been able to think of a painless, foolproof way to deliver the news. The asylum papers, now in the bottom of her bag for safekeeping, were steadily burning a hole through the back of her mind.

The princess gulped and nodded, her teeth pressing hard enough to her lip to leave shallow imprints on the soft skin. The discovery of her powers, and subsequent time spent trying to control them had provided a distraction from the thought of having to tell the children they were leaving. Leaving them alone.

"Taar, Mita? Can you come here, please. Sit down." Her voice trembled a little as she called to them, Her brows furrowed in a frown. When the children sat obediently before her, she knelt in front of them, a hand moving to rest gently on each kittens' knee.

"You've done so well with your training, little ones," she said, forcing a smile as she looked at them both. "You're growing stronger all the time! You can look after yourselves now, without me fearing for you."

She looked to Gina for support, her eyes making it clear that she was trying to convince herself, as well as the kittens, of her words. Gina swallowed, and stepped forward to give her shoulder a supportive squeeze.

"I wish I could stay with you," Cal rushed out, "And watch you grow even stronger... but I... I have to leave. We're all leaving."

It was a clumsy way to tell them, a ripping off of the bandage. Steadily the bobbing tails of Taar and Mita had become listless - still. Taar's black fur stood on end, Mita's rising to match as they stared at their nurturer with wide eyes. No pleas, no demands of why...just numb shock.

"You'll be alright. You have each other; you must look after one another, alright? Promise you will! I..." She paused, choking on the words, her eyes glistening. "I'm very proud of you. I'll miss you very much." she said, meaning it.

It was strange, the strength of her feeling for her two charges - though they weren't hers, not really. She wondered again what had become of the kittens' real caregiver, when she had appeared and taken her place. Perhaps that was another thing she could fix, when they found whoever was doing this. She wanted to tell them she would return, or at least try to... but children who had already lost their parents did not need false hope.

The slits that were the children's pupils gave way to signs of hostility, betrayal and ferocity.

"You were supposed to be trusted! You're no different than the other Terrans!" Mita's young voice screamed out.

Taar hissed and bared his fangs under his human-like lips. His small paw dug its claws into Calamity's light colored flesh - creating small circles of blood around the puncture holes. Cal gave a yelp of pain, trying to snatch her arm away from the childs' claws, but the tiny razors were dug in deep.

"Hey!" Gina shouted in alarm, starting forward.

The children screamed and hissed at her, tears coming out of their eyes only to be lost in their fur. Taar yanked out his hand from Cal's skin and the two kittens made an exit from the home that was less than perfect or graceful as they bumbled away heartbroken.

The princess stared after them, her mouth open in shock, her own eyes brimming with tears. Her body trembling, she fell back to sit on the chair behind her, fingers clutching at it's arms. Droplets of crimson were welling up on the girls' arm where Taar had clawed her, but Cal didn't seem to notice. She swallowed, hard, struggling not to give way to the barrage of tears fighting for freedom from behind her eyes.

"I..." the young girl glanced at Gina, then Koolkal. She swallowed again, looking back to her friend. "I didn't handle that very well, did I?"

Gina shook her head and shrugged helplessly.

"I don't think there was a good way." the older girl said, looking stricken. "Here, lemme get something to clean those cuts with..."

Cal looked at the open door, wanting to follow... but what would be the point? They had to leave, and they could not take the children with them into god knew what they would be facing next.

Gina returned with a cloth, and the same bowl that Taar and Mita had fetched to wash Cal's face with, two days before. The older girl clawed a hand through her copper hair as she looked towards the door, making a fist at the back of her head. Perhaps she was wondering who would find the children first as they went sobbing through the village. She sighed and knelt down next to Cal, fishing the cloth out of the bowl and wringing it out in her fist before wiping away the spots of blood on Cal's arm. The water smelled of something astringent, and stung slightly as it touched the open cuts.

"What'll happen to them now?" Gina asked in monotone, pausing in her work to look up at Koolkal.

The Bayn’gül's cat-like features stared at Calamity in shock, as if he were looking at the face behind the mask of Cal's persona - as if he didn't know her. His tail twitched unnaturally, causing him to stare at it with a receding, fang-baring lip aimed its way. He kept himself now by the door, anxiety pooling out from his fur-covered body.

"They have each other now..." Was all the answer Gina got, his furry fingers stroking the hilt of his gun. "Treasonous Terrans will be poached..."

"You what?" Gina asked, looking alarmed. "Poached?"

"We run into the woods or you die." Koolkal warned, turning his sharp alien eyes onto the girls.

Gina blinked at him for a second as she processed what he was saying, and then for another second as she realised that he was being entirely serious.

"Oh shit." she said, a little numbly, and it took her another moment before the obvious plan of action came to her. "Cal," she said, putting down the bowl and rising. "Get Nisha up and ready to go!"

Cal hadn't moved as Gina tended her arm, but the redhead's sharp command drew her from her silence, and Koolkal's words echoed in her ears.

"Right. Nisha, right." she swallowed, rubbing her eyes free of the tears gathered in their corners and setting her trembling lips in a hard frown.

As Cal made her exit, Gina grabbed her woven carrier bag from the table and bolted towards the kitchen. She looked back and saw that Koolkal still watching them tensely.

"Koolkal, do you know anywhere safe in the forest we can hide out?"

The forest. The one place we all agreed we shouldn't be going...

Koolkal was staring through the open door, carefully watching the passers by in the market. His expression looked tense, and Gina could see his form expand even greater with the rise of his hairs. Musculature became more intimidating with the elongated hairs dramatising the dips and shapes. His eyes fell on Gina, the slits of his eyes losing the harsh sting of hostility when they held her in their gaze.

"Five minutes...gather your things." he warned softly.

Gina nodded. Food, she thought, remembering one of her first priorities after being stuck with the other students in the West Hills death trap, We're going to need food. And first aid stuff...

Heading down the corridor, Cal crossed to Nisha's bed and shook her shoulder with more force than was probably necessary.

"Nisha, you have to get up!" she said, her voice trembling slightly, "We have to go, come on." Slipping an arm under the still-feeble woman and another behind her back, she tugged her up and forwards.

"I'm sorry, I know you need more rest, but they'll be coming soon, we have to leave before they get here, or..."

Treasonous Terrans will be poached, Koolkal had said. They would be hunted, then; running through the woods like prey.

"Come on, Nisha!"

Manisha grasped her bucket closer to her robed chest. Leaning on Cal, she meekly looked around.

"What about the clothes?"

"Clothes... yes. We'll need more than food..." Cal responded, more to herself than Manisha. Craning her neck, she turned, trying to support Nisha as well as look around for whatever might be useful to them.

"Here, just sit down for a second," she lowered the other girl to sit on the bed, her eye catching a line of rope beneath the frame as she bent over. Kneeling to look, she found two woven bags with rope drawstrings. She pulled them from beneath the bed, hurriedly shoving a couple of the ropes that seemed to be the only attire available into one.

"Alright, there's your clothes. Now let's go." she bent to slip her arm around Manisha's waist once more and rushed her down the hall.

When she returned to the kitchen, she found Gina opening cupboards and pulling out dried food items. The redhead looked back over her shoulder and saw the drawstring backpacks that Cal was carrying.

"Good shout." she nodded, and began to decant the syringes, the zodiac book and her asylum papers from her own handbag into the more portable rucksacks. She shoved the dried food down on top of them, and squeezed in three plastic bottles she had filled from the tap.

The tupperware box of herbs marked antiseptic, which she had used to clean Cal's scratches, went on top. A box of matches and a torch took a little longer to find. As she pulled open the cutlery drawer, she stared down for a long moment at the silvery cutting knife lying amongst the utensils. Just like Austere, she thought, and bizarrely she felt almost comforted as she picked it up.

"You still got yours?" she asked Cal, remembering the knife the other girl had found in Gina's herb drawer.

Cal's free hand moved to her waist, feeling the hard outline of the blade beneath her robes. She had forgotten the knife. She swallowed, unnerved at the thought of actually having to use it, and nodded, her expression sombre.

Gina gathered the rest of the house's first aid kit, and Cal distributed the food and water. The brunette, Manisha was useless at gathering anything. She seemed to just be able to contain herself and the wooden bucket she held. Koolkal lost patience, his eye spotting something outside the doorway he stood against.

“We’re leaving.” he demanded to Calamity and Manisha, though his ‘mistress’ received a swift bow of the head in submission.

Gina shouldered one bag while Cal took the other. There was little question of the sickly Manisha being able to carry anything.

Supporting Manisha from either side, they followed Koolkal through the door. The Bayn’gül gripped the hilt of his blade as he stomped outside onto the dirt track. The girls coming after were immediately brought to the awareness of other Bayn’gül speaking between the stands. Where Taar and Mita had gone was not discernible, as they were not within eyesight, but the eyes of the gathered cat-people were focusing on the three girls – many slit irises locked on Calamity. If it were not for Koolkal’s puffed out appearance and the slight tug of his sword from its sheath, the Bayn’gül that had taken a step towards her might have done much more. Koolkal's furry hand grasped Gina’s bicep to pull her closer to his imposing height.

Cal gave a small gasp of fright, unconsciously clutching at the fabric of Manisha's robes. Her eyes flickered from one angry face to another.

Gina's heart was thudding painfully in her throat as Koolkal ushered them away from the hostile crowd. The direction he was leading them was not the same path back to the tree dwellings, but instead going left – further down the unexplored path where the girls had never gone before. He would not speak to them, as the boundary between settled land and rainforest became obvious with the expansive trees clustering closer before them, and thick, large-leafed foliage filling the spaces in between.

Manisha wasn’t faring well, shivering and coughing before they even walked into the gate of greenery. Green feline eyes fell on her from Koolkal’s height.

"She's getting over a bug, that's all." Gina insisted, as she helped keep Manisha upright with an arm around her back. Cal said nothing, twisting her neck to look behind her for the furious crowd. Her hand was tucked under robes, nervously clutching the small knife.

Whatever Koolkal was thinking while looking at her ushered a swift flick of his tail, though he kept it to himself and pushed a cluster of leaves up to clear their path. Each leaf with ribbed with diamond pointed tips, and was the size of the girls’ torsos. The bio-diversity was vicious – or so Gina had read up on. On the eye nothing seemed dangerous – yet. Koolkal held the curtain of green aside and waited for them to enter.

As they stepped through after him the humidity jumped drastically, making breathing harder and rendering the air heavy and oppressive against their skin. All around them was closely-packed vegetation - the shapes of the leaves so varied that they seemed almost limitless. The mixture of varied flowery perfumes from all the life was so potent as to be almost gut-wrenching, and it provoked poor Manisha to start heavily gagging and coughing into her bucket. Some of the leaves were cone shaped; as long as Cal's forearm and littered with long white spines, and Koolkal was doing what he could to walk around the toothed vegetation that almost blocked the way forward. Clearly they were not something they wanted to accidentally prick themselves on.

"Careful." Gina whispered, mostly for Manisha's benefit as she and Cal guided her forward, "Try not to let anything touch you."

She stuck as closely as she could to Koolkal's pawprints as they followed after him. Cal eyed the plantlife warily, taking a firmer hold on the woozy Manisha. Her arm was beginning to ache at the older girls' weight, and the gaps Koolkal slipped through with ease were more difficult to navigate with three people moving together.

There were blue flowers growing like vines up the trunk of a tree, behind the veil of spiny leaves, creating a small space for the girls to pass through. Scattered across the ground were random bulb growths. The three girls took a slow and cautious pace. Manisha's anxious shakes of withdrawal uprooted some of Cal and Gina's hold on the young woman. Her voice gagged hoarsely in revulsion as they continued.

One of the suffering drug addict's sandalled feet scraped across the tiny, fine hairs of a ground-dwelling bulb. Jolting from the centre of its closed petals came a crimson-coloured spike, whose tip seeped a clear liquid that made the grass hiss once it dripped. Manisha noticed the alien thing and huddled deeper into Calamity in shock, almost causing her foot to step directly upon one of the other bulbs.

"Easy, easy..." Gina whispered.

"I'm not a fucking invalid." Nisha muttered back resentfully.

Koolkal waited, though he timidly stared at Gina twice as they made their slow progress - she sensed concern for him. His care was written across all his features, but when he stared at the other girls his face turned rigid. Holding the toothed leaves away from the trio, he escorted them into another series of trees. The acid emitting bulbs were nearly everywhere across the forest floor - growing in a noticeable, sinuous design. What little air moved through the humidity between the trees taunted their showings, as the tall grass was quick to bend and hide some of the bulbs while revealing others. Gina wondered if the acidic bulbs were separate growths or the linked parts of some huge underground organism, and decided that she didn't want to know.

Koolkal twitched his ears. They had been walking for at least a mile in the nerve-wracking situation and he seemed cautious, gazing around through the shadows while the trees did their best to keep the terrain secretive and elusive to their visual senses. Gina could see the slight rising of his broad, black-furred shoulders. He perceived danger, or maybe he was on guard. Manisha was drenched in sweat, driven by illness and fear for her life. Calamity’s royal background failed to give her arm the discipline to continue holding the young woman, and gradually lowered down her body until it slipped off completely.

At the breaking of her support from Cal, the sickly brunette shakily stood up on her own, finding strength to even work against Gina’s gentle guide. The Grecian young woman’s new burst of stamina led her leading foot to step deep into the grass as she tried to find her own balance. Their prior footsteps had always been preplanned to avoid what grew beneath them; but her step was spontaneous. In the grass her foot landed on something round and several inches tall, which Manisha’s dulled senses failed to realise was one of the green-gray bulb growths. It was difficult for the other two girls to tell if the hissing came first or the screaming, but both came to pass. Manisha was howling in pain, her bucket being flung to crash against a ridge-layered surface of tree bark. She slipped out of Gina's supporting grip as her impaled foot collapsed under her.

"Nisha!" Gina shrieked, lunging forward.

Calamity was weary, a noble girl who until a moment ago had wanted to sit and rest if not outright sleep. Simply, she was too slow from exhaustion. And Gina, who ran on adrenaline, was completely prevented from helping as a furry hand grabbed her shoulder, followed by an arm that came and wrapped around her waist to lift her off the ground. Only a fraction of a second later did she come to realise that Koolkal's intervention had saved her, for her toes had managed to bump into one of the bulbs as she lost her caution to try and help Manisha. It didn't stop her from yelling at the Bayn'gül to let her go, and from kicking her legs uselessly against his armoured body. Koolkal was not listening to her commands, and left Manisha to her fate.

Manisha fell flat into the soft layers of thick green grass, her surgery-altered face twisted into a scream. An acidic hissing spiked once again as her body was laid out and her weight fell upon several of the bulbs. Their emissions brought a chemical smell, of something only describable as rotten honey. Manisha jerked onto her back, writhing. The skin of her left shoulder, her right cheek, her right hip and her left shin was being eaten through. Gina was privy to the sight from her held and elevated position: clear liquid misting and eroding the bone and skin that helped make Manisha’s shin. First the acid bubbled pink, then it was hissing over exposed bone, and then that too dissolved away as the erosion severed her foot from her body. The previously dormant plants were now lashing eagerly, vines slithering through the divisions of grass to clasp and pin her down. Gina had a horrible vision of the vines in Samnite's maze, latching around Hartley to snap his neck, but this was worse. Manisha shrieked; nothing of her acidic death was graceful.

Gina's left arm was pinned to her side by Koolkal's protective embrace, crushing the knife in her belt against her hip. Her right was wildly fighting the Bayn'gül's grip, while her sandalled feet kicked wildly and helplessly from half a metre off the ground.

"Koolkal!" she screamed at him, pleading, to no avail. "For fuck's sake, please!"

Her thrashing right hand found the gun at Koolkal's waist, and jerked it free of its holster before he could react. The heavy grip was sized for a Bayn'gül hand, so that her own barely closed around the textured metal. Gina thrust the gun forward. For a brief moment, she could not have said if she had been aiming at the lashing vines or at Manisha herself - anything to stop the awful, agonised screaming. She squeezed with her entire hand as her finger locked around the trigger. The metal lever went stiff, resisting her, and then depressed.

The bang was thunderous, and the gun bucked hard in her unprepared grip. It wrenched up and to the left, painfully torquing her wrist. The bullet that would have hit Manisha's chest instead punched into her forehead, crushing her screaming face like an eggshell. The poor girl's shrieks abruptly cut off, leaving Gina with just the ringing aftermath of the gunshot and her own frantic breathing. For a moment, she was unable to do anything but stare saucer-eyed; her chest heaving, her hand locked in a death grip around Koolkal's gun.

Cal gave an involuntary scream as Manisha's terrified face abruptly disappeared, her hands rising to clutch at her head as she jerked her face away from the gruesome sight. When her voice trailed off, out of breath, she was silent for a long moment; then her lips pursed as the smell of blood hit her nose, and she doubled over, throwing up noisily onto the path behind them.

What Gina didn't notice was that Manisha’s dying screams, and possibly the gunshot, had called something from the distance. But as Cal straightened, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she saw it. It saw her, too. A pair of eyes that reflected the dim sunlight stared at her, until the faintest silhouette of a large cat crawled through the trees away from sight. Cal took a step backward; her sandal caressed gently onto a bulb, though in her startled state she was blessed to not have pressed hard enough. Koolkal did not give Manisha, and her dissolving pieces, any more of his attention. The smell of rotten honey pilfered the girls’ sense of smell, joined with blood.

Cal caught eyes again with the large animal; it was keeping to the darkness of the trees. This time, the eyes held on her. Closer, she could see that they were orange, irises heavily dilated in the feral lack of light.

"Gina..." her voice was soft, the shock of Manisha's death and the fear of the sillouette peering ominously at their party making her feel detached, as though this was only a terrible nightmare. Gina didn't seem to hear, perhaps locked into the same state. Her eyes were wide and white, as if she was still seeing Manisha's screaming mouth gape wider and wider as the corrosive plant sap flayed away her cheek to expose her teeth. Her arm and Koolkal's gun stayed rigidly pointed towards Nisha's headless, liquefying corpse.

"Gina," Cal urged, "There's something back there." With trembling fingers, she drew the slender knife from underneath her robes, her knuckles white where she clutched the handle. Her eyes were still locked on the creature's, her heart pounding in her ears.

Koolkal's tail thrashed wildly. He had to juggle Gina around to rip the gun out of her hands, drawing a surprised shriek from the young woman. She was tossed around from the hold of his left side to his right; the tall black-furred cat man had noticed the eyes as well. To the fright of the young women, the animal emerged out from between the trees. It was grey furred, with darker swirls marking the four foot tall, four legged animal. Its musculature was pronounced underneath the thin coat of hair, grooves shifting and sliding while it kept low and approached. From its sides, where the grooves of the ribs lined the fur, came jutting tusks that looked quite capable of cutting deep into any prey that it swiftly rushed by. Large orange death locked on the three of them.

Whiskers shook when it hissed, Koolkal opening his more humanoid mouth to meet it as they locked eyes. Black talons cut into the grass, grey paws averting a straight path. It was clear the animals here had evolved to be able to nimbly dodge the bulbs below. Manisha's corpse was gradually shifting from solid to liquid, hissing as the sap ate away at her severed parts. Its emanating smell potentially drew the feline, eyes having glanced at the earth-soaking meal more than once. Yet it firmly chose them as its meal - hunger staring at them. Koolkal kept his gun firmly aimed. His left calf twitched a few times, making him teeter for only a breath, but that was all the invitation the primal cat needed to charge. Lunging once to break the distance of several feet, a hooked tusk from the side of the creature cut into Cal's robes but left her unharmed. The princess spun on her heels as it passed her, pulled by the tug of the tusk on her clothes. Her eyes were wide, following the creatures' path as Koolkal slammed the large front end of the gun down to crush its round-topped skull. Growling, the animal's forcefully lowered head smacked dirt.

Gina flew around in the air while Koolkal moved his right foot down to pin the head down, yet the feline pulled back faster than he could stomp. Ready to draw blood, the grey-coated animal jumped half the height of Koolkal - it was trying to take what looked like a meal already served and waiting: Gina. The black Bayn’gül rolled on his left foot to throw his arm in the way instead, and the animal took it. Its full weight, held by its jaw, pulled Koolkal to his knee, and Gina fell out of his arm to roll on the ground. A bulbous killer plant touched her face, yet it was the cat man who saved her life yet again by pulling her with his gun-dropped hand and pushing her against a tree.

Blood gushed across the predator's hissing face, teeth clenching harder into Koolkal's otherwise healthy and strong arm. Pain contorted on the Bayn'gül's face, and his shoulder not weighed down by the huge animal shuddered. The creature's jaw was nearly the width of his forearm alone. With the arm he had left to control, Koolkal pulled out his knife to slice across its greedy orange eyes. Orange turned into red with the brutal attack. Roaring and yelping erupted, until the huge mass desperately lunged in its blind sight.

Overhead of Koolkal, his hunter’s gaze studied fast and he thrusted the knife straight up into the gut flying past him. Hilt dived into the beast; he bellowed a roar of his own and directed the arch of the lunge face first into the hissing bulb Gina’s face had activated. Rotten honey sputtered once more, over the animal’s skull – eating it away upon contact.

Koolkal was merciless to retrieve his dagger, innards poking through the hole made but it didn’t matter – vines took a new prey to eat on the forest floor. The predator whimpered and thrashed but it didn’t last long, and the hissing that had died away after swiftly turning Manisha into mush gained a new crescendo.

Victorious and mauled, Koolkal turned his eyes to Gina to see if she was safe. The jagged marks of punctured holes in his forearm looked terrible, but he kept his eyes straight on her with love and devotion. What gave away his pain were the trembles of his sleek tail.

Cal was once again rendered motionless; staring down at the mess of quickly disappearing bone and blood that had, moments ago, looked like their death. After a few moments, she seemed to realize that her mouth was hanging open. She closed it, swallowing, and turned her eyes to Gina. About to rush over to her friend, she swallowed again and stopped herself, instead taking a slow and careful pace, stepping gingerly to avoid the killer bulbs. It seemed to take a long time for her to reach Gina; pausing as she passed Koolkal to look up at him. She struggled with what to say; he had just saved both of their lives, and had gotten injured in the process.

"Th...thank you," she finally managed, rather lamely. Her voice was quiet and solemn, her eyes avoiding the patch of muck that had so recently been Manisha.

"Yeah, thank you..." Gina gasped, her expression still half-frozen with shock. She looked at the vanquished predator, and then her eyes cleared a little as they fell on Cal, and then on the bleeding puncture wounds on Koolkal's arm.

"We need to see to that." she said as she groped at the tree bark above her head and wobbled to her feet. She looked around. "There's a clearing over there. We could...we could use the light..."

Cal nodded jaggedly, grateful for the other girls' direction. They picked their way through the grass, the younger girls' fingers still clutching the knife hilt - not that she had done any good with it. If it wasn't for Koolkal... the royal tried again to swallow down the lump in her throat. It didn't budge.

The sun shafted down through the gap in the canopy onto bare brown earth. It wasn't immediately obvious what had cleared away the vegetation from the small space between the trees. Perhaps the hot sun had dried out the soil, or the grey-green bulbs simply didn't like strong light. Gina shrugged off her drawstring bag and put it down on the thankfully bulb-free earth, and pulled out the gauze roll and one of the bottles of water.

"Cal," she asked thickly, "Can you chuck us the box of antiseptic?"

Cal made a noise of assent, pulling the bag from her shoulder and drawing it open to hand Gina what she needed. The redhead's eyes were glistening but she angrily scrubbed away the tears, focusing doggedly on an injury that was within her power to fix.

"Sit down." she told Koolkal, "Give me your arm."

The black-coated Bayn'gül squatted rather than sat, but once he was down to her level Gina took a look at his mauled limb. She had no idea how Bayn'gül biology differed from human, but the blood running through his fur was oozing rather than spurting, which she took to be a good sign.

"It doesn't look too deep." she thought aloud as she crushed a little of the antiseptic herb mix from the tupperware box into one of the water bottles and shook it up. "I'm going to clean the wound and then bind it up, okay?"

She washed her own hands in the herb water before pouring a stream of it over Koolkal's arm. She glanced at Cal and then back at Koolkal. "Hey, um...they gave Cal a paste for her bruise the other day - will that help?"

Koolkal's thick tail slapped the ground and he stared intently at his mate. "Why would you ask me?"

His black lips, that mimicked human shape, twisted into a hesitant frown.

"I'm sorry." Gina backtracked quickly, her heart sinking a little. Well, worth a try. "My brain's mush at the moment..."

Just like Nisha's head, she thought. For a brief second she imagined she could still hear the scream and the thunderous bang, and she felt such a strong surge of adrenaline that she thought she was going to be physically sick. Oh god, I did that. I shot her in the face...

Her wrist was still aching from the gun's kickback. Her chest felt constricted, but perhaps that was just the bruises of being thrown around by Koolkal as he fought off the predator. Focus, focus. she all but snarled at herself.

She looked down at her hands, and clenched them to stop the trembling. Okay, the cream worked on bruises and burns, but that doesn't mean it'll be good for open wounds. Let's be cautious for now.

"Just hold still while I bandage you up." she ordered Koolkal, shocked by how calm her own voice sounded.

Her touch kept the Bayn'gül calm, but the blood coming between his fur-layered wounds were changing the black hairs to appear more reflective than before - wet. Gina washed the wounds again with another splash of the herb water, and pressed some gauze pads from the first aid kit over the red puncture-holes. It took three to cover them all, which concerned her when they would have to change the bandages before long.

Can't worry about that now, she told herself, unrolling a fourth bundle of gauze and winding it around Koolkal's arm. She started by tying down the edges of the pads, and then bound them up until no more blood was showing through the gauze. She awkwardly sawed the end with Cal's kitchen knife, and then tucked it in to secure it.

"Here." she told Koolkal, passing the Bayn'gül one of the pieces of fruit they had brought with them. A bit of vitamin C can't hurt, at least.

Cal watched in silence - she would have been impressed, once again, at Gina's first aid skills had the horror of the situation not still been ringing in her ears. Her mind was on Baka - the first member of their group to fall. First Baka, now Nisha... and we lost Vahsi, she thought, realising with a pang of guilt that she had almost forgotten their other companion.

"We should keep going," she thought aloud, her eyes drifting over the foliage that surrounded them. "I'm sure that's not the only animal out here... Koolkal? You can keep going, right?"

She didn't want to think of the possibility of having to continue without their guide. It was clear they wouldn't last long without him - she looked at the feline man cautiously, wondering what he was thinking. They were supposed to be able to handle themselves out here, weren't they? Or, the people they had replaced could. What would he do, if he found out they were imposters? Would he leave them here?

At that moment a thundering roar boomed through the trees, loud and sudden enough to make both girls jump. Gina instinctively looked up through the gap in the canopy above the clearing, recognising the howl of a jet engine. Aeroplane - the Bayn'gül don't have aeroplanes...

"That's our ride out of here!" she exclaimed to the others, her eyes still searching frantically for the Valkure aircraft. And then, it presented itself with a glare of golden reflection. The size of a four story building, the vessel was rectangular but aerodynamically curved, carrying itself through the air with two wings upon the sides - each was set with rows of gold metal feathers, leading to jets of blue plasmic propulsion. The craft manoeuvred to loop back over the limitless tree tops, coming overhead of the clearing and beginning to descend. The closer it came, the grander its glorified decor and size became comparative to them.

Its head was shaped after that of an eagle, where a large window of black glass arched to surely give a wide view of the planet; platinum with trim and colour patterns weaving between it and the golden counterparts on the wings. Grass and tree leaves rustled with increasing discord as metal legs emerged from the bottom of the ship to give its landing a firm footing. The three of them heard engines powering down, the blue fading from the winged sides of the spacefaring éclat. Gina could only blink at the sheer scale of the thing.

When all outward actions of the space vessel had ended, a ramp began to reveal itself and stab into the earth for two beings to come out. Golden plated in form-fitting combat armament, their bodies were of a V shape and of a woman's curved shape. Upon their backs, large white-feathered wings amplified their charismatic presence, and the angel-like beings were pampered with large auras of bright, white, sparkling light centering from each of them individually. When they turned their heads, it was noticeable that their helms had two little holes for the nose, and inset rectangular eye lenses; pixelated, sunken-in rectangles glowing with a dark golden light, aimed over at them. Gina was overwhelmed, and a little wary. Were these beings supernatural, or real? They had been having shitty experiences with both of late. But if forbidding, at least they did not seem hostile. And going by the asylum papers, these angelic figures were most probably their only way off Kysmæt. She swallowed. Fuck it. After ghosts, vampires and a sadistic someone throwing us around worlds after Greek symbols, what's so bad about angels?

The six foot tall winged agents of space waited. Koolkal stared with tepid prejudice and held Gina near his torso, shielding her with his better arm. He may have been trying to protect her; Gina could still feel him shivering through his arm, under the fur.

"It's alright." Gina whispered to her hulking protector - a sentiment that she wasn't entirely sure that she really felt. She forced a more authoritative tone into her cracking voice as she added, "Let me go. We'll handle this."

As well as you handled Nisha? a voice in her own head challenged her. Hiss. Shriek. Bang. She felt sick.

She pushed experimentally against Koolkal's restraining arm, and when he didn't resist her, she raked the crumpled asylum papers out of her bag and stood up next to Cal, twining her hand through the younger girl's for mutual support. Cal's hand felt unnaturally warm, but that was probably because her own was cold and clammy. Cal's fingers tightened around Gina's hand as she felt the other girls touch, pulling her from her shocked reverie at the craft, and winged people (if they were people) before them. Gina coughed to make sure that her voice wouldn't break.

"Hey." she began, looking up at the two radiant figures. She felt a familiar tingle in her wrist, the tattoo itching as she held out the creased papers towards the aliens. She hoped that it was a good sign. "I'm Gina, and that's Koolkal. But now the Bayn'gül in the village want to kill Cal and..."

She had been about to say Cal and Manisha. She felt the blood drain from her face as the gunshot sound jolted through her yet again, like a physical force.

"And you have to let her come too." she managed to say instead. "They'll kill her if they find her, isn't that what you said Koolkal?"

She looked to the wounded Bayn'gül for support.

The diamond-lined bird icons that spanned across the angels' chests twinkled with the humid jungle light, and the decoration of wings on their belts matched the ship. The one with the female shaped body flapped her white wings once, leaving Gina's outstretched arm hanging.

"They can speak our native language?"

Gina blinked, and tried to hide her look of surprise. So that's what the itch was this time.

The voice coming from the curve-bodied, golden-armored being confirmed it to be a female. Her voice gave away her young adulthood, even though she still stood over them easily at six foot. The male winged man she looked at was six foot six, and he stared down at the two young women heavily with golden eyes - harsh even as the light of the digital gaze showed no emotion. His metal-covered fingers brushed the hilt at his belt while he stared them down, but he turned to look at Calamity - perhaps drawn by her unusual violet eyes. The weight of his presence was down upon them: he was holding judgment.

Taking the papers from Gina's outstretched hand, he read them several times, flipping through them. The female winged being maneuvered herself to Koolkal's side. The Bayn’gül was hesitant, and staring at Gina and Cal with confusion, but the winged woman managed to per her hands on his wounds when he grunted. Golden light began to emit from her hands, and Koolkal's tail thwapped the earth a few times in uncontrollable agreement.

"Wait," Gina addressed the shining figure. "What are you...?"

The white sparkling aura that filled the area around the male angel changed. Some sparkles of red danced with the white and he looked at the two girls, down to them.

"Papers meet records," His voice was noticeably low. "Death is given to the unjust, it is part of the Bayn’gül culture. You are sentenced for reasons of your chosen home planet and you have no papers of asylum." Golden, technological eyes fell on Gina - and over to Koolkal, who was getting to his feet warily. "Welcome, step aboard."

The golden man stepped to the side to show the ramp of the ship that awaited; to him Calamity did not exist a moment longer. Beside them Koolkal ripped off his bandages to show an arm that was fully healed, and he looked over to the woman and nodded his head.

"Thank you."

After a few jumbled sounds from the woman's wrist device, her translated voice welcomed him and he seemed stunned by the breaking of the communication barrier - he had no idea Calamity was just deemed worthy of death.

"Gina..." Cal bit her lip, giving her friend a worried look. "What do they mean? They're going to leave me? You can't go without me!"

Gina tightened her grip on Cal's hand.

"Here." she challenged the male angel, staring defiantly into his golden eye lenses. "Wait a sodding minute. The only unjust thing Cal did was try and help us get away when the rest of the Bayn'gül came after us!"

It didn't seem like a good time to bring up Taar and Mita.

"You can't be thinking of just leaving her here?" she appealed to the second angel, who was escorting Koolkal up the ramp of the huge aquiline aircraft.

The angelic woman helping Koolkal gave a quiet and deferring look over to the man, regarding him to be the one in charge.

Cal's knuckles were turning a stark shade of white again as she clung to Gina. The thought of being left here, with a ferocious mob at her back and a dangerous, unfamiliar jungle before her broke the reverie the flying ship had put her in.

"Please!" she said, her eyes beseeching, "You can't leave me here to die! You have to take me with you!" Her voice rose in pitch as she spoke, panic filling her as the image of Manisha twisted through her mind again - next time, it could be her...

The Justice's feathers ruffled, wings fluttered with a thoughtful pause. His radiant, solar-like presence blinked in and out of existence for a moment, returning white and pure of any red impressions. It kept firmly around him; he was reflective while staring at Cal.

"You may come, but a message will be sent to Kysmat's Khal’caan. It is his political right to determine if you are free to leave without process of further punishable law."

Gina gave Cal's hand another squeeze. Good enough. We can suss out the details later.

In the background, Koolkal refused to walk up the ramp with the angel woman who had led him thus far. He was standing with broad shoulders and keen perception in Gina's direction - waiting for his mate.

"We're coming." Gina nodded, keeping a tight grip on Cal's hand as she stepped up onto the ramp. The metal beneath her sandals was smooth and hard; a sharp contrast to the soft, root-broken loam that had paved their way so far. The solidarity was comforting, even if they weren't out of danger yet.

[I]No fucking bulbs at least. Hiss. Shriek. Bang. Gina realised that she had pulled up short, and had to swallow hard before she could take another step.

"You both speak the Valkure tongue, when have you been among us?" the man in golden armor and weaponry snapped to ask.

"We haven't." Gina said quickly. "We just learned it." She hesitated for a moment before embellishing the story. "Er...I hope we're pronouncing things right." A flick of the hip rested hilt dispelled tension and he stepped away, turning to lead them to the ramp. Calamity could be heard sighing beside her and the amethyst gem eyes fell her way, looking for companionship.

"I am Justice Taulk" the winged, sparkling, man quipped before walking up to the white light at the end of the ramp. His introduction gave the girls little courtesy. Koolkal twitched his black ears.

"I did not know you could speak bird"

[Minkasha]

Valkure


Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Georgina Wright, Panos Lambros, & Vahşi


“When it starts to move,” Gina whispered to Cal as they headed up the ramp and it closed behind them in a smooth ballet of technology. “Clench your jaw and your stomach. Trust me.”

Cal might have never been on an aeroplane before, but Gina quickly learned that what was good first-flyers’ advice for taking off in an ordinary plane simply didn’t apply to the angels’ aquiline aircraft. As the eagle ship’s thruster jets bathed the ground in a wash of hot air, the girls only felt the slightest lurch before normal gravity reasserted itself. Gina would not have thought they were moving at all, if the curved windows hadn’t shown the ground shrinking away below them at a precipitous rate. The blue of the sky faded and gave way to a black expanse glittering with pinprick lights, and Gina’s mouth was still openly gaping as something deep within the ship thrummed and the stars were swallowed by a glare of flat white light.

“Lightspeed engaged.” a computerised voice informed them.


* * * * * *

The trip had been terrifying for Cal, at first. Even after everything she'd seen since leaving Serroc, the sheer impossibility of such a large and heavy transport being able to fly through the air had her shaken. After a few hours, she had adjusted enough to stop feeling terrified they would plummet from the sky, but the transition to lightspeed had left a queasy feeling in her gut that she would have related to seasickness - had she ever been on board a boat, or seen the ocean. The wonder and strangeness of travelling through space overwhelmed her so much that she scarcely even felt relief when the winged strangers informed her that the Khal'caan of Kysmæt (whoever that was) had allowed her to leave with her friend. Seeking distraction, she wandered the ship, avoiding places that offered a view of the vast space outside while she looked for her companion.

When she found Gina, the other girl was slumped in one of the gold-inlaid cabins, folded into herself on a cushioned chair and staring blankly down at the meal that Justice Pamila had brought her. The food was untouched, slowly cooling as wisps of steam curled up from it and vanished listlessly into the air.

“Hey Cal.” Gina said hollowly, without properly looking up at her.

"Hey," Cal managed a small smile, slipping into a seat beside the redhead. She glanced at the food, then away, her stomach giving an uneasy turn.

“I told her to stay close.” Gina said quietly. She still was not looking at Cal, but rather vaguely off to her side, at the golden doorframe. She was biting down hard at the end of every word, and Cal instantly knew that she was talking about Manisha. “She’d still be here if she’d listened. Just like I told Baka to stay with us, and I told Lyanna not to touch Fahrbad’s other potions…what’s the fucking point if nobody listens!?”

Cal blinked, her face tight, and felt a surge of guilt at letting their experience on the spaceship distract her from their friend's untimely death.

"It wasn't...it's not your fault, Gina!'


"Oh shut up, Cal." Gina said savagely. The vehemence in her voice seemed to shock even herself, and she panted a breath before looking up at Cal with an expression of remorse.

“I’m sorry, I know it’s…” She sighed. “It’s just really fucking hard. I keep thinking what if I’d caught Nisha in time, or I’d noticed Baka sooner…I just want…”

She dropped her head into her hands, gripping the bridge of her nose as if trying to squeeze the tears back into her eyes.

“Just once I want to be able to get everyone home safe.”


* * * * * *

Neither of the girls knew how space travel was supposed to work, but when the computer chimed again to announce their arrival, it was accompanied by a savage dropping sensation that made them feel like their stomachs had been ripped out and then shoved back in. The aftermath set every nerve on the girls' skin tingling, and Koolkal seemed to react even worse. They heard a very cat-like yowl from his cabin, and when they next saw their Bayn'gül protector he was moving like a battered marionette.

It was only after the fact that both girls noticed that a new tattoo had emblazoned itself on their wrists - it looked like a letter T, joined at the base to a tilted, backwards S.

Justice Taulk and Justice Pamila, his apprentice as the girls had learned, were diligent to move Koolkal from the off-white, golden-trimmed metallic halls of the bird emulating spaceship. Taken from their accommodated private chambers to recollect themselves, the Justices at least carried much patience for their slowness, pinning it as woe for the Bayn’gül who was rendered to limping. A pained spasm from the Bayn’gül’s tail set Gina to thinking of the white light that Justice Pamila had cast over Koolkal’s arm, and how it had immediately removed the evidence of the Kysmæt predator’s bite. She chewed the inside of her cheek, thinking.

“Um…excuse me.” she ventured, touching the enamelled vambrace that covered Justice Pamila’s forearm to get the angel’s attention. Startled by Gina's touch, the Justice's aura wavered with purple hues before calming to white reactively after seeing the teenager girl.

“Koolkal…" Gina explained, "He’s sick. He has the Enemy Within. Is there anything you can do for him?”

"We will try to do everything we can."

Gina did not think the tone given to her sounded hopeful.

"Thank you." she said anyway.

Escorted out, their first sights were of a great rectangular hanger that led into hallways of marble-centred architecture. The brightness of the vibrantly blue sky burst down through the open ceilings above them. Filling the sky was a nebulous and cosmic white radiance, as if gazing at a galaxy not too far away from where Valkure existed. The oxygenation of the atmosphere was so strong that each inhale for Gina and Calamity was cooling against the painful heat of their mourning and concern.

Koolkal could not stop his ears from twitching; even as the Justices practically dragged him over every smoothed cobblestone he was irritated. For among all the tall marble structures, birds filled every nook and cranny. Of all colors and patterns, the songs of birds and the flapping of their wings promised to never stop as they travelled from tight intersections into a white erected city. Archways, elevated pillars, and grey statues of their winged people spanned commonality around each turn, often the statues being landmarks for fountains or stairs at entranceways. The planet tried to promise paradise, in cohabitation with even odder aliens than the Bayn’gül who occupied the footpath streets.

One race of people were bipedal insects with carapaces of dim earthy tones; two larger arms companied by two lower and smaller, with an elongated, ribbed neck, and beady red eyes with enormous antennae. Their curved, J-shaped bodies walked side by side with another four, these a thin-limbed race of insectoids whose carapaces were black from behind and oddly transitioned to red fleshy tones on the front of their bodies. Bipedal and straight backed, they peacefully paced around with wings outgrowing from their exoskeletons. While these two races of people were minorities among what looked to be humans and the winged, aura-colored majority race, all were socially regarding each other equally. At any rate, until the two girls and the Bayn’gül came passing through their city, with two Justices dragging Koolkal more and more as they went on.

“Faster, Pamila.” the golden suited man prompted the woman. Their features were still mysterious, as they hadn’t taken off their helmets, but if the others of their race were any indication they would be objectively very becoming. Hauling Koolkal into a doorway of swirling gold that pulled apart at their arrival, they entered under a dome which cast a shadow of five meeting arches, the space in between frequented by flying birds. As they entered, Gina and Cal felt the invisible tattoos on their wrists prickle.

Justice Taulk and Justice Pamila exchanged words, and began to half-drag half-carry Koolkal towards a set of doors on the other side of the room.

“You must not follow.” Justice Taulk warned them, rigidly. “He needs to be taken care of.”

Koolkal looked back at Gina, uncertainty in his pain-ravaged eyes.

“They‘re gonna help, Koolkal.” Gina reassured, and then injected a note of sternness into her voice. “Stay strong. That’s an order.”

As the doors closed behind them, the birds’ chirping once again filled the large rectangular room, which was furnished with hovering beds. Of the dozen available, only two were filled. On one was another angel, with one of his grey wings wrapped in heavy bandage, and on the other was a six foot tall man with violent airs and pitch-black hair. He was not lying in bed injured, but sitting and waiting. It was a face they knew well from their adventures past.

”Holy shit!” Gina exclaimed, "Vahşi!”

She started forward.

“What are you doing here?”

Enough had happened that Vahşi didn't immediately recognize Gina, and for a moment he stared at her blankly before the dots connected. He swore under his breath and stood up, barely smiling but looking relieved to see them. "Panos is in the medbay," he explained. "The two of us have had a hell of a time since we last saw you."

"Panos?" Gina blinked. "He got dragged along too?"

Since there really had been one hell of a story since they'd last met, Vahşi decided to just go through things chronologically and give the condensed version instead of trying to pick and choose what to tell them.

"We landed on a planet, Panos almost died but didn't because some researcher had the medical equipment to save him. Said man's overseer threatened me and tried to lock me up, then attacked me, and I ended up killing him. Panos healed up, we explored the area, and I almost got killed in a fight defending a native who claimed to be my brother from a wild boar. Then we went back to the ship because I needed medical help, but I got caged and Panos almost got drugged. I killed the guy when he tried to shoot me, but we left right after that since the ship said some of his people were coming. So then the native village got torched by unknown persons, probably in retaliation for the guys who got killed since they tried to murder me, and a bit later Justice Kolton showed up with his ship."

Just the one planet had been a shitshow, but that wasn't all. Vahşi only left out the parts regarding his and Panos' respective abilities.

"Oh god." Gina said, twining her hands behind her head and trying to get to grips with the scale of death that Vahşi was casually reporting.

"Kolton flew us to Wolfinal, where the deranged queen of the planet made me fight for entertainment against her disgraced son. In the middle of the fight, he convinced me to help him stage a coup and murder the queen, at which point the city fell into anarchy. So then Panos and I were separated, since he hadn't been in the arena with me. Once I found him again we came back to the ship. We thought Kolton was dead but evidently he's just in critical condition." And honestly, there was no way to make that sound less strange.

"Are you telling me," Gina asked, in a kind of awed monotone. "That you went through all that and you're...okay with it?"

Vahşi shrugged. The past was passed, as they say. Vahşi had never been one to habitually use pithy sayings, but he did what was needed to move things along.

"What about you guys?" And if they had a tale half as strange as his, they'd all been in for some wild times.

Cal stiffened. "There was another one of us." Her voice sounded hollow, with a twist of bitterness. "She didn't...she's gone."

"Nisha." Gina added, her lips drawn tight. "She was Gigi's friend. We had to run into the forest to get away and she...I..." She trailed off, uncomfortably.

Cal fumbled for a moment with how to continue, and sighed. "I'm glad you're alright," she said instead, meaning it.

Vahşi could tell what had happened from the moment Cal said there was. He let her attempt to straighten things out and explain them, only nodding when she didn't manage to do so. It didn't seem like she was used to being in a world full of death and injuries, but he'd bet that she would be eventually. So far, then, they'd gotten two Travellers killed. One for each jump, he realised. And if it hadn't been for that Bolton fellow on the shuttle, Panos undoubtedly would have died as well when they arrived, and Vahşi himself later on.

"I didn't think we'd meet up again," he answered. He could have said that he was glad they were okay as well, but that didn't seem wholly true as far as their emotional state was concerned. And, he honestly didn't care that much about them. Their time together had been eventful but short, and he'd formed absolutely zero attachment to any of them. No doubt Gina felt little connection towards him as well, judging by the look she was giving him. Still, if they were due to continue going through this crazy adventure with each other, something would doubtless eventually happen.

"We also found this." Gina said, quietly and with a visible effort, as she slung the heavy backpack down from her shoulder and pulled apart the drawstrings. Sitting on top of the jumble packed inside was the journal from Cal's house.

"Just like the one in your room at the palace." Gina explained.

She pulled the small leather-bound book out, and it immediately fell open to a page marked with the same T-S rune that had recently branded itself onto her and Cal's arms.

Saturn, the familiar layout of the page proclaimed. Reaping, harvest, leadership and discipline.

Vahşi looked at the book with interest, especially when it was opened. He hadn't recognised the book before the palace, although it was clearly the same kind. It was highly unlikely that it was the same individual book, but at this point he wouldn't rule anything out. Their adventures so far had definitely not been what he had expected/

"How's Panos?" Gina asked. God only knew how the Greek prince was taking being thrown into this mess with the rest of them.

Vahşi shrugged at the question. "Better than when we first landed on whatever planet we were on." The corner of his mouth quirked up in a bit of a smile. "Remember how he thought I was the pervert brother of his husband?"

Which had just irritated him at first, but had turned out to be at least a little amusing. Panos would know firsthand what kind of humour he had. The violence had been in self defense but still, the Lambros prince had clearly had no idea of what Vahşi was capable of.

"Me killing apparently shocked the hell out of him."

"I can't imagine why." Gina opined sarcastically. She felt a lump in her throat, and had to fall silent. Me killing. Me killing.

Vahşi snorted under his breath at that. Yeah, Panos hadn't been used to people going around on murder sprees. Although he had figured it all out eventually.

The three turned as they heard a door opening. From the glossy-finished doors of the operational medical wing, came a beautiful mixed-race Valkyrie. She had ebony hair pulled through a golden cuff and a thin silky jumpsuit that gently cradled her pregnant stomach. Following the way of her people, she was haloed in white shimmers and illumination.

From brief previous meetings Vahşi knew her as K'tona, the woman who quickly took Panos into care when they first arrived, and had tried to work on some living arrangements for the both of them. While her brown, golden-streaked eyes gave Cal a look of interest, peering into her deep amethyst irises, she soon turned her gaze to Vahşi.

"His condition has improved," she told the lupian, "But I am unsure of his emotional state. Terrans have very unusual behaviors to express trauma."

Vahşi just shrugged. "Panos has always been unusual." And he was no 'Terran', Vahşi was sure of it, despite what the doctor might think. The whole vine thing kind of clued him in regarding that.

K'tona had a slight whiff of Panos' scent, clearly from being around him, bringing the perfume out to mix with the bright, nebulous, galactic sunlight and the lively birds. The pregnant Valkyrie took a moment to look at the two teenage girls and then back to the grown man.

"I do not know if he will be well with strangers." she cautioned.

Gina looked at the others, folding the journal away.

"We're not strangers." she said to K'tona. "We've met him once, before we went to Kysmæt."

That was at least technically true, she thought.

"Panos knows them." Vahşi backed her up. "Not as well as he knows me, but they're not total strangers."

They were partial strangers, sure, since Panos hadn't really known them, but they probably shouldn't all split up again. Vahşi could only imagine the trauma that Panos would undergo if he was stuck on some world with just a murderous lupian for company a second time.

The warm-brown woman's eyes continued to lay on them and she rubbed her growing stomach once, debate on the forefront of her mind. While this pause was happening, the three Travelers were struck with an indescribable, yet familiar fated feeling as they became branded with the sign of Pluto at the base of their forearms, near the inner bend of the arm. The woman looked to have taken no notice as she walked back to the door, and with a shiver of white feathered wings she pressed the door open.

"Please stay with me, the healers need to be left alone to focus."

"You got it." Gina nodded. Hopefully when they next saw Koolkal he would be whole and vital again. She wondered what the sudden appearance of Koolkal's Pluto symbol on their arms meant. Obsession, disease, rebirth, secrecy. Did that mean they had completed their ordained mission, or that a new one was beginning? Who else has a secret that we have to keep? she wondered, and rolled back her sleeve to look at the row of supernatural marks on her arm again. Well, besides the fucking obvious.

K'tona brought them into the hallway, where there were rows of glossy double doors as tall as the hallway itself. The three felt the nearing of their fourth and now final member of their party as they walked down the hall. K'tona opened a door and held it open for them to enter. Vahşi, having sharp senses above the rest, didn't miss the pregnant woman's sigh under her breath before she shut the door behind them.

Inside, Panos had prepared himself in full transvestite regalia. In a sleeveless dress of silver links leading to a tan colored cloth collar and airy fabric that covered the majority of his skin but held neatly to his figure, the teenager seemed quite proud of himself. Panos was sitting in front of a vanity dresser that was strangely near the middle of the room. It seemed he had used the Valkyries to give him a great deal of things to help him 'cope', and the vanity of a dark redwood was a part of it. The surface was littered with supplies for hair, and what would have otherwise been a medical room, Panos had transformed into a beauty parlor.

Vahşi just raised an eyebrow, completely unimpressed. Panos could dress up all he like, but Vahşi had seen him when he hadn't been so dressed up. Sure, things had not gone well the last time that Vahşi and Panos had been in the same room as each other, but in Vahşi's opinion, the royal had no reason to be so dramatic. Which would probably not have been a popular opinion, especially with Panos. Yet Panos did take presentation quite seriously, and in the reflection of the mirror only a feminine beauty stared back at them, with silver hair held through a cuff of gold, not too different than K'tona's, though with less jewels embedded in it. Vahşi yet again could sense more than what was being presented. The girls saw a beauty glaring at them with a smug expression of superiority; his nose got the salty whiff of tears recently shed.

"Hi Panos." Gina began, oblivious to the subtle signs that only Vahşi could detect and assign a reason to.

"Oh," The Greek royal began venomously, "The gods must have finally found conviction to make the two of you useful." Spinning on a marble stool, he presented himself to them fully, nose held in high regard.

Vahşi could instantly tell that they should probably leave. Panos apparently wanted to take out his anger and stress on them, but as long as he didn't vine anyone, Vahşi didn't care. What was he going to say to him that he hadn't already? Literally the first words out of his mouth had been to call Vahşi a pervert and stranger. Not the best first impression.

Every nerve in Panos' body burned. Hands were tearing him apart into an avulsion of white noise through his nervous system. Violation still left its tingling emotion. Panos' lip quivered, weakness hidden with a coy rising of his hand. In front of these lesser people, Panos found nothing acceptable when it came to showing vulnerability. No words of what have happened should have been spoken, he would deny it outright.

Gina was visibly thrown by his caustic greeting. The drawstring rucksack hung slackly from her hand. "Well hello to you too." she said tartly. "What happened to being 'your only friends' in the palace, then?"

Slipping off the stool and pushing back the bundled strands that fell on his shoulders, the Lambros prince did not give the reunion a radiant, loving charm. It was cold and vile picturesque presentation. Panos' crystalline eyes fell on the other pair in the room with a similar gem-like attractiveness: Calamity's.

"The pained moping you let on your face is insulting, have some pride for yourself." he snubbed her, and sauntered his way closer to Vahşi. While he inwardly demeaned everything that Gina and Calamity were wearing, the blood-tainted leather armor that Vahşi wore somehow avoided all criticism. Vahşi raised an eyebrow as he was approached, not caring in the slightest. What was he going to be criticised on, his fashion sense or his tendency to murder people? Nothing was going to be done about the clothing and the latter was the only reason the two of them were alive.

"And since you two won't leave me alone," Panos went on haughtily, "Now the gods have brought us together, know that each second we stand in company I wish we weren't. But I will respect the divine planning of the gods, hmph." A hand was pressed to his chest, wrist bent, and he rolled his eyes away from the two teenage girls entirely.

If Cal were still the girl she had been when they began this journey, she would have been outraged at Panos' words - she was, after all, royalty, and to disrespect her so in her own universe would have meant death for the elegant prince. As it was, she was too heavy with grief and exhaustion to even feel really irritated at his words.

Vahşi waited quietly, eyeing Panos but not saying anything. He was likely due for his own attack sometime soon, but he wasn't going to make it come any faster. Panos had been vicious enough toward him in the past without Vahşi prompting him. Although eventually he planned on doing his best to make Panos apologise for what he'd just said.

Gina placed her free hand on her hip. Poor Nisha's initial reaction had been similar, but they had had several days since to come to terms with things, and after what had happened to her the still-living Panos' reaction seemed like a slap in the face.

She bit down on her response before she could voice it, remembering what K'tona had said. Terrans have unusual ways of expressing trauma. Yes, she thought, we do. No doubt Panos was still hurting, and lashing out because of it. And then there was the symbol that had just appeared on her and Cal's arms. Pain, secrets, rebirth. She dropped her hand from her hip to her side.

"Look," she began, "God knows this must be hard for you, but we know a way out. There’s a way of getting out of here and getting us all home."

She pushed open her backpack again and began to pull out the zodiac book.

The Lambros prince moved his wavering eyes from Gina, to look instead up to the one who was by far the tallest among the four of them. He stared into a line of vision so familiar - ravenous and bloodied. Vahşi in return was given glimpse a sapphire-hued vulnerability. Vahşi was startled by the look he got, not having had any idea what Panos had seen himself. Even though he was probably closer to Panos than anyone else in the group, he hadn't expected the royal to look at him like that. And he hardly thought much of their relationship himself. If necessary, he'd leave Panos behind for his own benefit, although he certainly wouldn't go out of his way to do so.

"Huuh..." The silverette braced his forehead with the palm of his hand, a sting of white pulsating up through his brain and taking his vision. As the girls and Vahşi saw him standing there with his eyes squeezed shut, Panos deeply inhaled and exhaled. Vahşi side-eyed him, unsure what was wrong with him or what he would do because of it. He'd already displayed some weird behaviours, but Vahşi was no expert on the proper ways to deal with grief. Not that Panos seemed to be one of those people either.

"Home is dead." Panos suddenly said, dropping his hand, his expression, and everything of the previous moment to stare at Gina. She was the most average among them, and he loathed her dullness. "Nothing is safe, and your bogus Christian god should never be spoken of while we are being tried by the true gods." Crossing his arms at his chest, he removed himself from the conversation by promptly presenting his back to Calamity and Gina. As the prince faced a distant wall, Vahşi could hear his breathing rate increasing quietly. The lupian tilted his face, curious and not understanding why he was reacting so extremely to a general phrase. Members of his own homeworld were part of a dozen different religions, but he wasn't jumping Gina for what she'd said. And out of all of them, he'd probably be considered the most likely to do so.

Looking at Panos' turned back, Gina couldn't help but notice the scarred-over bullet wound beneath the prince's shoulder. What other wounds is he carrying?

“I don’t care if it’s gods or monsters or Doctor fucking Who.” she said bluntly, her protective instincts rising to the fore. “When we find them we’ll either fight them, or Cal can use…”

She pulled up short when she saw that the young prince had begun to wipe his face. His shoulders were trembling with short, ragged breaths.

“Hey.” she said, gently. She dropped her bag and slowly worked her way round to Panos’ front, giving him a wide berth. Once she was in his eye line again, she slowly raised her open hands. “It’s okay. I know it’s scary but you’re safe in this room. Just breathe. Just breathe.”

She demonstrated, slowly gesturing with her hands to emphasise.

Vahşi didn't understand why Panos felt the need to be so dramatic, having lost any desire to react that way to his own trauma long before he'd been tossed into this adventure with the others. Even before, he'd never been prone to revealing his emotions to others. Panos was far different, Vahşi had already figured that out, but the long and short of it was that he had no idea to react and therefore planned on doing nothing. It wasn't like the royal had ever shown any fondness for him.

Dreadful...pitiable... Panos' voice in his own head chastised him and he willed his hands to his side. The strain on his face made him look winded but he had no comment to make on it, looking away from Gina as if her existence was nothing to him. A hand brushed through his silver, purple-tinged strands of hair.

"We have better places to be, I'm sure." he quipped through awkward breaths: some slow with intermittent jumps of pace. Vahşi couldn't disagree with that. He probably had better places to be just on this ship. And likely so did the others. Instead they were stuck here to deal with a moody royal.

"You're right." Gina agreed. "And that place is home. That's not just a silly dream either; we've got a plan. Whoever's doing this needs our help, and sooner or later we're gonna see them face to face. And when they do, Cal can make them do what we want."

She turned to Cal with an encouraging look.

"Tell him, Cal."

Cal swallowed, heat rising in her cheeks. "She's right," she said quietly. "I have magic...I can make people do what I say." She hoped the two men would take it as an asset, a good thing, like Gina was presenting it, and not freak out like her friend had been close to doing when they had first discovered her gift. "I can make him take us home."

"Nothing about this is fair, or right." Gina continued fervently. "And yeah, we don't really know each other. But we're here. And you're strong enough for this, Panos; we all know you are."

Not having failed to notice the way Panos' eyes kept flicking to Vahşi, she raised her eyebrows sharply at the lupian past Panos' averted gaze. Vahşi just shrugged at the look, not knowing what she expected him to do. He and Panos had never been on the best of terms, even though they had had to rely upon each other for support. Panos' first words to him had been to call him a pervert, and the other man had tried to strangle him several times since then. Not to mention that he had been thoroughly disapproving of Vahşi's tendencies to kill people when the need arose. If he supported Gina, Panos would likely just start to yell at him, and he could do without that.

With Vahşi stonewalling Gina's request, Cal saw the redhead turn to her for support. She faltered, unsure how to offer it - this wasn't something she had ever really done, before she'd been pulled into this whole thing - but when Vahşi made no move to help, she approached the other two, hesitantly reaching out to place a hand on Panos' arm.

"Gina's right," she said again. "Look...look at what you've survived already! All of us...we're going to make it home."

As the hand neared Panos' flesh, a glazed shift took place in the prince's gaze and he jerked his body away.

"Why are you two still talking to me? Don't touch me!" He threw at the end to snap at the girl who was maybe as pretty as he was, maybe. Cal flinched, pulling her hand back with a frown. Panos walked briskly past the two females and Vahşi, to the door. However brief, Panos' fingers brushed against Vahşi's hand in a covert gesture before exiting to the hallway. Gina stared after him for a minute, chewing her lip, then rounded on Vahşi.

"You need to tell him." she hissed quietly, taking his arm to drag the immobile lupian out after Panos.

Vahşi glared at her for laying hands on him but didn't dig his heels in to keep her from moving him.

"Don't look at me like that." Gina snapped. "He doesn't trust us but he trusts you."

Vahşi snorted under his breath, yanking his arm back from Gina's grip. "He trusts me about as much as he trusts an attack dog." Which wasn't a very inaccurate description, considering his...talents. Panos had never quite approved of them, he'd bet. Even though he'd never directly seen the wolf murder anyone. Just hearing him do so, and seeing a few other fights, had probably been enough. He wasn't unused to people being wary or even afraid of him, so Panos' attitude wasn't exactly something he minded. Although he did rather think that Panos probably owed him one for saving his life so many times.

"He still trusts you to look after him." Gina pointed out, gesturing towards Vahşi's hand which Panos had quietly but significantly brushed on his way out.

At that Vahşi snorted again, not believing her in the slightest. Still, if playing along was what would get her off his back, he might as well be...not openly antagonistic.

"What the hell do you want me to tell him, anyway?" Vahşi had very little experience with this sort of thing, and he highly doubted that Panos would take well to anything he said.

Gina knotted her hands behind her head. "Oh god, you're doing my head in. Are you really this dense? He's upset and he wants you to make him feel safe!"

"And sending a mass murderer after him, whom he's seen personally kill half a dozen people, is going to make him feel safe." Vahşi was clearly sceptical of this fact, and for good reason as far as he was concerned. Usually sending an assassin to take care of someone didn't work out too well, unless by 'take care of' you meant 'violently murder'. He was also clearly unaffected by Gina's irritation with him, used to far worse.

"He trusted me to keep him from getting killed because I'm good at killing people trying to hurt him."

"Exactly!" Gina replied, throwing up her hands and then letting them slap back to her sides. "He's been dumped onto a whole 'nother planet full of giant wolves and shit, and you're the one person that's shown you can protect him!"

"The only reason I wasn't killed in the arena was because Love had better use for my abilities. Panos has got other people now and he certainly doesn't need me."

"Who?" Gina challenged, sharply spreading her arms. "Who else has he got? Who's he got that he properly trusts?"

"Until now, he's been clear with his hatred of me and I doubt that's changed. You don't go from calling someone a psychotic pervert to wanting them to make you feel safe."

"I'm not saying that he likes you." Gina sighed hotly. "I'm saying he needs you." From her expression it was fairly evident that that was something she and Panos had in common. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed how he keeps looking at you for reassurance?"

"He definitely doesn't like me. Murdering someone, threatening him? That I can do. But I don't know what else you expect of me." Vahşi didn't quite like the way that Gina was looking at him. Panos had relied on him because his only other option had been that creep Bolton who had tried to kidnap them. And Vahşi had kind of ended up killing him too.

Gina slumped down onto Panos' marble stool and put her head in her hands. "Tell him that he's going to be alright! Tell him no matter how mad things get you're going to make sure nothing happens to him. It's what you've been doing so far anyway, right!?"

Vahşi snorted a third time. "I've been doing what was necessary to keep me from being killed, drugged, or captured for experiments. So far that's coincided with keeping him alive, but I haven't gone out of my way to do it. We don't owe each other anything and we certainly don't like each other. Your great plan is to send a psychotic mass murder to go reassure him that due to a facade of safety, I don't need to traumatise him by constantly murdering people."

Gina shook her head. "You're a prick Vahşi, but you're not psychotic."

"Actually, I was quoting Panos," Vahşi informed her.

Gina huffed. "Fine. But listen. None of us chose to get sent here and none of us chose each other to come along either. But right now we're all we've got...and you're all that Panos has got, or at least all he's willing to listen to right now. I'm guessing we're going to coincide with keeping each other alive for a while yet. Think about that if nothing else."

Vahşi rolled his eyes. "If you people are too much trouble, there's nothing stopping me from abandoning you." And while it wasn't his first instinct, he'd certainly do it without too much hesitation. His own safety came above anyone else that he'd met on this crazy journey.

"So is this the part where I agree to do what you want and go shove meaningless promises at the cranky-assed brat who's tried to kill me?" Vahşi clearly didn't think much of that plan, but if Gina insisted, he might as well, if only to get her to leave him alone.

"Yes, it is." Gina replied, folding her arms. She gave a small, breathless laugh. "Do you think I'd be asking you if I thought he'd listen to me?"

The longer Vahşi lingered without Panos, the more his grapevine scents were fading from the room, taking away the electric overtones he whiffed in his presence. The smells of the birds and traces of their cleaned guano were becoming far more apparent, and the girl who was fighting him gave way to feminine scents of menses. A dull tint of metallic and much tamer smells of flowery pheromones did nothing for him physically as compared to the women of Wolfinal. The other girl had something latent in her feminine smells, a faint nasal reminder of forest leaves. Clearly she wasn't all human and something more. And it had not been there on the last world he was alone with these two women either, without Panos' pretty perfumes taking center stage to his senses. Cal had changed, in some way.

Further and further away the three of them could feel Panos walking. The tugging sensation that was the strange connection between them pulled at Cal's gut, and her frown deepened, only now realising that the sense of loss she'd felt since being seperated from Vahşi and Panos was gone. She looked at Vahşi. However nonchalantly he spoke of abandoning them, she knew he felt the link as well. It wasn't just random chance that had thrown them together in this mess. They were connected - they were supposed to see this through together.

K'tona opened the doors and stared at the three people in the room with confusion.

"Your friend shouldn't be leaving the building. It's not healthy for him and I hadn't been able to inform him of the city before he walked out. Was there a reason you let him go?" She stood there with bewilderment of the situation while her mind wrapped around a falsehood of their close ties.

"Vahşi was just going after him," Cal hurriedly said, shooting him a meaningful look. "He just needed some fresh air, that's all." Vahşi gave her a filthy glare, not liking the idea at all, but just shrugged instead of making a verbal disagreement. No need to present a divided face to a stranger.

"These rooms are for patient use only, if you would please step out." K'tona uneasily uttered. The white aura woman stepped back and aside to keep the doorway open for them.

"What sort of things should he know about the city?" Gina asked as she passed K'tona, and hoping that the answer wouldn't contain anything overtly dangerous.

"The city is in a series of rings, attributed to specific activities of our people. We are in the most outer wing: Trade and Healthcare, the second in is living quarters, third is military and the center is where our Queen and the Justices hold themselves. I was to warn him not to go too inward to avoid the militaristic ring but he left so quickly." Vahşi would bet that Panos would get into trouble left on his own and he rolled his eyes slightly at the thought.

Gina nodded, then looked around the shimmering doors that lined the hall, all still closed.

"When will we know about Koolkal?" she asked K'tona as they walked. "You'll let us know, right?"

The mixed angelic appearing woman nodded.

"I have living arrangements for you. I did not expect Panos to have more friends arriving but I will find a larger home for you to stay in. I have to say all of you have such excellent understanding of our language. It is endearing." A sliver of positive tone came to the three of them, but she kept peering down the hallway. Vahşi could smell the teasing scent of Panos' rapid departure. As the flowery zest was only at the edge of his senses, it delivered a come-hither affect. Guano was unusually strong, everywhere.

Oblivious to the scent, Gina nodded again and offered K'tona a small smile.

"Thanks." she said, "And thanks for sorting us out somewhere to stay. We'll be back in a bit."

She resisted the urge to add hopefully.

"Come on guys." she muttered, still feeling an exhausting mix of anxious, frustrated and hollow. "Let's make sure Panos is alright..."

"I've got him," Vahşi said, huffing under his breath. The brat better not try to grapevine him for going to get him either. Because if he did, Vahşi would be just fine with leaving him wherever he'd managed to go. He had better things to do than try to save a guy that had repeatedly called him a psychopath, stalker, creep, and all the like.

Rather than waiting for much agreement, he headed off in the direction that Panos' scent was leading, keeping his eyes open. He didn't expect the prince to have gotten too far, especially not into the third ring with the royalty and all that. Probably wards in place to keep people out, in order to prevent accidental trespassing. Still, he and Panos had managed to get into plenty of tight places in the time that Vahşi had been traipsing around planets with him.

The outside was a bit more active than he'd expected, but he could still pick out Panos' very distinctive scent from all the rest. Although Vahşi could have probably just listened for yelling and screeching that would pinpoint Panos in some kind of trouble.

[Minkasha]

Trailing through the cobblestone market foot traffic, Vahşi's nose was going through a fury of new scents. The insectoid species were foulest to take in as their smells were out of his 'nasal pallet' entirely. Not disgusting like rotten food or decaying bodies, it was offensive in an alien way. But following his nose, he still could keep hold to Panos' smell which was like a beacon of light in the mass of off putting diversity Valkure offered in its populace. Weaving his way through the bug-looking aliens, humans, and those with wings, he found Panos hiding himself in the crevasse of two tall and narrow white stone buildings.

Panos was keeping in the darkness in a black so bright with sunlight. He was holding onto the wall, hiding in this little spot away from the strange and unknown that behaved so falsely cordial in a situation that was far from tame or sane. He felt he was going to break, from the inner to the outer, shatter. Maybe he wanted to. But as Vahşi came closer and stood at the end of the alleyway Panos looked over at him. Pushing himself off the wall he fixed his dress and adjusted it around his waist and hips, pampering his looks in front of the blood driver sociopath.

Vahşi hadn't entirely been sure that he was in the right place until Panos revealed himself, despite the smells telling him so. But at least now he wouldn't have to go tell that whatshername that he'd lost one of them. That would probably end up being his fault somehow, like he'd encouraged Panos to run off or something.

"Will you approach me?" Panos timidly asked in the comfort of dim light.

"Why wouldn't I? Just cause you tried to strangle me a few times doesn't make you an enemy. Makes it an average day, almost." Vahşi walked toward him, leaning against the wall next to him and leaving it up to Panos what he was going to do. At least the prince didn't look like he was about to run away or try to vine him. He'd had quite enough of that.

"I'm supposed to tell you that everything's okay and it'll turn out fine. But I'm assuming you're intelligent enough to know that I'd be lying to you." Vahşi's tone had made it clear what he thought of the script he'd been supposed to follow, and it was probably of no surprise to Panos that he'd abandoned all thoughts of doing so. "Probably still mostly up to me to keep you from getting killed, though. So I'll do that. Won't make promises if I don't know I can keep 'em, but I've done all right so far." Despite Panos' unfavourable past views of him, Vahşi was in fact a large part of the reason that they'd left the first planet neither drugged nor kidnapped. The silverette brushed some of his wine hued bangs from his well proportioned face and stared up to the man leaning so close to him. Oddly, there was a noticeable change in the airs around Panos as he shifted gently from one foot to the other once, drawing closer. He dared to touch the lupian, a delicate hand brushing the side of his hip and holding on his abdomen. Vahşi raised an eyebrow at the move, not having expected it and not entirely sure what Panos meant by it.

"And you are not naive enough to believe there is hope of us going back... All of what we had is lost. Can't you feel it? How within our chests there's vacancy and yearning: what we had is gone," he whispered his soothe spoken words of doomsday and oblivion. He used his sapphires to decorate loss so beautifully, batting his lashes. Panos saw fantasies of the man he had witnessed through blurred vision on Wolfinal. The man with the gun, taking life with abandon and hoisting him away.

Vahşi just shrugged. "Most of the people I knew have been dead a long time anyway. Our species was being overrun and we knew it. Even if we live through whatever happens here, there's not a whole lot for me to go back to. Those who survived so far aren't likely to still be alive by the time I get back. I've got a better chance of getting killed here than making it back to what's left of home and I'm sure we both know it. And if I'm not gonna make it, chances are you won't either, so I guess we're in the same boat." The Lambros prince furrowed his brow, putting his other hand on the leather the lupian wore and leaned against the man's body. The young man was finding Vahşi painfully dense.

"In lieu of your words there could be a chance we partake in sharing what we have left..."

Vahşi snorted and dropped his hands to Panos', moving them away from his body. "I'm not interested," he said, not unkindly. "But I'm sure one of the others would be." Even if Panos didn't seem interested in female companionship, Vahşi was just as uninterested in him. And even if they were both due to die, that was no reason for him to do something absent reason. The jewels of Panos' eyes shined scornfully and he pulled himself back, clinging to the sleeves of his dress.

"You monster," the youth hissed between his alabaster teeth. "How can you deny me? HE DIDN'T! In fact! When I told him to stop! Cease! Get off of me, none of those things occurred! He...he" Panos' voice broke into trimmers. The searing white in Panos' skull delved and hammered. He wanted his flesh filled, his flesh punished. Something done to his body so the brain would inundate itself in the now.

Vahşi was understandably a bit surprised at Panos initial reaction, but he kept quiet and let Panos rant at him instead of telling him to be stop talking. Even if he had the desire to get him to shut up, well, it wasn't like Panos had ever listened to everything he said without complaining about it. No use in doing that. Although he did glance toward the mouth of the alley when Panos' voice rose, hoping that there wasn't some stray cop there that would hear the prince screeching and think it was Vahşi's fault. Stuff like that tended to happen to him.

Once Panos started breaking down, Vahşi really had no idea what he was supposed to do with him. He was half sure that if he tried to touch him, he'd get vined, but it wouldn't be the first time or the strangest, all things considered. Unless one of the others showed up as that happened, which he wasn't expecting. Deciding to take a chance on getting strangled to death, he reached out and put his hand on Panos' shoulder. Inexperienced he may be, but he knew the basics and he was sure the other man would either scream at him or accept it. Not much else was likely. Sobbing, Panos stared at the hand that was contacting his body through blurred and bright vision.

"W-what are you doing?"

Vahşi shrugged. "Fuck if I know." After all, it wasn't like he had any experience in comforting people. Or in much that didn't include killing and fighting people. He'd been trained to have a very specific skill set, and it most certainly didn't include anything to currently help Panos with his emotional breakdown or whatever. "Do you, uh, need a thing?" Not like he'd know what that thing was. A high thwap came from the collision of Panos' hand to Vahşi's, slapping it off of him. Tears fell from the face onto the stone before him. Vahşi glared at him for smacking him but didn't hit back like he generally would have. Despite what Panos seemed to be asking for, he wasn't quite sure that that was the right thing to do.

"I want you to hurt me! Like that wolf-man..." Panos clutched to his own throat, shutting his eyes in escape of the moment. "You filthy murderous beast! Hurt me! Help me recall the pain...can't you...give me something to...please" Panos wept, breaking deeper and deeper into depression and a void of broken emotions.

Vahşi was pretty out of his element. If Panos was handling this in a more traditional way, maybe he could do something, but at the moment he had no idea what exactly he should do. "Let's take you back to the others and we'll take about it later," he suggested. He'd bet any of them would be better equipped than him. Or he could, at the least, avoid Panos for a while. He was, as Panos had called him, a 'murderous beast', not a rent boy or a psychiatrist. And he was pretty sure one of those would serve Panos better with what he currently wanted. Panos so desperately wanted his brothers back, to be able to weep in their arms. But here in the godly trial he had nothing. Even the man who had made violence his most primitive of natures, failed to enact it. Panos had no comfort, misery more than he could paint. The body was ripped open, the hundreds of pounds on top of him, the tearing of noble clothes. The replay, the performance that stung his body in the most intimate of areas was all he had for companionship.

The beautiful prince glared at Vahşi with such teary eyed seething.

"Those girls are nothing. Their help is beneath me. I am giving clear vision now just how much you can care about others. If you're finished giving me empty promises, leave me. It's what you desire anyways." He turned to stare at the back stone wall, stroking the ponytail of hair down his shoulder.

Vahşi rolled his eyes and crouched down, pressing his back against the alley wall. There was no denying that he would have liked to leave Panos alone, but he knew better than to do that in a strange city. Especially since he would probably go off and find himself some trouble considering what he'd just asked of Vahşi. He didn't trust him by himself under any kind of normal circumstances so he certainly didn't trust him now.

"Yeah, well, whenever you're done with your drama queen act, let me know. I don't feel like staying out here all night." Though he could probably carry Panos home if he really wanted to.

"Drama queen!?" Panos snapped down to him. Vahşi's gall disgusted him. But he had no one to turn to. The lupian saw the silverette wipe tears from his eyes before taking a rushing motion out of the alleyway to the walkways.

Vahşi shrugged at Panos' outraged reaction to what he'd said. He said things like he saw them, even if some people didn't appreciate it. And he'd rarely run into trouble before, since most had had far inferior abilities to kill people. When the other ran off, he sighed and got up, following him out but not walking directly next to him. Even if he didn't want to talk to him while he was reacting like that, he wasn't about to let him get lost on his own.

Walking coolly and with the pompous sway of his hips, the androgynous Grecian prince continued back in the direction of the girls. He shied away from the insectioids out of repulsion and the winged people bothered him. He hated their smiling glory. He loathed it being forced upon him in all directions.

So lost in himself it took Panos a length of time to realize Vahşi was stalking him. Vahşi, for his part, had to wonder why it had taken him so long to realise that, he'd hardly been trying to hide that he was following him. He was pretty sure several of the other beings around had noticed before his target had.

"You're painfully hypocritical. If you are so convinced you and I are to die in this gods' quest and my body equivocally means nothing to you. Why are you doing this?" The youth asked as he stopped waking, not looking over his shoulder at the brutal murderer.

"Because I'm supposed to be the one making sure you don't die out of your own stupidity," Vahşi told him, not bothering to sugarcoat the truth. "The others want me to keep an eye on you because they think you trust me or something." Which was something he thought ludicrous himself, but, well, he was bored enough that he'd poked at the situation with a stick, and he wasn't the kind of man to leave something halfway done. Panos scoffed, tugging on his silken tail of hair. The flicked strands grazed his shoulder. He now did turn to stare Vahşi up in the eye again.

"Stupidity? That would be the nuance you have. If it wasn't for me you would have been trapped in that cage." Panos reminded scornfully. "Maybe it was stupidity that compelled me to release you as you begged."

"Most likely," Vahşi agreed calmly. "You probably would have been better off if you'd gone with the man on that ship. Wasn't like you owed me anything." And he had had plenty of people who did owe him walk out on him when he could have used some help, so he wouldn't have been surprised if Panos had done the same. Vahşi doubted that Panos would have come to harm if he'd stayed away with the other man. Or at least not as much as he'd run into on the last planet. While the alien people continued trade and passing by, Panos peered into Vahşi's eyes expectantly. Expecting him to say more.

"What," he said flatly. "If you think I'm going to babble with you about what we've been through, you're mistaken. There's no use doing it." Panos continued to keep fixed eyes. "What." Vahşi had no intention to keep talking, but it irritated him that Panos was just staring at him without saying anything.

Panos made no move to do anything, so Vahşi just grabbed his wrist and dragged him a few steps down the street, letting go of him and continuing by himself once he had.[/color] Forcibly touched, Panos grit his teeth while his sandals slapped stone The other man didn't seem the kind to wander off into the city by himself, at least not for a second time. If nothing else, he'd probably want to follow him around to yell at him. But if he wanted to go get himself lost and possibly killed, Vahşi wasn't going to lose much sleep over him. The girls would probably disapprove of him leaving Panos on his own, though.

"Stop treating me as you are!" Panos shouted, drawing the attention of a violent altercation as passerby glanced from their alien harmonic blend of races to see what was happening between the two of them. The fair scented prince glared behind at Vahşi's lean body.

"Then stop being so annoying," Vahşi answered, casting an irritated glance over his shoulder. "Are you going to come with me or not?" He was no babysitter and he wasn't about to play nice with Panos. Especially not considering the fact that the prince had never approved or even liked him. The lupian knew when he wasn't wanted and had no desire to force his company upon someone like Panos. For as little as they had in common, he had even less desire to initiate nice behaviour between them.

"How...you saw me like that on the floor and you simply hold no mind for that do you!?...I thought we had some sort of understanding...a need for each other in this trial of the gods..." Panos held his wrist tenderly, remembering the fierce grip of the man on top of him, and his ex-husband's cruel grasp before. The teenager turned on heel to run off entirely away from Vahşi, wanting to obscure himself from the pain in his chest.

[Minkasha]

Being left standing outside the medical building, and in the length of a thoroughfare, gave the girls no direction. Their hearts reached out to Vahşi and Panos, experiencing the nuances of their pacing and growing nearness. Sharply it was annulled with Panos' fleeing, to why and where was out of their perception - supernatural or otherwise.

Gina flinched slightly at the unnatural tugging sensation beneath her ribs.

"Did you feel that too?" She looked at Cal, knowing instinctively that something was wrong. She turned to take off in the direction that her intuition pulled her. Cal moved to follow, her face grim.

Time would have given the young ladies more ability to react had it not been for a empyreal adorned Golden Retriever that walked forward, one high esteemed paw at a time. A grown dog dressed in gold plating variegated with a myriad of sharply cut crystals, it was nothing short of kingly.

"Woops!" Gina exclaimed as she nearly ran straight into the bizarrely decorated animal.

Brown canine eyes looked up to the two young women and both could see a new marking on his head. In much a similar way to Koolkal, the symbol was made from the lacking of fur on the forehead in a distinct way. Making a cross hilted trident (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Neptune_symbol.svg/1024px-Neptune_symbol.svg.png), this luxurious beast sat on its hind legs, inadvertently making it known to be male.

He, the kingly dog, sat and stared up hesitantly. The fur of his tail dragged back and forth on the stone while he shook it in thought.

Gina stared hesitantly back. She looked around, torn between the immediate need to help Panos and the risk of losing what was clearly another clue to getting them out of this universe. K'tona had already taken herself back inside to resume whatever she had been prior, and foot traffic of the angel-looking people was thin. They did however smile and light up in colour as they looked upon the debonair dog. Maybe he was something important. Or maybe like most people the angel-men just liked dogs...enough to dress them up as kings.

Cal peered at the creature from behind Gina, her eyes wary. The only dogs her mother kept were for hunting, bred to be savage and aggressive. This one seemed calm enough, though - and could well be more intelligent than the beasts of her home if the cat-like people they'd met already were anything to go by.

Gina bit her lip, twisting her hands in the hair at the back of her head. They would have to split up.

"Go and bring Panos back before he gets hurt." she whispered to Cal. She felt guilty for giving Cal what was likely the harder task, but she had a feeling that her own attempts to reason with the prince would go down about as well as last time. "Use your magic if you have to. I'll keep an eye on the dog."

"Alright," the Princess agreed, and looked back at the animal, keeping her eyes on it as she stepped around it to continue in the direction of the fading link with Panos.

Gina looked back down at the gold-jacketed animal, which was still eyeing them. She dropped to one knee in front of the luxurious retriever.

"Hey boy." she said, as brightly as her distracted mind could manage. She looked again at the passing angel-men, and had an idea.

"Excuse me." she asked one of the tall figures as they passed, and indicated the bejewelled canine. "Is he something special?" One of the beatific winged beings gave her a patient look and white smile to match the aura around her body.

"He is the queen's Anti." The Golden Retriever continued to sit, yet arched his back to heighten his posture as tall as he could with dignity. "Maybe the queen herself has commanded audience with you Terran girl?" While the angel-like woman answered calmly, Gina could feel Vahşi moving completely away from the direction either Panos or Calamity were.


Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility & Panos Lambros

Focused on keeping the direction the sharp pull of Panos' fear had pulled them in her mind, Cal had been hurrying along for a few minutes before it struck her that she was alone. For the first time, actually, since this whole thing had begun. Perhaps that was why she had so easily accepted Gina's command to find the Prince - she had grown used to looking to the older girl for their next move.

The teen slowed, glancing at passers by, the wary glint in her eyes again as she tried to walk quickly but casually. She scanned her surroundings, looking for a sign of either of their companions. Her nearing path to Panos was somehow putting her at a greater distance from Vahşi rather than bringing her closer to both males. Panos was in a deeper state of mental unhealthiness than he had been last time she saw him. And while he was breathing irregularly, unapologetic tears down his cheeks, two tall Valkyries were talking down to him. They were donned in auriferous armor. It was bulkier than what the Justices were wearing, lacking the diamond embellished bird faced shoulder pads and opting for more subtle decor marked as etched in wings on the chest and a cluster of crystals on the upper left of the chest as some sort of indication of rank in a system Cal didn't know of.

Catching the last words of one of the two Valkyries, large guns on their backs, he was trying to convince Panos to return to the medical building. People walking by were intentionally looking away and letting the scene unfold by itself. Panos did not look to be in a position to be reasoned with, if he ever has.

When he saw Calamity coming he looked up at her. Vahşi was taken from him, dragged away under promise of death - eternal separation. He had no one to fall on for help: should he have been surprised? Against all his sanity he ran past the soldiers to the black haired young woman and crashed into her with a desperate hold of his thin arms. He hid his face in the side of her neck, using her soft skin as a place to hide from his thoughts. The two winged people looked at the amethyst eyed adolescent.

"He is in critical condition from the assault. K'tona has requested we bring him back to her for his safety" The man seemed to hold her in some sort of recognition, most likely K'tona had mentioned to these soldiers about Panos friends.

[Azazeal849]

One of the beatific winged beings gave her a patient look and white smile to match the aura around her body. "He is the queen's Anti."

The queen's? Gina wondered, remembering K'tona saying something about a queen living in the innermost circle of the city. I guess the queen here is a dog-lover too. She looked back to the retriever, imagining a bizarre picture of the British queen's corgis dressed up in gold plate.

The Golden Retriever continued to sit, yet arched his back to heighten his posture as tall as he could with dignity - almost, Gina thought, as if he understood what was being said. After everything else, she wouldn't even put it past him.

"Maybe the queen herself has commanded audience with you, Terran girl?" the angel-like woman suggested calmly.

The idea sent vague alarm bells ringing in Gina's head, and she wondered if she was just being paranoid. But the dog had the zodiac mark shaved into his fur, as clear a signal as any.

"How do I get there?" she asked the Valkyrie. 'The inner circle' was hardly a foolproof direction to the queen's palace.

[G]

Cal frowned, one hand rising to rest on her chest as she felt the pang of Vahsi moving further out of reach. She didn't have long to wonder about the Lupine's whereabouts - or what had happened, to separate him from Panos - before she caught sight of their unwilling companion.

"Panos!" she called, her pace quickening to just short of a run as she closed the gap between herself and the Prince, her eyes worried as they moved between him and the two intimidating figures standing by him. As Panos' stricken eyes met hers, she tried for a reassuring smile, then turned her attention to the two officials who were attempting to order him back to the medical facility.

"It's alright," she started, trying to put on her most regal and commanding air - after the gruesome deaths of two of their companions, and living temporarily as both a mother figure and a slave, her royal graces weren't in such close reach as they'd once been - interesting, that now she was beginning to realise her power, her natural aptitude for command was growing less prevalent. "I've come to get him, you don't need to... oof"

Her sentence was cut short as Panos body collided with hers, knocking the breath from her.

"Oh! Panos, it's... it's alright. It's going to be alright." Her muscles, tense from the shock of the sudden, desperate embrace from the royal who had not, up until this point, deemed her even really worthy of acknowledgement, relaxed. Awkwardly (the girls arms were pinned to her sides under the Prince's furious hug) Cal lifted her hands to hold the Prigkipassa, one hand on his shoulderblade, the other on his back, her thumb making soothing, sweeping motions on his smooth skin. She felt herself softening to the other Royal; they weren't so different, really. Or she hadn't been so different from Panos at the beginning of this journey, anyway.

The Valkyrie were speaking, and Cal glared at them, not letting go of the Prince.

"As I just said, I was just coming to fetch him. I can escort him back myself, thankyou! I.. wait, assault?!"

She struggled out of Panos grip, taking him by the shoulders to hold him at arms length, so she could see him properly.

"You were assaulted? Who did this to you? And where's Vahsi?

What happened? Tell me!*" This last was directed at the soldiers, her eyes stony as she stared at them.

[Minkasha]

Gina Wright

The Valkyrie didn't have to deliver an answer as the armored plated dog barked once to grab Gina's attention. The woman herself smiled.

"Babon will take you himself, you speak our language so well yet I don't know your face and Babon isn't linked with you" Her tone of voice was inquisitive, thinking to herself while the luminosity of white sparkles around her increased. Babon barked again, impatiently beckoning the teenage girl's focus.

That might prove difficult for her as without warning Vahşi's bond ceased. In similar fashion to Baka, the numb void of where he should have 'been' in her senses truncated sharply.



Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility & Panos Lambros

The two winged solders stood there. There was no 'hiccup' of their auras as the Justice had shown when spelled by her magic.* The golden enforcers stared at the teenagers longer. What expression they wore was impossible to tell from under their concealing armor. But their auras hadn't deviated from the genteel sparkle and white hues around their persons.

Panos kept his eyes away from the other crystalline orbs.

"The stupid fool managed to use his barbarism to get himself incarcerated..." The feminine royal mumbled, either ignoring what else was said or perhaps not hearing it in his emotional state. Panos choose the previous, it was't her business to know and he was too tired to fight the arrogant winged people to stop them from gossiping his affairs.

"Return him to medical attention, thank you" the soldier on the right said, the androgynous man's chest decorated with more rubies than the other man on the left. He spoke with authority even while his voice was deceptively calming as the others of his species. "The miniature Fenrisian will not be joining you, he has caused civil disorder" his gender fluid voice said with confidence.

Both royal teenagers didn't need more context as Vahşi's tether to them ended. Panos bit his bottom lip. They were among killers...at least Vahşi didn't have the nerve to smile or promise peace when he drew blood. He just wanted to go home, if it existed...

Instead he held onto Calamity's wrist and looked sharply into her eyes.

"You are a smart girl, take me back..." He shuttered as he looked over his shoulder to the two soldiers who had arranged for Vahşi's legally endorsed, swift death. "Thank you..." it was poison in his mouth, but he worried that anything less than absolute 'civil order' would be the end of them. Leaning into Calamity, the silverette kept himself downcast while he felt entirely too vulnerable.




*The spell failed

[Azazeal849]

The Valkyrie didn't have to deliver an answer as the armour-plated dog barked once to grab Gina's attention. She looked at it in surprise. The woman herself smiled.

"Babon will take you himself. You speak our language so well, yet I don't know your face and Babon isn't linked with you." Her tone of voice was inquisitive, thinking to herself while the luminosity of white sparkles around her increased.

"Er, thanks." Gina said, falling back on the same lie she had told Justice Taulk. "I learned it 'cause I was interested - but yeah, I've not actually been to Valkure until now."

She pushed up from the ground and shrugged the drawstring bag back up onto her shoulder. Without warning Vahşi's bond ceased. In similar fashion to Baka and Nisha, the numb void of where he should have 'been' in her senses truncated sharply.

Gina let out the tiniest gasp of fear. Hiss; shriek; bang. For a second, she couldn't even move. Babon barked again, impatiently beckoning the teenage girl's focus. Gina unfroze, even though her stomach had turned to water.

"Thanks." she managed to stammer to the Valkyrie woman. She looked between the alien and the sentient dog, for a moment unsure which of them to address when apparently both could understand her.

"I just...I just need to fetch my friends first..." she said, and broke into a run down the same side-street Cal had taken, sprinting towards the two presences she could still feel. The dog kept up with her with apparent ease as she ducked and weaved through the humans and insectoids going about their business. A trio of small birds took flight in alarm as she pounded under the arch where they were perching. Gina didn't stop until she saw Cal and Panos ahead of her.

[G]

Calamity's eyes flickered over Panos' face and body, searching for signs of his apparent assault. When she saw none, she calmed a bit, relaxing her grip on her companion.

"Incarcerated?" she repeated Panos' last word, a look of dread on her face. When people were arrested on Serroc, it was equivalent to a death sentence.

"The miniature Fenrisian will not be joining you, he has caused civil disorder"

Disorder.

Cal swallowed. She had been raised with the penalty for disorderly behaviour drilled into her head. Then the lurch in her gut confirmed it, and her hands curled into fists. Her lips were clenched in a thin line, fighting the tremble in them. Vahsi was gone.

Panos clung to her wrist, his voice pleading as he asked her to take them back to the facility. Her defiant nature wanted her to spit at the soldiers, demand they tell her what happened - but she had tried to make them, and it seemed they weren't swayed by her power.

"Alright," she spoke generally, her voice carefully calm. "Let's go." She turned to leave, one arm around the Prigkippasa's shoulder, the other still clenched into a white-knuckled fist. The last thing she expected to see was Gina, running toward them with the richly adorned dog in tow. One look at her alarmed face told Cal she, too, had felt the wrench of Vahsi's death.

[Azazeal849]

The last thing she expected to see was Gina, running toward them with the richly adorned dog in tow. One look at her alarmed face told Cal she, too, had felt the wrench of Vahsi's death. The older girl skidded to a halt as she took in Cal's grim expression and Panos' shrinking fear.

"What happened?" she asked, directing the question first at her companions and then at the two Valkyries standing with stoic poise nearby. "Where's Vahsi? What did he do?"

[Minkasha]

Murkey shades of red crossed the soldiers but they kept their stance firm when Gina questioned them. Their faces turned to Babon who sat next to her. The dog barked twice and their auras returned to an unblemished white. Bowing to this majestic retriever, they showed some form of understanding and submission to the Anti.

“Yes” The leading winged man said simply in the motion of his bow. Together the two soldiers walked off with no outward explanation. Panos sighed heavily. He was with these two, again. Why did they bring death with them where ever they went? Maybe the dog would share the same fate, it annoyed him the moment he saw it. But the mark on its head meant something – he wouldn’t bother himself with it now.

The usually snooty prince was tired and wary, using Calamity as means to stand by leaning against her. Babon’s mouth opened while he rushed over to the two royals. Sniffing their airs, the dog mimicked the human expression of smiling and nuzzled Calamity’s ankle affectionately.

[Azazeal849]

Murky shades of red crossed the soldiers but they kept their stance firm when Gina questioned them. Gina squared her own shoulders, fully prepared to force the issue, but the angel-men's faces turned to Babon as the dog who sat next to her barked twice, and their auras returned to an unblemished white. Bowing to this majestic retriever, they showed some form of understanding and submission to the Anti.

“Yes.” the leading winged man said simply in the motion of his bow. Together the two soldiers walked off with no outward explanation.

Gina blinked after them, utterly stumped. Did they just take orders from a fucking dog? She rubbed her wrist with her thumb, wondering why the invisible tattoo hadn't itched or translated any hint of what the majestic retriever's bark had meant. She looked around helplessly. Vahsi was gone, and it seemed she was to be denied any inkling of how or why. It made her feel wretched - wretched and angry. She looked to Panos, their last remaining companion, who was still clinging closely to Cal's arm.

Panos sighed heavily. He was with these two, again. Why did they bring death with them where ever they went? Maybe the dog would share the same fate, it annoyed him the moment he saw it. But the mark on its head meant something – he wouldn’t bother himself with it now.

The usually snooty prince was tired and wary, using Calamity as means to stand by leaning against her. Babon’s mouth opened as he rushed over to the two royals. Sniffing their airs, the dog mimicked the human expression of smiling and nuzzled Calamity’s ankle affectionately.

"They told me he's called Babon." Gina said, when she had regained enough of her faculties to make the rather strange introduction. "I think he wants to take us to the queen of this place - don't know why though."

She motioned towards the dog, or rather, towards the mark on its forehead that only they could see. She fished out the battered journal from Kysmæt and shared it with Cal and Panos. As expected, a new page had inked in, matching the symbol on Babon's forehead.

Neptune: illusions, nebulous thoughts, the mind, dreams, connection to the psychic, ethereal meeting the material. A psychic dog, then, was just the latest of the tragic absurdities assaulting them.

You're not linked, Gina remembered the Valkyrie outside the medical centre saying, as the angel men's silent understanding of the dog and her own lack of it belatedly clicked.

"We'd better go with him, don't you think?" Gina said, gritting her teeth. There didn't seem to be anything else to do - and after what had just happened she had half a mind to give the queen a piece of hers.

No. she told herself spitefully. Don't play angry; play smart. The Note Writer. It all came back to them.

[G]

"They told me he's called Babon." Gina said, as the dog approached Cal, nuzzling her leg affectionately.

"Oh.. hello, Babon," she said, her tense muscles and the strain in her voice betraying her trepidation toward the animal. Obviously she had been right in thinking he had above average intelligence, from the way the guards deferred to him. That did not mean he wasn't dangerous, though.

Her eyes skimmed the page Gina showed them, her brain struggling to really focus on any new information, when the news that Vahsi was gone was so fresh. It was confusing - she didn't feel the horror that had accompanied Baka and Manisha's gruesome ends - she supposed that was because she hadn't seen it happen. It was a different, confused sort of grief, to just be told (and so casually) that their friend.. if he could be called that.. was gone.

"Right. Go with him. Come on, Panos," she said gently, tugging the Prince forward. "Babon?" she bit her lip as she looked down at the golden animal. "Where is it you want us to go?"

[Minkasha]

Calamity's kindness to the seemingly sentient dog triggered a response none of the trio expected. The mark of Neptune that remained cleanly cut into the golden canine locks of the Anti vanished and in reward it appeared on the inner forearms of the three teenagers. The feeling of a new planetary symbol tattooing itself to their young skin gripped attention for a moment. Panos shot air from his lips, stealing a glance at his forearm.

Currently the list of planets under the infinity symbol followed as: Mercury, Venus, Mars, (Blank space), Saturn, (Blank space), Neptune, Pluto.

Babon, oblivious as the others outside of the interdimensional group, barked. Interestingly enough, what Calamity received was more than auditory from the Anti's chops. An image came to her mind, one of a brightly lit woman with two large wings sitting upon an auriferous throne and scepter in hand - the queen.

[G]

Cal winced as the new symbol burned itself into her forearm. Her eyelids fluttered as Babon barked, delivering his visual message into her mind, and she looked at Gina, whose reaction didn't seem to indicate she'd received the same message.

"Did you see that?" she asked the redhead; "In my head, an image of a woman on a throne... she had wings, like the others - but she was different. Definitely royal. I think it came from Babon," she finished, looking back at the dog. She had asked it where they were going - it seemed this was her answer.

[Azazeal849]

"Did you see that?" she asked the redhead.

Gina looked up from her arm, flexing her fingers. "See what?" she asked, glancing around.

"In my head," Cal explained, "An image."

Gina seemed to consider for a moment. "No. But then the one outside the hospital said I wasn't, er, 'linked'. Maybe you are. What was it?"

"A woman on a throne... she had wings, like the others - but she was different. Definitely royal. I think it came from Babon." she finished, looking back at the dog. She had asked it where they were going - it seemed this was her answer.

"Yep, psychic dog..." Gina murmured, almost as if she was trying to convince herself of the fact. And then, louder, "I'm guessing the one on the throne's the Queen. Did you see it, Panos?"

The silver-haired prince remained sullenly silent. Gina exhaled, looking from him back to Babon and biting her lip thoughtfully.

"Can you take us there, Babon?" she asked the dog. "We don't know the city and we don't want to get in any trouble."

[Minkasha]

The Anti companion did not regard Gina with the amount of attention he was giving to Calamity. A perked up ear listened to Gina’s words, but fluffed down when she spoke - his eyes swooned onto the black haired young woman. Panos kept small and reserved while the ‘psychic dog’ dashed past Gina, the prince giving the teenager no answer. The animal’s armor pieces were loud and it was certainly easy to trail him as Babon looked back to Calamity time and time again, longing in his eyes: longing of a dog to his master.

It was however because of this dog they passed the gates of the first ring passing under two arching bridges and through tall iron doors. While the prepossessing people flew above, this ring of buildings was full of walk citizens. Its quarters were square apartments neatly stacked side by side and in layers of two, three alternating here and there with more in the middle of being built. This world was on the rise.

The mass of angel-like people and sparse insectoids moved aside. More than a few of the alien angels stared at Calamity and Panos with curiosity. Gina for all her intellectual qualities, was vastly overlooked with her more flamboyant comrades.

The third ring contained the soldiers in nearly identical armor to the two they had seen move by Babon’s command. They marched in pairs of two, walking between the ring and to the outer gates. Still the Anti insisted they move straight, the journey had been now longer than thirty minutes. Panos was still in depression, but well enough to walk by himself. Prideful and embarrassed to be so needy he held himself across the chest and kept his eyes away from the girls but he didn’t stray too far either and certainly not ahead.

Where they were arriving to was a tall tower with a cone body that narrowed to a gleaming peak at the top. The aesthetic of the royal symbol of power was decorated with the same level of gleaming metal as the Anti guiding them. Gold wasn’t a rare sight, Panos thought it was all too much. But as he was not in the mood to condemn the girls, he wasn’t in the mood to judge. It was still ugly and in poor taste, however. Too much.

Babon barked at a soldier who held at the door to the palace. The man rushed inside, the circular door spun itself and sunk into the ground to let them in. The ring shaped hallways to their left and right was cut straight through by a straight path in front of them, guarded by more guards and a sealed door. The commanded soldier returned in two minutes with what looked not unlike a dog bowl, filled with water for Babon to drink from.

It too was gold. Or at least looked like it. Babon sniffed the bowl and pawed it critically before he began to refresh himself. Against the outer walls were benches for them to sit.

“The queen will be available shortly” the busied soldier woman told the three travelers before she returned to her post outside.

“I would prefer if we sat, it would seem sensible…” Panos muttered to the girls and moved to sit, holding at the dress neatly when he lowered himself so it would not wrinkle. He was sharp with his etiquette.

[Azazeal849]

Gina kept looking around as they walked, anxious of being able to find their way back. She almost needn't have bothered - excepting the occasional detour around some large apartment block or grand building, Babon led them straight as an arrow along the bustling thoroughfare to the heart of the city.

Gina caught the eyes of a number of the local aliens as she walked, and many of them were already staring. Not so much at her; Panos in his shimmering gown, and Cal with the adoring Babon trotting proudly beside her commanded the majority of attention. She watched the glowing angel-men especially carefully - none more so than the ones who wore armour. Although it was difficult to tell with the alien-looking insectoids, Gina noted that none of the city-dwellers showed any sort of fear or guardedness towards the Justices as they strolled about their business. How many of them were refugees like themselves? Did they all buy into the same, insane justice code? None of them seemed worried that they might be suddenly hauled off and executed, by a winged killer who would think absolutely nothing of it.

Everything's black and white to them. she realised, remembering how flatly Justice Taulk had dismissed Cal back on Kysmæt, despite the dire straights they had all been in. Only Cal's magic had changed his mind. Rules are rules and nothing else. Which was terrifying, when they didn't even know what all the rules were here.

Ith thith a dream? Nisha had asked, back in Cal's forest house before everything on Kysmæt had gone to hell. I really want thith to be a big, big dream. Hiss. Shriek. Bang.

The fucking Note Writer had thrown them all into this, but the Note Writer wasn't here - and she was. Was there more she could have done? What if she had managed to catch Nisha before Koolcal hauled her away from the acid bulbs? What if she had noticed Baka's absence sooner? What if she had thought to press K'tona for more information about the dangers of the city before Vahsi had left?

Gina glanced over at Panos; prideful and embarrassed, holding himself across the chest and keeping his eyes away from the girls. So obviously hurting, and yet he had snubbed all her attempts to help, leaving her as useless as she had been for the others. For the briefest of moments, she had the impulse to break away from the group and run away - just run and run and run.

She felt her fingers trembling, and clenched her fists. Looking again, she saw that despite his fragile, stubborn pride, Panos was sticking a lot closer to them than he had been before - especially to Cal. That was something. Keep your head, Gina. If she didn't - if they all didn't - then they all might be dead, and no-one would be left to find the Note Writer and get justice for Baka and Nisha and Vahsi.

The Justices became more prevalent, and high-rise flats gave way to more ornamented buildings as they passed beneath a pair of arching bridges with towering iron doors. Even though they stood open, they made Gina uneasy as she passed. If they were pulled shut, their way back to the safety of the outer city would be blocked.

K'tona said she'd come and get us. she reasoned. She hoped that Koolkal was recovering in the hospital complex, and would stay safe.

Eventually they came to the foot of a tall spire, reaching up and up like a triumphant arm trying to seize the heavens in its grasp. The entire outer wall of the smooth tower was gleaming gold. Even Panos seemed affected by the opulence, though the expression that ghosted across his pale face was one of momentary revulsion. As the great circular entrance revolved and sank into the ground, Gina found herself reminded of the golden doors of the Nikas palace, though here the contours of the building were more organic. In place of the aggressive, imposing presence of military banners and golden statues, the circular corridor swept away to either side, and the only decoration was rows of cushioned benches facing the sealed door ahead. As one of the winged Justices brought Babon water, Panos moved to sit, holding at his dress neatly when he lowered himself so it would not wrinkle.

“I would prefer if we sat, it would seem sensible…” the young prince muttered to the girls.

"Yeah, might as well." Gina nodded. The simple sandals she had brought from Kysmæt were thin-soled, and the arches of her feet had begun to hurt after the long walk across hard stone and concrete. She smoothed her long robe under her legs and sat down next to Panos, far enough away to maintain his personal space.

Slinging her bag with the book and her other possessions down off her shoulder and onto her lap, she wondered what the Queen of Valkure could want with three newly-arrived refugees.

"Something's telling me we're about to find another sign." she said in a low voice to the others.

[G]

Cal couldn't help but grin at the obviously affectionate attention from Babon - her trepidation toward the animal fading as he cocked his head to look back at her for the umpteenth time as they walked. She didn't seem to really notice the attention from the passers by - it wasn't abnormal for her to be looked at wherever she went, back home. It had been obscurity, and invisibility that had been the foreign behaviour toward her.

When they reached their destination, and Panos suggested they sit, she was happy to comply. Her shoulder ached a little after supporting the frail Prigkipassa on the walk, and her legs were beginning to tire. No sooner had she relaxed onto the bench the golden dog bounded over, happily climbing onto her lap.

"Oof," Cal exhaled as the large dog drove a paw into her stomach, settling himself into a comfortable position... comfortable for him, anyway. Babon nuzzled her arm, and the princess giggled.

"Something's telling me we're about to find another sign," Gina's muttered remark pulled her back to their harsh reality, and her smile faded, her face serious. She felt a pang of guilt, at letting herself be distracted by the doting animal, and shifted in her seat, peering around the huge dog at her friend. "I wonder what this queen wants with us..." she said, her voice small. The last time they had met with royalty, Baka had ended up dead.

[Minkasha]

Panos was repulsed by the dog's kindly approaches to Calamity. He stared at the thing with clear distaste while the two girls talked.

"To make toys of our lives or bodies like everyone else." Panos answered the other crystal-eyed teenager. His sapphires stared into her amethysts. Why was she so trusting of that dog? If it was smart, what was it doing acting friendly to her? It might be a trick. It was eerie however that as Panos all but slammed the queen's image, Babon turned to stare at the prince, his beady canine eyes glancing over his shoulder to the siverette. The teenage prince wasn't stupid and he leaned back with a hand rubbing down the side of his face. His own touch was the only one he preferred at this point.

The psychic dog was a spy. And, what the gods was he doing to have a legitimate thought like that?

"That's not going to happen." Gina said firmly. Sitting on Panos' other side, she hadn't seen Babon's reaction. She tugged pensively at her hair, curling one ginger strand around her fingers. While she wanted to reassure Panos first and foremost, she still couldn't guess what the queen did want with them, so soon after their arrival. At least it couldn't be any more trouble from Kysmæt - one of the few things that had gone their way recently was when Justice Pamila had informed them that the cat-people's "Khal'caan" wasn't going to pursue their breach of Kysmæt law. Thinking of it made her wonder where Taar and Mita were now. And then, inevitably, of Nisha lying dead and melted with Gina's bullet splitting her forehead.

"We're here to do something or help someone." she said aloud, almost wincing with the effort of pushing the image out of her head. Keep it together, keep it together. "That's the way it's worked so far, right?"

"Right." Cal nodded, absent-mindedly petting Babon as she spoke. She scratched at his fur with her fingertips, where his golden adornments allowed. Her legs had started to fall asleep under his weight, but she didn't have the heart to push him off - the warmth of his body and his affectionate manner toward her were rather comforting, after all they'd been through. "This queen, I suppose. Babon has the symbol, why else would he bring us here?"

She smiled warmly at the animal, oblivious to Panos' mistrust.

"Though..." her smile faltered, "I'm not sure we've really helped anyone, so far." The princess frowned.

Gina gathered her hair over one shoulder and stroked her fingers through it unhappily.

"We got Koolkal here safe." she said after a moment. The need to believe they had achieved something of worth amongst all the disasters was as much for her own benefit as to reassure Cal. "And we talked some sense into Lycas."

She broke off, unsure if Panos would want to be reminded of the Nikas emperor right now. A beautiful glare easily came straightforward to Gina's direction. He still didn't know what conversation Gina had had with Lycas but it was her fault that the last thing he could remember of his lover was something happily memorable. Had it been ugly and detached, it wouldn't hurt as much when she said his name and the fantasy of him being protected by Lycas when that man-beast assaulted him wouldn't so sweet in his mind. At this point Panos would have crawled back to his first husband, if only for a sense of some security...

The teenage boy closed his eyes, tears lining his eyes but he hid them with a harsh wiping of his face. With enough pride his personality unbridled held to, he was successful in stopping any from being shed.

"I don't know what that rampant murderer did precisely. Overthrew a government killing gods know how many to accomplish his single feat." Panos dismissed the memory of Vahşi who he not only an hour ago craved to share physical company with for some sanctuary. Neither of the girls would ever be allowed to know his blunder. He despised killers. Uncivil.

"Each time I was injured he managed to find me treatment. But it was his fault I was ever-..." the male of the trio trailed off and stroked his ponytail of hair, intending the conversation to die off before he said too much more in his judgmental passions.

It took Gina a moment after Panos mentioned injuries and treatment to realise that he was talking about Vahşi, not Lycas. When the penny dropped, her eyebrows knitted in sympathy.

"Vahşi told us a bit about - what d'you call it - Wolfinal." she said, taking a moment to recall the name and then shaking her head slightly at the rather ridiculous sound of it. She avoided Panos' unfinished sentence, knowing instinctively that now wasn't the time to stress him further by pressing the point.

"I know he was shit at showing it," she said instead, "I mean, I couldn't believe he shot up about fifty people either. But he did care about keeping you safe."

Even if I had to wring it out of him. Vahşi had been stubbornly evasive, but the way Panos had looked to him for reassurance spoke louder than their dead companion's denials. And while there were many, many things about Vahşi that she disagreed with, he had at the very least understood that to stay alive they had to keep each other alive.

As Panos' wiped his eyes, Cal reached awkwardly around their canine companion to tentatively, gently touch his arm, half-expecting him to shrug her off. "We all do," she reaffirmed Gina's statement, her concern for the other royal pulling her away from her own depressive line of thinking.

"We're going to get through this," she said, as much to reassure herself as the other two.

"We are." Gina nodded. She looked at Cal, who was just as apprehensive as she was, then at the placid Babon, and the introverted, fidgeting Panos. She opened one hand in the space between Panos' leg and her own, offering it to him.

"Don't worry." she said, her lips pressing together into a thin line. "I'm scared too."

The Lambros prince, pampered by Calamity's touch and left with an offer of Gina's, froze for a moment. He flinched his shoulder while his arm adjusted to Calamity's touch - instinct telling the body to throw it off. And while Panos didn't necessarily look down at Gina's hand with prejudicial disdain, he also did not reach out for it - staring longer at the hand. Too many things were bothering him for him to list.

Whatever the young women said, by the gods would it have any meaning?

A Valkyrie guard escorted them to the court of the queen. Entering into the large dome room, the auriferous ceiling was etched with lined symbolic letters that quickly turned to the native languages of English for Gina & Calamity and Greek for Panos: 'Center of the sun, bearer of the light'.

And maybe the woman sitting at the elevated white metal throne would be just that. Mocha skinned, she was like many of the seemingly perfect and violent winged people here on Valkure: mixed ethnicity. It had resulted in a tall, voluptuous female whose wavy, black, curls gathered loosely on her head by a band were highlighted with sandy blonde. Dressed in gold metal plating that shaped her figure and outlined her bosom in floor length oceanic blue robes deeply cut to her waistline, long sleeves trained with jeweled embellishment, and huge white wings dripping with gold coins clipped onto each of her individual feathers. The opulence served to make Gina uncomfortably aware of their own simple wraparound robes and worn-out sandles, herself with a drawstring bag clutched in her hands, and the meagre defence of a silver kitchen knife pushed into her belt. At least Panos is dressed for the occasion, she thought.

The queen of Valkure stared down at the three teenagers. Her presence was exactly as Gina had called: another sign. An obtuse '4' with a swirl resembling a '2' crossing at the ends (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Jupiter_symbol.svg/1024px-Jupiter_symbol.svg.png), came together and laid on not the queen's being - but her staff. A tall rod with a rather mundane appearing knob on top kept tighly held by her hand. On the top of the spherical knob was the symbol itself. The room's lighting shifted suddenly when the dome pulled open in panels to shine the galactic center's solar rays into the room. Everything sparkled and turned an empty gold painted room into a spectacular throne room. Gina was forced to raise a hand and shade her eyes. Everything was overtly flamboyant but the queen reveled in it, sandy blonde brows furrowing ever so slightly on her face when she looked away and returned eyes on the three.

Panos despised the gold.

Standing, the queen took her time to step down.

"They say you are all natural experts at our native language. That is an astounding feat." she humbly began, praising the three of them.

"Thank you." Gina said. "Your majesty." she added just in time. "We just taught ourselves really, same as with Bayn'gül."

She didn't particularly like that their magical ability to translate - something they couldn't control - was now in itself a draw on everyone's attention.

"Listen," she said sincerely, "Thank you so much for taking us in."

It seemed appropriate, and hopefully it would lead the conversation away from awkward territory.

"We'd have all been dead if you hadn't." Panos' exhausted eyes followed the staff with a desperate obsession. The Valkure queen peered over Gina and stared at Calamity who was keeping Babon tame beside her. Her shoes were loud on the illuminated surface, overtly staring down at Panos with a deep set frown.

'She knows.' The Lambros prince threw down his eyes even as he felt the staff tug at him with urgency, walking by within arm's reach. The robed woman stared at Calamity and kept herself looming over brightly: the queen at least six feet in height. The Anti, Babon, barked once up at her and pulled his black lips to mimic a smile.

"He's very fond of you..." The regal woman said, surprise in her breathy voice. She kneeled down to her four legged companion and reached both hands. Their brown eyes locked, questioningly exchanging messages. The queen's wings fluttered.

"He-" The queen hadn't finished speaking but Babon rubbed into her staff holding hand, which the marked touched Calamity's thigh. The cold metal made contact to the amethyst eyed girl's dress, the sensation seeping through her thin garment.

The symbol signed itself on the three adventure's forearms. With no respite, a sea of white was taking the world around them. The white that had brought all of them together was going to carry them elsewhere...

[Minkasha]

Universe III: Of Shadows and Saviors


High Court District, Greywall, Greywall Kingdom, Talo Empire, Earth


Doctor John Smythe

The far future had been truncate from Doctor Jonh Smythe's senses. He had been so unceremoniously whited out visually. It clearly wasn't a sort of headache for it had not cause any form of pain. The educated doctor could have argued it was a hallucinogenic, but that was impossible for nothing was injected to begin his mental scrambling.He felt the strangest sensation of rocking watery waves - his body being cradled and cared for. A higher dimension not palpable to his logic. It was kind and concerning.

Yet it wouldn't last and where John ended up after the light faded was far removed from where he had been. He was in bed, a bed he'd never been in his entire life. He could smell the musk of paper paged books, hidden traces of mold, wood and fumes of herbs. There was a snoring in his ear and to his left in bed was another middle aged man. Presumably in his late forties, he was an overweight man with a small beer belly who relied on his facial features for his attractiveness. Well groomed layered brown hair down each side of his face to his jaw, clean shaven, with a strong jawline and even yet broad nose they were prominent to the slight fullness of his cheeks. This man beside him was sleeping in the nude and John looked to be as well. There was a pile of clothes on the floor by the bed, but also a neatly folded robe and leather belt sitting on a leather chair at the end table.

A hardbound marooned colored book sat on the end table. Of all the strange experiences he was having he was also having a compulsory feeling that the book presented was of deep importance to his situation. And in a strange way he also knew intrinsically he was in some sort of sync with three people: Calamity, Panos, & Gina. Calamity and Panos were together in the far east and Gina was south less than two miles away.

The bedroom looked also to be a primitive study. Shelves of dried herbs, bottled substances and bones lined the walls. Some opened books and glass containers were laid over a center table, the floors wooden and door less stone archway was leading to a hallway. John's mechanical aid Medbot was stationary by the table.


Merchant District, Greywall, Greywall Kingdom, Talo Empire, Earth


Gina Wright

Gina felt well rested and when she woke up in time for her eyes to be bombarded by sunlight. Someone had tossed open the curtains, allowing the rough introduction to the day startle Gina. It was a frail looking brunette in her fifties, her hair tightly held in a bonnet, graying bangs curling across her forehead. The woman looked like a peasant or servant Gina had seen in medieval movies: a brown shoulder strapped corset, white long sleeved tunic under and blue skirt that it was tucked into.

"Good morning Miss Remoni" She greeted with a practiced tone. Her hands picked up the tray she had left on the windowsill and put it on the end table by Gina's large bed. The pillows must have been filled with feathers, she saw one in her hair and she was in a simple white, shapeless dress. The tray had a cup of green tea to drink, but the servant wasn't done. She bent down by the side of the bed and pulled out a green clay chamber pot and on knees looked up to Gina. "Need you use it again?" After being inundated with so many overtly beautiful androgynous faces, the teenager now looked on a more grounded - repeatable looking woman's face. Thin and lined with wrinkles of age, her green eyes were muddled with passing time.

Gina's bed was layered with orange patterned cloth sheets, the shapes loose and thin swirls of tan and leathery brown. Her bedroom window had a sight to a castle city straight from the fantasy movies. In her view were nicely made two or three story buildings. A vanity await her on the left of the bedroom and a tall and large wardrobe waited near it.

To her north, not far off, Gina felt the connection of a new member of their journey. A being named John Smythe. To her very distant east she knew Panos and Cal were together.


Marichoness' Estate, Whitebar, Greywall Kingdom, Talo Empire, Earth


Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility & Panos Lambros

The two royals were nestled in a bed lined and draped in fur pelts. The two windows above their bed were closed shut by wood window shuttered engraved with a sigil of a bastard sword stabbing up through a clawed hand. Banners of deep blue fell down the walls of the bedroom, their sewn sigils detailed with blood trails. A very intimidating and powerful room, it was strange to see a huge, rectangular wardrobe almost the size of the left wall.

Panos and Calamity were cuddled together, hands held and their foreheads touching while they slept in robes of silk - their left handed ring fingers sharing a band of crystal. Nothing disturbed them, the distant sounds of birds muffled through the windows indicated it was morning. While the two of them were put in loving positions, asleep, Panos' body was shivering and beginning to sweat with nightmares.

[Azazeal849]

White. Gina looked up from her still-burning arm, just in time to see the queen's sceptre touching Cal's leg. The Greek sigil on its head was melting away.

White, closing in. The staff - we must have been supposed to touch the staff...

White. And then...dark. Gina found herself lying on her back, on something soft and comfortable. Before she had time to register anything else there was a dragging sound, and her eyes were bombarded by sunlight. Someone had tossed open a set of curtains, allowing the rough introduction to the day to startle Gina. Jerking half upright in alarm, Gina realised that Cal and Panos were nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was a frail looking brunette woman in her fifties, her hair tightly held in a bonnet, graying bangs curling across her forehead. The woman looked like a peasant or servant Gina had seen in medieval movies: dressed in a brown shoulder-strapped corset, white long sleeved tunic under and blue skirt that it was tucked into.

"Good morning Miss Remoni." she greeted with a practiced tone.

Remoni. Your name here is Gina Remoni.

"Morning." Gina replied automatically, pushing herself upright against the pillows. Looking down she noticed a tiny white feather stuck to the hair falling past her shoulder. It seemed that her pillows had been filled with real down. She picked the feather off and let it fall onto the duvet. The bed coverings were pumpkin orange, detailed with loose swirls of tan and brown.

The elder woman picked up the tray she had left on the windowsill and put it on the end table by Gina's large bed. The tray had a cup of green tea to drink, but the servant wasn't done. She bent down by the side of the bed and pulled out a green clay chamber pot, looking up to Gina from her knees. "Need you use it again?"

"Er...no thanks." Gina replied, not having the faintest idea what the clay pot was supposed to be for.

While the woman busied herself, Gina pulled back the sleeve of her loose white nightgown and looked at the symbols branded on her arm. The twined 2 and 4 of the Valkyrie queen had appeared in between Mars' arrow and Saturn's stylised letter h. Jupiter, then. She wondered what it had meant.

Gina traced her finger thoughtfully along the one remaining gap in the line, corresponding to what she presumed would be Uranus. She didn't know anything about what the last planet represented, apart from the the standard primary-school joke. And why wasn't there a space for Earth? I need to find the others...and the book.

She looked up at the older woman. After being inundated with so many overtly beautiful androgynous faces, the teenager now looked on a more grounded, repeatable-looking woman's face. Thin and lined with wrinkles of age, her green eyes were muddled with passing time.

"What's the plan for today?" she asked, shuffling under the covers towards the edge of the bed and turning back the corner of the blanket. It seemed as good a way as any to try and find out who and where she was.

[Enigma]

Jeon blinked, then turned to stare at the sleeping face of the man next to him. Who was snoring in his ear. Slowly, he reached up with his right hand to grab the corner of the sheet and gently lifted it, then ever so slowly so as to not wake his... whatever, slid out of bed.

Starkers.

From the look of things, the man snoring in his bed was naked as well. Did that mean...?

Eyeing the room, he paused at the sight of MedBot, then a maroon book sitting on an end table. Clothes laid crumpled at his feet. He dressed hurriedly, then collected the book from the end table before squatting down next to MedBot.

"How did we get here?" he whispered hoarsely. "Last thing I remember, I was in the air lock! This isn't the shuttle! Where the hell are we?"

Except... there was something more. A feeling in his head. Others. Three others, but only one close by.

"It's weird, like I've got a GPS in my head," he muttered, then lifted the book to stare at it. "And somehow it's tied to this book...."

"Oh," Jeon said, bolting upright in horror. "No! It's happened again!"

Turning, he stormed over to the bed and kicked the end board. "Oy! Wakey-wakey! It's bloody time ta get up and answer some questions! Like what's going on here?"

[G]

One moment Babon's fur was warm under her fingertips - the next, Calamity was once again swept into a world of white. The almost familiar burning tingle on her forearm told her that when next she looked, another symbol would be etched there.

Where now? she scarcely had time for the thought before the blinding light faded, replaced with the red-tinged black backdrop of light shining through closed eyelids. She was comfortable, lying on her side with soft silk against her skin. Her violet eyes flickered open, widening in shock at the sight of Panos' face, mere millimetres from her own. The princess jerked away from him with an audible shriek, pulling her hands out of their affectionate grasp. She glanced down at the thin robe she wore and swallowed, her cheeks burning crimson as she pulled a pelt up to cover her chest. A moment after, she took in the Prigkipassa's furrowed brow, beads of sweat lining Panos' flawless skin. He was trembling... embarrassment gave way to concern, and Cal reached out to place a hand gently on the Prince's head, stroking his silver hair lightly out of his face.

It was then she spotted the ring. A glance at her fellow traveller's hand showed her he wore an identical jewel, and she blushed again. It seemed the people whose place they had taken in this world were bonded. The young royal looked back at Panos' face.

"You're going to love that," she said softly, managing a smirk. Panos' seemed to have softened toward them a little, in the last stretch of their journey, but it could hardly be said that he liked, or was even really tolerant of affection. She herself was unsure of her ability to play the doting lover - she knew how it all worked, of course - she wasn't a child! She had seen the looks from older men in her mothers' court, and she knew what they meant. But she had never imagined responding to them...

Well, she thought, at least it's Panos, and not a stranger I'm bonded to. The thought brought with it the sudden realisation that Gina was not with them; and when Cal felt for the tugging in her gut that was the link between them all, she knew that her friend was not close. The princess' heart fluttered, trepidation twisting in her stomach. It was up to her to figure this one out, then. Until she found them.

She'll find us.

Swallowing hard, Cal looked around the room, sliding out of the bed to walk over to the nearest banner and running her hand down its' front. She crossed to the wardrobe, sliding open its large door to examine the contents within.*

-

ooc: Assuming it is able to be opened.

[Minkasha]

Doctor John Smythe

Kicking away with frustrated sentiment, he startled the man who was fast asleep. The Doctor now noticed on closer inspection a symbol on underbelly of the man’s forearm as he had raised his hands to his ears in shock.

A cross with two reversed crescent arms and a circle at the end of the cross’ shaft (https://cdn3.iconfinder.com/data/icons/planetary-symbols/100/astro-16-512.png)was marked on the man’s skin in black in a way similar to a tattoo. It held meaning to John. It was important, and thus, in some way, this man he had just forced to grip consciousness was too.

When the brown-haired man trembled and was sitting up the sheet fell down and slumped before his small gut. His matching eyes had stared for a moment in shock before he smiled and looked at John with a smirk.

“Oh this is new, a game? What is going on?” The marked man overtly flirted, when he spoke and interacted with the doctor it was evident he was a very capable public speaker, his delivery smooth and funny – full of energy. Jon was being looked at so curiously and a hint of lust sparkled in the eye.



Gina Wright

“-Please have your tea.” The servant said rather abruptly as Gina was getting off the bed. She looked at Gina with a nervousness and unusual intensity while she mead the request. The brunette cleared her throat and looked down to the wood floor. “You were to spend time with Ms. Dutt, Miss” The woman several decades older than her answered obediently. Her face kept down but her eyes rolled up to watch Gina – seemingly waiting for her to have the green tea.



Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility & Panos Lambros

From the moment she opened the wardrobe doors that had to be collapsed several feet in each direction she quickly learned who the more fashion inclined of the two were: the husband. Furs, velvets, cloths, chains and feathers all took shape of tunics, bell dresses with assorted hoses hanging beside them, half coats, and a plethora of hats took the brunt of the wardrobe. They were hung by colors: hats hooked from the top, hoes folded below and the centerpiece of what was worn were hung evenly rowed brass bars.

On the far left, less than twenty percent of the wall sized wardrobe actually looked to be female garments. What Calamity had to choose from looked reserved in an era where she was still expected to dress as a lady: dull colors, undecorated corsets and small headwear with minimal veils. The show was all for the husband. Who, by this world, was still in bed and shivering. From the distance the princess turned something could hear Panos’ cries.

“Get off me! Stop!” His voice was picking up in distress and the Lambros prince curled deeper into a fetal position under the sheets.

[G]

Cal ran a hand over the finery that was Panos' section of the wardrobe. This, he might like, she thought; remembering his glamorous style back when they had met. Her nose wrinkled at the corsets hanging in her own section - another piece of her home she did not miss.

She thought of changing, but Panos' cries pulled her attention back to the bed. Leaving the doors ajar, she moved to stand by his side of it, biting her lip as she took him by the shoulder, gently tugging at his arm.

"Panos?"she began softly, but as he cried out her brow furrowed, and she spoke more insistently, sitting down beside his curled up form.

"Panos! Wake up, you're dreaming! It's only a dream!"

And what horror is he dreaming of? she wondered darkly, her mind flickering over the bloodstain that was their journey thus far. There was certainly no lack of material to draw from there, not even considering all the Prince might have faced before he ever met them.

Before we ever arrived, and swept him up in this mess.

[Azazeal849]

“-Please have your tea.” The servant said rather abruptly as Gina was getting off the bed. She looked at Gina with a nervousness and unusual intensity while she made the request.

Gina halted. Was she supposed to be an invalid? She didn't feel anything wrong with her, apart from the scabbed-over bite on her neck, and the fading cramp and bloat in her abdomen which told her that her period was mercifully on its way out.

She decided to do as the woman had asked. She folded up her legs, and leaned over to wrap her hands around the china cup. As she lifted it to her lips, the old paranoia of West Hills came back to her with a twinge. She hesitated for just a moment, then took a cautious sip from the edge of the cup. It was too hot for her to taste anything at first, so she gingerly held the liquid in her mouth. As far as she could tell, it just tasted like ordinary green tea. She swallowed, and sat there sipping the drink as the older woman stood up.

"Today's plan?" she prompted again gently.

The brunette cleared her throat and looked down to the wood floor. It reminded Gina enough of the nervous, servile slaves from Panos' world to make her a little uncomfortable. “You were to spend time with Ms. Dutt, Miss.” The woman several decades older than her answered obediently. Her face kept down but her eyes rolled up to watch Gina – seemingly waiting for her to finish the green tea.

Gina obliged her by taking another sip, feeling guilty. "What d'you think she'll say?" she probed, giving the other woman a sidelong look.

"What words are exchanged between friends, I imagine, miss." the older woman answered carefully.

Right. So we're friends... As she downed the last of the tea and put the cup back on the bedside table, Gina took the opportunity to look around. A vanity await her on the left of the bedroom and a tall and large wardrobe waited near it. Her bedroom window had a sight to a castle city, straight from the fantasy movies. In her view were nicely made two or three story buildings.

"What's new in town?" she asked, looking from the window back to the woman to try and stop herself from staring.

[Enigma]

“Oh this is new, a game? What is going on?” The marked man overtly flirted, when he spoke and interacted with the doctor it was evident he was a very capable public speaker, his delivery smooth and funny – full of energy. Jon was being looked at so curiously and a hint of lust sparkled in the eye.

"Game?" Jeon demanded, momentarily distracted by an odd symbol that seemed to leap out from the other man's body. It looked like one of those astronomical symbols you'd find in the horoscope part of the news feed - not that he'd admit to reading it. Well, sometimes a peek, sort of curious.

"This isn't some game," he growled, looking back at the strange man flirting with him. "Last thing I remember, I was in the middle of treating a patient."

Of course, this patient was't here with him in the back of some ancient apothecary shop. It certainly didn't look like anything he'd seen before. Jeon sighed, burying his face in his hands.

"I don't know, maybe it was the lack of air, or maybe I tripped and hit my head, but I don't know where I am or who you are, or what's going on here! Do you?"

[Minkasha]

Doctor John Smythe

This man in what was their shared bed laughed in the face of John’s discombobulated state. John also was wearing an ill fitting button up, vest and hose suggest that maybe the nearly folded robes were actually his and not the garments too short for his arms and legs yet too big for his torso.

“Patient? A word so strange. But last night you gave me one of your most potent of potions…” He purred. This man played so cooly, demonstrating a disconnect to John’s genuine anxiety – that in some way the man in the bed knew John intimately – somehow. “Me,” he gestured to himself with a bulky hand to his wide chest “little ol’ Keith had a terrible cough but you had ways to clear my passages” Keith’s gaze became ever more and more interested as he crawled across the wools under caving with the shifting weight. “I- BY THE GODS!” Keith screamed boisterously when his vision had shifted something behind the doctor. “WHAT IS THAT!?” He continued to sound in panic and strife. Following the man’s finger, the Zayan soon learned he was pointing to MedBot whose chromatic appearance was a sharp juxtaposition to the historic scenery surrounding the robot.


Gina Wright

The servant woman looked more shadowed and downcast.

“Word is still limited on Mr. Roe’s untimely death. Poison is suspect, miss. You have to be very careful” Almost kicking his way in was a five foot seven man neatly dressed for the time in yellow diamond stich upon red fabric. Gina’s bedchamber doors swung open with the urgency in which he entered, met only by the concern on his face. His hair was an anshy blonde, and fashionably able to fall to his jawline and cater to the feathered cap on his head. In his late thirties and of some lean build he was a well to do man of the world the teenage girl found herself in. The woman reguaded the man with a slight bow.

“Mister Remoni” Her respectful quip was ignored by the relative of Gina’s current persona. Quickly he rushed to Gina’s bed and pattered her body from waist up to her head. While his hands brushed over unpermitted places the grazing of his touch wasn’t lascivious – unwanted and unasked for; but how he scanned her visually and palpably Gina could be certain he was doing so for deduction of some sort.

Mr. Remoni sighed and stood up.

“You’re safe” He sighed yet another time in relief. “Did you have the tea?” A rhetorical question came easily answered when he looked at the empty cup. A third sigh and he relaxed, slumping his shoulders. “Very good dear”



Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility & Panos Lambros

Panos screamed, his young voice cracked in the wake of his sitting body. Panos had jerked away from her touch before he even came to realize who it was. Tears so heavily drained from his ducts they were streaming down past his fair lips. The beautiful royals stared at each other, Panos’ glazed expression coming to with clarity and he wiped his face with his hands immediately. The Lambros prince had turned to hide himself behind blanched, wine hued hair.

The screaming in his own mind was intoxicating, slurring his thoughts with a somber horror: a night terror. Panos demanded it be quiet. In every facet it digested him how he could not make his body stop this crassness. It hurt so badly, so univocally, that nothing else could come out of him. Panos saw himself a mere retard locked in a body incapable of meeting the mind. ‘stop! I will not give him the satisfaction. He is dead’ Panos rationalized so straightforwardly to himself, his body and its memory were not so easily approached.

The male teenager grabbed hard the sheets over his lap and stared down at his pale knuckles. His vice grip would cut at his palms if his nails weren’t retracted soon. With the force of willpower Panos’ body stopped unnaturally: stiffening and the muscles of his body all flexed. The tears ended, his breathing became entirely halted before a shaky exhale made everything he had just done cease. Flush faced he stared at Calamity evenly and his hands let go.

“Where are we?”

[Azazeal849]

“Word is still limited on Mr. Roe’s untimely death. Poison is suspect, miss. You have to be very careful.”

Oh don't you worry about that. Gina thought grimly. Before she could think of a way to find out who Mr Roe was supposed to be, the door banged open with enough force to make her jump.

“Mister Remoni.” the servant greeted, but her respectful quip was ignored by the relative of Gina’s current persona. Gina was still looking at his crazy hair and feathered cap when he rushed to Gina’s bed and pattered her body from her waist up to her head. She tensed at the unexpected touch, and almost pushed him away on reflex. From how he scanned her visually and palpably, Gina could be certain he was doing so for deduction of some sort.

Mr. Remoni sighed and stood up.

“You’re safe.” He sighed yet another time in relief. “Did you have the tea?” A rhetorical question came easily answered when he looked at the empty cup. A third sigh and he relaxed, slumping his shoulders. “Very good dear.”

Gina's eyes followed the man's to the cup. What is with everyone and tea around here? It seemed like a poor time to admit that, contrary to the British stereotype, she actually preferred coffee.

"I'm fine." she reassured the man, pulling the blankets up round her chest and tucking her hands under her arms. She feigned a pensive look. "What are we going to do about Mr Roe, though?"

[Enigma]

“Me,” he gestured to himself with a bulky hand to his wide chest “little ol’ Keith had a terrible cough but you had ways to clear my passages” Keith’s gaze became ever more and more interested as he crawled across the wools under caving with the shifting weight.

Jeon could feel his ears and cheeks burning as he listened to Keith's clear insinuation that last night, they'd....


“I- BY THE GODS!” Keith screamed boisterously when his vision had shifted something behind the doctor. “WHAT IS THAT!?”
"What is what?" Jeon demanded as he leapt to his feet, startled by Keith's outburst, turning to where Keith was pointing. "What, something behind MedBot?"

The penny dropped.

"What, this old girl?" he asked, turning back to Keith. "I know she's not the latest model out there, but.. you've never seen anything like it before, have you?"

Jeon grinned. "Medbot, why not give our friend here a shot of sodium penthohol to take off his jitters?" The tiny robot floated out of its corner to sit by the bed, then fired a tiny dart at the man's hand.

"There, that's not so bad, right?"Jeon beamed. "Takes a moment to set in, and then we'll have a nice, calm talk."

[G]

Panos' jerked his body out of Calamity's grasp, his silver hair falling to shield his distraught face from her view as he turned away from her. She sat quiet, allowing him the moments that followed to compose himself. She chewed her bottom lip (it was a wonder she still had one at this point) her eyes on his hands; white knuckled as he clenched his fists.

"Where are we?" the Prince asked, and she looked up to meet his eyes, trying to be calm and sure. Both of them in a fluster would be no help - and until they were reunited with a certain resourceful redhead, it was up to her to keep Panos safe.

"I'm not sure yet. I woke up in this bed, same as you. I think we're..." the blush returned to her cheeks, staining the skin the colour of flames. "I think whoever we took over this time, they're ahh.. bonded."

She held up her left hand, showing him the jewel there. "So we'll have to play along, until we find out what we're supposed to do here. Look, you have clothes, if you'd like to dress?" And I should, too, I suppose, she thought with a sigh at the thought of a corset.

She stood up, crossing to the wardrobe again, running her hand over the mens' clothes to pull them apart and show him. "Come on, pick something. Then we can go find out exactly where we are."

From her own slim selection, Cal chose a plain, dark blue gown; floor-length, with a modest neckline. At least I won't look like a slattern, she thought, remembering the lurid dresses her mother used to force her into. With a shy glance at Panos, she slipped her arms out of her silk robe, making a clumsy attempt to hold it around her with one hand while she shimmied into the dress. Flushed again, she reached for the gowns' accompanying bodice; then paused. Now she was embarrassed for another reason - the girl had never dressed herself, not properly. How was she going to put the damn thing on? Shaking her head, she returned it to it's hanger - perhaps it wouldn't be all that noticeable, if she didn't wear it.

Turning back to Panos, she gave him an encouraging smile.

"Do you need any help?"

[Minkasha]

Doctor John Smythe

Keith yelped when the needle found itself true in his left hand. The mildly overweight man stared down at his hand and squinted his eyes.

“What is this oddity in my hand?” Keith asked suddenly a bit concerned but his expression was loopy and tired. He smiled and laid back down calmly in bed. He did however pull out the silver projectile out of his hand and lazily tossed it to the side. “I want you back in bed John” Keith mumbled back to him forthright. The man's brown eyes stared at MedBot uncomfortably. "I want that gone...your familiar is weird"


Gina Wright

The well maintained man sighed while he stared at Gina and he turned to the servant. Angrily he threw the silver serving tray in her direction. It slammed into her shin and she jumped, the older woman holding down her bonnet. The clashing metal was loud and sudden against the floor and it caused a horrible commotion before it became quiet.

“You fearmongering wench, you have scared my daughter!” He shouted, defending Gina’s honor by tossing the emptied tea cup at the space before the servant woman’s feet. “Clean this up and water the garden. You can manage that” Mr. Remoni sighed with stress and put his hands to his face. The servant took the objects so clearly thrown at her and left the room in a rush. Coming to Gina’s bedside he pulled off his hat to rest on his lap and sat down, looking at her with a fatherly concern she could tell this man loved what he believed to be his daughter – her. The airs around him had been so cruel and hostile, now docile and tame.

“It will be very important that you do not part your lips to ask any questions. We must let my sleeping friend lie quietly. Anything said is hearsay, dribble forgotten the moment it’s spoken. Do you understand?” He asked with a soft male voice, the thirty something year old man ran a hand through his ash blonde hair, shaking his head. Evidently he was deeply concerned for Gina’s wellbeing.


Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility & Panos Lambros

Panos stared down at the crystal ring around his finger, coming to terms with having to continue forward in this trial of the gods. The pale prince slipped out of the bed, not giving Calamity any mind while she tried to keep modest in her changing. He had no interest in her female visage and he kept it very obvious while he scanned over his own clothes with a caress of his fingers to his chin.

Calamity offered help and the Lambros stared at the beautiful princess. He scanned her and the struggle she was having with her clothes. He knew all too well how to fasten them to the body. He eyed the bodice. Sighing, the effeminate and fair male brushed forward her hair in front of her shoulders. Cal could see his expression soften to a thoughtful one when he maneuvered her hair.

“No, you will need it…” He told her, unstringing the silk robe he wore so easily and letting it drop to the ground. He left himself entirely naked in a casual fashion. Panos was not ashamed of his divine body and felt some superiority in being able to show it off when the princess hid hers. He could at least own his body even if it was used against his will. The other teen wasn’t like males Calamity would have expected when in the buff – there was certainly something too feminine about his body that blurred prince and princess. He was beautiful to look at in this unusual sort of way. As she wasn’t entirely mundane, Calamity could see the signs in others and could pinpoint the same truth for Panos as well.

He was grabbing some yellow hose to pull on. What marked and insulted his beautiful body were the smallest bruise marks she could see above his pelvis, and at the back of his shoulders.

Regardless of Calamity speaking or not of the matter, the youth continued to get dress.

Either Panos did not mind displaying these or forgot for the Lambros prince was putting on a matching yellow bell dress, dark brown sleeveless vest, and feathered brown cap without delay. The prince certainly knew how to dress himself and looked beautifully handsome.

[Azazeal849]

Gina couldn't stop herself from gasping in horror as the man hurled her tray at the servant and sent it crashing across the floor.

“You fearmongering wench, you have scared my daughter!” he shouted, defending Gina’s honor by tossing the emptied tea cup at the space before the servant woman’s feet.

"Stop!" Gina all but shouted, lunging to the edge of the bed and seizing the man who was supposed to be her father by the wrists, to try and stop him from abusing the woman any further. "It's fine, I'm fine!"

She probably should have called him dad, but it felt too strange and too wrong.

"I'm fine." she insisted, clamping down on her outrage and hesitantly letting go of the man's hands.

Mr. Remoni sighed with stress and put his hands to his face. “Clean this up and water the garden. You can manage that.”

The servant took the objects so clearly thrown at her and left the room in a rush. Mr Remoni pulled off his hat to rest on his lap and sat down, looking at her with a fatherly concern she could tell this man loved what he believed to be his daughter – her. The airs around him had been so cruel and hostile, now docile and tame.

“It will be very important that you do not part your lips to ask any questions. We must let my sleeping friend lie quietly. Anything said is hearsay, drivel forgotten the moment it’s spoken. Do you understand?”

"Yes." Gina nodded. Her hands were still tingling from adrenaline, and she wrapped her arms around herself to try and hide the fact that she had clenched them. Maybe she was being paranoid, but she thought she understood only too well. She resolved to head down to the garden as soon as she was able - not just to apologise to the servant woman but to find out what else she might know.

And then find some way of slipping out of here to go find Cal and Panos.

She shuffled cautiously to the edge of the bed and made to get up.

"If miss Dutt's coming I'd better get up and dressed, yeah?" she said to Mr Remoni, glancing towards the tall wardrobe and vanity dresser.

[Enigma]

Doctor John Smythe

Keith yelped when the needle found itself true in his left hand. The mildly overweight man stared down at his hand and squinted his eyes.

“What is this oddity in my hand?” Keith asked suddenly a bit concerned but his expression was loopy and tired. He smiled and laid back down calmly in bed. He did however pull out the silver projectile out of his hand and lazily tossed it to the side. “I want you back in bed John” Keith mumbled back to him forthright. The man's brown eyes stared at MedBot uncomfortably. "I want that gone...your familiar is weird"

It seemed that the man in his bed reacted like a normal human. Medbot's face plate was already displaying Keith's vital statistics.

"Hmmm? My... 'familiar'?" he frowned, turning back to Keith. Did he mean....?

A button appeared on MedBot's screen to request a 5150 psychiatric hold. He stifled a laugh.

"Don't, uh, don't worry about my familiar," he said, turning on the bed side charm. "Er, tell me Keith, whose clothes am I wearing?"

Keith chuckled and rubbed a thumb across his lower lip.

“You’re wearing mine of course, lover”

"I see," Jeon winced, feeling his skin crawling. "Where are we, Keith? What sort of place is this?"

Keith threw a pillow at Jeon with a few low tone laughs. The soft impact hit the doctor in the torso and fell to his feet. He could smell its musk of two men and the unrefined scents of an older age's lower standards of hygiene.

"Your apothicarium, your home...our den of love away from the prying eyes of the low people. And away from the walking scandal that is our king" the man rolled his eyes and sighed.

"I see," Jeon blushed, tugging at his... Keith's collar. The room looked positively primative. "So tell me Keith, are there many machines in this world? How does one get from place to place?"

Keith's brown eyes stared at Jeon* with heavy skepticism, laughing. A finger was pointed at him briefly.

"Something is terribly off with you" And while that may have been astute, it was actually a lulled joke the man chuckled to himself with as he winked at him. "People like you and me have the most comfortable carriages...or maybe by a wizard's spell...hmmm" The man cooed and collapsed down in the sheets. "If you're going to be strange, I want you back in bed"

"Can't do that, thankfully," Jeon muttered, standing up and starting to undress. "Sorry mate, you and I've got a trip to take. There's places to go and people to see if I'm going to sort this all out."

"Carriages though, hmm," he mused, slipping out of the tunic. "Horses. Is there a driver or do I have to do it? How does one control a horse?"

"Well, don't think you'd mind too much, not so far to go and you'll be sleeping off the pentothal for a good while, yet."


Inside the N-Dimensional Gateway, the immense probe gave up trying to reach its masters. Once again, unknown beings had plucked Jeon out of the ship to some remote location - but this time they'd taken the probe's outer shell with Jeon. But the Probe's connection to the Home world was lost - something that shouldn't be possible, unless they were out farther than before? Or perhaps its masters were not here, in this place?

[G]

Calamity & Panos

-


Cal smiled shyly as Panos brushed her hair forwards, her own fingers smoothing over her long, dark locks.

"No, You will need it," he said, and she let out an embarrassed titter.

"I had maids to dress me, at home.. whether I liked it or not," she explained, "I always hated the finery, until I was stuck in that slaves' drab, in your world."

She might have continued, had Panos not revealed himself so casually at that point. Cal was staring, she knew; her curiosity almost equal to her embarrassment. It was only when he pulled the yellow fabric over his chest that she blinked, and her eyes returned to his face.

"You uh.. you look very nice," she said, gulping down the nervous lump in her throat. She was glad there were no servants in the room, to witness her discomfort at such an intimate view of her "husband."

"We should explore," she suggested, gesturing the door. "Try and find out where we are, and where Gina's got to."

She crossed to the rooms' only exit, glancing back once to reassure herself that Panos was behind her before she opened it. Panos fixed his hat and how his silver hair fell down on his shoulders and was following behind her without delay. He did grumble, the source was his irritation. Why did they have to always find Gina? Find the 'others'. He had been able to gain some symbols with Vashi alone. He simply didn't have the will to criticize or object to Calamity, so he followed.

As husband and wife they opened the doors only to find a long banner decorated hallway filled with six female servants of various ages and skin colors nearly on top of the door. Their heads were downcast in servitude and were eerily silent. Panos fluttered his eyes, did they hear everything that was exchanged on the other side of the bedroom doors? His lips smacked together and his perceived violation of privacy got the best of him.

"Get out! Go away! Shoo!" Panos took use of his royal position without a hiccup. At his word the women were beginning to step down the hallway of the castle.

"Wait!" Calamity said quickly, and glanced around, pointing at the nearest of the scurrying servants, "You, stay with us. We should keep one." The last statement was to her faux husband. "We might need her for something." Gina would keep one, she thought, as they made their way along the hall after the rest of the fleeing girls. A mocha skinned elderly in her proper wimple hid only kept her tired looking face visible. In her dark cotton dress she kept her eyes down, turned to Cal in deep respect. She seemed entirely focused on Calamity and Panos raised a brow.

"Yes, my lady" the servant woman directly to her attentively.

Cal blinked, staring at the woman for a moment. She hadn't been expecting that - all the adornments of Panos' clothes, compared with her own drab garb had led her to believe women were deemed inferior in this world; it seemed for her, at least, that wasn't the case.

After the half a second it took for this to sink in, Cal smiled at the servant. Politely - not too friendly. If servants would bow and scrape to her, she was back in her comfort zone - this was a part she knew how to act.

Without another word to the woman, she continued down the hall, knowing she would fall into step behind them.

[Azazeal849]

Her supposed father shook his head to himself and gave her a small smirk.

“Of course dear.” With her influence he was easily swayed, which Gina supposed was a good thing, but then he came in closer – his hands landing on each of her shoulders as he kissed her on the cheek, near the right side of her mouth. It was over almost before she had time to react, but once again she had to try hard not to flinch.

"See you in a bit?" she suggested, smiling to hide the dropping sensation in her stomach. She folded back the duvet and swung her legs down onto the carpeted floor.

"If you see Alfred, close the curtains." her elder male figure cautioned, with a slight exhale and a defeated smile while he left with a gentle shutting of the door.

Gina cuffed at her kissed cheek, and wondered who Alfred was supposed to be. She pushed herself up off the bed and padded barefoot over to her window, peering out to get a proper view of the world outside. Below, wagons were being pulled by well managed horses, moving slowly through the wide streets. There was a healthy amount of traffic, people of the gentry who were as well presented as her father. The other buildings in view also looked residential. The bustling town looked busy, healthy and safe, and Gina wished that she could feel reassured.

As she looked down, she spotted people leaving their doors,and could stare across into the window in front of her where she found a young man directly looking at her.

He had already opened his windows and was leaning on the windowsill. A handsome young man, her age, who stared at her with a smug smile. A black haired teenager who swooped his hair over to one side, with such piercing eyes of green they might have looked jade. Even across the width of the street Gina could notice just how green his eyes were. His lips were generously shaped with a dipping cupid's bow, nicely arching and naturally well groomed thick black brows, a tall heart shaped face and a fitting narrow nose. He waved directly at her, tugging on his vest.

"G'morning my lady! Will you accept my company this morning?" There was a passion in his eyes to swoon her.

Oh, Gina thought. That'll be Alfred, then. The young man's confidence made her smile, in spite of everything.

"I dunno what my dad would have to say about that!" she called back, resting her forearms on the windowsill to face the boy. Her smile faltered a little - her real dad was in England, god knows how many miles and worlds away. He'd always been supremely easy-going with Gina, and wouldn't have batted an eyelid at her chatting to some boy across the road in her PJs. The only times she'd really pissed him off were when she came stumbling home from Katie's on Friday nights, reeking of weed and blue WKD.

How much time had passed for him since she had been spirited away from West Hills? Would he even know? Would mum?

She dropped her gaze to try and hide her sudden upset, and was surprised to see the gentry below looking up to the two teenagers talking across the way. They smiled to themselves, and a few women giggling fondly. A man winked up to Alfred and tipped his feathered cap - only bolstering Alfred's resolve. As Gina looked back up at him he smiled, staring straight into Gina's eyes, mirroring her posture on the windowsill. She could see the boy was well trained, his arms showing some muscle past the short sleeves of his under tunic.

"I'll have to be steadfast and approach your father for your daily hand, won't I miss Remoni? Collect yourself madame, your father has already said many interesting things 'bout you and me." He teased.

Is that so? Gina thought. It was comforting to know that, between Alfred's easy-going attitude and the tolerant smiles of the people below, Mr Remoni was probably not going to be throwing any more trays. She pushed her hair behind her ear.

"I'm meeting miss Dutt this morning." she called across the street, tilting her head a little as she looked at Alfred. "Are you free later?"

On an impulse, she picked at the white material of her nightgown and flashed him a grin.

"You know, when I'm actually dressed?"

[Minkasha]

Doctor Jeon Smythe

Keith stared at him and groaned in a whiny manner.

“You can’t, I have a meeting with the council. You know that, lover*” The full-figured man closed his eyes, gradually losing his fight against what had been injected in him. While Jeon was taking off Keith’s clothes the cold of the primitive setting around him was touching his skin – no sense of central temperature control was apparent.

*While Jeon won’t be attracted to him, Kieth does have a charismatic aura and is a noteworthy communicator that it will slightly move Jeon’s disposition to positively notice the man’s likability. In the least this could help Jeon understand why Keith has a leadership position by being in this ‘council’. Just a suggestion :)


Gina Wright

Alfred nearly jolted off from the door at Gina’s behavior and covered his colorful eyes quite quickly.

“Miss. Remoni, a man shouldn’t see those thoughts taunted like that!” His gentlemanly behavior seemed genuine for he insisted to keep his eyes covered. It was this very action that didn’t give him any awareness to the young woman coming behind him. She looked to be a young adult in her twenties with similar features that showed them to be siblings. Dressed and composed with her black hair in a coiled bun upon her head she was approaching Alfred with a raised hand and judgmentally slapped the back of his head. Gina could only catch a brief sound of Alfred’s hiss in pain.

The handsome suitor’s older sister stared at Gina with an apologetic smile and stepped to the window herself. She was a good looking member of the family as well but, but she didn't quite have his eyes (a duller but lovely green in its place), but instead had very sharp cheekbones that were reminiscent of Gina's beautiful royal companions somewhere else in this new world.

“He’s not giving you trouble, again is he?” The longer she looked the more she noticed Gina’s state of dress. “Tis a bit brisk to wear such a thin thing with the window open?” She asked with a stern sisterly tone. “Am I to presume you are not spurning my brother’s advances anymore?” Her tone was unreadable as to her acceptance of it or not, especially as she was having to focus on projecting to be heard across the road. Alfred was cheating looks past his hands to Gina and seemed unable to help himself with flashing smiles at her.


Calamity & Panos

Panos clicked his tongue off the roof of his mouth in petty disagreement of the following servant but came along regardless. As Calamity expected, it was on her step that the servant began to move, all but leaving Panos to follow of his own accord.

“Young Marchioness, you are not fully dressed?” With how this elderly woman spoke, it was with deep caution and respect – teetering on the fearful. Calamity could tell the castle she was in was a very defensive structure for there were small slits for bows starting to appear once she left the hallways close to her bedchambers. She seemed to have a great deal of power as there were guards in leather armor with bows nodding heads in her honor. Panos was looked at but his reception was more cordial as if the gender dynamics of power were very much shifted.

Down the stone halls Calamity had the option of walking to one of the towers and circling down stairs to the floor or continuing to follow the path of the upper floor she was walking on. There was much for her to command at her word, if she wished. Panos was remaining silent and impassive. Maybe reclusive.

[Azazeal849]

“He’s not giving you trouble again, is he?”

The direct question forced Gina to snap out of the giggling fit that had overtaken her at Alfred's awkward response. She cleared her throat.

"No, not at all. We're cool."

The word choice was automatic, but quite possibly the wrong one for a world where millennial slang didn't exist. The longer the older girl looked, the more she noticed Gina’s state of dress.

"Tis a bit brisk to wear such a thin thing with the window open?” She asked with a stern sisterly tone. “Am I to presume you are not spurning my brother’s advances anymore?” Her tone was unreadable as to her acceptance of it or not, especially as she was having to focus on projecting to be heard across the road.

"We'll see." Gina called back, unsure of how to answer and therefore being deliberately noncommittal. Alfred was cheating looks past his hands to Gina, and seemed unable to help himself with flashing smiles at her. He managed to be both annoying and endearing at the same time, rather like Gina's friend Aiden from back in Austere.

"I'll see you later, Alfred!" she shouted across to him, smiling. "Okay?"

She drew the curtains, shook her head, and stifled another involuntary giggle. Hopefully the clownishly gallant boy would be able to help her get her bearings around the town. Cal and Panos had to be around somewhere, as did the final missing symbol. And alright, Gina admitted to herself; she might not normally go for smitten schoolboys, but she was surprised by how much more normal it made her feel to be hit on by someone who wasn't a vampire or a giant masochist space cat.

The positive feeling began to drain away, and left a heavy black rock in its place. Hopefully Koolkal was alright, but they had left him behind, along with Taar and Mita. And Baka, and Nisha. The thunder of the gunshot she had fired set her ears ringing, and her fingers trembling. She dug the heels of her hands into her eyes to squeeze away the tears that were threatening to form.

This isn't home. You have to get back to yours.

Back to what? To West Hills, and yet another nightmare?

Back to Becca and Cece and everyone else who's counting on my help.

She sniffled a breath, and lowered her hands. The room's vanity dresser stood opposite the window, with an oval mirror set above. Her reflection stared back at her, looking very worn out. Her ginger hair had reverted to its natural straight, limp look. Without her usual makeup, her pale face looked washed out, and the thin skin under her eyes was shadowed, adding to the appearance of fatigue. For a moment she wondered at Alfred's enthusiasm. She rubbed her eyes again, pushed her hair behind her ears, and took another breath.

Okay Gina, calm down; think. If you can get yourself dressed you can go talk to the servant lady. Then you can get through this meet-up with Miss Dutt. Then you and her or Alfred can head out to find Cal and Panos. And then you can find one more symbol, and then... And then they would see. Would gathering the full set of astrology tattoos bring them face to face with the Note Writer. Gina didn't know. One step at a time. she told herself. Get dressed.

The first step turned out to be more complicated than she had hoped. Opening the wardrobe revealed a fine array of silky gowns and thicker, heavier dresses that were all richly embroidered. One had fallen from its neatly folded place onto the floor of the wardrobe, where a mouse had nibbled a hole in it. Gina picked it up without much thought and folded it back onto the shelf. Long tubes of fabric that were stacked neatly next to the dresses turned out to be sleeves, which seemed to attach to the dresses at the shoulders with simple loops and buttons. But one rather obvious thing was missing, and it became apparent as she raked through both the wardrobe and the vanity without success.

Does no-one around here wear pants?

Gina wondered what the hell she was supposed to have done if her period hadn't finished the previous day. Bras didn't seem to be a thing here either, which was a bit of a concern once she pulled out a couple of the dresses and realised how figure-hugging they were. It also made hiding anything about her person - which had been a life-saving talent from West Hills to Kysmæt - rather more difficult, and that made her feel even more exposed than going commando did.

In the end, she had to sneak back to the window and peek through the curtains to figure out how she was supposed to look, taking her cue from the ladies going to and fro in the street. It seemed that the embroidered dresses were supposed to go over the light ones, so that the silky material could show through the V of the neck and the various artistic slashes that had been cut through the dress. After a good ten minutes, she managed to pick out an understated gown, a complimentary under-dress and a pair of dagged sleeves that seemed to match, and succeeded in arranging them on her body in a way that seemed to look right. All the shoes in the bottom of the wardrobe seemed to be platforms - to keep the dresses from sweeping the floor, Gina supposed - with slipper bands decorated with flower-like ruffles. In the end, she picked the ones she felt she was least likely to fall over in.

The next hurdle was her hair, because apparently bobbles and hair ties weren't a thing here either. Luckily Gina's mum had bought her a Topsy Tail the previous christmas, and she had learned the trick of simply gathering up a ponytail, poking a hole through the base of it and pulling the ends through to make a decent-looking fold that kept the hair out of her face. The vanity dresser had a drawer full of pastes and bottles that Gina assumed were makeup, though most of them were too garishly pigmented for her taste. There was a pot of what looked like face powder, but it smelled so evil that she refused to put any of it on her face. Perhaps being pale to begin with was an advantage here. In the spirit of fitting in and not drawing too much attention, she settled for painting her lips with a pot of pale red and a small, awkward brush, blended away the shadows under her eyes with a cream that more or less matched her skin, and patted herself down with water from a bottle that smelled of vanilla and flowers. To be fair, the perfume was actually pretty nice.

After what must have been the better part of half an hour, Gina felt confident enough to push open her bedroom door and start exploring the house for the older woman who had warned her about Mr Roe.

[Enigma]

Keith stared at him and groaned in a whiny manner.

“You can’t, I have a meeting with the council. You know that, lover” The full-figured man closed his eyes, gradually losing his fight against what had been injected in him.

"Hopefully not in the next hour, 'lover'," Jeon noted, shivering slightly. "If I was going to be kidnapped, couldn't they have brought me someplace with central heating?" Pealed out of Keith's clothes, Jeon gratefully slipped into the neatly folded robes his other self had left out.

"If I run into another me, hopefully they'll be understanding," he muttered. "Still, it's somewhat strange, isn't it? I'm kidnapped and brought here where there's already another 'me' and I take his place or something. So the question is, what happened to him? Is he in the airlock with my patient and the two robots? Or is he still... here?"

Jeon paused to touch his head, then looking up, he asked, "Hello? Anyone there? Would anyone want to explain just what the hell is going on here?"

"Didn't think so. Somehow I expect there's more than just this room. Someplace perhaps with a kitchen? Staff? Or just a door going outside. I've got this weird feeling in my head like there are others out there, like me. One of them is close. I have to find them, hopefully they can answer my questions?"

Jeon picked up the book and tucked it inside his robes, then strode towards the door only to pause, looking back. "Only what do I do with you, old friend? Judging from Keith's reaction, you're likely to start a riot. Medbot?"

The robot was nowhere to be seen. Standing next to the bed was a child about ten, wearing the same robes as he now wore.

"Er, hello...?" Jeon managed. "How long have you been standing there?"

The child just stared stoically back at him. With a concern frown, Jeon glanced around the room. "And where did you come from? You're not like living in a drawer or under the bed, I hope?"

The child raised a hand and a screen appeared on his palm, showing Keith's vital signs.

"What? What?" demanded Jeon, then blinked, grinning broadly. "Medbot! Is that you? What are you doing, using your holographic emitters? That's first rate! I can't even see a refresh line! It's like you're wearing my AnySuit! Is this some child-friendly protocol? I didn't know you could do this! Fantastic! You'll blend right in!"

If the probe could have smirked, it would have.

"Right, let's get out of here and find out what the hell's going on," Jeon said, opening the door. Medbot in its new shell walked out of the door while Jeon followed, shaking his head in disbelief.

[G]

“Young Marchioness, you are not fully dressed?”

Cal bit her lip, wishing she had asked Panos to help her with the corset. "I have a stiffness in my side," she lied quickly; though perhaps, given the deference being shown her she needn't really explain herself. "I shall have the physician examine it when it pleases me."

With the confirmation of her title, Cals' stance and speech emanated confidence and dignity. It was almost a surprise, how easily the Royal air slipped back into place on the teens' shoulders - the girl who, not so long ago, had been fleeing through a man-eating jungle from a carnivorous beast. She wondered if she should have addressed her hair and face, as well - but there had been no kohl or paints in the room, and her wardrobe had not suggested that women here dressed lavishly. It seemed that role was reserved for the men.

When she reached the tower she paused, glancing between the passageways.

"What duties have I today?" she asked the servant woman, hoping to gain some direction - she had no idea how large the castle was, and it would do no good to walk its halls aimlessly.

Panos stood beside her with his arms across his thin yet fashionable chest. The silverette did not enjoy the gender disparity, clearly. Panos knew himself more than a statue, especially to a woman. Passive aggressively he sought to vocalize his dismay with an array of sighs time and time again. The colored servant had taken notice when she looked his direction but said nothing as she continued to be at Calamity's service.

"Things you had arrange the night prior..." she paused staring at Panos "things maybe you did not want the marquis to endure hearing" she went on saying with a jittery tact to her frightening marchioness.

Cal looked at Panos, biting the inside of her lip. Men were truly subservient here, it seemed. She'd have to play along... but the Prince wasn't going to like it.

"Of course," she said, her chin rising. "Erm.. fetch a servant to escort the marquis to breakfast. Then we can go somewhere more appropriate to discuss these.. things." Though she was at loathe to separate from Panos, it didn't seem as though she would be able to find out why they were here with him beside her. If men were considered the delicate sex in this world, it didn't seem likely that Panos would be placed in any dangerous situation.

She turned to her faux husband, stepping close and smiling; her face betraying only the slightest hint of nerves. "Go and eat," she said, "I'll come and find you later."

Panos' face reflected a degree of fear and his breath hitched quietly. The Lambros royalty could only remember what became of him the last time he was separated from his strange travel companion. A shiver struck him and he reached out to hold Calamity’s arm. The dapper young man said nothing and the colored servant already called another serving woman who was standing beside the marquis.

“Ah..” Panos muttered after catching himself. The silverette glanced down at his hand on her forearm, hesitant to let go. “I'm fine.” He lied to save face to the attentive servants watching the exchange. His performance was poor; he hadn't let go. "It's cold..." the excuses were starting to pile.

Cal frowned, hesitating. It was clear Panos didn't want them to separate, and she couldn't really blame him, given all they had been through. But it was no good clinging to each other if it prevented them figuring out what they were supposed to do here.

"I won't be long," she promised, taking his hand in hers and prising it from her arm. "I need to do this, Panos. But I'll be back soon, alright? Just, go and eat something."

Her lips pressed together and a guilty weight on her chest, she turned away from him, addressing the servant woman again.

"Lead on." she commanded, "I will attend to those matters now."

[Enigma]

The Zayan’s eyes fell onto a long wooden hallway. Medbot in its childhood disguise led on, forward, for it was the only direction for a sparse amount of feet. By the end of the hallway Jeon looked into the open rooms to see more storage for the primitive ingredients lined on aisle of shelves. The smells of dust and aged air kept not too far away from these rooms. The chill failed to keep optimal comfort of the accommodations of his time; it pulled at Jeon’s thoughts. The flesh of Jeon’s cheeks and nose were pricked by the drawing of his heat.

"Seems I've gone from living out of a suitcase to owning a house?"

Led into a living room of wood furniture and hard leather bound books the small square space showed off a room of academia. He could deduce the multi floor house to be of some comparative wealth for the time period but it was much smaller than anything from his own time. But there was a window which he could peer through and see that this home was elevated on a hill, following set of brick steps to a well to do mason city. The weather was pleasantly sunny. Outside on the courtyard of this house was a wagon attached to a chocolate colored steed. Upon its saddle a man was sitting with both hands holding on the reins, staring ahead. He was rather handsome, in his early forties it was odd to see him have entirely white hair, the straight locks falling back and kept behind his ears. A strong build, in chainmail with a maroon tabard, he was armed with a claymore on his back. His hazel eyes looked reflective, and while he had low brows his eyes were will well rounded adding an attractiveness to their pensive stare off to nowhere in particular. The handsome white haired knight was keeping still on his mount, waiting.

"Hello," Jeon muttered to himself. "Keith has some company waiting. Pity I can't nick his motor. Oh well, let's see what the outside world is like. Certainly different from all the stations and ships we've endured, eh?"

Opening the door, he stepped through, beaming.

"Hello! Sorry, really bad with names, you are..?" Jeon felt further cold take him as he came out without some protective layers on. Closer inspection of this armed man revealed the tabard was the yellow symbol of seven eyes in a oval upon his chest. Jeon's question must have offended him as the knight gave him an offended expression.

"A-archer" He stuttered. "Whe-re is Council M-m-member Head-Headspeth?" His sloppy way with his mouth broke down communication but his expression was more serious; a man accustom to his speech impediment and still keeping to his duties. He stared down at the child next to Jeon inquisitively but said nothing of it.

"Ah," Jeon said slowly. There had been several occasions where he'd used some fast talk to get out of a scrape, but to do that here with this man would be unforgivably rude - even for him. Not to mention this bitter cold sapping his bones like a wind straight off the North Sea.

"My apologies, Sir Archer," the doctor shivered, talking a little slower, relaxing his voice and hoping the knight would do the same. By slowing the man's speech and prolonging words, his pronounced stutter should ease considerably. Jeon shuddered to think of what 'cures' the primitives of this time and place might have forced on this man - or perhaps it was the cold? An MRI scan by the MedBot would have to wait until the knight had come out of his metal shell. "The councilman is resting. Fortunately, what I gave him goes through the body quickly. I shall fetch him down for you, but he's not up to a meeting for a good hour or so."

Bowing his head in respect, he retreated back into the house, only vaguely warmer than outside - and sprinted up the stairs with MedBot in its child-form following right behind.

"Keith," he called out when he got up the stairs, "Sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep, but your public awaits. Best to get yourself up and about."

At first Jeon heard nothing till he walked to the doorway of the eclectic bedroom. Keith had rolled himself half off the bed, the upper body over the edge and reaching for his clothes. Still permeating was the inner feeling of Keith's importance to something.The old and unsanitary smells of this house were loading the doctor's nose.

"...I'm sleepy" Keith mildly protested before his overweight figure fell out of the bed entirely and flung the covers onto the wood floor. "People are waiting for you, Sir Archer for one. You can sleep in your coach," Jeon promised. He glanced behind him at MedBot, marveling at the seamless disguise his metal companion was wearing. "See if you can find a kitchen, perhaps they have tea or if we're very lucky, coffee. Perhaps some food?" Medbot nodded, stepping out to explore the back of the house.

Leaning down, Jeon grabbed the blankets and pulled them away from the naked man. "C'mon, it's cold down there. Let's get you dressed in some warm clothes, it's chilly today."

There was something gnawing on him - somehow the book and this man were important. Maybe it was he needed to stay close to Keith? But why? "So, what's the urgent business the council has today? Can we watch?"

The Councilman was groaning but getting on his leggings, shirt and tunic. However Jeon's line of questioning made the chemically afflicted man stare at him bewildered.

"You already know my lover. We are going to poison our degenerate king," He grunted while he tugged the wool down his body and rolled around to shimmy up his leggings. "What you did with the merchant was so successful we were so impressed" Keith smiled proudly at the doctor and reached forward to touch his face. "You are so attractive when you are so intelligent"

Jeon's mind went blank.

"What?" he demanded. "What?"

He'd killed a man. No, the him that was here killed a man. The him that was here poisoned a man! And now they expected him to kill someone else?!?

"What did he do, the merchant? Why was he chosen?" Jeon demanded, grating his teeth. "I need to know."

Did whoever that brought him here do so in order to save lives? If so, who was he supposed to save? Dressed, the Councilman stood and smiled in a lopsided expression. Tenderly he held onto Jeon and sighed.

"I feel heavy..." Keith whispered and stared into the doctor's eyes, "Mr. Roe was getting too curious about our plans. You are acting so coy, it arouses me" The other man giggled to himself.

After cataloging the kitchen, the Probe rated it as "odd." There was a primitive stove that worked by burning something, a kettle, and water. However, there was a small pantry for storing food - ordinarily there would be a simple stone table that would draw heat away, or blocks of ice - instead, there was a plain little room with symbols etched into the floor and walls that was colder than it could explain, even after a deep scan to search for circuits or wiring.

Rather than build a small fire, the probe found a tea pot and filled it with water. Taking a quick look to make sure it was not being observed, it held the pot between its hands and pumped heat into the tea pot. In thirty seconds, the water began steaming out of the spout - in two, the water was at a rolling boil. Satisfied, the probe added tea leaves into the pot, then assembled a small tray with cups, spoons, and a small jar of honey which it brought back to the room where Jeon and Keith were. Holding the tray in its left hand, it knocked on the open door with its right.

The human was now dressed, but still under the effects of the drugs it had given him earlier. Jeon was looking... upset.

"Oh good, Med... Melvin, you brought some tea up. You remember Melvin, don't you?" Jeon asked. "My er... apprentice?"

The Probe, finding it in possession of eyebrows for the first time since meeting the teen Jeon, decided to raise the right eyebrow. Melvin?

Kevin stared blankly at Jeon.

"No. I don't." He delivered coarsely and blinked his eyes. The doctor could almost see the drugged cogs in his brain trying to turn and processes. "But I don't like him, make him go away. You'r with me and we have things to discuss." The Councilman hissed as their privacy was barred in on. The charismatic man slid himself off of Jeon and stumbled over to take a cup of tea. "Go away" he condescendingly told the cloaked medical robot.

"He's my young apprentice," Jeon retorted, looking around for something to keep out the cold while his mind raced. "It's important that he observes, otherwise how does he learn? You do want this done, don't you? You wouldn't deny me one of my tools?"

That had the ring of truth in it. In its current disguise, MedBot could stun this king harmlessly while he sorted out just what was going on.

There was a lump of black fur sticking out from under the bed. Jeon reached down and pulled out a fur coat, which looked to be his size, thankfully. He quickly put it on, then turned back to Kevin.

"Jeon..." The grown man whined and pushed the palm of his hand into 'Melvan's face to shove him away. The doctor could clearly see the Coucilman's hand not phase through the childish image MedBot had, but actually plant itself on the small features of the kid disguise and push him a few steps back. Whatever Kevin felt he sounded out in confusion and stared at his hand. Ultimately Kevin grumbled and shoved 'Melvin' aside to stumble and march his way out of the house. He seemed to be mumbling how the child was creepy.

He cringed when Kevin shoved his hand in MedBot's face - then frowned.

"Did you use your tractor to push instead of push?" the doctor asked, reaching out to touch the robot's face - but what he felt was flesh, a bit clammy to the touch. The probe stared back at him impassively.

Jeon snatched his hand back, glancing down at it in disbelief, then at MedBot.

"What are you?" Jeon demanded. His robot had somehow changed itself - how was that possible? How was any of this possible? He wanted to make a snappy retort, but he was at a total loss - this day was simply too strange.

"We'd... we'd better go with Kevin," he managed finally. "Somehow he's key to all of this - him and this book I found. We'll talk later,, once I've wrapped my head around this."

Turning, he headed out the door, Medbot following with its stealthy tread. It was unfortunate that it was necessary to reveal itself somewhat to the doctor, but it knew the precise moment they'd arrived here. If they were able to return to their world, it would be able to remove all memories of their time here, like the others who'd taken him before.

The Councilman sloppily pushed himself out of the door into the crisp air of the sunny day. He winced and raised a hand to shield himself in a debilitated manner. Archer noticed Keith's unstable demanor and dismounted. Heavy metal impacted harshly to the brick flooring. Coming over he grabbed the Councilman by the arm and studied him.

"Are yo-u al-right, sir?" Archer asked, peering down at the shorter and more overweight man. Keith dismissed the knight with a shove of minimal effort making Archer step back and let go of his own choosing.

"Bah, get off you retard" Kevin spat in irritation. He turned back to Jeon and smiled. "I'm a little weak on my feet, help me to the wagon"

"Hmm?" Jeon blinked. "Oh, right. Let me help you."

However, as he helped Kevin into the wagon, he remarked, "Sir Archer isn't retarded, he just has a stutter. A specialist could have it greatly improved inside of a year."

"Sadly," he added glancing a the knight, "I'm not sure who to approach here at the moment."

There was a tug on his coat. Looking down, Jeon found MedBot, who lifted its arms up.

"Oh, right...." he blanched. Lifting down, he wrapped his arms around the child-like form and lifted 'Melvin' the MedBot into the wagon, opposite Kevin.

The mimicry was uncanny - aside from a chilled skin, it felt like a child. Was it his people? Had they found him at last? If so, why leave him here - wherever here was.

Lifted into the wagon the atmosphere inside was oddly comfortable despite the nip of cold outside. Entering made Jeon feel odd as he felt an unusual tingle, there was a gentle cast of off white light somehow being generated by the cloth cast over the arches of the wagon. Medbot, 'Melvin', could yet again see inscriptions albeit small this time stitched into the cloth above the four corners of the wagons two benches.

Kevin relaxed and enjoyed himself while he sat on his cushion. His feet stretched across, one kicking Melvin in the thigh.

"Move boy" The Councilman barked. Affectionately he stared at Jeon and rubbed the feather filled pillow next to him. There certainly was an expectant smile on his lips.

The probe moved. Unfortunately they were likely to need this local, so it restrained its defenses and instead studied the cloth that was glowing and keeping the carriage warm. It seemed to be regular cloth, but stitched in the cloth were symbols - could this be the reason it was generating warmth and light, like the pantry was colder?

Jeon eyed Kevin, then reluctantly joined him in the surprising warm carriage. It wasn't that he objected to male bed partners, just wished that it had been a mutual choice, not this strange pairing forced on him by whoever or whatever put him here. Reaching up with his right hand, he felt for the presence of the book he'd tucked under his robes. Whatever happened, the four of them were at least together.

"So, how long will this take?" he wondered aloud.

[Minkasha]

Gina Wright

In the time passing Gina felt within herself that the connected person named Jeon Smythe was heading her very direction. His proximity was only coming closer and closer and she could feel in several minutes he would be near her if not passing her.

Finally emerging out, Gina could see that where she was keeping home to was comfortable for the time period. Against the masonry wall directly across the door she opened was an oil painting lined in handsome wood. Oddly the painting was almost alive for it moved gently. The dents and lumps of paint all shifted around, morphing from one color to the next in keeping with the contents of the painting which gave it a windy aesthetic. It was a familial scene of two females next to an autumn tree. A woman of brown hair and a teenage girl of copper hair in loving embrace. Through the artistically taken details of the undefined painting Gina could tell that who she was looking at in the moving art was herself.

When Gina decided to wander around some more the ground made her less than masterful steps very loud and every drag she had in her platforms wasn’t without repeating through an echo or two through the lightly furnished hallways. Warm autumn colors waved down the walls, shifting from kind yellows to reds easy on the eyes. Some strange element was keeping the colors over the brick flowing. Outside the fixed, arched windows facing the back of her ‘father’s’ property she was able to taken in the beautiful sight of a large garden. Flowering trees were kept at a distance, surrounded by barriers of rocks marked with symbols too eclectic and strange for Gina to understand. In some basic way they looked more like the letters on her arm than any alphabet she had knowledge of.

However these trees of pinks, whites and reds were all in prime blossom. The walk ways were made of cobblestone, winding through back to another main walkway of the city. It was a social hub of sorts as she could see Mr. Roe in the garden standing next to hydrangeas on the peripheral with a few other well-dressed gentleman.

In her observations, the frail servant had come upstairs, dusty cloths in her hands. Her first look at Gina was wide eyed, the highest probable cause being Gina’s self-made appearance. Whatever she was going to say, she kept her eyes low as a trained reaction.


Doctor Jeon Smythe

“Tell me more about the council, about the members? I'd like to get your impression of them.” Jeon went to say after having lengthy conversation with Kevin. The ride had thus been calm, the quality of conversation dramatic and concerning depending on the ear to listen. The unusual energy of the cloth over the wagon kept the environment they lounged in comfortable to their skin and the sounds of the town were of steps on stone and the white noise of passerby conversation forming together in an ambient city life. All the while this was happening Jeon felt himself narrowing on a direct path to pass Georgina Wright – a female who shared some sort of relationship in this strange situation he had found himself in. In fact, the doctor could project the wagon was to slowly ride by whichever stone or wood house she was in shortly, perhaps a few minutes.

Jeon’s gained information came at a cost of companionship he may have not been wanting to give. Kevin had little filtration for his actions and words in front of the fake child. Kevin was stroking his hand up Jeon’s thigh and sighing in frustration.

“Did you even listen to me?” Kevin said with an upset tone – after having spending nearly an hour explaining the exploits of his life with the councilmembers.

[Azazeal849]

Against the masonry wall, directly across the door she opened, was an oil painting lined in handsome wood. Oddly the painting was almost alive. At first, Gina thought she was seeing things - but after rubbing her eyes and staring open-mouthed for a good ten seconds, she realised that the dents and lumps of paint were shifting around, morphing from one color to the next in keeping with the contents of the painting, which gave it a windy aesthetic. She put out a hand and gently brushed the slithering colours, only to almost immediately snatch it back as she felt the seemingly-solid grooves and streaks of paint shifting under her fingertips.

"Woah." she whispered as she stood back. "Harry Potter, eat your heart out..."

Looking again at the more static elements of the painting, she saw that it was a familial scene of two females next to an autumn tree; a woman of brown hair and a teenage girl of copper hair in loving embrace. Through the artistically taken details of the undefined painting, Gina could tell that who she was looking at in the moving art was herself. And Gina Remoni's mother, she had to suppose. The brunette woman looked to be in her late thirties, like Gina's own mother - or perhaps her early forties, given that the lines of age were just beginning to show at the edges of her eyes and mouth, picked out in delicate brush strokes. The girl whose life Gina had stolen looked happy, her hands laced around her mother's shoulder and her smiling face rested against her arm.

Was Mrs Remoni somewhere else, Gina wondered, or was she dead? The latter might explain - neatly, albeit bleakly - why Mr Remoni was so protective of his daughter.

Adjusting with limited success to her platform slippers as she explored the house, Gina discovered that the strange moving paint wasn't limited to the painting, but graced the brick hallways downstairs as well, turning them into an autumnal collage of reds and yellows. Outside the fixed, arched windows facing the back of her ‘father’s’ property, she was able to take in the beautiful sight of a large garden. Flowering trees were kept at a distance, surrounded by barriers of rocks marked with symbols too eclectic and strange for Gina to understand. In some basic way they looked more like the letters on her arm than any alphabet she had knowledge of.

However these trees of pinks, whites and reds were all in prime blossom. The walk ways were made of cobblestone, winding through back to another main walkway of the city. It was a social hub of sorts as she could see Mr. Remoni in the garden, standing next to hydrangeas on the periphery with a few other well-dressed gentleman.

During her observations, the frail servant had reappeared, dusty cloths in her hands. Her first look at Gina was wide eyed, the highest probable cause being Gina’s self-made appearance. Whatever she was going to say, she kept her eyes low as a trained response. It wasn't the reaction Gina had been expecting, and it set off a tinge of worry that she'd missed some social rule in her haphazard copying of the women outside.

"Wha's the matter?" she asked.

"You chose to dress yourself, miss?" the servant woman replied.

"I was in a hurry." Gina said, not untruthfully.

The serving woman's eyes were still on the ground at Gina's feet, submissive and cautious. Once again, it made Gina uncomfortable.

To hell with keeping up this charade, she thought, 'specially if there's no-one else here.

"Plus, I felt bad after dad went mad and threw the tray at you." She twisted her hands as she looked at the woman's stubbornly downcast green eyes. She didn't even know her name, she realised. "I'm so sorry - he had no right to do that."

She rubbed the side of her neck with her hand.

"And..." she said after a moment, feigning hesitancy. "Thank you for telling me about Mr. Roe. I think..." She hugged her arms. "I think my dad's not telling me something. You know how scary that is?"

She didn't have to fake that part. She remembered coming home after hockey practice one day in Year 11, her hair still damp and frizzed from the lukewarm school showers, and walking in on the aftermath of her mum and dad's first big fight - the one that had been the beginning of the end.

"Heya Georgie-girl." her dad had said, glancing briefly back over his shoulder from the stove as she closed the door. Gina might have found the nickname cringeworthy for a good five years now, but it didn't stop her dad from using it, or from continuing to break out the obligatory Seekers song at every goddamn birthday. If she hadn't been so busy rolling her eyes, she might have cought her dad hurriedly cuffing at his own.

"Tea'll be ready in five." Gina's dad continued. "I made up a lasagne and an ecclefechan tart."

Sixteen-year-old Gina looked blankly at her dad. "What the eccle-feck is an ecclefechan tart?"

Her dad's penchant for experimental cooking was a lottery - sometimes the results were amazing, and sometimes they were truly awful.

"It's a bit like a mince pie." her dad had explained as he pulled plates and cutlery out of the drawers. It had seemed to Gina that he was smacking them down on the worktop slightly harder then necessary. When she unshouldered her bag and stepped forward to help serve up, Gina noticed his tense face and bloodshot eyes.

"Are you alright, dad?"

"Yeah, course?" her dad had replied just a shade too heartily, a look of apparent confusion crossing his face.

It was then that Gina noticed that he had put down a third plate, but hadn't bothered to fill it. "Where's mum?" she had asked, still baffled.

"Just upstairs, she's not feeling so good right now." Her dad had smiled to reassure her. "Don't worry, she'll be down in a bit."

That smile - nervous, and stretched like butter that had been scraped over too much toast - still made Gina's throat constrict whenever she thought of it. Back in the moment she looked around, listening for anyone who might be close enough to hear, and lowered her voice.

"If you knew anything about it..." she asked the servant woman, "You'd tell me, right? Please?"

[Enigma]

“Did you even listen to me?” Kevin said with an upset tone – after having spending nearly an hour explaining the exploits of his life with the councilmembers.

Jeon winced slightly as the large man gripped his inner thigh with great familiarity - but then not surprising when he'd woken up sharing a bed with him. He wish he knew more about the life his other self had had with him - although apparently his other self was willing to kill for Kevin - or was it just the money? What did they use for money here, he wondered?

"I'm sorry, Kevin," he smiled, patting Kevin on his thigh. "I am a bit distracted, to tell you the truth. There's some... people I've become aware of, that may pose some sort of complication in the plan you see. I dislike complications, so I need to work out if they're someone I can use or if I can safely take care of them. As a matter of fact, we're near one of them now, but the meeting with the council must, of course, come first."

His free hand bunched into a fist so tight he could feel his nails biting into his palm - he just wanted to find out why he felt some sort of weird connection to these others and this book hidden inside his robes - and what it had to do with MedBot? Was it the same robot he'd grown up with, or had it too been swapped out like he had with the other 'John' who was Kevin's lover and assassin?

There were so many unanswered questions but having seen Kevin's reaction to MedBot, if he didn't tread lightly it could cost him his life should the council realize that he was not the same man.

[Minkasha]

Gina Wright

Gina’s apologetic approach first made the servant woman widen her eyes. The late middle-aged woman brought her eyes a brief degree higher up Gina’s body – testing the waters. Gina’s even and acted request on the nature of Mr. Roe’s behavior clammed her up and the progress she made was lost. However, smiling a little to herself, her servant reached out to grab the girl’s arm.

“Your father is outside” she said to avoid all responsibility in answering her questions, “but we must hurry or you will miss your chance to visit Ms. Dutt”

Jeon was seemingly only a block away in intuitive-felt distance.


Doctor Jeon Smythe

Kevin shifted his hips side to side with a lopsided smile at contact of his though to Jeon’s hand. It was almost childlike in his enjoyment of Jeon’s attention. However, as the doctor continued on and unveiled some layers of intrigue, Kevin’s demeanor turned much more serious as he sat up. The bow shaped protrusion of Kevin’s small gut was outlined by his tunic and some bits of the fabric were lost in the unseen space above his pelvis and the bottom of his pot belly – which grazed Jeon’s thigh resting index finger.

“Another merchant? What is the length of which our secrecy has been compromised?” The councilman asked with concern and a dropping of his expression. The wagon continued at a very slow gander-enabling pace. Jeon could see at the sides of the road very little walking traffic of multi colored gentry. Casually the passerby would look at the wagon, some with a less than pleasant expression and others the opposite. More so the latter was common.

Whomever Gina was, the female was close. Very close and within a house on the upcoming left

[Azazeal849]

"Please." Gina pressed.

She saw the woman's expression clam up, and felt her heart sink in frustration. A different face - the same denial. But was that a smile?

“Your father is outside.” the older woman said, to avoid all responsibility in answering her questions, “But we must hurry or you will miss your chance to visit Ms. Dutt.”

"Alright." Gina agreed tonelessly. If she was going to be able to coax some information out of the servant woman, it evidently wasn't going to be here and now. Guilt made her bite the inside of her cheek, and add:

"Sorry again about dad. If he does anything like that again, tell me okay? I'll make him stop."

Walking beside the servant woman up the cobblestone garden path, she heard the clip-clop of approaching horses. Curiosity made her draw away from the path a few steps, towards the bustling road. The sound came from a chestnut-brown horse that was pulling an ornate carriage, steered by an older man who wore gleaming mail armour and a purple tabard emblazoned with yellow eyes.

[Enigma]

“Another merchant? What is the length of which our secrecy has been compromised?” The councilman asked with concern and a dropping of his expression. The wagon continued at a very slow gander-enabling pace. Jeon could see at the sides of the road very little walking traffic of multi colored gentry. Casually the passerby would look at the wagon, some with a less than pleasant expression and others the opposite. More so the latter was common.

"Very little," Jeon said quickly, lest Kevin put something in motion. "But going off half-cocked will pull more attention down than leaving it alone. Please, this is something I need to handle by myself. Like I said, they may be useful."

Hopefully they knew more of what was going on here than he did. Traveling for months aboard a space ship and suddenly finding yourself here - wherever here was. What an odd little place this was - no apparent technology yet this carriage was as warm as if they were sitting in front of a fireplace! No sign of a fan or grill, either.

So there was some sort of technology here, just very well camouflaged.

Perhaps that was the feeling in his head, some sort of tracker? Was the person he felt one of the ones responsible for bringing him here in the first place? Or was this another abductee? Was that the house?

"Like I said," he continued, glancing out of the window, "Something I'll need to check out later."

[Minkasha]

Gina Wright & Doctor Jeon Smythe

People were stopping to watch the carriage pass, and as Gina caught sight of it, the tattoo on her wrist throbbed. She quickened her pace, instinctively. Perhaps Cal? she thought, hoping against hope. Or Panos...?

"Hey, excuse me!" she called out, waving at the mail-clad driver. "Whose carriage is that?"

The horse stopped by command of the driver, stopping it with gentle tug of the reins. He seemed only bewildered at Gina who had stopped in front of him. Hazel eyes of a very reflective quality fell on Gina.

"Miss Remoni!" Gina heard Alfred's voice call from his door across the way.

Gina looked round. "Hey Alfred." Couldn't wait? Despite everything, amusement tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Were you waiting there this whole time?"

In several steps Alfred had reached Gina's side and grabbed onto her hand kindly. "You have to be careful, you never know if you could get trampled."

Gina gave a sceptical smile. "I'm not that stupid."

The teenager stared at her with an expression of confusion and questioning. Oddly, Gina stood an inch taller than her good-looking suitor. At her other side a foot away was her servant who looked on more curious than she had shown as of yet. She was watching Gina and Alfred's interaction before she spoke.

"Miss Remoni please move, we are in the Councilman's way." the servant asked tentatively.

Gina half turned to look up at the carriage again, but as she did so the question she had been about to ask died on her lips. Leaning curiously out the window of the carriage were two men - one was middle-aged and regal, with a beaky nose and a strong jaw framed by neat sideburns. His arm, hooked casually around the second man's back, was branded with a cross edged with two concave arcs and a circle at its base. She might not know what it meant, but Gina knew a zodiac symbol when she saw one.

But if the first man set her heart beating faster, the second man caused her stomach to drop. He was skinny; pale; and a scruffy beard combined with the sunken look in his eyes suggested that he could have done with a week of sleep; but underneath it all was a boyishly handsome face made for quizzical frowns and carefree smiles. It was a familiar face - jarringly so, to someone who had grown up with the BBC's Doctor Who reboot.

Gina blinked. He looks just like David Tennant.

That alone would have been enough to make Gina double-take, but then her eyes dropped to his arm, and saw the symbol inked into his wrist. Not just a zodiac sign; a figure-eight, lying sideways. The infinity symbol.

The man was another Traveller.


**

Inside the wagon Jeon, 'Melvin', and Kevin felt the wagon stop with a little less grace than the easy ride had been so far. It made Kevin and Jeon shake mildly. Kevin seemed more agitated atop his irked state upon hearing Jeon's news. Jeon and Kevin had both peeked out, Kevin leaning against Jeon while he did. Outside they heard the shouting of an adolescent young man as he called a female name out.

Past their horse they watched some exchange all centred around a pale teenager of small features and copper hair. She caught sight of them as they leaned out of the window, but her blue eyes zeroed straight in on Jeon. Or rather, they dropped straight to the markings that had recently appeared on his arm.

"Yo-u are in the w-ay of Conci-lman Kevin He-dspeth. Move no-w." Archer spoke with a firmer tone, but it lacked hostility and was even less so because of his stutter.

"Oh that retard." Kevin whispered under his breath.

"Sorry." the girl said to Archer, and took a few steps along the carriage towards the window. She was still focused on Jeon. "Sorry to bother you," she said again, "But can we talk for a moment?"

The girl briefly rolled back her right sleeve to scratch her arm, but as she did so Jeon could see that a black infinity symbol was branded onto the inside of her wrist - the same mark that had appeared on his own arm.

"Stupid brats." Kevin said, getting ready to get out of the wagon - perhaps to take care of the ordeal himself.

Jeon's eyes narrowed as he caught sight of the girl's wrist - an infinity symbol, a pair for the one on his own wrist. Was this the one he'd been sensing in the back of his head?

"Don't move," Jeon told Kevin, resting his hand on the man's shoulder. "You still need to rest if you're going to face the council with a clear head and a steady step. Let me deal with them."

MedBot frowned, moving with Jeon towards the door, but Jeon stopped him. "I need you to keep an eye on him." Opening the door, he stepped out of the carriage.

"Yes, let's get off the street, very dangerous to be out here," he smiled, then leaned over to the girl and said in a voice too low for the others to hear, "What do you know about this? Quickly, that man in the carriage is very impatient and I don't know how long I've got."

The girl blinked, as if something about his accent surprised her, but she rallied a heartbeat later.

"Zodiac tattoos mean something important to getting us out of here." she murmured back urgently. "There's at least two more like us - Cal and Panos."

Alfred was only an arm length's away from Gina, resuming his secure hold of her. The growing young man stared between Jeon and Gina with open surprise.

And indeed it was beginning to make a scene as passerby gentry were turning to look at the exchange between the grown man and teenager. The women on arm with their men looked offended, and the men looked absolutely bewildered.

"Apothecary Bonadio." Gina's servant spoke up with some volume to interrupt them.

"Ap-" the ginger girl began to repeat, and then almost too low for even Jeon to hear: "Doc...?"

A strange look came over the girl's face, like a moment of dawning realisation, followed instantly by clamping her lips as if she were trying desperately not to laugh.

The servant however did not seem amused. "Should I fetch Mr. Remoni?"

Tension in the air circled from the scene, yet simultaneously observers were cautious and avoiding of the Councilman's path and company.

Gina could feel Alfred moving around her, the black haired teenager placed himself more directly between the leaning man and herself. He managed to do so in a way with a smile, but it was easily read as plastered.

"A man of your status would want to talk to him and not her, right?" He insisted as diplomatically through his teeth as he could manage. Jeon saw the girl's eyes switch across to the back of the youth's head, widening slightly before she was able to conceal the offence.

Apothecary Bonadio? Jeon straightened. As he feared, his other self had a different name. However this one clearly knew what was going on, he was going to need a pretext to see her again.

"Actually," he said loudly, smiling widely at the boy, "Usually when it involves 'women problems', most men seem to want me to talk to the ladies directly, even when they stop me in the street with pressing issues." The observing sparse crowd chuckled to themselves in spite of their sour expressions. Appeased to some degree, people began to move on and Alfred fell silent.

"Now, my dear," he said, turning back towards the ginger girl, and patting her hands with a helpless shrug. "This is all very natural and nothing to be concerned unduly about. I unfortunately have a very pressing appointment that requires my full attention, but I do promise to call on you immediately afterward."

The girl cottoned on to his plan quickly enough, and nodded a few times. "Thank you so much. My name's Georgina Remoni, I live just there." she indicated the villa behind them, beyond the garden. "If I'm not there I'll be at Miss Dutt's house."

"Unless," Jeon added, glancing at the boy and servant, "You gentlemen have an objection?" The female was submissive with her head down and the young gentry, Alfred, wrinkled his nose yet said nothing.

"Jeon! I'm waiting!" Keith's voice yelled out from the wagon.

"Better go with him." Georgina agreed, nodding from behind Alfred. "He is important." Her eyes switched over to linger on Kevin's arm tattoo for a moment, as if she were trying to give Jeon a hint. Perhaps he wasn't the only one to notice the strange mark that no-one else seemed to be commenting on.

"Sorry again for stopping you." she said, hitching up a smile. "I'll see you soon!"

Jeon paused to give Gina a piercing look, then bowed slightly and said, "Have a wonderful day," before returning to the carriage, gratefully slipping into its warmth.

"Let's be off, then, shall we?" he asked as he settled into the seat.

Kevin was important - but why? And what did it have to do with the book? Or that girl? Or the others, whoever they were?


**

Around the corner another wagon driven by a man in a partially soiled tunic and leggings of mutable colors was nearing them behind the Councilman's wagon. The driver looked to be in his twenties, light skin and lines of lacked sleep under his eyes showing him to be of the working class.

"Ms. Remoni, your ride is here..." Gina's servant whispered to her, shifting weight from foot to foot.

"Oh." Gina exclaimed, looking round. She turned back to the nervous servant and bit her lip.

"Can you please not look so worried?" she asked, reaching out to squeeze the older woman's hands in her own. "Thank you so much, really."

Raising her eyes from their held hands straight into Gina's thankful expression the woman fought a smile coming to her face. She was struggling with a fear, but was hopeful.

Gina looked back at the second carriage.

"Can you hold the ride for just a bit?" she asked, and raised a placating finger for Alfred as she trotted back up the garden path as fast as her platform slippers would allow. "One second."

She had a promise to herself that she needed to keep.

"Dad?" she called out to Mr Remoni, who was still standing with his knot of gaudily-dressed colleagues, distinct in his feathered cap. "Do you have a second?"

She stopped a few paces short of the group, hoping to draw her supposed father out into a slightly more private setting.

Her steps across the stone earned the teenager a few inquisitive looks from the men her 'father' kept company with. They were older men Gina could tell, from their familiar expressions and behaviors to those two universes ago - stuffy old men didn't change that much it seemed. At least these ones weren't openly calling her a slut, she supposed. Unfortunately, if she was hoping for her father to make the ordeal worth it, she was disappointed. Mr. Remoni looked down at her with a loving sigh, followed by irritation.

"Not now, leave and be with your friend, dear." He awkwardly laughed and returned to the men he was with under one of the white magnolias.

Gina blinked, wrong-footed by the snub compared to her dad's earlier protectiveness. "Um...right."

Are you alright, my precious flower? Good, now I'm sorry but excuse me, the men are talking. Away and play with your friend - go on, off you fuck.

She backed away slightly awkwardly, fuming a little as she accepted that her combative instinct to press harder probably wouldn't get her anywhere. Between her revised impressions of Alfred and Mr Remoni, she was getting a depressing picture of how girls around here were treated. She hoped that Cal - wherever she was - wasn't catching too much of the same infantilising behaviour. Then again, maybe it would help them slip under the radar.

She couldn't help rolling her eyes as she returned to the serving woman's side. "Okay, he's not talking to me right now." she admitted, "But if he flies off the handle again, come and tell me, yeah? I promise I'll talk to him and make him stop. Thanks again!"

She offered the serving woman another encouraging hand-squeeze before falling to her earlier suggestion and hurrying towards the road, where now only one carriage waited. Ahead of her, the Councilman's transport was trundling away up the street, taking her unexpected ally with it.

Doctor... Gina thought again. No, no way. Absolutely no fucking way. That would be one too far. As she tried to convince herself that it was just a monumental coincidence, and that her horrible adventure hadn't taken a sharp left turn into a full-blown acid trip, it occurred to her to wonder if there might be even more Travellers out there.

The more of us there are, the more chance we have of stopping the note writer and getting home.

As before though, she needed to focus on one goal at a time.

"Hi!" she said, smiling up at the tired-looking carriage driver, and paused by the step at the side door. She looked back at Alfred, who still seemed keen on protectively shadowing her. She couldn't bring herself to dislike him, outdated gallantry or not. It gave her an idea.

"You coming then, Alfred?" she smiled, indicating the carriage with a jerk of her head. "You're here now, so you might as well." And I've got a lot of questions for you.

[Minkasha]

Gina Wright

On the way to Ms. Dutt's house Gina's investigative nature didn't play well with her lacking etiquette know-how. Her boy crush gave lukewarm reactions to her behavior, leading Gina to glean small bits of information rather unsuccessfully.

Alfred had let conversation trickle into silence while he continued to enjoy the crowded estates and villas cleanly, yet not spaciously, kept side by side in rows of economic prosperity. A few times Alfred's piercing green eyes would fall on her and his generous lips would purse slightly, betraying his thoughts about her - perhaps his urges. But he would instead smile, rub his thumb across the tips of his fingers and look away once more.

Their wagon had continued to follow the Councilman's. Alfred had noticed from the sounds of turning wheels and hooves ahead, more distant than the surrounding noises of their own transportation. Yet, he said nothing of it, and so neither did Gina.

The wagon stopped, and the only noises were of the foot traffic coming and going past them.

"We both have stopped. Perhaps there is a problem. Please stay here miss." Alfred asked of Gina while he worked to get to his feet and push aside the cloth that shielded them from the weather outside.

The property they had stopped in front of lacked any expected garden display in the front. Where the cobblestone of the street ended, a new pattern of dark swirling patterns of rock flowed to two dark wooden red doors at least ten feet tall. A very square home that was taller than the others almost sandwiched with it, and also a bold yellow color. The sharpness of the color almost hurt the eyes against the muted, beautiful, buildings adjacent.

"Where are we?" Gina asked, using Alfred's suggestion to stay put as an excuse to not get a good look out the window, and therefore not have to admit that she had none of the real miss Remoni's local knowledge.

"Miss Dutt's home." Alfred answered, stepping out and narrowing his view on the wagon ahead of them. "By chance the Councilman is visiting her father. Heh...what timing." Alfred chuckled to dispel any deeper thoughts into it. He pulled aside the curtain to hold out a hand for Gina to take and step onto the road.

Yeah, Gina thought suspiciously, What timing...

She hid her thoughts with a smile as she allowed herself to be helped down from the carriage. As she stopped to offer a cheerful thanks to their driver, she saw the marked councilman and her fellow Traveller getting out of the leading carriage.


**

Doctor Jeon Smythe

Periodically Kevin ran his hands through the falling rows of brown hair grown to his jaw. The overweight, yet well featured man tended to himself as he seemed bored of Jeon's silence. He filled the passing eight minutes of further travel with closeness to the Zayan. He glared at Melvin.

"I am happy he doesn't talk. Boy, you know your place" he hissed through his words. The wagon stopped in front of a strikingly yellow three story, linear designed, brick home. The Councilman looked out toward the home with eyes narrowing and lips smirking. "It is time we befriend someone very powerful" he said smoothly.

The Probe watched silently, its only move was to stop blinking its eyes like a human would. It was petty, but suddenly the Probe wanted to be petty with this man.

"I thought we had to go to the Council chambers for a meeting," Jeon asked, turning to look out the window at the garish house Kevin was staring at. Kevin's spite against MedBot was irking him, but somehow he was tied into him being here.

"Looks like someone tore up the road to the Emerald City to build that," he added, blinking at the house. He glanced at Kevin, noting he hadn't moved. "Are we going up to the door or waiting for Dorothy to pop out to invite us in?"

"Who?" Kevin asked with a bemused face, not enjoying Jeon's newest antics. He got himself up, stepping down. He now noticed the teenage boy from before and the other wagon that was just behind them. Gina was with him, hand in hand with the handsome boy. The driver of the teenagers' wagon avoided eyes with Kevin nervously.

"The hell are you doing following me!?" He berated the lad, and Alfred swallowed hard. It was evident the Council members held a great deal of social power. Jeon thought he saw Gina squeeze the boy's hand, as if to give him support, though perhaps she was just scared too.

"Not following your Sir Hedspeth. My-" the boy turned to Gina, an impulsive look in his eyes, "Lady and I were visiting a friend." He was shaking where he stood while Kevin stared, debating something in his mind. A dismissive look away back to Jeon made Alfred exhale gradually.

"Councilman Hedspeth," Jeon smiled, shivering now that he left the carriage. It was like a summer day in Inverness. "I'm sure you're well used to having several followers, what's one more?"

Leaning in close, he whispered, "We don't need to draw any more attention to ourselves, do we? Ignore these two, they're not important."

"Our apologies," he offered the two, bowing with a slight flourish, "The councilman is rather tired today. Melvin?"

The probe stuck its head outside the door, staring impassively. "Do come along, there's a good lad."

The probe raised one eyebrow, but climbed out of the carriage to stand behind the two men.

Jeon waved at the door of the yellow house.

"Shall we?" Jeon's closely spoken words swayed the Councilman. Archer eased himself off his steed and promptly stood by, staring at the adolescents. Kevin dismissed them with a wave and proceeded forward.


**

Gina Wright

Outside, Alfred sighed quietly to himself while he watched the two men enter the home.

"Thanks." Gina whispered to him, thinking that it couldn't hurt to stroke the boy's ego after the nerve-wracking standoff against councilman Hedspeth.

As perceptive as she was, she could see from a window above a teenage girl, roughly her age, looking down at them. Gina only got the briefest impression of a face before it ducked away - while she could not get a real look at her, she could see the teenager pulled the curtains sharply close while in a turning motion as if she was running somewhere within the house. Gina could only speculate as she navigated to the doors side-by-side with Alfred.

Alfred smiled at Gina. “I have to comment, I enjoy what you’re wearing.” He went on to say while they were before the closed doors.

Some things didn't change between universes, it seemed. Gina smiled again and made a show of tugging shyly at her hair. "Thanks."

Her feminine wiles pleased Alfred into another charming smile while he continued to study her. Gina could practically see the love and prolonged crush this boy must have had for her over the years at his window across from hers. The doors opened, and Gina presumed that the one who opened it was Miss Dutt for she was a teenager who looked roughly Gina's age. She was a plain beauty who decorated herself in a leafy patterned golden bodice that presented her chest, a heavy green shoulderless dress with golden hemmed sleeves and hemline. Her brown hair was held in pinned waves, pulled back with a parting down the middle. Miss Dutt's pins looked to be of a thin bronze to blend with her hair.

All the dress of her high class did not change that below her lovely hair was a dull face with eyes just an inch too far apart. Her skin was young and fertile, but she would never radiate in the ways Gina saw Calamity or Panos do effortlessly. Miss Dutt's first reaction opening the door was to look down to the hand holding shared between Gina and Alfred. Gina saw the girl's expression flash anger, but she was quick to guise it and smile. Alfred, riding the highs of his own happiness did not seem to react to her initial expression opening the door but met her smile.

Oh. Gina thought, nowhere near as carefree as Alfred as she realised that she had evidently mis-stepped. Oh shit.

"Gina, my friend. Dear friend. Thank you for coming, Mr. Taylor wasn't expected. I only have tea for two of us, would you care for some?" Miss Dutt asked nicely to the black haired looker in Gina's clutch.

"Thank you, I will take what you have. I am happy as I am."

Miss Dutt continued to smile, but an a wordless exchange was given to Gina before she turned to lead them inside. The words strung in the Traveler's mind as jealousy.

Oh god. Gina thought, feeling the all-too-familiar jolt of anxiety return to her stomach. Tell me I haven't just stolen her crush or something. Up there, someone really was laughing at them. She ran belated damage control, using her hand to hold one of the double-doors for herself as a tactful excuse to disengage it from Alfred's grip.

The doors of the mansion led into a wide atrium hallway, decorated by oil-paint murals that curved up around the vaulted ceiling above the staircase. Ahead of them was a dining room, dominated by a huge table where she recognised Jeon and councillor Hedspeth sitting down to some sot of mid-morning meal alongside four forbidding men and two grossly obese women.

Gina's tattoo throbbed as she laid eyes on the six feasting figures. She wanted to get a closer look, but miss Dutt was already peeling off and leading them upstairs. Gina bit her lip, and decided that given the current situation she was probably best to bide her time. I've already got an excuse to meet 'Jeon'. she reasoned. He can tell me anything important. And no need to cause any more trouble than she was already apparently doing...

The stairs curved up the wall to a carpeted landing, with the violent painted scenes following them up towards the vaulted ceiling. The paintings seemed to lack the magical animation of the frescos in the Remoni villa, but Gina didn't get a chance to examine them properly - her eyes were darting between Alfred and miss Dutt, while she desperately tried to figure out how she was going to explain things. Miss Dutt led them to a cosy little drawing room, with a large panelled window to admit the sunlight and, as miss Dutt had intimated, a dainty table with two cushioned chairs sat facing each other.

"We'll need another chair." Gina observed, seizing on the excuse. She caught miss Dutt's eye with a meaningful look, which the young woman returned with the same mask of a smile she had worn at the door. Those kind of smiles seemed popular today. Gina was reminded of her dad again - except this time she already had an uncomfortable notion of what the problem was.

"Are you alright to wait here for a bit?" she asked Alfred, "While I help with the tea and stuff?"

Fortunately Alfred didn't seem inclined to argue, and Gina was able to follow their unhappy hostess back out onto the landing. As they trotted in loaded silence along the corridor, Gina saw that one of the carved doors stood open onto a spacious bedroom, not dissimilar from the one that had been her own back in the Remoni villa. It seemed as good a place as any, so she gently touched miss Dutt's sleeve to guide her inside and hurriedly pushed the door shut, flattening her back against it.

"Okay," she began nervously, "I swear it's not what you think, just let me explain..."

Ms. Dutt's face was flushed with the threat of tears to come. She slammed Gina against the wall and held her shoulder.

"I thought we had years before we would find husbands!" she hissed between her teeth. "Why did you welcome him!?"

"I told you, it's not what you think!" Gina protested, alarmed by the force of the other girl's reaction. She adopted a pleading expression. "I swear I wouldn't do that to you! I just told him how it was scary my dad was so tight-lipped about Mr Roe, and he went all Protective Big Brother on me. He's been grabbing my hand all the way here."

"And you did not say a thing about it? A man being so forceful is disgusting." Ms. Dutt hissed, eyes threatening to break into tears.

"I..." Gina began.

Miss Dutt came in close and placed her lips onto Gina's. A warm and soft pressure of female lips pressed skillfully against her own, the teenager tilting her head to a light degree mid-kiss.

Oh. Gina thought, her heart fluttering as she realised that she had gotten things spectacularly, hilariously wrong.

The young woman leaned into Gina and pulled her lips away slowly. "Please don't tell me this is another of your games...you wouldn't hurt me this way..." Gina felt the longing words whispered on her jawline, the female looking at her so worriedly.

Gina was at a loss. For one thing, she had never kissed a girl before - unless you counted that time she and Izzy had snogged to try and impress two hot guys in Mosh. For another it certainly wasn't her place to take over her alter ego's love life. But just as she didn't want to drag Alfred or Miss Dutt into undue trouble, she couldn't bring herself to knowingly break the other girl's heart.

"Of course I wouldn't." she said with genuine empathy, pulling the other girl close - one hand looped round her back, the other behind her neck to pull her head comfortingly against her own cheek. Resting her chin against miss Dutt's bare shoulder, she blinked at the bedroom wall and wondered just how the hell she was going to get herself out of this one.

Playing games. she thought bitterly. No, I'm not doing that at all, with you or Alfred or anyone else around here. Fuck you, Note Writer. Fuck you so fucking much.

Miss Dutt sighed, letting the space her bosom protested between them shrink while she leaned in deeper. The fashion of the time very generous to the male gaze or for Gina if she looked down.

"Today, what are we going to do? How long must you keep him with you?"

Gina dipped her head and rested her mouth against the other girl's shoulder to give herself a moment to think.

"I'm sure we can politely get rid of him after tea. It'd be rude and boring to sit in on two girls' private chat, right?"

She hugged the girl tighter for a moment, an encouraging squeeze. She pulled back a little and let her hands slide down to rest opposite each other on miss Dutt's waist, so she was talking to the other girl's face rather than the side of her neck.

"Speaking of private chat...I'm sorry to keep harping on about Mr Roe..." She lowered her voice, eyes wide. "But I think my dad knows something that he's not telling me. He's trying to stop me worrying about it but he's still all, not now, dear, now away and play, off you fuck. And he went absolutely mental at the maid when he thought she'd told me something..."

Gina's superimposed partner tilted her head, giving a slight frown as she kept close in their embrace.

"He perished from a sickness gripping his lungs. He was sick to some Elven flowers given to him." The way she spoke seemed to suggest it was rather matter-of-fact and lacked any further need to dig deeper.

She doesn't know anything. Gina decided, figuring that miss Dutt had no reason to lie to her about it. She took the idea of elven flowers in her stride. After meeting Doctor Who's doppelgänger, she wouldn't have been overly surprised if they had the whole cast of Lord of the Rings sitting back there too.

She doesn't know...do I tell her? Having the smitten girl's trust brought out Gina's protective instincts. Ignorance didn't protect anybody in Austere...West Hills neither.

"The maid said some people thought he was poisoned." she confided in a whisper.

Miss Dutt drew back a half-step, inhaled sharply and clapped a small hand to her mouth. Gina shushed her gently.

"I don't know what's really going on yet." she murmured, stepping forward and gently taking miss Dutt's free hand between her own. She squeezed it soothingly and repeated the advice the maid had given her. "We have to be really careful. Don't say anything to anybody..."

She half turned to the closed door at her back, thinking of the way her wrist had tingled when she watched Jeon and Hedspeth walk through to join the forbidding meeting.

"But you don't think..." she ventured quietly, looking back at miss Dutt and holding tight to her hand, "Councilman Hedspeth? Or my dad?"

Her companion widened her eyes; it was so sudden an expression that perhaps a thought had come to her quickly. “The Grand Council has decried King Kinglos’ actions, but those people are scary...Gina you have to be careful with those thoughts.” A desperation touched the other teenager’s words, and her brows furrowed. Gina’s father being suspect had been blown off entirely. “Mr. Roe said ill things both of the monarchy and the Grand Council. I can’t imagine what they would do to any woman who spoke her mind.” It was becoming apparent Ms. Dutt was trying to put the dots together, following Gina’s lead in the thinking process. Her touch was clammy, and she came off more timid even in their secrecy.

"Then we agree on being careful." Gina smiled wanly, taking miss Dutt's hands in hers again and brushing her thumbs across the backs of the other girl's fingers as if to try and massage away some of her anxiety. "Don't panic - who's going to be paying attention to two girls, huh?"

Gina could tolerate this latest, gratingly sexist world if it meant people underestimated her. Her mum had thought her that trick back in primary school, when she had come home crying after the boys wouldn't let her play football with them cos you're a girl and you'll be rubbish.

"If they think that, Georgie." her mum had said, taking Gina's face in her hands and brushing away her tears with her thumbs. "Then they won't be paying enough attention to you, and it'll be easier for you to get one past them, won't it?"

As it turned out, Gina genuinely had been rubbish at football. But she had found a better niche in field hockey, and she hadn't forgotten her mum's advice. Thinking about it now made her even more homesick than when she had recalled her dad back at Mr Remoni's villa. She glanced down at her arm, and the curve of the first tattoo in the row of zodiac brands, just visible beneath her sleeve.

"What else've the council and the king been saying?" she asked quietly, dragging her attention back to the present. A king called Kinglos. You've got to be joking. "No-one at my dad's house tells me anything."

She bit the inside of her cheek, remembering the extra tiny piece of the puzzle Alfred had given her in the carriage.

"Could anyone else be involved - like marchioness Cal, maybe?"

[Minkasha]

Doctor Jeon Smythe


Kevin waited for no introductions, Archer opened the doors with a push and they swung open, onto a smell of gravy and spices. The floor was kept warm with rugs of extending fur skins, extending forward past a set of stairs to the right. The hallways were painted with oily murals of warfare between men in maroon tabards, clashes of silver knightly armor, and swords. Their bloodied enemies, lightened by the rays of sun shining over and past the looming knights were the bloodied, slashed soldiers of several different types of humanoids. Some were short of height, broad shouldered and heavily hairy across their exposed bodies. Another group consisted of tall scaly people with lengthy tails and muzzle protruding mouths, another of fairer skin, features and pointed ears. The finale were husky, green or ashen colors with tusks protruding from their teeth. They were dressed in rags, massed together in butchery.

The colors were sweet, the reds of blood and gore rosy, silvers almost reflective with the style of lighting. It was skillfully drawn and while Kevin, Archer, and Jeon walked down the hall this massacre continued to decorate the walls. It didn't phase Kevin nor Archer. Turning into a larger square room, there was a single tall arching window that welcome the day's rays in. Many people were gathered at a round table, seven to be exact. Standing near six of the eight sitting people were fit soldiers no younger than 30, no older than mid 50s and were dressed exactly like Archer. On their tabard worn chest the same symbol existed: seven eyes coming together in a yellow oval shape.

Each of the six robed figures at the table had the same urgent pull Kevin’s presence had and now Jeon was starkly aware of seven people immediate proximity to him. The odd man out was a in a leather jerkin, and was not pleasant looking. In his mid fifties, his wryly short brown hair was graying, his build was thick and very strong, to the point it was not difficult to see his muscular shapes under his garment. What threw off his entire face was how strangely distant his blue eyes were from another, his smile was amusing but the expanse from eye to eye was surely a disfavor to any sort of good looking man he might have been. The look in his eyes was indurate, but he seemed to be able to keep a smile on his warped face.

To his left the first of the other Councillors was a man in his late 40s or early 50s. His hair was cut near the scalp as much as possible, but the small salt and pepper hairs showed he was starting to bald. Whatever hair was losing atop his head was being met by the growing and groomed beard several inches thick from his chin. He was small of stature, short, and his green eyes fell on Kevin and Jeon with a sense of ownership.

To his left the second Councilor was slapping his hand on the table laughing with the jerking wearing man. His head was shaved, his smile was wide with very clean teeth and he had a noticeably regal, long nose. From how his robes set Jeon could tell this man was a little heavy set, but entirely how much wasn’t for certain. It did now however fill up his face or dull any of his features, he looked much like the first Councilor but entering his late 50s early 60s, with a beard to his chest. The first two looked related, sharing the same green eyes.

To the second Councilor’s left a heavy set woman was using a silver spoon to rapidly put more mashed potatoes into her mouth. Triple chinned, and in her 60s the graying auburn hair she had that framed her face down to her jaw was of little help in beautifying her. For the time being her aging green eyes were down cast to what she was eating, deeply focused on it.

And to her left, the forth Councilor, was much taller compared to the previously three shorter persons. In his early 40s the way he leaned back in his chair was sloppy, but he looked to be enjoying himself. His eyes were unusual as the left was a light blue and the right a light brown. A light fuzz of facial hair covered his lower face and currently his bi-colored eyes were watching the laughter being shared between the second Councilor and the odd man out.

Following his left, the fifth Councilor, this man was obscenely tall. If the forth was roughly 6’ or a little more, this man was surly 7’ tall. Even as he sat, his torso still towered comparatively over the others. It was the definitive height that had someone look at him, but everything else was forgettable for not favorable for his appearance. He was nearing his 70s and it was evident for he did not age well, and his lengthy hair down to his mid back was brittle. A beard thickly grew across his face, still hanging on to its last bit of brown colors. With a meek smile he watched the conversation as well.

Following the tall man’s left, the sixth Councilor was by the youngest yet also the girthiest in obesity. Compared to the tall men next to her, this Councilor looked particularly short. In a body shape similar to the un-mashed potatoes her brown eyes and shoulder length auburn hair were forgettable. Her presence was the smallest while she hunched down upon herself and her various fatty folds to eat seemingly alone.

“Kevin, Jeon” The firs Councilor said with a cold and unhappy tone, “You’re late.”

“Greetings Hayden…” Kevin said with a sheepish sigh and looked to the others, away from Hayden. Hayden gestured to two empty wood chairs for them to sit at. Kevin took the invitation, dragging along Jeon by the hand.

Jeon let Kevin lead him to the chair, taking the one opposite of Kevin. The Probe followed behind them, its footfalls soundless on the floor. After the two men were seated, the probe positioned itself behind them, looking through the gap between Kevin and Jeon as it determined the best course of action should it need to react.

Sitting down, Kevin stared at the wide eyed man.

“Theodore, thank you for having us. Sorry for my delay, I awoke…strangely.” Keven threw on a tone of schmoozing to his words as he addressed Theodore, getting the man to study Kevin with a smile and lean back in his chair.

“The Grand Council doesn’t all gather unless it’s important. How could I say no?” He spoke with a duality of certainty but also unawares vulnerability. “What is happening?” The seven foot tall Council member moved and pointed at Melvin.

“Why is there a child here?” No one really seemed to notice but now that was pointed out, Melvin’s unnaturally stiff stance, his unblinking had once cloaked him now made him stand out sorely. They studied his features and clothes, looking now at Jeon for an answer.

"The child is with me," Jeon said, smiling coldly back at the council. "Melvin is my apprentice, recently returned from training. He's... one of my tools."

"After all, you each have your personal guard," he added, nodding at the soldiers standing behind the council members. "Mine's just shorter." The Grand Council did not seem ethically shaken by Jeon's chilling approach to childhood implementation. Hayden, the leader of the brewing coup, pointed back to the main hallway sternly.

"He can wait outside" The small man said snidely. Theodore stared at the child for a moment and rubbed his chin.

"You should go meet my daughter, I am sure she'd like the company" Mr. Dutt said assuredly.

"Why should he wait outside?" Jeon frowned. "It's actually better for you if he stays. Who would believe this council discussed anything serious in front of a child?"

The Probe allowed its shell the briefest of frowns, then silently scanned the occupants of the house, noting their unique bio-signatures and locations as hidden away in it's pocket dimension, fabrication units came online and extruded a programmable card into its right-hand pocket. Briefly it debated on crafting a weapon to give to Jeon, then decided against it. Instead, it moved beam emitters to its palms.

Hayden drew breath to speak, filling his chest. The man sharing his eyes, and perhaps blood relation, slapped the back of his hand against Hayden's stomach - deflating him. The man laughed and looked over to Hayden.

"Jeon has a pair on him, he always did." He laughed, the others of the Grand Council smiling besides the fat woman at the end who didn't stop while she continued to enjoy what was being eaten.

"Right, yes" Hayden said, dusting himself off. Kevin rewarded Jeon with a positive emotion, a handsome expression with his well off jawline and charming lines on his face.

'Well,' Jeon thought, allowing a small smile to appear on his face as he gave Kevin a slight nod. 'That went better than expected.'

"We were here not for the boy." The obscenely tall man rolled his shoulders and Hayden took the cue, staring back to Mr. Dutt.

"Adviser, how have you seen things in our kingdom?" Theodore looked up and rubbed his chin.

"The Draconians on the West are getting antsy again, the Elves are threatening to block off trade and the Dwarves have increased trade rates." The Grand Council joined together in a somber silence, irritation or anger on their faces.

The slight smile evaporated from Jeon's face, turning into an emotionless mask while his brain worked feverishly. Draconians? Elves? Dwarves? Were these factions or actual races? Had he somehow arrived on some sort of fantasy world? It was bad enough when he thought he was being asked to assassinate a king in a sort of medieval world - but magic?!?

Behind him, The Probe stood and watched impassively, although it could sense Jeon's hidden distress.

"A string of events have led this to occur..." Hayden lead a thought, passing eyes over everyone knowingly and falling back to the Adviser. "Why was this allowed to happen?"

"It was how they occurred." while Mr. Dutt didn't speak with a stutter, there was an airy quality of his voice that didn't peg him as the most astute or aware. "I followed orders, and after the executed orders it is what it is."

"King Kinglos' choices cast us in this corner!" Hayden slammed his fist down on the table, the fat woman dropped her bowl in fright.

'And what choices were those?' Jeon wondered silently. It sounded like the other races must have been at least equal in power for this to be a concern. Keith asserted himself with a sharp breath of air.

"It has be to be managed, somehow..." He suggestively said to the Adviser, letting his tone drop and fade for effect.

Mr. Dutt stared cautiously.

"What are you saying? How?" Keith sighed heavily.

"Poison, the king needs to die." The man of assumed relation said out loud and evenly. "It's why we have our lovely apothecary after all." he gave Jeon a smile.

"This may have come up before," Jeon interrupted, "But who is in line to succeed the king? Someone more friendly to this council, or will there be more work for me?"

The faintest of frowns appeared on the probe's human face. Jeon's vitals were too calm. Much of the council looked at Jeon, stupified by his questions. Until the man who had just given him a smile laughed. The shaved head man looked at Hayden.

"Brother, he is hilarious and making a fool out of you." He elbowed Hayden who turned eyes way.

"Be quiet Timothy." he grumbled. The fifth Councilman, the unusually tall, aged man scratched at his beard.

"We are the best candidates after his dethroning." he answered. Kevin was smiling, charmed by Jeon's assertion and seemingly witted jabs at authority. He was however not at all wise to Jeon's strange circumstance and the role he was playing, none of them were.

Jeon felt his heart sink. Somehow each of these council members had the same sort of draw he felt with Kevin, and they were all candidates for the throne.

Would that draw still be there when they turned on each other, he wondered?

"Then may I suggest that none of you meet again like this?" he said, waving around the room. "Right now, you're an easy target." The obese woman, the last Great Council member coughed up bread she was gnawing away at, face petrified with shock. The others stared at her cowardly dramatics and Keith laughed. Theodore crossed his arms in impatience.

"He's right. And if the apothecary did what you are saying, what stops the mages from revolting and trying to take the throne too?" The adviser stood, bringing a concluding presence to the conversation as it began to irate him in its boldness. The third councilor pointed directly at Jeon.

"If he's discrete, no one will suspect" The Grand Council fell eyes upon the doctor once again, antsy social energy proceeding him.

"Suspect? Of course they'll suspect!" Jeon scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief. Looking up, he pointed at them in a slow arc. "Each one of you is in line for the throne! The king in front of a full court could slip and fall down a flight of stairs and be stone dead while we're talking right and there will be suspicion!"

"I cannot protect you from the whispers in the dark, but I can tell you how to best fight them. By not showing your guilt. Yelling at people claiming they're following you," he said, glancing at Kevin, "Merely fuels your enemies and makes the lies real. What you must learn to do if you will survive this transition is to rise above the gossips. The king death will be a terrible blow to each of you, any suggestion of suspicious death must be met with incongruity."

"Are we clear?"

Hayden, his brother Timothy nodded first which led a path for the other members of the council to nod. Thodore’s odd face turned to Jeon, on his wide set features was an amused expression detailed with concern.

“You are more than a potions doctor” he observed. Kevin stared back at his personal guard Archer and then to the other guards that had been quietly staying around the table to their respective Council member.

“I think Jeon is right. You should all leave” Glancing past his bangs to the leader of the coup. It was clearly provoking Hayden to be commanded and under suggestion from Jeon and Kevin, his jaw tensing.

“Fine. You will send message of the details.” Hayden slammed a closed fist on the wood surface, standing. With the exception of Kevin, the Grand Council stood. One of the men pulled the obese woman from her ever filling plate, getting the seventh council member to gain composure.

"Details?" Jeon scowled. They would ask for that, but.... "And have it said you weren't surprised when the king unexpectedly dies? Sometimes there is a problem of knowing far too much."

Jeon sighed, glancing over to Kevin. "I don't know which will be the harder job - assassinating the king or keeping this council out of the hangman's noose? Or do they pass you a knife in your cell and expect you'll do the 'honorable' thing?"

"Melvin," Jeon called, glancing back at the disguised Probe. "In order not to look too suspicious, Kevin and I will be staying a little while longer discussing innocuous things with our host. Would you be a dear and see if you can find that girl from before?"

'Melvin' scowled, but nodded. Jeon found himself disturbed by the mimicry - there had been times when MedBot seemed too concerned for him - was this programming or had there been an actual personality hidden under that faceplate?

Grimly, 'Melvin' pulled out a Tarot card and handed it to Jeon, then strode out of the room, already locked onto Gina's bio-signature. Jeon glanced at the card and his eyebrows raised as he glanced up at the probe's back - it was the Fool card.

[Minkasha]

Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility & Panos Lambros

The fuller figured ebony woman kept respectful gaze down and subservient till she turned around to lead Calamity down the winding mason steps of the tower. Treading down the first few steps Calamity's skin began to catch cold for she could feel a winter breeze tease itself through the cracks of bricks beside her. Her servant hadn't said anything until they were half way down.

Meanwhile the fey princess did not walk away from Panos without hearing his prissy commands of distance surly to the servant she had left Panos with. The prince wasn't going to accept separation kindly, but he hadn't followed. Cal bit her lip; her go-to nervous tic; she hated to leave him when it clearly distressed the other royal, but what choice did she have? She could have commanded him to be calm about it, used her power to placate him... but it seemed wrong, to use her gift on a friend.

"Your Commander of the Guard Sir Warner Rangel has brought in the Draconian spy to the torture chambers as you commanded. Your Torture Master Sir Jerome Lambert has extracted knowledge he will share with you, as you command lady marchioness." Each name the older woman of color brought up was mentioned with the most crisp and in high regard her speech allowed her.

Torture chambers? Cal thought, inwardly horrified, though she didn't show it. I've been reincarnated as my mother.

"Very good," she said crisply, her mouth a grim line. "I will see him immediately." She hoped at least that there was a good reason for her other self to have resorted to torture... but her mind berated her with the sound of the screaming of poor, innocent people in her mothers' dungeons. Traveling to the torture chambers was a more simple thing for all she had to do was continue down the tower to a basement floor.

"Watch your step, lady marchioness" her ebony servant reminded her respectfully. On the way down they passed an archway they clearly led to an open courtyard of her castle. The snow and frozen air nipped brutally at her but already her loyal servant had snipped at a servant in the doorway to fetch a coat and shut the door. Calamity hadn't gotten down to the chambers yet and a coat of furs was over her shoulders, the door to the courtyard slammed shut.

In here the darkness was apparent, a few guards in bronze armor stood with torches, these men lowering their heads to the beautiful teenager in servitude. The smell of blood was heavy before she could gain further glimpse inside. Opening the double doors, guards pulled the handles and instantly she was welcomed to a room of carnage and gore.

Dragon looking men of scales were hung on both walls, only their upper bodies hung from chains bound to their wrists. Their dead and glazed over lizard eyes still and open. Ridges and spikes decorated their heads and arms. Their mouths were only slightly extended out with a thin set of sharp teeth, some had been ripped out. On Calamity's wall hung eight, some far more decayed than the others. Torture devices were neatly stacked against the wall under the half corpses - as if kept at the side until use. Metal contraptions and wooden boxes surly filled with more portable ones were at easy reach.

The living Draconian was in the back, body whole and chained by ankles as well as wrists. He was naked and across his body black scales covered his arms, head, feet; the inner part of his legs, pelvis and stomach were yellow scales. Many had been ripped out evenly across his body. The man's spiked genitals were severed and blood soaked on the ground. He had been separated from one of his yellow eyes. The long tail he had was spiked to the wall behind him. And yet through all of this her prisoner was breathing, shallowly.

Two men were standing directly in front of the brutalized man. The one most soaked in blood was dressed in a tan cotton shirt and pants well tailored to fit his body. He was a good looking man despite being middle aged: his short 5'6" body was shaped in a masculine way that teased a neat and orderly V cut figure, he had thick black hair in curls bunched in the back with a knot, and when his bloody face looked her way he saw the man had a generous bone structure.

It was easy to guess this shorter man Torture Master Jerome Lambert because he was armed with a bulbous device half screwed open and dripping with blood. To his left was a man in a suit of armor, which was colored blue in the hue of the banners she had seen in the bedroom. He was older with silver hair long enough for a simple and orderly swoop at his forehead. The lines of age touched his face but his hardened brown eyes had a honey hue to them and his hair was well styled for his face. He was holding a hand lazily at his hilt to the sword kept on hip. This must have been her Commander of the Guard Warner Rangel.

Calamity had to be cautious, if she walked too close the blood would make the nausea she was getting spill out and out of her body. Warner fell to knee briefly and stood, simultaneously Jerome tugged at his soaked clothes for comfort and bowed at the hip.

"Once again your intellect surpasses the scaled kind" The aging knight compliment the black haired young lady among them. "Where you expected a spy to breach our front line, the trap was successful."

The young princess couldn't prevent her eyes widening in horror at the carnage laid out before her - she wasn't unfamiliar with blood, and bodies, but the depths of the crueltly carried out here... her stomach churned, and she was thankful she had not eaten since they were aboard the flying craft; there was nothing to come up in response to her disgust.

"O..Of course it does." Cal said, her voice cold. This wasn't an appropriate moment to be horrified, or scared; she would be disgusted, instead, and angry. To those loyal to her, it could only seem that her rage was toward her enemy; whomever's shoes she filled must have a lot of rage, to command this... "And what have you learned from this... Draconian?" she asked, her tone one of demand. Jerome turned and looked at her in attentive reception to her fortified airs.

"Lady Sauver, this spike-face says there was a planned counter attack wanting to come through our southern mountain borders.-"

"-And" Commander of the Guard interrupted with some energetic interest, "He says he's in the lower court. We could heal him and use him for ransom" Jerome was difficult to read as he continued to only look at Cal awaiting her word, with a slight smile on his face. "If we directly block the counterattack, we'll loose this chance to really see who these cowards are in their scaled courts." Warner went on and too fell into silence to await commands Cal would have.

Lady Sauver, the girl noted, filing away her new last name in her mind for later reference. Then the men continued to speak, and she stiffened, her heart thudding in her chest. They were both looking to her; she had to make a decision. And this wasn't as simple as one, or even a few lives in the balance... she was being asked to choose whether or not to stop an invasion. If she listened to Warner, the inhabitants of her own lands could surely be put at risk; if their enemy decided to strike, despite their hostage. But these Draconians - she forced herself to look at the man still breathing on the dungeon wall. She didn't know if they were the invading force, or if she was. Counter-strike, he had said. Didn't that mean they had struck first? She pulled herself together, making her expression critical; disdainful as she looked the injured man over, as though pondering; rather than stalling her decision. The torture inflicted on him was grotesque - even her mother would be impressed.

We could heal him, Warner had suggested, and it was this that ultimately swayed Cal's decision. She couldn't leave him here; not like this.

"You make a valid point, Commander," she said crisply, turning away from the Draconian, grateful to look away from the horror. "Have him healed and dressed; Sir Lambert, did you discover anything else in the course of your... questioning?" Her knight was already in pace to undo the bindings holding the mutilated man; her hard to read Torture Master spoke with a tired tone , gently waving a hand to dispel deep investment from Calamity.

"Only the neuances of his position in court. Three cousins removed from the queen. Information not so important as his general being in the court at all, Marchioness"

"Very well. Then there is no use in further questioning. Make the arrangements, and let me know when our demands have been sent." She crossed her arms, the seemingly cold gesture in reality more of a protective one. "Now, I am famished. Sir Rangel, you will accompany me to the dining hall, and advise me of any updates on our forces on the way."

With that, she swept from the room, eager to put distance between herself and the cesspit of blood and gore. She had to find out more about this war she had found herself in the midst of - praying, as she walked, that Gina had not been placed on the other side of it. In truth, the thought of food made her stomach heave, but she needed to check on Panos; he would no doubt get himself thrown into this chamber, if left to his own devices for too long. Her Torture Master watched her with an unflinching smile till he bowed slowly and looked away. Warner, the blue knight, came walking past Jamie and to her leaving side. Ahead of her the servant who had been following and keeping together the details of her comfort thus far led her back up the tower.

Through the cold the Commander of the Guard spoke a few words, uncomfortable until they returned into the hallways Calamity had first left to enter her torture chambers. Warner spoke of little happening regarding her men: he insisted he had them orderly and under control. However she was made aware that the king's Advisor of Foreign Affairs was to arrive some time today. The royal's servant opened a door in the stone cold hallways that opened to a long, yet narrow rectangular room with a single window showing outside a snowy world past white and red diamond shape bars. A long wooden table with any stools and a single seat built with a large frame sat at the end.

Calamity's face was splashed with warm liquid and chunky bits, her ears were filled with a crying shrill and the shattering of china.

"You bitch you left me!" Panos screamed while he was in a tearful mess. Oatmeal splattered down on her neck and collarbone, some of its more liquid remeants stayed on her cheek. Cal gasped as the liquid struck her face, hands rising too late to shield herself from it. A younger female servant whimpered many apologies and began to wipe away from Calamity's body in hopes to clean her. The royal snatched the cloth from the girls' fingers, glaring at her as though Panos' outburst was her fault.

"I am so sorry Lady Sauver I tried to appease him but he is in a manic state" Warner watched with a clearing of his throat and a clenching of his fist.

"Does he pose a problem for you Marchioness?"

"No!" the Princess cried out sharply, then caught herself.

"No," She repeated, her voice calmer and colder. "I will deal with him myself. Leave us." Warner studied Panos a moment longer: the royal teen weeping where he sat and staring at Calamity scornfully.

"Yes" Warner said in a low voice, eyeing the Lambros and ensuring the other staff left with him out the door. Left inside was Panos and Calamity with broken china next to the closed doors. He was shaking and staring through blurred vision. Panos felt the shivers of fear after his burst of aggression. The demons Panos wouldn't or hadn't spoken about hadn't left him despite his willpower in their bedroom to control them. Cal wiped the goo from her face hurriedly and cast the cloth aside, stepping closer to Panos and wrapping her arms around his shoulders; the movement less awkward than her earlier attempts at comfort. Perhaps it was becoming easier with practise - this caring for people besides herself thing.

"I'm sorry, Panos; it's alright. I'm back. I'm here." Gods, how was she supposed to do this on her own?

"I had to go, and find out where we are. Alright? I told you I would come back, and here I am." Panos held onto one of her arms, letting his plale face be smothered in her muted clothes and his colorful hat fall to the side.

Panos craved a release he had no choice but to receive from her. All his preferences were taken by unusual strings of fate rearranging his life into something beyond chaos. He wanted to go home, if it was even as it was.

"Calamity..." Panos mumbled her name, pulling his lips from her body. "Something befell me when we were apart...something happened...to me..." Cal swallowed, both surprised at even this small admission from the other Royal and a little nervous about what he might tell her - another horror, to add to their growing list.

"Yes?" she replied, her voice soft and encouraging, "you can talk to me, okay? We're in this together, now." And no-one else will be left behind.

"When I was stuck with the murderer Vashi, I was left on this world of monsters...woflish bestial people..." Panos trailed, staring down at his nose that dripped tears from the soft corners of his nostrils. "One of those monsters attacked me...inside of me." Panos jerked himself away from her and retreated to laying stiffly against the back of his chair. He shivered, feeling sick and guilty. The shame of uttering these things hurt him mercilessly. Calamity could see this pain on his face in how for a moment he looked so aged with trauma, the lines of misery so heavy in his fair face. They didn't last, a flash that couldn't linger or it would insult his natural beauty. "He ripped everything off my body, into shreds..." Panos articulately whispered, staring straight ahead to where the door stood closed. "This monster made me bleed from the inside, with...only his..." And Panos stopped speaking, slowly closing his eyes and letting the tears fall again. It took Cal's young; albeit far from innocent mind a moment to wrap itself around what Panos was telling her - when the realisation struck her - Panos had been violated by one of those creatues - she let out an audible gasp, her eyes prickling with hot, furious tears. She felt a flurry of emotion; aching sadness; burning anger; helpless pity. They had promised to protect him... to protect each other. Now Vahsi was dead, and though Panos' physical injuries would disappear, he would have to carry the emotional scarring of that vile deed forever.

The Princess, of course, did not know first hand what his pain felt like - she had never known an intimate touch, willing or otherwise. But as is the case for many Royals, she knew her virtue was something precious, something she must not give up lightly, or to the wrong person. She had been beaten, and tormented on this journey - she'd watched her friends brutally killed, and had been helpless. But this...

This was worse.

"Oh, Panos." Her voice was tense, choking back tears. "I'm so sorry." It was a lame response, and she knew it. Unsure if he would want to be held, she settled for taking a seat beside him, and catching his hand with both her own, her fingers holding tight. His anger at being left alone made more sense now.

"I won't leave you again." Panos turned his crystaline eyes to meet her outreached hands. The touch was warm and he wanted to yank his hand away. Simultaneously he kept his hand sandwiched in hers because he needed it - the fear would come back if she left.

"No. You won't" Panos agreed sharply, brushing his curling fingers against her palm. He hardened himself and adjusted his hair gingerly with his free hand and wipes his eyes to gussy his appearance to some degree of normalcy. He could only guess how pathetic he looked, his eyes stung, exhausted. "When you left, what did you see?" He asked, not yet meeting her eyes since his unveiling. Calamity took his harsh response in stride - it was how she would react to an emotional gesture. They were not so different; she and Panos. Both had been raised with no uncertainty about the importance of their stature; with a trained indifference to the emotional displays of others - taught that to show affection was to show weakness, in worlds where weakness meant death. She squeezed his hand tightly for a moment, then released it, drawing composure from his example.

"We're at war, with a race called the Draconians. We have... there's one of them, downstairs. I'm to meet with the foreign affairs advisor later today - don't worry, I'll insist that you accompany me. Hopefully we can find out more there. I've heard nothing of Gina; I just hope she's not on the other side of this battle! But if she doesn't..." Cal paused. She didn't really want to think about the possibility that they might not find each other. "Until we find her, we need to figure out why we're here. The marks," she lifted her arm, the fingers of her other hand gliding over the symbols that lined it, "we need to find whoever has the next one. We don't have Gina's book, but at least we'll know we're on the right track."

She regarded Panos cautiously, waiting to see how he'd take her summary; she'd deliberately skimmed over the grotesque details of what she'd seen, not wanting to frighten her companion. But she had to warn him; she had not missed the ominous tone in Warner's voice, when he'd asked does he pose a problem. She had little doubt what solution he might have in mind.

"This is a dangerous, dark place, Panos. We have to be careful - we have to try to fit in. You and I both know that I am not your superior, but we have to play the roles we've been given here; it's the only way I'll be able to keep you safe. Can you do that?"

“But you are a girl” Panos said instinctively, retorting her request. A natural prejudice surfaced on his face. “This is backwards. Why do you get to have the power?” He asked, the teenager’s voice a bit envious so swiftly after being so vulnerable. He was exhausted of being in the submissive and victimized position throughout the universal travels.

"So?!" the Princess responded automatically, her forehead creasing in a frown. Then she caught herself - both of them being stubborn would not help the situation. "Things are different here than they are at home, Panos. In Serroc - where I'm from, we have a female leader, too. It's just pretend... I know it's difficult. I had to act as though I was a slave when we first met, remember?"

Panos pressed his lips together thoughtfully, rubbing one of his wrists and falling back into his chair with a controlled body language. Blanched hair reflected subtle violet hues with the light coming from the window behind him. The young prince sat with his thoughts and pain, frowning slightly and his brows twitching in frustration very fitting for his judgmental personality. He stole a glance at Calamity before speaking.

“A map,” He began “would help us understand more and daresay find the others” he suggested.

Calamity frowned, thoughtfully this time. "That's not a bad idea, actually. Hold on."

She crossed to the door, opening it to reveal the serving girl waiting just outside and saying crisply, "I require a map; one encompassing our lands, and those of our enemies. I wish to assess our situation, before I meet with the Advisor." Warner was also out her door and he gripped the door while dark skinned serving woman took lead instead of the timid girl Calamity made her request to. The woman's steps were moving away while her Commander of the Guard was speaking down to her eagerly.

"If you have managed your husband, let me help." He pushed further with his presence on the teenage girl. He had a childish eagerness that was not innocent as he felt more self centered. The banner wearing knight kept focused on eyes on her, hopefully to pry her further favor.

"Certainly, Commander; come in." Cal turned, returning to the table where she placed herself beside Panos again, waiting for Warner to seat himself as well before addressing him again.

"I wish my husband to learn more about strategy," she said, her heart fluttering a little nervously. This might be a risky move - but she needed a premise for keeping Panos by her side, and making him more involved in figuring out their situation, she was sure, would be a welcome distraction from the horrors he had faced. "I think it will be character building, and give him more appreciation for all we do. Advise him on the situation, Rangel." She kept her eyes on the Commander, hoping that Panos would understand what she was doing, and not burst into another outraged response at what could appear as her speaking down to him again. How Warner Rangle sat showed some amusement to Calamity's words. Thinking it a joke the honey brown color of his eyes held an immature sparkle in them, staring at Panos as if he were the butt end of the joke.

Panos furrowed his brows, offended and glared back. The Commander of the Guard began to laugh, placing a hand on his hip and leaning back to enjoy the ride, the swoop of his silver hair bouncing with each hearty release. Panos wanted to get up and leave, prompting him to clench his fists under the table. The gesture the prince made didn't escape Calamity's amethyst eyes. The Princess scowled, fixing Warner with a cold glare.

"I wasn't joking, Rangel," she said in a low voice that dripped ice. "As Commander of the Guard, you should be quite capable of instructing someone on military matters. If not, perhaps I will have to find you a job more suitable... Court Jester, perhaps. Or maybe it's that you think the current military climate amusing?" She was speaking without much thought to the consequence, angry and defensive of her friend. Her lips pursed, she stared across the table at Warner, her eyes clouded with annoyance. Warner's laughter died very shortly Calamity spoke cooly. He leaned back in his chair, bumping his armor into the wood with a bit of a scare to himself. He melted under Calamity's clouded stare.

"I am capable, Marchioness"

[Azazeal849]

Gina Wright & ‘Melvin’


Miss Dutt stared down at their joined hands for a time. A brow was raised at Gina’s mentioning of the marchioness. Gina got the distinct feeling it was a judgment of some sort, and intuitively guessed that calling her ‘Cal’ was too casual.

“The Marchioness is the toughest girl I know.” A small positive jump in miss Dutt's expression came quickly, “She is protecting the western border, why would she be involved?” she asked out loud, confused by Gina’s thought process.

"You're probably right." Gina said, mentally breathing a sigh of relief that Cal hadn't be dragged into the Council's game. Yet. "I just feel like I'm paranoid of nearly everyone at the moment..."

Their closeness was abruptly ruined by someone entering the room without hesitation. Startled, Ms. Dutt jerked her hands away from Gina and took a more platonic distance from the other teenager. Opening the door was a handsome boy - the young detective teenager could tell he had the good-looking doctor’s features. Gina recalled that Dr Bonadio had called him Melvin at the door. He appeared as a child copy of the famous actor from her universe, but dressed in robes none too dissimilar to the other Multiverse Traveler and bore an expression neutral to Gina’s first, surprised, perceptions of him.

"Umm...can we help you?" Gina asked, wondering if this was her summons to meet the doctor. A quick glance down at the boy's arm revealed no marker tattoo, which meant he was probably one of the people from this world - just another unfortunate satellite to her and Bonadio's predicament. She'd have to be careful what she said in front of him.

‘Melvin’ had been easily able to find Gina’s signature, noting the quick change the other female took away from Gina the moment it made itself known to the both of them.

Irritation made the probe scowl for a moment as its sensitive audio receivers took in Kevin's distant comment from downstairs, then serenity returned to its features as it bowed to the girls before turning its full attention to Gina.

Her glance at its arm did not go unnoticed.

Raising its hands, it beckoned at her, then rubbed its left hand in a small circle on its chest before nodding at Gina.

Gina exchanged a quizzical look with miss Dutt in response to the silent charade.

"I guess the doctor wants to see me..." she said to the other girl. The well-adorned brunette nodded, hinting to uncertainty but not intimidated by Gina's situation. The young woman did stare at 'Melvin' and his quiet way of communication with skepticism. Gina reassured her that her time away wouldn't be long and Ms. Dutt left, noting she'd be with Alfred.

"I'll come back and rescue you as soon as I can." Gina promised, managing to raise a facetious smile.

The click of miss Dutt's platforms carried the teenager away past 'Melvin' and down the hallway.

The probe stared after miss Dutt, then turned to give Gina a very penetrating stare - and sighed. Reaching into its pocket, it produced another 'Tarot card' - this one bearing the High Priestess, which it offered to Gina.

Gina took the slip of waxed card and looked down at it, recognising it for what it was thanks to her friend Cece owning a similar set back in West Hills. She was both surprised that they had something so strikingly familiar in this world, and worried that her alter ego was expected to know what the robed woman with engraved pillars either side of her was supposed to mean.

"Thanks." she said, pushing the card up the cuff of her sleeve in the absence of having any pockets.

Bowing its head, the probe waved towards the door. Gina took the cue and followed. Does this kid not speak?

"Has it been lively downstairs?" she asked the boy casually as they picked their way down the staircase.

The Probe looked at Gina and blinked, then shook its head. At least it wasn't an armed stand-off - yet.

Somehow, the two of them had been transported to this... impossible place by forces unknown, and without any idea of how it was done! It had watched Jeon talk to this girl earlier, then that.... whatever that was in that room with that council, and now he wanted to talk to this girl again...? Why?

First assessment was that Jeon was going on with this because this offered the best chance of survival, yet he seemed genuine in his desire to protect the council?

What was going on here, and how was this girl involved?


Doctor Jeon Smythe


The others excused themselves out into the hallway, notiably taking a different direction to leave than Jeon would have expected them if they were to leave out the front doors. A few muttered ‘Mr. Bonadio’s in departure were given to the alien doctor, the apothecary having a new respect among the Grand Council so it seemed.

Kevin’s expression turned curious to see what Jeon’s apprentice left him. He wasn’t subtle, bringing himself to stand and look over Jeon’s shoulder and investigate. The man’s squeeze on Jeon’s shoulders was passionate and supportive, seemingly approving of the persona and behaviors Jeon had currently taken.

“You should have gotten a more obedient boy” Kevin remarked. Theodore onlooked with his far-spaced eyes, rubbing one hand over the other while he let silence sit for a moment. The man didn’t look uncomfortable, his blue eyes holding a light of intellect; he was however not navigating conversation anywhere. Jeon was left to deduce that perhaps the Advisor of Warfare was better at killing than he was at talking.

"I'll have to have a long talk with Melvin later," Jeon responded absently. "We will have much to discuss."

"However," he added, turning his attention back to Theodore,"I was wondering if you have the King's schedule?"

The Grand Council left Jeon's vision and he felt the absence of their rather critical presence, spare Kevin massaging his shoulders. Theodore did not seem fazed by the intimacy being shared between the two of them, giving Kevin's hands an observation before returning to Jeon.

"Drinking." He said with a frown.

"After the failed diplomacy disaster," Kevin scoffed in agreement, "The king has submitted himself to alcoholism again."

"So no public appearances?" Jeon scowled.

For some reason, whatever brought him here for some unknown reason wanted him to remove the king and put the council in power. Why else would he feel this weird 'obligation' to Kevin and the others?

Not that he wanted to kill this king - and with MedBot, he might not have to. Assuming he could get whatever MedBot was to go along with it.

"It would be better for all of you if the King was seen to die very publicly," he explained. "Someplace the Council could be and yet separated from him, so you'd all appear to have clean hands in this. But if he's just drinking himself senseless, anything can happen and that's when the rumors start." Theodore was quietly reflecting on what Jeon was sharing when 'Melvin' and the unusual teenager, Georgina, was brought into the living room. Their supernatural tether continued to remind the two of their connection through this journey.

The last present member of the Grand Council, Kevin, stared at her arrival and squeezed Jeon's shoulders tighter - holding eyes with her.

Jeon winced as he felt Kevin's fingers digging into his shoulders. So did the Probe - however painful it might have been for Jeon, it was not lethal or damaging in the long term, so it watched and observed.

Gina decided that appearing meek would be better, and dropped her gaze. Her wrist was still prickling, even though most of the councillors she had seen from the front door seemed to have left. She risked a quick glance at the muscular, pugnacious man who remained quietly seated, hoping to see a zodiac sign branded somewhere on him. But all she could glean was the fact that his eyes were slightly too far apart, which made her wonder if this was in fact miss Dutt's father. She was very aware of Melvin's tarot card, sticking to her arm beneath her sleeve.

It took a pause for the well to do councilman Hedspeth to change his expression, but finally a smile came and his hands spared Jeon's shoulders from their tight grip.

"We have the rest of the day to do as we will." he promised Jeon, stroking a finger across the right side of the man's jawline. "Have your word with her and come back." Kevin sounded quite jealous, pulling himself one of the many empty seats and filling it with his presence.

We'll have to be quick, then. Gina thought, and began to think of how she might get Melvin out of the room once she and the doctor were alone. The kid might not talk much, but he probably wouldn't want to hear how neither of them were who he thought they were.

"Assuming no complications," Jeon smiled, "We should not be long. Perhaps a walk in the garden? That should allow us some small measure of privacy for our talk without rattling any tongues or driving your jealous boyfriend to distraction."

"Oh, he's not my boyfriend." Gina felt obliged to clarify, trying not to roll her eyes at actually voicing such a cliche. Even if it does make sense for no-one else to get the wrong idea and start rocking the boat. "But yeah, lets."

Jeon turned and looked up at Kevin. "A scene can cause so much scandal, best to be careful."

"Shall we?" he asked, waving towards the door. "Melvin can accompany us, he doesn't get out much. Bit of sun should do him some good."

At that, the probe raised it's right eyebrow, but stayed silent.

Jeon took the guessed path down the left, through the blood-drenched yet optimistic artistic interpretations of war. Gina fell in at his side, taking in the painted hallway as she went. The murals seemed to lack the magical animation of the frescos in the Remoni villa, but they were exquisitely painted all the same. Still, there was something about them that made Gina uncomfortable. The battle scenes were violently triumphant, practically crowing the superiority of the silver human knights over the strange beings they were fighting. And the rosy, artistically splashed gouts of blood seemed...sanitised. Nothing like the blood Gina had seen. Nothing like the blood that had run down her arm as Rozaria tried to take a bite out of her neck.

Nothing like Nisha's blood spattering across the alien trees as the gun kicked like an animal in her hand.

Gina felt Melvin tugging gently at her arm, and realised that she had come to a dead stop in the middle of the hall. She forced herself to smile, despite her painfully racing heart.

"Sorry." she deflected, waving a tingling hand towards the painting. "The blood just makes me queasy..."

"Quite alright," Jeon said fatherly, taking a good look at the mural. What kind of monsters was he dealing with?

The lie got her to the end of the corridor at least, where they faced a large double door similar to the one that fronted the street side of the building. The back doors pushed open onto a much more simple garden than that of Gina's 'father'. It actually surprised her a little, given the apparent wealth and status of miss Dutt's father. Then again, Mr Dutt didn't particularly seem like the kind of man who enjoyed gardening.

The air was cleaner than either would have be accustomed to in their industrialized worlds. The sudden draft was a kind surprise, but slightly chilly. Where the front was stone and avoided any growing forms of wealth, the back was layered with wild grasses. Set before them was a gazebo several feet down, a path to it crafted by dirt, and a semi-circle of water bordered the stucture so perfectly the behavior of the water was suspicious.

As they got to the gazebo and its redwood benches opposing, they finally saw that the 'moat' was actually connected to a river running behind the property and the other high-society estates nearby. Many other gardens were all partaking in the competition to 'keep up with the Joneses'. Gentry and ladies were each talking or maintaining their garden, though some of the plots were barren. Some of the neighbours seemed to be walking in full dress, as if to be seen while doing their mundane activities. Everything was pretentious, and heavy with self-importance. But the area was peaceful and far from earshot of the neighbors.

"Um, Melvin?" Gina asked as she picked her way down the dirt path to the gazebo. "I'm feeling a bit thirsty, would you mind fetching me a glass of water?"

"It may have a bit of a problem with that," Jeon replied dryly. "One moment we were both tending a hypoxia patient in an airlock, next thing I know we're here, with no idea as to how or why."

"You both?" Gina looked at Melvin, initially failing to pick up on the it. "If he's with you then how come he doesn't have...you know, one of these?"

She rolled up her right sleeve, just enough to see the line of tattoos on her pale skin.

"I don't know. But what I do know is somehow I can 'feel' you and the others in my head, like we're linked in some fashion? And with Kevin and the council, there's another sort of connection, like it wants me to help them, and I don't know why!"

"Do you?"

Gina exhaled slowly.

"Okay, first off...you don't know anyone called Rose Tyler do you?"

Pause.

"Rose Tyler?" Jeon demanded, confused. "Sorry, doesn't ring a bell."

"Oh thank god." Gina sighed. "That would have been too weird even for me."

Behind them, the Probe frowned.

After it had made contact with Jeon, it had done a records search and background history on him. There was a Jackie Tyler who worked for the orphanage in the canteen. From the stories it had overheard, the woman would bring along her Yorkshire Terrier for the children to play "Hide and Go Seek" with. Except the children didn't call the dog "Rose" as they played, they called her "Bad Wolf" after the villain in the story of the "Three Little Pigs".

Or was she possibly referring to "Rosie", last name unknown. Genetically altered "Quaddie" hermaphrodite Zero-G construction worker? Rosie had drugged Jeon at a party, then dragged him back to her hotel room where she engaged in questionable sex with him. Protection protocols were overridden in the belief that her disappearance would bring unwanted attention onto Jeon. It would be unlikely, however, he would want to be reminded of her.

"You just kind of look like..." Gina tried to explain, and then gave up with a shrug. "You know what, never mind..."

Jeon and the Probe frowned, both equally confused by her strange statement.

The girl took another breath.

"Connections. Right. Someone left me and Cal a note when we first met, saying that they needed us to help them. This is the third world they've jumped us through. The mark on Kevin's arm's supposed to be a clue for us, and there's usually a book somewhere in each world that tells us what it means...but I haven't found the one for here yet. No chance you know anything about zodiac signs, is there?" she added hopefully.

"A little," Jeon admitted. "One of the canteen workers at my orphanage used to read hers to us. However, I also found this..."

He pulled out the book he'd found nearby the bed and couldn't leave behind.

"Is this it?"

"Yes!" Gina gasped, seemingly recognising the plain black cover. She flipped the book open in Jeon's hands and leafed through several blank pages to one which held a large print of the same symbol Jeon had seen on Kevin's arm - a cross with a circle on its base, and two more semicircles curving outward from its left and right arms.

Uranus. the text on the facing page read, in elegant, looping cursive. Altered consciousness, pivotal change, societal evolution, the unexpected.

"Altered consciousness." Gina repeated aloud, twisting her hair pensively around her fingers. "I'd guess that means we have to change someone's mind. Or cause a big change maybe? Did all those councillors have this tattoo or just that guy Hedspeth? I didn't get a proper look at the others."

"Kevin had this mark," Jeon confirmed. "I didn't see the other arms enough to be sure, but as I told you there was this curious pull similar to what Kevin has to me. So we're supposed to help? I don't suppose whoever brought us here has quite said how, have they?"

Gina shook her head. "Apart from the symbols, they're keeping schtum." She looked back up at the house, checking the windows for curious eyes.

Jeon's mind raced. Could it mean he didn't have to kill this king, if he could change his mind? Or was it the council's mind he needed to change? Somehow, even if he managed to change the King's heart, he was sure the council would still want him dead.

The Probe lifted its right sleeve to expose its bare arm. The curious symbol of Uranus appeared on its forearm. It tapped Jeon's arm to show him.

"Hmmm?" he said, turning towards the small boy figure. "Yes, very nice. Gives you a tough, delinquent look. Next you'll be off joining the local gang, vaping on corners and ripping off stores for illegal fluids and batteries."

"How did you do that?" Gina asked Melvin, her expression caught somewhere between surprise and suspicion. When the probe said nothing as per usual, she looked from it to Jeon.

"Doesn't he speak?" she asked, and then tugged at her sleeve again to peel a waxed Tarot card off her forearm. "I was hoping he could tell me what this was about, too."

"'He' wasn't programmed for it," Jeon began blithely, then blinked. "At least, he's never spoken to me. As to that, well, he's always been a fast learner."

The Probe stared back without emotion at this rebuke.

"Programmed." Gina repeated. "What, like...like a robot?"

She turned to the probe, which nodded. The girl ran a hand through her copper hair.

"Alright." she sighed. "After everything else I guess I can roll with that...um, so what are the cards supposed to be for?"

"I've no idea - mine was 'The Fool'," Jeon shrugged. "Care to elaborate?"

The Probe pointed to its mouth, then to it's ear.

"Listen and speak?" Gina guessed, turning her own card over in her hands and scratching experimentally at it with a thumbnail.

The surface of the card tore slightly, revealing a trace of circuitry just under the surface - and then the torn surface rippled as it mended itself. Gina blinked in surprise.

The Probe reached out, taking her hand in its cold flesh while it raised the index finger of its other hand to its lips in a very familiar "quiet" gesture.

Taking the card from Gina, the Probe tapped once on the card and pointed to its ear; it then tapped twice and pointed at its mouth. It then handed the card back to Gina.

"Okay, I think I get you." Gina replied. "It's a walkie-talkie, right?" She turned the card over in her hands. "How do we turn them off? We don't want voices coming from our pockets while we're standing talking to someone..."

The probe shook the shell's head. Holding up one finger, it then pointed at itself. Reaching over, it tapped the front of the card twice. The High Priestess vanished, to be replaced with text.

'One tap to alert. Two taps to relay communication. Three taps to close channel.'

Not that it actually closed the channel. It was a surveillance probe, after all.

"Well," Jeon blinked, "That's clever."

"Yeah!" Gina bit her lip. "I wish we could get Cal one of these things. I heard from miss Dutt that she's the marchioness who guards the west border. If we could get there, or maybe even just send a message, she'd be able to help. She's got some sort of...magic that can make people do what she says. What did Kevin need you to help with?"

"The council hired the other 'me' to kill the king," Jeon scowled, balling up his fists. "I've no idea what my doppelganger told them, but I suspect I'm to poison the king - hardly worthy of the name of doctor, is it?"

Gina exhaled, smoothing her dress under her legs and sitting down on one of the gazebo benches. "Jesus. That'd be a big change, right enough...but shouldn't we try and see this king first to get both sides of the story before we start murdering anyone?"

"My dear," Jeon sighed, looking off into the distance for a long moment before returning to stare at her. "I've just met with a bunch of very nervous and suspicious conspirators who represent the power behind the throne, as it were. If I was to meet with the king, I doubt I'd live long enough to say 'hello'."

Gina chewed the inside of her cheek. "Fair point. I'd do it, but if I'm not important enough round here to sit in on my own dad's meetings I somehow doubt the king'd give me his time. What if you told the council you were going? They'd just assume it was part of your plan to kill him, 'cos no-one'd be mad enough to warn them before they ratted them out, right?"

"I've asked them for when the king will be meeting in public, but they claim there will be no public appearances following whatever failed diplomacy disaster brought on the current crisis. We'll have to work it out ourselves by asking discrete questions and comparing notes. Hopefully whatever it was will prove to be a huge underground scandal."

Gina laced her fingers and pressed them against her lips, thinking. "I'm in with miss Dutt, but she doesn't seem to know much about council business, and I don't want her to get in trouble. Same with Alfred. Mr Remoni and one of his maids might know something or they might just be trying to keep me out of danger."

"If this is anything like Victorian England, the news of the day was actually kept from women," Jeon scowled with a slight shiver. "Even reading a newspaper was frowned upon. Assuming they have newspapers...."

Gina managed a slightly twisted smile. "My mum used to tell me that being underestimated could help you put one past them."

She gathered her hair over one shoulder and looked at Melvin.

"Have you got any more of those cards? Maybe we could put one in a letter and get it delivered to Cal."

Unseen in the pocket universe, another channel was opened. If anything, this universe-hopping was giving the probe a chance to really flex its metaphorical wings. The probe's shell reached into its pocket as another "card" sloughed off the interior. Pulling it out, it handed over the Magician card.

"Perfect." said Gina, rising to her feet and pushing the second card up her sleeve to hide it. "Miss Dutt's expecting me back soon. Let's see if her dad's got any writing stuff we can swipe before I go."

[Minkasha]

Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility & Panos Lambros

Warner had in length explained to Panos and Calamity their situation. Calamity’s duty as marquees was to keep the western border of Greywall Kingdom, and of the greater Talos Empire secure against the Draconian ills of the Karshar nation. Her city, Whitebar was kept nestled in the wide valley of the mountainous natural boundary between the two forces. She was the first and most crucial defender of the entire empire from western threats. Something which may have been remarkable for a teenage girl, entirely dismissed and lost to Panos while Warner explained numbers and units, entirely becoming alienated and not even hiding his wandering gazes away from the Commander of the Guard.

A map had been gathered and together the royals learned that the way out of Whitebar was to get to Whitemarch, as it was the supplier city for the fortress Calamity lived in. From Whitematch many traveling paths from the snowy mountains extended into Greywall Kingdoms. They quietly deduced that Gina and Jeon were not too far away, possibly in Greywall Kingdom simply by the intuitive hint they continuously were streamed through their unexplained connection. Where exactly was still impossible to tell. Calamity continued to use Panos’ in character ignorance to guise her questions and she swiftly dismissed the man.

Alone the two discussed what to do and Panos was rather clear on what he wanted: leave Whitebar, find Gina and Jeon, accomplish what they were supposed to do in this universe and be done with it. It cut deep into the fae-blooded princess’s sense of honor, pulling out instead fear and the urge to help Panos when he was in desperate need of it. While struggling to abandon yet another responsibly (already having to leave children to fend for themselves), Calamity agreed that they would leave as soon as possible. However, she did advise and insist they wait until the expected adviser came and went before fleeing.

Setting her plan in motion she escorted Panos with her back to their bedroom where she prepared a very plain set of trousers and tie string synched fur lined top to wear. Plain and not noticeable was what she was looking for. Her suggestions for Panos to follow her idea, ditching his very bright yellow ensemble. Panos refused. Calamity took a cloak for him to don himself with when the time came. Guised as husband and wife, they took a walk around Calamity’s winter fortress. As she left her most attentive servant yet again reminded her to be careful of her steps outside. The air was cruel to both royals, Panos huddling against her for warmth even after putting on warm furs. Where there were corners were posted men, and they stood ready on the walls which barred her from the greater bordered city.

Together while they looked around they could see steep mountains not too far away from where the fortress was. Rigid and layered in snow they were sharp and appeared to stab into the air with black stone, getting lost in low hanging clouds. This was replicated both left and right of the fortress, a dull yet beautiful natural sight.

Calamity led Panos as he huffed and protested their continued need to be in the cold when she was rewarded with a stable which was oddly warm when they walked several feet from its open, wood sheltered entrance. The heat was unnaturally comfortable and Calamity could somehow sense, just knowing, it had something to do with magic. It tingled in her bones.

As Marchioness her word was command and the arrangements she wished to have were to be made. The black haired beauty’s faux husband was also able attract the stable hand’s eye from time to time during the conversation. Panos appeared ready to drink it in while he brushed his hair back, his observer a young man only a shy older than the two of them. Yet still he disliked the cold and being outside more than the superficial attention and urged Calamity to rush so they could return.

Inside Panos was unruly, demanding he be given parchment and ink. He had spent the remaining time sketching a particular face while they were in a small study, he sitting at desk. The face had a tall square shape, curly hair, round eyes of curiosity shadowed by bold eyebrow bones, the lips drawn with the slightest smirk. Skin was shaded, indicating a darker tone – whomever Panos was drawing it wasn’t the man Panos had risked his own life taking a bullet for and yet Panos, not aware if Calamity was observing him or not, eyed the young man he was illustrating with longing and heavy sighs.

Soon the guest Calamity expected would be coming.


Gina Wright & Doctor Jeon Smythe

After their dialogue the duo took a rather unorthodox way to explore the Dutt manner, hunting for the materials needed to send a letter. The cost was of Gina’s attention to the task as Ms. Dutt and Alfred pulled her back to their exchange. The alien doctor was able to complete the task, yet lacked many answers to this world still.


Doctor Jeon Smythe

Looking for them, he came downstairs and approached Kevin. Theodore at this time had stood up, he seemed ready for them to take their leave. The guard, Archer, waited with the patience he had been showing the entire time thus far.

Jeon asked Kevin his particular question and the result made the Councilman stand, staring at the man with wide eye disbelief.

“You are acting tragically strange.” Kevin tsked at the Zayan. He bowed once to the adviser and began to leave for the door, side eyeing Jeon as he avoided him.


Gina Wright

Gina was let juggling a situation upstairs, three tea cups at each section of a round table for them enjoy. It was consumed, Ms. Dutt giving glances to Alfred that finally entered the lad’s perception but he seemed confused by her expression and didn’t know what to make of it. It was evident in how he kept silent despite his awareness. Both looked upon Gina with want, the teenage girl’s bejeweled graces accentuated with her casual strokes across her collar bone. Alfred’s striking looks easily sold themselves, generous smile and full black hair shook with his happy chuckles. Both were keeping their acknowledgment of each other minimal and focused on Gina. Ms. Dutt looked increasingly happier as tea was drawing to an end. Gina suggested Alfred leave and the lad stared with a tilt of his head before he fixed his posture straight up right.

“I brought you here, I must bring you back or your father will be displeased” Alfred said with some shock at Gina’s suggestion. Ms. Dutt narrowed her wide set eyes in anger, staring down at her tea and finishing its last sip – waiting for Gina to handle this.

[Azazeal849]

"We should keep it simple." Gina suggested quietly as she and Jeon nosed their way around the villa, surreptitiously pushing open doors and looking for a study or somewhere where they might find pen and paper. "Just how to work the card and sign it Gina so she knows it's from me. Then give it to one of Hedspeth's guys. If you seal it up and say it's from the council they shouldn't give you any bother, ri-...?"

"There you are!" a jovial voice interrupted. Gina very nearly jumped, but luckily only Jeon was in line to see her momentary rabbit-in-the-headlights expression before she was able to turn round to meet Alfred. The boy had muscled his way into the doorframe, leaving miss Dutt to hover behind him and direct a filthy expression at the back of his head.

Gina's stomach dropped a second time, as she realised she still had Cal's tarot card up her sleeve, and was in no position to palm it off to Jeon without Alfred and miss Dutt seeing.

"Come see me before you leave." she whispered quickly to Jeon, and then hitched up a smile as she trotted back along the landing to the tea room. "Sorry guys, hope the tea hasn't gone cold!"

To her discomfort, Gina soon found herself left juggling a situation upstairs; three tea cups at each section of a round table for them enjoy. It was consumed, Ms. Dutt giving glances to Alfred that finally entered the lad’s perception but he seemed confused by her expression and didn’t know what to make of it. It was evident in how he kept silent despite his awareness. Both looked upon Gina with want, the teenage girl’s bejewelled graces accentuated with her casual strokes across her collar bone. Alfred’s striking looks easily sold themselves, generous smile and full black hair shook with his happy chuckles. Both were keeping their acknowledgment of each other minimal and focused on Gina.

Gina reflected ruefully that being the centre of attention wasn't always fun, and focused her conscious effort on making friendly conversation - while trying not to do anything that Alfred or miss Dutt might construe as flirting - and on downing her green tea. The tea was similar to the stuff she had been served when she had woken up in Gina Remoni's bed; fragrant but slightly astringent. It wasn't helping her hollow stomach. As she coughed into her hand to hide a low gurgle from her belly, Gina found herself wondering why no-one at the Remoni house had offered her breakfast. Maybe her alter ego was a habitual meal-skipper.

"Did you hear about the king's blunder with the elven queen?" Alfred asked as they drank, shaking his head and smiling slightly as if he found the news both amusing and cringeworthy. "Spilling his wine over her, I ask you. He will never convince her that he's as powerful as he keeps claiming when he constantly undermines himself like that. To his health, I suppose, for he will need it."

He raised his teacup in an ironic toast.

"But what if the elven queen withdraws her support?" miss Dutt opined, in a tone that was much less flippant than Alfred's. "I am concerned we could be facing-"

"Oh hush hush." Alfred soothed, with an expression that was evidently supposed to be kind. "Don't you girls worry about things like that."

Gina glanced briefly at miss Dutt, and the implied mutual eye-roll was so strong that it forced Gina to purse her lips to avoid giggling.

Miss Dutt looked increasingly happier as tea was drawing to an end. Gina stuck to the plan and caught Alfred's eye as she drained the last of her cup.

"Well it's been lovely." she lied, simply relieved to have avoided a scene with one or both of her friends. "Shall we catch up later, Alfred? I promised some girl time and we wouldn't want to bore you with all th-...all that."

She almost said all that bollocks, but remembered in time that she hadn't heard Alfred swear even once. To his old-fashioned ideals of femininity, cursing might make her stick out like a particularly offensive sore thumb.

Even so she must have said something wrong, because the lad stared with a tilt of his head before he fixed his posture straight upright.

“I brought you here," Alfred said, with some shock at Gina’s suggestion. "I must bring you back or your father will be displeased."

Ms. Dutt narrowed her wide set eyes in anger, staring down at her tea and finishing its last sip – waiting for Gina to handle this.

"Hmm, that's true." Gina huffed, taking the unforeseen complication in stride. She didn't want to land Alfred in the shit, after all, even if she was still trying not to lead him on in front of miss Dutt. "Alright, how about meet me back here in a couple of hours? I'll order another carriage."

[Enigma]

"Kevin, to help you and your friends avoid a nasty situation once the king is 'removed', I'd really like for you to explain to me the view you and the council have about this nasty diplomatic situation we find ourselves in because of the king? You seem to have a firmer grasp of all the details."

“You are acting tragically strange.” Kevin tsked at the Zayan. He bowed once to the adviser and began to leave for the door, side eyeing Jeon as he avoided him.

"Tragically strange?" Jeon blinked, glancing down at the probe. "Did you hear that, Melvin? I'm just trying to remove the blade at his throat and point it elsewhere, but all I get is that I'm 'tragically strange'?"

The probe blinked at Jeon, frowning slightly, then turned towards Kevin and Archer.

"Kevin, hear me out. If I can get the whole court to be looking the other way, you and your friends are safe and free of suspicion, but only if I can have all the details in this, not what's whispered in the streets."

He grimaced, shaking his head slightly. "Well, mostly free. There's the odd one or two who seem utterly set to be envious of their betters and whisper the most horrid things their feverish little minds can come up with, but it would be unseemly for such fine gentlemen as ourselves to even acknowledge such things. Least until they start throwing the rotten tomatoes. So hard to get the stains out."

[G]

Calamity was feeling stressed, frustrated with Panos' refusal to change and wondering how they were supposed to inconspicuously slip away from her city, which seemed to be teeming with burly guards in every direction, with her "Marquis" dressed in an entirely eye-catching outfit of bright yellow. She prayed he would at least don the cloak, when it was time to leave. And if he won't, perhaps I will have to make him, she thought. It was only a tiny command, after all - was it really wrong to use her power, if the intention was to keep them safe?

The uneasy twist in her gut certainly seemed to suggest so.

But the servants' had seemed easily willing to comply with her orders; two horses would be saddled and made ready for the afternoons' ride. The lack of surprise or suspicion at this request suggested that, thankfully, this was not too out of the ordinary for her doppelganger in this world, which was a stoke of luck - perhaps her first, in some time. Now they just had to wait for this advisor - Panos had been anxious to leave, but in each world, they had met someone significant, and Cal didn't want to risk running away from a potentially important encounter; what if he or she held the key for getting through this latest trial? At the very least, perhaps she could find out more that would help them get safely to Whitemarch. From there, they would just have to hope that the intuitive link in their guts would help them find their way to Gina.

She looked over at her companion, stepping closer to peer at the drawing over his shoulder.

"Who is that?" she asked curiously, noting the way he threw lamenting eyes at the likeness.

[Minkasha]

Doctor Jeon Smythe

Kevin continued huffing to the front door. He was grimacing and there was water rimming in his eyes.

“At first your game of ignorance was adorable, now it is pissing me off. You’re acting like a retard!” The Grand Councilmember yelled at the doctor down the hall. Knight Archer kept his head low, following his charge steadfastly. “Stop acting stupid” Kevin commanded, stepping out of the Adviser’s home, shoulders raised in his robes.


Gina Wright

Her persuasions onto Alfred failed. Putting on a role, Alfred puffed his chest with an inhale of breath and shook his head. “Leaving a lady is not right. I may speak with Caroline’s father. But I cannot leave this roof without you at my side. There is no other proper way. You have to be kept safe” He deflated, returning to the unassuming happy teenager she had seen so far. The social influence of the patriarchal structure was deeply ingrained.

Caroline Dutt brushed at her dress, busying herself during Alfred’s commanding edict.

“I suppose that is true” Caroline said bitterly to Alfred. “But women will have their time to talk before she is rushed out the door” The brunette didn’t waver her eyes from Alfred. The two were in a quiet stare down. Her eyes full of unhappiness and Alfred's with confusion.


Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility & Panos Lambros

“My ex-husband” Panos said with discontent, a tone of voice very natural for him to use. The feather of his quill shook cleanly with the sweeping of his etches. “We were married for a week. In that time he had managed to humiliate me, take my virginity, beat a man till an eye emerged from socket, and destroyed any illusion that I had about controlling my own life. I hate him” Panos’ condemning words released through focused whispers, the intention of his skilled hands was juxtaposed to what he said. The artistic touch he brought to bringing his ex-husband to life was delicate.

[Enigma]

Kevin continued huffing to the front door. He was grimacing and there was water rimming in his eyes.


“At first your game of ignorance was adorable, now it is pissing me off. You’re acting like a retard!” The Grand Council member yelled at the doctor down the hall. Knight Archer kept his head low, following his charge steadfastly. “Stop acting stupid,” Kevin commanded, stepping out of the Adviser’s home, shoulders raised in his robes.

"I don't do miracles," Jeon sighed, slipping his hands into the pockets of his robe. "Not without a lot of information to guide me."

"Sorry for all the fuss," he said to Theodore, ducking his head slightly before following Kevin out, the probe by his side.

"The question, Melvin my lad," he said, "is how to find out what really happened. Perhaps it'll give us an opportunity we need."

The brilliant sunshine did nothing to disrupt the cold wind that swept along the street. "If I had to jump into myself in a different dimension, couldn't it be a more pleasant dimension?

[Azazeal849]

Gina wasn’t sure if she was getting irritated or just baffled by Alfred’s antics, although at least she wouldn’t have to bluff her way around speaking miss Dutt’s name any more.

“I suppose that is true.” Caroline said bitterly to Alfred. “But women will have their time to talk before she is rushed out the door.”

The brunette didn’t waver her eyes from Alfred. The two were in a quiet stare down, her eyes full of unhappiness and Alfred's with confusion.

“She’s right, I did promise.” Gina stepped in. “But that’s fine if you want to just wait with Mr Dutt.”

She didn’t envy Alfred that conversation. Miss Dutt’s father hadn’t exactly looked like the chatty type.

Alfred exhaled. “Very well.” he nodded, still looking confused by miss Dutt’s distress. He hitched up a smile and bowed theatrically before making his way downstairs.

Gina waited for his footsteps to recede before leaning her back against the door to close it. She breathed out and massaged her temples with her fingers.

“See what I mean?” she appealed to miss Dutt. Throwing Alfred under the bus certainly wasn’t the nicest thing to do, but it was the best way not to burn a bridge that she might need to get out of this world. “Protective big brother. Bloody ridiculous.”

She brushed away her fringe and looked up, to see Caroline looking away from her with flushed cheeks and tears in her eyes. Gina bit her lip.

“I’m so sorry.” she said guiltily.

[Enigma]

"Oh, Melvin," Jeon paused in the hallway, looking down and the human-clad probe. "Be a dear and hunt up Ms. Wright, I believe she has a card for us."

The probe glanced up at him curiously. Surely the Zayan knew the probe could make another....? Or did he really want a private moment?

With a scowl, the probe nodded and turned, its senses keen on the cards Gina carried.

[G]

"..Oh," Calamity responded, rather lamely. She chewed her lip, the teenager, unpracticed at meaningful conversation, unsure what kind of response was appropriate here.

"I know what that's like," she said, after a pause, "someone controlling your life - my mother wouldn't even let me leave our citadel, back home! She was violent, too... she liked it; hurting people. She thought they were all against us. Of course, when I snuck out anyway I was almost immediately kidnapped by the rebellion, so she might've been onto something... but you can't live like that, controlled and confined, it's not healthy. It's not living. I..."

The girl paused, wondering if perhaps babbling about herself wasn't a particularly good way to comfort someone.

"I'm sorry he hurt you like that."

[Minkasha]

Doctor Jeon Smythe & ‘Melvin’

Keith was being led by his guard back to his wagon where he quickly got in impatiently, not waiting for Jeon to follow in. As Archer ensured Keith was sitting inside comfortably, the forty-something aged gray-haired man approached the doctor. His posture was tense as his chainmail dressed shoulders were raised. He looked upon Jeon with a grit of his teeth and spoke quietly but sternly.

“Wha-at are y-ou doi-ing? You-re anger-r-ing him” Archer got out with a few breaks of his words that compelled him to tighten his hands in stress.



Gina Wright

Caroline brushed her hand at her presented breasts, resting over where her heart was. The teenager morosely sighed, weighed down emotionally. Gina’s apology hung in the air of the comfortable room.

“This is what happens to women. I wished things could be different. It is as it has been and will be” What else she may have had to say ended with privacy being broken. Melvin opened the door and now could see the two teenage girls at their table with tea.




Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility & Panos Lambros

Panos’ drawing came to a stop, the prince shut his eyes and for a moment, paused. His lips slowly drew open, teeth brushing against each other before words came out in biting whisper.

“My mother forced me into drag since I was young. My mother wanted a daughter to dote and instead used me to fulfill that. I pity that your mother loved you as you are” The Lambros said sarcastically. He stood up in a stern position and eyed himself directly at the fae princess – beautiful blue crystal into beautiful purple crystal. All he felt inside himself anymore was fear and anger. It was eating at him, breaking him.

“But…I stayed in my mansion. I didn’t leave, I never wanted to. I know what it is like to be caged, in a way…” He spoke softly, turning his eyes down to Calamity’s feet. “The Gods, I think they see me now and know how warped I am. I feel twisted. If I die I do not know what will become of my soul. But it feels difficult to keep living. Do you know how that feels?” The stellar prince returned his eyes up to her, frowning, slouching down onto the table with his hands propping him up weakly. Panos cringed, his emotional mindset was erratic: one moment he felt he could endure and so sharply did he feel he wanted to crumble and die. Everything that happened to him rammed directly against his pride. It was impossible to tell which was winning anymore. But the prince had already let the princess into his heart, he didn't see it in himself to push her out again - not now.

[Enigma]

"Don't try to rush it," Jeon said absently, glancing at the carriage. "I usually don't listen much to politics or gossip, you see. Most of the time it just gets in my way, so it's in one ear and out the other."

Jeon shrugged. "I'm sorry if Kevin thinks I'm playing some sort of game, but I really don't know what the king did that got everyone so angry at him. It wasn't important before, but now it's key to everything, and nobody's talking about it to me!"

[G]

Calamity laughed in a hollow sort of tone at Panos' comment about her mother.

"Love me? I don't think so. I don't think she was capable of it, of motherly love or any other kind. She just wanted to make me into another version of her... Queen of a kingdom of terrified slaves. She never wanted me to be myself, either."

Panos' eyes met hers, and she felt a surge of sympathy and affection for the other royal. She lifted an arm, gripping his shoulder gently. "We're a lot alike, you know. Both forced to be people we weren't; both constantly trying to live up to what was expected of us. Trying to live through it... How can any gods judge us, judge you, Panos, after what they've allowed to happen? Ripped away from everything we know, beaten, attacked..." Violated... She trailed off, not wanting to say aloud the next word in her mind.

"Maybe this is a chance... to be free. Maybe we can find a new place; where no one can tell us how to dress or who to be... when we get through this, when we figure it all out, do you want to go home? I don't know that I do."

[Azazeal849]

“This is what happens to women. I wished things could be different. It is as it has been and will be.”

Gina had a few countering thoughts on that subject, but what else she may have had to say ended with privacy being broken. Melvin opened the door, and now could see the two teenage girls at their table with tea.

He must be here for the card, Gina realised. She turned around an adopted an exasperated expression.

"What's a girl have to do to get some privacy?" she scolded the small android, and immediately chivvied him back out into the corridor. As soon as they were past the doorframe and out of miss Dutt's sight line, she pulled the Magician tarot card out of her sleeve and pressed it into Melvin's hands. She had a moment to discover that the probe's skin felt entirely lifelike, if strangely cold, before the card vanished once again up Melvin's own sleeve.

Gina offered the probe a wink before bustling back into the tea-room and leaning back on the door to close it. She blew out her cheeks in a theatrical sigh.

"You know what I don't get?" she asked Caroline, turning serious again. "How come the marchioness gets to guard the border, but we need escorts just to get up the road?"

[Minkasha]

Doctor Jeon Smythe

Archer ensured one of his white strands kept behind an ear as he listened. His hazel eyes spoke clearer than his words, staring and observing intently Jeon’s frustrations. In the background Kevin was vindictively quiet in the wagon.

“You ag-greed the k-ing wa-as incom-mpetent. You ch-anged yo-ure min-nd?” Archer raised a brow, he looked confused.

"No, I've not changed my mind about that," Jeon sighed. Any man who was unaware of the council's intentions had to be incompetent, to say the least. But the king had one advantage over Jeon - the king knew what he did to provoke all this.

"You are a keen observer, Sir Archer," Jeon said, switching tactics. "Were you there when it happened? I need to know!"

Kevin's guard lowered his shoulders and cooled his airs.

"The-e blu-under with th-he Elv-ven Que-en? No."

"So who was there, who could see everything?" Jeon prompted. Elvish queen? "Surely they weren't alone together...?"

Or was that it? Was he caught in flagrante delicto? Archer scratched the back of his head, sighing. A passing grit of his teeth, Jeon got the sense the man was preparing himself to speak again.

“Th-e ad-d-dvisers” He turned his head to Theodore’s home “M-minus hi-is com-mpany, t-the qu-ee-en. S-ome of cou-ouncil” The knight answered briskly, raising his shoulders again. The length of talking and the struggle in which the man was having expressing himself, wore the man’s patience for further conversation to continue. He waved his hand at Jeon, walking to the wagon.



Gina Wright

“She,” Caroline smiled to herself, “Lost her parents, do you not remember reading? By the orcs on the eastern border. No one was brave enough to take on the responsibility. The Sauver have stopped the Draconions from raiding our empire at the west. They were never meant to protect both east and west, it was too much. The cowards at Whitebar left it to a girl. And she has never failed keeping our western borders safe. She’s terrifying and powerful. So much so her husband obeys her as someone would expect a wife…” To Caroline this must have been a good thing to say because the tone in her voice turned upward, happy. “She took her tragedy and made it a platform for a woman to command. I’ve never met her yet. Marchioness Calamity Sauver” Caroline looked over her shoulder at Gina, frowning and revealing a deep pain. Something was wanting in her eyes “We should be like her”



Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility & Panos Lambros

Panos leaned his face close to hers, his body still reliant on the table he used to fortify his stance. The royals’ threads of hair brushed against each other and he sighed. Licking his lips, he hesitated but looked into her amethyst eyes. If he didn’t go home he’d lose his brothers…and…

“I don’t know either” He added and collapsed into the princess with a needed hug. The drawn picture of his ex-husband was becoming stained with wayward ink dripping from quill. There was a knock on the wood door. A dull rapping of thuds cut the mood and Panos jerked away awkwardly.

“Marchioness, Adviser Editha Avery has arrived within your walls” The mature voice of the ebony servant called into the study softly.

[Enigma]

"Thank you, Sir Archer," Jeon said, meaning it. "You've been more helpful than you know."

Some of the advisers but not Theodore, curious. Perhaps the King has some inkling after all? Archer didn't mention Kevin being there - oh, was he with the other Jeon at the time? That could explain some of Kevin's sulk.

The probe trotted out of the door, looking disturbingly human as it looked up at him.

"We should join Kevin, I may have insulted him deeply without realizing it," Jeon warned. "You'd think whoever set this up would have left something behind to explain the situation to us, instead of leaving us blind and blundering around."

The probe frowned, glancing back at Jeon as he boarded Kevin's carriage. Was that a subtle dig at itself? It let a scowl drape its features as it boarded the carriage, giving Kevin a quick look before looking back at Jeon and fixing its eyes on him

Let Kevin think it was also upset with Jeon, perhaps he would let something slip that would be useful?

Jeon only had eyes for Kevin.

"Alright, enough of that," he scolded. "This is work time. I need to talk to someone who was there when it happened - and I need to know who exactly among the Elf Queen's retinue was present if I'm going to save your pretty neck."

[Azazeal849]

"Marchioness Calamity Sauver." Caroline looked over her shoulder at Gina, frowning and revealing a deep pain. Something was wanting in her eyes. "We should be like her."

There's hope for this world yet. Gina thought.

"Maybe we can be." she said. "We'll be really careful, but I still want to know what's going on round here. What were you going to say? About the elven queen before Alfred interrupted?”

Caroline released air from her nose with a dark cast on her face.

"It's what men do." she responded with a calmness coming from her youthful hatred of the opposite sex. "If Queen Alliysa withdraws, the tentative holds of the Dwarves will be released without the Elf to pacify them. Our empire will be attacked economically or directly by every national race in this world at that point." The green wearing maiden closed her eyes and placed a hand at the side of her face in distress.

Gina ran a hand through her hair. Is that what we’re here to stop? Ooyah fooker. No pressure then. it was a good thing that Gina Remoni’s friend was switched on and willing to bring her up to speed, unlike Alfred and her dad.

She thought for a moment.

“This might be me being paranoid again...” she said, sneaking a wary look through the keyhole to make sure no one was outside listening, and then lowering her voice for good measure. “But...what would happen if the council decided to take over? I mean, how would people take it? If they really did kill Mr Roe what’s to stop them from deciding they want to do the same to the king?”

Miss Dutt's wide set eyes widened and her head shook with resistance. "How am I to say what all the men of the Talos Empire will do?" Now she stood, grasping Gina's wrist and leaning close "You must keep those words very quiet, sweetheart. You are saying treasonous things, please don't do this to me. You are scaring me."

“I will, don’t worry.” Gina backed off from the question, and gently pulled the other girl into a reassuring hug. “I’m sorry...I’m just worried about it, and you’re the only one I can be totally open with.”

Out of miss Dutt’s eyeline, she bit her cheek. Jeez, it’s not even safe to talk about someone else’s treason.

She had a sudden mental image of the CGI bugs from Antz, all snapping back into their beds. ”You can get into trouble for just listening to someone talk about impersonating a soldier!”

Against Caroline, Gina’s stomach suddenly growled again, this time audibly. She caught Caroline’s eye with an embarrassed smile. It seemed as good an excuse as any to change the subject.

“Sorry, can I be cheeky and ask for something to eat?”

Caroline looked concerned. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah.” Gina reassured, quickly making up an excuse that didn’t involve being jet-lagged from jumping across universes. “I stupidly didn’t eat earlier cos I was worrying, so of course now I’m starving...”

Caroline nodded, accepting the explanation without further comment. “Alright. I’ll ask father.”

“Do you want me to come with?” Gina offered. The English girl caught a glimpse of discomfort and questioning when Caroline was asked. She seemed unnerved by what Gina had said, in some way.

"With me? Accompany me?" The other teenager asked in yearning to understand but shook her head. "I will meet you in my room." she promised.

“Alright.” Gina agreed, wondering what foreign etiquette she’d fallen afoul of this time. Or perhaps Caroline was just worried about hinting at anything that would get her outed - which Gina couldn’t blame her for, especially in a world like this.

“Listen out for what they’re saying.” she added. She had been hoping to eavesdrop herself, since any clue about Caroline’s dad and how he related to the regicidal council was info that she, Jeon and Cal could use. But if heading down with Caroline herself was going to somehow cause trouble, she would have to improvise. She adopted a frown. “I want to know what that little rat’s been saying to your dad.”

Sorry Alfred, she apologised silently as Caroline stepped out, turning to head downstairs. She followed the other girl’s suggestion and padded along the hall to the bedroom, where she and miss Dutt had had their last heated discussion. She could hear voices from the ground floor, but they were too distant for her to make out most of the words. She left the bedroom door open anyway and crossed to Caroline’s window to see what was happening outside - Hedspeth’s carriage was still there, and Jeon and Melvin were clambering into it.

She ducked away before anyone else could see her watching and, more out of habit than anything, began to explore the room for world-building clues, keeping one ear cocked for voices and footsteps.

[G]

As Panos collapsed into her, Cal returned the hug; the movement was almost natural. The teen had obviously grown throughout this journey - once she would have been as stiff as a board, and now look at her; comforting a friend, verbally and physically. Interrupted by the knock, she looked up, her practiced, royal shield returning in an instant.

"Okay - we just have to get through this meeting, and then we'll go and find Gina, alright?" she said softly to Panos. And whoever else is here, she thought, still feeling the tug of another presence low in her belly.

She crossed to the door, pulling it open to address the servant without. "Let us go, then," she said, her tone commanding. Editha Avery, she repeated the voice in her mind, committing it to memory, her heart fluttering as she followed the serving woman down the long hall, glancing behind her to make sure Panos was following. It was entirely possible that this meeting would throw a wrench into their plans, but it would have set off too many alarms to have left before attending it.

If it came to it, she had her gift. She had used it intentionally before, when she and Gina had practiced together; she could do it again.

[Enigma]

Doctor Jeon Smythe



Jeon’s body was comforted by the unusual airs of the wagon, a well-placed warmth replaced the fresh cold of the open air and the dim light emitting cloth above made things docile inside. There was a small jostling for the wagon began to move forward again with Knight Archer’s mounted guidance. Kevin crossed his arms, but gave Jeon a side glance with the flattery.


“We’ll never see another of Queen Alliysa’s in Greywall until the king is removed. Talk to the Foreign Affairs Adviser, she was there and had the gall to not drink the Elven wine offered. Who does that?” Kevin asked Jeon with a scoff and looked away through the cloth to observe the slowly passing city. “She’s talking to that bloodthirsty girl…our western protector.”


"Oh?" Jeon asked, raising his right eyebrow speculatively. "And just where is our western protector just now? Do you know where she stands should some.... misfortune make it necessary for the Council to step in?"


If she was in the city, all the better, but from what Gina implied, she was some distance away, one of the others he could somehow sense....!


His eye fell on the probe in its human shell. If there was some way he could share this sense with the probe, it could just go out and deliver the card for him and they could all then talk, rather than have to wait for this world's crude version of mail to travel to wherever she was.


Still, at least she was away from the dangers of the city.


"I would hate for this.... bloodthirsty girl to appear leading an army at her back, but better that than if she was to suddenly die. Too many deaths would look suspicious to even the dullest peasant. Hopefully, should she appear, that I find she is susceptible to your charms?"


"But not so too much, Kevin," he warned bitterly, as if struck by a sudden burst of jealousy. Hopefully this pandering to the man's ego would help restore more of Kevin's good graces. Kevin snorted, yet crossed his arms and maintaining his view away from Jeon.


"Calamity", The voice rang very familiar to the doctor within his newfound sense, "That girl we are testing the waters. Sending Editha is our...test. Hmmm" Hesitation came upon Kevin's features and the brown haired man paused from speaking. "The girl better be smart and side with us"


"So, who else was there that we could talk to?" Jeon asked. "I need details. Surely you know someone who is available?" Kevin brushed back his brown hair with both hands and let it go with a sigh.


"You are being so bothersome. We will go see Charlie, it will be disgusting" The Grand Council member said with a scrunching of his lips back and forth, "I never understood why he took his duties and mistook them for charity in the slums. Culture is for us."


Jeon frowned, leaning back. So this Charlie was some sort of reformer? And he was at this event with the Elf Queen when... whatever it was happened?


"I'm sorry to be so demanding, but I wouldn't ask if this wasn't important. You never know when some unlikely person can be... useful," Jeon hesitated, cringing inside. "Since the king is holed up in his castle, I will need someone to help draw him out."


Kevin was quiet, getting to his feet and yelling out from the side of the wagon.


“Take us to Adviser Charlie’s!” Pulling back in, Kevin plopped down on his comfortable sitting arrangement.


Archer’s guidance of the horse was clean. Through the smooth ride nothing disturbed them. The extent of affluence in this city was grand. Block after block was comfortably clean and designed with beautiful wood homes adjacent to each other. Looking down roads Jeon saw that the wealthiest lived further out in small palaces on larger plots of land away from the center of town. The population was adorned and happy. Superficially, everything presently was welcoming.


Their ride ended in front of a leafy green two-story home. An archway drizzled vines off its brown curves, leading through a tiny forest of scenting evergreens to the front door made of bronze. Etched into the metal was a woman in a simple cloth dress, a rope tethering the fabric to her waist, a cloth rest on top of her coiled hair and in her arms was a basket of fruit. Given a look from the Grand Council member, Archer pounded his fist on the door. He had to slam hard for the thud to become loud, the knight wincing in pain with the incrementally stronger bangs.


Finally a 5’7” man in an exquisite brown vest threaded with silver swirls, wearing a large black overcoat beaded with ruby squares as buttons, red dyed leather pants and black boots answered the door. He was younger, no older than 30. Hair was black and kept at ear length, with one eye of a hazel color and the other teal. His features were of the average Caucasian appearance, but as he smiled and how he dressed, Charlie exuded fun. It was clear his heterochromatic eyes were looking at Jeon, avoiding Kevin.


"Adviser Charles?" Jeon asked, stepping out of the welcome warmth of Kevin's carriage and into the chilled air. The man was certainly younger than expected.


"Greetings," he said, placing his hand over his hand over his heart and bowing slightly. "I am Jeon, a humble apothecary. The Councilman and I was hoping to talk to you today about some recent events that you were present for."


The probe climbed out of the couch and stood beside Jeon, staring up at Charlie impassively as it scanned both him and the house beyond.


"Ah, and this is my apprentice, Melvin," Jeon added, glancing down at the probe, then turning back to Charlie. "May we impose on you today?"


“Of course, I will help” Charlie said with zeal that made Kevin roll his eyes. Charlie glanced over at the high positioned man and opened his door further. His home was composed of soft tan colors which swirled across the wood floor and walls with an energy neither Melvin nor Jeon could understand. The colors seem to shift and recede up and down the walls. Many figures were carved into the walls. Men, women, children all acting joyfully in many different types of clothing and features which changed shade as the fluid colors came and went. The Councilman sighed deeply and walked inside.


“You’ve updated things again. Are these images of the poor?” Kevin morclongly asked as he stared from one wood face to another. Charlie glared at the back of the man’s skull.


“The poor have more to offer a community” Knight Archer stepped inside after his charge. Kevin didn’t have anything to add to Charlie’s words. He kept his lips shut and waited Jeon.


"Thank you for inviting us into your home," Jeon thanked Charlie, but he staggered for a moment as he entered the doorway, his smile faltering.


"Do... do you hear a bell?" he asked, raising one hand to his temple. It seemed at once incredibly distant, yet he could feel the vibration - as if somehow the toll of that bell seem to rock his soul. "I... I hear a bell?"


The probe stepped forward, scanning Jeon worriedly - and catching him as the man fainted.

[Azazeal849]

Gina Wright

Gina’s search was not eventful. A woman’s life within their class did not offer much deviation from one to the next; full layers of strung clothing, a vanity dresser and its pleasures, a bed layered with a blue wooly blanket on top. The room was what it was expected to be for the time period. However, Caroline’s returning presence was announced by the strengthening scent of gravy. She entered with a tray, holding a bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy, and a square bronze cup filled with warm water laced with honey.

”Thanks.” Gina began gratefully, but her forehead creased when she saw that the tray in hand was shaking, the spoon sliding and falling onto the wood floor.

”What’s the matter?”

Caroline laid eyes on Gina nervously.

“With his mage, the king has appeared downstairs and is talking with my father…” Her disbelief was apparent.

Gina blanched. If the unlikely-named King Kinglos found out that the whole council had been here not ten minutes ago and wanted him dead, then people would be for the chop. Possibly including her new ally Jeon.

"What about?" she asked.

Caroline placed the tray on the end table. She shook her head.

"He's sobbing, I shied away before words were made. Alfred is standing there completely arrested by the situation."

Shooting a puzzled frown at Caroline, Gina sidestepped past the other girl and made her way to the carpeted landing, leaning over the bannister to listen. There was indeed the sound of a man crying in distress, drifting up through the still-open doors of the dining room.

"I wonder what's up?" she asked, looking back over her shoulder at Caroline. She padded back to the bedroom, picking up the spoon and half-consciously wiping each side of it against the detachable sleeve of her dress. "I'm thinking it's time for us to play at being silly little girls."

She picked up the still-steaming bowl, and motioned for Caroline to follow her as she tiptoed halfway down the curving staircase. She could hear the voices in the dining room more clearly now, although she couldn't see the speakers. Of course, that meant they couldn't see her either, which was a plus. She smoothed her dress under her legs and sat down on one of the thickly carpeted steps. She balanced the plate on her knees and patted the step next to her to invite Caroline to join her.

"If anyone comes out," she whispered, and pointed to one of the sanitised frescos where silvered knights were busy impaling what looked like giant, man-shaped lizards. "Just start telling me about the pictures."

She spooned a dollop of greasy mash into her mouth, even though her stomach was fluttering, and chewed tensely as she listened to the voices from the dining room.

Caroline sat quietly, her head turning to guide an ear down the stairs. She stroked Gina’s shoulder as the sobs of a man were heard.

“My support is shrinking. I feel there are few to rely on in these times anymore Theodore.” the man speaking had a low tone, secretive. The ambient noises of the house were so quiet he was still audible. “I’ve been guessing for so long.” the man reasoned between sounds of sadness.

“There there m’lord.” a softer spoken male voice calmly interjected. It wasn’t Alfred’s - Gina could only assume that this was the mage Caroline had mentioned.

Theodore Dutt cleared his throat.

“Sir, now is not the time to second guess yourself.” Theodore fumbled for words, and Caroline tapped her cheek uncomfortably.

“The only thing my father can speak fluently are orders.” she whispered, exasperated.

Gina pursed her lips. That, and I’d be tongue-tied as well, if the guy my mates were planning to murder just walked in.

The sobbing king drew quiet.

“What do you mean?” The way his words spoke began to carry lethality veiled behind the broken-heartedness. Secret laughing stock or not, Gina suddenly had an inkling of why Caroline and Alfred were so scared of him.

“...Doubt is not a way to lead.” Theodore answered the king stiltedly.

“Hmm.” the calmest of the three men sounded, Alfred seemingly silent. “The Emperor will be unhappy if you cannot ensure Greywall’s borders remain undisturbed.”

“Yes...” Theodore trailed.

“The Marchioness has been doing well with the western border.” King Kinglos began, “If we could further her to cull the Dragonkin, surely the other races would bow?”

“I had not thought of that...” Theodore said very transparently, “Yes that would work.”

Gina swallowed her current mouthful, painfully. “Do you think he’s right?” she whispered, looking at Caroline. Clearly the king trusted Caroline’s father, but if he was working with the council he probably wouldn’t be above letting the king go ahead with a suicidal idea. And drop Cal right in the middle of it…

Caroline’s forehead wrinkled with the raising of her brows in surprise.

“We’ve tamed the other nations before with fear. But how dare the king wish to feed off the work of the Marchioness!” She hissed under her breath.

“Then should we transport there?” the calm voice asked. The king coughed, and sniffled as if he was wiping his face with loud shaking breaths.

“Soon, take me to my chambers O’doln.”

“Yes.” A strange whoosh rang in Gina’s ears, picking up a high pitch note before ceasing suddenly. A teenage male voice gasped, as if startled.

“I fell asleep on you!? How rude of me Sir Dutt.”

The mage, Gina realised, The mage must have done something to him. She would have to warn Jeon. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to go through with anything like the council’s plan for murder, but if the king had a bodyguard who could teleport and freeze people, it would be best to give him the head’s up.

Uranus. she thought, Altered consciousness, unexpected change… She bit her lip, wishing she could have seen if the king carried the same mark as councilman Hedspeth.

Caroline looked warily at Gina, frowning at what had been exchanged.

“I think it is time,” came Theodore’s voice, “That you grab your lady and head home.”

Caroline’s brow twitched. Gina played her expected part by rolling her eyes and mumbling, “Great.” She swallowed one last bite of mash, and put down her spoon.

“If anything scary happens,” she whispered, squeezing Caroline’s hand, “Come see me, yeah? I promise I’ll stay safe. You do the same.”

Caroline nodded and fluffed her dress. The girl stole a kiss before an upset looking Alfred had rounded the stairs and noticed them sitting there. Caroline pointed to the painting on the wall in reflex of Gina’s instruction before.

“If it wasn’t for Magistan my father would have never commissioned this piece.”

Gina nodded along and looked suitably impressed. The athletically built gentleman bought the act quiet easily. Piercing eyes stared at Gina and he raised an arm for her to take.

“It is time I return you home.”

“I suppose it is.” Gina agreed.

As they exited the mansion house their haggard driver climbed back up into his driving seat, having apparently been waiting for them the whole time. Gina wished she had something on her to tip him with, but apparently the people of this world didn’t seem to think that girls needed purses, or pockets.

The Tarot card felt warm against her arm as she settled herself into the carriage, and she wondered how the hell they were going to warn Cal in time. ‘Melvin’ would have to get the other card to her - and somehow do so before the teleporting King showed up on her doorstep.

She’s smart. Gina told herself, She can take care of herself - and Panos too. Even so, she hated being too far away to help.

“So what did you and Mr Dutt get to talking about?” she asked Alfred conspiratorially, to pass the time as their carriage bumped down the paved road back to the Remoni villa.

Alfred raised a brow at her. The expression was wiped away with a chuckle.

“Things only men talk about.” The black haired teen took a bit of pride in his sex as he intensified his smile.

Gina bit the edge of her tongue. Are you fucking kidding me?

“Couldn’t you make it simple for me?” she asked, pretending to pout.

Before Alfred could answer, the ride began to fill with noises of chatter and walking; more people were starting to fill the roads. Gina’s gentleman escort peeked outside the wagon.

“People are gathering to the north central square. Hmm. Is the king making a speech?”

Gina shuffled sideways and peered through the window past Alfred’s shoulder. People were indeed gathering, and blocking the road ahead.

The boy seemed hesitant now. “We should take you home, but foot traffic will delay us. We will walk, are you going to be well lady?”

”I’ll be fine.” Gina nodded, wondering what Alfred planned to say to their driver. She looked out the window again. She doubted the king was making a speech after what she had heard at Caroline’s house, but something was definitely drawing a crowd.

She sensed trouble.

[G]

Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility & Panos Lambros

Panos followed behind with a soft frown on his face. He was quietly complacent, keeping only a few steps behind the princess turned marchioness. Together they were escorted down a floor, past many closed doors and attentive soldiers standing guard. Two large wood doors were pressed open and they entered a dining hall. Sauver banners hung between the thin slit airy windows high up on the walls. They proved only to bring in little bright light far too high to reach below, the distant sounds of snowy winds passed through them. Below torches lit the room and the long wood table.

The room wasn’t extravagant, and from where Calamity had walked she guessed it wasn’t the main dining hall with how off to the side this room was located within her castle layout. Yet sitting in a brown cloak, and fur covered clothes pragmatic for the weather, a woman next to the power positioned end chair on the left. Thin black hair grew down to her ears, frizzy with many breaks and an average face with a rather unpleasant pointed nose. She sat calmly with her hands clasped together on the table and set her grey eyes on the royal couple. The thirty something woman smirked when she saw them, a devouring gaze locked in her stare. She looked to be enjoying what she saw, staring at them both and leaning back, hand off the table cordially. Her body moved fluidly into her new resting position.

“Marchioness, there have been many exceptional things said about you and your husband. Now I see them. Thank you for having me” Her tone of voice wasn’t charismatic, but cynical and sharp. The woman was speaking flattery, but lacked the delivery to make it feel warm.

Cal smiled.
"And thank you for your kind welcome, Madam Avery." Is 'Madam' even the right way to address her? Surely I wouldn't call her 'Editha.' Gods, don't screw this up, Cal! The girls' inner monologue was a stream of nervousness she did not outwardly portray; playing a servant, a parent - those had been difficult, unnatural roles. A ruler? She had been trained for this all her life. Still, she missed Gina; the redhead would have managed to take charge of this situation effortlessly, she was sure.

She didn't like the way the woman looked them over. The young royal wondered at the location, as well; was this a statement of the womans' importance, to be met in a lesser room; or simply a nod to the confidentiality of the meeting? At least, it didn't seem to be ringing any alarms that Panos had joined her.

She crossed the room to join the Advisor, taking the seat at the head of the table. "Let's not waste time on pleasantries, though. We have much to discuss."

Editha watched with a sly smile. Panos moved and quietly sat where he guessed he was supposed to be; his position left him across the strange woman. Panos pressed some hair behind his ear, the woman studying Panos as he did so.

“The king hasn’t given you a particular favor you’ll enjoy” The woman said straight to the Lambros prince. He flinched, his quick thinking dampened by his recent events. However it was revealed she wasn’t actually speaking to Panos, turning her vision back onto Calamity, “Have you seen it?”

Cal gulped. This direct question, she couldn't very well deflect - the woman had essentially made it impossible to hide her ignorance. She would just have to hope that she could fumble through and not give herself away. If it came to it, she had her gift - or, potentially, the power to simply silence the woman, though the notion of directly ordering harm to someone made her stomach churn.

"No, I haven't," she replied, her tone haughty. "I've had quite a lot on my plate, keeping the Draconian herd from our borders, as you well know." Under the table, she reached for Panos hand, squeezing his fingers gently. Editha was still surveying him like a predatory animal, and she doubted the gaze was making her friend feel at ease.

Panos’ fingers felt clammy under her touch. He looked over at Calamity for a moment, need flashing in his eyes. The Adviser watched with an off-putting smile. Leaning forward, the frizzy haired woman focused on the marchioness.

“King Kinglos has bribed your Torture Master to rat out everything you do to him. Interesting, I am sure you are thinking so” Editha put a finger on the table and slowly glided it across the surface with a slow drag. “You must feel angry and betrayed, young marchioness”

Can stiffened, pausing before she responded to consider how best to do so. The woman seemed calculating, and she could only assume she was loyal to this king, as she herself was supposed to be. Why then was she divulging this information... did she want Cal to respond as she was prompting, to incriminate herself? Perhaps she was being paranoid. Regardless, the young princess' aim was purely to get through this meeting, and get herself and Pants out of here, so it seemed best not to start trouble she didn't want to have to hang around and handle.

"His majesty has his reasons, I am sure," she replied stiffly, opting for the diplomatic - and safer - route, "I confess, I am dissapointed to hear my loyalty is in question, but I am confident he has found no cause to doubt it. Everything I do is in service to the kingdom."

It was the response she would have advised anyone to give her mother in the same situation - the Grand Sensibility had certainly not been above spying on her underlings, trying to catch them out for imagined betrayals. She hoped she was right in thinking her doppelganger was above board in her dealings - it certainly seemed the woman whose shoes she was filling was a ruthless warmaster, and happy to go to great, and terrible lengths to fulfill her task of fighting off the Draconian forces.

"Is this all the information you have come to offer?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at the other woman. Edith raised a brow of her own to match. The two stared for a moment and the Adviser looked down with a smile, then stood.

“Yes, and I’ve gathered what I needed” What that implied was left to be fussed. Panos knew a bit of the social games. The woman was not at all discreet about the veil of power she believed to have in this situation. Calamity was going to make a foolish mistake letting this woman leave so quickly. Yet he only wanted to be done with all of this and leave. What power could this woman have if Calamity and he did not play the game at all?

Cal bit the inside of her lip, concerned by the woman's attempt at a hasty departure. She could feel Panos tension beside her, and it gave rise to butterflies of her own. What did she plan to take back to the king, given their short conversation.. and what difficulties would it create for Panos and herself, when they needed to make a swift and inconspicuous departure.

I've gathered what I need, the Advisor had said, her knowing smile making Cal fear what trouble her ignorance if the situation might bring. At least if they knew what was coming, they could prepare...

"And what exactly is that*?" she asked, her tone demanding, a split decision to draw the truth from this woman making her concentrate on placing power in her words. Her forehead creased into a frown with the internal effort to lace her magic into the sentence. "Tell me what you intend for us!*"

“To have you assasinated?” Edith said with a stupefied confusion. She stuttered, fighting the compulsion to talk, but she was losing “You won’t defect from King Kinglos, the Grand Council must remove you before you become a political problem” Panos watched her turn white. Both he and she were horrified, this place was just as dangerous as the others. And, how did Calamity make her do that? The prince looked over at Calamity with surprise on his face.

“Do something”

Cal stared at the woman, open mouthed. Assassinated? Clearly, the political climate here was far more complex then she had assumed - her mothers' rule had been so absolute among the nobles of her country, it had not occured to her that there could be a deeper plot here... this council wanted to overthrow their king, and remaining fiercely loyal to him - what she had considered the safe move - had actually thrown herself and Panos into the firing line. She had to act; and so she did, setting her face determinedly.

"Guards!" she called, her voice echoing through the large room, and - she hoped - reaching those posted outside, "seize this woman! She is a traitor to our King!" Heavy clanks came at her command, the door opened and two men grabbed her. They did, however, hesitate to put Adviser Edith into any harmful hold.

"I..." Edith turned her head with a calculated finesse to each of the knights and then to Calamity. "You would put a high servant of the king in jeopardy? You have no proof other than the strangeness of your new craft, young marchioness. Have your men unhand me and your consequences will be minimal compared to what they could be"

Cal's heart was pounding frantically. Anxiety and fear were making her act quickly; perhaps rashly - but trying to play it safe had got her nowhere, and their goal was merely to escape this castle, after all.

"Detain the Advisor," she said to her guards, her voice crisp and commanding, "in the guest quarters. Ensure she is secure there. I will get to the bottom of this." She stood, giving Panos a meaningful look. Follow me, she mouthed, and swept from the room, angling for the stables. They would leave, now - if anyone questioned her, she would simply say she needed to see the king.

[Azazeal849]

Gina Wright

“Stop the ride, we will walk.” Alfred explained to the horseman. The passing noise was loud with chatter and footsteps; things had picked up quickly. Alfred extended an arm for Gina to take and helped ease her down to the ground. Gina smiled a thank you to the driver and looked around to get her bearings.

Out of the wagon, following the traffic with one’s eye led to single man standing on an unnatural podium. It was a construction of deep blue cloud, which held him steady above the ground to look down upon the bundled-up people meeting him at the round intersection. Weird, Gina reflected, but unfortunately nowhere near the most bizarre thing she had seen in the last nine months.

The man on the cloud wore deep blue robes and had lengthy red hair, the top layer braided over the other. His features were refined, but his jaw was kindly square, stubble left across his jawline, and maroon colored eyes looked down to the gentry with periodic, intense squints. His ears were at a slight point, and altogether it gave Gina an idea he might not be entirely human. Alfred saw him and looked on with amazement.

“The king’s magical adviser?”

Hi again, O’doln. Gina chewed her tongue. She couldn’t see from this distance if the man bore a zodiac mark. He had gone to drop the king back in his chambers not five minutes ago - what was he doing back here so soon?

She looked at Alfred - judging by his reaction, he hadn’t even seen the magician back at the Dutts’ house before O’doln had zapped him with that sleeping spell. Now, he appeared to be battling getting closer against the notion of taking Gina home, which seemed to be the opposite direction. Gina decided to help him along with his dilemma.

“Oooh, this is exciting.” she said, bouncing a little on her heels. She glanced back at Alfred to offer him a smile as she edged a few steps closer to the crowd. “What do you think he’s here for?”

Alfred looked to Gina and shrugged without certainty. He picked up on her interest and stared longer to Adviser O'doln. He tugged and began leading her down his way. Closer, the inhuman man became audible.

"...will be showing you esteemed people his means to bolster our Empire. Curious? Those who raise their hands, I will take you to Whitebar where King Kinglos will speak with the Marchioness.”

Gina’s heart skipped a beat. Cal. This might be a better opportunity than even Melvin’s tarot card walkie-talkies, and she needed to warn her friend of everything the council and the king had planned.

“He is ready to act, and his actions will be now." O’doln affirmed.

Gather people began chatting among themselves. The whispers were loud.

"Can the king pull this off?" a woman in earshot was overheard.

"After his butchery with the Elven Queen, he tries next with a violent little girl. How bold." A man laughed at the notion.

Gina’s suitor raised a brow.

"Whitebar...I've yet to be...no, getting you home. Come on, I'll catch the gossip another time."

Nah. thought Gina. Others around them were laughing, or curious, raising their hands for O'doln's magic. She uncurled her own hand, as if thinking hesitantly about raising it, and leaned again on Alfred’s own evident curiosity.

“Oh please can we go?” she wheedled, still shamelessly running with her girlish act. “It won’t take long, right? And Caroline loves the marchioness, she’d be so excited to hear we’ve actually seen her...”

Alfred’s expression was smitten, a closed smile of fondness showed how easily he was eating up her feminine act.

"How could I resist you?" the handsome boy chuckled, raising his hand.

Gina beamed and stuck up her own. Kicking herself could come later.

[Minkasha]

Gina Wright

A hazy lightheadedness and a flash suddenly turned into the orange radiance and warmth of fire. A feat of power by the magician had relocated her elsewhere in a sleek transition swift enough to startle Gina. Among the majority of the former crowd their feet stood on the grey stone belonging to a massive dining room. The few dozen gentry were many chairs apart from the pointed eared magical user and someone who Gina felt a fateful pull towards.

A black-haired man in his thirties, comfortably dressed with layers of velvet, wool, and bright dyes which cradled an overweight body stood proudly. Attractive gray eyes and handsome noes made him interesting with the formal cloak and platforms he wore. A fabulously woven vest was bound over wool sleeves and it came together with an ascot. Gina couldn’t see a mark on him anywhere but she was very aware he was a part of this universe’s puzzle.

Torches carrying the warming fire held between blue banners draping the walls. In each a bastard sword plunged up through a scaled, clawed and obviously inhuman hand.

The craft of the sigil must have been lengthy for these tall banners imitated flowing blood gushing from the wound dyed in streams. Slits near the ceiling allow ventilation of fresh air. Flecks of snow floated through, melting as a pits of water beneath them. Guards covered in thick metal shook from their positions, startled by the sudden arrival of the mass population. Turning to face the debonair lordly man, the guards lowered their weapons and kneeled.

King Kinglos’ charisma was manic and put on obviously. His eyes were antsy, moving around even as his lips were smiling to be welcoming.

“I have brought loyal subjects to display a bold union for my kingdom. Where is the Marchioness?” he asked a nearby guard.

“…Not here m'lord, she left for you” There were chuckles and stifled laughs, King Kinglos glanced away with shaking fists. Alfred nervously twiddled his thumbs. O’doln whispered into the king’s ear and the Human grunted. They were exchanging words under their breath and King Kinglos helped himself to the dining room door, being followed by guards and his magician. His absence left men and women to laugh at the man’s expense. Alfred was staring at the door, swallowing before grasping Gina’s hand.

“Our king is unsure of what he is doing. We are to request him to return us home”


**


Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility & Panos Lambros

Their carriage was small, lush with beautiful comfort but unrelenting in its enclosing size. The mountains were nearly a world away from the enchanted insides of this ride which allowed them in comfortable heat. Though there was no visual sign of magic, the warmth and the tingle it provided to their sensitives told them it was prominent.

Panos was hiding himself in the dull cloak he was wearing, gazing out the window with hopelessness and frustration. They had fled after ensuring Edith was detained. Their direction was straight to Gina. What they were going to do was follow it till she was found. The snowflakes stuck to the window, unnaturally becoming watery with the unseen heat source and melting off the glass. Steady steam followed their horse drawn ride.

Their ride had been a half hour prior, Whitebar was gone from sight. And from what the help had shared, Whitemarch would not be in view until another full day at the minimum. It was a bold move of absence which had created unusual suspicion and worry in Calamity’s guards and servants, to leave. Amid hushed whispers of confusion was only very displayed obedience to her word. White buried evergreens amid various levels of elevation were all to be seen outside.

Their sense of Gina was then suddenly thrown wayward for what pulled them forward now yanked at the gut senses behind him. Panos’ lowly expression perked at Calamity with surprise and offense. Gina was now behind them, not too far away – most likely at Whitebar.

“I refuse to accept that happened!” the Lambros prince sassed. Distress was hidden behind his pride and flair.

Cal turned physically in her seat to look in disbelief in the direction they had come.

"What? How could she have moved so quickly?! DRIVER!" she yelled hurriedly, poking her head through the small window to her left. The winter air harshly punished her for the action, biting at her skin.

"Turn around at once!" she commanded, not offering an explanation. It seemed impossible that Gina could now be behind them - but whatever strange bond connected them had not been wrong before. She just hoped they could figure out how to escape this world quickly, before she got herself - or any of her friends - into a worse situation than she'd already found herself in.

"Close the window!" her travel companion hissed as he drew his clothes tighter to him. "By the Gods, our departure was alien enough as it is. How stupid are we going to look returning back?"

"I know," Cal snapped, wincing against the cold as she withdrew back inside the carriage, "but what else can we do? Ride on, when she's behind us? Fuck how it looks - I'll use my magic, command them not to notice if I have to!" The girl was flustered, not considering that she had spoken of her power to Panos for the first time.

"We need to find her, and get out of here - together!" Panos gave her a cautious side eye.

"You are eager to use your magic aren't you? Witch" He leaned back, crossing his legs with finesse. "Can you actually do what you say or are you being cocky because you made one woman incessantly talk and betray herself? It's not hard to make a woman keep talking"

However Panos intended the title of 'witch', it was a slur in Serroc, and Cal bridled at the perceived insult.

"I said I'll do it, if I have to," she said stiffly, turning her eyes to the window. "And I can make people do, or think, whatever I want! It's like I put my thoughts into their head." She chewed her lip, the gravity of such an ability returning to her.

"Maybe I should have used it more," she said aloud, stung by the thought. "If I had, so many people might not be dead."

"...Could you make me forget what happened to me?" Panos released a sigh gradually from his lips, mirroring her expression by staring out his own window. The duo could feel the carriage begin to turn around, shifting them gently.

"Could I...?" Cal paused, chewing her lip. She thought it was probably possible. It had felt wrong, to use her powers on her friends.. but she had made Manisha forget her pain, when it had been necessary.

The princess swallowed, turning her head to look at her companion. "Yes... if that's what you want. I think I can." The adolescent prince wouldn't meet her look. He was quietly withholding self loathing. The fear, the codependency: he wanted them all to be shed. How he felt, how he was forced to feel a myriad of ego chipping emotions were unnatural to him. He was young and still Panos was grimly aware these personality traits were things he wanted severed from him, things that should have never become a part of him. His assailant had no right to take his body and burrow in his mind. Panos would not have a future with the recent past he so unjustly received.

"When this is over" Panos brushed a hand at his collarbone and squeezed, "It will happen then"

[Azazeal849]

"Our king is unsure of what he is doing. We are to request him to return us home."

"Not yet, surely?" Gina pretended to pout. "It's still early in the day - she can't have gone far..."

She looked around the stone dining room, over the bustle of the chattering, sniggering crowd. The forbidding castle hall certainly looked like the domain of a war-leader, and the aggressive, bleeding banners only hammered home the fact. It was a statement of power, like the Nikas palace back in Panos' world - but this place struck Gina with a more looming, threatening kind of power. Definitely not a Disney castle. She didn't like to think of what kind of danger that Cal might have been thrown into by being thrust into marchioness Sauver's shoes. Where was she? She drew away from Alfred and threaded her way through several spectators towards the nearest plate-armoured guard, who had risen back to his feet after the king left the room.

"Um...excuse me." she asked. The face nestled inside the armour's open helmet was young - surprisingly young - but hard. Gina did not have trouble believing that this young man could kill. "Can you tell me where the marchioness went?"

The guard's brown eyes glanced down to acknowledge Gina, but turned away again without speaking, focusing straight ahead once more. For once, Gina noted, it seemed less of a not your business, girl kind of look and more of a not at liberty to say, miss. Where could Cal and Panos have gone? Was it possible that they had left without telling anyone, perhaps to try and search for her?

Gina's eyes drifted towards the arched doors where the king and his mage had beat their hasty retreat from the room. She had to keep Kinglos here until Cal came back, or at least until someone could go out looking for her. And the king was important to this world - even without knowing the sinister Council's plan for him she could feel it. She had to get the measure of him.

Gina brushed her sleeve, gently rubbing the line of zodiac tattoos branding her arm. Uranus - societal change. Hurrying away from the guard back to Alfred, she touched the young man's arm to draw his attention.

"You're right." she nodded, "We should talk to the king. But we can't just leave yet. He can't just leave yet. The marchioness must be somewhere nearby."

She gave Alfred a gentle tug on the elbow to get him moving, but then fell into step beside him rather than lead. Alfred was easy enough to convince, but she had to somehow convince the unsure, inpulsive king of the same. How? She had no fucking idea.

She tried to plan as they walked, sidestepping and excuse me-ing through the knots of Greywall citizens. The king wanted to be seen as strong - it wasn't hard to guess that the people of this place demanded it of their leaders. But what did the other leaders want - the elf queen that Alfred had mentioned, or these 'draconians' that they were supposedly at war with? Elves, dragons...and now you're going to meet a king. Gina exhaled. You've got this. She had, after all, already met an emperor, albeit under slightly more equal circumstances. Technically, Cal was a princess. And then on top of that she'd seen giant cats, and angel-men, and a naive girl from an alternative Greece who...

Hiss - BANG

Gina's throat closed up, and her eyes threatened to start spilling tears. She really didn't want to think about that right now. She swallowed hard.

She had a few more seconds to compose herself before they reached the arched doors. They were thick, iron-wrought wood, split in places from moisture and pinpricked with woodworm holes. The metal bands were visibly rusted in places beneath their protective tar. Gina took a breath and exchanged a look with Alfred, before raising her fist and knocking on the door, thumping with the bottom of her fist so that the sound would carry through the thick wood.

Here goes nothing.

[Minkasha]

Gina Wright

Pulled open, Gina and Alfred were given a clear sound of a man’s scathing voice. In serendipity Jeon appeared in her relative proximity. He was now in the same building as her. Alfred played with his lips and helped ease Gina out into the hallway. The warmth of the previous room was being taken by the vast length of chilling stone. It made their young skin bristle.

“Then get her to me. I will see her now. Let’s go” King Kinglos’ jittering voice claimed itself the source of the previous sharp speech. Alfred and Gina saw a homely black woman servant nod before the king and his growing entourage stepped in their direction. The gentry boy next to Gina puffed his chest and raised his hand to gather the king’s attention. In return the royal pointed to him with authority.

“You’re to come with me. Someone ought to see me get things here in order”

“Y-yes m’lord! Come lady, he wants us” The black haired boy looked down at her with compelling urgency.


**

Doctor Jeon Smythe

“Je….” A distant voice was calling the doctor through the fog of collecting consciousness. His body felt wetness across his lips and the strange tangy taste of an unknown flavor that vaguely made him think of spicy dust. “Jeon! You need to wake up! You are scaring me!” Keith’s voice was hollering down into his ears. He didn’t yet have an understanding of where he was but the man could sense Gina was very close, mere feet from her. And the other two he had yet seen were much closer than previously.

As he opens his eyes he catches Keith’s worried brown eyes looking down at him, layered locks almost falling in his face. At the other side of his body Charlie was on hand and knee with an a now empty vial in hand. The ceiling above was a dull and stoic gray, layered brickwork making him realize he wasn’t he’d been previous.

“Is there anything you need?” Charlie was immediately moved to ask. Kevin glanced over with annoyance.

“Give him space, you will make him unwell if you continue to breathe down on his face. You were around the poor, who knows what you are sickly with”

“They are not walking diseases” the younger one protested.

“And yet you do not live with their ’community’ permanently. Good sense tells you they are disgusting” A quiet tension built between them. Around Jeon were many wooden tables, what they held on them he couldn’t see from his ground position. An enormous wall sized indent hosted a large pot five feet tall, metal racks beside it which were currently empty. Above was the opening for a chimney. A shelf lay with herbs and spices in glass jars on the opposite wall. Attentive persons in dark gray wool robes looked on to the trio with attentiveness and nervousness seen in their body language. Archer stood beside the door with his eyes away and a frown aimed directly at 'Melvin' who was the most enigmatic in the room.

[Azazeal849]

They've found her, Gina thought, allowing herself to let out a quiet breath of relief.

"You're to come with me." the king snapped, pointing at Alfred. "Someone ought to see me get things here in order."

"Y-yes m'lord!" Alfred answered, stuttering slightly. My lord Gina thought, taking a mental note of the correct form of address. The black-haired boy looked down at her with compelling urgency. "Come lady, he wants us."

"Yeah, 'course." Gina nodded emphatically. If king Kinglos was going straight to Cal, then she had no objection to an excuse to hang onto his coat-tails. The king had already turned to follow the black woman with a swirl of his formal cloak, O'doln and the others sweeping along in his wake. As Gina and Alfred hurried after them, Gina heard a voice behind a door to her right.

"Jeon! You need to wake up!"

The sharp whip-crack of councilman Hedspeth's voice was unmistakable, but right now he sounded almost frightened. Gina checked, pausing by the door as another, unfamiliar voice answered the first. And then Hedspeth again, angry this time.

"Give him space, you will make him unwell!"

Gina gaped at Alfred, who had turned round to tug insistently at her elbow. He definitely said Jeon!

"How the h-" Gina asked Alfred, and caught herself just in time. "How'd they get here?"

Glancing back at the king and his followers as they continued to retreat up the corridor, Gina hastily put her hand on the thick metal door-ring, twisted and pushed. She found herself looking into some sort of kitchen, and almost startled Hedspeth's familiar white-haired guard who was hanging back beside the door. Hedspeth himself was kneeling on the stone floor between a chopping table and a massive hearth, cradling Jeon, who was blinking as if coming round from a daze. A younger man Gina didn't recognise and a knot of people in grey robes hovered nearby.

"Um..." Gina said, as her eyes were inevitably drawn to her fellow Traveller laid out on the floor. "Is everything alright?"

[Enigma]

"I don't know," Jeon answered, blinking at Gina in the doorway, then at Keith and Charles. "Where are we and how did we get here? And more importantly, how did I wind up here on the floor?"

There was a strange flavor in his mouth. He pinched his lips as his tongue probed a lingering smear. "That's... curious," he managed.

The probe glanced at Archer, then walked to Jeon's side, offering its hand.

"Ah, thank you Melvin," Jeon smiled, pulling himself upright. He stood, grasping the probe's shoulder for support. "I don't suppose there's any tea or spirits?"

[Minkasha]

Doctor Jeon Smyth & Gina Wright

“Hmm.” Alfred hummed at the unfolding situation, coming across as cautious and thoughtful as he now stood with Gina in the doorway to the kitchen. Councillor Hedspeth being here was evidently not something he was expecting, or at ease with. Archer raised a brow at the teenagers, and the gathering of servants scattered to do tasks and busy themselves.

“I may brew some tea.” a young woman muttered, getting water warmed up.

"Thank you," Jeon smiled at her.

Councilman Hedspeth stood next to Jeon and crossed his arms with impatience. Finely dressed Adviser Charlie spoke up, rather loudly.

“News travels swiftly of our king’s meeting.” he explained to Alfred and Gina. “Use of my portal was handy.” The black haired young man smiled, but Kevin just rolled his shoulders.

“It was me who drew the news to us, the city enjoys my company more after all.” Kevin smirked through Charlie’s slowly fading expression.

“Why are you two here?” Kevin sharply asked the teenagers.

"The king's here to see the marchioness, sir." Gina answered demurely, leaving out the extra detail about the Draconians. Even if advisor Dutt hadn't already passed the plan to his fellow conspirators, there was no way for Gina to mention it without admitting that her and Caroline had been eavesdropping. "His wizard brought us all along to watch."

As if to confirm her story, she heard chinking footsteps doubling back down the corridor, and behind them a guard drew his attention on the adolescents.

“King Kinglos is expecting your eyes.”

The Councilman scoffed in surprise. “The king wants you two?”

Archer scratched the back of his neck. Kevin rolled his eyes.

“Good, he is opening his social circle again.” Charlie noted with some relief.

"Yes, very healthy," Jeon agreed, glancing up at Kevin. "A shut-in is so hard to reach."

Gina studied the second councilman. He was a shade shorter than Gina herself, with white skin and eyes that were two different colours. Dressed in a fine brown waistcoat with silver embroidery, he was clearly Hedspeth's equal - but unlike the terse, irritable Hedspeth, he seemed to radiate an easy-going, upbeat confidence. Gina would have been inclined to like him on sight, but if he was a friend of Hedspeth's then he was as much a part of the Council's game as the rest of them, and that meant that she had to tread carefully.

She dropped her eyes to Jeon, who seemed fully in control of his faculties, albeit still sitting on the floor.

"Are you coming with us, sirs?" she asked, adding a little girlish enthusiasm to her body language by bouncing on the balls of her feet, inside her embroidered platforms.

"A man in my station has so few opportunities to observe a king, it's usually from afar or unavoidably brief. While these gentlemen would undoubtedly be welcome," Jeon shrugged elegantly, waving towards Kevin and Charles, "My...apprentice and I are merely subjects of little interest to kings, not unlike distant strangers."

Or was he? Who knew what sort of dealings the version of himself from this place got up to? Still, it was unlikely he would have direct dealings with the king. A discrete go-between, the king might never know where whatever he needed, whenever he needed, came from.

"And in this state, I am sadly not fit to pay court to the king," he added. "But I would welcome if you took my apprentice along."

The probe turned and scowled at him questioningly, and he saw a flicker of confused worry from Gina.

"It would be good to give him some exposure, assuming the king would not object?" Jeon said, glancing at the guard. "I assure you, Melvin is as quiet as a mouse. One could easily forget he's there."

Or until today, Jeon reflected. While he had no idea why he blacked out, that brief blessed moment of unconsciousness might be his last in a long while. Clearly its orders was to stick close to him, but why?

"Mind you, I wouldn't mind some broth or some stale bread to soothe this hunger."

As Jeon had gone on, Kevin eyed him with a raised brow and a cheeky smirk after, swooned by his wordplay in some way. The generous, debonair man, Charlie, fell for his reverse psychology the quickest and the most obliviously.

“You are a grand apothecary.” he said. “You should earn the king’s attention if you wish to take stride with him.”

The serving woman came and gave Jeon a freshly poured cup of green tea. The liquid was warm and welcoming to the doctor's lips.

"Thank you again!" Jeon said warmly, and drank thirstily.

At his say another servant was shuffling in her wool garment to the door, the guard having moved aside for her to walk out. The guard’s motion brought attention to him, and the Advisor and Councilman eyed the man in armor. His greater expression was hidden, but body language gave away his discomfort with his side to side swaying.

“I do not think our king will be bothered.” a low voice tumbled out gracelessly.

"Really? My, what a curious treat today has proven to be," Jeon replied, inclining his head in thanks. "It more than makes up for passing out earlier."

Alfred gave a concerned eye to Gina and chuckled with phony airs. “Many of high authority I get to see today, I am thrilled.” The teenage girl could feel her next-door suitor was nervous, as a quiver ran through him that he disguised well. She repeated her previous reassurance of a subtle squeeze, though this time on the crook of his arm where he was still holding her, rather than his hand. Don’t worry, I’m scared too. Luckily, Jeon’s reverse psychology on the two councillors hadn’t backfired.

Alfred smiled over at Gina, wordlessly thanking her and straightening his back. The young man was determined to either save his pride or keep up masculine appearances to her. Councilman Hedspeth waved a hand to silence the teenage boy, looping an arm with Jeon.

“You provoke me into many different thoughts about you.” it was an unusual flirt, but given nonetheless. Charlie bushed back his black hair and cleared his throat. Kevin's lips drew to Jeon’s ear. “If you would slip a foul thing into his drink I wouldn’t be offended.”

This was no surprise to Jeon.

The kitchen door was opened by the guard, Alfred tugging Gina away so she might be saved from whatever harm Alfred believed a slow-moving door would bring.

"Well, if you believe I would not be any bother to our king," Jeon said, finishing the tea, "Then I shall join you."

A kitchen staff woman took the emptied cup for his convenience. Going outside the hallway was empty but the beckoning guard knew where to go. Archer followed behind the arm-in-arm men, his expression pensive and shifty towards Melvin, who was clearly making him uncomfortable. Advisor Charlie kept close to the child, shaking his head at the handsome Councilman's guard.

Along the path they were being led, the woman who had left the kitchen earlier was returning with a plate of two slices of bread. Spread over was cinnamon, and blueberry jelly. Keith looked down with an amused smile as Jeon took it.

"You cannot collapse on me again, fetch him more, now." Kevin shooed the help to grab more for the celebrity lookalike.

"Thank you, tis most welcome!" Jeon called after her as he took a bite. "Yes, this should fill the void."


The guard was focused on guiding them somewhere, and sure enough when they turned the corner King Kinglos, his magical assistant and the other guards were at a door, unopened. If Gina had been expecting Cal and Panos to be waiting for them by the time they got there, she was disappointed. Instead, a new man of some prominence stood among them. She chewed the inside of her cheek as they halted behind the king and his entourage. Come on Cal, where are you?

Gina had not seen the new man in the dining hall. This world was full of healthy, robust men, kind on the eyes as the Multiverse Travelers, and now they saw another rugged man in a suit of armor. It was a stark blue, matching the banners from the dining hall. Silver hair grew to caress his brows, bangs curving just above them. His eyes were brown and cultivated, with hardship seen in the sternness of their gaze and the subtle lines around them. They could guess he was in his 50s or 60s, and of some authority here with how he stood and his distinct appearance.

"In her young insight my Marchioness has detained the Advisor here, my king. I cannot by my loyalties give permission for you to enter this room until she speaks. Though, she did promptly leave with no telling of where she'd gone."

The blue-armored guard shrugged lightheartedly. It was stirring the king's antsy nature as he crossed his arms in bold defiance. Advisor Charlie walked around the others. The youngest councilman was looked at by both of them.

"Who exactly is in there?"

"Your lady-fellow Advisor."

Gina didn’t know who the Lady Advisor might be, or why Cal had needed to have her locked up, but she could tell that she must be someone important by the way Kevin put a hand to his mouth, and O'doln gave a curious tilt of his head.

"I would think that is treasonous my lord!" the councilman gasped, with flair.

King Kinglos' cloak flapped with the turn he made to stare at his Advisor and Councilman. Archer sighed, stepping forward beside his charge and preparing a hand on his sword. The blue knight held a hand on his own but smiled, as if he was finding the drama funny.

"May we ask why?" the duo colored eye young man asked the blue knight.

"By Calamity Sauver's word is why." he replied antagonistically. Charlie sighed and slumped his shoulders.

Gina tensed. The man in blue might have still been smiling easily, but she saw his mailed fist close tighter around his sword hilt, and around her other men’s hands were hovering over their own weapons.

“Wai-wai-wait.” she interjected hurriedly, holding up her hands. Several pairs of frowning eyes snapped towards her, and she sincerely hoped that after personally inviting them along the king wouldn’t simply have her kicked out again. Shut up dear, can’t you see the men are busy? And these men had freaking swords.

“She can’t be a traitor…” she went on, looking from the grimly-smiling guard to the wary O’doln, and finally settling on Kinglos. “She’s kept the border safe for how long now?” She let her hands fall, clasping them in front of her chest. “Mi'lord...she must have had a good reason. Shouldn't we at least wait for her to get back and let her explain what it was?”

And now would be a great time to get back, Cal...

Behind the king Hedspeth still looked furious, but Jeon was still at the angry councillor’s side and Gina glanced briefly in his direction, silently imploring her fellow Traveller to back her up.

"Your Majesty, if I might be heard?" Jeon said, patting Kevin on the shoulder reassuringly as he stepped around Archer.

"Calamity Sauver has served you loyally for years, has she not? She has done an incredible job protecting our border, well away from the intrigue of court. It would be a shame if some misunderstanding over some trifling matter should make you doubt her loyalty?"

Gina glanced around at the knot of kingsmen. They seemed to be listening to Jeon's words.

"Our Lady Advisor is under her protection here;" Jeon pointed out, "I'm sure had she expected your presence, our Western protector would have instructed her man to allow you entry. Perhaps, rather than squabble here in this passage, we could find a more comfortable place to await her?"

"I'm sure the Councilman will see the wisdom of that," Jeon stressed, turning to Kevin with a tight smile. "This would be an excellent opportunity to discuss some matters with you."

Kevin hesitated long enough for the sharper-eared redhead man to curl his fingers. "M'lord you do have a gathering of people I had brought in need of attention. They will want your words." O'doln whispered into the king's ear. King Kinglos scanned over the group of people around him, and while his eyes fell on Jeon for a lengthy moment, they ended on Gina.

"The girl will be given permission to go inside and personally check that my advisor is doing fine." he demanded of the blue coated knight.

"H-holding her was strange, this could be an offer of peace." Charlie offered nervously up to the guarding swordsman.

"Sirs I could go?" Alfred offered himself up instead. Kevin chuckled in the background at some thought that he kept to himself.

"Maybe a woman can go see her." the blue knight agreed. Archer narrowed his eyes at the other man past his prime, then they both pulled their hands away from their weapons. "If your highness and your esteemed court of gentleman return to the dining room?"

The King of Greywall clenched his fists. Councilman Hedspeth sighed. It was in disapproval, and across Kinglos’ face flushed embarrassment.

“Where is the wine?” he demanded of a nearby guard, and glared at the blue knight before walking off with his magician and Charlie following.

“You find me when you’re done.” he demanded of Gina as he passed.

"Of course, mi'lord." Gina affirmed, and bobbed something approximating a curtsey as the king swept past her. O'doln and Charlie hurried after him, but Hedspeth hovered for a moment, still watching the door and the blue knight. And then the thought struck Gina - there was something in his hesitation, and in the way he had clapped a hand to his mouth when the blue knight told him who was being held within the room.

He's bricking it.

What if the Lady Advisor was part of their conspiracy, and he was afraid that Cal had captured her and blown the council's plot wide open?

Weird then that the younger advisor had just trotted off with the king. Maybe he wasn’t in on the plot after all? After his behaviour at the door, Gina thought it likely. He reminded her a little of a girl called Lara back in Gina’s school before she had moved to America - back before her life had gotten mental. Lara had just wanted to be friends with everyone and practically wilted whenever there was an argument. Not the sort of person who got mixed up in cloak-and-dagger plots.

So not everyone was on the council’s side against the king...and Gina had just been handed a golden opportunity to find out who was.

She put on a smile that was a size too small, and offered it to Alfred and Jeon as she approached the door. "Um...I'll try not to be long."

She looked up at the blue knight, still wearing her hesitant smile, and when he nodded silent permission she stepped up to the door and gently pushed it open. Gina stepped inside and pushed the door shut behind her.

"Your Majesty," Jeon said, following after the king, "It isn't good to drink in anger, er, the bile can poison the blood. May I suggest something to ease your system?"

"Melvin, do you have that bottle of dihydromyricetin, 300 milligrams?"

The Probe glanced up at Jeon with a frown, but nodded. It took mere moments for it to produce a small glass vial with a paper label with the wording on it and pass the anti-drunk pills up.

"Perfectly safe, it's made from a certain tree bark, wonderful qualities," he said, opening the vial and sliding two pills out. Making sure he was being watched, he took one of the pills and swallowed it.

"It's good for the liver," he added. Everyone gasped around Jeon except the magician who eyed him suspiciously.

“Dihydromyricetin…what spell component is this?” O’doln had to ask. King Kinglos looked from the man he seemed to trust very much, to Jeon with questioning look – waiting for the answer.

[Enigma]

"Dihydromyricetin is an extract of Hovenia Dulci, very hard to obtain," Jeon replied, raising an eyebrow. "Marvelous tree, the sap and young leaves can be used like honey and is sometimes made into wine."

"The preparations of medicines is my trade," Jeon added, turning to O’doln, "not spells. Am I not an apothecary?"

"When one becomes angry, certain toxins enters the blood, and can become inflamed by alcohol, attacking both the mind and the liver," he explained, holding up the pill. "This helps the liver to remove those toxins, keeping the mind clear and to ease the suffering of the liver."

Because it helped to break down alcohol in the body before it reaches the bloodstream and then the brain, it couldn't help but keep the mind clearer, Jeon noted silently to himself.

"Kevin, you know I would never risk harm to you?" Jeon smiled, turning towards him, feeling that strange bond he'd felt with this man since he'd awoke in this crazy place. "Show your trust in me and swallow this, you'll find it very healthy for your body." The Councilman was very flattered and took the pill without further delay. The king scoffed and turned away.

"What is the point to enjoy drink if one is not to feel its sweet tingles?" King Kinglos challenged and dismissed the apothecary. Charlie turned over to Jeon and shook his head no, suggesting perhaps to not further peruse this.

"He's a stupid alcoholic my dear, remember?" His thrown upon him partner whispered in his ear and brushed a hand across his shoulder. O'doln yet stopped following his king to return and reach out a hand. This close Jeon could see the man had some very refined features to his face to a point of appear human but modified with something else more fantastical, drawing attention to his sharper shaped ears showing from red hair.

Curious, was this an elf in the king's court?

"I will try your means"

"It's purely a herbal supplement," Jeon says, handing him the pill, "but do let me know if you think of some magical application."

The Probe glanced up at him, but said nothing.

Jeon sighed, glancing at the King's back. A minor thing, but it would have helped him gain some trust. Still, he had Melvin the Medbot - assuming it still had those dart launchers. However, standing in the hallway with two people with the King's ear, this was not a question to ask just yet.

"Well, shall we see to the King?" Jeon asked. "We should enjoy some comforts while we wait." O'doln took the pill in his palm and studied it studiously, glancing at it from many angles before permitting it into his mouth.

A slight approving smile was on his face before turning to leave. At a distance the Councilman against Jeon's body sighed.

"He's dangerous..." a cautionary whisper came and together the group walked. King Kinglos snapped at a servant to grab drink for everyone in the dining hall and returned back to the skeptical crowd who were sitting in the chairs. The white noise of their whispering and slight movements was noticeably loud from how many handfuls of people had been teleported here.

"We await for Calamity Sauver to return home. She deserted her own castle!" He scandalously shouted, getting the gossip flowing freely. Attending Guards looked to each other with defiant glares, sharply offended by their king's statement. Taking a personal approach, the royal man sat in row next to the other gentleman, the women sat across and watched very curiously. Adviser Charlie briskly walked to sit himself next to the king, faster than O'doln's careful steps, getting the magician to twitch a brow in annoyance before choosing to stand behind his king.

"Always in the way" Kevin said of Charlie under his breath.

"Why did she flee? To where?" A wondering young woman asked, blushing and gazing down "M'lord"

"Fear of her duties I suppose, there are scary things women should not see after all" He adjusted his velvet clothes and in the time bottles of wine and glasses were being laid down for everyone. Kevin nudged Jeon in the side and gestured with his head to the empty seat next to Charlie, the closest available seat to the king.

"He's upset and I'm a stranger, do you think he'll welcome me sitting next to him? I'd be lucky to keep my head," Jeon whispered back, but he stood up, making sure to keep his hands in plain view.

"My king, such cruel accusations are beneath us. How many times has Calamity Sauver defended this boarder?" he asked. "Let us not forget where we are, on the boarder with the Dragonians. Perhaps they have launched an attack? Or send a few spies among us? Posing perhaps as trusted friends and advisors?"

"One cannot be too careful." Such innuendo provoked Councilman Kevin to look his way. At such conversation topics brought up by Jeon, the women began to converse with each other in worry.

"I support the young marchioness" a male citizen said several seats down and the King studied everyone around him. He took a lengthy sip of his alcohol. Adviser Charlie toyed with his bottom lip.

"Mayhaps it be best to tame the drink before she returns?"

"Do not worry, I have learned. This time I will have her as drunk as I am!" The room of men laughed with the king's joke, one moment scrutinizing him, the next applauding him. A buxom black woman approached the Zayan doctor.

"Sir, forgive the rashness. Are you the great apothecary? Your help could be used now"

The probe scowled, moving to stand by Jeon's side.

"'The great'?" Jeon repeated, surprised. "I don't know if I'd go that far. I'm certainly hard working..."

He smiled, then let it fall off his face.

"Ah-hem, yes, how can I help you, my dear?" The humble dressed servant looked past Jeon to see the king and his council.

"This way, please" A waving hand gestured to create some distance between them and the king's ear. "A prisoner has escaped, our torture master has been poisoned..." her whispered words were frightful, upset.

"Melvin, attend me please," Jeon said. The probe raised one eyebrow as if to say, 'was there any doubt?' and followed wordlessly as always.

"What are the symptoms?"

"Sir Lambert suffers from vomiting and terrible tingles he says. Please come" Councilman Kevin turned his view over Jeon and tugged on his sleeve.

"What are you doing? We have a king to entertain" he stressed with a smile at the doctor and the ebony skinned woman, if only briefly in her direction.

"Someone is gravely ill," Jeon replied, then leaned close.

"We can't afford to pass up on this opportunity," he stressed softly, then smiled, "to pay back this wonderful staff who cared for me, and to impress our king. Besides, whatever has caused this illness should be looked at before it may strike again, and I can't afford for that to be you."

He pointedly glanced back at the king, hoping Kevin would pick up what he was trying to say. Can't blame a doctor for poison if he's not in the room. "Be careful what you drink or eat, there may be other forces at work here."

Of course there were other forces at work here - why else would he be there?

"Melvin, please attend me." Kevin crossed his arms even as the leading servant was beginning to walk to the doors.

"Kiss me before you leave me. You cannot taunt me with your smile anymore."

Jeon's right eyebrow lifted curiously. Apparently this culture had no unhealthy issues with homosexuality, if he would dare to request such openly, and in front of his king, no less!

His hands rose and cupped Kevin's head, and he drew him in, tenderly caressing his lips with Kevin's, smelling the man's muskiness as his heart raced, enjoying the sweet embrace. They stood like that for a long moment or two, until reluctantly, he pulled away. Jeon whispered as he looked sincerely into Kevin's eyes, "I'm sorry, my love, but I must go, time is of the essence. Remember, watch what you eat and drink, where one is ill, others may follow. I would have you safe."

Glancing over Kevin's shoulder at Archer, he said in a voice just loud enough to carry, "Keep a good eye on him, Sir Archer."

Releasing him, he turned to where the servant waited. "Sorry about that, let us go!"

The probe stood there for a moment, eyeing Kevin with both eyebrows raised, then followed after Jeon. It had no idea how to communicate this back to his people - assuming that even was possible. Somehow, it felt the ones who sent the probe would not be pleased about this development.

The doctor left behind a heart racing councilman staring at him fondly and chattering of many high peoples with their drinking king.

[Azazeal849]

Gina entered and saw very quickly a bed, no larger than a twin size, held at the center back wall with a dresser and shelf to try and fill the room. The wood was attractive, but everything wasn't large enough to give the room a cosy feeling. Though from what Gina had seen, this fortress wasn't designed too much for luxury. Sitting on the bed, and now staring at her, was a furious woman in her 30s with frizzy black hair, and a pointy nose which accentuated her grey-colored glare in Gina's direction.

The Advisor straightened her back and studied Gina up and down thoroughly. Something clicked in her mind and her gaze gave way some of its cruelty.

"Who sent you young lady? If you're here for company then you can leave." she added with a snide tone.

”Theodore Dutt.” Gina responded quietly, naming Caroline’s bullish father. It was time to test her theory. “He had a pretty interesting meeting with sir Hedspeth and the council this morning.”

Meticulously the woman brushed her index finger across her lower lip. There was a pause, uncertainty in the dynamic between them.

"Ah, yes. What is the password?" she asked with a cruel smile.

An uncomfortable heat fizzled down from Gina’s stomach and settled in her abdomen. She had to think on her feet.

“Is that supposed to be a bluff?” she answered firmly. “Mr Dutt didn’t mention any password.”

She took the Advisor’s silence to mean that it had indeed been a bluff, and she breathed a little easier.

“But he did tell me to get certain reassurances from you.”

She stepped a little closer to the bed and folded her arms. “Like how things went with the marchioness...and from the fact you’re in here I’m guessing not well.” She pursed her lips and looked around the underfurnished room. “So let’s try, what happens after the king dies?”

The woman stood gradually and met where Gina had brought herself closer. There was a leering eye cast on the teenager, until aloud snap filled the room. It was only then that Gina realised she was looking at the door behind her.

"You are talking about conspiracy..." the Advisor hissed, just in time for the door to open and the blue knight whom was standing beyond to bring his eyes on them.

"What is that I am hearing in here?" The knight’s tone of voice was aggressive, violent airs aiming at Gina. The Advisor kept herself poised and in faux shock, avoiding the scandal.

He must have had his ear against the door, Gina realised. Her brain felt oddly calm and clear, as if her emotions were still trying to catch up with the crisis event. She drew back a step and turned on her heel to face the glowering knight, with her back to the Advisor.

"I was asking the Advisor about the Draconians, sir." she said meekly. Meeting his gaze, she raised her eyebrows and mouthed, slowly and obviously, interrogation.

"What did you think you heard?" she cradled her hands and put confusion into her voice, but her eyebrows remained raised. An obvious debate on the guard’s face showed, and he gritted his teeth.

"Women talk, that is what I heard. Keep quiet." he growled and walked out, slamming the door shut behind him. The female Advisor put a hand to her stomach and breathed nervously.

"You stupid little creature." the harsh whisper lashed at Gina.

“Says the one stuck in this room.” Gina hissed back sourly, swallowing down her own nerves as they belatedly caught up with her. “Maybe think about that next time you try to drop me in it? Anyway, you were about to say...?”

"You think you are clever, but your tongue will twist if that little witch puts trickery on you."

The Advisor stood up and neared Gina. The full force of her stare in close distance was pointed. The words she spoke next were very intentional and very quiet. "Warn our king of the dangerous magic I have suffered from. The marchioness had bewitched me, using magic she ought not to have."

"She has magic?" Gina whispered, feigning worry. Magic she ought not to have - that could only be Cal's powers in action. She must have used them on the Advisor, which meant she must know something about the Council's plan. Atta girl, Cal! At least she and Panos were forewarned now. Maybe that was even why they had left the castle in such a hurry.

But even as she suppressed a smile, Gina realised that something else in the Advisor's words didn't add up.

"Why warn the king?" she asked, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Not, say, the council? Or Mr Dutt?"

The Adviser drew her hand up and caressed Gina's face, wavering fingers made her nimble touch tingle and she drew them back with scorn in her eyes.

"Briefly I thought you were intelligent. Telling our grand king will ensure he maims her, or better yet, dethrones her. In turn such politics would have these mountainside fools revolt, pushing him to his demise without a single finger needed to be lifted on our part. Be a good messenger and see it done."

Gina pictured an army sweeping down into Greywall and hundreds of people stabbing each other to death in the streets. No way was that the kind of societal change she wanted to be a part of. She balled her fists.

"And for a minute I thought you were smart. Kick off a civil war and just hope the side you want wins, and that they'll let you take over after? Are you fucking stupid?" She shook her head. "Now listen, 'cos I bet the rest of the council are already thinking about pinning this whole thing on you, since you've already been caught."

She took a breath before going all in.

"I'm not worried about any magic, 'cos me and Mr Dutt haven't done anything wrong yet. Maybe I'll talk to the marchioness and convince her to let you go. Or maybe I'll go back to Mr Dutt and advise him to tell the king that you and Hedspeth want him dead, and half the country with him." She glared at the Advisor. "So if you'd rather me tell Mr Dutt to pick your side, you'd better convince me how much better things'll be with you in charge. Like, what's the council's plan for the kingdom? And what are you going to do about the elves and the Draconians? Please tell me you’ve thought that far ahead."

The woman curled her fist, surely holding back the physical violence she wanted to inflict on Gina.

"The power in the Council's hands would pacify the Elves' disgruntled emotions. The Draconians? What of them? War is always inevitable with them...but you," The woman's pointed nose drew closer as her eyes narrowed. "Speak with an accent. Why is a foreigner handling our business? If you must ask basic questions of our nation and refuse to be my messenger, what good are you to me?"

”Maybe a foreigner with no vested interests is more trustworthy?” Gina raised her eyebrows, happy to roll with the accusation. After all, if the Advisor thought she was from somewhere else then she was less likely to draw a connection to Caroline or the Remoni family, and put them in harm’s way. “And unfortunately I was sent here to do what was best for the kingdom, not what you tell me.”

She pursed her lips and shrugged, giving the Advisor a moment to stew before crossing her arms.

“The elves need to be kept on side, everyone agrees that much. And I’ve just heard the king thinks he can do that by getting the marchioness to kill all the Draconians. What d’you say to that?”

The woman turned away smoothly and matched Gina with crossing arms, standing with her back in Gina's direction quietly.

"Genocide of their entire race? A wish that would never be granted. A campaign of that size would make my country the first to disappear in the wave if the spike-faces charged Greywall. Violence is a game to them. It has been my life's work to know the foreign cultures. If the Draconians believed their race to be in danger, it would be much more than the their simpleton brutes meeting us in the mountains here. The girl does an adept job culling the aggressive war packs, but the marchioness has never seen war.”

"Then we probably shouldn't start one." Gina agreed, but also thinking back to the Advisor's previous idea to goad Cal's people into rebellion. She exhaled. At least the knowledge that the Advisor didn't want her own people wiped out was something of a safeguard. "Alright. I'll report back to Mr Dutt...and I'll try to talk the marchioness out of having you killed."

That wouldn't be so hard, Gina reflected as she turned back towards the door - but spinning a good enough story for the king might be another matter.

"One last thing." she said, pausing halfway to the exit. "If foreign cultures are your thing...who would you say's our best bet to go talk to the elf queen and calm her down?"

"Hmph." the woman scoffed, "Me."

Gina hmm’d. “And if it takes us a bit longer to get you out of here, who then?”

Stony silence was her only response. Gina huffed, and supposed that the Advisor was hardly going to give her an excuse to think she was replaceable.

“I expect you’ll hear from someone soon. Try not to make any trouble until then, hm?” She paused. “And let us handle the marchioness’ magic. If you dare tell anyone else about it, everyone in this castle is going to get massacred, and I’ll make sure you’re first in line.”

She slipped through the door and closed it, and was immediately met with the searching gaze of the blue knight. Gina bobbed another curtsey.

“You just did your job sir, I won’t fault you for that.” she murmured, keeping her voice low just in case the Advisor was repeating the knight’s own trick of listening at the keyhole. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to report back to the king.”

She waited until she was far round the corner of the hallway before letting her shoulders slump against the wall and sighing out her tension. She paused for a moment with her back against the cool stone, watching the torches in their wall-brackets flicker, and waiting for her stomach to unknot. Now she had two tasks: get Cal off the hook for arresting the Advisor, and give the king something better to announce than war with the Draconians. She had a plan, but she needed Cal and Jeon to help her pull it off.

Cradling her stomach, she took a deep breath, then pushed off the wall and trotted as fast as she could back to the castle’s dining hall.

[Enigma]

As the doctor and his assistant followed diligently behind, their travels were cold as they entered the spiraling tower taking them down. Jeon could see his breath, the smell of blood was filling the air - and it was very rank. Old blood mangled into something foul with new, clearly not a medical environment where they were to enter. When the narrow curving hallway down led to a single arched wood door, it was opened to a body horror of reptilian men hung from walls. Their innards from their half remaining bodies decorated the stone like draping silks, at least eight of these unusual, inhuman bodies hung by chained wrists to the sides of this dungeon.


Blood was being cleaned by rags in the hands of servants who were keeping their heads low and their noses covered by tied cloth. Upon entry to add to the kerfuffle between disgust and repulsion was the scent of vomit, being tended by another serving hand. The room was warm by fire light, making the poisoned man noticeable in the middle of the floor.


Half naked, the victim was a short stature man of roughly 5'6" (as Jeon could intelligently guess), a lean body with a cut running down from the end of his sternum to his right hip superficially. He was sweaty, his curly black hair soaked, shaking in pain and muffling his own groans. Beside him a woman in fur covered robes was kneeling over him. Jeon had not seen such a thing before but her hands were glowing, radiating an energy which Melvin could input. The energy was an unusual source of high radiation but distorted any scientific laws of the elements as this radiation could be observed targeting specific cells to react with them.


This blond woman in her thirties had her eyes shut and focused intently. Sweating her hands trembling whatever she was doing was dealing directly with the wound of Sir Jerome Lambert.


"Our healer is nearly exhausted and cannot finish closing the wound, please help apothecary" the ebony escort pleaded to Jeon.


The Probe made a full record of the room and its victims - from what it knew of its true masters, images of this room would be shared wide and far should they get back to their universe as justification of their policies. It then scanned the wounded man.

Something throbbed in Jeon's pocket. Reaching in, he pulled out one of the Probe's Tarot cards - but the picture had been replaced by a more familiar medical diagnosis.


"Monkshood," he said, eyeing the dying man. "I am going to need Epsom Salts and boiled water, cooled slightly.We need to wash the wound to remove the poison. I don't suppose you have silk thread and a needle...?"


The Probe pulled a small rolled up pouch from one of his voluminous pockets and handed it to Jeon. "What's this, Melvin...?" he asked, as he opened it to find a crude suturing kit but with the addition of a hypospray, with local anesthesia and lidocane. Weirdly, it had made odd tubes that looked to be like the shafts of feathers... oh, surgical drains. Crude but effective.


"Get Epsom salts and water, quickly!" he said to the escort as he loaded the lidocane capsule into the hypospray.


"You couldn't have gotten me something a little less obvious, like a syringe?" he muttered to the Probe. It pointed to the healer's glowing hands. "Point taken."


Adjusted, he pressed the hypospray against the man's jugular vein and released a light dose of medicine into the man's bloodstream.


"This should help," he told the torturer. "How are you feeling?"


Sir Lambert coughed, glancing down to the doctor. During this time Jeon could feel Gina moving around the castle, Calamity and Panos getting much closer, perhaps on the fortress property. The torturer's first words were mumbles but he managed his words out.


"The bastard has Arcanium somewhere...on his body. He is..." a cough interrupted him, "dangerous until it runs out" The exclamation on his face stamped his words with importance, his voice weak but trying.


"Arcanium?" Jeon asked, frowning. Sounded like some sort of metal, but arcana... Magic metal? Running out?


The card updated, showing some improvement. Blast, where was those Epsom salts?!?


"Who did this to you? Someone you know?" Jeon pressed. He eyed the grisly captives hanging from the wall. "Was it just you they were after, or someone else as well?" The torturer collapsed and the woman healing him sighed, shaking and clenching her jaw.


"Quick, what is his condition?" Jeon asked, leaning forward to check the man's pulse. It was fading, but steadily stabilizing at a slow pace.


"It was the Draconian" a helping woman said to the apothecary as she kept wiping blood away into a bucket.


"He is free now, in the castle..." The blond woman pulled back her straight textured hair and focused blue eyes on Jeon. The woman had kind, soft colored lips and a gaze of exhaustion giving hint to how much she had seen in her life. "Alerting everyone may make him react dangerously..." she hesitated.


"Free," Jeon repeated, turning to face the woman and then waved his hand at the other Draconians lining the walls. "One of these gentlemen? Had he received the same treatment as his brothers?" The healer nodded, standing gradually with shaky feet.


"Melvin, can you find him?" Jeon asked, glancing down at the Probe. "I'm worried if he should reach Gina, or Kevin." Or the king, although that put him into a tricky spot.


The probe frowned as it re-scanned the room, then the castle. It could find nothing...!


"After he cut Jerome down, he shimmered away into an invisibility spell. He may still be in this room." The magical woman shook her head and glanced to the four corners of the torture chamber.


"Cut Jerome down?" Jeon demanded, then looked at the torturer. "Where did he get his weapon?"


"It must have been a spell, I could not see the specifics in the light"


No, that was a distraction - but the women wiping down the room gave him an idea. "Check for wet footprints outside this room, Melvin," he ordered. "If you find ones matching these fellows on the wall, we can assume he's left. If you don't...." As Melvin opened the door a helping woman came with a cloth bag full of Epsom salts. Jeon's gut was telling him of the arrival of a female named 'Calamity' and a male named 'Panos', along with the movement of Gina around the castle, moving in their direction.


The probe nodded, checking outside the room. It found non-human footprints leaving the room but fading. It would expect some residue heat, but there was none to be found. This world worked... differently.


"Ah, the Epsom salts," Jeon nodded, leaning over to check Jerome's pulse. A glance at the card gave him a fresh set of stats, reminding him the probe didn't necessarily need to be in the same room with the patient.


Others were arriving, he could feel it, like he could feel Gina moving about the castle. He was sure she could feel him moving as well.


"Bloody world," he muttered to himself. "Can't leave anyone alone!"

[Minkasha]

Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility & Panos Lambros

Coming back to her fortified city through the snow, the carriage passing the second walls of Whitebar meant Calamity was home. Through the city where she personal reigned, she and Panos were confirmed in their feelings that Gina and the unknown man named Jeon were nearby. The Lambros prince rolled some of his fine hair between his index finger and thumb as the time to get out drew soon.

"I became ill. That is what happened, and why we returned." the royal male suggested to his female counterpart. He glanced at his heterosexual suggesting wedding ring. "If you rule with such authority, you would never permit me to be sickly as a face of your diplomacy." Beautiful eyes and soft features met hers as he looked directly at her.

Cal, staring nervously toward the window, looked up at Panos. "Okay... yes. That makes sense," she replied, grateful that her faux-husband had thought up an excuse for their unexpected return. She had been so consumed; half with nerves at returning to where their would-be assassin was detained, half with excitement at being reunited with Gina, that little room was left in her mind for anything else.

"Yes... they accepted me bringing you to the meeting, they will accept this reason too. And Gina's here! Can you feel it?" She smiled. "She'll know what to do, to get us out of here."

"I DON'T CARE WHAT SHE DOES!" Panos shouted across the small space, his voice shaking. Panos stared at Calamity with terrible anger "You made promises to me! Why is it always about her?"

Getting up, the prince opened the carriage door to see they were in the magical warmth of the stable. The young stable-hand from before was helping their snow-covered driver get off his horse, shaking his robes. Calamity saw that if she didn't appease Panos in some way, he may go marching off. The Princess stared after him, her mouth open in shock; though perhaps she should be used to the other royals' sudden changes in mood by now.

"Panos, wait!" she called after him, hastily following her friend out of the carriage, and reaching out to take hold of his arm. "I'm not favouring her! I'm not going to disappear again, alright? I just think our best chance of getting out of this mess is if we're all together! Every time something terrible has happened, it's when we've been separated. And we're not..." she slowed down, fixing him with a serious look. "You're not going to go through anything like that again. Alright?"

Panos was caught in a two-fold stare: one forward and one inward. He was watching himself, experiencing something nearly out of body.

"I'm deranged. Mentally sick..." he harshly criticized his own emotions. He shouldn't need Calamity's words to calm down. He shouldn't fly into bursts of wild emotions. Gradually he was becoming like his ex-husband, wasn't he? "Let go of me."

Panos' eyes turned to the ground, hiding behind purple hued, blanched hair to secure himself from vision. Gradually they could feel Gina coming closer to them.

"No, you're not," Calamity said firmly, but she acquiesced to his request and let go of his arm; though her hand remained resting against it, a comforting touch rather than a grip. "There's nothing wrong with you, Panos."

She dropped her arm as she felt Gina's approach - Panos wouldn't want to be comforted in public - he wouldn't want to appear weak. She would have felt the same way, if it were her.

"I need you to focus, now," she told him. "You're sick, remember; that's why we returned. I need your help to get through this, okay?"

"Is something the matter?" the carriage driver, an aged man, asked from near the horses.

"My husband is unwell," Cal responded, starting at the question and inwardly kicking herself for not realising there were witnesses to their conversation. The stable-hand watched the scene quietly. Panos held himself across the chest, shivering. If it was his acting to be physically sick or a reaction of his mental health, Calamity couldn't tell - but it was convincing either way.

"I need to go inside." Panos told them, holding to the folds of his bland outerwear. Cal let him pull away from her hand, and followed him into the castle.


Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Gina Wright & Panos Lambros

Gina’s travels through Calamity’s property steadily took her to the front entrance, where stood the great square doors of the castle. Tall and constructed of thick wood, Gina could only guess that they were half the thickness of her own body. The doors began to swing open, and she could already tell with intuitive accuracy who was on the other side. Armoured men standing outside were hauling on the doors, the snow falling onto stone floors, and the two beautiful royals of her group were in her sight. Panos looked depressed and upon meeting Gina’s appearance he sighed, rolling his eyes. The young royal was exhausted of any care for the girl’s existence.

Cal stopped, her eyes wide with relief as she caught sight of who was approaching, and a smile spread across her face. For a moment, she teetered on the edge of throwing herself forward to embrace the other girl; an ordinary reaction from an ordinary teenage girl, perhaps, but not from Cal. With a glance at the guards, she stopped herself; it was certainly not appropriate behaviour from the war-hungry Marchioness.

"H...hello." she said, forcing the smile from her face in favour of a calm, dignified expression. A million questions flooded her mind; did she know Gina, here? What had the redhead been caught up in, what did she know of what they'd been through - her thoughts turned to the adviser, confined to her rooms upstairs, and she frowned. Had they released her? Did Gina know of her plans?

"What, may I ask, brings you to my fortress?"

“Marchioness!” Gina exclaimed, clapping both hands to her mouth. Cal suspected it was to suppress a manic grin of her own. “Please, you have to come quick.”

She dropped her hands and beckoned urgently.

“The king’s here and he’s expecting you!”

Gina rubbed at the velvety sleeves of her gown as they all hurried inside, and the guards hauled the doors closed to shut out the icy wind. Up close, Cal and Panos could see the nervous energy in her jaw and the stressed flecks of red running through the whites of her eyes.

“Thank god.” the older girl breathed quietly as they were left alone in the hall. “Are you guys alright?”

Cal's mind raced to keep up with the information the other girl was slipping them as she took pause, one hand rising to rest gently, briefly on Panos' back; a reassuring touch. We're in this together, she intended it to say. The king was expecting them - right. So Gina had brought the ruler with her, somehow. But did they know, yet, about the plot to de-throne him?

"For the most part," she replied to Gina's question, her voice low. "But we've landed in the middle of it, again."

“Not half.” Gina said ruefully. “Do you know about the Council?”

Cal thought back - yes, the Adviser had mentioned them, in tandem with her plot. She nodded.

“Well,” Gina continued, lowering her voice and looking around for potential eavesdroppers as they started back up the hallway, “The bitchy lady you arrested is working with them to kill the king. They had a meeting in town just this morning. Apparently our king’s pissed off this elf queen and a bunch of other people, and they’re worried there’s gonna be a war.”

Cal nodded again. "I got that out of her - she'd come to find out if she could sway me to join in on their plot. I thought I was playing it safe, staying loyal to the king when she questioned me, but it only convinced her that she'd have to have us killed, to get us out of the way. That's why we took off, and why I had her locked up!”

“She’s still there.” Gina reassured her. “The king told me to check up on her, but now he wants an answer. He was raging when they told him you weren’t here.”

“We were on our way to find you - but then you shifted, back here. Who else came with you?"

“There’s another Jumper here.” Gina said quietly. “Jeon. I dunno where he came from but you’ll know him when you see him, he’s the spit of...”

She pulled up short as she realised that probably neither Cal nor Panos had any idea of who David Tennant was.

“Um, never mind...he’s got a little robot boy with him, and the council’s expecting him to poison the king.”

"Another... To poison the...." Cal breathed a heavy sigh. This was all so much more complicated than she could have imagined. “Did you say the king is here now?”

“Yeah. He came here with a wizard called O’doln, and some of the council too. O’doln’s the one who teleported us all here. The king came to tell you to invade these…‘Draconian’ guys, so he can look strong. But Adviser Lady reckons if we do that it’ll kick off a huge war, and then everybody’s fucked. I think that might be what we’re here to change.”

Cal frowned. "Do you think it's wise, to listen to her?" The princess had to admit, she might be biased due to Adviser Avery’s recent desire to murder her.

Gina pursed her lips. “She said she doesn’t want to see her own people get killed in a war, so there’s some insurance there...but we’ll need to make sure she doesn’t try and screw over the king as soon as she’s out and free.”

"Well, she knows I know about her plot - if she looks like she's going to betray us, I can tell the king what I discovered."

Blurred voices were audible ahead of them as they drew closer to the dining hall. Gina slowed to a stop in the middle of the corridor, and worried at a fingernail with her teeth.

“Hopefully it won’t come to that. If she rats out the others then every councillor in the room’ll be for the chop, and god knows what kind of chaos that’ll cause…but if she’s right about the Dracs then we need some other way to make the elf queen happy.”

She released the nail and dropped her hands to the belt of her gown, twisting her fingers together.

“Have you met any of these Dracs? Do we know anything about them?”

Cal thought of the tortured prisoner - she didn't want to be responsible for more of that.

"We have one of them, downstairs. What I've... what this Marchioness has done to him... it's horrible, Gina." She swallowed. "You're right... we can't invade them. I can't order anything like that... but how can we stop it?"

Gina gathered her hair over one shoulder and tugged at a lock, coiling it around her forefinger. She looked from Cal to Panos and back again.

“I have got one idea. The king isn’t happy you arrested Adviser Snooty Bitch, so like I said he told me to talk to her and report back. I was going to tell him that the adviser was planning to go over his head to patch things up with the elf queen, and you only locked her up to save face for him. If we can get him to announce it like it was his idea then she can go anyway, and maybe stop the war that way instead of attacking these Drac people. But whatever we do we can’t make the king feel like he’s fucked up again cos he’ll go mental.”

"I can make him listen.” Cal suggested. “I'm getting better at it - that's how I made that woman tell me the truth."

Gina pulled at her hair, eyes downcast in thought. She looked up. “Maybe...but it might not be safe unless you’re alone. The adviser said the king might try and arrest you if he found out you had magic.”

Cal chewed her lip again; it was amazing that the thing wasn't in pieces at this point. "What good is my power if I can't use it! Still, the councils' already going to be after my head, if the adviser tells them I wasn't compliant in her scheme. I'd rather both sides not be after me."

Gina pulled the other girl into a hug and squeezed tightly.

“Then we don’t give her the chance.” she said as she drew back. “Your guard’s still got her locked up in the guest room. We send her off without letting any of the council see her first. The rest of ’em can’t corner you with the king still here, and your guards all around. And we’ll stick together.”

She looked from Cal to Panos. The young prince still had his mental armour on, looking through her more than at her. But he still stuck close to Cal. Cal had kept him safe.

They stepped up to the double doors that led into the dining hall, the sounds of talk and clattering goblets already loud on the other side.

Cal sighed. "Well, we're about to drop a bombshell on them, aren't we, with this queen and everything. Hopefully that's enough of a distraction that this new traveller can stall a bit. Oh Gina, I hope this is the right decision. A lot of lives are in the balance, here."

“No kidding.” Gina agreed quietly. Even when the whole class had been looking to her back in West Hills, trusting her with their safety out of little more than shreds of hope, she had seldom felt so unqualified. She rallied a little, straightening.

“You’ve done great so far, Cal. You too Panos. And look.” She tugged up her sleeve to expose her forearm, and the tattoos that now ran from the inside of her wrist all the way up to her elbow. Only the space for the Uranus symbol remained. “Just one more symbol, and we’ll have done what the Note Writer asked. And when we see them, you can hit them with every bit of power you’ve got.”

Gina gritted her teeth, tugged her sleeve back into place, and exhaled.

“Let’s do this.”

She put a hand on the huge metal ring at the inside edge of the door, twisted, and pushed.

Inside the dining hall, the mood of the guests seemed to have mellowed - possibly because pre-drinks were apparently in full swing. The king was easy to spot, sitting at the centre of the top table with adviser Charlie talking animatedly next to him and O’doln standing sternly at his back. Gina glanced at Cal and nodded in the king’s direction.

“Call him my lord,” Gina advised in a whisper. It wasn’t hard to stay discreet with all the hubbub around the dining tables. “That’s what everybody else seems to do. The guy with the red hair is O’doln.”

Looking from the vibrantly-coloured wizard to the other figures surrounding the king, Calamity and Panos newly felt a key draw to a man with groomed brown hair with framed the left side of his face, with some weight on him but a great jawline - a man in his forties. This man seemed important to their task somehow, though they could not see the tattoo on his body. There also seemed to be a guard in a maroon tabard with yellow symbols of seven eyes in a oval arrangement on his chest. He stood close to the man drawing this crucial feeling.

“The big guy with the bodyguard is councilman Hedspeth,” Gina identified him. “And he’s dangerous. The other guy next to the king is adviser Charlie - I don’t think he’s in on the council’s plan.”

Adviser Charlie was also a new sight to Calamity, a young man of his late twenties with a silver threaded brown vest. His right eye was hazel and his left teal.

Cal's eyes swept over each of them in turn, committing the names to memory.

As they stepped away from the door and trotted closer to the top table, Gina felt a degree of foreboding as she spotted the king’s flushed face and the expensive-looking goblet in his hand. Oh Jesus, he’s already out his face.

Looking around, she noted something else that was worryingly different.

Where’s Jeon?

But by now the king and his entourage had registered their entrance, and were looking in their direction. They had to speak.

“M’lord!” Gina began, after coughing into her hand to clear her throat. She bobbed what she hoped was a passable curtsey. “I came back as fast as I could. Your adviser’s fine...and look who else I ran into on the way here!”

Alfred stood from his seat. He began briskly walking around the table as events continued.

King Kinglos chuckled darkly, swishing wine in his mouth before swallowing. "Thank you young lady, you have reined in the flighty Marchioness."

If this was an insult, the delivery was weak. The way the heterochromatic Adviser Charlie scratched at his neck and the way Hedspeth rolled his eyes were symbolic to the drunk king's ineptitude in diplomacy.

Panos kept up his act, holding to himself tightly and faking a sneeze. His gaze was caught off by the redhead and his lengthy hair. Panos dropped his head, shutting his eyes. The handsome visual cues brought back the experience he had had only hours ago. 'Out of my head! Out!' The teenage prince yelled at himself in mind. To the outside world he looked to be shivering and cold, leaning onto Calamity.

At this time Alfred had managed to get to the 'female' side of the long dining table and pulled out a seat, smiling at Gina for her to take it.

“Marchioness.” Gina said, turning to give her companions a brief nod. “I’ll be just over here if you need me.”

She crossed the few paces to where Alfred was holding out the chair for her, and smiled a quick “Thanks!” as she smoothed her gown under her legs and sat down. All eyes were on Cal and the king, and Gina was happy to follow suit.

The man Gina had called Charlie caught Cal’s eye.

"I heard you two do things differently here, is something the matter?" The smaller man spoke with kind observation, though it did seem Calamity's atypical marriage roles were getting the attention of all the foreigners under her roof.

Councilman Hedspeth clapped his hands, making everyone look to him.

"The drinks! What would help them is alcohol. Is that right my lord?" Gina and Calamity could spot the slightest smirk on the Councilman's face.

Oh is that right? Gina thought, hiding her anger behind a bland expression. Get everyone pissed so he makes an arse of himself again, or so he doesn’t notice when you slip something in his cup?

She glanced towards the door, but Jeon was still nowhere to be seen. She looked at Cal instead, and willed encouraging thoughts in the younger girl’s direction as she crossed her fingers under the table.

Cal swallowed, and despite Panos' weight on her side, her own curtsey was smooth and effortless; clearly a well-practised motion.

"My Lord," she began, ignoring the Councilman completely and addressing the king, "What a fortunate turn of events - my husband becoming ill as we were racing to seek your council, and forcing us to turn back; and here you are! I have urgent need of an audience with you." She glanced around the rather crowded room, unsure if she should go on with so many listening ears.

“It is..." she paused, but didn't see another option, so pressed on - she had no idea if she had the right to demand a private audience, and besides; if this council wanted the meeting with the elven queen to go ahead, perhaps it was better she tell him in front of them, where they could help persuade him to agree.

"It is your adviser, my Lord," she continued. "I am sure you have learned of her imprisonment by now - I assure you, the woman left me no choice. When we spoke, I learned she had intentions she had not warned you of - so I felt you must be informed, before she was allowed to go ahead. If you would prefer, we can discuss this is private..."

She trailed off, looking again at the throng of people present, her eyes lingering especially on he who she had felt the pull toward. He was important. But how? The king's gray eyes kept on Calamity for a time. He raised his cup and one of Cal’s retainers served him.

Citizens were gossiping with those next to them. On Gina's side, where the females were sitting, there was mocking giggles. At their sounds King Kinglos narrowed his eyes, tipping his drink high and drinking passionately. Kevin shot daggers at the servant with the wine. The light-skinned, middle-aged lady was flighty on her feet to do as commanded. Another servant in muted dress handed her a metal goblet. Calamity was now being served wine by a woman who kept her head low fearfully, the cup raised above her kneeling body.

Alfred left Gina's presence to sit on the men's side of the table, across from her. He gave her a handsome, encouraging smile. As odd as things were, the boy was clearly still enamored with her. Gina smiled back cheerfully and picked up the clay cup that had been set at her place. Someone - probably Alfred - had evidently arranged for it to be filled while she was away talking to the Foreign Adviser. The wine inside was thick, syrupy and strong-smelling, no doubt designed for bracing the castle-dwellers against their chilly local climate. As tempting as some Dutch Courage was right now, Gina needed to keep her senses sharp. Still watching Cal, she tipped the cup to her mouth, clamped her lips shut and swallowed spit.

King Kinglos was furrowing his brows in response to Cal’s statements.

"I know what my adviser intends." he admitted, sighing as his cup was empty.

Kevin looked down at the king with a raised brow. On the opposite side of the table, Gina fought the urge to smirk. Don’t want your little conspiracy getting out, do you?

"My people were brought here to be messengers of our strengthened partnership."

Adviser Charlie Allen fidgeted where he sat as he kept looking at the reactionary, shut down Panos. Finally he stood up, his wooden chair sliding across the dark stone with a punishing loudness for the room.

"Maybe now is not the best time to talk of politics when someone of high status is ill." He gestured to Calamity's 'husband'.

"Your husband should have the attention he deserves." Kevin agreed with the Adviser, stepping closer to the king and whispering words none of them could hear. Grunting, Kinglos glanced up at his magician.

"Can you do anything with the boy's condition?"

The caster kept himself dressed in regal silence until addressed. "I would need to study his sickness first..." There was a trail, "Lydia would be best for this." The length of red hair followed after him attractively, as he stepped around the table and started to head straight to the royal couple. Cal's arm tightened around Panos, her eyes on the magician.

"Oh, there's no need, really. My husband has a delicate composition, but he will be fine. He merely needs some rest - I will see that he's attended to as soon as we've dealt with the more pressing matter at hand." She gave the king a flattering smile. "He understands that you are the priority here, my lord."

To the relief of all, the king agreed with a nod and O'doln stopped in his tracks.

King Kinglos smiled at Gina. "You said my adviser was 'fine', how is that?" His cheeks were starting to get flushed.

Gina put down the cup she was toying with. “Oh she’s not been hurt at all, m’lord.” she answered cheerily, “Though as you’d expect she’s maybe a bit annoyed about being shut up in the guest room…”

She paused to feign another sip.

“If I may, m’lord - it sounds like the Marchioness has some pretty big news for you. I’m sure you won’t come to any harm being alone in the corner for five minutes with one of us women.” She smiled around the table. “And the rest of us won’t come to any harm waiting another five minutes for the big announcement. We’ll just get another round of drinks in, am I right?”

The king furrowed his brows, and the gossiping ladies both sides of Gina spoke up in support. Kinglos shifting eyes between the waiting men and chattering women didn't conceal his deep thinking process. The social pressure he had so boldly thrown on himself now was weighing on him.

Councilman Kevin gave the king his escape before the weight became too much. First it was a smile, then a pressing of his hand on the king's shoulder. This touch made the magician watch Kevin closely.

"Drinks, first." his voice smoothed a reminder. Adviser Charlie swished his lips side to side, scattering his vision between Calamity, Panos, and King Kinglos. His gestures of worry were hard to ignore, his body language loud with strong turns of his upper body unintentionally dramatizing his feelings. Gina guessed that he was worried about the king making another faux pas in front of their powerful ally.

Charlie’s fidgeting caught the king's attention, after another sip of course.

"The royal couple knows my visit is important, Cultural Adviser." The man's gray eyes glinted with recovering pride. "The young woman is hearty, it is why she protects our fierce border!"

He raised his class and everyone sitting at the table politely clapped. Alfred was sweating bullets, eyeing Gina and her boldness with sexist concern. Evidently he was trying to warn Gina from speaking with the king so directly with a shaking head. Gina glanced around, but none of the other guests or advisers seemed to have found her suggestion out of place. However, as Charlie nodded and slumped back in his seat, king Kinglos stared at Gina again. Something about how his body shifted in his seat made him look antsy. Her reminding him of the big announcement he was supposed to be making couldn’t have helped his nerves. They would have to head him off.

"Drink." Kevin said a second time. Charlie sighed, King Kinglos noticed - doubt coming and going on his face.

"Yes, yes." King Kinglos agreed, while the many guards lining the walls and the standing servants loyally kept their attention on Calamity. "Why have you not got us all drink yet?" the king expectantly asked Calamity. O'doln walked calmly back to the king's side, at which point Kevin retracted his hand and stepped back with an appeasing smile.

"Of course, my lord," Calamity's smile was only a millisecond late, her frustration at the councilman’s deflection gone a moment after it appeared on her face. She gestured to the closest of the waiting servants. "Refreshments, for our guests.”

Immediately from Calamity's word the servants were leaving quickly out of the dining room - presumably to get more drink for the guests.

The girl is right, though," she continued, pressing. "We really should not delay this conversation."

Her word in attempt to navigate the social situation disgruntled Kevin, who was 'brushing off' something from his shoulder. Panos swallowed and stood up straight, detaching himself from the Fey-blooded princess turned Marchioness. His panic was fading, and nervously he kept his eyes away from the king, as the man was in proximity to the red-headed nightmare. Noticing Kevin attempting a subtle jab at them while behind everyone's back, Panos played up his cough, putting a pale hand to his chest.

"Love...may we skip the drinking? It would not do me well."

Nice one, Panos. Gina thought silently, and brought her cup to her lips again to conceal a smile.

King Kinglos pressed a thumb under his chin and rested his head lazily. The motions he took were starting to become sloppy.

"Everyone be gone." He pointed at Gina and Calamity, silently selecting them as the exceptions. Alfred raised a brow - staring from the pointing finger to Gina. Gina, just as surprised to see the king play perfectly into their hands, did not have to totally feign her own reaction as she glanced at Alfred and then back to Kinglos.

“Umm...of course, m’lord.”

Gina being selected did make the others at the table quite curious, and a woman next to her scoffed out of jealousy. Gina didn’t mind. Are we finally having a little luck? Not quite, she realised a moment later, looking at Panos and realising the king was trying to get rid of him too.

Panos grasped Calamity's hand, a bead of sweat on his forehead. He wouldn't step out in this castle alone...it wasn't acceptable!

"You made a promise..." Panos whispered, a hiss nestling vulnerable fright. Councilman Hedspeth was glaring daggers at the blanched haired royal.

Gina looked over at Cal as the guests began to stand up and leave, and bobbed her hand very slightly to signal for her to wait a moment. They could wait until most of the hall had cleared to vouch for Panos’ integrity as Cal’s counterpart, and the fewer witnesses around when they did, the less likely the king would be to feel that he was losing face by having his orders questioned.

Calamity smiled ingratiatingly at the king. "You are wise not to delay, my lord. If he may, my husband will remain with us. He is learning of what I do, so he can be better equipped to assist me in serving your interests." She pulled out a chair for Panos, taking the one beside it.

The room had emptied spare Calamity's guards against the walls, and Panos sat down. King Kinglos' transparent face stifled a quiver that threatened to become a smirk. "That is a decision I never heard you say before." His judgments belittled Panos with a second shake of his lips.

The young Lambros was used to this ridicule, it reminded him of his father. Not man enough, pathetic and without his own agency. Truth be told, being the victim of rape and a terrible week-long marriage where he was molested for the first time was leading the teenager to find some truth about it.

Quiet, Panos stared at the table, fingers curling slightly. He was the descendant of a god, and yet felt so little divine about himself. He wanted his pride back, he wanted to destroy men like this fat, unfashionable, fool. Not kill them, but shatter their reputations and cut them sharply with smart words made to draw heartfelt tears. Panos felt power hungry and yet he was shadowed by this universe's placement - the object of his wife. Such a stupid position for him to be in. He felt miserable, and was becoming chronically acquainted with it.

Lifting his head he leered at Gina. Both of his interdenominational travel companions couldn't dress themselves; broken females who were playing all the games. How was this fair?

Comfortable in his velvet and wool, the leader of their kingdom sat leisurely in his seat. It was an act, his brow still had a single line of frustration.

"Why is she here?" Panos asked those in the room, signaling out Gina and gripping his 'wife's' forearm with sly manipulation. He could guess from Gina's dressing she wasn't nearly as powerful as they were at the table, if Panos had any awareness it was social politics. His thumb brushed across Calamity's sleeve and looked at her with a submissive gaze of round eyes, exaggerating his vulnerability. "I don't know who this little girl is, and she threatens my ability to focus when I feel so sickly." Now he was in control of the conversation.

Gina put down her cup, wrong-footed. She looked from Panos to Cal, but neither of them gave her any subtle signal that they had a plan at work.

“Georgina Remoni.” she identified herself, still looking at Cal for some sign she knew what Panos was playing at. “I won’t get in the way.” she added, opting to placate rather than to point out that the king had asked her to stay. Doing that would only kick off a power struggle between them.

"I'm sure she won't. And since it pleases the king that she stay, we can surely abide it, can't we?" Calamity said firmly, her smile a little tight as she took a seat beside Panos, looking at him. "I'm sure you're wondering exactly why I saw fit to detain your advisor, my lord. Well, when she visited my halls I discovered her intention - to go without your knowledge to the Elf Queen. I'm sure you understand why I couldn't allow it - not without your prior knowledge, and approval."

Cal swallowed, glancing at Gina. It made sense, for her to be the one to speak to the king, but she feared she'd stumble. It had been the redhead taking the lead in their adventure, for the most part. And now Panos seemed to see fit to try to trip Gina up, for whatever reason. Perhaps he feared losing Cal's support now she'd returned, thought he would be sidelined - well, she didn't see how to reassure him further, not right now at any rate. She swallowed, turning her eyes to the king again.

"Of course, if you think there is some merit to sending the Advisor to the elves, I will release her at once, my lord..." she trailed off, allowing him some input; fighting the nervous urge to gnaw on her lip. They were alone - for the most part. If it seemed he wouldn't take the bait, she would use her gift.

The high and mighty man closed his eyes, he was now intoxicated.

Panos crossed his arms spitefully.

"The cunt cannot even dress herself and you find something worthwhile in her?!" Panos' pale finger jutted out directly to Gina as the king collected himself through his struggling digestion.

Gina blinked, still more baffled than angry, although the latter was definitely starting to creep in now. “Excuse me?” She stared at Panos with her mouth half open, trying to work out what the hell was going through his head.

Kinglos was enjoying himself, a slight smile on his face and his body language calmed. At this point the man opened his eyes and waved off Panos, dismissing him. The artistic youth gasped and put his hands to cup his mouth. All his hurt sensibilities were offended. Why was he being ignored?! He wasn't ornamental! The tragedy-stricken aristocrat was humbled by a regal drunk.

"He is loud. I thought you kept everything in line here, or are you getting soft my marchioness?" His speech had become cool and cunning, as if the drink gave him more command over leadership - even if they all could see him squinting from time to time. "I already have said I know why she came. You will let her go."

”How clever, m’lord.” Gina rallied, seizing on an opportunity to drag their conversation back onto the rails. She hitched up a look of delight, as if she had only just realised the implications of the plan. “If the adviser goes to the elf queen then there’s no need for war, no need for any of our people to die proving themselves...just peace with the elves and the kingdom looking strong.”

She toyed with her cup, pretending to think.

“Only...it seems a shame not to take due credit, doesn’t it? If you announce to everyone that you’re sending the adviser, then no-one can say it wasn’t your good sense that kept the kingdom safe and strong.”

The princess jumped on Gina's thread, nodding her agreement. "I see why you asked her to remain, my Lord," she said. "Indeed, it would be a perfect opportunity to announce your masterful plan whilst the council is assembled here. I'll have my servants gather what the Advisor requires to travel," she said, "whilst we call the assembly back in, so you can inform them of your masterful plan, if it pleases you." It provoked a turn of his eyes away from the amethyst stare. Somewhere he disagreed.

However there was no chance to expand on it, as there was a loud knocking on the doors. The guards inside attentive laid eyes on Calamity.

"There is an urgent emergency!"

[Enigma]

Jeon walked out of the dungeon. His desires to speak in quiet with Melvin were slashed by the blonde healer woman following tight behind. In tandem the winding stairs in the tower were narrow with guards not too far, making sure if he said anything it would not be privately.

In the cold, the healer bundled herself. The notorious lack of insulation in the towers of the castle was quick to make Jeon's move through uncomfortable and nip his face. On his way up heavy steps thudded down. The chainmail clad body guard connected to Jeon's super imposed identity stood in the way.

"Is he there?!" Kevin's voice shouted down, Archer's nose shot out air - visible from the cold. He took a careful breath, preparing himself.

"Yes" a reliving sigh slipped from his lips and he pointed upward, looking to not want and test his luck for more spoken word.

"Well met, Sir Archer," Jeon said wearily. "Be on your guard, one of the prisoners escaped and is apparently invisible."

"For all I know, he could have gone ahead of us, or is following us now. I suggest we rejoin the main party quickly. Guardsman Archer gripped a hand shut. Briefly his eyes fell to the woman behind Jeon, scanning her with interest until he turned to quickly get up the stairs. A wave of his hand suggested he wanted Jeon and 'Melvin' to follow quickly.

Following, heat came back refreshingly when the doctor entered the heavily watched hallways of the castle. Jeon's gut feeling of importance again honed on Kevin once he returned into visual range.

"I am going to speak with the Marchioness to warn her" The healer said as her bow out of the grouping of men, and quickly walked off. Councilman Kevin approached Jeon, a touch of the Zayan's shoulder unfolded into a stroke with Kevins' fingers going down to the elbow. The standing guards along the wall were watching, perhaps in boredom or curiosity. There was no judgment in their eyes, but they were attentive.

"Our hostess is busy in discrete conversation with our lord King. In the meantime you and I should speak privately"

"If you believe anything said in this castle can be private...?" Jeon retorted, but letting himself be guided by Kevin while Melvin/the Probe trailed suspiciously behind.

"I should warn you, one of the prisoners escaped and is currently invisible in the castle," Jeon stated. Kevin's leading steps slowed, a careful swallow slid down his throat. He glanced at Archer who nodded to Jeon's words.

"The teenager finally slipped..." he had to whisper his words as he avoided the ears of the distributed guards. Pointed to a random closed door, Kevin looked at a young man donned the commonplace heavy plate armor. "Is this an empty bedchamber?" Getting a nod, the Councilman waved off Archer with annoyance, Archer accustom to it simply leaned against the wall across the door.

Pulling Jeon inside, Kevin held against him. The Marchioness' guest arrangements were culturally dry. The one item of decoration, of color, was her bloody sigil banner hanging from the wall over the bed. Her authority spread everywhere in the fortress.

"Listen to me lover. The Marchioness might know something" Worried whispers from their small distance of lips, pressed air onto Jeon's face. The way in which he spoke with concerned drama had a social flair that was drawing. "Editha would not have spoken of the conspiracy. You must act quickly. If we use the released prisoner as distraction, you would have your chance"

"And what defenses does he have?" Jeon asked. "What will get past them? If I try and fail, it's your neck on the block. For all we know, someone's listening to us right now."

"Still, if there's an opportunity..." Jeon mused, turning to look down at the Probe. He knelt down and whispered into its ear.

"Zombie formula #9, wizard and king."

The Probe frowned, but nodded as it started the unseen but laborious process of moving darts to its fingertips.

"Oh, and Melvin - we may need a distraction, as if something invisible was in the room with us. Can you manage?"

The Probe glared but nodded.

"Good lad. Make sure none of us get killed." Kevin peered down at 'Melvin' and crossed his arms. Any cooperation to answering Jeon's questions was cut off by suspicion and jealousy.

"I asked you to help me, not some boy" The Councilman stated sharply.

"Would you deny a craftsman his tools?" Jeon asked, frowning at Kevin. "Should the king be struck down by poison, do you think a man of us will go unsearched? Melvin is too small to be considered a threat."

Nor, if it came to it, would they find a weapon on his so-called apprentice.

"You gave me this task, let me use the tools I choose to use."

Kevin swallowed the request, crossing his arms.

"What happens would all fall on the little Marchioness. We are in her domain after all" The Councilman glanced at 'Melvin'. "Boy do you ever talk?"

The probe looked up at Kevin, raising its right eyebrow before glancing at Jeon, then shook its puppet head.

"That would be a mistake," Jeon sighed, burying his face in his hand. "I'm trying to keep you alive, remember? With a dead king, there are bound to be probing attacks, and right now the Marchioness is the one who's been keeping this boarder safe."

Looking up, he stared directly at Kevin. "If she left, I don't give this kingdom a week."

Kevin weighed Jeon's bold warning. What thoughts of protest he had the Councilman must have concluded they were not strong enough to rebuke Jeon's statement. Oddly Kevin looked away and kept quiet about the regard in his defeat.

"If we do not go quickly, we could be exposed."

Jeon quirked an eyebrow. He was wondering why they hadn't, yet.

"Melvin," he paused, looking down at the probe, which looked up at him expectantly. "Take the wizard out first. Wait a good thirty seconds or so before your next target."

The probe nodded, grinning slightly, which made Jeon frown and step back half a step.

"When we get a moment, we really must have a talk."

[Minkasha]

Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Georgina Wright & Panos Lambros

"There is an urgent emergency!"

Behind the door was a woman’s voice. The sloshing king glanced away from the teenagers, creating an opening for Panos to glare at Gina. She stared back at him with obvious frustration, her lips moving to silently mouth What the fuck? before her eyes darted back to the king. Panos' fingers held tighter to Calamity’s arm. The breath coming out of him shook and he rubbed his forehead, tense. The young artist could feel his thoughts becoming scared and paranoid. If I could crush her, the little thing would be quiet. Panos’ spiteful thoughts were aimed at Gina, who once again had managed to somehow overcome the social odds of his ostracising tactics. Across space or at a table in a castle, this plain flower couldn’t be rid of. Much like a weed she persisted, spreading and converting everything around her to her will. I have power in this room!

“What are you waiting for?!” the young teenager snapped sharply at a standing guard by the door. “Open it!” Strained, his voice cracked but he accepted it by clearing his throat.

King Kinglos narrowed his eyes. Suspicion fell on Calamity, briefly to Panos and then back her way.

Cal turned to look at the guard, confirming Panos' order with a curt nod. The other royal's fingers were gripping tightly to her, betraying his frustration at the situation - he was panicking, feeling helpless - and it seemed he was throwing all that angst at Gina - Calamity's heart was thudding nervously; his emotion-ruled actions could be their undoing, in this delicate situation.

The chattering and shuffle of feet belonging to Greywall gentry rolled in as the knob was pulled. Welcomed in was a fair looking pale skinned woman covered in furs. Blonde hair to her shoulders, blue soft eyes and pouty lips defined this strained-looking thirty something. Her demeanor was exhausted, sweat on her face as she lowered herself with a bow at the hips and an opening of her arms. The door was closed behind her, shutting away the outside noises.

When she raised herself, the woman was caught off guard by the presence of the King and the Marquess.

“My marchioness, I healed the Draconian prisoner. On his person, perhaps in the beds of his nails he had stored away arcanium and used it to magically free himself. Your loyal torture master has been injured. I and an apothecary healed him to stable health.”

Cal gulped, her eyes flashing between the woman and the King, horrorstruck. The last thing they needed was her usefulness to the King undermined right now! King Kinglos’s body was shaking, moments away from an explosive reaction.

Oh shit. Gina thought, her heart sinking. "Now's your chance, m'lord." she hissed quietly, half rising from her seat to lean across the table towards the king. "One prisoner won't get far in all this snow, if he even gets out of the castle. If the people are stupid enough to worry, let them know how their king is gonna keep them safe. Tell them you're sending the foreign adviser to make peace with the elf queen. With her on our side and the marchioness here on our border, we'll be safe. They'll never have to fear the Draconians again!"

Cal gratefully nodded her agreement, inhaling deeply to steel herself.

"This young woman is correct - the prisoner will not get far." Her eyes moved again to the guard at the door. "Alert the rest of the guards immediately! Nobody leaves the grounds without express permission from myself or the King. Find the Draconian and bring him to me at once!"

The sure sounds of Calamity's men voiced, and pulled things into action. King Kinglos was locked in promising rage, sweating with emotion and his alcoholic lifestyle. He was humiliated a time too many.

Panos gritted his teeth, perfect and small behind foul expressing lips. He stood up to meet Gina. The women blundered this situation because neither were able diplomats. Girls who couldn't put on their own clothes. He would have to do it all.

Armed men ran to the doors with urgency, having enough training to keep some basic line of formation. Their militarized deployment out of the dining room was loud but the prince managed to embolden his words. Slamming a hand on the table, Panos flipped his blanched hair out of his face.

"My wife is highly capable. There are traitors in this castle, who pilfered and placed arcanium on him." Panos raised his union held hand with his partner. His fear-mongering paranoia was working, getting the royal leader's eye.

Gina could have slapped the young prince. Whatever was up with him this morning, a witch hunt led by a drunk and paranoid king would only end badly, and she couldn’t keep the venom out of her voice.

“Don’t jump to stupid-” she began, but then the doors were opened and screams erupted.


Doctor Jeon Smythe

The apothecary, his guised assistant, and the Councilman guard kept in tow to follow Kevin. Hedspeth was clearly worried, walking fast. The steps of his comfortable footwear was louder than Jeon had heard the man walk prior. The flirty and biting politician was not catering to any humor while taking them back to the center of this conflict.

They caught up with the blonde woman from the dungeon as she was half way through the crowd. Jeon now saw the mass of well-dressed sorts standing around the dining room door. Among them was the pointed-eared man who was attentively staring at the blonde woman, and now she was at the door knocking.

"There is an urgent emergency!" she shouted at the door, getting the comfortable men and women of various adult age groups to all stare at her in unison. The magician was poised in the back of the group against the hallway wall opposite the door. Guards were passing along the news of the escaped prisoner, and were fleeing down halls to presumably begin a search.

The few remaining guards were far apart: one near the T intersection that stood to their right. His back was poised against the right hallway wall, his line of vision directly left and right, but not behind to the crowd. On the other side of the middle hallway was a man standing directly in the center, looking down at the hallway. Occasionally the body language of the armored knight showed while he shifted his head left and right – perhaps trying to keep awareness for the prisoner.

"Melvin," Jeon said loudly, as if trying to be heard over the muttering of the crowd as he pointed in the general direction of the magician. "Perhaps it's best if you join the others, out of harm's way."

The Probe glanced up at him and nodded slowly, then began moving across the floor towards the magician, readying its dart launchers hidden within its fingers. It seemed undaunted by the forest of skirts and legs it was approaching.

"The prisoner's invisible," Jeon warned as they got close. "I don't suppose anyone sees an invisible attacker? He could have followed us up."

The muttering picked up, the pointed eared magician was caught staring at the closed doors. A locked look of forlorn stared at them. (assuming Melvin goes up and gets the job done) The Councilman and his guard kept at some distance, 'Melvin' pressed ahead of the party.

The gathered citizens were chattering, noticing that the guards themselves had also changed in attitude. The airs of the situation were getting more dramatic. The boy, though artificial, had the advantage of his guise's stature keeping him out of anyone's interest. When he raised his hand, administering a small pebble from his fingertips, no-one noticed.

Jeon saw 'Melvin' take the shot, the magician's temple hit with the little dark pellet. Pressing to his skull, the redhead felt the point of contact with irritation. Then, he collapsed.

The probe felt some small shade of satisfaction, although the face of its real-world shell remained impassive as the wizard collapsed. Vitals were depressed, in appearance he appeared to be struck dead, but in truth was just barely alive.

A young man with a good lean back, nice clothing and worry-struck, deep green eyes turned at the thud and saw the magician.

"Sir!?" He knelt down, perhaps the intensity in his question pulled some to look back. With the mage knocked down, ladies began screaming.

Melvin the Probe used this to its advantage to move through the screaming throng to the edge of the crowd where it could get a shot at the King. Assuming whatever magical defense he might have was rendered null by the collapse of the wizard.


Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Georgina Wright, Jeon Smythe, & Panos Lambros

The doors opened. The screaming panic of the gentry ladies charged into the dining room. Guards were having difficulty getting out, and they were shouting for people to step back. Men moved their ladies, in passing everyone could hear people demanding answers.

The tired blonde standing in Calamity, Georgina, Panos and the King's way moved and huddled around where the people over the fallen mage. Panos gasped, weakness taking his knees and he fell gracelessly back into his chair. The escaped prisoner was here?

"O'doln!" Calamity's healer said with a personally afflicted startle, rushing to kneel next to the man. Guards were running around, but that was getting hard to hear over yelling men - the guests to the castle speaking loudly at Cal and the King.

As panic filled the room and the king’s face contorted for an imminent explosion, Gina realised that they were out of time. The distracting chaos around them might be their best and only chace.

“Cal!” she hissed, darting her eyes towards the king in a sharp signal. “Voice!”

"Melvin!" Jeon called out in concern, trying to make his voice heard over the screams. "Apprentice, come here!"

The Probe made it to the edge of the crowd and started towards Jeon, its hands flat as they swung to keep balance but in truth, its right hand was pointed more towards the king, looking for a clear shot.

Cal's eyes flew from Gina to the King, wide and panic-stricken. The situation was escalating fast - last time they had been in a panicked crowd like this, they had ended up watching the life drain from Baka's eyes... "My Lord!" she yelled, dragging his attention to her as she moved toward him, pushing all of the command she could muster into her voice. The room was loud - too loud. Her head swivelled back and forth, her heart pounding with the fear that the King would not even hear her in this chaos. Baka's face flashed again through her mind, then Manisha's, then Vahsi's... and then Panos, and Gina's. Who would die next, if they didn't stop this madness?

"STOP!*" the Princess screamed to the room at large, her voice ringing with power, the word echoing over the heads of the milling, yelling crowd.

Her word was obeyed. Calamity's soldiers, her healer, her guests, her friends and her king bent. Collectively there was a heave in their breaths, their vision went black and dozens of bodies fell to the floor. Clanking metal, folding cloths, hard cracks of bodies against the stone, the thud of Gina's body slamming off the wood table and laying onto the ground. Panos' vision held the longest, fluttering eyes and the Lambros followed suit. King Kinglos passed out in his chair.

Anyone who could hear the faintest whisper of her enchanted scream submitted. Men down the hallways who Calamity could hear their echoing downfall come into the dining room. The doctor couldn't resist: Kevin, Archer, Gina's love interest all in heaps.

In the immediate area, it was the probe in disguise and Calamity which stood.

The Probe came to an abrupt stop, then turned until it had a fix on Cal as it ran a scan of the lifeforms within scanning range. Except for Cal, all were unconscious. It could only hope that the escaped prisoner was also affected by... whatever she had done.

Watching Cal carefully, the Probe walked backward until it had reached Jeon. The Zayan was slack-jawed and drooling on the stone floor. In a sudden fit of malicious spite, it smiled as it silently took a picture to separate away from its records. The Probe knelt down and lifted the doctor, shaking with moderate force, but Jeon remained insensible.

Impressive. Whatever this was, it wasn't a Bass Stunner, it had none of the acoustic wave-front characteristics. Nor was it anything these people with their 'magic' had a defense against.

Lowering its Zayan charge to the floor, the Probe known as 'Melvin' turned to scowl curiously at Cal. The princess had staggered at the exertion of power, so much greater than anything she had attempted before. She gazed around in shock at the unconscious forms surrounding her, their forms coming in and out of focus as her vision blurred.

"No... I didn't mean..." What had she done?! She's only intended to make them quiet, calmer... not this! Were they... had she... killed them?!

"Panos!" the girl cried, turning to the closest of her companions, a hand reaching to shake his shoulder frantically. "Panos, are you alright? Wake up! Wake up*!" Again, she drew on that commanding power that slept within her, and as she did so, her head throbbed with pain. The girl winced, swallowed, focused. Gritting her teeth against the painful daggers, she spoke again.

"Panos! Gina! Wake up NOW!*" Alcohol spilled from the dropped cups of her king and the guests laying outside. The environment was near silent. The distant sounds of running and shouting were clear indications of her fighters following her directions, searching for an invisible foe. From the sounds of it, none were running this way - getting more distance in their urgent scramble.

Panos nor Gina woke up, the reassurance of their lives still intact coming from the sensing bond Calamity shared with her multiverse travelers.

She commanded them to wake, and they were waking up, the Probe noted. Would they have revived naturally after a time? Indeterminate data.

She was Jeon's best chance for revival - but by whatever means she used to knock out everyone within range of her voice, it clearly exacted a heavy toll on her body.

Opening the N-Gate portal of the shell's right pocket, the probe deposited one of Jeon's favorite pick-me-ups there as it walked over to Calamity. Reaching into its pocket, it pulled out a small white sweets bag containing Jelly Babies and offered it to her. Proteins in the gelatin and the shear amount of sugar in those would help her recover quickly. How she would react to the flavor of the purple ones, Black Currant, it could not determine. Cal started as her eyes fell on the boy, too concerned with her friends to have noticed him until now. Her head continued to pound, and her companions did not stir, but they were alive. Through eyes watery with pain, she gave the child a dubious look.

"Why didn't my voice work on you? Are you a fae?" He must have some power of his own. She glanced down at the offered sweets, hesitated.. and shook her head, giving him another suspicious look. After all they'd been through, it didn't seem wise to accept unknown food from a potentially magical stranger. "Tell me who you are. Who are you here with?" she asked.

The Probe blinked, then pointed first to Jeon lying insensible on the ground next to Kevin, then at Gina.

Then, looking back at Calamity, it pulled a blackcurrant jelly baby out of the paper sack in its hand and popped it in its mouth. The shell chewed, sensors in the mouth detecting the flavors and chemical breakdown of the confection, but it was incapable of enjoying the sweet. It 'swallowed', the pulped sweet slipping back through another N gate for disposal.

Whatever she did, apparently it did not effect machines such as itself, but Fae, being magical, would also have been safe.

Magic again. It could only imagine what the Zayans who sent it out to watch over Jeon would say if they ever watched this. Come up with new, imaginative ways to seal their already impregnable boarders?

Cal hesitated, then accepted the sweet. The child was obviously trying to demonstrare that they were safe by eating one himself, and if he was here with Gina... she looked down at the other man he'd indicated, recognising him as the source of the draw she felt, similar to that she felt toward Panos and Gina. He, too, was connected to their quest, then.

Dubiously, she popped the candy into her mouth and chewed slowly, her eyes widening at the flavour. Royal in the midst of a life altering adventure or not, she was also a teenager - and one who had never tried candy before. Though it was no cure-all, the sugar was a pick me up, and it tasted delicious.

"Right... what to do. What would you do?" The princess said, her eyes on Gina's prone form across the table. She could simply go and tell the advisor to leave, but she didn't trust that she'd have the strength to command her, if the woman didn't believe the orders had come from the king. She needed to wake Gina and Panos - and this new companion, too, first.

"Have you got any more of those things?" She asked the child.

The Probe nodded, handing over the small white paper bag with a dozen more inside.

She ate the sweets with relish, and moved back to stand beside Gina, a hand on the other girls shoulder.

"Gina," the teen said firmly, "I need you to wake up. Now!

The Probe leaned close, monitoring Cal's and Gina's lifesigns.

The princess watched just as closely, holding her breath, her bottom lip held firmly between her teeth. Long seconds ticked by... but her friend did not stir. "Fuck. FUCK. What do I do?" she lamented aloud, looking around as though hoping someone would appear to offer guidance. She drew in a breath. Standing uselessly in this room was not going to help her, or her friends. She had to do something, and quickly - if there was some invisible assailant loose amongst them, she had left all of them horribly vulnerable to attack.

"Right. Right. Well, everyone being asleep doesn't change our end goal, does it? I haven't knocked everyone out," she noted. The sounds of the guards moving in the distance were still carrying through the open door to where they stood.

"So the advisor should be awake as well. Right." She crossed to the doorway, inhaling deeply as she stepped over the prone forms that scattered the floor, trying to steel herself. She still felt weak - it wouldn't do to show it. Turning back, she addressed the boy.

"You'd better stay here. Keep an eye on them," she indicated her companions, and the newcomer she felt the link to. "If they wake, tell them I've gone to set things in motion. If the rest wake before I return, Gina will still need to try and make sure the King announces it as his decision. Alright?"

She hesitated for a moment, wondering if the child understood, or was even capable of carrying out her instructions. She hadn't heard him speak... could he even speak? The girl shook her head, glad of the small burst of energy the sugary sweets had granted her. It couldn't be helped. She had to try and do something. Bending over, she gripped the arm of a man slumped half in, half out of the doorway, and tugged. Gracelessly, she managed to get him clear of the frame, freeing the door; then her eyes fell on the bodies in the hall. She couldn't move them all - it would drain her of the little strength she'd recovered.

Melvin appeared by her side, taking in the bodies lying in the hall, then went to the nearest one. wrapping its arms under theirs, Melvin effortless dragged them back into the room, laying them down next to the poor fellow she had moved by the door. Looking up at her, the Probe gave her a brisk nod.

Cal stared in shock at the child's seemingly effortless maneuvering of the unconscious man, blinking several times as she processed what he'd done.

"You're... you're very strong, for someone so small. Can you move the rest of them inside, and close the door?" she asked, indicating the remaining members of the Kings entourage that littered the hallway.

Melvin nodded, but held up its left hand as it reached into its right pocket to produce another Tarot card which it offered to her. On the face, it was 'The Magician'.

Stepping around the sleeping citizens, she made her way toward the room in which the advisor was still closed, steeling herself. She would convince the woman the King had ordered her to go to the Elven Queen - if she couldn't use her gift, she would tell her that she had not yet informed the king of her Editha's betrayal - and that she could avoid the truth being revealed, if she did as Cal commanded... or be executed as a traitor to the crown.

Melvin watched her go, her unique bio-signature being tracked by dedicated subsystems as it effortlessly dragged the next sleeping victim inside. It could have used the tractors, but it didn't want someone looking in to see that.

[G]

Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility


The teenager noticed the stretch of her power as she walked around the corner and saw a guard who must have been standing post fallen on the ground. He was the last of any trouble from her magic she saw but as she recalled and returned her way to where Editha was held there stood a young suited man. Apparently he had replaced Warner's place - about the same height of 5'10" but thinner as the tight metal suit showed. His visor was up and the young man looked upon Calamity with only the time to recognize her.

Kneeling he kept in front of the door.

"Everyone is searching the castle and the outside Marchioness. It is a fury of movement" he assured.

"Good," Cal responded crisply, and to her credit, she managed to almost completely keep the exhaustion from her voice. "Don't rest until the assassin is found. When he is, take him directly to a cell - do not go back to the dining hall. The King and his audience do not wish to be disturbed. Go and pass on my orders to the rest, now. I will ensure the Advisor remains secure until you return." She turned away in dismissal, entering the room where Editha was held.

"We need to talk."

The frizzy haired woman pointed her sharp nose at Calamity when she turned to look. She stroked a hand across her collarbones, thinking before she spoke.

“There is trouble in the castle? You look…” She took steps closer to the leader, nimble and limber with each one. “Tired, young marchioness” The guard's footsteps were quiet now. They were alone.

"I'm not here to discuss appearances," Cal frowned, her face set, "But the future of our kingdom. The king does not yet know of your betrayal - and it can stay that way, if you heed me." She paused, pondering how best to proceed; wishing she'd had longer to discuss their plan. It all rested on her shoulders, now. If she messed this up...

"Your actions were treacherous, but in the end, our goals aren't so different. We're on the brink of war. A war neither of us wants. If we move in force a gainst the Draconians, it is my people who will be on the front lines." She met Editha's gaze, looking for an indication of how her words were being recieved. She didn't think she had the strength, yet, to command the woman to obey, so she would need to convince her.

"I have kept that threat at bay until now, without allowing all out war to break out. I can take care of things here. You will go to the elves, and ensure the peace is kept there. You have a silver tongue. I'm sure you are up to the task. As for the king..." she paused again, wondering how to reassure the advisor that she would keep the ruler under control without giving her ammunition against her, if things went wrong. "I will help him see the wisdom in keeping the peace. And by then, you will already be gone."

Calamity went on to explain her plan, Editha only drew closer before the teenager and listened. With the pauses Calamity took to think through her suggestions and try to maintain a presence of control the nimble woman only smiled.

Just as Calamity stopped speaking her head was slammed against the wood door, her throat being squeezed in a menacing grip by the adviser's hands. The pain was making the teenager's head thump loudly, losing air.

Spots flared in Cal's vision, her mouth open as she struggled to draw breath past the woman's choking grip. Her hands flailed through empty air, finding nothing to aid her, and she directed them instead at the advisors face, scrabbling to connect with her eyes, to inflict enough pain to make Editha release her grip. Mustering what she could of her failing strength, she aimed a kick at her attackers' legs.

Editha screamed a horrid, fried sound and Calamaity's fingers sank into the woman's sockets. The adviser, held a moment long to pull the fay-blooded girl closer and slam her back against the door, throwing Calamity's skull with crashing pain. At which point both had to let go and Editha hobbled away on one leg, covering her face.

Calamity had seconds to react, the other woman trying to lower herself for a charge. The princess sucked down air, her lungs screaming. In place of the desperate panic that had flooded her a moment before, she found herself filled with fury. They had been pushed, kicked and thrown from one world to another; dropped into impossible situations with too much responsibility and no information, save what they could grasp on their own, praying they didn't bring yet more bloodshed down on themselves and those around them in the process. With a yell of outrage, she leapt at the advisor, her own hands now grasping at Editha's shoulders, the weight of her body crashing against the other woman, bringing them both toppling to the floor.

"I'm TRYING!" she shrieked, shaking her roughly with each word, "to HELP! What do you WANT FROM ME?!"

The last was as much a question to whoever had done this to them as to Editha. Her chest heaved, and her shoulders slumped. The little energy the candies had offered was depleted; only adrenalin kept her from collapsing where she sat.

Editha’s tear smeared and bloodied face was grimaced, eyelids trying to protect what had already been damaged. The woman under the teenager’s weight didn’t reply, whimpering in pain and in shock from the loss of her vision. The princess's chest heaved, her ragged breaths slowing, and her grip loosened. She sat back, releasing the other woman, lifting a hand to rest briefly against her furrowed brow. For a moment, she just breathed. Then her hand went to the floor, steadying herself as she stood and looked down at the Advisor.

"I will have a carriage made ready for you. You will clean yourself up, and go to the Queen."
Calamity had conquered Editha, the broken and frightened woman nodding through trembles. She continued to wipe the teary red liquid from her eyes.

Cal sighed, some of the tension releasing from her shoulders, and she got to her feet. She had convinced the woman - though not in the way she had intended; rather, by descending to a raving lunatic. But she had agreed, and that was the important thing. Now she could return to the others and... Damn it! the teen thought, inwardly kicking herself as she realised her folly. She had sent the guard away, to hunt for the missing Draconian! She couldn't leave the advisor unguarded - there was no telling what she might try, if she were left to her own devices. She would have to take Editha with her, get her on her way, and then return to Gina and Panos. I'll just have to hope that strange child can hold down the fort a little longer, she thought, though nervous doubt clawed at her. The longer she took, the more likely someone would discover the room full of unconscious people - but there was nothing she could do.

She crossed to the dresser, opening the wooden doors and extracting a long, dark blue travelling cloak from within and tossed it at Editha.

"Put this on. And wipe your face, you look a mess." Purpose had put some of her old commanding tone into her voice, though exhaustion still threatened her. Her hands smoothed over her hair, and lingered at her neck; tender and sore from the other womans' assault. Perhaps her beating of the Advisor wouldn't be looked on too strangely, given what a bloodthirsty commander her doppelganger seemed to be.

"Let's go," she instructed, crossing the room again and opening the door. The corridor was clear. As the woman made to pass her, she reached out to grip her wrist, tight.

"Don't try anything," she said warningly, "or you will be a guest in my dungeons, instead of these quarters."

Melvin & The Unconscious Lot

The boy robot was standing around after he had completed the task of getting everyone inside and hidden behind a closed door. Sensors picked up a full figured woman coming. Her pace was quick for her tired body, sensitive sensors hearing the difficulty of breath.

Then there were knocks on the door, by her hand.

"Young Marchioness? Are you in there? Safe?" the older woman sounded very personally worried. Her hand was about to go to the door handle.

The Probe frowned. Letting the woman in would be a problem. She might scream before it could sedate her. So, there was only one thing to do.

"Matron?" rang out the familiar tones of the currently unconscious Jeon. "You've just missed the Marchioness, she was going to fetch me some supplies. Don't come in, I'm in the middle of a rather delicate examination. Sir, don't move, I can't remove that quill if you keep wiggling like that. And how exactly did you manage to sit down on one in the first place?"

The Probe watched the infrared image of the woman on the other side of the door carefully, while reloading its dart launchers. It was a good thing that Jeon was unconscious, it was a sure thing that the Zayan would be demanding answers from it that it wasn't allowed to give him.

The woman, so the probe could see, stepped away from the door instinctually.

“I will come back with protection for you apothecary. Hold on sir!” In this climatic time within the castle her voice was shaken and emotional. Running off, the probe observed through the wall her quick steps.

This situation was quickly becoming intolerable. Fortunately, its cover was that of a medbot, so it was well-equipped. The right-hand pocket bulged slightly as a packet of ammonia inhalants was deposited there.

It also deposited three porcupine quills, just in case.

The Probe pulled out the packet and examined it carefully. The cardboard box would certainly attract attention in this society, as would the foil-covered plastic trays that held the smelling salt capsules. Still, it couldn't be helped. The capsules... it couldn't say.

Walking over to Jeon, it pulled one of the trays out and extracted a single smelling-salt capsule. Breaking the glass tube under the cotton netting, it held the tube under Jeon's nose and let him breathe in the noxious vapors.

------

The pungent smell made Jeon stiffen and jerk his head away, coughing.

"What the..." he demanded looking around curious as MedBot Melvin looked at him dispassionately down at him. "What happened?"

He pulled himself to his feet and rose unsteadily, braced by an unexpectedly helpful hand from the Probe. Looking around, he could see everyone lying on the ground, most appeared to be breathing normally.

"Did... did you do this?" Jeon demanded, alarmed. His eyes narrowed as he stared down at MedBot. "How did you do that?"

The Probe rolled its human eyes at Jeon and shook its head. Leaning forward, it projected a hologram of Cal, looking down and asking, "Why didn't it work on you?"

The hologram flickered off.

"So," Jeon frowned, seeking out a chair as his head began to pound, "This young woman knocked all these people out? Was she armed with something? All I remember is hearing someone yelling 'stop'..."

He paused, then glanced ruefully at the MedBot. "That was her, wasn't it?"

MedBot nodded. It checked its scanners for more movement towards the room. Unfortunately the MedBot could observe several coming up one of the turrets of the castle and down the hallway to this room. The woman from before tagging along showed she was fulfilling her promise to 'bring protection' for Jeon.

MedBot fumed as it turned its head towards the door. The woman it talked to said she was going to get protection - clearly this wasn't a pair of exam gloves.

"So how long.... what is it? Is someone coming?" Jeon demanded, seeing the probe watching the door. He waved his hand around the room. "Is it the woman who..?"

MedBot shook its head and pointed to the door that the people were coming towards.

"You want me to stop them?" Jeon demanded, glancing frantically at the Probe as he took a step towards the door. "I don't know what you want me to say..."

As soon as Jeon's back was turn, it pulled out the synthetic quills it had in its pocket and jabbed them into the buttocks of Kevin. Pity he was unconscious.

Kevin shuddered where he lay in an undignified mess. With his butt prodded the Adviser groaned and weakly got into a seated position, yelped and fell back on the ground face fist. One of other on the floor was able to get up however. Panos gripped his head, his veins were throbbing and his mind was hot. Vision was gradual for his eyelids were unnaturally heavy.

The side of his skull where he had hit against the table hurt terribly. The beautiful prince held to the wound and desperately used the chair next to him to stand.

The security stood outside the doors and the woman left off into the castle by herself.

Tiredly sobbing and letting his lifted butt hold in the air, Kevin was too weak and drowsy to do anything about his backside barbarism.

"Hold on!" Jeon called out, spying Panos. Whoever it was outside, they were going to have to wait.

He went to offer him a hand up. "Scalp wounds bleed a bit," Jeon said reassuringly. "Let's have a look."

"Melvin, I'm going to need..." he started, looking up at the Probe's human shell, and frown as he spied Kevin. "What the... Where did you find porcupine quills in here? Just lie there quietly Kevin. Melvin, I needs a saline rinse and some sponges."

Leaning over slightly to pat Kevin's head, Melvin turned and crossed the room towards Jeon, noting the woman's departure and the new guards standing at the entrances outside the room. This was going to be a problem. Its right pocket bulged with the sterile bottle of saline wound cleanser and gauze pads packed in a plastic-lined paper package, fresh delivered from it's N-dimension stores.

The Lambros prince finally met eyes with the new multidimensional traveler he knew to be Jeon. Their bond as travelers felt with tight proximity to the other, Gina close for she still lay on the ground - not that he minded. Seeing an older man, was to see the first pillars of a home be built. Stability, ability. The sapphire cut pure blue eyes stared up to the worried doctor with emotional and dazed eyes. Laying into the man Panos grasped onto him desperately.

"Help us please, we're nothing but stupid teenagers-" When the blanched hair young man continued to beg he squeezed his eyes tightly, exhausted in the peak moment of the events leading to now and the disoriented distortion that reality was. Hands needy grabbed and grabbed again onto Jeon's robes, pressing to feel the safety of the doctor's frame. Kevin's sobbing in the background did not help relax the situation. "I'm need you...I need you" The prince was boldly shameless in his yearning for a male leader in his life.

What was it about this dimension that strange men kept coming on to him? But there was that odd sort of recognition, a bonding like with Gina, who was lying nearby, yet subtly different than the one he felt with Kevin and the council.

"My name is Jeon," he told Panos, giving him a reassuring hug. "We'll get this sorted out."

Gently, he separated the young man from him and peered speculatively into his eyes. "Now, how do you feel? Got a really bad headache? Ringing in the ears? Feel sick to your stomach? Light hurting your eyes?"

When they lost consciousness, their muscles relaxed, lending more to bumps and bruises than Panos' head wound, the one saving grace for people under the influence in a short fall. Still, the young man was going to need a few stitches.

"I'm going to need a suture kit, a drug tolerance screening and a bandage," he told Melvin as the Probe handed over the gauze and saline wash. "Do you have more of those smelling salts? Try to wake Gina over there, I'm going to need the help. Hopefully, she can help identify any other friendlies in here and we can start helping the other injured."

"Also," he said, gritting his teeth as he poured the room temperature saline on Panos' wound as another bulge appeared in the Probe's pocket, which proved to be a canvas field surgical kit with sterile sutures in paper packets, not unlike the military surplus they had aboard the transport shuttle only yesterday, but felt like days. "See if you can find the porcupine that got Kevin? I don't need any more surprises."

A thought crossed his mind as he patted the wound gently with gauze to clear away the blood. "Melvin, could you make a weapon for me, a gun or..."

The Probe paused as it leaned over Gina, raising one eyebrow in silent censure.

"Sorry to ask," Jeon scowled back. "I'll just take on the world with these forceps and bandage shears."

Melvin sighed and crushed the ammonia capsule under Gina's nose. Much like Jeon, the girl first began to sniffle, then cough, her head wriggling against the probe’s supporting hand in an attempt to get away from the acrid gas. She mumbled some kind of incoherent protest and tried to bat the salts away with a flapping hand.

“...only suppos’ to blow the bloody doors off…” Gina slurred groggily, scrunching her eyes a few times until she was able to focus on the probe holding her up. “Melvin?” she said, a little clearer.

She sat up on one elbow, cuffing the stream of mucus from her nose and taking stock of the fact that she was now on the floor beneath the table. Her gaze travelled around the dining hall to take in Panos clinging to Jeon, councillor Hedspeth moaning on the ground with his arse in the air, and all the people still lying unconscious.

“Oh fuck.” Gina cursed in broader-than-usual Leicester brogue, and groped for the nearest chair to pull herself up. “Where did Cal go?”

[Azazeal849]

Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility

Sending Editha off within a carriage out of Whitebar to the Elven Queendoms wasn't difficult, but she could see her guards were in frenzy to find the invisible attacker. She could hear whispers, men asking for 'the mage', looking for this person. Whomever they were talking about, the men all seemed to agree that this person was needed for the search. Her passing through the snow from the stables to the castle was brief, but not forgettable when it went for her skin.

Though she returned back to her fortress, several minutes passed before she was warm again. Following her feelings back to the Multiverse Travelers, Calamity was led back to the door of the dining room. Yet to complicate things, now the door was barred with seven guards standing around with fierce dedication.

Cal faltered for no more than a second when she saw the guards, then straightened her back and strode confidently toward them.

"Stand aside," she commanded, "I need to enter." From within, she thought she could hear something - a muffled groan? Could they have awoken, inside? Cal certainly hoped so; though the chill in the air outside had sharpened her senses a bit, she was nowhere close to recovered. She didn't know if she'd have the strength to use her power yet.


Georgina Wright, Jeon Smythe, & Panos Lambros

The Lambros prince winced as Jeon worked on the small injury he had suffered from the fall. Gina herself felt one nestled in her tresses, having landed with equally painful gracelessness when ripped out of consciousness. Gina prodded gingerly at the bump, still leaning heavily on the chair as she watched Melvin glide silently back over to Jeon and Panos. As her eyes fell on the beautiful prince, Panos eyed her with discontent.

Come on Panos, give me a fucking break here. Gina didn't have the energy for another argument, and by the looks of it they couldn't afford the time anyway. Across the table from her, the king and advisor Charlie were out cold, slumped over their goblets.

Better they stay that way until Cal comes back, Gina thought. The king had clearly been too far gone to take Gina's hints anymore, and god knew how he would react when they woke him up. Using Cal's power on him was their only shot, unless they planned to drag him off somewhere until things were back under control. And even then...

The thoughts racing through Gina's painfully-thumping head were interrupted by Kevin groaning. It was starting to get louder; perhaps loud enough to hear through the door.

"My ass!" the man of social power and commanding of fear wailed, now holding no sort of lordship of anyone.

"Ah, jeez." Gina muttered, looking at Jeon and the others. "I guess we'd better blame all this on the escaped Drac..." She jerked her head down towards councilman Hedspeth. "What are we gonna do with him, then?"

"He's important," Jeon said, bandaging Penos' head wound. "The 'Drac' has a very powerful... gift." Panos released no sound, shutting his eyes as the sutures were woven in.

Jeon gave Gina a meaningful look, then glanced around the room. Who knew who might be listening. Nodding, Gina pursed her lips and regarded Hedspeth. Her eye fell upon the Uranus tattoo on the man's forearm, showing dark against his skin beneath his ripped sleeve. Altered consciousness, unexpected change.

Another candidate for Cal's powers, then. But if he was the key, were they supposed to elevate him or eliminate him? Gina had to admit she wasn't too keen on the former. Even after meeting him only twice, she had gathered that councilman Hedspeth was a nasty bastard.

They needed Cal.

Climbing up onto the table and trotting through the clay cups to jump down on the other side, Gina began to scan over the unconscious king. If he too held the symbol, then it would be a badly-needed clue for them.

The inside of her arm needled as she patted down the velvet jacket straining to contain the king's belly. Tugging his collar aside revealed a streak of black. Gina traced it with a finger, and discovered a tattoo to match the Uranus symbol on councilman Hedspeth's arm. Unexpected change... Were they supposed to change both of them?

Gina, Jeon, and Panos felt Calamity making her way through the fortress but now heading straight to them.

"That," Jeon muttered as he felt her approach, "Is the weirdest sensation."

The Probe frowned, noting the new arrival outside as its keener hearing picked up Cal's words. Walking over to Kevin, the probe easily picked up the councilman and carried him over to the table.

"Melvin, what are you...?" Jeon frowned as the Probe laid Keith face down, with his butt facing the door. Raising its left arm, it projected a holographic image of an otherwise empty room past its impaled victim.

Gina caught Jeon's eye from the other side of the table, eyebrows raised in silent question at the demonstration. Jeon could only shrug.

Opening the door just a crack, the Probe waved at Cal to come inside with its right hand. Hopefully, the guards would not notice anything past the narrow arc it provided. Panos stared up at Jeon, searching for something from the man through needy eyes. Yet with Calamity now close enough to be outside the door, the prince gritted his teeth.

She made a promise, the prince told himself mentally, and went to grab a plate off the table. Not caring for the wet contents that fell over the table, he used the plate to whack the quills deeper into Kevin’s backside - the man screamed a deep sharp cry. The plate was tossed, metal thudding and ringing secondary to the Adviser's sounds of pain. Both Jeon and Gina flinched.

"What the bloody...!" Jeon demanded, rushing over to Kevin's side. "Medbot, I mean Melvin, I need my kit!"

The Probe however was watching Panos, with something approaching a slight smile on its artificial lips. Until the door closed, it couldn't risk moving without making the hologram hiding the rest of the room revealing itself.

"I'd give you a drink, but that pill you took earlier with me does actually work," Jeon told Kevin, rubbing his shoulder while staring at the three quills sticking out of the man's posterior.

Panos ran to the door and opened it, the guards peering down at him immediately. "It is a terrible operation which is being done." the prince explained. Panos had hidden his wound by rearranging his hair, leaving Calamity ignorant of the damage she had inadvertently caused.

Rushing at her, Panos hugged her desperately.

The guards at the door lowered their heads in respect, stern faced. Cal could see however the worry on their faces for the odd situation at hand. On the other hand, she could guess that they would be pliable for many commands now, in their currently frazzled state and her own as their strong, stated ruler.

Cal returned the embrace, knowing Panos would likely be furious about her leaving him, again. It wasn't as though she'd really had a choice, but she doubted that would matter to the emotional royal.

"Come on," she said to him in a gentle voice, and kept an arm around his shoulder, guiding him back into the room.

"Ensure that we are not bothered," she told the guards as she passed. They must be confused, maybe even suspicious about what was going on - she hoped they would be gone from this place, before things had the opportunity to get any worse. At the beginning of her words, Calamity saw their posture sharpen. They needed not speak for her to know that their duty was going to be upheld. Passing the men in armour, the royals entered the dining hall and beheld the bewildering consequences of Calamity's magic.

Gina cat-footed back across the top of the table, holding up her gown to avoid bowling over any more cups, and dropped down to run across the hall on her clopping platforms. Once Cal and Panos were both inside, she pushed the great doors shut so that Melvin could switch off his highly conspicuous light projection.

"Thank fuck." Gina whispered once they had privacy once again. "Don't worry about the mess; we'll blame it on the Drac if we have to...where'd you go?"

"You were all...I couldn't wake you!" Cal responded, the relief on her face evident that Panos, Jeon and Gina had returned to consciousness. "So I had to go without you. Editha wasn't keen on our plan at first - she attacked me! But I bested her, and sent her off to the queen. She'll do as we...as I instructed." Hearing the words from her open mouth, even she looked a little surprised. She had done it, all by herself!

Gina clenched both fists and gave a little bob of elation. "Good one!" She sobered. "But we've kinda got another problem..."

She pointed towards the whimpering Kevin, lying in an undignified sprawl across the table, before turning back to Cal and Panos.

"I dunno about you but I've had enough of this Game of Thrones shit. So what do you reckon, Voice him and the king?" She looked round at Jeon to include him in the discussion, and hesitated. “I know it’s not exactly a...good thing to do to someone, but if they’re going to get everyone killed otherwise…”

"I...I can try..." Cal said. "I've never done anything so big as that, before. I felt it..."

For the first time, the princess wondered what would happen, if she tried something too far beyond her energy. Could it kill her, this power? Pushing the thought from her mind, she looked determinedly at Kevin.

"So we need him to forget?”

“Forget about murdering his way through the government, maybe.” Gina frowned, crossing her arms. “And we need a king who’ll stop getting pissed and just focus on looking after his own people, instead of just fucking off everybody else.”

She rolled up her sleeve and traced the line of tattoos on her arm.

“Unexpected, societal change - like the book said, right? Unless anyone’s got a better idea.”

Cal looked at Kevin again. “Okay...but what...what's happened to him?" The strangeness of the scene before her still struck a baffling chord.

"Well," Jeon sighed, filling a syringe with a local anesthesia. "It would appear that after he blacked out, Kevin managed to land on top of a porcupine. Given our present location, I wouldn't expect them to be native to this area. Possibly someone's pet?"

He shot a glare at the Probe, but Melvin was unaffected. With a sigh, he gave the syringe a little pump to remove air, then aimed to jab it through Kevin's trousers, near the quills.

"Sorry, that may sting a bit," he said. "We'll give you a few moments, then we'll pull out these nasty quills." The slender spines were lodged firmly into Kevin’s backside, a small pool of blood coming from Panos' blunt trauma upon them. His right buttock muscle was spasming, body squirming. The Zyan doctor was in a contest to get Kevin to hold still as the Councilman kept waving his gory posterior side to side.

"Why do people always have to make things difficult?" Jeon muttered, thrusting his hip against Kevin's. "Melvin, press on his other side to keep him still!"

Meanwhile, Panos kept to himself, never letting Calamity release her arm around his shoulder. He kept close, to make them inseparable. As he was observant of things, he laid his eyes on Gina and stared with bitter tolerance.

She never stops speaking. Her accent is horrible and obnoxious. He could hardly stand it. Her drawn words made her sound something akin to a vagrant.

"Let them murder the king, why would we care? The life of a royal is to be assassinated." The bullet wound phantom hole in his back throbbed, his lonely vision falling back to his now distant lover universes apart. Panos brought his insight through a tense jaw. "There's nothing redeemable about that man's life."

Among the bodies on the ground, the red-haired man with pointed ears was the focus of Panos' attention. He pointed. "And him, he needs to end! He'll find us out!" To this the prince picked up an unnatural degree of personal slight, finding the red-haired magician to be some enemy. His memory was an array of terrible things which had happened to him, finding the length of red locks all too familiar to his assault only hours past.

Panos looked at Calamity. He grabbed onto her dressed and looked deep into her gaze.

"Do something!" He urged her, in the same desperate tone as when Editha admitted her conspiracy.

"Okay! Okay..." Cal swallowed, looking between Kevin and the king. If she only had the strength to use her voice on one, it should be the king. If the wounded man was a murderer, then...

"Let’s start with the king."

Gina hurried back round to the king’s side and held out her hand towards Jeon’s probe. “Melvin, can you chuck us some more of those smelling salts?”

The probe raised one eyebrow at Gina, then reached into its pocket to hand a vial to the young woman. It then resumed pressing against Kevin's hips, while Jeon prepared to jab the syringe.

Gina cracked the top of the vial and started waving it back and forth under the slumped king’s nose.

"When you wake, your need for alcohol will be gone," Cal directed her words to the stirring ruler, her brows furrowed in concentration. She clutched a little tighter to Panos at the exertion of her power, not knowing if her knees would buckle beneath her again.

"All that matters is your duty... your people. You will leave your debauchery behind... it's time to be better. Yo-" The willpower exerted to create a new string of suggestive magic was the tipping point. The royal teenagers without warning fell, as Panos landed on his knees to keep Calamity from the stone ground. The princess of Serroc's pain tolerance was tested in a passing second. Her mind and eyes felt as if they had both been slashed by a poisoned dagger, and cooked by the intense rays of the sun. The pain was traumatic and brief, leaving behind the echo of pain she would have never been able to surmount.

In a second Calamity's health changed. The ache was a ghostly pain, dull and sharp, throbbing down her spine, and her knees gave way before her. What impact her knees had on the ground did not affect her, as now there was no sensation and no control of her body below the pelvis. Panos meanwhile hissed, for his knees felt the impact and fashionable leggings were not the cushion needed to prevent the skin from being bruised.

“Cal!” Gina blurted, her eyes and mouth opening wide in shock. “Are you alright?”

Each second was another throb, but the pain was going away, inching away up her spine and at last left her eyes. Calamity had become lame. It took a moment for her mind, ragged with the pain that had coursed through it, to register that her legs were not responding when she commanded them to move.

"I can't get up..." she said, her voice a whisper of despair and disbelief.

King Kinglos was groggy and put a hand to his eyes. His experience of intoxication and magical suggestion was not leaving him at his most alert and glorious.

"Everyone please remain calm," Jeon ordered. "I am the doctor, after all. There may be an invisible prisoner in here still, and if we all start screaming and yelling, someone outside may try to open a door that it can use to escape."

"Most importantly," he added, "Do not draw attention to the king or wake any other servants, as we don't want to draw its attention to him. Do you understand me, sir? Your master must abide for now until we can determine it is safe."

Undoubtedly the others were looking at him as if he was mad, but the last thing he needed was an angry king bellowing and bringing the guards down on them all.

Jeon and Melvin in this critical time managed to numb the Councilman's backside. Upon the dining table, the high status gentleman whimpered as something new was inserted into his gluteus. Then as the contents came Kevin laid himself out with a deep sigh, shoving aside food and cups carelessly. His spreading limbs let fall many loud metal pieces, pouring contents and splattered food.

In that same loud moment Panos was clinging Calamity to his chest, struggling to keep her in a weak stance, with her not contributing in the slightest. His legs were shaking while hers lay upon the ground.

Not my only friend! Panos' thoughts were wracked with fear. He didn't want to lose someone he was getting close to. Even if she was female, Panos was now beginning to find her useful and understandable. She was a tragic cripple now? His eyes shut tight, straining physically and emotionally. She knew his secrets, she was supposed to be able and help him through this hell. Tears rimmed his eyes and the fair prince tried to move the fair princess to a chair to sit on. Grunting and threatening to buckle his and her weight at any moment the Lambros descendant wasn't aware he was about to set his foot in a fallen slab of meat that Kevin's shin had shoved away.

“Panos, wait!” Gina snapped at the struggling prince, her voice sharp with worry, “Just lay her down or you might hurt her more! Hang on, I’m coming...”

She scrambled up onto the table again, this time unconcerned about knocking over what was left of the tableware. The second she shouted and darted to save her two fellow travelers the door to the dining room jostled. As swift as it opened ajar it was slammed back shut, the handle shaking from the force. From the other side of the wood men were arguing back and forth, the words not discernible.

Panos took Gina's help to lower Calamity only because he was too weak to do much with Calamity other than drop her if he had continued. The lame princess was set upon her back, head on Panos' lap. The commotion at the door drew deep ire from the prince, and the blanched haired youth stared down at Gina.

"This is your fault!" he hissed under his breath. They were trapped in a room, none of which could be properly explained if it were seen. And now Gina and her obnoxious need to always know what to do, opened her loud lips and drew too much attention to them. From his frustrated eyes a tear slipped and splashed on Calamity's forehead. Panos kept her close, clutching to her shoulders.

“Oh fuck off, Panos!” Gina whispered back harshly, finally stressed past her breaking point. Her mind was churning with a dozen different fears, and not least among them was the fear that Panos was right. I told her she should use her magic on the king, it was my idea…

She felt her throat close up, and her vision starting to blur. Her heart was racing and dragging her breathing along with it.

You can’t help anybody - you just make it worse. Shane and Leanna, Baka and Vahsi, now even Cal. Just like Nisha!

Behind them the shaken king of Greywall pulled himself to his hands and knees. Slowly he was crawling his way to the table and feebly trying to reach up to the table as a sturdy balance to stand with. Cal gave no protest at being laid down, her shock at the lost connection with her legs casting a fog around her mind, drowning out what was going on around her. When the tear hit her face, she looked up, the rest of the room coming back into focus... she watched the king stir, and muttered in a low, detached voice to the others.

"We cannot tell him it was my gift that crippled me. We'll have to say it was the assassin - that he attacked me, then fled off somewhere."

Gina scrubbed furiously at her reddening eyes. She reached down to squeeze Cal’s hand as Panos continued to support her shoulders.

“Don’t worry about that.” she said, in a soft but horribly strained voice. “Just lie still for a moment, where does it hurt?”

"It doesn't." Cal responded in the same flat voice, not looking at Gina. "My legs... I don't feel anything."

"I'm going to need some alcohol and a suture kit," Jeon scowled, then stared down in surprise as the Probe pulled them out of its pocket.

"How do you do that?" he asked, taking the bottle and suture packs. "I don't suppose you could get me a gun? We might need to shoot our way out of here..."

The Probe scowled up at him and solemnly shook its head.

"Well, it was only a thought...." Jeon shrugged.

[Minkasha]

“Jeon…” Gina broke in from down on the floor. “Cal can’t feel her legs, I think there might be something seriously wrong.” The girl was pale and trembling. “I’m just a first aider, I need your help.”

Jeon glanced over at Cal, concerned. "Please check on her, Melvin. I don't know what happened but at the moment this is the more pressing matter."

Laying the suture packs on the table next to the cotton pads he got earlier, Jeon opened the bottle of alcohol and poured it on Kevin's much mangled posterior.

"Just cleaning the area," he said, capping the bottle and picking up a pair of Kelly forceps."You may feel a slight pinch."

Kevin whimpered, having impromptu medical work over a high society dining table with his bare, prodded arse exposed might have finally reached the shameless politician.

"Jeon! I don't want to be here anymore!" The adviser slammed his hand on the hard wood table, and suddenly regretted it. "Owwww!"

"Now now," Jeon said reassuringly, plucking the first quill out and pressing a gauze pad in place. "We can't have you leaving like this! As it is, you'll be spending the next week or two sitting in a sling."

Panos kept Calamity's head on his thighs, kneeling on bent legs and glaring at Gina as she shuffled back to give Melvin access. This is your fault.

Gina found herself actually empathising with councillor Hedspeth’s words. I don’t want to be here any more.

Ith thith a dream? I really want thith to be a big, big dream.

Gina bit silently at her nails as Jeon’s robot checked Cal over with unemotional precision.

Shriek. Bang. This is your fault.

The Probe waved it's hand over Cal’s body gravely, then gave the girls a brusque nod before trotting back to Jeon, plucking another card from its pocket, filled with her stats and primary diagnosis.

Rising behind them was the reborn king, coming to his feet with his body heavily leaning against the table. With noble gesture the man pushed aside his wavy black hair and pushed his nose to the air. His vision was a glazed and squinting one, now setting on Gina - making him the second royal to currently be staring intently at her.

"You had strong ideas, tell me them again." The magic Calamity cast did nothing to remove the fact that king Kinglos had drank himself drunk. In his drunkard state the high royal among them did not notice the many bodies laid undignified in every direction of the dining room.

The dining room door became quiet and the commotion of the soldiers to open it or close it luckily ceased for the multiverse travelers. Gina twisted round, her heart still fluttering as she belatedly remembered Kinglos. The king looked calmer now, suggesting that Cal’s magic had had at least some effect on him. And he was speaking to her.

Gina felt dry-mouthed and sick with adrenaline. Jeon was busy with Hedspeth, and Panos and the robot were tending Cal. They needed her to handle the king for them...and for a horrible moment, she couldn’t do it. All she could think about was her own racing pulse, and the arguments she had been making to the king only five minutes ago seemed to have flown her mind. Her brain was blank.

“M-m’lord…” she stalled, rising to her feet. The king stood on the other side of the table, unsteady but proud, with the pierced Drac hand of the Sauver banners hanging behind him.

Dracs. She snatched at the thought in desperate relief. The adviser. The elves. For fuck’s sake Gina, Cal and the others need you! Breathe. Think.

With an effort she arrested her shallow breathing and took a deeper one, squeezing her hands together in front of her.

“I...I was just suggesting, m’lord…” She stumbled over the first few words, but felt her heart slowing down from its panicked state as she focused on what she needed to do. “If you tell the people that your foreign adviser is being sent to take care of the elves, they’ll know that you’re keeping the alliance strong. That you’re keeping them safe.”

She coughed to clear her throat, stifling it with her hand.

“The marchioness stands behind you, she’ll keep the Draconians away from the border. It’s probably the best option, ’cause if we attacked them back it’d only unite them all against us and...well, that might not be a war we can win.”

The Probe watched Gina gravely as Jeon sutured the punctured poppinjay's posterior. Propping up the king wouldn't go well with the Council, and there was a chance they would go after Jeon for failing as their assassin. Perhaps he should shoot the king with the drugged pellets, put him into the same state as his magician?

The lulled king pushed himself off the table, using the tall back of wooden chair to keep himself straight and glanced around, gazing over everyone.

"Yes, hmph...my people! Get up now!" He clapped his hands once, wobbling in his platform shoes where he stood. Lunging for the chair to prevent himself crashing onto the ground he maintained some dignity. His regal cloak shivered behind him. "None of my subjects listen to me!" He sounded equal parts frustrated and inebriated.

Gina swallowed. “Umm..they’re asleep m’lord, there was an incident…”

Even though they had already agreed to blame it on the escaped prisoner, how were they supposed to go about explaining a room full of unconscious bodies?

“A prisoner escaped from the dungeon. He had some kind of…” She had to grasp for a split second to remember the word that the serving woman had used. “Arcanium on him. It knocked everyone out. Doctor Bonadio has been helping to wake us all up again, but…” She looked at Cal, but Panos’ accusing glare soon forced her to turn back to the king. “Somehow, the marchioness got hurt…”

It was evidently a lot for the drunk king to process. Gradually walking around the table, going from chair to chair to keep himself standing, his steps were slowed with grunts, sighs and head rubbing.

Gina hovered, torn between thinking it was a good idea to guide the king back to a seat and not wanting to leave Cal’s side, even though there was precious little she could do. She felt a shiver frizzon down her back and drag through her stomach. Come on, Melvin. she silently pleaded with Jeon’s equally silent robot companion. Please help her, please…

Rounding the end of the table opposite Jeon and Kevin, the king was trying to near Calamity and Panos. "Get up, I have something we...should talk about on our feet! Stand with me, marchioness."

Panos shot daggers at Gina.

"Do you have any social intelligence or decorum? 'The marchioness stands behind you'?" He mocked with such bitter vitriol, he clasped onto Calamity and drew her head closer to his stomach. Bubbling with so many feelings, it was too much to keep himself together. His pale face flushed with an anger he'd not shown before, replacing his cold with burning hot. "Really, you should kill yourself!"

"Panos!" Cal exclaimed, shocked at the outburst - the animosity from him to Gina had not entirely escaped her notice, but she hadn't quite realised the level of his vitriol. "I know you speak in my defense, but choose your words more carefully - remember we are in the presence of the king!" As she spoke his title, she turned toward the ruler, her face resuming its mask of calm, the shock of losing her legs not yet giving way to panic. "I apologise - I'm sure you understand my husband being emotional at my attack. As the lady said, I am afraid the assassin has caused me injury, highness," she said apologetically. "But rest assured my loyalty and spirit are as strong as ever - and I have every faith the good doctor will be able to restore me to my full capacity."

In truth, she felt no such thing - but she could hardly admit that to the king! Who could say how he'd react to his frontline commander rendered lame? She must present a strong face, if they were to convince him along their chosen path.

The final quill removed, Jeon was putting in a couple of sutures to hold the wound channel closed as Melvin approached him with the card.

"Hmmm?" he said, giving it a glance - and frowned. "Cal, have you had a back injury recently?"

Although she tried to hide it, he caught Gina’s horrified expression. The young first aider clearly knew what spinal injuries could mean. Jeon took up the scissors to trim the last suture. Of course, how would he know if any of them were in their original bodies? He didn't show up in this world wearing his spacesuit, after all.

And there was energy, now fading.... had it been acting as a sort of shunt? Bridging the gap?

From the look of the injury, she needed to have the nerves repaired, a very delicate surgery in the best of places. And this was not the best of places. Back home, it would take a full robotic surgical suite with micro-tractors to make this sort of neural repair! Where was he going to find...?

Jeon turned, looking speculatively at the Probe, which made it frown with concern and take a step back. Kevin continued laying on the table, without any sense of shame at his backside being out, as he revelled in the faded pain. He groaned occasionally but was looking around; he might get back to his full senses soon.

Panos shut his mouth, the bold emotion in his eyes locking down Gina into an unforgiving contest of wills. The crystalline blue was sharp enough that she might feel it would cut her flesh. Flushed and furious, he wasn't giving reprieve even to blink.

The king in his stupor stared down at Calamity and Panos - it came to him slowly, the royal girl's condition. They could see it processing gradually until his eyes were wide.

"O’doln! Where are you!?" the highest royal in the room shouted for the elfin man, circling where he stood to search. Unfortunately the king wasn't in his clearest state to look down and see the magician collapsed on the ground among the others.

Cal's eyes followed the king as his attention left her, seeking out his physician. He would soon realise what was in front of him - regardless of his state, his wizard among the multiple prone bodies on the floor was something impossible to remain ignorant of forever. They would need to address it - without implicating her - before he saw, and arrived at his own conclusions on what were frankly very suspicious circumstances.

"My lord, O'doln is ... indisposed." she told him, pushing down her shock and fear still further - there would be time to lose her composure later, when they had escaped this disaster... if they escaped it. "He fell before the others, the assassin, he might have slipped something into his drink... it is lucky I instructed the servers to give you only the best vintage, and not the same barrel as the rest, or you might have been struck down too!"

Gina’s gaze followed the king’s own towards O’doln, lying just inside the doorway. It was just as well if the king believed that his wizard was incapacitated by something other than the sleep that had beset Alfred and the others. Gina had no idea how magic worked in this universe as opposed to Cal’s, but after seeing how suspicious and protective O’doln had been of the king around Hedspeth...she could guess how the wizard might react if he discovered that his king had been hexed.

She looked at Kinglos. Was it right, what they were doing? Were they just nudging him towards the better leader he could be? Or were they fucking with his head in a way that made them no better than the ghosts of Austere and West Hills? The king was still unsteady on his feet, Cal’s words filtering slowly through the wine in his system.

“Please sit down a moment, m’lord.” Gina backed Cal up, offering to guide the swaying king into the nearest chair. “The doctor’s doing everything he can.”

Jeon frowned, turning away from the Probe to glance between Cal, his other patient, and the king, whom Cal was trying to manage like he and Gina had attempted to earlier. Of course, it was delaying her treatment, and he had yet to hear the cause!

"Can't you do something?" Jeon muttered to the Probe/Melvin.

The Probe raised an eyebrow - not out of any actual need, just to show the Zayan sarcasm. Reaching into its right-hand pocket, it produced an old-fashioned syringe, neatly capped in glass to protect the needle, filled with a grayish liquid, that it passed up to Jeon.

"Is that for....?" the doctor asked, glancing at the king. The Probe shook its human puppet head, then pointed at Cal - more precisely, at her back.

"What is this?"

The Probe rolled its eyes, taking the syringe back. Walking over to Cal, it handed the syringe to Gina to hold while it knelt down beside the stricken young woman and began fumbling with her clothes to smooth the section over the spine.

Gina knelt down beside them once more and cradled the syringe, gnawing on her lip the whole while. The murky grey liquid looked nothing like any injection she had seen before. Her friend’s life was out of her hands, and the helpless feeling was every bit as raw as back in West Hills. She glanced up at Panos, but the young prince was still glaring murder at her.

Was he feeling the same, she wondered with sudden clarity. He had clung to the emperor Lycas in his home universe, dangerous though he was, and then had been ripped away. He had clung to the equally dangerous Vahsi through two planets of hell, and then been ripped away from him too. Now Cal, his last protector...and it was out of his hands to help, and he could deal with it even less than Gina could. It didn’t explain why he had randomly attacked her and nearly derailed their plan earlier, but that didn’t matter now.

“She’ll be alright.” she whispered, and then dropped her hands to squeeze Cal’s between her own. “You’ll be alright.”

I’m sorry. she wanted to say. I didn’t know your power would do this, I didn’t mean for you to get hurt… There were many things she hadn’t meant to happen in the past few weeks.

In front of the king, she couldn’t voice the thoughts aloud. All she could offer Cal was a stricken expression.

“You’ll be alright.” she whispered again to the other girl, “I’m sorry...” I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…

Having smoothed the fabric of the thick woolen dress along Cal's spine, the Probe extended its index finger, holding it up across its lips while looking at Panos, as if to say be quiet. It then ran the fingertip down the back of the dress, letting the mono-filament diamond edge neatly cut the edge of the fabric without nicking the skin. Not that she could have felt it, at this stage.

"How did you...?" Jeon demanded, leaning over to watch as the Probe spread the slash to expose the skin of the back with its left hand.

Retracting the mono-filament edge of its fingernail, the probe held its right palm over the girl's back and gently bathed it in UV light. Now that the skin was doubly clean, it took the syringe from Gina, taking off the cap protecting the fine sterile needle with its teeth and with one swift calculated move, plunged it into her back, between the vertebra.

"Now, hold on! What are you....?" Jeon demanded as 2 cc's of repair mix - surgical nanites and stem cells poured into the small gap. With machine-like smoothness, it pulled the needle out and recapped the syringe.

Reaching into its pocket once again, it produced a white fusible patch. Tugging the slash straight and pushing the edges together, it laid the patch over the cut and ran its warmer left palm down the patch, which softened and melted into the fabric. In a few moments of rubbing, it had vanished.

"So," Jeon drawled. "How long until she's better, Melvin?"

The probe held up one finger and proscribed an arc, then held up five fingers.

"Five days?"

The Probe nodded.

"What if we have to move before then?" Jeon snapped.

The Probe held up one finger and proscribed a short distance of its original arc, and held up two fingers.

"Two minutes?"

The Probe shook its head.

"Two... hours?"

The Probe nodded. The stuff worked, but absent a Chrysalis machine, it couldn't heal any faster

"What did that child just do!?" Panos asked with a heightened sense of ignorance turned into panic. The conversation between Jeon and this boy was vague and why did the others trust the mute easily?

"It's not a child," Jeon said. "Med... Melvin's older than I am. He started teaching me medicine. Be assured, he wouldn't do anything to harm her."

The Probe didn't bother correcting the Zayan.

While everyone crowded around lame Calamity on the mend, the king was fumbling his way to the doors with a mildly sloppy sense of urgency. Calamity caught a glance of the unruly monarch and reached out to touch Gina's wrist.

"The king!" She was in too much of a daze to figure out how she would cover this up further if the door was swung open now. Her whisper was an urgent one, amethyst eyes pleading for Gina to take intervening action.

Gina blinked in momentary confusion, then felt her stomach drop as she saw the king had wandered away from his seat again and was tottering towards the door.

Oh shit. Snap out of it, Gina!

She scrambled up and hurried after Kinglos before he could open the door.

“Please, m’lord,” she hailed him, taking the king’s arm with gentle insistence, “Wait until the prisoner has been caught. It might not be safe yet, especially if he has more arcanium.”

She wondered if Cal’s soldiers, tasked with finding the invisible Drac, would think to scan the snow outside for non-human footprints. Surely they would. And if there was no trail to follow they would at least know that the Drac was still inside the castle somewhere. Gina glanced at Panos. If Cal couldn’t walk then perhaps he would have to...

She tried a second time to guide the king back to the table, shuffling carefully around the sleeping bodies. O’doln was prominent among them with his crumpled robe and long red hair fanned in a tangle across the ground. As she looked, Gina realised that she couldn’t see the wizard’s chest rising and falling with breath. Was he...?

Another whimper from the table drew her attention to Kevin, whom Jeon was still trying to keep pinned. And there lay - quite literally, Gina thought - their biggest problem. Unexpected change...the zodiac-marked king might fulfil that, thanks to Cal's magic, but they would need to put the fear of god into the equally-marked councilman to stop his conspiracy going ahead.

Gina could smell wine on the king’s laboured breath, and her head was spinning with so many imperatives that she felt half drunk herself.

The king, the prisoner, O’doln, Kevin. Oh Jesus.

The rustle of movement caught Jeon's attention. "Sir, please stop. We can't let anyone into this room without risking the prisoner escaping."

Medbot turned. From this angle, there wasn't enough exposed skin for the Probe to target with the drug darts. It could use its tractors, but if the king cried out, the guards would come in.

Holographic projection? Put one of the dragoniods from the dungeon in front of the door? No, the King would definitely summon help. And in that summons, Jeon was likely to be hurt.

The other girl was tugging on the king's sleeve, trying to draw him back. In the king's current state of suggestibility, perhaps it didn't have to do anything drastic, such as pulling its body back through the N-Gate and popping it out in front of the door.

It could always tranq everyone conscious in the room and wipe out the memories of the last few minutes, like it had with an engineering student friend of Jeon's who discovered the Probe's N-Gate, but what damage would that do to the situation?

Kevin had a great view of what was happening while on the table. He and Panos together glared while Gina was able to redirect the king away from the door.

"Jeon, tell me what is happening." Kevin demanded, struggling to keep up with events. Panos brushed a hand through Calamity's hair and the princess shut her eyes if only to give herself a moment to breathe.

"My lord, everything will be settled in time. Relax please." Calamity said aimlessly, able to be a suitable reply to Kevin and to the king. In Gina's hold she felt the king give up more tension, becoming more pliable to her will. He seemed to shut down into his thoughts, perhaps quieting while he was overwhelmed himself.

"How do we get out?" Panos glanced at the scene and its chaos, thinking as he grew tired of this. In fact, he was exhausted of it, he avoided speaking out loud as Kevin and the King were both conscious. His eyes went back between Jeon and Gina, despite everything they had to work together to get Calamity and himself out of this. He waited for them to come closer as they could speak under their breath.

Gina picked up a cup of water from among the abandoned detritus scattered across the long-table, and handed it to the pacified king. She bobbed a curtsy before hurrying to join the others.

“Did you tell the guards to look for footprints in the snow?” she questioned in a whisper. “We’d at least be able to tell if that Drac’s still in the castle.”

"I've not talked to any guards," Jeon said softly, leaning in. "Good idea though. I wasn't sure we weren't followed up from the dungeon."

Leaning back, he said loudly, "They were torturing Dracs below, and one of them got loose and attacked its tormentor, then left. I'm afraid it might have followed us up - everyone here was knocked out, myself included. Melvin woke me, I found you with quills stuck in your rear. We're trying to stay quiet, I think the Drac may still be here, invisible by magic."

That shut Kevin up quickly. There was not an honorable bone in his body to help the situation. Now the lengthy dining table was occupied by a half mentally competent king and a shrinking councilman. The king sipped his water haphazardly, some splashing on his person.

Panos noticed how the councilman believed Jeon's story quite easily. The Lambros prince spoke up about the fact to the other travelers with a low voice, eyes on Jeon.

"Keeping to those words is an easy solution. Who would challenge us in the castle? We will at least get out of here."

Calamity opened her eyes gradually and sighed, enduring as gracefully she could her circumstances. She was torn, her persona being a strong and clearly very scary leader. What would happen if she was openly displayed a cripple?

"If I'm seen...like this...the staff and soldiers might not respect my authority as they do now." A teenage girl who couldn't walk wasn't very scary.

Gina tugged at her hair. Or they might go on a rampage after the one who hurt their marchioness. It was difficult to tell how much of the castle staff’s loyalty to Cal was from honour and respect and how much was from the more tenuous grip of fear.

“You said two hours, yeah?” Gina whispered, looking at Jeon for confirmation. “We can run interference for you until then...”

Glancing around the hall, Gina reflected that it might take almost that long just to wake everyone in the room back up and explain the situation to them.

“Panos is your husband, and that blue knight’s seen me going about the king’s business. We could help them search so long as someone stays here with the king. Someone needs to take Hedspeth round the back though.”

She saw Jeon’s querying look, and leaned closer to drop her voice still further.

“If the king’s gonna have a chance, we need to deal with the council. Tell him people know, and he’s being watched. Tell him if he tries anything else...or anyone else turns up dead, then there’ll be hell to pay.”

Gina’s tone was more certain than she herself felt, but she reasoned that aside from being the one with the mark, Hedspeth was clearly the lynchpin of the whole conspiracy. People feared him whereas advisor Charlie was innocent and Mr Dutt, if Caroline was to be believed, didn’t have many original thoughts of his own. The foreign advisor was already dealt with, courtesy of Cal’s quick thinking.

Gina hoped it would be enough, but again she reasoned that if the council were forced to use Jeon as a poisoner, they didn’t have the power to rise up against the king by force.

“I can do either.” she offered, conscious of Jeon’s seemingly close tie to Hedspeth and Panos’ desire to stay close to Cal.

"I can warn him to be cautious," Jeon said softly. "I just wish I knew more of what's going on and how I got caught up in it. I'm older, I can talk to the guards about the search while you keep an eye on things here."

Stepping back, he turned towards Kevin. "Simply shocking these injuries, it's amazing the things that can happen when we're not cautious. Rash moves can be so dangerous, don't you agree?"

Gina let her gaze slide off Jeon back to Cal and Panos, not wanting to look like she was listening in. She wasn't sure if Jeon's warning was forceful enough to keep Hedspeth in line, but on the other hand perhaps it would help for the councilman to think of Jeon as his ally for a little longer.

Jeon sighed, leaning close.

"No rash moves, lover," he whispered into Kevin's ears. "When the wizard went down, so did everyone else in the room. Either your council didn't know or set us up. Don't do anything lest we attract the wrong attention." Kevin shivered as Jeon whispered, face turning between wanting and genuine worry.

"No, we all agreed. That couldn't be right." he whispered back and reached out to touch the doctor, now apothecary's collar. "I don't want my arse hanging out here. If we leave, by chance the assassin will come back and finish it?" He implied the death of the king who was dazed across from them at the table.

"For now, we need him," Jeon warned softly, troubled. Assassin? Was there another, or did he refer to the missing Drac prisoner? Just how many were there? He did however raise Kevin's pants. "You need a little time to mend before we can move you, I'm afraid sitting is something you will not be doing much of the next few days."

"I was stupid," Calamity began in defeatist self-deprecation, "I commanded the Draconian's healing. What they did to him was awful."

"Cal, don't think that." Gina said softly, squeezing the younger girl's hand. After so nearly sinking down into a despairing spiral herself, she couldn't bear to think of her brave friend doing the same. "You did the right thing for a victim, you couldn't have known what he was going to do..."

Or how. Just how the fuck had the prisoner gotten hold of the "arcanium" that granted him invisibility? Surely if he had had it on him the whole time, he would have used it to escape before now?

Between her and Panos, Cal shivered. "I know he will strike back."

Panos glanced around the room at all the bodies.

"We could have Calamity act as another of the unconscious. Ask the captain of the guard," the adolescent royal mentioned him with disdain, "His guessed whereabouts of the attacker. If he's not in the castle we act as if she's still asleep, and take her back to our chambers. It has to be believed this is the work of the Draconian, not Cal." While he thought that out Calamity reached up and he grabbed her hand.

"Unconscious would be better than crippled." the royal lady agreed, drawing a deep breath to calm herself.

Gina nodded her own agreement, tugging pensively at the hair that had fallen over her shoulder. Would the Draconian's spell wear off, like her own brief, bizarre stint of invisibility back in West Hills? Would he be similarly forced to abandon clothes and armour, and any weaponry he couldn't hide inside a curled fist? Gina twitched as a nervous chill ran through her, her hand subconsciously rubbing the healed skin on her neck. The sheen of blood glazed over Rozaria's invisible face as she tried to tear out her throat was an image that was still seared into her nightmares.

"I've got an idea." Gina whispered, thinking of smears of blood and wet footprints pressed into stairways. "Tell them to bring up bags of flour or something similar, and dust it on the floor. If not the whole castle, then definitely the route between here and Cal's room."

I know he'll strike back. She swallowed. The Draconian had already taken down his torture master - if he was still willing and able to seek revenge, the marchioness who had held him prisoner would surely be next.

"Then the guards can watch for non-human footprints while they escort us back." she finished, and then glanced over her shoulder. "What about the king? He's probably safer with us than anyone else right now."

Turning to the king, Jeon approached respectfully and bowed slightly, keeping a few steps away. "It is important we remain calm, lest we are not alone in this room," he said, pitching his voice so that Kevin could hear him. "Should others enter unaware, whoever is responsible may yet escape. I will check with the guards to see if there are signs in the snow that the prisoner has made its escape while we were unconscious."

Calamity turned her head and took Gina into her resilient amethyst eyes: purple hues of shock and steadiness. Smiling, the princess turned marchioness, turned royal cripple showed evident trust in Gina's leadership and problem solving. Panos rolled his eyes at Gina, biting back his forked-tongued criticism of the idea - motioning his head to watch Jeon.

Where the king sat, he looked to be shaking, partially sober eyes glancing from body to body on the table.

"Apothecary, these are my people." Speaking unlike any way he had before, Calamity's power proved itself potent. For all the newly-constructed qualities of ideal ruling, he was still mentally weak and intoxicated. And thus, he didn't look ready to leave his chair, leaning his elbows heavily on the wood. Kevin was staring, eyes narrowed, lips sucked in. "Go..." King Kinglos sent out Jeon to do as suggested.

Gina rose and tiptoed her way around the sleeping bodies until she had sourced two abandoned wine carafes from the table. She carried them to the heavy doors and upended them over the floor, spreading dark purple liquid across the flagstones.

“Don’t want anything sneaking in when we open the door.” she explained to Jeon as she passed him on her way back for more. She touched the doctor’s arm to briefly halt him. “I was just saying to Cal, you should get them to bring up flour or something and dust the floor up to her room. That way we’ll see his footprints whether he’s inside or outside the castle.”

After she had doused the stones by the door with another wash of thick, syrupy wine, she hurried back to the group.

"Ah, excellent idea!" Jeon beamed. He tiptoed over the wet floor to the door and paused with his hand on the knob. "Melvin, watch over them."

The Probe scowled, but it had already pinged the Tarot card it had given him earlier that day, still in his pocket. At least it could keep tabs on him, as it opened the channel between them.

Jeon paused as he closed the chamber door, then turned to face the nearest guard. "Has the Drac prisoner been found yet? Has anyone checked the snow outside for any sign of him?"

"By the order of the Marchioness, flour is to be dusted between this room and her chambers. Our invader can make himself invisible, so we need to see if we can find him through careful examination.?"

[Minkasha]

Jeon Smythe

The gathering of seven armed men turned to face the doctor, eyes fierce with stress and anticipation as they fell upon him. Their visors were raised, enabling him to see Calamity's men had some range to them. The older men, in their late forties, watched Jeon with more scrutiny.

"The Drac's feet were caught in the snow sir. That is the last I heard." a young guard answered quickly to Jeon's question. "Don't think he'll come back in now, don't know." The young man hesitated.

"There's a trick where someone will leave tracks, and then walk backward in their own footsteps to disguise where they went," Jeon warned. "Is someone following to make sure they haven't suddenly disappeared?"

"What is the state of your operation, apothecary?" one of the older soldiers asked, meeting Jeon as an equal rather than subservient in attitude.

"There were complications," Jeon sighed, sizing up the soldier. He then glanced at the others, then leaned forward. "Is there someplace we can talk privately, you and I? I would hate to be the source of gossip, especially about...?"

The Probe scowled, turning towards the door. What was that fool Zayan doing? Despite its instructions, it was concerned about the idiot. Besides, if he died, what guarantee did it have that whatever force brought them here would be compelled to return it to its own dimension? Taking down people with exposed skin was easier than the ones who wore armor correctly.

In the game of wits, the older soldier lost, visibly backing away, "Our Commander is searching. I'm sure he's tracking all of that." He clapped his hand on the young man who had spoken before, patting metal, "Tell the kitchen women we need flour."

The young man nodded and rushed off in a clatter of noise. "The Marchioness has orders we are not to enter." the man went on to say to Jeon, tone stoic and clear he wouldn't deviate from those orders. "If you want something else, we listen to her, sir."

"Very good," Jeon sighed, giving the man a respectful nod. "The Marchioness has asked that the flour to be dusted between that room and her private chambers. A precaution only."

Jeon returned back to the door and knocked.


Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Gina Wright, Jeon Smythe & Panos Lambros

"It's just me," he said.

A scuffling sound and a click indicated Gina pulling the door ajar for him.

Opening it slightly, he slid through the narrow opening and closed the door shut firmly behind him, glancing down at his shoes.

"After this, whoever's in this body will need a new pair of shoes," he said softly to himself.

Gina managed a flicker of a smile before hurrying back to Cal and the king. As Jeon and Gina moved, their shoes had a new stick to them from passing over the trap Gina had poured earlier.

"Your men are getting flour to put on the floor between here and your private chambers. Hopefully this will not take long.”

Calamity gently cleared her throat, reining in her voice to gather the authority needed for her part - for the king and councilman's ears.

"Well done." As she looked up at Panos, who was looking down in return, they shared a short exchange in quiet tones.

"You need to 'faint' soon." the prince reminded the princess.

"We don't know the time the flour will take. I have to wait." Her eyes gestured to the loopy king. "Panos, hold on a little longer." She could easily see that between Gina (though she didn't understand the vitriol in which he had for her) and the events taken place here - he'd want out. An immature part of her complained, hated being the cripple and yet having to be strong for the shining prince who still had his whole body. But the mature, grief-stricken part knew the deep wounding Panos suffered that the others still hadn't been made aware of.

He was acting from that place and she couldn't imagine how the world looked through his eyes now. If she thought losing her legs felt like her dignity was ripped from her, the now-titled Marchioness couldn't fathom what was left of Panos' dignity.

The blanch-haired youth sighed and scanned the other travelers. This was a debacle. Pandemonium. He saw it with every body strewn on the ground, the bastard Kevin with his fat figure on the table, and the drunken, magically stupefied king.

'The stupidity of circumstances is too much.'

Gina twisted her mouth in tacit agreement with the prince’s sentiment, but he only glared at her, waiting for her to come closer. He looked at Jeon with more mercy in his eyes, waiting for the same.

“So what’s the story?” Gina whispered to Jeon once they were all huddled together. “Any sign of the Drac?”

"They found tracks in the snow leading away from the castle - but I've asked them to check them out to make sure the Drac hasn't doubled back or laid a false trail."

“Then we just wait for the guards to come back with the answer, right?” Gina ventured.

Jeon sighed softly. "Either way, we should expect trouble. If the prisoner has actually made his escape, they will undoubtedly tell someone what they've seen - and that includes the possibility that the king is here. Some sort of retaliation is likely - and this time they may all be invisible."

“They can’t all do that, can they?” Gina whispered. All they knew was that the Drac had somehow smuggled ‘arcanium’ into the castle. It hadn’t occurred to her to wonder how common the stuff was, or who might have given it to him.

"If they haven't escaped, then they're hoping we'll relax our guard before they strike again. Either way, I see no choice in our next move - namely, wake everyone up and get them out of here."

"No!" Panos stifled his gasp to the low volume of their clandestine conversation, "These people waking up will lead them to asking questions. Those who matter are already awake, it would be our best strategy to take them and secure ourselves." And this was being said all-the-while he despised the councilman, and also wanted Jeon's approval. But the fear of the red-haired magician on the ground was a defining feeling among his many while stuck in this room. If the magician began asking questions, what could he do to get the true answers?

They could see the young noble give away his thinking with a tepid glance to the unconscious elfin man among the citizens and servants.

Calamity drew her brows together. "Panos, it is my responsibility to take care of these people. It's not right, and politically that is what I have to do or I could be challenged later for not protecting them. I would be a bad leader the king couldn't trust."

“I think we should at least wait til we find him before we start waking everyone up.” Gina suggested. “It’s gonna be hard enough to explain as it is…”

She paused to look around.

“With the floor dusted and the door locked it’ll be as safe as we can make it, and we might as well wait til the king’s a bit less pissed and you’re fit to walk again...you said two hours right?” she added, glancing with trepidation at Jeon and Melvin.

Jeon glanced at the Probe, then nodded. "That seems to be the consensus."

Gina slumped down onto the floor, her chin in her hands. “Would he really stay lurking around here?” she wondered aloud, as she pensively watched Kevin and the king over by the table. The foreign advisor had painted a brutal picture of the Draconians, but the escaped prisoner was alone in hostile territory - and horribly wounded too, according to Cal. “Wouldn’t he want to hide, or get back across the border to...to his own country, or wherever the rest of the Dracs are?”

"He was down in that dungeon," Jeon sighed, shaking his head. "Escape seems reasonable, but if he's badly hurt, he may simply hole up somewhere while he recovers. Or he might lash out instead, figuring to take a few of us with him. I'm afraid I'm no expert on these creatures or their habits."

Calamity sighed. “I had his wounds healed.” she reminded them, and Panos ran a hand through his bright hair.

“We should hide in our chambers. Less people...” the royal spoke sharply, impatient and no longer wanting to be in the room. “We should go.” he urged while holding tighter to Calamity’s clothes.

“It shouldn’t be long now.” Gina tried to soothe him, propping herself with one palm against the floor as she craned back to glance at the door. “We just need them to finish dusting the floor...” She turned back to the others. “Someone should stay with the king - maybe me and Melvin?”

"Panos could use a quiet place to rest, and we can then bring the staff in to take care of these people," Jeon said. "I wouldn't mind having a nice long talk about... all of this, but I think we need to bring Kevin and the King with us."

There was a tug on Jeon's sleeve, and the Probe handed the doctor a card.

"What's this.... oh!" he paused, reading the short note. "Cal, you may feel some sensation returning soon, but you need two hours to rest properly before doing any activity."

The teenage girl nodded to the doctor's recommendation, staring at the ceiling and trying to think critically through her throbbing mind. Holding onto Panos' hand, focusing on him, helped her keep more sane somehow. Distracted her from the depths of where her thoughts could take her now.

They needed space to talk as a group of four without the Councilman or the King near, but to leave the Councilman with the King was foolish - even with the wound in the former man's backside. She glanced to the strange child next to Jeon, not quite understanding his role in all of this.

"Thank you for what you've done, we haven't had the time to introduce ourselves." Calamity began to Jeon, "Could you stay with the Councilman and the King? I need to...rest. Panos as well. I will speak to Gina who could return and let you know what we've shared?" the Marchioness asked the two of them desperately.

Gina tugged at her hair, curling and recurling it around her fingers. With everyone asleep, she reminded herself, with a single guarded door, and with wine and flour on the floor to catch any invisible footsteps, the king and the others were safer here than anywhere else. Jeon just needed to watch Kevin - and, preferably, scare the shit out of him so he didn’t get any more ideas of regicide in the future.

“Keep the king safe.” she whispered to Jeon and Melvin. “Otherwise we’ll maybe never get home.”

There was a knock on the door.

"The floor's ready!" A man said through the thick wood.

"Keep the King safe?" Jeon scoffed, raising his eyebrow. "Who's going to keep me safe? Ow! Melvin!"

The Probe lifted its boot heel from Jeon's toes. Without the Zayan, there was no telling what might happen to it. So keeping the doctor safe was its best bet to getting home.

"Okay, I can keep a watch on these two, but at some point we all need to sit down in some safe place to discuss what's going on here, this wasn't the job I volunteered for."

Taking one last fortifying breath, Gina pushed herself to her feet and hurried over to the passive Kinglos. “M’lord…” she began to explain once the king had registered her approach. “The marchioness has a plan to catch the Draconian. Once it’s safe for them we can start reviving your people and explain what happened.”

She excused herself and returned to her small huddle of friends.

“Okay, here goes nothing…” she murmured. “Panos, can you give me a hand carrying Cal?” Panos busied himself nervously braiding some of Calamity’s black hair in an act of solidarity unknown to his character. When Gina spoke to him the prince turned marquess looked offended but a heavy sigh as punishment from Calamity stilled his irate ways.

In the moment the royal male closed his eyes to breathe, Calamity gave Gina a meaningful look about him. ‘Later’ she mouthed, promising to explain.

Gina nodded quietly, before scampering away across the hall to look for something to build a makeshift stretcher with. The guards slumped against the wall still had their halberds scattered across and around their sleeping bodies, all iron spikes and wicked-looking axe blades. Gina tugged one free in a clatter of iron. She remembered seeing polearms like these when her dad had taken her round the Leeds Armoury, the year before her move to America, but she hadn’t expected the wooden shaft to be quite so heavy. Still, she managed to carry two of them across the hall, and then after a few minutes of tugging and pulling, she succeeded in relieving several of the comatose guests of their fine coats. She carried them back and dumped them in a pile next to the halberds. On the way over Calamity bit her lower lip before deciding to act unconscious.

With Panos’ help, Gina threaded the coat sleeves over the halberd shafts, and knotted the trailing ends as tightly as she could to make something resembling a hammock. Then, with the stretcher laid next to Cal, she hesitated. Everything she had been told as a first aider had warned her not to move the casualty at all, and to simply leave it to the professionals when they arrived. There wasn’t much chance of finding a paramedic in Greywall.

“Um...okay.” she said at last. “Very gently, on three.”

“Yes.” Panos finally said and went to grab the amethyst eyed young woman’s shoulders.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jeon roared, pissed. "That's a back injury! You don't just pick her up like a sack of flour and sling her about like that! She needs to stay still as possible!"

(Jeon might not be so angry, but he would know that if you have to move a casualty without medical braces that you should drag them in a straight line, rather than risk anything like a sideways lift that could twist the spine)

Gina flushed. “Right. Sorry.” Stupid. She dragged the stretcher over to above Cal’s head, and made ready to try again.

"Melvin, best check her out, let me know if anything's shifted and damaged the spinal cord," Jeon growled once they had finished. The probe nodded, running over to trace its puppet hands over the injured area while it scanned.

Gina watched nervously until the probe gave Jeon a silent nod. “Okay, Panos. The guards outside will probably want to hear an explanation from their marquis rather than a random like me. Let them know that the Drac’s arcanium caused all this, but Cal’s only asleep, and that they need to keep on guarding the door until we can wake her up.”

She slid her fingers under the bladed ends of the halberds by Cal’s feet, feeling less than comfortable around the metal spikes, compared to the relatively safe wooden butts that Panos would be holding. The metal sockets that ran down from the axeheads were nearly a foot long, and cold against her palms.

“On three.” Gina said for the second time. “Jeon, can you get the door for us? One, two, three.”

"Melvin?" Jeon called, walking over to the door to open it for the stretcher bearers to get Cal out of the room.

Together, she and Panos slowly lifted the play-acting Cal off the floor, to the accompaniment of a rustle of fabric from the coat hammock. With Panos leading, they shuffled across the hall, across the sticky patch of wine-stained stones, and out through the door.

Jeon shut the door firmly after them. "Well, won't this be fun?" he asked. "How are you feeling now, my lord?"

Glancing down at the Probe, he nodded towards the people on the ground. "Best to check them all out, I don't want any avoidable accidents."


Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Gina Wright & Panos Lambros

As a ragtag collective, the sad urgency of their improvisation panicked the guards who saw Calamity downed and still. Panos was struggling, his shoes getting soiled by the wine which only attracted more flour with each step. The difficulty of the physical task was keeping some flame of life in his eyes, unable to focus on the inner pains and thoughts driving his vitriolic behavior.

Men and metal rushed to the scene and one tried to take the handles of the hammock from Panos but he held tighter. "STOP!" By yelling he was able to gain some degree of respect; as the man stepped back.

"Sir marquis, what has happened to your wife, our leader?" Panos shut his eyes, imagining the lie and taking his pain to create a convincing act as his face warped in pain.

"The Draconian bastard, did some magic with the arcanium." He spilled tears and like a snap of fingers the guards observing were taken by pity and loyalty. Watching him intently for every detail he had to say, Panos continued "She needs to rest. Without doctor Bonadio’s help we wouldn't have awakened from the spell." His eyes aimed to Gina, but she saw him quickly look away from her with a flicker of frustration on his face.

"Marquis we will find the snake." the older of the entourage promised with a deep seriousness.

"Guard the door." Panos, with tears rolling down his cheeks, looked away with a dramatic flair of defeat and heartache before tugging the hammock and leading them to the quarters he had woken up in.

The hallway leading to the left direction was littered with white powder, the only footsteps on the edge and human in shape. Gina and Panos’ added to it as they shuffled along, their feet kicking up small puffs of white. Gina was on edge for claw-shaped prints to suddenly appear and come bounding towards them, but she saw nothing as they made their way along the winding passageways. She could hear the echoes of armoured men clattering distantly, still hunting down the prisoner, but not a soul crossed their path as they followed the line of flour past faded tapestries and flickering, bracketed torches.

[Minkasha]

Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Gina Wright & Panos Lambros

“You could be an actor Panos, you know that?” Gina commented, once they had left the guards some distance behind. She had hoped that a little praise and the chance to take back some control of his situation would have raised the young man’s mood, but she was disappointed. Together the teenagers had managed to leave the room but Panos would not keep any eye on Gina. Calamity sighed in the hammock.

The rest of their journey was coldly silent, and the castle around them seemed to match the heavy atmosphere. The frosted windows were half covered by snow, and the bare stone corridors were chilly enough to raise goosebumps on Gina’s arms even through her heavy gown. The flour trail eventually led them to a tower with a winding set of mason steps.

“Careful.” Gina said as Panos began to shuffle backwards up the steps, tilting the stretcher, but again frosty silence and averted eyes were her only answers. By the time they had navigated their way to the top, Gina’s arms were burning from taking the brunt of the stretcher’s weight. Panos kicked the heavy wooden door open with his heel, and Gina saw a room hung with blue Sauver tapestries, embroidered with swirling red blood-trails. The marchioness’ pierced claw sigil was painted across the window’s closed shutters, dripping red. It was not a room Gina would have chosen to sleep in, but a bed dominated the floor. A large wardrobe against one wall was the only concession to furniture.

“Let’s put her on the bed.” Gina suggested. Once Cal and the halberd stretcher were resting safely on the pelts, Gina ran back to the door and heaved it shut, slamming the bolt into place. She sighed and started to flex the pain out of her aching fingers.

“Okay Cal.” she said quietly, returning to the bed. “We’re here.”

While Panos stuck close to Cal’s bedside, Gina teased Melvin’s tarot card out of her sleeve. One tap to alert, two taps to relay communication, three taps to close channel. Remembering what the robot boy had shown her, she gave the image of the High Priestess an experimental prod.

Calamity, now with open eyes, let her body sink on the bed. Curiously she looked over to Gina, while holding Panos' hand. The royal male, not used to physical work, collapsed on the bed as well, waning his hastened breath.

"We have to fix my mistake." the marchioness told Gina, giving some direction to new conversation.

“We will.” Gina affirmed. She was less confident than she made herself sound, but she could feel the beginnings of optimism stirring inside her as she worked through the events. “You sent the foreign advisor off to make peace. We made the king see sense. We’ll find the Drac. Once you can walk again, we can start waking people up, and they’ll see. We’ll get the unexpected change that the Note Writer wanted...I mean, what else is there to do?”

She looked down as the picture on the card in her hand dissolved and reformed. Gina saw the rather disarming appearance of the young boy who accompanied the actor impersonator - yet still with the same detached stoicism he walked around with. Gina took it to mean that Melvin was listening, and able to talk. As her card reverted back to the High Priestess, she tapped it twice more and held it up to her mouth, balancing it on her palm.

She wondered what it said about things, that talking to a mute robot on a magical iPhone was still only the third or fourth craziest thing that had happened to her today.

“Melvin.” she whispered into the disguised Tarot card. “We made it back to Cal’s room. So far there’s no sign of the Drac anywhere.”

The image shifted again, this time to a green check mark as if to acknowledge her statement. Gina moved to the bed and sat down next to Cal and Panos, holding the card so that it could pick up their quiet conversation.

“For now...I guess we have to wait a bit.”

Though taken along for the interdimensional journey, Panos was behind on fundamental understandings of how the symbols on his arms functioned in their quest. That irritation, among the other negative feelings festering inside, turned to a stare set on Gina and Calamity, back and forth.

"What are we doing with Uranus' symbol? If it has anything to do with the king's death it should be done." the teenager insisted again against King Kinglos.

"The symbols give us clues on what we should do." Calamity replied with some tiredness within her voice, but she took a moment longer to think about Gina's hint, unexpected change. "If we don't want the council, and the king cannot do what I've made him…"

Gina rested her lips on her clasped hands for a moment, thoughtful. “You don’t think he can?”

"I...could take more leadership."

Gina looked at her friend and realised that it was true. Quite apart from her magic, Cal was born for this kind of thing. She had been showing it more and more over the recent days. She had a different kind of strength from the brutal Sauver marchioness she was impersonating, but as far as Gina was concerned that was a good thing. And now she had the marchioness’ army and the marchioness’ street cred to work with.

“You could.” she agreed. “The king seems willing to listen to us now, and he’d do better with you advising him than Hedspeth and Avery.” She smiled slightly. “Like the old joke, do you want to speak to the man in charge or the woman who knows what’s going on.”

She glanced at Panos, and sensed the unspoken question hanging in the air. And if the king still needs to go?

Gina pursed her lips. There were still doubts about the king’s strength, to be sure; even if she had no doubts about Cal’s. But then she thought of Editha’s half-baked plan for a coup, and of vengeful armies screaming down into Greywall as everything spiralled out of control.

“We’d have to be careful, though.” she reasoned aloud. “Hedspeth and Avery might be out the way, and I don’t think that Charlie bloke means any harm, but there’s still the military advisor...Theodore Dutt. The council were trying to get him and his army onside too. I spoke to his daughter though, and he doesn’t sound much like the plotting type.”

She looked down at the card.

“Melvin, you and Jeon saw the council. If the king gets better and the people go back and spread the word, would they let Hedspeth call off the plan? Do they want what’s best for the kingdom or do they just want to rule?”

The Probe sighed someplace in N-Space, then sent the image back of several crowns sitting in a crimson pool. After a few seconds of that, it then sent a picture of Jeon lying on the ground, stabbed with a dozen blades in his back while a healthy king stepped over him.

Gina bit her tongue, hoping that she understood. More than one leader would be chaos...but if the king didn’t die, the councilmen might hold Jeon responsible.

Calamity nor Panos saw the foreboding card, thus Panos shifted on the bed to Calamity's direction.

"This is a debacle, it would be stupid to try taking more power. It'd be social suicide." Panos was scolding her, but still he kept close. Calamity's stomach twisted inside; was this what her mother felt? It was disgusting that, for a brief moment, her own mind humanized her mother's tactics. I left him alive, and now it turned into something out of my control. Was my mother bloodthirsty or just doing what she must to remove complications?

But her mother was outright cruel, that wasn't effective leadership. "It's not over yet, and now we know the intentions the king has because I made them." For a moment the teenager paused, unnerved by such power, "When he's sober he will do the best he can." she reassured them all, including herself. Closing her eyes, a sigh filled the room.

Panos conceded, "Better him than you..."

The image on Gina’s card shifted to a question-mark.

“Cal used her power on the king.” Gina explained to the robot on the other end of the line, and laid the card in her lap so that Cal and Panos could see it. “So he’s gonna be sober from now on and do what’s best for his people.”

It was still an uncomfortable thing to say out loud.

“Course, if he’s gonna have a chance he needs to stay alive, which is why we need to keep Hedspeth and O’doln the hell away from him. And why we need to find the Drac.”

She bit the inside of her cheek again, thinking.

“What if…?” She looked up at Cal and Panos. “The people came here ’cause O’doln promised them they’d see the king taking action. Once Cal’s up and about again, we can start waking them up - what if we let them go back and start spreading the news that the king did something right for once. Let the council hear that, then convince advisor Dutt that it’s no longer the time for a coup. They went to him and Cal because they didn’t dare move until they got both of them onside - they wouldn’t dare if you went back to supporting the king, right? Not if the folk in the street were starting to shift opinion too. They couldn’t blame Jeon for that.”

"The king solving Calamity's mistake isn't going to be enough." Panos said with clear cut cynicism. "They want power and the people are selfish. He should do more than capture the prisoner." Laying down, the Grecian royalty locked focus onto the ceiling, "If he executes him and declares war, history shows it the stupid will rally and cheer his name."

"Panos." Calamity held his hand supportively, even when she felt she wanted to cry and be held in her crippled state, "He won't do that. He will do what is best, and that kind of politics isn't for the people: it would be for self interest."

But it wasn't like the person whose role she jumped into wouldn't have supported further open war with the Draconains. The hated sentiment among the masses, at least here, was present. She glanced to Gina, wanting to hesitate about executing someone - their hands already bloody.

“I can see him wanting the Drac dead.” Gina admitted, unhappily. She couldn’t bring herself to knowingly cause another death either. If Cal’s men even manage to take him alive in the first place, that is.

Cal hesitated. “There were other Draconian...bodies, in the torture chamber. We could use a decoy…”

Gina shivered. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

She rested her lips against her fist, turning her thoughts to the less grisly half of the problem.

“The witnesses too. We can wake them up one by one, so it’ll be easy enough to gauge their reactions. Play it by ear, y’know? If we have to talk tough about Avery’s mission being to put the elves in their place and that Cal’s going to crush any Dracs that come near Whitebar then fair enough. It’ll satisfy the folk who are angry without actually having to do something suicidal.”

Cal clearly wanted to believe her. "If he listens to the people and helps them, it will sway them." But what if the people wanted war? Then what?

Gina could see the doubt in her friend’s face. Even though she did not want to believe Panos’ more misanthropic take on the situation, she couldn’t help thinking of the bloody frescoes plastered all over the Dutt mansion, proclaiming the human kingdom’s victories over all the bestial other races. Hello, ‘War on Terror’...

“I mean…” she began, almost trying to convince herself now. “How would we even go to war with the Dracs anyway? I don’t know anything about them apart from Avery saying that it’d be a really bad idea, and she can’t be the only one. Where even are the Dracs? Do they have a kingdom too or what?”

"Kashar, is the name." Panos remembered from the mocking, annoying Commander of the Guard.

Calamity closed her eyes, wanting to sleep. The two royals now laid side by side on the bed, the prince looking more peaceful than Gina had seen as he was attempting to gain some rest. Gina could feel herself with some systemic exhaustion after all the shock she has endured, along with the fall, and the magical manipulation of her mind through unpracticed magic.

"My...her duty," Cal gestured to herself to indicate the young girl she had taken place of, "Was to hold Kashar back from raiding the empire."

"The Draconian's actions are an act of war." Panos told the girls, "If you do not claim to your people you support some sort of counter attack, you'll be seen as weak." His father was always the bombastic and powerful politician - now he got to act out his influence. It was a highly disliked revelation.

Gina shook her head, ginger hair bouncing around her shoulders. “Avery said attacking the Dracs would bring their whole race down on us, and that we wouldn’t be able to win. I don’t think she was lying either, ‘cause she was worried her home would cop it first.”

The tarot card in Gina's hand beeped. The picture on it changed to tiny figures of the king (with tiny crown) and the councillors who wanted the king dead facing a smaller army of the Drac.

The figures of the councillors clustered behind the king, producing their own swords to face off the Dracs.

The Probe hoped its message was clear. Present a threat that threatened all and put the king and the councilors in front of it. Either they united and stand as one - or they perish, ending the problem.

“All well and good.” Gina said, slumping her chin onto her hands. “Except we don’t have a Drac raiding party on hand.”

Among them a soft breathing began to cycle and the ladies realized Panos had worn himself and fallen asleep. Gina had never seen the pale prince look as peaceful and easy to lay eyes on as this moment. But alas he was a sleeping tiger, sleeping through the girls' conversation, but verbal claws glistened with each subtle shift of his lips during slumber.

Calamity, glanced to her now presumed husband but kept conversation with Gina - trying her best to keep up and be of use as she had been. The most mundane mortal among the three could witness the heavy-eyelid princess clenching her teeth intermittently to think with depth.

"I could make an army. When...I am well enough to have my legs again I could make everyone believe an army had come. They would believe King Kinglos and the Council worked together!" Her burst of voice excited her, then rapidly startled her when she stared at Panos. Luckily the prince didn't move. "If they think about it the memory would be real to them." She said it confidently, but she was still guessing the full extent of her power. Her wayward or disconnected parents never helped anyone.

Gina twisted her hands in her lap. “Maybe,” she allowed, “But that would be a big bit of magic...I don’t want you getting hurt again...”

Gina glanced down at the sleeping Panos, and then back at her equally weary companion.

“Listen, why don’t you sleep for a bit? I’ll keep an eye out. If they don’t find the Drac in the next hour or so they’re probably not gonna, and we can see about a decoy. If that’s not enough to satisfy everyone when we wake them up, then you and the king can talk tough about killing Dracs - and once they’re back in the city who are they to say you didn’t whack a whole load of them somewhere out in the mountains?”

She leaned over to squeeze Cal’s hands between her own.

“When you’re up and about again we can see what we need to do. Can you feel anything yet?”

She looked down worriedly at Cal’s feet.

The Probe also known as Melvin felt itself relax a fraction of a percent point. The Humans could do it, masquerade a Drac army. Still, it wouldn't hurt to prep something, just in case.

Calamity leaned her head back, almost falling asleep if she had not jerked her heavy head side to side. Biting her lip, Calamity nodded to Gina's question. "Something, yes..." the teenage girl clearly didn't want to elaborate on her crippled condition. Maybe if she rested long enough, she would wake up well.

However, glancing at Panos who was in no threat of waking up, this was her only time to tell Gina. The most mundane of the three teens could see Calamity's face grimace, her fingers curl tighter around Panos'. "I'm sorry he's been...how he is...I have to tell you...something happened to him while he was with..." The other dead traveler, "Vahsi."

“Oh…” Gina’s thumbnail went between her teeth at the unexpected revelation. “I knew there was something up with him, but...is he okay?”

The question was automatic, but a glance down at the sleeping prince all but answered it for her. She thought back to Vahsi, so abruptly taken from them after storming away from the group on Valkure. She had never truly gotten the chance to know him, because he had never let any of them see beneath his prickly exterior. He was a killer though - she knew that much.

Me killing apparently shocked the hell out of him.

Panos seemed to attract killers, Gina thought somberly. His first husband...emperor Lycas...Vahsi…

You’re a killer too, Gina. Hiss. Shriek. Bang. Gina realised she had crushed a handful of the bed pelts in her fist, and uncurled her fingers with an effort.

Vahsi was gone. The protection he had offered Panos was gone. But other things could linger.

“What happened?” she asked Cal, barely above a murmur for fear of waking the prince.

Melvin frowned ever so slightly. Who was this Vashi? The two girls talked over the sleeping prince. Calamity's voice hitched under breath, she even stammered, but she managed her wits and explained, "He was brutally attacked by a man...he was..." She couldn't continue, using her eyes as the cryptic, yet tragic messenger as they moved down to Panos' hips to deliver the impression on what sort of attack it had been.

“Oh…” Gina said again, more faintly. Her hands went to her mouth, while the anxiety in her chest drained away, dragged down by the sinking feeling in her stomach. Helpless empathy for both Panos and Cal flooded in to replace it.

“I can’t even imagine.” she whispered through her fingers. She couldn’t, and it wasn’t a good feeling for someone who usually fancied herself good at intuiting other people. The worst she and her friends had ever had to deal with were overly-handsy schoolboys running up and slapping their arses. Not the same at all.

“I…” she hesitated. “I promise I won’t say anything. I know he doesn’t trust me the same way he trusts you...but is there anything I can do? Anything at all?”

Melvin's lower lip became firmer. What were they taking about? Calamity brought Panos' held hand near her chest, seeing their imposed wedding rings shining side-by-side. Looking at him a last time she closed her eyes.

"Forgive him for his behaviour." What else was there to do? "If you make the same promise I did, things might change. Promise..." Calamity yawned, "To not leave him."

It was the best advice she had to offer. Panos was intelligent, and Cal knew if they could recruit it and not have it turned against Gina all the time, more could be done.

Gina nodded quietly. “Alright.” She looked down at Panos, then squeezed Cal’s hand. “Get some sleep. I’ll keep an eye out.”

Gina was left alone as Calamity fell into exhausted sleep. She now could see the two remaining companions about her age, both beaten in their own ways by the perilous multiversal journey finally resting. Gina pulled the fur blankets up round both of them and pushed herself off the bed, the Tarot card hanging absently from her hand.

Beyond the locked door, everything seemed silent. Gina padded quietly to the window, rubbing away the ache around her eye sockets with the heel of her hand, and unlatched the shutters. Behind the painted wood, snow lay like fat white caterpillars across the bottom of the glass, and the castle and its surroundings stretched away below under a cloak of white. Gina folded her arms over the sill, rested her chin on them, and let her thoughts drift along with the snowflakes.

[Minkasha]

Jeon Smythe

Jeon shut the door firmly after them. "Well, won't this be fun?" he asked. "How are you feeling now, my lord?"

Glancing down at the Probe, he nodded towards the people on the ground. "Best to check them all out, I don't want any avoidable accidents."

The Probe was scanning the next group when it felt the tap on Gina's card. The human probably expected some sort of response, so Melvin changed the picture on the card from the High Priestess to its current shell for five seconds, then reset the eCard back to the High Priestess as it listened from the card to what was going on in the other room.

"We'll have to come up with some sort of sling to make you comfortable," Jeon was saying to Kevin. "At least a little more dignified."

The councilman huffed and buried his hands in his face.

"I'm going to be joke of the others. We can't tell the others this happened, promise me!" Based on the defeated and humiliated expression of Jeon's sudden new lover, he must have been referring to the rest of the council.

"Now now, don't be like that," Jeon said, trying to comfort Kevin. He glanced at the king, then had an idea.

"Admittedly, it's not a place anyone would wish to be wounded, but there's something you've not realized. Out of everyone in this room, aside from some bumps and bruises, you are the only one who has any injury at all! Clearly, you managed to get in someone's way!"

Kevin frowned.

"Those quills went in deep, which means considerable force was used. Some sort of assassin's device, no doubt," Jeon conjectured. "Had it struck you in the chest or head, there would be little I could do. You may have even saved the king's life!"

Kevin looked very annoyed by Jeon's attempted uplifting narrative. It was clear, after all, that the councilman had wanted to murder the king - not spare his life.

"All the more reason why people such as me should..." he glanced at the cognitively diluted king and back to the doctor "Manage things." he said with a thin veil to keep Kinglos out of the conversation.

"Merely the blind leading the blind," Jeon whispered back, shaking his head. "You need him, and he needs you and the council. Combined, you have power. As it is now, you are both seeing it slip from your fingers.”

The Zayan's words were clearly meant to impress the king, but they made the probe roll its eyes.

It paused over the body of the wizard, still barely alive, flesh turning gray and slack, heartbeat sluggish, almost non-existent, breathing almost imperceptible. Easy to mistake for dead or near death's door, to use the human expression - and still the most dangerous human in the room.

From the card, 'Melvin' heard the teenage girl whom he had helped from her nervous system damage, speaking out loud.

Pressing its right finger and thumb together, the Probe gave a loud whistle, four notes to signify distress, and waved at Jeon as it listened in on the card network. Others lay in the room waiting for treatment, the stone not a welcoming landing for any who had fallen, small trickles of blood could be seen in the hair of some, or on their faces, but nothing of any fatal concern.

Jeon sighed after checking the court wizard's vitals, glancing at the Probe to see the slightest of nods. He then went to work, checking on the status of the other people in the room, accepting dressings and gauze from the Probe's incredible pocket.

"How are we feeling?" he called out to the King and Kevin as he worked. King Kinglos' speech was drawn out, tired "Getting better..." it was not convincing and he sounded as if in the grip of a stupor, but he had responded to Jeon aptly.

Meanwhile Kevin replied with a huff, then a pause and he smirked, adding flirtatious groove in his voice "Better knowing I'm under your care" his eyes threw daggers at the royal across the table from him.

Jeon was amazed that any of the Council had survived this long.

Gradually the doctor was tending to the men, women, and one teenager among the gathering of dozens. 'Melvin's' endless doling of supplies made Jeon's work continue without trouble.

"Should have gotten you a very large carpet bag," Jeon muttered as they worked. "Eventually someone's going to notice you're producing all of this out of thin air."

The Probe paused, then reached into its pocket to produce an origami rabbit.

Jeon stared at it, then at the Probe. "It's a magic world, I get it. But a rabbit out of your pocket? Is that some kind of pun?" The doctor, acting apothecary was able to suppress the harm of the wounds, leaving him in a room filled with his accomplishment and only the company of a robot boy, a sobering up mind-numbed king, and his short sighted, backside-prickedlove he had been stuck with since waking up.

The Probe stared at Jeon for a long moment, then pulled out one of the "tarot" cards it was using for communication. The image of the Tower was replaced by a pile of heads, with Kevin's on top, and a separate one of the king's head, still wearing its crown, on a pillow.

"No," Jeon growled, eyes flashing. "I can't allow either of those to happen. They're both important, I don't know how or why, but they are. We need to somehow bring them all together."

The probe's human shell frowned. There might be a way, and it wasn't going to like it.

Jeon rose, then turned to face the king.

"How about yourself, your Majesty?" Jeon inquired, spreading his hands as he approached to a respectful distance. "You took a bump when we all collapsed, I'm sure. Are you in need of assistance from me or my companion?"

The black haired man gradually turned his eyes onto Jeon and 'Melvin'. He didn't return a word, looking back down to his hands. He seemed to be trying to search within himself something Jeon wouldn't know. The man was more intensely focused on his own thoughts than seen before. "I need my wizard." the regal man finally said. Though Jeon could still hear his slight slur, and see a bruise near a temple, the man looked at him rather seriously. "Can you bring me him?"

"I'm afraid it would be better if he stays where he is, for now," Jeon said with a sigh, spreading his arms and rotating his palms up in a gesture of supplication. "While I have some small skill, I am no mage. Some things are simply beyond my skill to fix."

He couldn't keep the bitterness in his voice out with that last.

He did glance up at the king for a moment. Was he, himself, a wizard? Were there any on the counsel who hired him? Just what were their skills? The king's face of disappointment answered none of Jeon's questions.

Some sense was coming back to the king who looked around to everyone Jeon had bandaged and mended. Wobbly the man got himself to his feet, pushing back his wool cape. "I need to rally the men! It may better their search!" There was passion in his voice, center of purpose. Calamity's newly installed personality was taking action.

Melvin frowned, turning his full attention to the king, readying the drug darts.

"Ah, I am please to hear it your Majesty," Jeon nodded. "But you are still recovering from whatever befell all of us and not yet firm on your feet. Until you are clear headed and firm of step, you are better here."

"Understand, your Majesty, that some might mistake your current bearing to be a sign of intoxication, not of an attack by an unknown hidden adversary. We need to you look regal and in command of yourself, a paragon of the kingdom that all look up to. A few minutes to recover is a small price to pay."

"Please understand, it is your welfare that concerns me. Rumor and innuendo is as dangerous a weapon in politics as a blade is in the battlefield."

Jeon sucked the air out of King Kinglos. Shoulders slumped, eyes glared with tension at the door but gradually he returned back to his seat. While the king did not see, the pain he was experiencing proved to be sweet for Kevin who smirked in delight.

The doctor began rolling up his sleeves, baring his arms.

"Melvin," Jeon called out to the Probe, "I'd like you to find me a clean basin of water, say 46°C. I need to wash my hands for this next examination."

The Probe arched one eye at him. It supposed it could drop its pants and reroute the plumbing in its shell to provide fresh hot water, but that would be going too far in front of two witnesses.

Melvin began checking for any fresh water it could possibly heat in the room. In the goblets upon the table which had not been knocked over water could be found. There were two filled brass pitchers. The others spilled their liquids off the table or were strewn off near the chairs.

Kevin watched with boredom, in need of any attention or entertainment, what Jeon was doing.

The probe found a brass pitcher filled with water. Checking the room, it found a second and brought them over to Jeon.

"Soap, if you please Melvin?" Jeon asked, holding out his hand. The Probe reached into its pocket and produced a bar of soap, no packaging.

"Thank you! If you could heat the water, there's a dear."
The Probe sniffed, but it placed its hands on either side of the pitcher and used the emitters in its hand to rapidly shift the water inside the container, causing it to heat and froth.

"Ah, I thought...." Jeon blinked, then shook his head. "I'm not sure what I was thinking. Could you pour a little?"

Picking up the steaming pitcher, the Probe helped Jeon to wash his hands and forearms.

"Sorry about the mess!" he called out as the Probe rinsed the soap off. "Important to be clean. Germs, you know. Or do you know?"

Shaking his hands to get rid of the excess, he turned and walked over to the king, pausing at a respectable distance to bow.

"Your majesty, I have examined all your subjects in this room and rendered them what aid I could with my apprentice, here. Now I need to check you for injury, with your permission?

Getting approval, the doctor’s years of expertise were put to work. The king, an objectively overweight man did not show signs of malnourishment, but from his slightly sweaty body, dilated eyes, and weak posture it was clear he wasn’t perfectly sober.

He complained of aches in his body, in back and head. The bruise on the side of his head was a minimal injury compared to the others Jeon had treated.

"You're in reasonably good health, your Majesty. Some leafy green vegetables at the start of a meal, a little more fiber in your diet, and spending a good hour working out with a training sword should get you into fighting shape very quickly," Jeon said. "Some water to flush the toxins from your system, two aspirin for the pain and you'll be steady and ready to take on the world, I shouldn't wonder."

He paused. "Does your normal physician have aspirin?"

"I would offer," Jeon sighed, spreading out his hands with the palms up, "But a king should be careful about what people give him." Kevin busied himself snickering at Jeon's lifestyle suggestions for the king. Though in actuality the good featured councilman wasn't any healthier himself. They both lived comfortable lives.

King Kinglos leered at the doctor. "What are you talking about apothecary? Will it wake my mage?" they rounded back to the subject more important on the king's mind.

"Aspirin is just a medicine to relieve pain," Jeon explained sadly, glancing back at the mage. "Whatever struck us down affected him most of all, he's barely clinging to life at the moment. I'm afraid that any form of stimulant or even moving him may be too much. Best he lay there as comfortable as we can make it for him until he regains his strength." The king ran a hand across his face with worry.

And with any luck, Jeon thought, one of the others would have a plan on how to handle the king and escape this mad house before that happened. What do you know about the Draconians?" he asked. "Tracks were found in the snow, so the prisoner managed to escape it seems, but I don't know how his people will respond? From the carnage below, my concern is that he may return in force." Kevin looked quizzically at Jeon, taking a break from glaring at Melvin with jealousy.

The finely dressed royal stared at Jeon with gray eyes of agitation, lowering the hand touching his face.

"The warning Draconians? They will do what they've done always: attack. They won't stop until we are bled out" his stressful groaning gave way to how overwhelming their presence was to his rulership.

"Of course they are going to attack" Kevin spoke up, shifting on the table he lay upon. "It's unfortunate the Marchioness has let this happen, if anything were to happen to us..." Kevin looked to be trying to find a way around Jeon's warning: rather than arrange something to put the king in jeopardy, he was smearing Calamity's reputation through thinly veiled worry.

King Kinglos took the words of his councilman with a glance down to his hands with reflection.

"So why are we fighting with the Draconians," Jeon asked, shrugging. "Since they're such fierce fighters and all? Did we start it, or they?"

The probe frowned ever so slightly. What was that idiot doing?

"We do know what required this castle to be built out here, don't we?" Kevin and King Kinglos glared at Jeon. The gentlemen were equally offended as the handsome doctor could see. Yet, the pair were drawn off the scent of Kevin's prior trick.

"They are marauders, nothing but lizards with swords!" His royal leader spat.

"Jeon dear, why are you insulting us?" Kevin asked through clenched teeth. Locked in their eyes was a palpable prejudice to the race Jeon had seen mutilated in the basement.

"Wow," Jeon muttered, shaking his head. "And they claim doctors are arrogant."

Turning his head away the royal shoulders slouched, "Get the guests accommodations...the floor is...not comfortable for my subjects"

"No," Jeon said, shaking his head. "They can be revived and sent to quarters here or back to the capital by whatever means I was brought here, but at this time we can't afford to divert men from this castle's defense."

The probe frowned slightly, turning to stare at Jeon's head. Scans hadn't shown signs of a concussion....

"Melvin? You've never left this room, right?"

The Probe scowled, but shook its puppet head.

"How many guards are there outside that door?"

It held up seven fingers.

"My 'apprentice' has very acute senses," Jeon explained. "He remained sensible when everyone else was affected, here in this room. Yet he could not sense this invisible Draconian."

"You don't get it still, do you?" he asked, throwing his hands up in the air. "Raiders you can buy off, if they're just after stuff they don't have back in their lands. How long have you fought them? Why haven't they given up and passed you by?"

"It's the blind," he paused, staring at the king for a long moment before turning to stare at Kevin. "Leading the bloody blind. What if the reason the Dracs are invading is because someone else is nipping on their heels?"

"How long before something the Drac runs from is standing here?" Jeon had pressed his luck too far. Both men looked at him with such ire that the doctor may have provoked them to agree on something for once.

"What are you doing?" Kevin asked with shock and exasperated anger. The widening of his eyes was trying to gesture something to him, perhaps to reinforce Jeon's behavior was grossly out of place.

King Kinglos, though crippled by internal and external factors stared with the full expectation of his position.

"Apothecary you have heard my word, do as I said. Now."

The Probe glared at the doctor, wanting to break his legs. Instead, it loaded tranquilizer darts - although to be honest, it wasn't sure if it should shoot the king and the councilman - or Jeon.

Jeon sighed, shaking his head, then threw his hand up in disgust.

"Very well, your Majesty," he said, with a bow, then turned towards the door. "After all, it's never the apothecary's fault when a patient refuses to listen."

[Minkasha]

Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Gina Wright & Panos Lambros

The fur pelts bunched and discarded littered the bed Panos and Calamity had risen from. The snowy world outside the bedroom windows continued to be isolating in the two hours which had passed, the curt symbols of power engraved on the glass ever an overt sign of Calamity's given dominion. The prince was quiet, watching the two girls with prideful silence. There was something he wanted to say as expressed by his face, yet he held it back.

The three of them could feel Jeon approaching, drawing closer to the royal bedroom. Panos stared at the door, pushing himself to his feet and adjusting his attire.

Calamity, able to stand again was fully able, albeit eyes weighed with the distant desire for further sleep.


Doctor John Smythe

Sharing the journey through the lengthy, intimidating masonry halls with 'Melvin', the doctor could begin a noticeable shift of status quo with men's voices echoing over one another from the floors below. As his steps brought him before the door the shouting continued, giving hint that whatever the problem was, it wasn't a brief affair.

"Something's not right here," Jeon scowled as he followed the Probe. "You could cut the tension with a knife."

As they reached the door, the Probe let go, turning to face Jeon and holding its right hand palm up as it pointed at it.

"So, this is it?" Jeon asked, some lingering doubts in his voice despite feeling the draw towards three figures that he knew were somehow behind this door, while stretching behind him he could "feel" Kevin and the King. His hand rose to knock on the door, but he paused, glancing down at the younger imitation of himself. "So how does one address a 'marquis', anyway?"

The Probe rolled its eyes, then knocked for him.

"Hello? It's the doctor!" Jeon called out. "Mind if I pop in for a few moments?"


Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Gina Wright, Doctor John Smythe, 'Melvin' & Panos Lambros

There was the sound of a bolt sliding, and then the door creaked open and half of a familiar face peeked out. The door swung back to reveal Gina, with Cal and Panos close behind. Cal was back on her feet, seemingly no worse for wear.

“Whatever you gave Cal, it worked.” Gina informed Jeon, sounding relieved, and Cal echoed the relieved sentiment with a grateful smile at the doctor; to her, still barely more than a stranger - but a stranger who had saved her from a terrible fate.

The Probe scowled ever so slightly. It was its nanite cocktail, not anything that Jeon had done.

Gina’s cautious smile turned to creases on her forehead as she registered the distant shouting.

“Have they found something?” she asked Jeon hopefully. “What’s going on?”

Panos, the young man eyeing the single adult in the room grabbed Calamity's hand with the new closeness of friendship. The fair prince's glossy brows raised while he listened to the commotion.

"That is not the help, those are the guards." the Lambros remarked in response to the overwhelming noises of men's voices and clanking footfalls.

Gina accepted Panos’ assessment with a nod. “Maybe they caught the Drac?”

"Are they coming up here?" Jeon scowled. "What's going on?"

Gina leaned further down the mason stair, trying to make out any voices among the commotion. The disorder of the sound was too difficult for her to hear anything clearly, but the guards were clearly moving urgently.

“Are you both okay to move?” she asked, glancing back at Panos and Cal. “I think we should see what’s happening.”

Cal nodded. "I think so. Panos?" she looked to the other royal. Her promise from the carriage ride flickered through her thoughts. It seemed her legs were healed now - but in her still weakened state, would she be able to fulfill it? While he took a moment to hesitate, Panos pulled his eyes to the nearby wall and nodded.

"Do any of you know why they're fighting the..." Jeon fumbled, then pointed at Gina, "...the Dracs? Who invaded who?"

"Does it matter right now?" Panos asked, a mild tone of skepticism flavoring his words.

“It’s not really a war.” Gina offered as they hurried down the stairs, “From what the adviser said, the Dracs just raid. If there was a real war the whole Drac nation would come down on us, which is why we were trying to convince the king to do something else...”

“From what I've gathered, this conflict has been going on a long time.” Cal continued. “They speak of the Draconians as though they're savage monsters, but if you'd seen what's within the dungeons of this fortress…” She shuddered. “I'm not sure who the monsters are. Maybe their raids began it all. Maybe they're retaliating because of what's been done to them.”

Cal stopped abruptly, the conversation calling forth a memory until now forgotten amidst the chaos. She grabbed Gina's arm, looking alarmed. “I forgot!” she said, “Rangel - the captain of the guard, he said the Dracs were planning a counter strike! We were going to keep the prisoner as a hostage, use him as leverage, but if he's escaped... If he gets back to his people, there's nothing to stop them attacking!”

There was a slap as Gina’s palm collided with her forehead. “That would have been good to know!” she blurted, twisting her fingers through her hair. “Oh jeez...we’d better find your captain right now!”

Some of the metal footfalls took more presence in the conversation as it drew close. Rounding the steps to Calamity's tower came three armored men. Confusedly they saw the gathering of people but brushed it to the side as they nodded to Calamity.

"Marchioness, the escaped Drac somehow helped an army of his bastard-folk inside our walls!"

"Maybe a portal, ma'am!" one of the other young men guessed aloud. At hearing this Panos' stomach knotted up. The first guard continued.

"They are in the first ring, our men are holding them back but innocents are in the crossfire. We've closed the gates to the castle. Sir Rangel is at the gate waiting for you. What are your orders?!"

Suddenly the fae-blooded teenager was thrust with the responsibility of her previous choices, and now a slew of new ones. On the exposed faces of the guards was sharpened focus and fear, intensifying their urgency for direction from Calamity.

“I... Uh..” Cal's face was stricken and white, panicked at the pressure thrust upon her. The girl struggled to process the information thrown at her, her heart pounding.

“The king, is he protected?” she said, sounding surer than she felt. Court matters and barking orders she could accomplish with ease, but of war she had no real experience. “Ensure he has a guard at once! And get as many innocents inside the castle as we can, there must be another way in? I will attend Sir Rangel... you three,” she turned to her companions, “You should get somewhere safe. This is my fault... None of you should die for it.”

Two of the three men briskly left in two different directions: one down the hallway ahead of them and the other from where the men had come from, going downstairs.

Gina’s expression wavered as she looked at Cal - wanting to argue, unable to do so in front of the guard. “As you wish, marchioness.” she said at last. “If there’s any way I can help, I will.”

"Kevin's friend Charlie carried me here through some sort of portal," Jeon said, glancing at the two. "I'm afraid I was unconscious at the time, but assuming the Dracs aren't using it now to get here, we could get the king and the others and take them through that back to the Capital?"

Gina nodded emphatically. “I’ll help you wake them up.”

"Melvin, do you remember where the portal that brought us here is?"

“You were in the kitchen when I found you.” Gina said, remembering Jeon laid out on the floor, and Charlie’s jovial explanation. “Just off the main hall.”

She looked to Panos, wanting to see if he would rather follow Cal’s suggestion or stick close to her side. She could hardly grudge him the latter. “Sir? What will you do?”

Panos crossed his arms, suppressing the rapid beating of his heart with a cool mask.

"Your army will be enough to push them out. It's only a desperate move from animal-men." The young man attempted to use his cutting words in a way to reassure Calamity. As his crystalline eyes turned away, the concern was evident however.

The Probe shrugged. Holding its hands in front of its face, it rotated both hands as if two doors were opening.

"Doors?" Jeon asked. "Back at the hall we left?"

The Probe rolled its eyes, then held up its hands in front of its face, this time palm out. It then lowered the hands until the palms faced the floor.

"A... drawbridge?" Jeon demanded. He looked up at the others. "Is there someplace where there's a drawbridge?"

Cal thought quickly, trying to remember if she'd seen a drawbridge anywhere within her... or rather, the real marchioness’ keep. "A drawbridge? I don't..." she stopped herself. She didn't recall a drawbridge anywhere, but in the presence of the guard, she could hardly say she didn't know if one was to be found here.

"Are you sure that's what he means? Boy?" she turned to Melvin. "Is it a drawbridge you are implying with your gesture, or something else? A trapdoor?"

The Probe shook its head. At least they didn't ask if it was blowing a kiss.

"Very well." Cal looked at the remaining guard. "Well?" she demanded, "What are you waiting for? Escort us there, first. I will continue to Sir Rangel when we have ensured my companions get where they need to go."

The man at her command furrowed his bushy brows as he stared down at her with great confusion.

Panos looked up to the man, then glared at the mute boy and to Calamity, She's making a fool out of herself!. Intervening, the prince grabbed Calamity's hand, squeezing it and grimacing. The urge to scream in fear and frustration was growing, but instead he urgently looked at his friend.

"Love, why do you not send them to the task and we meet with the Guard Captain?" He suggested with annoyance shot at Gina and now Jeon for the first time. Standing as he was, the guard shifted hips and cleared his throat.

"Marchioness, where was it you wished to go?" he asked with nervousness running through his voice.

"Marchioness," Jeon interrupted, "If I may? That bump you took may have left you a little confused. We do need to rescue the King and as many of his entourage while protecting their escape. Perhaps this man knows how they can get home so we can concentrate on fighting the enemy and calling up additional forces?"

Cal swallowed, her brow furrowed as the others spoke, each statement asking more from her, making her question herself further. She shook her head, trying to clear it.

"Guard," she spoke, still unsure of the right thing to do, but knowing she had to make a decision, "Take us all to the king. If you know of any way we can spirit him away, safely; inform my companions of it as we go. When I have seen them safely delivered to the King, we will continue to Sir Rangel. We have already had one invisible assassin amongst us; no-one should be wandering about without a guard at hand."

Plus, it would be quickly obvious I still hardly know my way around this place, if we go wandering off without a guard! she thought, regretting sending two of the three away so quickly, when they could have made unwitting guides.

The guard nodded obediently, though the steadfast impressions of his metal armor didn't outweigh the hesitation on his face. Turning quickly he led the party down the hallway straight ahead. Panos never let go of Calamity's hand, the blanched royal looking to his left and right occasionally as Calamity took the lead in their steps. The sounds from the lower floor thinned the further they continued and the steps of the men became fewer and fewer as they exited the castle.

"This is the safest place to be." the man leading said to Calamity, with a mix of overwhelm and nervous obedience.

"What stops them from entering?" Panos asked critically, taking the risk for Calamity to ask and thus saving her leadership.

"The gate, no one's going to get through it."

The way in which he said this had more confidence and matter-of-fact knowing, and Panos narrowed his eyes in on it. Placing a bet that things were hectic, and that he himself was far smarter than the man in armor, he wove a question to learn more yet not expose his ignorance.

"Is that what the Guard Captain says?"

"No marquis, but what I saw wouldn't be enough. They'd need more cold-blooded bodies to be butchered at the gate to get in."

“If they haven’t figured that out already they will soon.” Gina said as she hurried along with the others. “There isn’t any other way they could get in, is there? No-one’s seen them anywhere except at the gate?”

"No miss, less they cheat with more magic..."

"Perhaps they created their own gate," Jeon shrugged, glancing around. "Or they found another way in? An escape tunnel, perhaps?"

The Probe frowned at the doctor, then began scanning the area. If the attackers were cold-blooded, however, it was questionable what its sensors could pick up.

"So, how do we convince the king that now's the time he returns to the Capital?" Jeon asked, glancing around. Of course, if the King showed up alive in his palace, who knew what the Council would do to him? After surviving an attack here, he might decide to lay low for a while, again.

The guard leading the group kept silent moments after Jeon spoke, noticing no-one replied to the brown haired man the Zayan's questions were left behind. Coming into view within the expanse of a new masonry hallway ahead were three doors, tended by standing men with hands on their swords.

Three other metal-clad men were walking down the hallway of doors and around the corner of another hallway. Moving at a much quicker pace were humble aids carrying cloths, and buckets of water rushing from door to door. The man Calamity had sent off to protect the king came before the protected door on the left before the party.

"Our commander had already got things set for the king and your guests." he said with relief, the guiding guard looked back to Calamity herself, waiting for command.

One of the help, a middle-aged brunette, stopped as she noticed the arrival of these key figures. She was being followed by a young man no older than twenty with similar domestic attire and similar features, and together they hurriedly lowered their heads for the marchioness.

"Marchioness we've been told you wish to house your people being put in harm's way. Without Lady Lyina awake to heal them we will have difficulty..." Her faded-lined face looked hesitantly at Jeon. "Chatter says he's the man who healed the guests...we could use him.”

Panos turned his head to the side to conceal his irritation. Great, then separate us again. And they would lose the one adult among the collective of dazed teenagers. But, Panos knew if Jeon or Calamity resisted it would make things tense for both. Every one of Cal's decisions was going to create cause and effect with her power. Why is a woman in charge? he asked himself with a fluster of frustration.

Cal nodded, thinking quickly. She had hoped they would be able to remain together - but they were in the midst of battle now, and if they did nothing to help...

"Jeon, will you stay, and assist with the injured?" she asked. Their means of escaping this world, already unclear to begin with, were slipping further from reach, but if they just left without trying to help, wasn't that tantamount to causing this misery? At least here, Jeon would have the protection of the guards nearby. And once they had sorted out this mess... if they could, if they made it out of this alive... they would know where to find their new companion.

"Of course," Jeon replied, assessing the scene. "Of course, I wouldn't say no to...."

"We will attend the King, before I meet the Captain."

"...some assistance." Jeon sighed. "This is a long way from the shuttle." This remark earned Jeon a confused look as the domestic help stared at him with urgency.

Gina clicked her fingers, suddenly remembering. She fished around under her cuff and brought out the corked vial of smelling salts that Melvin had given her to use on the king.

“Maybe wake adviser Charlie up first.” she suggested to Jeon. “He’s got rank, he can help you get the others moving.” And unlike the others he’s not trying to kill the king. Probably.

"Excellent suggestion!" Jeon smiled wanly, surveying the crowd. "I'm sure he's around here somewhere...?"

Gina glanced down at Melvin, and hoped that the silent robot had more tricks up its sleeve than the walkie-talkie card that was currently up hers.

“I don’t suppose you can help us kill a bunch of Dracs...?” she murmured to the robot out the side of her mouth.

The Probe let its right eyebrow arch, then took a step back to stand closer to Jeon. What the doctor's connection was with these children it didn't understand, but absent orders from its masters, its duty was to protect Jeon and not let the Zayan out of its reach. If something happened to him, it would surely be stranded here. Besides, where was Jeon going to get all those ammonia inhalants?

These people are idiots. Panos' brows furrowed and he studied the guard and servants exchange of eye contact: Jeon and Gina seemed entirely oblivious.

"I am sorry marchioness." the homely brunette servant lowered herself with her opening words, "If it were possible, if the apothecary were able...awaking Lady Lyina would be absolutely helpful."

Though this name was brought up a second time in this conversation, the multiverse travelers had thus far not been introduced to a woman of that name. Panos thought about it carefully, but many details were jumbled by the trauma of one catastrophe following the next.

Using his lowered status once again, he helped the group, "And why is that? How will she help any more than an Adviser now if she's to be just awakened?" It was specific enough, yet vague enough to imply and search for what they would need, hopefully.

"Well, marquis," the woman hesitated, keeping her eyes down, "Mayhaps her healing magic would tend to her and others."

A flick of Panos’ blanched hair revealed his intense gaze upon Calamity while more decision making was set on her.

"Another healer, very good," Jeon said enthusiastically, nodding his head. It would be interesting to watch a healer at work, especially if they used magic. Maybe he could pick up a few pointers...? Of course, would any magic here work back home? "Good woman, could you point her out, I'm only recently recovered myself and I'm not very good with names....?"

One of the guarded doors opened and another servant came out. As he saw Calamity and the others he approached with a desperate smile, a cloth and a wooden water bucket at his side.

"King Kinglos' magician is beginning to stir." he said promisingly. He looked at Jeon, meeting eyes with the woman and young man briefly who nodded. "You must be the apothecary, it would be a great help if you gave him your care, sir." He bowed at the hip in submission of Jeon's class superiority.

"Maybe he could blow the fork-tongues to pieces." the group's escorting guard gritted his teeth, exhaling air to punctuate his statement.

"He needs rest," Jeon scowled, ignoring the guard. "Whatever knocked us out, he seems to have taken the brunt of it. With attackers in the keep, it's more important that we first revive this healer, Ms. Lyina? Yes. I could do with another set of hands, certainly. And tea, hot, with honey. She'll likely need it."

The young man who had come with the older relative hurried away at Jeon's word.

Gina squeezed her hands together. The castle was under attack and Jeon was talking about tea. Even she wasn’t that British.

This is an urgent emergency!

She gasped as the memory clicked. A woman with healing magic...she was suddenly sure she knew who lady Lyina was.

“The lady at the dining hall door.” she blurted at Jeon. “The blonde one, the one who said she’d healed the prisoner before we all got knocked out!”

She knew what she was looking for now - adviser Charlie in his silver and brown waistcoat, and lady Lyina with her blonde hair and pretty but tired face. She bolted from one archway to the next with the flask of smelling salts in her hand, shoving the heavy doors open and peering through just long enough to see if they were inside. Her path was initially blocked by the guardsmen who did not look down at her with trust. However as Calamity with Panos at her side approached the man opened it. Inside were the bare furnishings that the cold and dreary castle hosted for all its rooms. Lady Lyina lay on the bed with a woman sitting next to her.

"She is healing her." Calamity explained to the woman while Gina came up to the healer.

When presenting the smelling salts, the change in the blonde woman’s breathing told Gina it worked. Weakly pushing off some of the furs laying on top of her, the robed woman looked up at Gina with no recognition.

For a moment Calamity, behind her false stoic face, thought about this situation and decided to approach closer beside Gina. Panos, whose dislike of Gina was so potent, kept a few feet back with his arms crossed to keep away from the other teenager. Lyina's expression relaxed some at Calamity's sight, indicating familiarity.

"Lady marchioness. What happened?" the magic woman asked through a tired whisper, blue eyes searching the teenager through the candlelight.

Calamity hesitated, glancing at Gina to buy time. She decided that avoiding the question outright would be the best thing to do. "We are being invaded by Draconians. I need your healing now." She pressed a touch of leadership in her words, and the blonde woman was distracted enough to forgo her own question and begin to sit up.

Though Calamity still didn't know the layout of the castle and didn't know if the healer would heal the soldiers out in the field or the innocents caught in the middle of all of this. Either were just as 'innocent' in this case. Defaulting to buy more time, Calamity looked at Gina again.

"Would you bring her to the apothecary? I need to speak with the king." In this way she hoped Jeon would better direct the woman than she could.

"Everyone who was affected experienced a profound shock to their systems, myself included." Jeon said. "I've had a chance to recover, somewhat, but it'll help if when they're revived they can get some tea with honey in them, or failing that, a slug of brandy."

He paused to glance at the nearest guard. "You do have brandy or some sort of strong alcoholic spirits?"

The young woman with tan skin who had once been tending to the unconscious Lyina looked to Jeon, who could only find the guard outside the door, and he was unresponsive.

"O’doln had fallen..." The blonde woman gradually got to her feet, Calamity using a natural instinct to help the woman. She looked rather surprised but said nothing of it while she went on. There was a noticeable shift of tone in her voice as she spoke his name, one of deep concern and personal care.

"If I may, marchioness." She looked to Calamity. "See his condition and tend it?"

Panos wondered why everyone was obsessed with the wizard. It was best he kept down...

The black haired, fey-blooded Calamity shifted in her dress and recalled Jeon's words. His reasoning wouldn't work on a woman who could heal people with magic. She hadn't thought the woman would be focused on the red-haired man too.

"The king told us to keep his people safe." Gina broke in, taking an opportunity to divert the conversation. "The adviser, the cheerful one, Jeon says he used a portal to get here - could he use it again to get everyone back to the city?"

"The portal is one way." Lynia explained quickly, looking down and onto Gina while awaiting her answer from Calamity. "He would be able to return them."

'And expose us meanwhile' The pale prince bitterly thought.

Gina nodded firmly. “Then I’ll go wake him up.” Spying the guards at the doors, she looked at Cal and added for their benefit, “With your permission, marchioness.”

Calamity waved a hand tersely, turning on her heel to set her amethyst eyes on Gina. "Yes, go ahead."

Gina broke away from the group to resume searching the other rooms.

“Which room did you put adviser Charlie in?” she called speculatively to Cal’s servants, in the hope of speeding up her search. Taking her out to the hallway, the man pointed two doors down to the left.

As Gina disappeared, the young brunette man entered with a small bowl of honey accessorized with a wooden spoon. Hearing everyone speaking, he kept silent but raised the bowl for the doctor to take.

"Ah, excellent!" Jeon said, taking the pot of honey from the young man. "Lady Lyina will need this to keep her strength up, as will all the ones affected. Thank you!"

"Sorry sir, we will get the tea as soon as we can." the man promised the pleased doctor. Lyina, hearing her name, returned to focus and gradually stood up.

"Take the apothecary's help." Calamity instructed the blonde woman, using him as the distraction she intended. Walking away from the two of them, Calamity returned to Panos.

The blonde healer furrowed her brows, but nodded and set her blue eyes on Jeon, waiting for his assessment.

The Probe watched the newcomer impassively while secretly scanning him and the honey. There were assassins around, after all. There was nothing foul about the man or the honey, luckily.

"So, second order of business is to get someone to rig up a portal to return the King and his guests back to the capital while we do our best to help the defenders. Tell me, do you know what Lord Charles looks like? I could use a hand in finding him."

Lynia crossed her arms, worry growing on her face.

"Gina is already fetching him." Panos replied to Jeon, with a clenching of his bright teeth.

The healing magician nervously eyed Cal once, but it didn't stop her from heading to the door and thus away from Jeon.

"If I do not mend O’doln the guests cannot be saved." the woman said; her voice was filled with regret was going Cal's direct command.

Cal's teeth found the soft skin on the inside of her lip. Waking O'doln was a risk, but if they could not save the innocents here without him... with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, that they may live to regret what she was about to do; if they lived through this at all; she called after the woman.

"Very well, Lyina. Wake O'doln, inform him of my instructions. As many as can be saved, through the portal to safety. He should go make the preparations as soon as he as able. And you should return, to tend the wounded here, as soon as you have ensured he is well."

Now the princess turned to Panos, still ever aware of the responsibility she had to keep him by her side, and safe. "Now, we need to find the King, and tell him of our plan; get him out of here, too." It would not do for the King to fall, just when they had broken him of his drunken ways; not when she had damn near killed herself to do it. She nodded to the guardsman at the door.

"Lead the way. We will attend the King now." Lyina was very pleased, a quick apologetic glance at Jeon and the healer was quickly out the door. Having the doctor and the two royal teenagers follow the guard, Lyina quickly converged with them as their destination was shared: the guarded door next to them.

In this room the king was sitting bedside over O'doln. The man's pointed yet softly rounded ear was seen through his straight red hair as the magician twitched and shook in small movements.

King Kinglos and his security saw the important gathering of people and frowned at Calamity.

"All I have to offer him are my prayers." the man's regretful face held onto hers, his convictions beyond his bottle. Lynia ran over to O'doln's side, a hand to rest at the side of his face while she lowered herself next to him.

Panos observed the passionate look on her face. But his crystalline eyes returned to where they were glued - on O'doln. The long red hair pulled back to a memory all to fresh for Panos and his healed body. Against Calamity his hand held tighter.

"She is a lover of his, use her to keep him distracted" Panos nervously whispered into Calamity's ear. It would be in their best interest to keep him away from them - afraid of what the magical figure could do. His mind worked both in self preservation and crippling fear while he stared on. Cal squeezed his fingers in return, letting him know she heard his council.

"My Lord," she addressed the King aloud, "do not fear. Lyina is very capable - if there is a way to help him, she will find it. In the meantime, I have people organising an evacuation route from the castle. You should take it, My Lord. We will repel the Drac here, so have no doubt, but you should not be placed at risk, in the meantime."

The probe scanned O'Doln, noting his vitals. It was clear the drug was wearing off, as expected. How quickly he recovered from his treatment, however, it couldn't tell.

Glancing sideways up at Jeon, it wondered how the council would react. Would they accept that the situation had changed, or would they blame him for this 'failure'?

And how would it protect Jeon if they decided to go after him? It was only a probe assigned to watch over the Zayan castaway, it wasn't provided with the sort of weapons and defenses a combat unit would have.

Of course, a combat unit would never had to face something that could work magic.

"So how's the patient?" Jeon asked, his hands itching to see an eChart. "Been keeping him warm and comfortable, I trust?" Lyina had shut her eyes, beckoning into her palms a soothing white light bright enough to sharply pull attention which despite its brightness was tender to look upon rather than agitating. Her palms turned to O'Doln's chest and she leaned over, keeping her eyes on his face.

"It's startling, these monster men have never used a poison such as this. It is not fatal...it was their mistake" Panos' throat tightened. The entire situation was a staggering maze of suspense. Between the death by a thousand cuts that was their building suspicions in the castle and the encroaching warfare outside which was the easier one to deal with?

The king's eyes shifted over to Jeon a few times but looked firmly away. It was evident the man was displeased with the Zyan doctor. "No, this is the time to be here. Finally, with my people instead of always hiding" The black hair man nodded carefully to his rallying words. "I will be beside you young marchioness. Your leadership has always been the sharpest for this generation. I will rally your soldiers and you will defeat them and let those bastards know they will never come into Whitebar again"

'Was he an alcoholic or a martyring stupid idiot?' Panos had to speculate which was worse to deal with. Eyeing the magician nervously the young Lambros prince his jittery mind created many guesses as to what magic could do.

"A portal is open," Panos began with teeth clenched, "it wouldn't be difficult to think seeing our king would prompt them to bring something or someone from it to size the opportunity" he cast into King Kinglos' valor a possible and very painful pitfall.

"Mouthy," the king also found Panos to be an irritant, "O'Doln will know, I am lucky I keep him near me always" set in his newly adjusted ways, the royal man turned his head and attention onto the recovering magical man.

"You could stand to have a few more good people around you," Jeon observed, walking and kneeling at O'Doln's side, opposite of Lyina. The drone, with a faint scowl on its lips, followed him.

"Will it affect yer gift if I take hold of his wrist to check his pulse?" he asked the healer. "It lets me know how he's doing."

"Come to think of it," the doctor added, glancing at the Probe, "Melvin, have you a stethoscope in that pocket of yours?"

Cal was shredding the inside of her lip again, almost ready to simply fling her hands in the air and tell them all to do as they wished, and be damned for it! It seemed they were destined to be one step forward, two steps back on this journey... saving the king from assassination only to find he was killing himself slowly with his alcoholism, turning him to a better life only to see him determined to place himself on the front line of battle.

"I feel certain O'doln would agree with me, Lord," she said, her voice polite, just a hint of her frustration creeping from it. "No-one could doubt your bravery, or your commitment to your realm, but your people will be frightened, disoriented, when they flee here. They need you there to guide them, to let them know all will be well."


Gina Wright

She saw the Advisers in bed together. A guard inside the room was watching them, for both were in a sad state. Kevin whose arse had been the subject of Melvin's quills lay face down with his head resting on his arms. Above the layers of blankets and furs he looked very uncomfortable and was keeping his face away from Charlie.

The finely dressed man was unconscious, breathing rhythmically, his black hair tossed in several directions in contrast to his dapper clothing. Kevin looked up to see who had entered.

"Tell him I won't forgive him." the cleanshaven late 40-something said with a huff, as if expecting Gina to be his messenger. "He shouldn't even have sent you, little girl." he said with hurt and offense caught in his voice.

I’m eighteen. Gina thought irritably, wondering what the king or Jeon had done that was so unforgivable. But she didn’t have time to waste.

“Sorry sir.” she said, forcing herself to keep her voice civil. “I was sent to fetch your colleague.”

She popped the cork on the flask again, and slipped a hand under adviser Charlie’s head to gently lift him towards the smelling salts. Kevin slapped at her wrist, knocking free the vial she held. Gina yelped in surprise as the vial went tumbling onto the ground. Cracking, its grainy contents spilled at her feet.

"And what is he needed for?" Kevin demanded an answer. As lame as he now was from his wounded backside, he still gave Gina a fight. The guard at the door watched the exchange with much more focus, and Gina could feel his eyes on her.

She bit back the urge to swear as the acrid smell of spilt ammonia tingled her nose and made her eyes water.

“The castle’s under attack, sir!” she snapped at Hedspeth. “They’re holding the Draconians in the first ring but we need a portal back to the city, and someone to see the guests safely through!”

Rebuked, Kevin looked down at Charlie.

"Getting him involved, is this a part of Jeon's foolishness? My dear apothecary could have used what you let slip onto the floor because he needs to wake up!" The councilman grunted in frustration. "Before you listen to anything he says maybe someone ought to check his health, his mind is out of it!"

Aware though she was of Hedspeth’s hatred for Charlie, something about his words began to nag at Gina. She began to worry that she had made a mistake.

“You should stay here sir.” she told Hedspeth, hurriedly. “It’s probably best that people don’t see you like this...”

Hoping that that would be enough to keep the injured, angry councilman out of the way, she rushed back out to rejoin the others.

[Minkasha]

Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Gina Wright, Jeon Smythe, 'Melvin', & Panos Lambros

Gina could only catch the last moments of Calamity speaking when the teenager entered the crowded guest room. What was said specifically was missed but she did witness Panos toss his head back, swinging his hair dramatically away from his face and shielding it with a hand to the forehead briefly. Gina opened her mouth to tell Jeon that Hedspeth had smashed her flask of smelling salts, but hesitated when she saw how stressed everyone was. She hovered at the door, trying to work out what was going on.

"I will not have you touch him at this time apothecary." the king growled once hearing the strange mention of a 'stethoscope'.

"As you command," Jeon sighed, lifting his hands palm up to show they were empty as he stood up.

The probe glanced at the king warily. It still had its darts loaded.

Lynia's hands dimmed and she pulled them away, the healer only glancing at her firmly spoken king. Opening his eyes, the red-haired magician set his eerily calming maroon eyes on the Zyan doctor and blonde.

The man reached up to grab one of Lynia's hands and she squeezed his in return. "There for me once more." the man said with a tired smile. Standing and helping himself to be closer, the royal man of power patted the man's chest, and for a moment O'Doln looked to him perplexed.

"You are awake! My friend I am in need of you to save our people." O'Doln pulled himself up, Lynia helping. However the long haired man, moving aside wool lined sheets kept a fixed stare on the king quietly. "O'Doln I need your focus now. Are your thoughts clear?"

"I think...they are..." With a focused stare he studied his ruler.

Gina’s heart leapt into her mouth. Was it just the king’s shifted attitude that had him perplexed...or could he somehow sense the magic that Cal had worked on him?

Lynia stepped back, appearing as if she was holding back frustration. Perhaps because the king stepped in between her and O'Doln. Panos squeezed Calamity's hand intently.

"What are we going to do?!" Panos shrieked, dramatically staring at his 'wife'. "They are going to kill us!" This over the top shouting broke the magician’s focus and he turned his unusual eyes over to Calamity. Melodramatic or not, Gina could have kissed Panos for the quick-thinking distraction.

"What has happened?" O’doln asked.

Cal was chewing her lip again, looking close to her wits’ end, so Gina piped up for her.

“There’s Draconians in the castle, sir.” she said. “A prisoner had arcanium on him and he used it to knock out half the castle and escape. Now he’s using a portal to bring his army inside the walls! We were hoping you could help fight them, or maybe magic the guests to safety and come back with more soldiers…”

In the chaos of the room another servant came in past Gina, then Calamity and Panos. He had a handled tea pot and several metal cups pinned to his torso by his arm. Rushing to Jeon the man presented them.

"Apothecary you wanted tea?"

"Ah, excellent! That's for the patients who are awakening, with a good dollop of honey mixed in, they need the sugars and the caffeine, best thing for clearing the cobwebs," Jeon explained, then pointed to O'Doln. "Him first, he's got a lot of heavy work to do, and then the Lady Lynia, who's done a lot already."

With Jeon's help the young man lobbed some honey into a tea cup, poured it and handed it to the man with light, red, facial hair.

"I'd warn you to take it easy," Jeon said, rounding on the mage, "But that would just fall on deaf ears. So drink up, you'll need it."

The Probe scanned the immediate area, looking for heat signatures, hoping to spot the invaders. Within its range, its senses picked up the hundreds of persons moving about the castle, presumably the staff and some guards. Further out it detected hundreds more moving quickly away from the castle, and some other figures running chaotically. Part of the military, as Melvin could deduce from the formations, and panicking civilians made up those running about frantically.

The Probe frowned, trying to determine where, if anywhere, fighting was taking place. Within its range there were no signs which could be detected.

Meanwhile, O’doln gradually consumed the empowering drink. Lynia watched him intently as he was doing so. Calamity took the moment of silence to breathe and speak up.

"Lord, we need your help to rally your people." Now her tone was polite but rather than angry, a touch desperate. She looked at Panos, sharing eye contact with him, but remained silent.

Lynia took the cup from O'doln, had it refilled, and drank herself. The pointed eared man stood up. At this, king Kinglos' eyes followed the man, denoting a lot of awe and trust towards the spell caster.

"What can we do?" the king asked O'doln.

"The Draconians will have more magic after the use of the portal. I will have to fight the threat." The mage seemed to smile at Lynia with closed lips, an intimate but careful look in his eyes while he took the cup back from her once emptied. "Another please." he asked the servant. Panos meanwhile kept his eyes down to avoid seeing the man.

Jeon glanced between the mage and the healer, then sighed. No wonder she insisted on going to him when she recovered. No doubt she was carefully watching him, lest there was a repeat. For Cal's sake, he hoped not. While she was functional, she still needed rest; time to properly mend, no matter what the MedBot had injected her with.

He could still feel the pull from the king and from Kevin, and this lot of young people, but from O'doln and Lynia...?

Cal straightened her back - so there was no escape, at least not yet. It couldn't be the first option. "We have to attack now to spare my people's lives." Though as her vision kept on O'doln, what she meant was he needed to take action. Yet she did not want to speak too directly to the man who might spot her for who she really was if he looked too closely.

Turning her eyes to Gina, the girl gestured silently with confusion and a hand motion to the door, asking where Charlie was. Gina spread her hands in hesitant apology.

"Hedspeth smashed my vial..."

She took a breath, coming to the same conclusion as Cal. It looked like they were stuck here for now. They would have to fight. Calamity looked back ahead to the men she was doing her best to navigate. Though the body language was subtle, the way in which her brow twitched flagged her heightened stress.

Kinglos wasn’t in a much better state. Bouncing a leg up and down, the anxious decision making process he was going through in his mind was showing in his body language. Calamity worried that the man was on the edge of following O'doln.

"They said the Draconians are in the first circle." Gina relayed, hoping to speed and clarify the king's decision. "If we can't get our people out of harm's way then we can still make sure the Draconians don't get in." She looked from Cal to Kinglos. "The captain's holding them at the gate for now. Perhaps we should join him, m'lord?"

With leather platforms to take him to full height, the King reacted agreeably to Gina's words.

"All our abilities will go in that direction." King Kinglos decided for everyone involved.

Lynia grimly agreed with a nod. Calamity squeezed her hand tighter, accidentally hurting Panos, who flinched. She looked at him apologetically while O'doln returned the thrice emptied cup to the servant.

"I will see your famed strategic reputation take center stage." the pointed-eared man said directly to Calamity, who nodded to roll with the unexpected punch.

Fighting. Jeon sorely wished whatever forces had brought him and Melvin to this place had thought to bring his spacesuit as well - his handgun and an extra magazine were in the outer pocket of his spacesuit. Alas, the spacesuit was probably still lying on the airlock floor.

It didn't look like these people knew much about gunpowder - who develops explosives when they've got magic? Nor did they have the time to make some. What could they used to perhaps turn the tide here?

"My good man," he purred, turning on the servant playing 'mother' with the tea pot, "Do you know where we could get our hands on some strong spirits of alcohol, some bottles and some rags?"

Melvin could probably pee grain alcohol, but that would raise too many questions. But with the king, there had to be a supply of empty bottles, surely?

He wondered if this world had ever seen the Molotov cocktail?

Gina grasped his intention quickly enough. “You mean, to make fire bombs?” she asked for the benefit of their renaissance-world hosts.

The two servants looked to Calamity, who briskly nodded. "Give the apothecary anything he requests."

At this the servants set the honey and tea on the end table and took off to fetch the next thing. Before the winds of conflict entirely usurped her ability to garner attention, Cal’s amethyst eyes laid on Jeon, but with the colder gaze of the character she had to portray in front of the others.

"She could use another vial if you have one." Calamity said to Jeon, indicating Gina. They ought to try waking Councilman Charlie to see if he could de-escalate the king from risking himself. The only thing it seemed king Kinglos was going to listen to for now was anything lining him up to get killed, and that she could not risk happening.

"Yes, my lady," Jeon said, then turned to the Probe. "I don't suppose you have any more on you?"

The Probe frowned ever so slightly. What it had was packaged for the 23rd century, not this magical Renaissance era. If it handed over plastic and foil packaging, it would be noticed.

They did have glass, to be sure. It had some glass vials for collecting blood samples, part of the disguise for the old medbot unit it played around Jeon. It could pop some of the capsules into that and hand it over.

With a curt nod, it pulled out a vial with five ammonia inhalants inside, carefully cupping its hand to hide the plastic-mesh the smelling salts were contained in from the rest of the room as it handed it to Gina. The orange-red of the synthetic rubber stopper would hopefully go unnoticed, as the room had other concerns.

"This will teach me to go out without my medical bag," Jeon signed softly. The other Jeon surely had something at their workshop, suitable for this period.

“I’ll be two seconds.” Gina promised, taking the vial. As she hurried to the door, her eye fell upon the tea and honey that the servants had abandoned. Fuck it. she thought, and quickly made up another cupfull for adviser Charlie. It couldn’t hurt at least.

Calamity watched Gina leave and then stepped forward, her arm holding behind her as Panos didn't wish to go ahead. Trying to save face, she retreated back to where she stood with a stoic face.

"He is the most quiet boy I've ever seen." Lynia said passingly about 'Melvin' as she looked down to him for a moment.

The Probe looked up, frowning slightly.

"He's never said a word to me," Jeon admitted truthfully, giving the Probe a look of his own.

Lifting its right hand, fingers closed and thumb outstretched, the Probe folded its fingers on top of the thumb while twisting the hand to point at its mouth, as if a mouth was closing.

"However, he's very expressive with his hands," Jeon smirked with a slight shrug. Well, MedBot had helped him learn a bit of sign language. "So, what's next?"

Kinglos began to make his way to the door, Odoln coming to his side and the healer following. Now Calamity couldn't think of any way to stop the momentum. Taking Panos to the side, out of the trio's way she looked at the boy she was bound to keep close.

She had made a promise, but Panos actively had a fear of the red headed magician that, while warranted, was far more stiffing than her own. Still, when she tugged on her hand firmly yet gently he came along quietly.


Gina Wright

“Hello again.” Gina greeted Hedspeth grimly as she entered the neighbouring room for the second time. Her anticipated mood was well deserved, for her reply was a pouting glare.

She set the metal teacup down on a rickety table near the door, and this time cracked the salt capsule before carrying it over to the two advisers. The smell of ammonia followed her as she crossed the room to the opposite side of the bed and waved the acrid mixture under Charlie’s nose. As soon as the man began to cough, she ran back for the tea.

“Wake up sir.” she urged Charlie as she returned. “The king and the marchioness need your help!”

Charlie's heterochromatic eyes looked around groggily, their hazel and teal colors searching until he saw Gina.

"Oh? How?" the man asked with returning urgency, struggling to push himself off the bed.

"I'm crippled, not retarded. The king ought to have my advice." Hedspeth bitched as Gina hurried back with the cup.

Yeah right. Gina thought, The king’s already likely enough to die without you steering him into it as well.

She gave the cup to Charlie, and the late twenty something man began to drink it.

"What happened?" he asked.

"The Marchioness made a grave error..." Kevin said with a trailing sigh, getting Charlie’s worried attention away from Gina to listen further to him.

“It’s easy to make errors when the other side’s got arcanium and treachery.” Gina headed him off. She took adviser Charlie’s arm and began to help him towards the door with cup still in hand. “A Draconian prisoner escaped and stunned all the guests with some kind of spell. He’s opened a portal in the outer ring and now the whole Draconian army is trying to come through.”

Ending Kevin's spell over Charlie earned the teenager a glare before she could make her way out. Paying it no mind, she shoved the door open and looked around for the others.



Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Gina Wright, Jeon Smythe, 'Melvin', & Panos Lambros

“I’ve got him, marchioness!”

Calamity and the others turned to look, the eager voice catching them off guard. King Kinglos smiled at adviser Charlie.

"Is what this young woman said true? We are under attack?" Charlie looked to the firm-faced guards by the doors, and the expressions of the others. Kinglos stepped towards the well dressed man, back straight and posture self assured.

"Yes, and we will go rally the men to fight the scaly horde." Waving a hand the king invited Charlie to join the battle. Looking eye to eye, Charlie created a pause.

"My lord, the men are more familiar with the marchioness, it might be her place to rally them." The Adviser sighed. "Sir, please reconsider, you would be a target for the Draconians."

Calamity felt a great relief hearing the man echo her thoughts without risking her social position she struggled to maintain. "That is a thought to consider." the young leader pressed into the conversation. King Kinglos swayed in his platforms.

"What do you say we do then?" The king crossed his arms.

“Everyone will know you were here, m’lord.” Gina put in, trying to encourage Kinglos. “If we win, it’ll be your victory too. But if you die, then what? The kingdom needs its king. Lead from the back while the marchioness leads from the front.”

"Sir, we may be running out of time." O'doln added with a calm tone of voice. The king tossed a hand his way, sending the pointed-eared man off.

"Go to the battle." the king commanded, and the redhead rushed down the hall. Calamity watched him go hesitantly, then, she decided to walk quickly after him, which provoked Lynia to join her.

"Have we found who supplied the arcanium?" Charlie asked, "If we do not find the source, we could be in more danger."

Gina tugged at her hair as they all set off towards the gate, where hopefully Cal’s captain would have more news for them. “Lynia thought he’d hidden it under his nails.” she said to Charlie, remembering the healer’s last words before Cal’s voice had knocked them all out. “Do the Draconians have any arcanium of their own?”

Charlie's forehead wrinkled as he raised his brows at great height.

"No!" the man answered, while his king scowled wordlessly and looked between Charlie and Gina. The distance between Gina and the rest of the group grew as King Kinglos kept her anchored in the hallway.

"You have been a helpful young lady. I will have your help again finding the man who has supplied the Drake." he said with a stern, but, certain tone to his voice. Charlie turned his unusual eyes on Gina to study her reaction, smiling closed lips.

Gina felt a shiver run down her spine. She didn't want to leave Cal and Panos, but the king was giving her little choice.

"Of course sir." she said, and nodded emphatically while her mind continued to race, trying to deal with this latest curveball. Lynia said there was a torture master who the Drac attacked...what was his name? Did she tell us...?

Jeon's smile became fixed. What was this "arcanium"? Arcana meant "secrets", and cards in a Tarot deck were split into two groups - the major and minor arcana. Amy liked to play with a tarot deck, he remembered.

Somehow, he didn't think it was likely they were grinding up tarot decks for it.

He frowned, leaning over to The Probe, which glanced up at him.

"You'd tell me if this was a sim, yes?" he whispered. "Or some sort of weird dream?"

The Probe stopped, turning abruptly to face Jeon, and with great precision, kicked him painfully in the shin.

"Ow! Alright!" Jeon scowled, "You've made yer point!"

The two turned, following after the rest of the party, with Jeon limping slightly.

"You didn't have to kick me that hard," he groused.

He was interrupted by Gina appearing beside him and squeezing his hand. She looked up at the taller man with an earnest expression. "Tell them where I've gone." she asked him, "And please take care of them."

The younger girl turned away from him towards the knot of guards and servants who still stood nearby, awaiting the king's command.

"I need someone to take me to the torture master. He's the last one who saw the Drake before he escaped."

"So, is someone bringing me what I need to make firebombs?" Jeon asked the departing backs, pausing on the door threshold. Where were those servants? If he left, they'd probably never find him.

He glanced behind him, taking in the rest of the room, looking for anything liquid that might burn, or could hold something flammable and break on contact. He also tried to figure out how many were here to help him make his improvised weapons?

"I don't suppose you've found where they keep the supplies?" Jeon asked the Probe. "Do they use lamp oil? I do hope it's kerosene and not whale oil. For all I know, they might use some sort of 'dragon oil'."

Hopefully, the oil wasn't extracted from the dead creatures in the dungeon....

Charlie seemed to look on to Gina's interaction with Jeon curiously, but any attempt to read into it was gone with his focus set back on their ruler. Curiously the king looked gloomier upon hearing Gina's request.

For Gina, another guard was responsive. "Yes, I can do that" The man's curt speech showing the urgency of the moment. King Kinglos nodded with agreement to Gina's request.

For Jeon, one of the help attending and waiting for the highness listened in on the doctor speaking with his mute youth. Walking over the man spoke up. "What is it you're looking for?"

By now though, Jeon and 'Melvin' we being left behind in both directions: Calamity heading off to the fight, Gina leaving with the King to begin the quest for the Arcanium trail.

[Minkasha]

Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Jeon Smythe, 'Melvin', & Panos Lambros

There was a rush of footsteps, hard and some metallic. Gina and Panos had taken the lead, following was O'doln, and Lyina. Then Jeon and Melvin with a handful of servants at his heels with a bag each, one filled glass bottled alcoholic beverages, the other cotton woven cloths. The confusion and urgency on their faces denoted uncertain devotion to the doctor's request.

The metal drumming behind all of them in the waves of footsteps were the batch of another thirty men emptying themselves out of Calamity's war-ready fortress home. When the tall, thick, wood doors opened with the sturdy heaving of Calamity's soldiers O'doln flicked his hand in the air and muttered a breath of words.

The entire group suddenly lost the sensation of cold's encroachment. Calamity looked at Panos and then moved a glance to Jeon while the magic casually enveloped them. Jeon could see his two teenage companions were surprised, but buried their real reaction under stone masks quickly.

In the full open winter air they went ahead, two blue metal cast sleigh drawn by two horses was primed ahead of time by Calamity's word. Calamity, Panos, O'doln, and Lyina fit within the first two rowed sleigh, the second with Leon, 'Melvin' and the help carrying his requested supplies.

By the hand of horsemen they left through the ring of protection which surrounded the fortress castle. When the gate was pulled open for the first time all of them saw greater Whitebar.

The expansive city of yurts and longhouses formed neat, lined up rows circling the castle. The rather clear and central design of Whitebar was intimating and well suited for quick movement.

There was an ordered chaos as an older man surrounded by an entourage of soldiers was shouting commands, standing in the widest and center row of Whitebar. From the snowy winds yelling, screaming, and the clash of metal was picked up. The smokes of fire swept into the air.

A gathering of two to three hundred civilians the curving road outside the gates. When the sleighs continued on Calamity glanced over to them, getting an instant slam of the responsibility on her shoulders.

Being drawn up to Commander Rangle, Lyina looked to O'doln.

"I going to have to check on those people" the healer said, remarking about the many innocents waiting near the fortress' gates.

"Do not expend all your magic" the pointed eared man warned her with a sigh. The blonde woman bowed to Calamity and stepped out of the craft first, being escorted by a soldier to the awaiting people.

Panos swallowed down his stress, "Don't show any mercy" Panos whispered into Calamity's ear, "Or it'll draw suspicion" Cal inherently disliked it but what choice did she have now? She hesitantly nodded and got out of the sleigh with O'doln and Panos.

Turning their eyes onto Jeon, Calamity forced the duo to wait for him to come along.

"Well," Jeon said as Panos exited the other sled and came toward them, "I wonder if he knows what's going on?"

The Probe barely raised an eyebrow, wondering as to Panos' last instruction to Calamity. The girl had felled an entire room with one command, a feat not even it could have done so quickly. Still, she seemed to be on the same "side" as Jeon, which meant she was another who was important to Zayan's continued survival. While it's tractor beams would not have any affect on magic, it could alter the path of normal projectiles - assuming it was in a position to detect them.

It pulled a red bottle out of a bag and gave it a scan. 5.5% alcoholic content. Producing a scowl, it tossed the bottle and rooted for another one.

"Hey! We need that....!" Jeon protested as a dark bottle was handed to him. "What? This one?" he demanded. The Probe nodded gravely. Navy-strength rum, 55.6% alcohol.

"Right, find some more, but just put the bad bottles in back, okay?" Jeon grumbled - then frowned as he looked up at Calamity still standing there by the other carriage.

"I think something's up," he frowned, climbing out. "We better go over and find out what it is." In the distance bolt fire, yelling and the clashing of metal was picked up with the winter wind blowing in their direction. The two teenagers looked to one another as the audible warring gust made apparent the distant conflict.

With a few exchange of words the doctor didn’t catch O'doln left from Calamity’s side and to the commander. Luckily the pointed eared man’s strange abilities continued to shield them from the cold, the breeze barely perceptible in the comforting warmth across their skin.

“What are you going to be able to do?” Panos asked rather directly, yet nervously to Doctor Jeon. Calamity, holding her back straight and her face firmer did keep a focused eye on Jeon.

“I’ve never waged war before” She admitted as quietly as the wind would allow her before stealing her voice, “they are going to expect me to lead them”

"Everyone out there with two brain cells to rub together is scared," Jeon sighed, glancing around. "I'm scared, your soldiers are scared, the wizard is scared, even the enemy is scared. But you have an advantage - your men are confident about the you that you replaced. And as long as you appear confident, they'll remain confident."

"So, the earlier you had to have advisers, people she trusted. People who could lead their men, while you led them. Call them to you, those who can get away. They know your tactics, so treat this as if it was a deadly serious training exercise. Ask them what they think they should be doing to fight the enemy, then as long as it sound reasonable to you and the rest of your leaders, do it."

Jeon paused, scratching his jaw. "Just remember not to rush into any traps and to protect your line of retreat. People are going to die today regardless of your actions. Try to make it as few as possible, but don't be shy throwing bodies into the fights that need fighting."

Glancing at Panos, he turned and pointed at Melvin. "We're making Molotov cocktails. We're going to fill them, we're going to light them, and then Melvin will throw them at our enemies. You'll probably lose a few of the buildings out here, but it might break the enemy's will to fight."

At first the prepossessing black haired leader eased her shoulders while Jeon had given his succor of advice. Even Panos lessened the tension of his jaw but once the man unveiled his plan to partially destroy Whitebar jumped their caution.

“You’re going to trust that…” Panos studied the eerily silent boy, “Thing to do it right?”

“Panos…” Cal delicately attempted to reel her friend in. “What is this you are saying? A cocktail?” The girl from Serroc not aware of the revolutionary weapon.

“Alcohol set aflame and thrown.” Panos informed her swiftly. Amethyst and azure eyes looked up to Jeon, the young lady nodding. The snow began to rest on their hair, difficult to spot in Panos' locks or starkly obvious in Calamitiy's. Jeon could feel the snow melt to water at the roots of his scalp, yet the magic prevent the water from feeling freezing.

“If it will work, then do it.” Calamity turned and began moving to the gathering of men and to her Commander of the Guard, Panos being led by the hand. For a girl in simple garb and out of her league, she walked with her confidence unshaken.

"Well, always nice when we're given permission," Jeon drawled, slipping his hands into his pockets as he watched the pair walk away. He turned to glance down at The Probe, which looked up back at him.

"We better get to work then preparing these bottles, shouldn't we?" he said. "We don't want to be jumped. Are going to be jumped?"

The probe rolled its eyes, then did another scan of the area. Within the probe's range the heat signatures were those it could visually confirm: the gathered command and the victims caught in the crossfire now being escorted into the castle.

"Yeah," Jeon decided, looking around, then striding back to the carriage. "Let's make more ammo." The Zyan doctor wasn't interrupted, priming the bottled alcohol to become weapons of war. Ever lingering was the hair raising drafts of audible conflict coming with the rebuffed winter chill.

With torn cloth dangling from the glass rims, the middle aged doctor was prepared with deadly fire. The sleds remained as they were, drivers waiting if he wished to get closer to the battle.

"I think we're ready," Jeon sighed, looking at the pile of primed bottles at his feet. "Can you chuck them from here or do we need to get closer?"

The Probe signed, a human expression it had picked up, then gave Jeon its version of the hairy eyeball. It nodded towards the driver.

"Ah, right," the doctor signed, reaching out to tug on the driver's sleeve.

"Excuse me, we're new here," he said. Aren't we just? "Is there someplace tall near the action? My 'young companion' here has a very good arm, but we rather aim these at the invaders."

The man in winter leathers stared rather complex between the doctor and ‘Melvin’.

“The gate…I shouldn’t bring a child any closer to the conflict” the man scoffed, the breath of his voice released a cloud of air. “How aren’t the two of you freezing?” the man went on to add with disbelief as both Jeon and ‘Melvin’ walked around in their robes.

"Magic," Jeon replied. "Look, if we don't get to the gate, then there will be no safe place for anyone. You saw us talking to the Marchioness, yes? We're under her instructions. Although if you can find us a route where's there's not much fighting so we can sneak in with all this, that would be best."

As the two men talk, the Probe grabs one of the prepared bottles and slides it into his pocket, into the dialed open N-dimensional gate, where waiting machinery examines it for duplication, then stores it away, along with the next bottle the Probe slips in. And the next.

It would be strange if they've never developed any storage magic in this kingdom, so hopefully what it was doing would be accepted. Besides, they had to transport it somehow, it wasn't like they were going to get all those bottles on top of some tall structure without considerable help.
Though Jeon was speaking to the driver the attention was lost the moment 'Melvin' began his feat. Something akin to fear widened his eyes and without another word of debate he nodded to their request.

"Hmm?" the Zayan frowned, following the driver's gaze to see another bottle impossibly sliding into the Probe's pocket. "Ah."

"Get on then" He encouraged with respectful eagerness. Being lightly layered by the snow, the sleighs horses bent their legs and moved their heads about with muted unease. Their ears twitched and it might have hinted to them hearing the distant warfare.

Jeon helped the Probe load the rest of the bottles into its seemingly bottomless pocket.
"I know this is impressive, but I can't help thinking about all those luggage allowances I had to pay out for," he grumbled.

Their driver took them through the rows of longhouses and yurts, avoiding the main veins of Whitebar. As the pair drew nearer the yelling, and meeting metal dialed exponentially louder. Then finally through the peaks between homes Jeon deep brown eyes saw the men of various metals and leathers combating the tall scaled men.

He could tell it was a conflict of a thousand for each side, but with such tight close quarters there was debate to his use of thrown fire even viable without great friendly fire. It wasn't a hopeless situation as the doctor's intelligence could detect a viable alternative.

The Zyan was taken to a set of mason stairs attached to the gate which would give him great height over the combat. Behind where the Draconians in their black metal armor were clustered there was a swirling dark purple hole, a standing, vibrant vortex which was somehow releasing more and more of the Draconian army out into the winter battlefront.

"Up here then, Melvin!" Jeon scowled, climbing the snowy stairs. The Probe stopped to give the driver a slight grimace before following after the doctor.

"I know when we do this, we'll become a massive target for them out there, but I'm wondering, can you strike that..." he paused, stumped as more Draconians marched out, "whatever that is with one of those bottles?"

The Probe smiled, holding up a bottle with a glistening rag and the doctor's brass lighter.

"Hey! I thought I lost that!" Jeon frowned, then signed and turned towards the battle. "Let's do this."

A moment later, a bottle flew past him, the rag burning despite the speed.

"What did you put on that? Napalm?" the doctor demanded, watching it sail towards the vortex. A second bottle followed close behind, and then a third.

The Probe then shifted, preparing the souped-up surgical tractors in its palms. It was about to make magic of its own. The booms of metal clashing and men's war-stricken varieties of cries drowned the ears of most sensation. And though Jeon couldn't hear what became of the tossed bottles it was keenly caught by the eyes.

As the dozens of Draconians released from the vortex in single line they were assaulted by the forces of fire which wouldn't retire in the snowy battlefield. The cosmic black metal didn't shield them from the power of science, their painful screams only to be assume while they flailed their arms, broke formation and struggled to pull off their fastened armor.

It was disgusting watching their scales melt to the armor, those able to take off the pieces did so by ripping off scales from the flesh which fused with their protective equipment.

The retaliation was swift. Breaking from the main fight Draconian men were heading for the stairs past the blade-locked mass straight to Jeon and 'Melvin'.

"Looks like their friends aren't too happy with us," Jeon warned the Probe.

At least these could be seen, the Probe told itself.

It flung a flaming bottle, aiming at the chest of the leader, then scanned for others who might be closing in.

"Probably time to move, Jeon said,glancing around. "Got any preference?"

Jeon’s options were, seemingly, either left or right. Each direction past more fortifications on the fortress’ outer walls, unmanned, sheet covered, ballista wheeled back from the edge. The only distinction Jeon and ‘Melvin’ could see superficially was that going right had them run past wall which brought them closer to the combat, left would lead them away.

Death by fire continued to spread, Draconians new to the fray and seeing their melted comrades assaulting the flames with their feet and tossed snow. But it was still claiming the lives of a few unsuspecting emerging from the portal not agile enough to avoid it upon arrival. And as the newest bottle crashed against the scaly man charging for the stairs he too began to scream, rolling across the snowy battlefield.

Revenge was quick, where prior the line of black-armored men were rushing the steps a few detoured nearby to the sleigh driver. The man attempted to provoke his horses on but the startled beast was too shaken, perhaps by the magic or near by flames, and Jeon was privy to a bloody butcher of the discarded noncombatant.

More, ever escalating violence joined the conflict. Finally did O’doln enter, phasing through ribbons of bright teal circles. Floating in the air he was accompanied by a Draconian donned in red robes, his tricks vibrating blood red and magenta hues. The energy emanating from them was immense. While Jeon was to make a rather important life and death decision the two magicians navigated the sky, their respective neon colors shining off all surfaces below while projecting strange bolts of what Jeon could only describe as ‘plasma’.

"Give me a flaming bottle to throw on the stairs so they're blocked," Jeon ordered.

The Probe pulled another from its pocket and lit the rag, which burned merrily as Jeon tossed it.

"Let's get over to one of those giant crossbow things," Jeon ordered, pointing to the right. "We need to pitch a couple bottles through that vortex."

Fire held under the will of science served Jeon well, keeping him protected from the initial retaliation of the Draconian. The doctor and the disguised robot began to dash to the first ballista but the Draconians were more persistent, athletic and blood hungry.

The doctor managed to get to a siege weapon, the conflict an ever going eruption of tension and violent stimuli. As he did the two of them could see the Draconians were using each other to step up and reach the wall which the fire had blocked. The first reptile men were using their robust arms to pull themselves up and roll onto the floor.

The soldiers were a mere 15 feet away. For now it was only two, but more were coming. It was apparent the Draconians, the trickle which could get by Calamity's army to the gate, knew Jeon's tricks were a threat.

The Draconians' attention was on the Zayan, not the Probe. Raising its outstretched hands, the tiny drug ports fired tranquilizer darts at them while the amped surgical tractors in its palms tried to trip the soldiers.

"Damn, should have asked for protection," Jeon muttered, grabbing one of the ballista bolts and swinging it around Among the few black metal bolts piled together beside the siege weapon the doctor picked one up to discover how heavy it was. He could deduce he'd be able to swing it, but it would highly inefficient and leave him vulnerable it took for him to recover his posture.

"No wonder these things can do so much damage," the doctor grumbled, casting his eye around for something else he could use.

Meanwhile 'Melvin' began an onslaught against the Draconians. The flying projectiles the child shaped combatant spewed caught the lizard men off guard. The one leading the charge continued rushing ahead, yet the one behind him had stopped only for a dart to plunge into his eye. Screaming and stumbling the man fell off the side of the ledge back down onto the stairs and out of their line of sight.

'Melvin''s open palms set forth a force which slammed the leading Draconian on his face and pushed him several feet back. Just as he was rolling by a third was managing to climb onto the ledge and get to his feet.

A rag and the neck of a bottle slid up out of the Probe's pocket. Lighting it, the Probe lobbed it at the chest of the latest climber, hoping to knock the attacker back and over the edge. It also scanned the immediate area, trying to see if the Draconians had figured out some way of flanking them on the wall.

It might be time to roll Jeon up...Shattered glass and burning alcohol put brown scaled lizard man into a panic. Running in circles, trying to claw at his armor fastenings his screams were a whisper compared to the wartime violence close by. The man which had been pushed down was gradually getting to his feet. And ‘Melvin’ was fortunate to discover the trickle of enemy combatants was still the only one it was engaged with now.

Meeting the Draconian covered in growing flame the returning Draconian glared at ‘Melvin’. With swift skill the warrior spun the blade in his palm and raised it back. With a body swinging toss the sword was diving through the air like a javelin straight at the boy impersonating robot.

Another Draconian lay on the ground, this one dead and impaled by his own weapon. Another came to the platform, it seemed like the trickle of soldiers wasn’t going to let up. The flames blocking the steps were beginning to fade and soldiers were braving testing the shrinking licks of orange heat.

All the while as things begin to turn against Jeon also see a new wave of Calamity’s men coming from the central walkway of Whitebar. To his surprise a slew of hasty men were heading in his direction, coming to the stairs of the gate and beginning conflict against the Draconians attempting to cut Jeon down.

However Jeon and ‘Melvin’ were not entirely spared. While one Draconian created an expanding pool of blood, another had crawled onto the platform and two passed the fires on the stairs to also join. Now three scaly, glaring monstrous humanoids were attempting to narrow the distance. The black armor matched their darkly crafted shields and blades, the drawn weapons gleaming with opportunity.

Inside the inner workings of the probe, one of the food stores items was routed to the probe's N-Gate, the pocket warping to allow it to pass out and into the shell's waiting hand.

"Is that flour?!?" the Zayan demanded incredulously. "What are you going to...?"

It threw the five pound bag at the three Draconian soldiers as the top of another Molotov cocktail slid into its pocket. The bag should burst on impact, creating a cloud of aersolized flour - with a pulse from its tractor beam to further disburse the fine powder. When the lit Molotov cocktail flame hit the dust, it should explode into a nice fireball, with the three flour-dusted Draconians in the middle.

The evanescent flour burned away, getting from the Draconians a muted series of hisses as small scorches freckled their scales. The splattering alcohol could only reach across the broad body of one Draconian, leaving the other two in pursuit.

And if this didn't work, it was going to have to dilate the N-Gate and swallow the Zayan doctor whole, slipping him into the emergency surgical suite inside its bubble universe.

Nothing could hurt him there, but it wouldn't be able to restrain him from wandering around. The last thing it wanted was him to track his dirty boots inside as he poked around in its interior. What the Draconians watched was horrific, a series of rapid, ungodly mutations of ‘Melvin’s’ form undulated to seemingly consume the grown man next to him. The sudden feat caught in the reflection of the hardened warrior men.

The Secondary N-Gate located in the Probe shell's mouth dilated as the shell's head expanded almost comically like a balloon as he leapt on top of Jeon.

"Melvin! What are you....ahhhh!" he screamed as he was swallowed whole.

The probe's head returned to normal. It turned to smile at the two survivors as it wiped its mouth with its hand. And then it took a step forward, and its hands elongated into blades.


Jeon screamed as robotic arms held him down while other strapped him in place on the examination table. The room looked... impossible, like an inside out version of the Medbot's head while robotic arms sprouted all manner of devices, blades and drills.

"Please relax," a speaker said from the giant black faceplate in front of him, in a warm, matronly sort of voice, but it wasn't English. "You may experience some... discomfort. It is necessary during the present situation."
"Where am I?" he demanded, in English. "What is this place?"
"Please relax. You may experience some... discomfort. It is necessary during the present situation."
"He swallowed me! What is going on?"
"Please relax. You may experience some... discomfort. It is necessary during the present situation."

Admittedly, it wasn't much of a torture, but the Probe could keep this up for hours.

Hissing, black metal weapons were aimed surly at ‘Melvin’, neither Draconian hesitating due to the probe’s child shape. The final two in pursuit of the doctor were now face to face with the Zyan’s protector. With their swords the left moved to swing from the side, the Draconian on the right to swing down from above!

They might as well have been moving in slow motion. The Probe sidestepped in a split second, avoiding the Draconian on the left as it came along side the one that moments before had been on the right - and gave him a momentary shove with its tractor set to repel to drive him towards the other.

Spells could explain its speed and quick responses. Blades shattering on striking his seemingly frail form would not. Nor could it allow the Draconians to 'kill' the shell. While it would allow them to vent their vengeance and move on, it would make it difficult for it to later reappear unharmed.

Besides, it never did like bullies picking on children.

A blood pack was moved from storage to the shell, where it was slipped to under its forehead, where the synthetic skin was weakened. It might be necessary to fake an injury so that it could receive "treatment" for its "injuries" - far from openly prying eyes. Collapsed into a heap the two warriors lay on the ground and struggling to gather themselves.

Despite all of ‘Melvin’s’ efforts to protect Jeon and repulse dangers the truth was the environment was growing increasingly dangerous. More Draconian men were spilling from the vortex, ever escalating the numbers of both sides – and eventually it was going to lead to a tipping point which could easily be not in Jeon nor his companions’ favor.

Self-defense was only going to reward ‘Melvin’ for so long, its calculations quite capable of putting the odds together and seeing the increasing danger of the overall situation.



Gina Wright

Gina was wracking her brain as they walked, trying to recall anything about the torture master except what Lynia had shouted as she burst into the hall. All that Cal had said was that her doppelgänger - and presumably the torture master - had done horrible things to the Drac prisoner. Injured or not, Gina didn't think that she'd want to be around the torturer for long.

Charlie's right though. If Draconians really can't do magic by themselves, then what if the person who helped them opens another portal inside the castle?

"If we can find out how the Drake was captured and who had access to him while he was here, we can narrow down the suspects." she suggested to the king.

While travelling through the halls, Charlie smiled at the regal. In the moment his eyes turned onto the king and the other two men kept their gazes ahead, Gina spotted a woman no older than twenty four watching from down the hall. Dressed in a simple green linen dress, with its humble style the cut gave away she was an attendant as the many others Gina had seen, yet the colour scheme did not align with anyone else Gina had seen thus far. However as Gina saw the brunette she reflexively stepped around a corner, attempting to look as if she hadn't been watching. But Gina's shocking life experience was versed enough to see through it.

Gina, adviser Charlie Allan and king Kinglos were taken to a medical room where an older, thinly built gentleman with several age spots was looking across his shelves of medical plants, and jars with various coloured watery fluids. He set his focused eyes on the three as they entered, immediately kneeling when he saw King Kinglos.

"Your Majesty." King Kinglos walked in the room and headed to the wooden table with a man on it. Among the thirty in total, only his one was occupied.

"Why were these not used?" Charlie asked the standing doctor.

"We suspected the tables would be needed for the oncoming conflict, Adviser." The lower tone of his voice and his downcast head give the doctor a respectful submission.

"Right." Charlie agreed with an exhale, moving through the dark grey room to the resting man. Gina saw a well built man in his forties. He looked to be bandaged and his skin had color to it.

"You need to wake up now." King Kinglos instructed the torture master, his voice startling the patient awake. Although he did groan, many bandages wrapped around his torso.

"My...king, how may I help?"

Gina stood back, sensing that it would be good protocol to let the king speak first unless she was called upon - for the moment at least.

Again the young woman emerged into Gina's vision, but this time she came into the room - keenly watching the communication between the three men begin. The men themselves were focused and didn't respond to the young woman's entrance. No-one notices the staff, after all. Gina frowned slightly - it was the second time that the misfit woman had seemed interested in the king's business.

Or maybe she's just starstruck to see the guy here...

The doctor was the only other one in the room to take note of the servant girl's presence.

"Miss?" he asked.

"Lady Leean is in need of some relaxing plant medicine, these troubles are worrying her."

The man scanned over his collection, easily enough reaching for a jar of plants within seconds.

"Sir." the woman interrupted, "She has specific reactions to some herbs, I'll need to see what you have."

"It will take a moment." the doctor hesitantly replied, grabbing the jar but narrowing his eyes while he scanned more. The young woman in green dropped her shoulders, contentiously glancing to the conversation taking place. She seemed certain to ignore Gina's presence.

Gina sidled over to the young woman in order to correct that fact.

"You shouldn't be here." she whispered to her. "The king's doing something important."

Lingering wordlessly the young woman’s brown eyes lowered with insecurity in a brief expression of doubt.

“Welcome back to the living.” Charlie said sombrely to the torture master, “You should tell us what happened.” His spoken concern and direction of conversation pulled the women’s eyes to observe.

"Miss Remoni that is cold of you to say.” the woman whispered back.

Gina was surprised to find someone in the castle who already knew her name. Maybe she's one of the guests, from the town? It hadn't occurred to her that it might have been her the young woman was watching.

"I'm sorry." she whispered, backtracking. She lowered her voice even further. "It's just...he's here about the Drakes."

She glanced towards the physician, but the clatter of the older man searching for his potions and herbs made him oblivious to the women’s interaction.

“How unlikely to see you here.” the woman whispered.

"I came along with O'doln to see the king meet the marchioness." Gina replied quietly. "Were you the same?"

She glanced towards the bed where Kinglos and Charlie were standing.

“When the prisoner was healed the spike bastard cut me open.” the torture master was saying in response to adviser Charlie. The two women's conversation was quiet under the conversation held by the men – releasing more details by the second for everyone to hear.

“The arcanium. Where was it on the beast man?” The king asked with a rather honed voice.

“His nails, I remember seeing his fingertips glow before he attacked.”

The councilman put a hand below his lips with a gesture of surprise. The green dressed young woman pulled her brown eyes off the adviser and back to Gina. Rather perplexed, the sharp cast of the eye told Gina the young woman was insulted.

“Please do not play around, this isn’t the time.” she quietly scolded.

Okay. Gina thought, keeping her face neutral. So perhaps she lives here, then. How might her doppelgänger know someone from the marchioness’ household?

A collection of jars brought together by the physician’s adept hand now rested on his wooden counter before the shelves.

“Here is what would serve for Lady Leean.” the elderly man’s informed confidence and stoicism delivered a cool answer. Hesitantly the stranger who seemed to know Gina pulled away to begin assessing the medical samples.

“We must know who has been at the prisoner’s side.” the king said assuredly down to the wounded torture master, gaining the interest of the woman who looked over her shoulder to study the scene more.

“Myself…my apprentice Bonroe.”

Bonroe. Gina made a mental note of the name.

“This, please.” the servant woman was saying. “The nettle will be soothing for her.”

The contrast of conversations was apparent to Gina, yet the men were keen on only the man laying before them. The older gentleman collected some of the greenery and handed it to the woman.

Smiling and bowing her head, the humbly adorned young woman was making for the doorway to leave.

“Where can I find you later?” Gina whispered to her as she passed. Just in case. The question provoked the young woman to freeze for a sliver of a second until she turned back to Gina.

"In the guest quarters on the east side of the castle. Excuse me." and hastily, she left. Curiously, Gina approached the watchful older man, inquiring about the woman in green who had departed speedily.

"Ah," The physician began to sit down on his sturdy wooden chair. "That is Lady Leean's servant...Troa." Leaning back to straighten his back, his gaunt face turned up to Gina. "Lady Leean has become acquainted with me recently." Though the atmosphere was grim, the exchange was lighter than the one nearby. Perhaps, reasonably so, the older man was searching for a distraction. "Complained of dry skin three days ago, wanted me to put together a salve. Yet her constitution is always picky."

“Who is lady Leean?” Gina asked quietly. “Does she live here?”

“A frequent guest of our young Marchioness and the Marquis…” The physician looked over to his ruler and the tensions there for a moment, analyzing them and squinting. “Merchant daughter from Qwen.” the man of medicine said after taking his time to finish his reply.

The place name meant nothing to Gina. A merchant though...perhaps she knows Mr Remoni?

Charlie sighed as the king's interview lapsed into silence, glancing between the two men. "We must speak with your apprentice but I do not understand how the arcanium could have kept under nail? It is a loose powder. How would it have been planted?"

The king made a thoughtful sound, but didn't produce an answer.

Gina sensed that the interview might be nearing its end, and her time along with it. She leaned close to the physician to thank him, then leaving his side returned to the King and his adviser. Of herself and the two men she was to follow, it was Gina who had the most investigative mind. The leaders within the room were stumped, searching each other wordlessly for direction, ego or social niceties unable to lay it out bare.

“We have someone to speak to next.” Charlie diplomatically broke the silence between him and his lord. “He may know more.”

Jerome, the cut down torture master, looked up from his wounded position to the two men for more direction, but he too was underfoot of the king’s rulership and wasn’t going to speak out of turn.

He has more to say. Gina hazarded. She took a step to the side, into Kinglos and Charlie's eyeline. "If I may, m'lords?" she asked the two men.

The king looked from Gina to Charlie and back again, and nodded guardedly. He seemed grateful of the opportunity to save face.

Gina swallowed and stepped up to the bed, looking down at the torture master. His tan shirt had been stained with blood even before his injury, but other than that his features were ordinary - good looking even. Though he was sheened with sweat, his face was strong boned, and his curly hair was pulled into a neat knot at the back of his head. There was something unsettling about the fact that he looked no different from any other man.

"Is there anything else you can think of, sir?" Gina asked the wounded torturer. "About how the Drake was brought in, anyone else who might have had access to him while he was here? Anything that would help us get to the bottom of this before the king and his people are put in more danger?"

"No...I was careful I...Lyina only saw the thing for a few moments. I was there. No...only Bonroe...yet he'd never have the arcanium under the spike-tongue's nails. I know the inventory of things for his use."

"And that is a wonder itself he would have been able to acquire the substance all the way out to here." Charlie added in a concerned whisper.

"Where can we find him?" Gina asked the torture master. "Your apprentice?"

"In...in the torture chamber. I sent a servant to tell him to take over, while I was indisposed."

Turning dramatically King Kinglos walked to the door with a fiery stride.

Nodding curtly to the torture master, Gina turned away. She had to trot to draw alongside Kinglos. "We'll have to see if this Bonroe's story matches his, m'lord." she suggested. "But if he doesn't know anything either...someone must have planted the arcanium before the Drake was brought here."

Their regal took center, walking ahead powered by a confidence Gina saw falter just moments ago. "It could not be so. For not a man to notice the arcanium on arrival is impossible." His eyes continued ahead while he cut through her guess.

"Sadly, one of them could be lying." Charlie did add despite Gina's perspective. A second, yet easier guess made managed to pull the king to slow his steps.

"Councilman, not now, please." he shooed off the new theory in a gesture not like his prior, colder self, but one of hurt. Charlie lowered his eyes to ease tensions and the trio moved through the castle, guard at hand, until they reached one of the turrets.

Just on the way down the hall, perhaps from the turret or from further down the hallway, Gina yet again saw Troa walking past in quite the hurry. Gina could see her carrying the nettles from the physician. While Charlie glanced her way, both men easily overlooked her to the turret. The cold stairs leading down were within eyesight.

Gina's nose could already detect a faint scent of blood creeping as they drew nearer. The metallic tang caught in the back of her throat and made her stomach twist uncomfortably. She almost didn't notice Troa for a moment - coming back down after visiting her lady Leean, was Gina's first thought - until she noticed that the serving woman still had the package of nettles in her hands.

"Hey." she called out, stopping short in confusion. "What were you doing down there?"

The two men turned on the heels of their feet to meet what had the girl’s interest. When Troa was met with three pair of eyes she looked down, gesturing down the hall.

"Washroom." she mumbled.

As awful as the act was, the men instantly shied, physically pulling back before turning away and heading down to the torture chamber. Gina blinked. You're fucking joking. She had already gotten the gist of her current world, but she had to wonder what kind of mad people preferred a torture chamber to the revelation that women sometimes needed to pee. Especially when the woman in question was clearly hiding something.

Am I going insane? she remembered shrieking at a clearing full of dissolving mirrors that had just consumed two of her fellow students. Am I the only one here without a fucking death wish?

Had that really only been a few days ago?

As the men avoided anything to do with the conversation and its subject of a female body’s functions it left Gina and Troa alone in the hallway. The only company Gina could call upon were the echoing steps moving down the steps wordlessly suggesting she follow along. Gina swallowed, took a breath, and guessed that if pulling the feminine card had worked for Alfred and Troa it might as well work again.

“M...m'lord," she hesitantly called out to Kinglos and Charlie, cupping a hand to her face and doing her best to look queasy. “I'm sorry, the smell of blood...do you mind if I wait up here for you?"

As soon as the two men were gone, the young woman’s expression dropped, darkened by anger.

"Your petty antics always stirred up more trouble." The soft impact of Troa’s leather footwear came and went as she drew closer. "I don’t know how you managed to get in his good graces but quit your games. His attention is a dangerous thing to have."

The glower of her voice was a threat matched by her small yet noticeable margin of height over Gina. Gina wasn't sure what petty antics her doppelgänger was supposed to have gotten up to, but she was surprised by how unafraid she felt. Perhaps punching a vampire in the face (and everything that had happened since...) took the sting out of facing another regular human girl.

"He dragged me along to help." she answered quietly, telling half of the truth. "So I'm helping."

Troa was unconvinced. "I would request for you to shut your mouth and do us all a favour by doing so?"

Gina looked down at the nettles that were still in the other woman's hand, and folded her arms. "Alright. But first why don't you tell me what you were actually doing?"

Troa huffed. There was a sliver of hesitation, as if the fuss she was making was a delay tactic. Gina's many contrasting experiences with humanoids from across space and time has helped sharpen her skills to read others.

"I told you and the King. If you want to see Lady Leean you will see why I grabbed these nettles: she needs a relaxing tea. That is what I am doing." To add more weight to her words the woman's fingers pointed sternly to the ground. During this conversation Gina heard the torture chamber's wooden door open and close, the two men entering. They were already being quiet, but Gina supposed there was no harm in ensuring they didn't have another Editha-and-Rangel situation on their hands, so she let the sound of the door closing hang for another few heartbeats, and then raised her eyebrows at Troa to re-emphasise her question. Troa met eyes back in the nonverbal challenge. There was both fire and hesitation, how the young woman swayed her stance from hip to hip.

Yet Troa took another jab in their duel by turning and leaving the scene, once more trying a rather dramatic move to get the final word. She wasn’t going to be transparent with her words, Gina could see that much.

Alright then. Gina thought, and determinedly followed after Troa, matching her pace within a few strides. If you're not going to tell me then maybe you can show me. She had at least a few minutes before the king returned, she judged, and if she came back late she could always beg off some kind of excuse.

"Think for a second." she whispered as they walked, passing from light to shadow between the glimmering torches. "In about five minutes the king is going to get over clutching his pearls and realise that the torture chamber is a really odd place for a bathroom break...and there's not a lot of places to avoid him in this castle, especially with the Drakes running around outside."

She snatched for the taller woman's wrist, tugging her half round so that they were face to face again.

"So mind telling me what's going on before you land us both in a whole load of trouble?"

Troa leered and attempted to take back her wrist. The brunette grunted with irritation, eyes shifting around the empty hallway before relaxing her tug.

“I visited Bonroe…we share an attraction…” The young woman refused to say more, never granting Gina honest eye contact.

Gina wasn't buying it. "What are you afraid of?" she challenged the older girl.

“Let go of me you snooping little harpy!” Troa’s yanking jumped to full force, jumping in volume the exchange between the young women. Gina could hear their scuffle echo off the masonry and in response the startled footsteps of a man in metal.

And here comes the trouble. Gina thought grimly. Luckily, she had a king's mandate on her side. She shoved Troa back against the wall to stop her breaking out of her grip.

"Listen." she hissed, sharply. "The Drakes are outside, and if they use more arcanium to get in then everyone in here dies. Unless you've got bigger priorities than that, start telling the truth!"

Troa scoffed, though the tremble of her body gave away a high degree of surprise.

“They are not going to have more!” she snapped back furiously, using a hand to slap at Gina’s wrist, reddening the flesh. As it stung a guard finally approached, looking to the scene with frustrated confusion.

“This is not the time for ladies bickering.”

“Then tell her to let go of me.” Troa looked at the man, her genuine surprise of Gina’s bold move helping make her more persuasive for the observer. The man gestured with his finger.

“Let her go young miss.” the man instructed.

Gina put on her best Mum Voice. “The king asked me to help him find a possible traitor.” she said, keeping hold of Troa’s arm despite the stinging slap. With her free hand, she indicated the stairs leading down to the torture chamber. “If you want to ask him, he’s in there.”

She rounded on Troa again before the older girl had another chance to rebuke her.

“You’re right, Drakes shouldn’t have more arcanium - but we’ve just had one use it to vanish and then open a portal outside. You were just sneaking around the last place he was seen...so if I go in there and talk to Bonroe he’d better well say you’re his secret girlfriend, because otherwise you’re a suspect.”

Troa huffed, trapped in her expressions of frustration and combativeness. The attending man dropped his opposing stance, coming closer to the young women. Troa eyed him nervously.

“Til our Lord can tell me what you say is true, I am to hold you in a room. Come, now.” The guard spoke with a lack of patience for Gina and Troa equally. Troa sighed, dropping her shoulders.

Nope, Gina thought. Trusting to the guard's presence and Troa's own resigned body language to keep the other woman from slipping away, she dropped her hold and bolted down the short set of stairs to the torture chamber before the guard could get within reach.

Pushing the door open made her wish that she hadn't - the metallic smell from the corridor became a thick miasma that instantly mugged her senses with the stench of sweat and blood and excrement. She coughed through the olfactory assault and shouted down into the dark chamber beyond.

"Sorry m'lords, a moment of your time? There's a problem up here!"

Gina had duped the guard who had been guarding the door, seeing it unattended when she opened it. However, looking in an armored man did look down at her surprised. Taking sight of the torture chambers the enduring teenager wasn’t only privy to the scents of the torture chamber. Its blood seared, corpse chained and strewn walls of Draconians a gory horror Calamity had not properly prepared her for. The blood streaks crawling down masonry of half-remaining bodies and their entrails contrasted the floor which was clean of any foul deeds.

Oh god. Gina thought as she took it all in. For a moment her throat tightened and she thought she was going to be sick, but it faded a moment later, in tandem with her nose beginning to block out the awful smell. Strangely, that was even worse.

Why am I not reacting to this? Had she seen so much in the previous weeks and months that it had just made her numb? The thought was frightening, until she looked down at her fingers and saw that they were trembling. Her chest heaved with fast, shallow gasps.

In the end, it was adviser Charlie who saved her. Through the layers of warped death Gina saw King Kinglos and Adviser Charlie speaking to a young man about her age, though she couldn’t make out all the details in the flickering light of the dim flames.

“What is it?” Charlie asked curiously, rescuing her with the focus of his words.

The guard, the guard you idiot!

"The g-" Gina squeaked, and had to clear her throat. "There's a guard who doesn't believe I'm here at your request, sir."

As Charlie ventured away from the conversation in the middle of the room, Gina forced herself to take a few steps into the chamber to meet him. In contrast to the grimy, blood-stained walls the floor looked freshly washed, bizarrely clean under her shoes. How is it so clean?

As she and Charlie drew close she touched a hand to the adviser's arm. His expensive velvet jacket was warm and soft, even though her own fingers were pale and freezing.

"I think the serving girl was in here just now." she whispered. "Don't let her leave - she knows something."His heterochromatic eyes settled on her with concern. Drawing her out of the torture chamber he replied with a quiet voice.

“Then she lied?” He asked, Gina able to tell that the otherwise polite and accommodating man would take Gina’s accusation with potent seriousness.

(If she says yes in any fashion)

Adviser Charlie pressed his lips together and raised a hand to the stairs before them.

“Down here is no place for one of your sex. It is an astounding thing to realize a girl your age is responsible for that debauchery of death sealed away down here, please” He insisted for them to go up the stairs. At the same time Gina saw the guard which had seemed unimpressed by the two ladies now coming back the stairs, without Troa.

(If nothing is said or done it would be discovered the woman is missing, which will prompt Charlie to look at Gina with a tinge of irritableness and clearly seen curiosity)

[Azazeal849]

Jeon Smythe & 'Melvin'

Collapsed into a heap the two warriors lay on the ground and struggling to gather themselves.

Despite all of ‘Melvin’s’ efforts to protect Jeon and repulse dangers the truth was the environment was growing increasingly dangerous. More Draconian men were spilling from the vortex, ever escalating the numbers of both sides – and eventually it was going to lead to a tipping point which could easily be not in Jeon nor his companions’ favor.

Self-defense was only going to reward ‘Melvin’ for so long, its calculations quite capable of putting the odds together and seeing the increasing danger of the overall situation.

Melvin's hands lashed out at the two Draconians, ending their struggle. Turning, it regarded the portal seriously.

It needed superior weapons to end this threat. Instead, it had a surgical suite, a fully kitted out pharmacy, a smattering of survival gear, some groceries, some homemade Molotov cocktails and a Zayan strapped to an examination table.

Somehow hurtling the doctor at the portal didn't seem like a good answer.

Magnesium. Its right hand returned to normal as several magnesium fire starters were deposited in its pocket, followed by a Molotov cocktail. Using its bladed hand, it shaved down the magnesium into shavings, which it then poured into the bottle and resealed.

It then lit the rag and hurled it through the portal. This was going to cause massive casualties on the other side, and hopefully block any more from entering for now.

Another Molotov was tossed down the stairs to deter any more Draconian interference. Six more arced overhead, along the Draconian line.

The Probe sighed as its shell rippled and stretch, turning itself into Jeon. Reaching down, it easily hefted the ballista bolt the doctor had been struggling with earlier, and loaded it in place. Time to bring out the heavy artillery.

And the doctor was going to be the one who got all the credit for it. Life wasn't fair.

The chain of chaos was tantamount catastrophe. On the stairs of the great fortress gate men Human and Draconian burned, in the battle the Draconian mass merged with the forces of Mankind shared the taste of the flames as the scaled fighters rolled their burning bodies into them.

With all the battle distracted by exchanging strikes and flame ‘Melvin’ was able to turn the ballista to face within the city and load it. The black bolt fiercely pointed to the purple vortex. Unleashing the artillery bolt there had been no Draconian to meet it, yet instead the bolt flew through the vortex surely giving those who were burning a crueler fate.

From above where the clash of bright energies changed hands like leaping stars the Draconian wizard from above looked down to see the mess of things. ‘Melvin’ wasn’t fortunate as the wizard sent out a purple shot of energy straight into the ballista at lightning speed. The black artillery piece shattered thousand-fold becoming shrapnel where it had once been. By the kinetic force of the blast ‘Melvin’ was sent falling off the gates’ bits of metal lodged into its form from thigh to head.

Impacting on the grass and snow before Whitebar’s gate the Zyan robot was knocked out for the conflict until it could get back in!

An artificial weak spot ruptured the shell's cranium skin, bleeding copiously and looking very much like a head wound. Which, ironically enough, was what the blood pack was supposed to do.

Inside the Probe's bubble, the structure rang like a giant cathedral bell. Overhead, the ceiling lights in the surgical suite flickered and went out, to be replaced by emergency lighting in the shade of mauve, although the cluster over the table illuminating the doctor were white.

"Melvin?" Jeon called out from the examination table, "Medbot? What's going on?"

The various waldo arms that had threatened him hung limply from the ceiling. Perhaps...?

He felt for the restraint bands, and found they were loose. Pulling them off, he sat up and grinned. "Alright! Time to explore and maybe find some answers!" Jeon boomed. A frown furrowed his brow. "Hope I don't run out of air!"

The probe's primary habitation sphere was several miles in diameter, in truth the size of a large metropolitan city but in three viewable dimensions. Air was not going to be an issue for him. Several decks below, in the Command Stalk, the emergency generators kicked in. Boot circuits for the probe's computer and control systems powered up, initiating the start-up routines.

And while the internal world of 'Melvin' was a vast maze for Jeon it was the probe who still had the responsibility in this world to take action. War was breakout with the gates, its volume pouring over the walls upon him. He needed to find a way back inside or he wasn't going to be able to contribute in the clash.

The gate was at least thirty feet tall, the dark gray stonework spotted with snow clinging to its surface. What was Melvin going to do?

Inside, the lights flickered on, making Jeon stop pilfering the drawers and look around warily, but at the moment, the waldo arms were still lying limply, not moving.


Unit Designation: O-13927-S "Melvin"
System Integrity: Restored
Mission: Observe subject Jeon
Race: Zayan
Occupation: Medical Doctor
Special Instructions: Render minimum assistance as needed; do not remove subject unless there is an imminent threat of death. Once removed, subject Jeon is to be returned to Zaya
Subject Location: Internal Examination Room One.
Extraction to Zaya: Not possible - remedial action required.
Damage:
Minor penetration - absorbing foreign matter and restoring shell.
Palm tractors - damaged on impact, replacing.
Drug dart launchers - damaged on impact, replacing.



Shrapnel studding the Probe's shell shifted and was pulled inside as the surface seemed to ripple. It opened its eyes and sat up, taking in the snow-covered gate.

Kneeling slightly, it jumped, landing on top of the gate it had been blown down from minutes before. It went to the edge to look down at the Draconian portal that it could "see" but not sense - it was a violation of science.

If runes were being used to construct it, it could see no sign of them from here.

However, the ones using it had no choice but to obey natural forces.

"This is going to suck," the Probe spoke, mimicking Jeon's voice with a slight grin. This was also going to get messy. And showy.

Within the shell, more tractor emitters took position in its hands and feet, while it dilated its N-Gate once more, addressing one of the orbiting storerooms, while fabrication units began to churn out pikes and a couple of swords of shell-material.

The Probe leapt high into the air, then positioned itself to fall directly in front of the Draconian portal, hand and feet firing repulsion blasts from the tractors at the cobblestones as it fell.

There were easier ways to dig a trench, but few faster. And hopefully the dirt and rocks being blasted out would help obscure its actions.

The consequences were numerous. As the mundane, privileged apothecary fell from the sky those nearest the conflict on each side shifted view in horrified awe.

The conflicting mages, swirling, a blitz of dazzling colors delayed their spellcasting to see Jeon perform feats unseen on their world. A wave of dirt and snow blew through violet vortex, a tidal wave of earthen force. Unceremoniously the magical hole in reality ceased the moment it was disturbed, gone in an instant.

As the vortex vanished, the Probe paused its efforts. Apparently the trick was not to attack the insubstantial vortex the Draconians were using, but the ground in front of it. Was the ground an important link in this magical circuit?

Cheers, gasps, hisses and roars exploded through the inner city conflict. Then in a storm of violet hues and thunderous fury the Draconian wizard reacted with arcane rage. O'doln conjured a thin layer of ice blue magical energy but it was quickly shattered and a bolt of violet energy struck in the side. Terribly burned, his side was partially blown open, his blood spraying some of the men below before he began falling. In gritting pain he held his side, swirling his free hand and with a flash of arcane symbols about his person vanished from the battle.

Now 'Melvin' had a new problem.

The Draconian magic user suspended in the air was beyond reason, exerting himself with a frenzy that was bound to change the favor of the conflict if not stopped. Violet lightning bolts were striking the ground, favoring the Humans as its prey but occasionally the unfortunate Draconian was rendered to ash as friendly fire. Worse yet as the Draconian mage was emitting these from his body his hands were in a flurry of finger movements, tongue speaking yet too far to hear.

The Draconian mage was a threat. In his place, it would probably try to reestablish the portal. So it was necessary to interrupt the spell casting. From its pocket, the head of a pike slid out, which the shell gripped and waited for another to appear.

Its material was unlike anything in this world, would the wizard be able to affect it? There was only one way to find out.

It threw the first pike at the flying wizard, then snapped out a second shot. The wizard might take out the first one, but maybe they would miss the second?

With herculean strength in the eyes of everyone else a Jeon cloaked 'Melvin' tossed the two spears to champion a charge against the Draconian magician.

In an instant the first met with the eldritch clawed hand pushing a purple electrical force. By speed challenging 'Melvin''s feats it was rotated to point back at the robot and vault towards it. Super charged by the electric magic it zoomed beyond reason. To the fighting men spectating the clash of these dangerous arts the fight as a bloody draw: 'Melvin' stabbed wholesale through the torso and sending the man cloaked robot pinned to the ground; and the Draconian coughed blood as a the second pike plunged into his lungs, the dying wizard descending from the sky gracelessly.

The enchanted pike pinning Melvin to the ground held it not only by the mechanical pressure of having moved through its body but by the purple magical energy shocking the robot. The entrance and exit wounds were melting and fusing with the pike, 'Melvin''s entire calculative system being infected by a sort of electricity which bowed to no mundane limitation of damage. Its energy discharge caused the robot's figure to flail and sizzle, cooking even the extra dimensional recesses within its body in a prolific violation of 'Melvin''s being. Yet it was over in several seconds as the dying Daconian landed dead on the floor below.

Purple energy surged through the N-Gates - the energy flaring and crackling in the Internal Examination Room One as well around the storeroom the Probe had connected to the other gate to take in the dirt and soil that hadn't been sucked into the Draconian portal.

"What the hell is going on?!?" Jeon screamed, taking shelter under the table.

Protective relays kicked in, routing the strange electricity away from the command section. The arcing energy was shifted to an emitter on its primary habitation sphere and shot out towards the storage room, now isolated.

Could humans do this back on their world, it wondered? Perhaps its masters were right to isolate themselves.

The spot of impact and exit were removed of their illusion, giving the Jeon form a bulbous robotic section of the torso, melted metal bulbous around the impact sight on both sides, lodged in.

All the battling men were transfixed on the dead Draconian. 'Melvin' had moments to react without eyes on it.

There was no choice. The reserve N-Gate dilated, spitting out a pike and swallowing the impaled shell whole, depositing it in Internal Examination Room One.

Jeon looked around the end of the table and gaped in astonishment at the sight of his body, oddly distorted lying there with a pike run through it. No, fused with it! He clambered to his feet, then took a step towards the body.

"We have a problem."

"What?" Jeon demanded, stepping back as he looked wildly around. Large ovals appeared on the giant face plate screen, focusing his attention when they appeared to blink.

"We have a problem," the screen repeated. "Actually, there are several problems, but the most immediate one is that this shell was struck by a pike and has become damaged. I was forced to retrieve it."

"Retrieve it?" Jeon asked, glancing down at the shell. "Does this mean we're cut off?"

"No, I still have a fix on the tarot cards your companions have. I do need to know your relationship with them?"

"Relationship?" the doctor demanded. "I never saw them before in my life!"

"And yet you have a connection to them. Do not deny this. Explain."

"I.... I can't. I can feel them, somehow," Jeon flounded. He spat, "Don't ask me to try and explain it, you daft machine! I just don't know!"

"Have you felt this attraction before?"

"Before?"

"When you disappeared for approximately seven seconds at the System Health Organization building. When you had reappeared, you had aged noticeably."

"No, I don't remember what happened then," Jeon sighed, shaking his head - then glanced down and pulled out the book from his pocket. "I did feel a connection to this book. It was in the room when I woke up."

"So you felt an attraction to this book and to your companions. No others?"

"Well, to Kevin. And the Council," he added. "And to the king."

"The king they asked you to kill."

"Well, yes."

The screen fell silent. Jeon glared at it uneasily for a long moment, then barked out, "Well?!?"

"I hate magic."

"You can hate, can you?" he chuckled in surprise. He hadn't expected that. "So what do we do?"

"I cannot obey my primary directive, to return you to Zaya.”

"Zaya?" he interrupted. "Where the bloody hell is Zaya?"

"That is classified," the screen said.

"Okay, why there?"

"It is your home."

"Wot?" the doctor demanded, staring up blankly.

"They sent me to watch over you."

"Watch over me? And you could have taken me back at any time?!?"

"The political situation on your planet is complicated," the screen said calmly. "I had my orders to watch over you without interfering unless your life was in serious jeopardy."

"What kind of crap rescue mission is this?"

"A painful one."

"Wot?"

The waldo arms came alive and grabbed him, returning him to the examination table where the straps wrapped in around him.

"Let go of me, ya mechanical menace!"

"I cannot, I have my orders. A new shell has been crafted, I will return you to your companions."

"And how are you going to manage that with me all trussed up here?"

"Please relax," the screen said as a waldo arm injected him with a sedative.

"What are... you.. going to..." Jeon managed before blacking out.

"I'm sorry about this," the screen said slowly as another of the pikes was delivered to the examination room. "I wouldn't do this if it wasn't necessary."

The tarot cards vibrated in the pockets of their holders, bearing a message.

"Jeon has been injured. Where are the healers at?"

And for now, as the first minute passed there was radio silence.
Unit Designation: O-13927-S "Melvin"
Damage Report: Shell Transfer Node Alpha destroyed.
Shell Transfer Node Beta destroyed.
Remedial action:
Shell Transfer Node Charlie activated.
Activating Shell Transfer Nodes Delta-Michael.
Construction of new primary shell, completion 5 minutes
Construction of secondary scouting units, completion 4 minutes.
Construction and implementation of additional isolation buffers, completion 2880 minutes.
Replacing Shell Transfer Nodes Alpha and Bravo, estimated time of repair 5760 minutes.
Analysis of Shell Transfer Node Alpha estimated time of completion 10080 minutes.
Analysis of Shell Transfer Node Beta estimated time of completion 10080 minutes.
Recommendation: Avoid destructive magic.


It really hated magic. It had suffered enough damage today just from trying to rescue Jeon.

The first response came from the Gina channel, she was clearly in conversation with someone, but before she 'closed' the channel, she managed to pass on that the healers were outside, which it already knew. It just didn't know where Lynia and any other healers were working specifically. Clearly not in the castle near her and her companion, or there would be more panic.

It put a noise damp on Gina's channel, squashing all sound as it shifted the two of them into new channels, hopefully undamaged by the draconian wizard's magic. Now it was completely deaf on Gina's channel until she tapped the card again.

Although, it reflected, it seems that this world's magic did not seem to extend to the ability to project voice over long distances? A rather curious omission.

Finally a second response came vocally, the airy young voice of Panos' scathing words came into earshot "How does this thing work? What is your location?! This is idiotic" Panos asked while trying to use a device he was foreign to.

It was the excitable and rude young man on the second channel.

Words appeared on the face of the card.


Panos, we were at the gate. Jeon is injured. Where are the healers?


Could the human read?

The words vanished, to be replaced with a picture of Lady Lyina and a question mark. Panos scoffed at the card, “Is this the freakish mute boy?” The teenager’s voice snipped with sharp tongued inquiry.
“By Dionisius,” he sighed with more worry to his voice “Word will be sent for her. I’ve not an idea when she’ll be able to get to you. She’s somewhere back in the castle.” He explained in a hushed tone, as if hiding his conversation with the card.

Back at the castle, where Gina was? The main hall, perhaps? Or in one of the many rooms to tend the mage privately?

Thank you, it sent.

The scans of the castle were incomplete, mostly thermal imaging for people. It could try opening an N-Gate on the roof, then try to slide down a chimney before bringing Jeon out, but who knew where it would come out?

Meanwhile where Jeon once had been was now teeming with the amazed attention of soldiers who saw vacancy where the body had been. While the battle resumed, the Draconians putting up a bitter fight to the last, it was evident others were fleeing the conflict while shouting about 'the Apothecary is a magician' or other nonsense which may become greatly damaging if allowed to reach others...

At the top of the gate where Melvin in the guise of Jeon had stood, the air hazed, not unlike hot air over a sun-baked sidewalk. Several small bodies dimpled the shimmering air, bursting out as ravens. Some of them circled above the fighting, watching, listening, while others headed towards the castle.

Inside them, a tiny N-Gate relayed everything they heard and saw back to the Probe.

They had been useful when Jeon was a boy, to keep track of him, but they had been inactive for months while he was on board the shuttle heading out to the mining station.

With the conflict, it was doubtful anyone would notice the birds. Against the possibility of magic, it was keeping their channels isolated from the others, resorting to the most basic of precautions by relaying them from a newly formed module orbiting its command center.

The irony that it could create the module faster than it could repair its internal damage was not lost on the Probe as the castle-bound ravens began their search for the healer, Lyina, or tents where wounded men were being brought to, as well as one to track Gina.

The fame this world's Jeon had apparently extended far beyond treating feminine issues, if even the common soldiers had recognized him, to judge by all the yelling. It couldn't help but wonder if his fame as an assassin was well-known, as well? Unfortunately, it couldn't substitute a wounded Jeon for another shell.

The birds flew on unnoticed by those below. Their view was riddled with blood and falling bodies, those of the Draconian. In greater number they were falling, the battle was over and now it was a matter of laying down the remaining enemy. The ravens to the castle cut through the air, the cold unmoving for the artificial constructs. From what they could observe the camp that was with men had the company of mundane medicine men and women – ointments and bandages being the prime tools of their craft.

The tricky challenge was how to get into the castle. The secondary gate proved no challenge but the stone fortress had no wall entrances other than the opened front gate and the small courtyard. While both were very public the birds were going to have to pick which way to fly in to begin their search.

Mundane medical treatment would have to do.

From of the looks of things, they could do with some more supplies. It's supply system began assembling canvas bags with basic medical supplies, while a leather satchel was outfitted with the sort of medical and survival gear that Jeon would be familiar with. There was no telling how long they'd have to live among these people before whoever or whatever got around to sending them back.

The ravens outside the castle received new orders - locating transportation, preferably a wheelbarrow or cart, currently unattended and between the gate and the camp where people where being treated.

For the ravens trying to check out the castle, it sent them looking for windows, concentrating on the area where Gina last transmission came from.

The ravens keeping above the medical tent were fortunate enough to spot a wheelbarrow with some hay in it abandoned closer to the tent formation yet along the stone walkway, out of any direct interaction of people who were busy elsewhere.

With the ravens on lookout and providing contact coordinates, within moments the air took on the same heat shimmer on one side of the stone walkway, then Jeon appeared, stripped down and redressed in a gambeson, in the arms of the probe's Young Jeon shell. A spare holographic AnySuit that the Probe burned out and attached some surgical tractors to was then put on top of the gambeson and given a light dusting of burnt dust, then the robes were put back on over that and also dusted with burnt dust. The Probe then impaled the robe about the same area so that it nicked the AnySuit underneath and electrically fused them together. The result was that Jeon appeared with a pike sticking out of his side but without any sign of blood. He would have a mild burn on his side under the gambeson, but aside from the memory wipe, no lasting harm done.

There were also two bags, one a canvas seabag, the other a leather satchel. Dropping the seabag, it swept the wheelbarrow clear with one hand, then carefully set the Zayan doctor inside. Picking up the seabag, it laid it gently on Jeon's other side, then pulled a cloth from its pocket to wrap around the pike where it stuck out of Jeon's robes.

It then picked up the handles and began huffing and puffing as it rolled the wheelbarrow towards the medical tent.

Trying to get a specific pinpoint of Gina's contact was more difficult as it ought to be, some sort of force fuzzing the signal. On the west side of the castle the black birds honed in, but it did not narrow more than somewhere along the third floor. The ravens had to pick between eight closed windows.

The handful of ravens landed on the roof, except for one, who landed on the first window sill. it stared inside to see who was there. For the raven's eyes lay only a dark, empty guest room. However it does notice a flame coming from the window to the right.

Pushing over the bumping stone Jeon's ride is horrendously shaky, the pike waving each direction 'Melvin's' little hands found themselves going as the wheelbarrow rolled over rock after rock. The tent had a strange energy, one it knew to be magic as they drew within several feet of it. The air grew comfortably warmer, the space around the tent becoming a bit of a pain for 'Melvin's' senses as it was perceiving bends in universal laws yet again.

Sensing the interference, the Probe switched the shell's command lines over to the same orbiting module the birds were using, causing the shell to stumble slightly. It couldn't risk more wide scale damage to the command core. While a replacement core could be put in place, it would be down for several hours, perhaps days. It didn't want to consider how many times Jeon could kill himself.

Switching to a secondary would severely limit its response as well.

Under the leather stitched, taunt, tent were several rows of men being bandaged by men and women. Luckily 'Melvin' did not see any of the primitive bloodletting practices but their skills were not beyond the mere tools of ointments, bandages, and stitching.

"Wha... What's going on," Jeon groaned, slurring his words. The Probe scanned him and nodded. "I was in the airlock...? When did we get to the Renaissance Fair?"

His eyes suddenly focused on the pike waving in the air as the wheelbarrow rolled. "What the hell is this?" he demanded, grabbing hold of the shaft.

"Stay calm," the Probe replied, sounding like Jeon's youthful self as he gently lowered the wheelbarrow and came around to the side. "You're not bleeding, but you took a nasty jolt. Do you know who I am?"
"I've got a bloody spear jammed into my side and you want to know if I remember you?"
"Well, you don't seem like you're hurt. Is there any pain?"

Frowning, the doctor began checking himself. "A little. It doesn't feel like it's in me. Where am I and how did we get... here?" he asked, waving his hand about.

"I don't know," the Probe admitted, leaning in close to whisper, "but there are others like us somewhere around someplace, just play this by ear for now."

"What's your name?" Jeon demanded crossly.
The shell sighed, then facing the Zayan, admitted, "Melvin."
"That's a terrible name. Someone should have slapped your parents for giving you that."

"I'll keep that in mind," the Probe nodded gravely. He looked around at the people working and asked, "Is there someplace I can put him? It's not as serious as it looks."


Gina Wright

Charlie's heterochromatic eyes settled on Gina with concern. Drawing her out of the torture chamber he replied with a quiet voice.

“Then she lied?” he asked, Gina able to tell that the otherwise polite and accommodating man was taking her accusation with potent seriousness.

“Possibly.” Gina whispered back with a nod, happy to have the adviser onside.

Adviser Charlie pressed his lips together and raised a hand to the stairs before them.

“Down here is no place for one of your sex. It is an astounding thing to realize a girl your age is responsible for that debauchery of death sealed away down here, please.”

He insisted for them to go up the stairs. At the same time Gina saw the guard which had seemed unimpressed by the two ladies now coming back down the stairs, without Troa.

Gina spread her arms, incredulously. “Don't tell me you just let her walk away?”

The man seemed readily available to dismiss Gina until he noticed the Adviser next to her. His eyes set on him, studying.

"Well?" Charlie asked softly, accented by a disappointed sigh.

"The young woman said she needed to return to her mistress."

Charlie raised a black brow, searching from the guard an answer. The man paused, rummaging through his memory.

"Lady Leean Lucilda." There looked to be a concealed discontentment with the woman but the young man was disciplined enough to keep his mouth shut.

"Great." Gina hissed, biting down hard on the word.

She wanted to rage, to rail at the guard for being such a fucking idiot. The furious tension gravitated to her right hand, flexing the fingers into a fist and out again. She could feel the zodiac marks burning against her arm.

With a supreme effort, she kept a lid on her anger. Leean's room, she told herself. Guest quarters, east side of the castle like Troa said. At least she had been right about one thing: there weren't many places in this castle to avoid someone.

She turned to Charlie and managed a more civil tone. "I'll get the king, sir. He matters more than my delicate senses."

With her head and heart both pounding, she was stopped by the guard grabbing her by the arm. Charlie nodded and rubbed at a temple for a moment while she was restrained. Gina was not going to be allowed freedom of movement no matter how many times she insisted or dove for it, so it seemed. And you thought Alfred was bad, Gina.

"I will fetch our lord, young lady." Charlie ruled.

Gina exhaled, slumping her shoulders as her lungs deflated. She offered him the demurest nod that she could muster. "As you wish, sir."

Charlie once more made eye contact with the guard, and turned to go into the torture dungeon.

"Sir?" Gina hailed Charlie again before he could disappear back down into the ugly dark of the torture chamber. She lowered her voice. "Maybe you could bring Bonroe up too, I've got an idea."

She glanced back at the guard who was still holding her wrist.

"He'll be able to tell us if Troa was lying. If he thinks I'm her friend, maybe he'll say something he wouldn't say in front of the king?"

Charlie looked down to her thoughtfully, with an attentive ear.

"Very clever young lady, I will discreetly inform our lord." he reassured her before going into the chambers downstairs.

After that there was not much to do but wait for Charlie to return, under the stoic eye of the guard.

"You can let me go now." she prompted him sourly as she eyed him back. "I promise I'm not going to run off anywhere."

She was tempted to congratulate him on being out of a job as soon as Cal the marchioness got back, but venting that particular comeback might have been more trouble than it was worth.

Where are they? she wondered, biting her lip as she listened to the muffled yell and crash of battle piercing through the windows.The singular fact Gina was able to hold to was her extraordinary sense of her companions, no matter how far away, were still alive. Nothing else in the cold, blood scented space she occupied was warming, the cold man unrelenting his hold on her.

Minutes passed and soon the scraping thud of the door being opened preceded footsteps, and more than two sets. For the first time she saw Bonroe in detail. A light skinned young man with a strong build under plainly dressed brown cotton clothes, oddly sweet black coils reaching his ears in contrast to his morbid mind they framed. From his expression it was clear to Gina the young man was under a lot of stress, perhaps soon to break.

Charlie smiled patiently at Gina, then set his eyes to his king. Sharing non-verbal agreement King Kinglos eyed Gina and the guard holding her. The mere power of his stare had the man free Gina's wrist moments before Bonroe saw Gina.

"Who is she?" he asked, evident he felt lost from how thinly he spoke.

"Someone who insisted to speak with you, young man." Charlie weighed in with emphasis, conveying a weighed emphasis silencing Bonroe. "Think carefully." he added with a stinging, polite smile. He gestured with his hand and the two teenagers were led to a nearby room, let in and the guard closing it. With a quick tap he let them aware he was keeping station at the door.

The young man paced once and crossed his sturdy arms, his height of 5'9 utilized as he stared at Gina expectantly. She could see a bead of sweat forming over one of his black brows.

"Good grief, you look terrible." Gina said with an air of concern, and did her best to guide the apprentice over to a threadbare chair that sat next to a writing table stained by runnels of candle wax. "Why don't you sit down for a minute?"

Disarmed by uncertainty, Gina found the young malleable and thus cowed into sitting down effortlessly.

She knelt down beside the chair and cast a glance towards the door.

"Councillor Hedspeth sent me to help." she whispered, "What's going on?"

Her admission jolted surprise and confusion as she witness him look her direction.

"What?" The young man opened, "She is the cause of this! I was lied to!" Like a torrent the confusion transformed into anger, face reddening after Gina had poked the defensive shell of the man's heart.

“Okay, slow down.” Gina soothed. “Who’s the cause of what, and what did they lie to you about?” A tense silence was made between the two of them. Bonroe was close to telling everything, she could see it in his face but he looked to be readying himself. He seemed still hesitant especially after the blurting out.

Vvvt!

A vibration, one Gina could feel tucked in her feminine layers, entered the conversation, rubbing against her. Bonroe looked around confused.

"What is that?"

“I don’t know.” Gina covered, cupping her hands over her belly and looking around. She got up and made a show of checking around the walls.

Looking up and down the weathered stone, she waited until her back was to Bonroe before sliding the card half out of her sleeve and glancing down. When she saw the text, her heart skipped a beat.

Oh shit, oh no...

She bit down hard on her tongue and hid the card once more, tapping it twice through her sleeve as she completed her circuit.

“Maybe it was a fly...” she suggested, frowning uncertainly as she returned to Bonroe. “Tell you the truth, I’m a bit on edge - even though the Drakes are stuck outside it’s hard to feel safe in here...the marchioness is out there fighting, the healer’s out there somewhere too...”

She tapped her sleeve three times, as if in thought, then shook her head.

“Never mind me. What were you saying, who’s responsible?”

Bonroe settled down, slumping shoulders and staring to his hands. Eyes shifting to the girl and back to his hands, doubt surrounded his person.

“She didn’t care that he died.” Bonroe explained, foot slowly tapping. “We gave her everything, listened always…” The young man said bitterly before trailing off.

"Who died?" Gina asked, gently.

The question touched upon fresh wounds, as with her softly spoken questioning tears rimmed his eyes.

“My…brother.” One of his thumbs began rubbing his hand in a self-soothing manner.

Gina let her face crumple. "I'm sorry..." She reached out tentatively to take hold of the boy's scrabbling hands, taking over the soothing brush of thumb against knuckles. "And who didn't care?"

There was a gritting tension on his face. “Calamity,” came from him, rich in thinly concealed fury and notably without any respectable title, “Sent him to die fighting those forked tongues! She didn’t even have the respect to say a word to me after he was gone…and…”

He trailed off into silence, leaving Gina perplexed. Much like his master, she would never have guessed that this ordinary, hurting boy plied his trade in thumbscrews. But then all the prisoners down there were Draconian, and he really hates them... The dissonance of the automatic empathy she felt for the boy's tears sent a shiver down her spine.

"And?" she prompted, squeezing his hands gently.

“Troa said there was a way to get back at her…”

And there it is. Gina's heart began to beat faster out of tension. She gave Bonroe a moment, still cradling his hands, before lowering her voice to a whisper.

"Did...did she say what she was planning to do?"

His eyes lingered over Gina's touch. His lips were pulled in while rough but young fingers touched hers, rubbing over the middle knuckles.

"Sorry...don't really know a woman's skin...wanted to feel it before...Calamity would torture me...set my teacher on me. If I say everything I ask you to beg the Council to grant me a swift death..." Eyes raised to chase after her empathetic gaze, "Please?"

Poor kid. The dissonance was almost too much. Poor kid who’s learning to become a torturer...

“I promise.” Gina said gently.

With a bit of luck, she could do better than that. It was to Bonroe’s benefit that the original Calamity was AWOL and had been replaced by Gina’s less psychopathic friend. Maybe if she told him she was sorry for his brother...and if he remained a threat then at worst they could just banish him to Greywall, hopefully to take up a different apprenticeship.

It was a decision for later, she decided.

“Troa told me her mistress had Arcanium on her. At the time I didn’t ask why but when the prisoner was captured Leean said to lace the claws. I knew it would be dangerous but she told me the Draconian would be of such a frenzy it would search for Calamity and strike her down. I…never knew the thing would do something as devious as this…” The young man shared with a complete loss of self confidence as it fell away from his face.

"You're making things right now." Gina reassured quietly. She squeezed his hands again and rose to her feet, letting them go. "I'll do what I can. Stay here until then, and don't talk to anyone else."

She hovered for a moment, still meeting the young man's eyes and trying to reconcile the soul behind them. Eventually she turned and knocked on the door for the guard to let her out. Kinglos and Charlie stood outside with questioning looks on their faces. Gina beckoned them a few steps along the corridor as the door thudded closed once more.

"I think we should keep him here under guard until the marchioness can decide what to do with him, my lord." she whispered to Kinglos. "He says it was lady Leean who came up with the plan to plant arcanium on the prisoner and let it escape - her servant told him about it."

Both men looked at the young woman, astonished. A fiery glint of pride in the king's eye and his small smile rewarded Gina, but that quickly ended while he turned to his adviser.

"We will have to inform the Emperor." the king confided into his confidant, before Gina. Though the heterochromatic eyes set on the king were supportive at first, the shift in emotion made them show concern.

Gina stood back for a second, waiting to see which way things would go next. It was the first time she had heard an emperor being mentioned, and it knocked her confidence yet again that she really knew anything about how this world worked. Troa knows who I am, does this lady Leean know me too? A merchant daughter from Qwen...where even is that?

Since the alarm had been raised of the Draconian attack, events seemed to have taken on their own savage momentum, a headlong forward rush where she had to fight to keep her head above water.

I need to get home to my friends. To get my new friends home.

"Lady Leean is staying in one of the guest rooms, m'lord." she said, recalling Troa's words. "On the east side of the castle. What should we do?"

The Adviser of Culture tugged at a sleeve of his overcoat, taking a moment to gather his thoughts.

"We ought to put her under guard for this time until the conflict could be settled. But she may prove yet a great danger if she owns more arcanium..."

King Kinglos places a hand on Gina's shoulder, a touch with squeezing fingers and warm, fleshy palm. From the piercing stare he was giving Gina could tell the king was soon to rope her into more trouble, "Will you meet her in her quarters and see if she possess any of the dangerous reagent?"

Though he asked, Gina knew it was wise to assume it was a command. She swallowed.

"I can do that." she said cautiously. "Maybe if the guards are close but out of sight..."

She paused, and looked to Charlie.

"Um...what does arcanium look like exactly? A loose powder, you said?"

[Azazeal849]

Jeon Smythe & 'Melvin'

A man in his thirties left a soldier's side, the man on the table watching the mundane healer hopefully. There were splotches of blood on the man's wrapped leathers. The thickly built figure looked down and at first stared at 'Melvin' with surprise.

"Why is there a child here? You need to leave and go home." The man did not say with patience, walking over to attempt to take the wheelbarrow for himself.

"He is my master." the Probe said, refusing to be nudged away.

"I am your what?!?" Jeon demanded incredulously, turning in the wheelbarrow to stare back at the shell.

"His armor seems to have stopped the pike." the Probe continued, "There's no bleeding I can see, however he may have struck his head, he's having memory issues."

"I am not having memory issues!" Jeon contested hotly. "I just don't know where I am or how I got here!"

The Probe glanced at the man. "As his apprentice, it's helpful if I stay with him. Are you going to examine him?"

Not appreciating the banter or the means of which 'Melvin' spoke, the sour face on the healer lingered on the two of them while he stroked his short beard.

"You need to move." the man said, coming to the supposed youth and attempting to brush 'Melvin' aside while also go for the handlebars. For a brief moment the man couldn't move the resisting robot. However, 'Melvin's' senses detected the man's body language: it was promising aid.

Gaining control, Jeon was led to an empty table where the man at first struggled to find a good hold of the Zayan before moving him over. The sticking, wrapped, weapon seemingly coming out of Jeon's body drew a lot of attention from the least wounded soldiers and in general the medical staff. The eyes were worried and curious.

However the man with them turned his head to the side and through teeth sighed. "If it he's not bleeding then I see no reason to pull out the weapon for now. Best wait for our Lady of Healing. Lady Lyina." With the matter settled, so the man believed, he turned to walk away to others injured.

"Who is this Lady Lyina?" Jeon demanded, grabbing hold of the shell's arm.

"You heard him, she's the local healer."

"MD?"

"More like the laying on of the hands," the shell shrugged, then grimaced at the doctor's appalled expression. "Except when she does it, it actually works."

"How.... how is that possible?" Jeon demanded, furrowing his brow.

"I don't know," the shell admitted. "Here, magic is very real, very powerful, and very dangerous."

Jeon stared at the shell blankly, then began to laugh. "Okay, okay, I admit it, you almost got me. Who set this up? Andy? Carl? Don't tell me it was Lorna? I know the girl's got herself a castle, but... oh! They're in it together, right?"

The shell stared back at him patiently.

"Not them? Did a bunch of first years slip me another cocktail?"

"You were not drugged." the shell said. "Look around you. People here are bleeding and dying. Who would go that far to pull a prank like that?"

The smile faltered off of the doctor's face. "There are actual casualties here? This isn't some sort of sick joke?"

The shell shook its head. The Probe noted a few lost milliseconds with the relay - imperceptible by human standards, but potentially deadly if it had to protect Jeon. But the next magical attack could damage a lot more than just an expendable shell.

Jeon struggled to rise, only to meet the shell's implacable hand. "Where do you think you are going?"

"I'm going to help!"

"I see," the shell sighed, raising one eyebrow. "With that sticking out of you?"

"Ah," Jeon drawled. "Well, that does make for some kind of obstacle. But I don't think it's actually in me. It hurts, yes, but what with all the waggling this shaft's done since I woke up in that wheel barrow, I should have bled out by now."

He looked down with a frown, raising a fist full of his robes. "So, I'm dressed like one of the witches from M... The Scottish play?"

"You only took one semester of theater," the shell reminded him The banter was cut short when Jeon began to feel something moving inside of him. No, it wasn't inside of him but it was a knowing, a palpable hunch which came from no external stimuli. He could feel Panos Lambros and Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility moving straight to him, whoever they were!

"I.... I feel like someone...?" Jeon frowned, "Two? Two people are coming towards me...?"

He turned towards the boy, Melvin.

"Is that the healer...?" he whispered.

"No, some of the Others, I expect," the Probe's shell said, picking up the card signal.

Meanwhile a soldier on the table over was newly set down, his armor being removed while he moaned quietly with some pain. When the man's sweaty face turned to Jeon he opened his eyes wide. "The apothecary! You slain the fucking drak wizard! Ha! I saw it! I saw you do it!" The man was ecstatic, several of his caretakers trying to hold him while another was taking off the armor. However there were those not too wounded staring with increasing surprise.

"Huh?" he demanded, turning to face the injured man. "I think you have me confused for someone else, I'm a doctor, not a pharma... apothecary."

Others were staring at him, whispering.

Jeon leaned over to the boy. "Do you have any idea what they're talking about?"

"Unfortunately, yes," the Probe shell frowned, still very aware of the internal damage it had suffered in that attack. "I wouldn't worry about it too much, people tend to exaggerate a bit at a time like this."

"So I didn't kill this.. drak whatever?"

"I don't know, I just dragged you off the battlefield while everyone was cheering."

Upon sleigh the two person whom Jeon could feel oncoming arrived with no time for him to recoil or react. When they entered the tent it was then the Zayan man realized Panos and Calamity were teenagers. Both fair and beautiful, the one named Calamity was in a floor length blue dress with a simple black bodice strung on. Her lengthy bouncing wave of black hair at chest length, framing stunning purple eyes. With a stern walk she headed to him with lips firmly pressed together, a cool demeanor about her.

The other next to the girl was a teenager whose gender was much more inferred by his male garb than features. For the doctor's trained eye he could spot the subtle strength of the jaw and aspects of body proportion. The male teenager had equally fair and kindly features with blanched hair hued with a purple tinge in the sunlight, and eyes of a reflective, captivating blue. Between the two of them their eyes were of gripping, vibrant colors and set on him as the pair drew close.

They're just children...!

The young man in his brown cap, yellow tunic with brown vest and sleeves, and orange hoes covering his legs glanced at Calamity as the two got near Jeon. The first thing that came from the young male was a frustrated sigh. "What happened? What did you do?" Cal nudged Panos, the aura she had causing those in tents to look in awe, fear, or away.

"What he wants to say is thank you, though there are complications...I think." the teenage girl whispered, eyes much more emotional with worry now that the three of them were in close proximity. "Are...you...?" Calamity seemed confused as she looked up at the shaft stabbing into Jeon. Panos too looked up at it with a grimace.

Jeon glanced between the two of them, not sure how to answer them.

"You don't seem to be in pain, there's no blood" Prince Panos reasoned as he looked away from it, giving a slight glare to 'Melvin'. He quickly walked around Calamity as to have her close to it rather than himself.

"We followed your advice, what should we do next? Get Gina?" Calamity whispered to Jeon, Panos looking on with some questioning on his fair face as well.

"My advice?" Jeon blinked, grinning slightly. "Well, that's a bit complicated. Who are you?"

"I know he's prone to bad jokes," Melvin said softly, glancing at the two teens and ignoring their expressions, "But this doesn't seem to be one of them. After he fell off the top of the gate, I think it triggered the safeties in his AnySuit."

"What?" Jeon demanded, turning towards Melvin.

"Don't worry, I think we can trust them," the Probe Shell said smoothly, patting the doctor reassuringly on the shoulder. "Honestly, he barely glanced at the manual once he learned how to program in new clothes. I think the 'Drak' wizard's blade got caught up in the AnySuit and burned it out."

Melvin leaned in slightly. "Is magical armor a thing, here?"

"What the Gods?" Panos muttered after hearing the nonsense between Jeon and...the unnerving child that now could suddenly speak. The Lambros prince bounced his eyes between the two and settled them on Jeon, narrowing them. Calamity looked equally at a loss, keeping her body language stiff as the young woman kept the airs the others in the tent expected of her counterpart. In her eyes, hidden from the rest was the pool of bewilderment.

"I didn't know you could talk." Calamity remarked with a thin calm to her voice at 'Melvin', "I don't know." she answered 'Melvin' with a to the point truth and then looked back to the grown adult of the group. "I was told the Draconian wizard was killed...and you did it?"

Jeon shrugged, then pointed at the soldier on the next table over. "He says I did, I've no idea how or even how I got here?"

"I dragged you off the field and got you in a wheelbarrow." the Probe Shell sniffed. "Look, we found ourselves dragged here without warning and he becomes Mr. Radar, tracking unknowns. He figured if I didn't talk, adults would have better reason to ignore me."

"I... did?" Jeon wondered.

"There was some sort of light show." 'Melvin' said, ignoring him. "I only saw him lying on the ground, and he can't remember right now. What did the Drak wizard do out there? And what happened to the King's Wizard?"

The more Jeon spoke, the further the worried expression of the teenagers worsened. For a moment the two of them looked at each other.

"The wizard was the cause for the portal." Calamity started, selecting her words carefully as she looked down onto Jeon and 'Melvin' with stiff body language. "I'm not sure where that man is...Jeon is it true, you can't remember anything?" She was unable to help herself step closer, leaning in and looked down with hopelessness.

"I was in the airlock, and now I'm here in a tent with this spear sticking out of me, being told that I killed some wizard." Jeon sighed. "I don't know what happened in between."

"At this rate, we will never finish the task..." Panos sighed, the air long and weighted.

"What task?" Jeon and the Probe Shell chorused.

Jeon glared at 'Melvin', who shook its head and waited. Glancing around, it began

"I may have lost my memory of everything's that happened since... Since?"

"This morning."

"Since this morning." Jeon continued smoothly, "But I can't begin to fix anything until I know what the problem is."

"This may not be the proper place to discuss it," 'Melvin' warned, leaning in. Calamity leaned upright, biting at her lip only the briefest moment till rigid self restraint culled any of her outward emotions.

"We need to get everyone back together." she whispered, amethyst eyes slowly drawing back to the pole stuck in the doctor "After that's...mended."

"When are we going to have time?" Panos countered in equal whispers. "Us running off after the battle will pull ire and unwanted attention. They're going to expect you to be around...in command" Panos stressed. "You're a doctor, can't you fix your memory..." he turned back to the young lady beside him, "Can you force his memory back?" At the question Calamity looked with widening eyes.

"You can do that?" Jeon asked, leaning forward eagerly.

"He is not human, although he looks it," 'Melvin' warned. "And you are but recently recovered. We can't be sure how it might affect him, or you. This is not the time or place. Nor does it address our immediate need."

"I would like this thing sticking out of me taken care of," Jeon reluctantly agreed. "Can we just rip this... robe I'm wearing open a bit so we can examine the damage first? If I bleed to death, knowing what happened this morning won't make a bit of difference."

Panos looked over at Calamity and she nodded, somehow guessing what he was thinking "We have to get her if we're going to get through this..." Calamity gazed around to those in the medical tent and her eye snatched an attendant who arrived without a word needed, "Take care of his wounds best as possible, keep him well." Her tone returned to a bloody coolness while she set her sight on the underling.

"Y-yes young marchioness!" the middle-aged man agreed quickly to Calamity's command.

"I will return." she told Jeon and Melvin, silently giving them eyes and setting off with Panos hand in hand to the sleigh.

"Very serious, those two," Jeon frowned, watching them leave.

Winging over from the conspiracy of ravens by the castle, two of the flying drones locked onto Calamity and Panos as they exited the tent. It was going to do a better job of tracking these humans, especially the one with the magic.

"Yes," 'Melvin' agreed, slipping its fingers into the torn fabric and with a sudden intense tug, ripped his robe to the bottom hem. Any moment that magic healer might show up and try to heal the Zayan.

"Hey...!" Jeon yelped.

"We need to inspect the site." 'Melvin' replied, flipping up the ends of the robe to reveal the singed chainmail-like AnySuit, and the head of the pike now welded to its side.

"Well, no wonder I don't feel much." the doctor sighed. "Ruined my suit."

Calamity's man looked over the sight of injury.

"Strange, well, he doesn't need the healer. He needs the smith to cut this chain mail off" Wrinkling his nose he turned to another of the men tending the injured fighters. "Send message to cancel bringing Lady Lyina, his injury is nothing"

"Yes, all the clasps are fused," Jeon fumed, struggling with one. "Go fetch a smith Melvin so he can cut me out of this and I can start helping in here."

He paused, turning towards the Probe Shell curiously. "Do we have any supplies?"

"Yes, I have a kit with me," 'Melvin' told him. "Just don't show off, they might think you're a witch."

"A witch? They tell me that I've killed this... Drak wizard," he paused grimly, "And they're afraid of a little 'witchcraft'?"

"Wouldn't you be?"

While being led further into social troubles, Jeon could feel Panos and Calamity moving away from him. The instinct, like a supernatural tether kept him aware of how far away or how close they were from him.

Jeon frowned. How was it he could sense these two, or the one somewhere further back? And why could he not feel Melvin's presence?

"Let's go then," Melvin said.

"Go? Go where?" Jeon demanded.
"To find ourselves a smith to cut you out of that."
"Good idea," the doctor smiled wanly, but sighed as the pike wagged back and forth. "Reminds me of a few jokes back in medical school. I can't travel like this!"
"I still have the wheelbarrow."

"You, carry me in a wheelbarrow?"

"I got you in here with one, remember?"

"I was unconscious at the time. Oh, alright then," he capitulated as the Probe Shell lead him to the transport."

Once Jeon was sitting, 'Melvin' turned towards the laconic fellow who'd helped them before. "Excuse me, do you know where I can find a blacksmith? I'd rather not expose him to too many fans, he's heavy enough to push around before his ego gets inflated, so I'd appreciate a way less traveled."

"Rambunctious lad aren't you?" the man said, already turning his focus to wounded men and glancing occasionally at Jeon. With a grip over freshly retrieved bandages his other light skinned hand pointed to the left, to a far alleyway. "If you go down through that path between those buildings it'll lead you to Brinn's place. Go all the way to the end, to the center of the city"

"Thank you," 'Melvin' replied, turning back towards Jeon.

The cloth was slowly applied over a wound, bandaging being changed on a patient "Lots of men are going to be there" the medicine man warned.

"Maybe they won't recognize me," Jeon shrugged.
"Not a lot of them wearing robes out there," the Probe Shell replied, picking up the handles. "We'll think of something."

The ravens waiting outside took flight, scouting the route for the Probe. From above the air riding scouts saw the very rowed and pragmatic design of Whitebar. The heaviest foot traffic filled the central thoroughfare in the semi-circle gated town. Men walking their first steps of victory moved in swarm to the set up camps, others were walking the bend to the far left of Whitebar. There at the end of the turn, by the mountainside a gathering of soldiers grew before a stone building equipped with the blacksmith's furnishings. The gathered were in the dozens.

"Are you sure we should be going this way?" Jeon whispered hoarsely.
"Relax, you're a hero."

"I was in an airlock, the next thing I remember is waking up in this bloody wheelbarrow getting told I killed an enemy wizard! I don't even remember doing it!"

"They'll probably see your denials as humility. You might even get a knighthood out of this."

"I don't want a knighthood, I want to get back home!"

"On that we can agree."

"Why don't I remember you?" Jeon demanded suddenly.

"You've forgotten me? That hurts! The others brought me in from one of the escape pods, I'd been trapped in there for months. You were examining me when suddenly we wound up in the apothecary shop."

"Apothecary shop? What apothecary shop?"

"That's back in the capital, we're on the border."

"Why are we here at the border fighting wizards?"

"Things just... sorta happened," 'Melvin' admitted. "Stay quiet, I think we're close.”

Through the narrow path straight of long houses the other side gave enough shade to remain hidden. 'Melvin' and Jeon saw, heard the loud congregation of dozens of soldiers cheering over their victory.

The long house with its additional wing and chimney had its doors open with light emitting, a flickering flame. Each direction men chatted in groups of two or more, the door itself empty of men for none were entering or leaving. The mood was high, laughter and distraction aplenty.

"Keep your head ducked down," The probe shell ordered softly, slipping out of the shadows heading for the open doorway.

The wheelbarrow rolled on with the disguised robot's direction. With its advanced bodily control it was able to prevent Jeon's transport from being shaken by small holes in the buried dirt or the slick of snow. By 'Melvin's' supple and assured wrists was Jeon's waving pole attatched to his chest kept near still. To Jeon's continued surprise no matter how open in the cold he was, he still felt a comfortable warmth to him - flesh not moved by Whitebar's weather.

Laughter enveloped them, the faint traces of blood, sweat and rowdy white noise cloaked attention off of them surprisingly. However to enter the blacksmith's home was a grave challenge to subtly. Three steep stone steps led up to the open door. Did 'Melvin' attempt to push the wheelbarrow up or find some other method to get Jeon inside?

'Melvin' lowered the handles of the wheel barrow until it rested on its feet, then wiped its forehead in case anyone was watching.

"Stay here," it ordered bruskly. "I'll see if we can get someone to get you out of your suit."
"What if someone comes over and tries to talk to me?" Jeon demanded softly as he looked around the alley.
"Don't let your boyfriend know," the Probe Shell retorted as it went up the stairs. "He looks to be the jealous type."
"Boyfriend...?" the doctor demanded, staring after the boy as he disappeared inside. Was that a joke?

Inside the house, 'Melvin' looked around for the nearest person wearing a leather apron that looked like a medieval blacksmith.

Behind the counter a lone man sat in a wood chair. Showcasing on his walls were plates of shaped metal, and weapons. The metals glint of iron all to expected by 'Melvin'. The thickly built, hairy man in the chair was leaned back, sipping on a glass of spirits by himself while the men cheered and laughed outside.

The overweight figure moved as the youth entered his establishment.

"No brats in my shop! Get out!" a commanding thud of his boots as he stood told of his seriousness. Despite his midsection being underdeveloped his arms were strong, lean and rugged. They worked together to throw the man's glass at 'Melvin'.

The human's fury was intense, it had thrown a glass worth at least a day, if not a week's wages at what he perceived to be a human child. It was likely the human was drunk and not completely aware of its actions - or did it not care, possibly because one could be easily healed by magic in this place, thus allowing for such casual cruelty?

It would be easy for the Probe shell to dodge or catch the glass, but that might draw more attention to its abilities, as would pinning the attacker and the glass to the wall with its enhanced surgical tractors set to repell. However, it would only lead to further complications.

What would a human child do? It would flinch, put up its hands to guard its face, and try to dodge as it ran out. Easy enough to do, but it needed to shock the human to some semblance of sobriety so he could get Jeon out of the ruined AnySuit.

At least this wasn't magic.

Its arms rose to guard its face, while the synthetic flesh soften. The glass shattered as it hit, most of it falling harmlessly to the floor, but some shards had lodged in the Probe shell's arms and face, well away from the eyes. It would mean a few weeks of bandages as it faked its wounds but it would establish the shell as being 'human'.

"Melvin?!?" Jeon demanded outside, trying to climb out of the wheelbarrow only for it to tip over with a clatter, landing on his back and knocking the wind out of him.

"That is my master," 'Melvin' answered calmly, as warmed preserved blood began to ooze from the glass wounds. "His armor was damaged in battle and I had to bring him here in a wheelbarrow to see if you could remove it for him. I am sorry to trouble you, we'll go to the castle instead."

The noise was likely to attract attention - in this case, it didn't mind, it needed witnesses to say the pike hit the armor, not the 'man'. The only real question was if the human was going to stop, or if he was going to strike a pre-teen?



Gina Wright

"And blue in color, an illumination bursts the moment of its use..." The king answered her with a cautious draw of his breath, building suspense of the moment. Charlie nodded.

"We do not need to say more of how dangerous it is." the second man said with a serious tone. "If she knows a means to use it, the young lady must never lay a hand on it. Watch her hands. Do you have any other questions?"

Loads. Gina thought, But none for right now. She shook her head. The two sets of honed and worried eyes kept on the teenager, setting the stage for her next challenge to be a foreboding one.

"We should bring a couple more guards." she suggested. "Just in case."

"Sadly the armor worn is not of any subtlety, if it nears her door or enters her hallway I worry the noise may startle her into retaliation." Charlie frowned as the possibility.

Gina chewed the inside of her cheek, and shrugged. “Fair enough.”

"I am in need of your bravest focus." King Kinglos told Gina with bravado, neither man seeming to hesitate sending her to this task. There was a certain amount of black humour in that, she supposed - too delicate to set foot in a dungeon, but fully capable of taking on a potentially magic-wielding lady Leann.

To be fair, she had faced much worse - not that Kinglos and Charlie knew that.

“I’ll do my best, m’lord.” she said, taking as much comfort as she could from the fact that the king at least trusted her. “I’ll come back out if I find anything and bang on the door if I need help. Sound like a plan?”

The men agreed, now creating a pact of sending Gina into the danger.

While a guard led the way, his guidance ended at the stairs to the second floor. The king and adviser were near and stopped with the guard. Looking down to Gina the man indicated to the left with his hand.

"Third door." he whispered, the hallway empty and lit only by one torch. The dark cold of the hallway was in and of itself another foreboding message. Gina had to fight down comparisons with an old, abandoned asylum outside Austere.

The one saving grace of this place. she thought, almost facetiously. No Them.

She padded softly towards the indicated door and, after glancing back to make sure that the king, the adviser and the guard were out of sight, pulled the High Priestess card out of her sleeve. She thumbed it twice and held it close to her mouth.

"Don't reply, I need to be quiet." she whispered softly. "I think I've found who let the Drake prisoner escape. I'm at the guest quarters at the east wing. Melvin, is Jeon okay?"

A picture appeared on the card, showing Jeon with three question marks over his head. Shorn of context, it didn't reassure her. Jeon's confused? Jeon's gone missing? She didn't dare to keep the card out long enough to ask anything further, and deactivated it with a triple-tap.

Returning the card to her sleeve, she closed the last few paces to lady Leann's door. She took a deep breath, and knocked softly on the cold wood. The door was opened cautiously, by Troa. The servant girl’s face hardened but she said nothing, staring Gina down and waiting to see what would be the first move to their social game.

Outside, the scouting raven tried to get a lock on Gina’s location. From where the last signal came, the raven would be able to get to Gina if it was willing to break through a window on the floor above. The young woman was directly behind it.

The raven scout glanced up, then flew off of the ledge for the window below and circled round, landing on the upper ledge. It turned its head to stare at her through the glass.

Within its N-Space bubble, the Probe stared at her through the raven's eyes. Found you....

Gina did her best to look nervous, which wasn't particularly difficult.

"Hey." she said quietly. "Umm...can I...?" She glanced furtively up both sides of the corridor, and bit her lip. "Can I come in, please?"

"What are you afraid of?" Troa quoted Gina, slapping her earlier words across her face. The young woman opened the door a sliver more, crossing her arms. Though Gina couldn't see the details, she could see the movement of another person in the room. That’d be Leann. She didn’t crane to look, not yet. Instead, she looked at the floor, playing the humble card.

“I’m sorry…” she rambled, clutching her hands to her chest. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry...what was I supposed to do? That horrible drunkard picks me out of the crowd and says ‘You! I want you to help me find this Drake’...if the adviser wasn’t there I swear he’d be trying to grope up under my skirt…”

She hugged her arms and shivered, looking up plaintively at Troa.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you plainer in front of everyone in the doctor’s room...I tried to warn you out of his way...then when I saw you coming out of the torture chamber, I...if he got suspicious he’d kill you, he’d kill me for knowing you, he’d probably kill Bonroe and your lady Leann just to be sure…”

She sniffled, and cuffed at her nose as she glanced once again back down the corridor.

“I’m sorry...I still don’t know how I convinced him that Bonroe was just being shy about liking you...I hate him. I hate him so fucking much.”

"You're really coming out of your shell," a voice inside the room remarked. "Usually when you lie it's behind someone else's back and not to their face. Maybe your father has begun shaping you into a decent woman after all."

"Oh no." Gina whined quietly, looking at the floor as she cradled her head. "I lied to the king's face..."

"Let her in, Troa." The amused voice behind Troa sounded to be Gina's age, but already there was a sense of command and perceptiveness ringing of danger to Gina's tactics.

When the brunette moved aside Gina was able to get a view of their room. The accommodations were more generous with more decorations, paintings particularly. Calamity as she had once seen her image superimposed now saw Calamity’s and Panos’ as they were stoic, hand clasped in hand at various poses among three paintings. Though their faces were young and fair, the wrath Calamity’s eyes carried gave hint of the vengeful young woman the original must have been. In each portrait it was she who took the center of the picture. There was also a bookshelf and wardrobe, giving sense that this room was more lived in than others of the guest quarters.

She does live here then. Gina thought. A flutter of black briefly drew her eye to the window, where a crow or a raven was pecking at the snow built up around the sill, but soon enough she had to lay eyes upon lady Leann.

A girl of her age, the teenager Leann was an unusual sort of beauty. Straight brown hair down to her mid back framed a face with soft eyes and jawline, with stronger brows and smaller lips - making her face a drawing mix of masculine and feminine features. Dressed in green, her dress was held with a silver belt at the waist. For now Leean was looking over the paintings, smiling all the while and waiting for Gina to enter her chambers. Gina might have taken the studying gaze for admiration, but following Bonroe's words the young woman's focus on Cal and Panos took on a darker intent.

She shuffled over to the bookcase and hovered there, hugging her arms. There were, she noted, an assortment of small, pretty boxes sitting on the first shelf. Gold leafed, with hinged lids; the kind that one might expect to hold perfume. Or powder...

"Please..." she asked Leann. "Can I just...hide here until it's all over?"

Troa closed the door gently and walked over to a chair at the end of the bed to sit. The young woman watched Gina until deciding to look out the window.

"Oh!" Troa said with excitement at the raven she spotted looking in. Leean kept her eyes keenly centered on the painting.

"What a lovely bird..." Troa said with eager innocence, provoking her mistress to look over.

"Snooping birds, what is it?" Now Gina was not being watched over by either young woman as both neared the window.

Gina bit her lip, and immediately took the opportunity to slide her thumb over the lid of one of the decorative boxes. Flipping it half open, she glanced down and away from the two preoccupied women just long enough to ascertain its contents. She quietly lowered the lid and repeated the process as many times as she dared while Leann and Troa remained distracted by the bird.

Besides Gina, there were two others in the room, and they were coming towards the window. Clearly, it had been seen, but Gina was busy behind their backs opening small boxes as she furtively looked over her shoulder...?

The raven gave a loud caw and spread out its wings, while the other scouts dove off the roof and began their descent. The window looked to be just ordinary glass, it should be easy to break - but this world was anything but ordinary.

Leann tapped on the window to garner the raven's focus. Troa smiled when the small aviator responded to the attention.

Meanwhile Gina flicked through each box, the scents of their oils and extracts coming into the air around her. The third box was a sickening revelation as moments after the lid was moved she saw the expected blue glow.

Gotcha. she thought, her heart beginning to thud as she thumbed the lid back down. Just in time, as it turned out.

"Come and see this wild critter." Leann said to Gina with some amusement.

Gina cuffed her nose and tiptoed towards the window, looking at the raven, but keeping herself between the bookcase and the other two women.

"He seems really tame, doesn't he?" she said, scratching the back of her head as she watched the bird flutter back and forth. It seemed unafraid of Troa and Leann as they tapped at the window. "D'you reckon he's someone's pet?"

She could fit the box of arcanium in one hand easily, but it was far too big and blocky to hide in her sleeves or bodice. How was she going to sneak out with it?

The girl was trying to hide something - from the others? She had no reason to suspect the birds. Two of the circling ravens flew down, landing on the ledge on either side of the bird already there, which had swiftly folded its wings to make room.

Three pairs of eyes stared back at two pairs. The first one, in the middle, tapped on the glass with its beak.

Troa continued to watch with a calm yet entertained smile, while lady Leann turned and neared Gina. At the same time she could feel Calamity and Panos starting to slowly head her way. Grabbing Gina's hand the long term guest of Calamity's fortress led the teenager to the bed where she sat down, looking at Gina to join her.

"If you're going to stay here I am going to need a few stories from you to pass this scary time."

Gina laughed raggedly. "Yeah," she said faintly. "Yeah, maybe it would help, actually." She glanced down at her hand, still clasped in Leann's. Watch her hands. Leann was smiling, but the cheeky smile pressed onto her features was like a pounce from a great beast.

"Who is that boy you said wanted to wed you? Mr. Taylor was it?"

Gina nodded. Ah yes - sweet, annoying Alfred. She hoped that he was safe and being taken care of until the healers had time to awaken everyone else who had been wiped out by Cal's accidental magic outburst.

"Tell me again how you two met," Leann urged. "I remember it being at least a bit funny."

How did we? Gina wondered, but she couldn't hesitate now. She giggled again, a little less tensely. "Actually, I can tell you an even funnier one. You know how his house is just across the road from mine? Well this morning I opened my curtains just to see the sun before I got dressed and he was already there, again, just waiting at the window."

She mimed a staring face, beginning to feel more confident as she worked through recounting the story.

"Well you know Alfred, he waves and smiles like an idiot...until I point out that I'm still in my nightgown, then he starts," She gasped and covered her eyes with her free hand. "And that's when his sister appears. And even while she's slapping him for peeking he's still trying to sneak glances through his hands..."

She giggled again as she acted out the scenario. Strictly speaking Alfred's sister hadn't slapped him, and she mentally apologised to the youth once again as she threw him under the bus for a second time that day.

"He insisted on escorting me here, you know?" She shook her head. "What am I going to do with him? I hope he's alright after what happened downstairs."

Even as she joked, she was intensely aware of Cal and Panos growing steadily nearer. She couldn't decide if she wanted them here to help, or if she should bail out before they stumbled in.

Gina and the other girl were talking, while they still had attention of the one by the window. The two flanking raven probes flew off the ledge, while the original continued to watch.

Leann laughed with bold personality, rubbing her neck in a way of self focus and narcissism as she carried on after Gina's story. Filling the room the young lady gradually eased into a cruel smile as she leaned back, resting her hands behind her on the bed to keep propped up.

"You know Alfred at one time told me he thought I was beautiful, more than you. You are what is within easy reach." The teenager smirked.

“Oh.” Gina said, allowing her own fragile smile to wilt away.

She wondered if Leann’s words had been the truth or simply designed to nettle her, and to her own surprise she found herself feeling slightly wounded on her absent doppelganger’s behalf. Closeted lesbian or not, she was almost tempted to defend her pride and shrug off the insult by telling Leann that she was welcome to Alfred. But she was also keen to keep both him and Caroline out of harm’s way - and Leann was definitely harmful.

She slumped, avoiding Leann’s eyes for a moment. She had already gathered that the other woman didn’t think very much of her, she reasoned. And it did no harm to her own ego to hand Leann the ostensibly easy victory. Back into your shell you go, Gina Remoni.

"And Panos...his eyes say it all when he looks my way." Gina looked up, to see that Leann’s stare had returned to the oil painting of Whitebar's ruling couple. Now Gina could see the same focused stare at the artwork she had witnessed when she first entered, but it wasn't for the mastery or wonder of the art itself, it was for the Grecian prince Gina had met universes ago.

Good luck with that. Gina wished her. But was that it? Was that why Leann was seemingly working against the marchioness?

“But…” she said aloud, “The marchioness...what if she…?”

"With what I've heard I don't think there is anything to worry about her. She allowed her homeland to turn into a battlefield. No one will respect her as leader now, she, sadly," Leann said with sarcastic wounding, "Won't be leading anyone for much longer. It is a shame after all the work she had done in her lifetime." Sighing as she took in Panos, the flawless young man captivated her once more. "This was unexpected for everyone, but it'll be right in the end." The whisper was a promise, one Gina could tell wasn't for her as the young woman continued hopefully at the painting.

Gina rose from the bed and padded across the room with folded arms, ostensibly to get a closer look at the painting Leann was entranced with, but in reality to put herself within reach of the arcanium box as she sensed Cal and Panos approach.

There’s one massive hole in your story, m’lady. The drakes only got in because someone slipped their prisoner some arcanium, and when everyone finds out that someone was you…

She looked at the painting of the marchioness, her hand resting sternly on her husband’s shoulder.

Cal won’t let you hurt him, and neither will I.

She turned back towards Leann and Troa, putting her hands behind her to cushion her back as she leaned against the bookcase. The tip of her pinkie finger brushed against the arcanium box.

“One day out here with the king and the drakes is enough for me.” she said, shaking her head. “Right now I just want to go home to my dad. And…” She caught herself. “Well, I guess not Alfred anymore…” She ground her teeth and looked at the floor.

The Raven on the window sill cocked its head slightly as the Probe back inside its bubble wondered what Gina was up to?

Leean didn't move, letting herself soak in the image of what she desired most. But as the teenager bathed her mind in fantasy, Troa tired of the raven and left the window. With a faint closed lip smile the young woman approached Gina.

She felt the woman reach around her back to grab her wrists, bringing Gina's hands before her. Her finger brushed the decorative box, setting it swinging once from side to side. In an instant Leann's head turned and things grew tense. Gina pretended not to notice, focusing instead on the mild surprise of Troa taking her hands. A breath's pause and things returned to as they were, Troa pressing Gina's hand into a pose of prayer.

"Find faith." Troa's personality changed, her face kinder while her eyes focused on Gina's praying hands. "The gods may give you what you want."

"Troa, you and your faith..." Leann whispered with thin patience, stepping away from the painting to look over boxes on the shelf. "It hasn't given me what I want..."

Gina used the excuse of the woman’s words to turn towards her, allowing Leean a view of the arcanium box without actually moving out of the way. Hopefully she would gauge that nothing was amiss when neither Gina nor Troa seemed to pay the box any mind.

"You never pray properly, lady." Troa was telling Leann over Gina's shoulder. "You seem to forget after every time I show you."

“Maybe you’ll have to show her again?” Gina joined in with a hesitant smile. “I mean if you want a sign, that bird by the window still isn’t moving…”

They were talking, Gina was glancing its way. Could she know? Unlikely. Maybe it should build a new scout, one that could listen to conversations on the other side of a closed window?

Troa and Leean followed Gina's symbolic perspective, observing the black bird still perched on the window. The oldest of the three nodded slowly, accepting with reverence.

"It is strange." Leean agreed, the more headstrong adolescent sounding unsure. "Alright Troa we will pray Miran and not to Loanon as you always insist."

"Then we will pray to love." Troa flattened her green dress to lower herself to her knees. With Leean following the two young women were face to face. Her soft light brown eyes settled on Gina.

"When you have seen enough, you join us." The voice spoken somewhere between invitation and command. Before each other the young women pressed their hands in prayer, silent. Gradually, by the count of five, the women moved their hands together.

"Miran, many blessings, many hearts, we are the many who worship you." Troa led the prayer, once more by a count of five the young women hummed as their hands returned into prayer pose. Their eyes shut, and Gina began to see a repeating pattern of sound and gestures. The two women were beside the bed and Gina remained nearest the shelf and the door.

She wasn’t sure what to make of the prayers, but she knew she probably wasn’t going to get a better chance. Carefully, she lifted the arcanium box from the shelf and, hiding it with her body, crept towards the door.

Gina had taken a box while the two were engaged in some ritual, and she was edging towards the door. The raven on the sill took a step to the left as one of the waiting scouts dove at the window. Unlike an actual raven, it was not about to break its neck.

The young women screamed as the cracking glass buckled from the impact of the diving bird. Gina had a split second to see the raven come crashing through into the room before her instincts kicked in and she bolted - one, two, three steps to the door, pulling it open with a jerk and slipping through to flee along the corridor, panic blood squirting up her throat and thumping in her temples. She almost lost one of her awkward platform shoes as she ran, the box held to her chest in a white-knuckle grip.

The invading scout flew around the room flapping its wings while screeching, then dove in front of the door as Gina slipped past, hovering there for a long moment to allow the young woman to make her escape before escaping out the shattered window.

Back at the stairs the guard which had been her guide was looking on with dismay as he stared at her. The closer she got the more dramatic his worry was noticeable on his face, there was sweat, there was fear. "Our lord and the Adviser were taken by magic.”

Gina gaped back at him. “What?”

“I think it was the Lord's mage, I saw red hair and maybe a pointy ear but...they're gone!"

In a whispered hiss the man shared his powerlessness with Gina, giving her an objective complete without the leading personalities to continue on the chain of events.

“Go!” she hissed back at the guard, flailing a hand back towards Leann’s chamber and hoping against hope that the man’s deference to direct orders was deep enough to obey, even if they were coming from a woman. “I got the arcanium, now guard the door, make sure she doesn’t run! I’ll try and find the king!”

The Scout who'd been outside on the window sill tried to follow Gina as she ran past the windows. The next time it tried to use card comms, they would have remote activation.

[Minkasha]

Jeon Smythe & 'Melvin'

The men outside ran as a mass as the new war hero fell as a shambled mess. Jeon was now bombarded by men's voices asking him a list of questions, hands touching him to lift him up. Meanwhile others looked into the establishment to see the scattered pool of alcohol, glass shards, and bleeding child.

Brinn stood in shock for a moment before coming out from behind his counter. "You were supposed to run! Shit." The man muttered under his breath, looking for something across the counter. "Come over here." he grunted to 'Melvin', returning to the back of his shop with faster steps.

"Brinn you've done it now!" A man from outside shouted, coming in. "That bastard skewered you lad." The young man in his battle armor hissed as he took off his helmet to reveal a man in his late 20s with a hawkish nose and brown hair, with matching eyes.

"Someone help me up!" Jeon begged, trying to get a handhold to pull himself upright. "I have to get in there!"

He heard the shattering of glass - if the boy was injured, what might the man inside do? Yank the pieces out and do more damage to fragile tissue, nerves, veins and arteries? Try to cauterize the wounds with a hot poker, possibly sealing other fragments inside?

"Tend to my master first," the probe shell said, pointing out the door. "Then he can tend to me."

"Well isn't that just damn selfless of you? BRINN! Damn it get back out here!" The man kneeled down next to 'Melvin'. The creak of the bar door showed the blacksmith returning with a clean cloth he handed over to the boy.

"Make use of it, best I've got." the man grunted.

"You want us to shove you up in there?" A voice among the many men asked surrounding Jeon. "You look 'bout a quarter skewered. You've got brazen balls to be making any demands!" An older man yelled at Jeon, slapping the doctor's shoulder hard.

"He's the hero that killed the sharp tooth bookie, what are we going to do?" a soldier asked another, men talking around Jeon. Looking at each other, the men pulled back Jeon's wheel barrel - taking him further from the door.

"You need a healer, let's get!"

"What?" Jeon yelled, "But Melvin's injured, I...."

"Thank you," 'Melvin' said as he took the cloth from the smith, watching as Jeon was being dragged back the way they came. "The wizard's bolt welded the head of the pike to his armor. The healer tent sent us here to see if you could cut him out of his suit. As the marchioness is expecting him sooner rather than later, I'm hoping you can get them to bring him back so we don't keep her waiting?"

“Don’t keep our marchioness waiting you drunkard.” the brunette man said, with stinging jest at the blacksmith. “I’m taking you back to the tent. Brinn will oversee your master.” The poised man whistled to his compatriots, waving them to bring Jeon over. Grabbing ‘Melvin’s’ wrist, the man pulled the youth aside.

"No," The Probe Shell frowned, pulling back from the would-be samaratan as he glanced over his shoulder at Jeon. "If we're separated, bad things happen. I must stay with my master."

Jeon was sent on a violently shaky ride, the pike waving ridiculously as drunk soldiers brute-forced his wheelbarrow up into the shop. Binn raised two eyebrows at the slapstick performance.

“If it were in your guts it’d have skewed you again!” the hairy man laughed with disbelief.

"Get me out of this, I need to see to my... apprentice," Jeon scowled, then added, "Please.

Removing glass had so many risks, especially in the face area. The men tossed the handles of the wheelbarrow up throwing Jeon out with little time to catch himself on his feet. Before the Zyan doctor could fall the blacksmith caught him.

The soldiers looked at the sight of the injured kid and frowned. 'Melvin's' hand was still held by the more forthright adult, "Apothecary I'm not sure you're in the right state to look after him. I'm going to bring him to the healer's tent, come" The man pulled lightly on the youth's hand, attempting to lead the mired faced child to the exit.

"Please!" Jeon yelled, exasperated. "Right now they have far more serious cases to consider, the boy will be waiting for hours and the people in there are already exhausted! All I need is to be cut out of this suit and I can treat him."

"I have a lot of experience with wounds like this," he added tiredly. "Just leave the boy here and let's get me out of this."

"Relax, you're going to poke someone’s eye out with that thing." The man took 'Melvin' with a tug of the hand he held out of the building. Leaving Jeon by himself with the strangers, the soldier tried to hold him steady regardless of his struggle and push the doctor onto the counter.

Brinn sighed, cursing to himself while he moved to the back of his shop to procure tools. "You're going to need to not fucking move if you're expecting me to get you out of that mess" the man spat at Jeon over the noise of many moving men in leathers and metals and Jeon's pleas.

Jeon sighed, forcing himself to be still. "As you would," he sighed, wondering how Melvin was faring with a face full of glass? The mutterings of men and their alcohol-scented breath was complimented by the blacksmiths grunts each time his cuts. His sharp metal tool eating one by one the metal links keeping Jeon trapped.

Jostle after jostle, the uncomfortable time spent pinned by these men ended with Brinn releasing the lodged pole out of a great hole from the doctor's armor. "I spared the man who spared the city, what does that make me?" Brinn asked Jeon and the men with a touch of slyness to it.

"Thank you. I'd be grateful if you could undo these connections on the shoulders, too," Jeon asked quietly. What sort of pain must that boy be in?

"Your magic can kill a wizard but it can't get you out of this?" One of the drunk men laughed while Brinn accomplished what Jeon asked. The crowd around the doctor looked on with interest as they seemed to be wondering about his supposed magic as well.

There was that word again - "magic." And how to tell these people he didn't remember anything from the battle? Or even how long he'd been in this world?

After Brinn had undone the clasps, he grabbed the neck of the AnySuit and pulled it down, wiggling to free his shoulders from some sort of quilted paddled suit - a gambsome? There was a burn there, about where the spear had been.

Jeon gingerly probed the burned padding and hissed in pain. Gingerly, he lifted up the edge - skin was red, no charring or blisters, thankfully. "That's going to be sore for a few days," he sighed, letting the edge of the padded jacket fall.

Then it was true - he'd been in a battle. He killed this 'wizard'. What was going on here?

"Thank you," he told the blacksmith, gathering up the AnySuit - was that a surgical tractor with a rocker switch? "I uh, better go see to the boy." Brinn's raising shoulders and distancing body language matched his shifting eyes. The man was uncomfortable, guilt riddled perhaps, as the boy was brought back up.

"Let us go with the hero!" One of the other drunk soldiers shouted to rouse his fellows. Swinging an arm around Jeon's shoulders, he and a small gathering of others stared on, waiting for the Zyan to lead them.

"Now hold on, hold on now!" Jeon cried out, eyes blazing as he rounded on them.

"Down there," he said, pointing the way he came, "is a tent full of wounded and dyin' men, and those tendin' to 'em. And you want to come in celebratin'?"

He shook his head. "All you'd be doin' is remindin' them of their pains, how they're stuck in beds, possibly maimed for life or worse. That's a cruel dagger for any wounded man to bear. If one or two of you are sober enough and want to help me with that barrow, I'd be thankin' you properly, but the rest of you should stay here, out of earshot of them what's dyin'."

"Blacksmith, I thank you for freein' me from me suit, but there's no tools you have what could mend it. It best come with me for now, and quickly. That boy must be sufferin' right feircely." The mood of jubilation was punctured by Jeon's lecturing, a few men saying where they stood while they reflected.

"I think seeing us well's going to make them feel better!" An idealist among them countered, rushing outside to get the wheelbarrow while two more joined him. The others emptied out but went their own directions in the snow into the rest of Whitebar. Brinn leered and Jeon and shook his head.

"We know fear all too much, we are just celebrating while we can" The blacksmith turned his back to Jeon. "Sorry about your boy..."

"It was an accident," Jeon sighed, "but thank you. I better get back to him."

With the burned out AnySuit lying on top of the duffle bags, the four of them made their way back to the hospital tent. Jeon was able to fake confidence by following one of the war survivors, not having to lead down the alleyway shortcuts.




'Melvin'

"Brinn loses himself, always drinking. Sorry that happened to you boy." The man went on to say while leading Melvin out. He had snatched a blanket from a passing man who was waving it out was a victory flag to wrap around 'Melvin's' young frame. "How do you shrug off the cold so easy? Must have some Western in blood in you too huh? Well don't be stupid about it." He looked over 'Melvin's' wounds and patted him on the back to move him along.

Through the same route back the man took the same back alleyways to shortcut the duo back to the healer's tent. This time however Lady Lyina was in attendance, giving her self-sacrificial attention to the wounded with her supernatural abilities.

The battle had taken its toll on her. 'Melvin' could scan many sighs of increased tension though her physiology. Regardless of the fact she was an attractive woman her skin had become a touch paler and her eyes looked sleep deprived. And yet when the woman saw the boy her hands instantly stopped radiating the white light over the soldier she was tending.

The men's eyes followed her until they saw to whom she was moving before. The bloodied image of the child was surprising to them as well. "Who did this to you?" The woman asked with a whisper when she had kneeled down to his level and scanned all the bits of glass. "I can remove this but you will need to be very still. It won't hurt, alright?"

"Your hand is shaking," the Probe Shell replied, calmly reaching up to pluck one of the shards out of its face. There was a trickle of blood before the skin sealed itself. "If I let you do this, you'd probably faint away a minute into this. When was the last time you ate anything or got any rest? Tea back in the castle?"

Another glass shard was plucked out, bleeding for a moment then stopped..

"Do they call you over to treat every little cut and scrape?" 'Melvin' asked nonchallantly, carefully digging out another shard. "No wonder you're exhausted. If someone can get me a mirror, I can take care of the rest of this myself, why don't you lie down for an hour and eat something, build up your strength?"

Everyone in the tent looked at the supposed child with degrees of horror and increasing surprise by the second.

"If you could do that why didn't you earlier?!" The man that had been escorting 'Melvin' asked with a shrill of his shock and irritation.

"I told you I wanted to stay with my master," 'Melvin' objected, glancing at him irritably. "You dragged me here instead - where I'm now doing this instead of him."

Lady Lyina stared wide eyed, quickly getting to her feet the woman hurriedly turned away and began leaving the tent. Men watched her go, concern and confusion on their faces from her sudden action.
"You're going to have to stay here until we get word from her" The soldier told the child imitating robot sternly.

"Then fetch me a mirror," the probe shell ordered, working on another shard. It could just as easily push out the fragments, but that would be too much for the humans to accept, even for magic.

Lyina's abrupt departure, however, had the Probe concerned. Could she had determined the shell's nature? The crows at least were getting in position if it needed a distraction.

"We don't have one of those" one the primitive medicine men answered, staring at 'Melvin' and giving the youth a powerless shrug. The soldier which had brought the robot here returned to his side with a cloth.

"That magic, is that a Elven enchantment?"

"A mirror?"'Melvin' asked, working out another fragment. it paused, glancing down at the bloody shard, and then put it aside. "No, this isn't magic. I'm ignoring the pain. And this is glass. The bits are sharp enough that the cuts are smooth, the skin can bounce back and start healing."

Outside, one of the crows broke away from the flock, flying toward the castle to see if it could spot Lyina.

"No one heals that fast from a cut. We know what a mirror is" the brunette soldier cross his arms. "I don't know what you've been taught but lying about magic can be a death sentence."

The boy-sized figure turned to stare up at the solder looking down at him, then he sighed. Placing his fingers on either side of the most recent extraction, he pried it open, wincing slightly as the end tore. Blood seeped out, running down his blood-smeared face. "Does that look healed to you?" he asked.

He squeezed his hand to clamp the tear shut.

"So, wizards train boys as young as me?" 'Melvin' asked. The act unnerved some of the wounded men on the tables who had been observing the exchanges, Melvin's nameless guide did flinch but kept resolute.

"Wizards do damn near anything they like, least other one keep them in check. The Emperor's wizard watches mercilessly" The man answered, answering with a tinge of caution, perhaps intimidation.

"When I was very young," the probe-shell said, "my Master left me in a village with monks who wore saffron robes and worshiped a very fat god. I wasn't the only child, there were many there. And we could see the older boys punching, kicking, breaking boards and bricks with their bare hands."

"Broke mine trying to copy them," 'Melvin' sighed ruefully. "The monks were very upset, of course. But after they bound my hand, they began to teach me their ways. It started with breathing, it was very important to them that I breathed properly. And I had to breathe properly while sitting cross legged on a cold stone floor with my back straight with a bunch of other boys also trying to breathe and avoid the master's cane."

"When they were happy with how we were breathing, they brought in a girl monk to teach us how to meditate. We were to sit as before and to breathe while clearing our mind, and we were told to ignore any outside distraction."

"You know what she did, don't you?" the boy robot sighed, carefully shaking his head while still keeping the gash clamped tight. "She started giggling. And then we started to giggle. It was all very silly, but they would do all sorts of stuff to try and distract us."

"But meditation can help a mind to withstand hunger, thirst, pain, and yes, help one to heal faster. You need that when you start training to fight with the Saffron monks."

The robot boy unclamped its hand slowly, then rubbed the gash, feeling the thin scab that had formed. A small drip of blood appeared at the end where the artificial skin had torn.

"Is that magic?" it scoffed bitterly as the blood began to trickle down its cheek. "Breathing quietly?" For a time there was a silence.

"What's...a monk?" A man on a table asked who laid on a table injured. "Didn't your balls freeze on the ground?" He asked with stifled laughter until one of the medicine men slammed a fist on the man's bandaged thigh, causing him to grunt in terrible pain.

"The boy's got glass in his face, let him have his stories" Condemned the man to the injured. The soldier with 'Melvin' raised a brow. "I will say you can resist much more than a boy can, should have been able to" Looking past his strong nose, the soldier spoke down to 'Melvin' agreeably. "Otherwise, I have no idea what you're talking about"

"Monk..." Another on a table mused, "Maybe that's an Elven thing too"

"But no Elves are fat-uhh!" This injured man sustained a blow to his cut at the arm. The injured quitted themselves to avoid any wrath.

"Monks are a kind of priest..." the Probe shell began, looking doubtfully at the men. They didn't have monks here? So much for Ms. Grundy's myths and legends class.

"Boy, why don't you sit and we help you" One of the medicine men suggested while walking towards 'Melvin'.

"Without washing your hands first?" Melvin sighed, scanning the approaching medicine man as it extracted a fragment from its arm. "Do you know about germs and bacteria?"

There was movement - Jeon was walking towards the tent at last. Everyone looked at one another, 'Melvin's' question unable to produce an affirmative answer.


Jeon Smythe & 'Melvin'

The silence the boy-robot's advanced questions injected into the conversation was culled by rowdy men surrounding the unknowingly alien Doctor. The soldiers left the doctor to make small talk with their wounded comrades, a white noise of voices adding life to the environment. Those speaking to the robot-boy still stood around wordlessly and uncomfortable. The scene was odd for Jeon to walk into, sensing something was off in the mood.

Seeing Melvin, Jeon's face clouded but he said nothing, coming over and carefully taking the boy's chin in his hand, examing the fine web of scabs under the blood.

"Steady hands," he sighed, then saw the bleeding tear. "What hapened here?"

"They thought I was using magic to heal myself," the Probe-Shell shrugged non-challantly. "So I showed them I was still healing."

"Who's been removing these shards?" Jeon asked. "I'd like to commend them."

"I've been. Probably part of the problem - using magic and denying it is apparently a crime here. They've been watching me pulling out these shards and not bleeding or screeming all over the place."

"Eh? How do you manage that?" Jeon whispered, shocked.
"Buddhist mediation healing," 'Melvin' shrugged. "They don't know what a monk is, though."

"Well, Buddhist or not, I need something to stitch up these wounds... what's this?"
"Liquid bandage," the Probe-Shell smiled slightly. "Somehow I managed to bring a few things with us."
"In a glass vial?"
"I had a few minutes alone this morning in your apothecary shop." The people around were paralyzed at the jaw, looking between the boy-robot and the proclaimed magical war hero.

Finally the brunette with a sharp nose and sturdy confidence, the one whom had brought 'Melvin' here, cleared his throat. Extending a hand for Jeon the man's hand. "Rugnuth, West Gate Defender Leader. Your boy apprentice has great potential to be in military service of our Emperor"

"What on...." Jeon demanded, brow furlling as he turned towards the soldier.
"Emperor?" 'Melvin' interrupted. "We've met the king, but no emperor. Unless....?"

Melvin looked around gravely. "I'm sorry, master. They must be in disguise as humans, probably how that other fellow managed to elude us."

"What are you...?" Jeon demanded, confused.


Gina Wright

Gina could feel Panos and Calamity nearing. They must have been in the castle now. However they were still a floor away and most likely the opposite side of Calamity's fortress. The guard hesitated, looking at the door and its ruckus and Gina. Sternly he pointed at the teenager.

"Don't you do anything with that, don't touch it!" He warned while running to Leann's room.

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Gina hissed in agreement, cradling the box.

Pausing only long enough to satisfy herself that Leann and Troa had no way out except through the guard now taking position outside the door, she turned and hurried down the stairs - following the ethereal tug of Cal and Panos rather than any real knowledge of the castle layout. Finding herself in another empty corridor lit by wavering tapers, she halted briefly to fish the Tarot card from her pocket.

“Cal?” she whispered into it, glancing around in fear of approaching footsteps as she cradled the card and the box. “O’doln’s teleported off somewhere with the king, can you see him anywhere?”

Gina had reactivated the card. As the Probe relayed the communication, the firmware on the card got an update, allowing the subchannel to become passive surveillance, even if the card was turned off.

Outside, the raven-shaped scouts returned to the roof, waiting for the teen girl's next move.

"What?!" a young man's softer yet pointedly sharp voice hissed back to Gina, Panos taking the left hook she delivered. "No, what did you do?" the young man asked with whispering skepticism.

“Nothing.” Gina hissed. “I’ve got the arcanium, someone called lady Leann was using it to try and get Cal out of the way. I’ve locked her in her room for the moment. Is Cal still with you?”

"Calamity is busy speaking to the citizens, she's occupied."

Gina chewed the inside of her cheek.

“I’m coming to you.” she whispered. “Hold on.”

She tapped the card off and pushed it back up her sleeve, before taking off again through the castle. Stepping down the stairs she could hear the building of voices, their reflections ricocheting and reaching Gina’s senses. In tandem the direction Panos and Calamity were, the teenager was able to see a mass of leather- and wool-wrapped people massed around a grand hall, stuffed inside the expanded room and spilling over in uncertain clusters at the doors.

She realized what she had been listening to were their collective whispers for one young woman’s voice spread over their volume, inside the grand hall. It was Calamity, but the words were not able to be made out.

Moving left and right the children and women moved aside, Panos drawing nearer until his pale complexion and blanch hair were seen emerging from the crowd. Riding on anger, the sapphires of his eyes clawed into Gina while he walked straight to her.

“If he’s gone we have to find him. If it’s...sorcery, he could be anywhere...” Panos’ face stressed while he thought more of the circumstances, “Lyina. She’s close to that man.” The teenager said it scornfully, with an anger which seemed incredibly personal.

“Okay.” Gina whispered back, still unsure why Panos seemed to hate and fear O’doln so specifically. Maybe it’s something to do with... She shut the thought down. She owed Panos better than that. “Where is she?”

“She’s in there.” Panos pointed with his thumb back into the crowded room.

Gina followed his gaze, and was struck by a sudden, irrational sense of foreboding. Something about the grand hall, and the press of bodies in it...she remembered a gun flashing, Panos arcing almost gracefully over the balcony as the bullet scattered blood and pearls from his back, Baka already lying dead with his eyes glassy and accusing. Hiss, shriek, bang.

She dug the heel of her free hand into her eyebrow. Not again, not again…

Panos was standing in front of her, his expression still hostile.

Promise not to leave him alone. Calamity had said. Not again. Gina thought for a third time, but this time the words were enough to pull together the fraying threads of her courage.

“Can you take me to her?” she asked. “I don’t think the crowd would part the same way for me.”

Panos delayed a moment, eyeing the dramatic center of events that lay in Gina's hands. After taking in the box, Panos' face vanished behind a veil of bright hair as he turned around and began to walk through the people. Indeed they moved for his every step, Gina sensing and hearing her approach to Calamity.

Despite everything, Gina could still feel her heart beginning to skitter as they pressed into the crowd. It made her grip Leann’s box so tightly that the skin under her fingernails blanched white. She focused her senses outward against her inner turmoil, the fear sharpening her senses as she glanced about for threats and strained her ears to try and catch what the onlookers and the unseen Cal were saying.

"-we claimed victory." The cold push of Cal's voice was an act that Gina could hear was entirely unnatural to the teenager, but delivered with icy inspiration. The people exploded into cheers, Calamity standing firmly and looking over the crowd while guards and Lady Lyina kept nearby. Gina felt a small flush of pride at her friend’s speaking skills, one which managed to slightly thaw the ice that was grinding around inside her torso. As she looked up, Cal’s amethyst eyes spotted her and Panos.

The faintest hint of a smile came when the marchioness made eye contact with Gina, but she stomped it with her stoic act. Reaching out a hand for Panos, he took it and adorned her arm. He whispered into her ear and Calamity waved Gina over quickly.

"We need privacy, escort us to a place we may be alone." Whipping her guards under her command, the men began to move. There was natural leadership to Calamity which radiated off her, despite internally each second being an impromptu scramble. "Do what you see is best, I trust your judgment." the black haired beauty told the healer moments before leaving.

“M’lady?” Gina hailed as she and Lyina crossed paths, pausing to accost her with a gentle touch of her fingertips against the healer’s arm. “Have you seen O’doln since he left to fight? I feel like I should thank him for helping keep us safe.”

Lyina's state continued to fall, the woman's exhaustion lined under the eyes worsened. It was apparent how she, despite not being leader of Whitebar, carried the people on her shoulders as well. For a moment the woman turned, hiding her face behind blonde tresses until she looked back at Gina and shook her head.

"He is elsewhere for now, excuse me." With that, Lynia turned to walk away. Gina bit her lip, and hurried after her friends.

Following the guards out, clapping and cheering citizens hurt the ears until they were many doors away, the guards stopping at the front and the click of footsteps taking the three away from possible earshot. Finally able to reveal herself Calamity sighed and shook her head, losing the detached queen persona.

"Maybe you should set that down..." the teenager said to Gina with a degree of worry.

Gina looked down at her hands, and saw that they were still holding Leann’s arcanium box in a death grip. Her fingers were painful from the strain, the pads of her fingertips numb where they crushed against the wood.

“Yeah.” she agreed. Not for long, though. If the wrong person found it…

She placed the box down shakily, on the sill of a window that was three quarters covered by snow. She leaned against it with a tired sigh.

“I owe you an apology, Panos.” she said while she massaged her fingers. “Turns out there was a traitor here after all. But I don’t think Leann meant for the drake to leave and come back with friends.”

Panos eyed the box again. "A failed assassination and the king's missing. If we immediately execute the failed killer we shouldn't be delayed in going after him. It will also distract from us losing control of the Draconian if it's made public." the androgynous young man suggested in preemptive rebuke to other ideas, his cutthroat aristocratic background making itself apparent.

“Execute?” Gina repeated, shifting uncomfortably. “Chuck the two of them in the dungeon maybe, but…”

She trailed off, not sure how to continue the argument. Marchioness Sauver had a bloody reputation to uphold. And Panos was right about seizing control of the narrative while they still could: the people needed to know that it wasn’t Cal who had let the drake escape - even if they would expect vengeance on the one who did. The Nikas court, the cat-people, the angels, this empire...are they all obsessed with killing?

“There’s Bonroe too.” she said, remembering the young apprentice under guard outside the dungeon. It probably wouldn’t be long before Leann and Troa started pointing fingers at him too. “He needs to get way, way away from here. Maybe your guard captain could see him off? If he didn’t bat an eye at standing up to the king for you I’m sure he’ll keep schtum on any secret mission you give him…”

Panos was right that they needed to focus on the king, but it didn’t take much to save a life. A horse, a small bag of coins, and an instruction to fuck off far away and start another apprenticeship that didn’t involve torture. Out the back door when no-one was looking, and it would be done. She could do that much at least.

Calamity released a steady stream of air, enchanting eyes moving away from the box and glossing over. Her thoughts were distracted, held by the subject prior and not ready to progress.

Panos ignored any mention of mercy or the box, other than a side glance to the object, crossing his arms and looking away. "The more dead the crowd can see the more they'll believe a conspiracy freeing the Draconian than just one girl." Panos settled his stare on her. "How easily would you believe one girl was able to free a prisoner of war?"

"Panos, you're asking me to be similar to someone I've...despised my whole life." Calamity told her equally beautiful counterpart, the two young people locking intense eye to eye: Panos' stare spiteful and sad, hers heartbroken and firm.

"Our parents shape us regardless if we want it to happen or not." The reply followed a brushing back of his hair in an elegant but standoffish means of body language. "It would be effective, blame the two of them, working together. If you want this city to keep in order and not ask questions about you, then you have to keep to your part."

The perplexing, pertinacious lay of the problem caused the young leader to pace.

Gina watched her move back and forth, chewing her lip in a helpless mirror of Cal’s own stressed gnawing.

“This is fucked.” she mumbled unhappily, more to herself than to her friends.

Protect your friends, logic was telling her. Like you’ve always done. That’s your first priority. It’s not your problem that Leann and Troa already fucked it for themselves.

Was that it? ‘Fuck you, got mine’? It was certainly easier, when doing the right thing was always so relentlessly hard.

Small wonder half the world’s run by bastards.

“Maybe there’s another way…” Gina ventured, pulling her hair over her shoulder and tugging at it for comfort. “Jeon’s robot knocked O’doln out and everyone thought he was dead, right?”

She fished the glossy Tarot card out of her sleeve and tapped it.

“Melvin? I dunno if you were listening in before but I found out who helped the drake prisoner escape. This lady called Leann wanted Cal out of the way, she got her maid to help her and tricked the apprentice torturer into helping too. Cal needs to punish them or she’ll blow her cover. Can you...is there any way you can help fake an execution? Or make it look like they killed themselves, or…?”

She trailed off, hoping against hope that the alien robot would reveal a solution in a simple, wonderful transformation of pixels on the card face. She didn’t want to voice her final suggestion: Can you at least make it so they don’t hurt.

The girl could not have contacted the probe at a worse time, with its probe shell facing possible exposure by one of these 'wizards' like the one that had damaged it internally already.

And how was it supposed to identify them so it could take action?

'Need description,' appeared on the card. 'If one of them is in sight, point the card at them.'

The card didn't have a camera, but the crow standing sentry on the window sill might be able to see where she was pointing at.

Either way, it needed to extract the probe shell. The rest of the drone crows took off, heading rapidly for the healers' tent.

“Leann’s about my age.” Gina told the card, as quickly as she could manage. “Straight brown hair, green dress with a silver belt. Troa’s a bit older, same sort of hair, brown eyes. They should still be in the guest quarters on the east side of the castle, it's got a broken window. I left one of Cal's guards to watch them.”

That was the room she was just in. If those two were conspirators, then it was unlikely anyone would let them live long enough to get dragged in front of Cal, afraid of what they might say.

Occupied, it sent as it pulled another glass shard from its bleeding skin. Will see what I can do.

The problem was only the probe shell could be considered "armed" - the drones had a communication n-gate only, and at the moment only one of them was at the castle, watching Gina.

Gina bit the inside of her cheek, twirling and untwirling the ends of her hair round her fingers. “Alright.” she whispered. “Keep an eye out for O’doln or the king as well. If you see Lyina, she might know where they went.”

'Lyina has just left the healer's tent', the probe-shell messaged on the card. 'Current wherabouts of O'doln and the King unknown.'

Calamity had come closer to Gina, studying what she was doing with hope. Panos kept a distant eye while looking around the room they were in.

"Regardless of how it's done we will need cover for why Calamity and I are leaving if we want to keep up appearances..." the teenage prince informed the two young ladies, a detached tone of voice to his thoughts. "If she says she is in search of allies to retaliate against the invaders it may buy some time."

Calamity ran a hand over her knuckles, looking between her two companions, "Well, it would depend on how long we're going to be here..." So far their exploits had been short, but this clue had been far more ambiguous for her to understand. How long were they going to be trapped? This reality was unapologetically dangerous, as much as the others. If they stayed long how much worse would it become?

“We’d need a story regardless.” Gina reasoned, hugging her elbows. How long they might be here was a question she hadn’t had the time to consider yet, and now that she did, it disturbed her too. They had been one day in Panos’ world, and several in the cat-men’s, but the single day in Greywall already felt like a lifetime. “Where would we even start looking for the king, though? The only place I can think of is O’doln took him back to the city, but that’s still just a guess…”

She pressed a fist to her forehead, scrunching her eyes shut in thought.

“We can hide the arcanium here until it’s time to show it to the king - put guards on the door so no-one goes snooping, that’s easy enough. If you can find your captain and tell him to do as I say, I can deal with Bonroe while you tell everyone about Leann and Troa. That’d give us time to make sure the king’s not still in the castle. If Lyina doesn’t know anything then maybe Hedspeth could guess where O’doln would go for safety. If we need to twist his arm I could...yeah, I could get Bonroe to write a confession saying it was him who gave Leann the arcanium. We need to work fast but we need at least some idea of where O’doln took the king before we leave.”

Calamity pressed a finger to the side of the chin, nodding to agree with Gina's ideas.

"That man is annoying but I can make him listen." the young lady explained, setting up some of the details into alignment. Panos stared at Gina, ever the agent of chaos and disorder. And yet, his silence was an approval never given to her before as the prince continued to study the teenage girl. It was enough to bemuse Gina as she began casting about the room for supplies. A worm-eaten writing desk yielded wax, pen and paper, and she was looking around for some kind of inkpot to go with it when the realisation struck her.

“Oh.” she said aloud, quietly. It’s a fountain pen. She had no idea that they had such things back in...whatever time this was supposed to be. She had been expecting feather quills. Shaking off the random bit of trivia, she began to carefully print a note while Cal set about hiding the perfume box.

This man is about my business. Let him pass. That might help Bonroe on his way out of the castle.

She wrote a second matching note for herself, and gathered spare sheets for Bonroe’s confession before looking up. “Cal, do you have like a ring or something? Or would your signature be enough?” Calamity shakes her head, reflecting within a second's delay before she signed the documents.

“Okay.” Gina said, exhaling as she gathered up the papers. We can do this, we can do this. “If there’s nothing else we’d better get going.” But of the trio to cut into Gina's hopes and ambitions, it was Panos. And he looked at her papers with distrust.

"How do we know the signature matches the girl she's pretending to be? If they are significantly off it would be obvious."

“Good point.” Gina paused, crossing her ankles as she stood in thought. “I’ll test it on Bonroe. Once he has it people from the castle who recognize him should let him pass anyway, and anyone who doesn’t probably won’t know Cal’s signature either.”

She folded the papers in half then half again, and took a steadying breath.

A knock came to the door and Calamity made rigid her young voice, "What is it?"

"Sorry Marchioness, but Lady Lyina has returned with urgent news." Panos pulled back some of his locks as he looked at the two young women with narrowing eyes.

"Hide the papers first!" Panos prodded Gina with a hurry in his voice.

Gina hurriedly stuffed the papers down the front of her dress and moved to one side. Calamity checked between her two companions, raised her head a touch and returned into character. The one crack in her act the careful way in which she held Panos' hand, either supporting him or finding support for herself, Gina could see both in their new friendship.

"Enter." With the attending guard opening it for the blonde woman, the steps in were quicker. The woman though beautiful looked to be ready to fall at any moment, dark circles under the eyes giving way to her giving her all.

"I believe there is an unusual boy who may have unregistered magic. And if the rumours are true from the battlefield the Apothecary himself may as well. Wizard-Lord Tengirn hearing of this may..." She quieted and looked down to the floor. "My Lady I wish us to be cautious, but all decisions are yours of course."

Melvin and Jeon? Gina bit her cheek, and decided to risk an out-of-turn question in return for a bit of potentially useful information. "Magic?" she asked, feigning confusion. "That's...but how do you prove someone is using magic? I mean, unless you actually see them fly or something?"

Lady Lyina seemed taken aback by Gina's brazen behavior but Calamity was able to catch the situation in a heartbeat, "Answer her." The black haired young lady commanded.

"...Yes," The tired blond looked directly to Gina, "It is most often through observation but some such as O’doln or Wizard-Lord Tengrin may detect it within someone when close by."

Gina nodded stoically at the bad news, and cast her gaze towards the floor.

“Sorry, marchioness.” she apologised. “The lady is right, perhaps you should have them brought here and see for yourself.”

So, basically anything that wasn't understood was considered "magic", the Probe mused to itself, listening on the cards.

"See it so" Calamity waved a hand, shaking her head side to side out of character the moment Lyina's back was turned. When she left the room Panos leaned forward to look more at Gina, turning his head occasionally to meet Calamity.

"I don't know how we are going to hide this..."

"Well we don't know who the...Wizard-Lord...He can't here or I'd have seen him already..."

"We should focus on keeping away from them and find King Kinglos" Panos sighed,"we worry on nothing else" Panos interjected.

Gina already had the Tarot card cupped in her hands. “Melvin.” she whispered. “Lyina’s going to fetch you and Jeon and bring you to us. Keep an eye out for the king and O’doln on your way here.”

Of course she was.

A green checkmark appeared on the card.

"King Kinglos..." Calamity whispered, sharing a look of stupid disbelief, the two royals having a moment in unspoken ridicule of the name. However Calamity quickly walked over to Gina, letting go of Panos' hand. "I have to 'confirm' Jeon has no magic? It is the only way to keep him safe" The leader of Whitebar questioned, eye Gina for insight.

"But," Panos countered, tapping his jawline "If you confirm he does 'have magic' it might be distraction enough for people to overlook the Draconian prisoner of war outright if these people are that superstitious."

“Let’s find out exactly what it was they did.” Gina suggested. “If it was something we can explain away then fine. If not...yeah, it might be easier to just run with it. Say they’ve helped protect the castle and you’re going to watch over them until they can be vetted by this guy Tengrin or whatever.”

[Minkasha]

Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Gina Wright, Doctor John Smythe, 'Melvin' & Panos Lambros

Gina was let in on a terrible new complication which added a new dilemma to their adventures: Jeon claimed to have no recollection of events. Though the way which this was explained was dearth of detail, the uncomfortable and foreboding of tone and expression the weight of the message. The two royals were unsure who the man is that would be walking in the door, that is, by the wellbeing or recall of mind. Calamity provided detail of the odd situation they had physically found Jeon last they met him, but hoped he was to come not in such condition for he'd would have had to be dragged or carried.

Panos only wanted to remind the two of them that the strange boy Jeon had as a companion specifically mentioned that Jeon was 'not human'. From yearning for the adult man's aid in their dire journey to scorn, Panos was a harsh critic of yet another thing. However it was evident to the three teenagers that the man of medicine was also a man of mystery. And currently intrigue was aplenty, in too much supply in fact for one of their compatriots to provide another stifling layer.

Jeon and 'Melvin' were unable to find any sign of their targets along their escorted path. The boy-robot had made a filled tent into a place of awkward silence after his feats and questioning, making Rugnuth hesitant to wave them goodbye once the depleted Lady Lyina fetched the two.

When the door opened, Calamity sighed and Panos' tilted his head side to side as the duo saw the man not coming into view with something still partially impaled into him. And Jeon was now able to meet the third of his connected entities: Gina Wright.

A young lady in dress suited for an affluent woman of the time period was layered in an embroidered dress whose material was rich with complimentary undersilks at the neckline but finer details were more subtle than bold or tacky. Loose skirts swept close to the floor as she closed the door behind them, casting a furtive look up the corridor to make sure they had privacy. The long sleeves and length of her garments with its fit all gave her the part, but Jeon was inherently aware she too was different, very important to him, as were the two other adolescents.

Pale skinned, with her copper hair in an easy pulled up hairstyle, blue eyes which were complimented by a touch of creams under the eyes to brighten them and a paint of red to the lips. Next to the other two there was a fantastical degree of appearance. While Panos and Calamity drew the eye of many the doctor could see their dispositions were more shaken or unruly: Panos with judgmental scorn and arms crossing and Calamity showing hesitation the moment the four of them were left alone in the room.

It was Gina Wright who looked on with the most grounded body language and disposition.

Now all together the four of them were reunited the two teenagers standing closest with matching wedding rings kept quiet.

It was strange, Jeon could feel the presense of three ahead, but not Lyina. Was this then "magic"? But why them and not this woman who lead them? Were there two kinds of magic, then? How many kinds, he wondered? Was it magic that brought him and this boy to this world? Or were other forces at work here?

And what was it they wanted him and this boy to do here?

The Probe shell caught Jeon glancing at him and nestled inside its private pocket universe, the Probe hoped the Zayan wasn't about to stick his foot in his mouth again. Overhead, the drone ravens circled, ready to respond as the boy pushed along the wheelbarrow, despite objections. They might need the AnySuit.

Once in the castle, Lyina lead them to a room where Gina, Calamity and Panos waited.

"I'm sorry," Jeon said, waving his hand back to Melvin. "I was still treating the boy when we were summoned. Meditation can only take you so far, you see."

Open mouth, insert foot.

"I'm fine," 'Melvin' responded, resisting the urge to rub the thin scabs of drying blood from its synthetic flesh as it stepped aside from the wheelbarrow. "You're the one that needs rest, that jolt you got affected your memories, it's a wonder you can still talk and walk at the same time."

Gina massaged the bridge of her nose hard as the two bickered.

“Okay.” she said, holding up her hands. “You can talk now and Jeon’s lost his memory. I’ll unpack that later. Lyina said the folks here think you did some sort of magic outside, what did you do?” Calamity looked onto 'Melvin' uncomfortably. She kept her mouth shut, awaiting for Jeon's answer. Panos kept with her as he too continued to say nothing. However his drawing of breath an sigh gave commentary to the situation, a sentiment not optimistic.

"I don't know what I did," Jeon snapped. Was he really being taken to task by children? "I woke up in a wheelbarrow with something sticking out of me, or rather, somehow electrically welded to my AnySuit, which is now burned out completely. Maybe I can tell them the suit burned out while I was at a renaissance fair, but they're going to deny my claim because I violated the warranty by having surgical tractors attached to it - and I have no idea where those came from!"

"Oh, I had them," the Probe shell said. "In any event, while I was trying to get a blacksmith to cut Jeon out of his suit, the blacksmith threw a glass at me. It shattered and my plucking the shards out of my face and arm was somehow declared to be magic. I had no idea they could be so easily impressed. By the way, the man who took me to the tent said something about an emperor. Having only met a king, I was wondering if you knew who this emperor is and why their men are here recruiting?"

Gina shrugged and looked to Cal and Panos hopefully. "That's the first I've heard of an emperor, but it makes sense for them to keep a record of everyone who can throw fireballs." Calamity bit her lower lip, not wanting to be on record.

"You only what, pulled glass out of your face you said?" Gina asked Melvin, sitting down on the bed. "If that's really all then I'm sure we can just wave it away..."

Calamity winced. "Ummm..." she corrected. "They also saw Jeon close the portal and shoot down the Draconian wizard..."

Gina put her hands over her face and arched over backwards, slowly collapsing with a soft thump into the furs.

"Oh Go-o-o-o-d." she lamented, the words muffled by her hands. She let her arms slump to either side and stared at the ceiling. "Alright. Fine. You're still a hero right?"

She sat up on her elbows to look at Jeon, and then turned towards Calamity.

"Cal, you could publicly thank him and tell everyone you'll keep an eye on him until the king returns. Like we were saying earlier."

"Then how do you expect her to be able to go anywhere if she has to babysit this man?" Panos asks with a silver brow raised and looking between Gina and Jeon. "We have no idea when he will return. I suggest she say she will take the man to the King for his judgment on the matter. That way she will have excuse to leave. Executing the two traitors and delivering the 'hero' to the King will keep her social potency strong" Panos lectured against Gina's plan.

"Panos your ideas are a little harsh..." Calamity kindly put her hands on his wrist to soothe him while she explained something difficult to him. "But there is something to them, and Gina's ideas too."

It seemed it was Calamity's role to keep Panos and Gina together rather than opposed.

"If I stay here I'm going to be expected to act the way this girl has. There will come a point where I couldn't do it anymore, I know it. She maims people in ways my mother wishes I would..." Returning to looking at Gina, Panos side eyed the black haired girl by him yet stayed silent. It was Cal who had an effect on him Gina did not possess. Gina did not begrudge her that.

"We have to think of a way for me, her, to save her reputation but leave." Calamity insisted to Gina, "What should we do?"

Gina sat forward and pressed her lips against her clasped hands for a moment. "Panos has it right about finding the king. If we can't get anything out of Hedspeth about where he might go then we'll just have to head for the city and hope he's there."

She looked up at Jeon and took a breath.

"Okay," she sighed, fixing onto the apparently memory-less doctor. "Here's the five minute version. Someone has sent us here, into the lives of...these people. To leave we have to fulfil some kind of..." She paused for a moment to recall the words from the zodiac book, "Altered consciousness or societal evolution - some kind of big, unexpected change. And the king and councillor Hedspeth are both part of it."

She did her best to explain the council's plot, and how Cal had influenced the drunkard king, and how he had set her the task of finding the person who enabled the Draconian attack only to disappear before she returned.

"Give me five minutes with Bonroe and then we can talk to Hedspeth. I'd suggest you to lead that but you don't remember him and last time I spoke to him he seemed mad at you anyway."

She shrugged.

"Don't worry though, between Bonroe's confession and knowing that he spent the Drac attack whingeing in bed with a porcupine quill up his arse, I think we've got enough blackmail to keep him out of any more plots for a bit."

She looked towards Cal and Panos for confirmation or input.

"Then we decide what to do about Leann and Troya. Then Cal can make her announcement and we can head - to the city or wherever Hedspeth thinks the king is. Out of the castle and on our way in an hour, tops. Sound like a semi-decent plan?"

"We can't kill the king now that he's been...changed to be, perhaps, of use. But his lists of incompetents stirs no confidence. If anything he is now the most predictable for us as we know exactly what his motivations are." Panos gestured with no luster to Jeon "And what of the doctor? He knows how to treat others but he seemingly has no social skills, less than the eerie child at his side. He is a vulnerability if he opens his mouth."

Calamity bit her lip, looking over to Panos. While she looked uncomfortable to the smarting edge of Panos' warnings she hadn't interrupted him or resisted once said. Perhaps she agreed.

"We have all made mistakes, and we do not know him well enough to be entirely sure. But, it would be for the better that I lead conversation, if only to keep appearances. I've been trained my whole life among people like these." Stepping near Gina, Calamity hugged the other girl. For a moment it was awkward until she settled into it more, and let go not too long after. "Thank you Gina for all your help, I think we have a plan we can follow."

"Wait a moment, what is this talk about killing kings?" Jeon demanded.

“No-one’s talking about killing kings.” Gina said, looking confused. “Well, no-one except Hedspeth and his merry men.”

"There was another Jeon, a pharmacist." the Probe Shell said, raising its hand to forestall the others. "Your 'lover' and the council got that Jeon involved in a plot to kill the king.

"Instead of letting me take care of the council, you decided that we needed to make sure we knew who all the conspirators were, so our plan was to give the king a sedative so that he would appear dead to his enemies, then sneak him back to the capital and revive him, then see who would try to take control. Unfortunately, one of the captives escaped and we were all knocked out.

"You also made a futile attempt to try and sober up the king so that you could warn him of the plot, but he wouldn't take the pills, even after watching you take them. Nor would he answer your questions about the enemy they face up here.

"After the castle came under attack by Dracosians using some sort of portal, we tried to help defend the castle using molotov cocktails. Some of them came after us and so we hid out and modified your AnySuit there with some salvaged emitters. You tried to dig a pit in front of the portal but to everyone's surprise, that broke their portal.

"When the Dracosian wizard gravely wounded the king's wizard, it seems you were able to use the AnySuit to amp your strength so you could throw those spears at him. He threw one back at you and there was some sort of energy blast that destroyed your Anysuit and knocked you down, but he missed that you had thrown a second spear at him and died as a result.

"Truly, you are a hero who tried to save the king and may have saved the kingdom as well, but now we're suspected of being magicians and somehow pose some sort of threat in a kingdom full of magic. It's been a very trying day, I must say."

It used its IR scanner to check for heat sources again, to see if someone was listening. What sort of idiot admitted a plot against the king like that? Surely they were aware of spies?

“It has.” Gina agreed, “For everyone.” The older girl sighed and managed a wan smile. “Lets get going then, and maybe at the end of this we can all go home.”

[Minkasha]

Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Gina Wright, Doctor Jeon Smythe, 'Melvin' & Panos Lambros

And their gest within Whitebar by the slow movement of a winter shielded magical carriage. To Calamity this world of the supernatural and intrigue was uncomfortably familiar, but to all managing the details and keeping secure their lives has been nothing short of hellish. For a time the stress is a hum, quiet but persistent. From one unfolding to the next the world promised little to no ease and certainly no peace, they would have to keep their eyes wide.

Panos adjusted, or at least made use of his persona and social cunning to scour for more aids in their fight. By his well placed questioning and acting as an ignorant whipped husband he was able to discover that the Marchioness had in her possession magic dampening stones which, when worn or carried, numbed or blocked the effect of magic. He theorized that if worn it may also conceal the magic within Calamity. There were three, keeping one to himself the third wasn't relinquished as he debated on whom to give it to.

For now the conflict had been limited: Calamity, Jeon, and 'Melvin' having banded together in pulling a great ruse over Whitebar's people. Their expectation of a fatal ending for the traitors was falsely fed, while Jeon's cleverness and expertise had the moralistically foul young ladies medically incapacitated and stored for their own departure from the region.

Gina and Calamity had to prepare in secret the supplies needed for Bonroe, and with adept manipulation find the right time along their journey to set him away while the driver was distracted by Panos. Gina knew she had done something good in this world when she saw the ache and relief in Bonroe's face. Whatever vengeance he sought against the Marchioness was resigned when given a second chance to live.

When they parted Bonroe promised to name his first daughter after Gina should he ever have one, the teenager watching the young man ride off into the snow - a life spared after all the death she had seen powerlessly.

Whitemarch, as they all saw, was far simpler. The shorter stonework barrier around the city, its many longhouses, yurts, and busy solid muddy streets showed a life far more merchant-like and social than Whitebar's ingrained militarized culture. Whitemarch didn't carry the burden of being on the frontline, however the occult etched stone structure faintly glowing through its carved lines did reveal that Whitemarch stewarded a teleportation portal.

This structure, two circular surfaces the width of a small home and its four supporting pillars keeping them thirty feet height apart, was going to be their way to Thronehearth. At least it would be their quickest. The watcher of the portal was surprised at the request, fumbling to inform the Marchioness that without pre-arranged approval from Thronehearth he wasn't supposed to. This man served the Empire, not the Marchioness, despite how shaken by her presence he was. Calamity managed to have him send a request, the time for reply by the city's teleportation attendee apparently varied between a few hours till the next day.

It was evening, a darkening sky the atmosphere that Leean and Troa were unintentionally honored with as their presumed corpses were sent away in a second carriage, by Calamity's command.

Sitting together in the back of their carriage, it sat in front of the teleportation portal, a great deal of foot traffic moving around it and her mounted warriors who had ridden on horseback to ensure their protection. They could wait for a reply, seeing if it would come soon, or, find rest for the night. The desire for sleep was apparent on near everyone's faces. Yet Panos wouldn't allow his guard to fall, leering at Melvin and intermittently at Jeon as the hours passed.

Calamity sighed, nibbling on her lower lip until she forced herself to stop. “I shouldn't have those men sitting out there if it could take hours…” The black haired young lady peeked outside the back, pushing open the curved door to see a guard nod, simple people in winter leathers looking in to steal a glance at her before sealing the door shut once more.

“It would be better if we're inside. I want to see the book.” Panos agreed, crossing one leg over another.

“And the third stone Panos.” Calamity began, turned to look at him with a tender yet firm focus, “Needs to be given out.”

“There has to be some sort of shelter for them, fires perhaps to warm them at least,” Jeon agreed, leaning forward. “But what's this business about a 'stone'? What does it do, why is it important?” Calamity scooted and walked over to the back of the carriage, opening the door to yet again meet her men looking at her through the crack. Signaling she'd be right back with a raise of her finger to indicate she'd be back and stepped outside, closing the door behind her.

“Yes,” the Probe asked through its puppet, “What about this stone?”

Did this stone allow, perhaps, a means of getting back? No, not likely, or why would these others still be here, seemingly trapped like they were?

There was also the question of Gina - how much did Jeon tell her about it before the mind wipe? If she told him about it, how should it respond and still respect the protocols?

It fingered the leather messenger bag it carried. An N-Portal was set up in it, so it could use this to explain it was some sort of cutting edge luggage using new technology, and that's why it was able to pull out various bits?

The transfer point on the remote node just received the item from general stores - perhaps it should expand it into a small room with waldo handlers? Should someone get the urge to visit?

“This stone seems important,” 'Melvin' continued as the Probe began work on the remote node. “What is it and why have you not used it before?”

Panos huffed at 'Melvin'. “Simply because we never knew of them before.” he said, in a tone that patronized the robot-boy's intellect. “It protects someone from magic, dampens magic, said one of the help. If it dampens magic I guess it'll also dampen the magic Cal emanates to other spell casters.”

“I think you should take it.” Gina said to Jeon, surfacing from both the blankets and the deep reverie she seemed to have been in since they had turned Bonroe and the two supposedly-dead women free. “The king seems to think I'm on his side already, and to everyone else I'm just some girl right?”

“No, if they see I have one of these stones, they'll be convinced I'm trying to hide my 'powers' from them,” Jeon sighed. “I'm a doctor, that's power enough.”

The Probe gave Jeon a curious glance. “You're forgetting that you have two hearts. The System Health Organization might pass it off as a weird little genetic mutation from living in the belt with poor radiation shielding, but here that makes you actually different, and detectable the moment a healer lays a finger on you. What happens if the king decides to open you up to take a look?”

“So, I need to avoid these healers like the Lady Lyina?” the alien doctor frowned. “It's all catch-22 here - if I don't have a stone, then they'll see I have two hearts. But if I have a stone, they'll wonder what I'm trying to hide.”

Panos lifted a brow incredulously. “Two hearts?” the young man gasped quietly.

“Are you sure you’re not the Doctor?” Gina murmured, a flickering candle of a smile struggling to light up her face. She sighed and leaned forward.

“Just don’t give them an excuse to check your pulse.” she suggested. “As for the stone...just say it's for protection. We did just have to deal with teleporting Dracs back at the castle.”

She shifted round the two men, taking a peek through the carriage curtains to see what Cal was doing. The windows available were in the sides of the carriage, not the back where Cal had left, but she could hear Cal making conversation with the guard nearby. She settled back down and looked once again at Jeon.

“I just thought you might need it if O'doln or someone else starts throwing magic around. I saw him put Alfred to sleep at Catherine's house and that's probably not all he can do.”

The mention of O’doln’s name made Panos shiver as he pulled the third stone. From afar it looked exceptionally mundane. The smooth, flat stone was underhand tossed to Jeon.

“There, it's done. Now who is going to explain to me this strange boy?” Panos waved a hand at 'Melvin'. “What is it exactly that you know and can do?”

The Probe shell glanced over at Jeon, then sighed.

“Where we're from,” it lied, “We've colonized the rest of the system. We have colonies on the Moon, Mars, Venus, and the moons, and good-sized chunks of rock in the asteroid belt. While we were willing to pay the price, there were some unexpected costs.”

“You do understand what I mean by costs, yes?” the Probe shell asked. “Costs are things you didn't realize you were going to have to pay when you bought the product. It's like buying a boat, and then find out you have to get it hauled out of the water to have the barnacles scraped up and the hull repainted, replacing the sails, ropes, paying the sailors salaries, all the provisions you have to buy for everyone?”

“There were some builders who didn't do a good job, which meant some radiation leaks. So Jeon got a second heart and a unique circulatory system. Some people get extra limbs... and then there's the seriously deformed kids. It's seldom talked about. In some of the colonies, if you give birth to a kid whose body is so deformed that they have no chance of a normal life, the parents will take their baby to the nearest airlock and void it.”

Gina, chin in her hands, slumped slightly as she listened, the fingers shifting to quietly cover her mouth. Cruelty was a constant running through all realities, it seemed.

“Some orbital colonies,” 'Melvin' said grimly, “Had their own cloud of tiny, frozen mummies. At least until some bean counter realized what a fortune they had in ready-to-process fertilizer for the hydroponics.”

“Laws were passed,” Jeon interrupted, leaning forward but feeling his cheeks burning in shame.

“Laws were passed, repairs were made - but with colonies still weeks or months of travel apart, it still happens,” the tiny being said, glaring up at Jeon. “Parents seldom get prosecuted. And you know it.”

Jeon opened his mouth, then closed it, leaning back and staring at the floor.

“So that was me,” 'Melvin' said grimly. “I was born deformed. But they tested me and found not only was my brain complete, I was intelligent. So…”

“You're a Plastic,” Jeon interrupted again, pointing a finger at the Probe Shell. “A cyborg.”

“Seventh generation plastiform,” the Probe shell retorted as if stung. “I hate it when the media calls us that.”

It glanced up at the others and sighed. “When I was old enough, surgeons removed my brain from my wreck of a body and put it inside a titanium braincase, which was then hooked up to a trainer body, so I could learn how to walk and hold things without breaking them. Developing human brains work best in bodies that simulate human bodies. As I grew older, they'd swap my braincase into a bigger body, just like if I was growing.”

“I’m...sorry I called you a robot earlier.” Gina said awkwardly.

'Melvin' reached up and pinched its own cheek, pulling the skin a bit.

“I have synthetic skin covering a titanium skeleton and myomer muscles made from poly-acetylene. They work like your muscles do, but where a human heart would be, I have a powerful little generator. Technically, I don't even need to breathe, but it makes talking easier. So if some healer touches me, it's going to be like they're touching a suit of armor.”

The Probe shell smiled grimly.

“But let me make this clear - I'm an engineer who was hired for some research and development work, not some crazy rampaging killer robot like the media likes to show in the horror vids. My body's tough, but not invincible. I've got a short-ranged drug dart system built in for self-defense, rated for non-lethal paralytics only, along with the mandatory required paramedic training. Don't expect me to take on an army with this, the magazine holds twelve darts.”

With luck, that should satisfy them.

“So it was you who knocked O’doln out.” Gina guessed. “And helped Jeon fight all those Dracs, right?”

“I'm an engineer, not really a fighter,” the Probe Shell shrugged dismissively. “I did mod the EverySuit™.”

Panos had from time to time tilted his head while he listened, narrowing his eyes as revelations from 'Melvin' came and went. His body language reeked of distrust, looking between Jeon and the probe. A drag of wood as the door was opened brought in a cold breeze which unnaturally ended swiftly. Calamity came in with a sigh, stopping when she saw tension in the room.

Eyeing Panos and the others she eventually sat down. “We're going to be staying at the Dead Drak Inn. I think it was my...person's favorite to go to.” Attempting to ease tension she thinly smiled at everyone, eyes returning to Panos. He dismissed engagement by looking to his nails. Things fell to silence, then the carriage began to move. The amethyst of Calamity's eyes centered on 'Melvin'.

“We're all together. I never properly thanked you for what you did for myself and the others when I made the mistake of…” She tapped her foot while her face grimaced, hands resting on knees, “Making everyone unconscious.” She looked at Jeon. “And you helped me when I was sick.” The clearing of her throat and anxious glance away playing openly that it wasn't something she'd enjoy to dwell on. Gina noticed, and reached over to squeeze her hand. “Thank you.”

“How strange it is to be thanked for something you can't even remember,” Jeon said uncomfortably. There had been a lot of it. “But you're welcome.”

“I guess the best thing to do now is rest up until the king’s ready to see us.” Gina suggested once the conversation had lulled. “I’m assuming someone will let us know?”

“Most likely a messenger. What about your men?” 'Melvin' asked. “They're not going to be any good if they're not warm, rested and fed.”

“They'll be staying in the inn too.” The carriage moved for five minutes, until stopping in front of a wide set and long longhouse, whose double wooden doors were given grim ornamentation by a hanging effigy of a Draconian. It swung with the winter breeze, covered in a layer of snow which sloughed off as a limb wiggled. In the wind the body shivered as if it were cold, or perhaps going through final death spasms. It was their first sight as they exited their carriage.

“Classy.” Gina muttered under her breath, and hugged her arms against the windblown snow as they filed inside. The cold was cutting, the Half-Elf's enchantment on their garments to keep warm having faded. The bundles of wolf fur were their shelter from the painful elements until inside the Dead Drak Inn. As Calamity, her friends and the guards entered through double doors, those who were drinking in the narrow tables stood up and stared, stepping aside out of the walking path formed by the inn's dining furnishings.

The mere presence of the Marchioness dazzled and awed all fearfully. The many adults staring at the center of power: the black haired teenager. A large fireplace on the right kept heat alive in the homely bar of the inn. Its patrons were diverse, showing among them a variety of skin tones, hats, and hairstyles that showed they were from elsewhere in the empire or nation. It was easy to guess the group consisted of traders by the hanging gold pouches at the waist and by their fine wool, fur, or leather coats. At the end of the room an old man with an ample beard and mustache, near entirely gray, and hunching figure raised a fist into the air and cheered.

“Welcome my Marchioness!”

“Oh!” A guest gasped as Panos took the man's glass, grasped the nearest dark bottle of alcohol and filled the glass to the brim, downing the drink with hard swallows. Gina shot Cal a concerned glance.

“So,” Jeon said softly, forcing a pleasant smile on his face. “Will someone be showing us to some rooms now?”

From the looks of things, the place looked very occupied. If Cal got a room, most likely someone else in down here with them got bumped. Which made him wonder where he'd be sleeping tonight? In a hay loft?

“I might stay here for a bit.” Gina confided in the others. “Maybe some of these guys came from Thronehearth.” Like the rest of them, she looked like she would have much rather gone to her room and flopped straight into bed, but perhaps some of the well-dressed and already well-lubricated traders would be willing to share news from Thronehearth or elsewhere. “I’ll keep my card on so you can hear.”

The Probe ordered the ravens outside to take positions to watch the tavern's openings, while the Probe Shell took scans of the immediate area. The technology of many eras ago were subject to 'Melvin's' scans, so powerful and lording over as the many mundane details of the inn's construction, and patrons' constitutions were calculated in detail. However, in the forefront of the fireplace lay a glowing red rune of energy unable to be calculated by the probe's tools. The distortion like screeching to its sensors, radiation of frequency intangible to its understanding. It seemed connected to the great fire as the flames both released thermal, visual, and the magical distortion of frequency.

If the Probe could scowl, it would be doing it. How could something painted on the fireplace possibly emit so much raw energy? What fed something like that? It was a complete violation of even the Zayans' collective knowledge!

If something like that could be harnessed in their own universe...?

It was going to need to get its hands on whatever passed for a magical library here. Caution warred with its directive to collect all knowledge and against its directive to protect Jeon.

“Let go.” Calamity had to say with a soft voice laced with sternness to avoid wrestling the cut out of Panos' hands. The tension between believed young husband and wife attracting eyes, Gina left to see two desperate people at wits end. Panos was relapsing from his events only a few hours ago, the tormenting brand on his soul, and Calamity doing what she could to keep up appearances as the vice gripping ruler of a war culture.

They've all been through torment and trials, without rest.

Jeon frowned, concerned, while the Probe watched through Melvin's eyes and took another reading of Panos and Calamity to compared with ones it had taken earlier.

Ideally, it would just dart the two of them to ensure they got some rest - but with events as they were, they only way any of them would get some rest would be if it brought them inside. And that wasn't going to happen again anytime soon.

The two mumble words in blurred whispers before Calamity can straighten her back, acting her part, and at first hesitating, before yanking on Panos' arm. Gasping, Panos was pulled away, Calamity showing the pain in her eyes to Gina before she and the majority of guards left. Beyond the bar were two hallways, the left (and longer hallway) was their destination as the inn owner led them.

“Take care guys.” Gina said softly, “Try and get some sleep.” If you can.

The Probe Shell glanced at her and nodded, slightly. Whatever rest could be gotten here would help - but knowing their luck, the King would decide to drop in with his wizard core to take them all into custody at the same time as that Council would show up to take care of Jeon.

Gina straightened and brushed down the front of her gown, looking around as Cal and Panos withdrew to their room. The room was warm, kept so by a crackling hearth fire and the body heat of the dozens of people filling the common area. The flicker of the lamps and candles hurt her tired eyes, and the room smelled of smoke and sweat and tallow. Sighing, she double tapped the card up her sleeve under the pretext of scratching her arm, and summoned a slight spring into her step as she made for the table with the largest gathering of traders, within comfortable earshot of the old man who had loudly hailed Cal. Maybe she could spread a few heroic words about Cal and Jeon while she was at it?

Here we go again.

“Hello gentlemen,” she greeted the eclectic gang of traders as she approached one of the long benches. “I don’t suppose there’s room for one more? You won’t believe the news from Whitebar!”

These men were dapper in comparison to the dreary browns and grays of Whitebar or Whitemarch. The four men were in their forties or fifties, with tan complexions, thicker waisted builds, and plates messed by half eaten meat and bread crumbs.

One, chewing on an herb dangling from his lips perked a brow. “Ah, you are one of the Marchioness' company?”

“Yes sir.” Gina nodded, “For this journey at least.”

“How could we refuse?” The man wore a green flat cap and bronze lined matching tunic, the bronze stretched a little at his belly.

“You're far too kind.” Gina beamed, squeezing herself into the bench and smoothing the long gown under her legs as she sat down. “Has any news come out of Thronehearth today?”

Probability was she would get more information out of them than they would out of her. Another among them rolled his eyes at her question.

“Begil Siam.” Begil introduced himself, slowly munching on a plant whose minty lavender scent reached Gina's nostrils. “Emperor Gorgazin continues to be unhappy about your king's string of failures. There is word of replacement.”

“Oh?” Gina said, her eyebrows raising. Well, that was two new pieces of information - that this emperor Gorgazin was also at Thronehearth (Just when you were getting used to dealing with kings, eh Gina?), and that he might not be very happy to see Kinglos.

Still, O’doln took him there. Either he was desperate or he was anxious to deliver some good news.

So there was a king and an emperor here. How had the Council planned on handling him? Or were they obeying instructions from him?

Another of the company laughed, a sound bitter and disgusted. "Do you support him, miss...?" Mr. Siam asked, reaching for her name.

“Markoni, sir.” Gina smiled, clasping her hands as she deliberately butchered her doppelganger’s surname. The Remonis and the Dutts could thank her later. Her smile dropped as she considered the more delicate question. Siam was one of Cal’s supporters, she was sure - and if the rest were anyone’s they didn’t seem to be the king’s.

“And I’ve always been more impressed with the marchioness, if you’ll forgive me that little treason.” she admitted with a conspiratorial giggle. “Mind you, today our king might have done something right! Have you heard about the battle yet?”

Sorry Jeon, I hope I didn't paint an even bigger target on you trying to save your life.

The merchants looked upon her curiously, while Begil leaned on the table with an elbow, giving a side eye to his fellows. “What battle?”

“Oh good.” Gina smirked, resting her chin on her hands. “No-one's ruined the surprise so I get to tell you.”

Her conversational companion was suddenly dry of interest. “The right thing is to keep him as far from any command as possible. The man's a drunkard.”

“I heard he drinks so much he can't get it going for the queen, they have quiet chambers.” a man among them joked, and they all chuckled.

The Probe, listening in on Gina's smartcard, ran voice stress analysis on the three men. Were they trying to incriminate the girl? Or were they just speaking a bit more honestly due to the drink?

“I wouldn't have thought it either.” Gina said, conceding a shrug before leaning forward once more. “But...well, I'll start at the beginning. The king and his wizard took us all to Whitebar so we could watch him give honour to the marchioness. Only a Drake prisoner escaped from the dungeons halfway through, and he used some kind of...sly, nasty magic to knock out most of the hall. Even the king's wizard was unconscious!”

She paused to gauge interest from the men. They looked on, wanting for each word from the teenager, openly taken aback by what she revealed.

“The Drake opened a portal that let a whole army through, right outside the castle! I thought we were all done for, but the king...he rallied everyone, and the marchioness went straight into the fight to turn the tide. And here's something even crazier - this other man came out of nowhere and closed the portal, cut the Drakes right off! Together they beat them, killed every last one of those ugly lizards!”

Feigning such enthusiasm for slaughter made her feel dirty, but she pressed on, pausing for a breath before lowering her voice.

“Course, it was only after that we found out it was a traitor in the castle who'd let the Drake prisoner out, and given them arcanium as well. You can imagine what the marchioness did to them.”

She made a show of slicing a finger across her throat, and winced.

“Anyway, that's why she's headed to Thronehearth. To tell the emperor about the victory and present the mage who helped her and the king win the battle.”

“Never expected things to get so perilous at the Marchioness' throne city.” a man among the listeners sombrely muttered while the other posh gentleman looked at one another, searching for an answer.

“And so the beloved King of Greywall finally has bravery equal to a girl's.” The men laughed at the merchant's joke.

“He did better than councillor Hedspeth at least.” Gina shrugged, trying to redirect. “I hear he spent the battle crying in his room, with a quill stuck in his arse.”

She made a show of giggling, but the merchant’s thoughts were clearly still on Cal.

“I wonder why she couldn't be queen?” the plump Begil Siam wondered aloud. “Once word spreads of this story she'd have more support than the the king who only decided to behave himself nobly because he was in competition with a young lady.”

And that's the reason the attack took place at the Marchioness, the probe decided. To get her blamed for the attack. And we let the people actually responsible go free.

“He'd be wise to stay friends with her, wouldn't he?” Gina mused in response to Begil's comment. She had no doubt that Cal would make a good leader - but this wasn't her world. Once they enacted change they would be whisked away once again.

One more symbol. One more. She suddenly felt light-headed, all the weariness of the day seeping back into her through the smoky air. She summoned one last smile.

“Anyway, gentlemen, you'll have to excuse me. There's a bed calling my name, and I don't fancy explaining to the marchioness that I slept in and made her late to meet the emperor.”

She rose and shimmied her way off the bench, heading back to the bar to ask the innkeeper which room she should head to.


Doctor Jeon Smythe, & 'Melvin'

Calamity and Panos were taken to their own bedroom, leaving Jeon with 'Melvin' within his own. Fur sat at the sides of each bed as a means to keep the feet warm. Paintings of grizzled hunters looming over dead animals or Draconians adorned the walls. The bed neatly layered with quilts and a fur on top. A small water closet led to a bathroom, there being no sign of a toilet except the pot found under the bed.

When he rested, he was to be very comfortable, even if the decoration was outside of his comfort zone.

“Reminds me of that love hotel on Station Six the S.H.O. had me stay in,” Jeon sighed, looking around the room. “I can only hope the beds here are softer.”

The Probe Shell peeked into the bathroom, then under the beds, drawing forth the chamber pot.

“Makes you wonder if the staff clean these or if they use magic to empty them?” it muttered aloud.

“Self-cleaning chamber pots?” Jeon demanded with a yawn. “Sorry…”

“Don't be, get some sleep,” 'Melvin' said.

“I shouldn't,” the doctor yawned. “I don't suppose you've got any stimulants on you?”

“You're better off sleeping, and you know that.”

“Hmmm?” Jeon retorted confusedly.

It was middle school all over again, the probe sighed.

Jeon nestled himself among the furs and quilts of the bed. Feather pillows, wool mattress, and scratchy linen sheets reinforced to Jeon that he was far away from his world, from all things advanced. He was stuck in the peak of primitive life. Though, as much as the bed may cave, and the materials itch the skin, it was warm and firm enough to give the Zyan a place to rest. Despite all else, its slumbering charms ease Jeon to rest.

The Probe Shell slid the boots off of the good doctor's feet, then tucked him under the blankets and furs before walking over to the other bed, where it sat as it took in the conversation it could hear from Gina's card and the reports of the raven scouts outside.

There were a few possible reasons for the delay.

One, they really did need permission to travel.

Two, forces were being readied to attack the inn. An amateur would strike within the hour of their arrival. A clever person would attack just before dawn.

A dangerous person would have set up the inn as a trap. Idly, it scanned the room and the ground for any suggestion of a trap door or hidey hole. What better way to trap new mages?

Three, they might be marshaling their forces on the other side of the portal. In fears of unknown mages, or of Cal?

It continued to listen while the ravens kept watch. Luckily all things were mundane, no clusters of people coming, no bouts of drunken violence. The primitives’ hovel of civilization was calm.

That was until he picked up the faint gasping sounds coming from Calamity and Panos' room.

The Probe Shell moved immediate to Jeon, peeling back the blankets and giving him a hard shove.

“Wake up, something's going on in Calamity's room,” it told him.

“Did you let me sleep in my clothes?” Jeon complained, groggily. “What's going on?”

“Just let's get over there,” 'Melvin' demanded, running a scan on the hallway before opening the door. The probe hated surprises.


Gina Wright, Doctor Jeon Smythe, & 'Melvin'

Gina left the company of the foreign merchants undisturbed, nods and waves forming their parting gestures to the young lady. By the guidance of the innkeep, she left the small bar front to move further back into the longhouse. The guards Calamity had brought were still standing in the hallway, not yet having turned to bed in any numbers yet. Gina offered them small nods and smiles, still not used to their rigid stoicism. She had the brief, childish temptation to try and make them laugh, like the guards at Buckingham Palace, but she was still glad of their presence. At least she and her friends could relax a little while they were on watch.

As she entered the hallway the door to Jeon's room opened, but instead the robot boy was the one be seen. As 'Melvin' noted, nothing was apparently wrong in the hallway via its scan.

“Oh.” Gina said, rubbing one eye tiredly as she noticed the small robot. Cyborg, she quietly chided herself, remembering their words from earlier. “Hi Melvin. Everything okay?”

“I heard a noise coming from the Marchioness' room,” the Probe Shell told her flatly. “Like someone choking. Jeon's coming, we should check it out.”

Without waiting for a response, 'Melvin' walked down to Calamity's and Panos' door and pounded his fist.

“Hello? Is everything alright?”

Its hand tried the door knob....

Jeon stumbled out of the door.

“Is everything alright?” he demanded crossly. The guards at her door looked annoyed, and grabbed 'Melvin's' wrist before he could touch the door.

“The Marchioness has said she is alright. Do not attempt to enter her room.” the guard chastised

“No...let him in…” Calamity's mildly muffled voice cleared as she opened the room door ajar and saw Melvin, Jeon, and Gina. “And they are welcome too. Keep attention.” Calamity commanded each man while she brought her three fellow travelers.

She is getting good at this command malarky. Gina couldn’t help but note.

Inside they saw Calamity had undressed to the under layer below her simple green adornment - as if she had meant to sleep. Panos had taken off his foppish hat and shoes, hair jostled in a way he hadn't allowed to be seen prior. But most surprising of all was Calamity's left forearm. Tattooed into the skin was the cosmic symbol of Uranus. However, unlike the black and thickly inked symbols on the travelers’ right arms, the lone symbol on the left was quite faded, as if waiting to fill in...or be fulfilled.

“What could have happened...?” Calamity asked with a thinly voice duress, Panos looking at it powerlessly himself.

“When did she become part of the problem?”

"What's all this fuss and bother over a tattoo?" Jeon frowned.

"Clearly, it's important in some way," Melvin shrugged.

Gina laced her hands behind her head, perplexed. Their Note Writer was changing the rules yet again. If it was telling us before to choose between the king and the conspirators, then that means…

“Some of the merchants.” she blurted, in a strained whisper, “They said that the emperor we’re going to see wasn’t happy with the king. They said he’s thinking of having him replaced.” She swallowed. “They said you’ll probably have more support than him after the battle.”

She slid down the wall and dug the heels of her hands into her eyes, stars swimming and bursting in front of her blackened vision.

“Well we pretty much screwed up the Council’s assassination plan for them as soon as you found out the foreign adviser.” she said, raising her head. “And it might take a while for the king to build a reputation back up, but I did my level best to destroy adviser Hedspeth’s back there…”

“His advice to the king was certainly not helping him deal with the problems,” the Probe agreed. “One might think he was encouraging the king's drinking problem so as to better control him. I understand Hedspeth was gravely hurt in his battle with the Draconian wizard before Jeon's stunt with the portal. Any word on how he is doing?”

Gina shrugged. “Still recovering in his room, last I saw of him.”

She tugged at her hair, trying to think past the fog of fatigue. Cal had crushed the defiance out of lady Avery before she sent her to repair ties with the elves, and had enough treacherous blackmail to keep her in her place after that. Hedspeth would hopefully be a laughing stock once news of the battle got out. Two snakes out of the pot, then. Who did that leave?

Charlie...he seemed alright. And Mr Dutt, who if Caroline was to be believed was great at shouting orders but didn’t have many bright ideas of his own. He wouldn’t kick off a war unless the others told him to. She wondered how Dutt’s army compared to Cal’s. There was so much they didn’t know, even if politics was her thing - which it decidedly wasn’t. People, though. People I can deal with.

What about the king? It’s your duty that matters now, that’s what Cal had told him. Your people. Would he stand aside on his own?

“I don't remember, but has anyone tried just talking to the king, letting him know who's arrayed against him?” Jeon asked. “If this battle was to knock the king down, then he has more serious enemies than just the council.”

Calamity's pallid face was testament to her sense of overwhelm. Panos was trying to comfort her by patting her hand, yet his eyes struggled to leave the new faded mark on her arm.

“The fight was against Whitebar. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the king…” Calamity told Jeon while she covered her lips, shutting her eyes tightly. “I can't...take this position...not after what I did to the king. I changed him, I know he'll be a good man for the position because I...made him so.” Calamity whispered with an utterance of disgust. The moral conflict wrote itself across her face.

“I worry it's too little too late, perhaps” Panos hissed while the Uranus symbol captivated him. “Maybe his past is too damning for a changed man to recover?”

“I’m not gonna lie, Cal, you would make a better leader than anyone else I’ve met here.” Gina said aloud, kneading the side of her neck. “But you shouldn’t have to stay here, pretending to be some bloodthirsty psycho. If we can’t keep the king in power tomorrow then it has to be the council. We’ll have…”

She had been going to say, we’ll have done it without bloodshed, but after the battle at Whitebar, that wasn’t strictly true.

“We’ll have done it without a civil war, at least.”

Small steps, small victories. She had learned to content herself with them, but she prayed that they would be enough.

"When you're in charge, everything affects you," Jeon muttered, stiffing a yawn.

The probe shell frowned, but nodded.

“However you fixed the king, there’s still the issue of his relationships with others - the people, the other nobles, the council, other governments, and so on. He's lost their trust - and once that's damaged, it's a lot of work to rebuild it, believe you me.”

“Case in point,” he sighed, shaking his head. “I was talking with some colleagues at the System Health Organization when I abruptly vanished in front of them, only to reappear a moment later having abruptly aged five years. That I might have been able to fix - but I didn't know what had happened to me during those five years!”

Gina, who was still hugging her knees on the floor, looked up at him curiously. “Has this...has this happened to you before?” She sat up straighter. “What did you do?”

"I don't know," Jeon shrugged. "I don't remember."

"Don't look at me, I didn't have anything to do with that," 'Melvin' protested. In fact, his secret masters were very upset, as it suggested there were more powerful beings even they were unaware of.

“Some of my colleagues felt I was holding back, that my refusal to tell them was a betrayal of trust.” Jeon said. “Suddenly, I wasn't getting the plum assignments anymore, I was reassigned to the bottom of the pile to work my way back up again - for something that wasn't even my fault!” The frustration in his voice was bitter.

“So,” he continued after a moment, looking up at them. “Believe me I have some understanding of the problems the king is going to have repairing his reputation.” As dismayed as Calamity and Panos were, the unusual story provoked the teenagers to look at Jeon with discomfort: Gina and Calamity's more of concern, Panos' bewilderment.

“It's worse,” 'Melvin' interrupted. “People are now moving against the king. They've made a commitment, many of them will not accept that the king is now a changed man, no matter how that came to be, and have already taken illegal action against him. They cannot expect clemency from him for their actions, so their only option as they'll see it is to press forward against him.”

“Well first thing’s first.” Gina said, tugging her hair. “We can’t start worrying about what the council will do until we know if the emperor’s even going to keep him on or not.”

She looked back to Jeon, still balanced between curiosity and worry, not quite sure how to articulate the questions spinning in her mind. Panos answered for her, shifting his weight onto each of hips once slowly while he opened his lips, thinking. “That isn't going to happen again...?” the Grecian adolescent inquired, “The disappearing and aging suddenly...?” The young man was so disturbed by what he heard he brought it back to the forefront of conversation.

“I can't answer that,” Jeon sighed, leaning against the wall wearily. “I don't remember anything, and 'they' might not be the same 'whatever' as the last time.”

It became awkwardly quiet in the room. Calamity rubbed at her sleeve, Panos fluttered his lashes, stupefied by Jeon's answer.

“Is your memory ever going to be reliable?” Panos asked with a frustrated hiss while setting his eyes to a random wall. It had been a formed pattern that Calamity scolded the troubled youth each time he acted out, but this time she didn't move. Was she also conveying some of her own worries by remaining unmoving?

“I've been assuming that whoever took me the last time didn't want me to remember whatever it was I did for them during those five years,” Jeon scowled. “Even in my dreams, people were demanding to know where I'd been, it was seriously....”

Melvin frowned in concern. He remembered the nightly brain probes that followed his unusual abduction?

“But this time, it seems I got a bit of the power that burned out my everysuit. I assure you when you get hit by lightning, part of the damage is in memory loss and even seizures,” Jeon added, his voice dripping with definite authority.

Gina bit her lip, and decided to come to Jeon’s rescue. “The sooner we get this done, the sooner we’re out of here, and the better for all of us.” she reasoned. “Jeon, have you still got the zodiac book?”

“There's a book,” he admitted, producing it from one of the pockets in his robes.

She gestured towards the bed for him to lay it out where everyone could see. She doubted that looking at the symbols a second time would offer any new insight, but it was worth a try.

“We shouldn't give up on the king.” Cal said pensively. “He's already in his position, it would cause the least harm to everyone else. Giving the crown to someone else could...go terribly…”

Gina worried at a fingernail with her teeth. Their clue demanded change...for either the king or Hedspeth. And fuck that guy. “Okay,” she offered, “How about this? We check in with the king if we can first, make sure your magic’s still holding up. We make a case for the emperor to keep him in charge. Whatever happens we make it clear that you’re his supporter, not his replacement. And if the emperor isn’t for moving, we can at least give him a steer on who in the council’s sound and who’s too dangerous to put in charge.”

“The problem is, when it's your head on the chopping block,” Jeon mused, “Can you really trust your replacement who says they don't want the job?”

Calamity raised her head, letting the black tresses fall from her young face, looking at Jeon with a new layer of confidence.

“If the king keeps to the kind of man I asked him to be, he wouldn't think that way.”

Panos tapped a foot on the stone floor, the sprawled fur carpet softening the tap. “If we see him return to a belligerent alcoholic then we can expect the worse. If he's who he should be now, he will decline any drinks offered” the young man suggested.

Gina nodded. “That’s as good a way as any to find out quickly. You could ask if he wants a glass of wine pretty much as soon as we walk in.”

“So, now we have to get close to this king and offer him a drink?” Jeon yawned. “Can it wait until morning? I think we could all use some rest, none of these non-emergency emergencies.”

“Well...yeah.” Gina said, pulling her hair over one shoulder. “I wasn’t suggesting we go through the portal and do it now...”

Jeon turned and headed towards the door. Calamity watched him leave but Panos scoffed and walked to the bed, sitting on it with a hand covered yawn. Gina could feel it within herself, see it on the others: the exhaustion of heart and mind. The demands of the adventure have been merciless, with a variety of unforgettable moral and morale conflicts. They needed rest.

'Melvin' appeared steely, much harder to read than the teenagers. Calamity held her hands together, posture weighed by her responsibilities, silent. Gina clambered to her feet and pulled her into a brief, gentle hug.

“He’s right Cal, there’s nothing we can do ‘til morning. Try and sleep.”

She looked over at Panos. She doubted that his newfound tolerance of her had progressed to hugs, so she settled for a tired smile and wished him goodnight before following Jeon out the door.


Gina Wright

Gina only had to take a few steps down the corridor to realise how timely Jeon’s advice had been. She felt like she was floating, the wooden floorboards rolling gently from side to side, as if they were afloat at sea. How many hours had she been awake now, between the last day on Valkure and her first day here? Twenty, twenty four? And almost every one of those hours had been wound tight with stress, constantly vigilant, not daring to let her guard down. She was so exhausted that she felt drunk.

She found her quarters by the numbered plaque, pulled the door closed behind her, and leaned against it for a moment to let the swaying room settle. It was almost homely: a mattress piled high with fur blankets, a hearth fire burning low, a dark wood dresser, woven rush mats laid across the floor to keep her feet off the cold stone. There was also a full bathtub, still steaming away and smelling of some kind of flower oil. It seemed a shame to waste it - tired as she was, she needed to bathe. She keenly missed shampoo, and a razor, and a dozen other things, but a bath was a start.

She scooped up some of the bathwater and scrubbed the makeup off her face, watching it trail away across the tub in powdery ribbons. The water had probably been hot when the bath was filled, but now it was barely lukewarm. She bundled her dress and underdress over her head, her fingers clumsy with tiredness as she fumbled at the cloth buttons, and sank into it anyway.

She closed her eyes, and within a minute there were hallucinatory images sliding back and forth behind her eyelids, as if she was already dreaming. If I stay in here I’ll fall asleep. She desperately wanted to sleep, but she didn’t want to dream. She forced her eyes open with an effort and slid back until she could rest her neck on the lip of the tub. It was uncomfortable enough to keep her from drifting off.

Just like the Council - small steps, small victories.

She hadn’t dared entertain the rest of the thought while she was still with the others. If this doesn’t work...if we don’t get home...then what? What good have I done?

Her mum and dad would never know where she had gone. Her friends in West Hills who still lived would be doomed to be eaten or possessed or worse. And her friends here, who had been dragged along on this godforsaken trip…

Cal nearly got crippled. Panos got raped. And Baka...Vahsi...Nisha...

Gina felt a tear bead at the corner of her eye and trickle down towards her ear. The bathwater sloshed as she scrubbed the trail away and sat up, hugging her knees. The cold raised goosebumps on her skin, but her face was burning.

Being alone with her thoughts was no good for her. The stress of their mission might bring her heartbeat into her throat and a salty taste to the back of her tongue, but at least it kept her from hearing gunshots. For a moment, she desperately wanted to go back out into the corridor and knock on Cal’s door, or Jeon’s. She sighed and shook her head sharply, knowing how strange that would look to the guards. She’d just create more awkward questions, put her friends in more danger.

She occupied herself with the bath, until the water was freezing and her skin was scrubbed half pink. The zodiac marks on her right arm stood out livid - indelible, inescapable. All she could do was rise, dripping across the wooden floor as she retreated to the bed. Small steps. Not even bothering with the towel that had been rolled up next to the bath, she slumped into the bed, rolled the blankets around herself, and let sleep take her.

[Minkasha]

Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Gina Wright, Doctor Jeon Smythe, 'Melvin' & Panos Lambros


The vicissitudes of their kidnapped fates were granted the relieving obscurity of sleep. The darkness was black, swift, and heavy for Gina and Jeon. Though crude, the Dead Drak was at least warm, letting the cold shivers of regret, disgust, and confusion mimic fevers whose shakes jumped from the soul. No one awoke them, eerie for it was counter to any sense of adventurous urgency the party had.


Gina Wright


The young lady was rested, cocooned in a lukewarm puddle of her spent bathwater intermingled within the furs and sheets. Her locks were frizzy due to being tossed among the bed with no regard. A physical restriction eased now that she had been able to sleep in. She had a brief moment of perfect comfort before sensation spread back through her limbs and she realised that the furs around her were vaguely damp - her punishment for exhaustion the previous night. A few moments after that, it occurred to her to wonder why no-one had woken her. She couldn’t tell what time it was; only that judging by the light filtering through the curtains it was daytime once again. Everything was still and quiet, like the morning after a snowfall.

The calm was somehow worse than an alarm. The eeriness of it sent a familiar fizzing sensation rolling through Gina’s stomach, prickling her skin and sharpening her senses. She had been through it so many times that now the fear was almost a comfort; a dark bird settling on her shoulder. We’re okay. she told herself, firmly. Cal’s guards would’ve woken us up if we weren’t. She sat up on one elbow and looked around.

Her room was undisturbed, including the tub. The fire in the hearth had burned down to dusty ashes. Gina bundled herself up in a voluminous bearskin and clutched it to her shoulders as she slid her feet onto the cold floor and padded across the room to investigate the dresser. The drawer held a tarnished hand mirror and a two-sided comb, which had been picked mostly clean apart from a few stubborn strands of someone else’s hair wound around the teeth. The face that greeted Gina in the mirror was pale and tousled. Honestly, she had expected worse - which was just as well when free makeup didn’t seem to be among the inn’s amenities.

She picked up the comb and hesitated. Even something as normal as combing her hair felt wrong now, like the world was trying to lull her into a false sense of security. She had to remind herself that they needed to meet an emperor today before she was able to start brushing her bed hair into submission.

Her clothes lay where she had dropped them the previous night, her city dress made semi-suitable for the snow around Whitebar by the cloak, socks and mittens that Cal had found for her before leaving. As she pulled the scratchy woolen socks up over her knees, Gina cocked an ear and listened for any sounds of activity in the corridor, but everything remained stubbornly, unnervingly tranquil. Huffing, she pulled the cloak round her shoulders and set off to look for the others.

As she stepped out there was the fortuitous sign that the area was undisturbed by any violence or chaos. However the eyes made by the attending guards before Calamity's door didn't promise anything of good character. Their eyes on Gina and the following gloomy sigh promised less than good. Not entirely surprised after the taciturn guards she had come up against at the castle, Gina decided on a question that they would have more difficulty avoiding.

“Are there any instructions from the marchioness?” she asked the stony-faced men either side of Cal and Panos’ door. “Does she want food brought?”

The two men looked at the door and then around the corridor awkwardly. Gina's questions were left unanswered.

Now before the door, Gina could hear the crying from inside. Pained, sobbing, but muffled cries faintly phased through the door. It was all too clear now why the guards were uncomfortable. From what she could hear, Gina could guess it was Panos.

Gina worried at her bottom lip, her empathy pulling her forward while her reason pulled her back. Don't put them in danger.

“Um...” she said, lamely, “I'm sorry...I'll go and get the others ready to leave...”

She turned awkwardly and hurried back up the corridor, towards Jeon's room.


Doctor Jeon Smythe & 'Melvin'


Jeon awoke with no more answers, sleep failing to grant the doctor any lost memories. The thermal heat packed into his sheets was tempting, asking him to stay in bed. The Zyan's brown hair lay in more disarray than he had it the night prior, nothing unusual from usually going to sleep.

Morning always seemed to come so suddenly.

"Room service," he orders, stifling a yawn, "Tea, Yorkshire Gold, hot, two sweetener tabs."

His command was met with silence. For a long moment, he laid there, luxuriating in the warmth, then cleared his throat. "Room service?"

Still, there was no acknowledging beep, or the sound of a cup being filled with tea. Great, they gave him a room with a broken dispenser. Or had he run out of compressed tea tablets? With a groan, feeling the pain from his side, he reluctantly flipped up the sheets and blankets and swung his feet to the floor.

"Hey!" he grumbled, shocked at the coldness. "Don't tell me the floor's broken too?"

The chill was waking him up. Why was he wearing robes in bed? And what kind of room has he checked into?

"What is this, a hobbit-themed love hotel?" he demanded, eyeing the decor. "Medbot? Where are you?"

"I'm afraid your medbot couldn't make it," spoke a sort of familiar voice, amused. "You're such hard work in the morning. Do you remember where you are?"

Jeon stared at the strange boy on the couch, and his memories (or rather the few he still had from yesterday) came flooding back.

"Oh," he sighed, shaking his head. "This wasn't a dream."

"I'm afraid not," 'Melvin' replied. He roused his raven drones, sending half to fly around to see anything unusual that might be going on while doing a scan of the neighboring rooms.

"So, no tea."

"Perhaps later, I think 'room service' hasn't arrived yet."

'Melvin' raven's found the area to be undisturbed. There had been no cruel trap, merely hierarchical power plays and inefficiency among Humans. Or, if there was to be a trap it was not as obvious as disrupting this place of rest and drink.

"Why don't you freshen up while I go to see how the others are doing?" the Probe Shell said, rising.

"Shouldn't that be my job?" Jeon asked dryly.

"You just woke up. Best to wash now while you can, we don't know what tomorrow will bring."

"I... ah, only have this one robe," he admitted, pulling on it.

"Not to worry, I made some arrangements," 'Melvin' said, producing a spare robe and underwear, which he brought over to the bed.

"Thank you," Jeon replied, surprise in his voice.

The bath which Jeon would have available was in a small room to the side but it was undisturbed and chilled after a night's neglect. If he wanted new water, warmed water, it'd have to be called from the inn's staff.

"Strange," The Probe shell said as they examined the bathtub. "After the fireplace, you'd think they'd have some magic glyph here to heat the water?"


Gina Wright, Doctor Jeon Smythe, & 'Melvin'


There was a sudden knock at the door, soft but insistent.

“I'll take care of that,” Melvin replied, leaving Jeon in the bathroom and closing that door behind him.

It was Gina, looking slightly drawn, but dressed and alert as she glanced over her shoulder and slipped through the door. The hinges protested as she pushed it closed behind her.

“Melvin, do you still have the card?” she asked pensively. “I don't think Panos is okay.”

The Probe Shell scanned in Panos and Cal's direction as it produced its SmartCard. “What makes you think that?” it inquired as the results came back. “We wouldn't want to barge in again after last night.”

The others were important to understanding whatever this was they'd been dragged into, it reminded itself. It does not mean you are to be drawn into their domestic situations.

Melvin could see through thermal vision Panos leaning into Calamity's lap as she sat on the bed, holding around her waist as he sobbed. When the SmartCard came forth, the heartbroken crying came clearly through the means of communication.

Gina glanced at Melvin, and swallowed when the robot - plastiform - just stared levelly back at her. She shuffled over to the bed and perched on one corner of it.

“Hey...” she said gently, cupping the Tarot card as if it were made of fragile glass. “I’m sorry, we heard from outside...is there anything we can do to help?”

“Leave 'im be,” Jeon commented from behind the partially opened door bathroom, from which some splashing could be heard. The accent had crept back into his voice. “That there's a man under stress, more than 'is fair share, I'd bet. 'E needs ta get it out. From wot I've seen, you've all got signs of it, and I don'na think it's just from tryin' ta save a king from an assassin or rescuing 'is kingdom. Lord knows that should be enough right there.”

“Gina…” Calamity said with a voice of a whisper almost buried by Panos' muffled sobbing. “He's not well...it's about...what I said…” She spoke cautiously, as if trying to speak in code around Panos. If the young lady heard Jeon speak she didn't respond to it.

Gina laid the card down in her lap, her hands scrunching and unscrunching the material of her dress. Jeon was right, they were all under pressure - and Panos had reached his breaking point. Gina shivered as she remembered the previous night, the unsettling normality of her room that had allowed the previous few days to catch up with her. Poor Panos. How long would it be until her own dam burst, she wondered, and it all came slithering out of her, like ugly black tar.

“Okay.” she replied quietly into the card. “Take your time. I’ll see if I can get an update on our appointment. I’ll put some food in my room in case you want it.”

She tapped the card off, feeling rather wretched.

“Me losin' my memories is a bit of a blessin', I suppose,” Jeon shrugged, using a washcloth to scrub his pits. One thing he'd learned at the orphanage was you never get into a cold tub of water on a winter's day, just stay out and wash the important bits. “I don't remember what I did, so I'm not bollixed m'self fer doin' such a mad fool thing in da first place.”

“We didn’t do this on purpose.” Gina said, more sharply than she had meant to.

“Never said you did,” he sighed. “So how long ago did this all start?”

Gina had to think. The leaping across worlds made some of the days blur into each other. “Not even a week.” she said at last. It felt more like six years. “All we got was that note, telling us to help them, and the zodiac clues. I think this is the last one. Last world, last symbol.”

Jeon frowned, wondering if that meant the two would have to separate. Gina rubbed her eyes, and handed the card back to Melvin.

“Thank you,” the Probe Shell said gravely, slipping the card back into its pocket.

“Come on,” Gina rallied. “Let’s get some breakfast and see if anyone knows when the portal’s going to be ready.”

“I'll be a few minutes yet, although I won't mind iffen you leave the room first,” the doctor sighed. “Do they charge the bill or is it money out of pocket at meals, do you think?”

“I’ll put it on Cal’s tab.” Gina said, with a thin smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She rose from the edge of the bed and started back towards the door. “You coming, Melvin?”

“Certainly,” the Probe Shell answered, following Gina.

It gave the guards in front of Cal's door a look as it closed the door, then headed towards the main room.

“Any idea of what's going on?” 'Melvin' asked. “Outside, that is?”

“Not a clue.” Gina whispered back. “I'm going to ask the owner.”

In the main room, Melvin gave it a careful sweep, including the impossible glyph in the fireplace. Where did it get its power?

Panos' passing cries were lost as the pair entered into the front of the inn. Now that it was morning it was barren of guests, except a few of Calamity's guards who were sitting at the tables looking rather sour. They too did not look comfortable about the circumstances in Calamity and Panos' bedroom.

The aging innkeeper was walking among his tables, the final brown tips of his grey beard and thick hair shining off light from the magically powered firepit which had not weakened in the passing hours.

As he saw the two young people the man gave a cautious smile, waiting for them to speak.

“Morning.” Gina said, plastering on a smile. “Is there any news about the portal? Is it ready yet?”

“Not that we haven't been enjoying your... quaint inn,” 'Melvin' added with a smile. “The beds are very soft and warm. It's just the marchioness is on some rather urgent business.”

The Probe Shell ran a scan on everyone in the room, hoping to spot trouble before it started, including a chemical analysis of what people were eating and how it was affecting them. There was no trouble to find, but disappointment and confirmation that these times even with magic were more primitive. Without electricity or other readily available forms of power the level of mundane functionality was apparent all around the probe. No one had nothing of import, the food made of oatmeal and fruit identical to raspberries. It wouldn't be a surprise if everyone here was subclinically malnourished.

Gina could see the smile on the man was as placed upon as her own: the grieving marquis the elephant in the room. “Ah, you didn't hear that Thronehearth sent a messenger?”

“No.” said Gina, getting a sinking feeling. She crossed her hands behind her and leaned back against an empty table. “When? What did they say?”

The front door opened and Calamity's heavy hearted guards looked up. It was a young man in furs with a hood over his face.

It wasn’t until the door was closed behind him, the beating cold gone in an instant by the stewardship of the fireplace, that he revealed himself. Snow fell onto the wood at his feet and jade colored eyes searched around. Though he was in different clothes, the handsome suitor was unmistakable. He gasped when he saw Gina.

Gina mirrored his surprise. “Alfred?”

He clearly wanted to rush to her, but one of the guards grabbed lazily at the sword upon his table, giving the young man a cautionary hint. Stopped, Alfred stared at Gina with wounded concern.

“Gina, why are you out here?! I heard you left with the marchioness?!” A kind and sturdy hand reached in the young lady's direction.

“Yes, by her order.” Gina explained, hoping that Cal’s implicit authority would end the discussion there. “Are...are you alright? What are you doing here?”

Jeon chose this point to walk out of the corridor that lead to the rooms, noting the soldiers scattered around the room, the aging innkeeper, the man in furs who'd tracked in snow, Gina and 'Melvin'.

“Well, that was refreshing,” he beamed heartily. “I don't suppose there's any tea?”

The Probe Shell sighed, shaking its head.

“What?” the doctor demanded, confused. “There's no tea?”

After Gina's explanation the guards released their swords and returned to sour moods at their tables. Alfred rushed to stand in front of Gina, holding her at her shoulders. The young man looked concerned, and protective. It was as if he wished to come into the scene and save her, taking her away from all her problems. If only he could, Gina thought wryly.

“You shouldn't be here, I am not aware of what happened but when I woke up I heard you were gone.”

“You came all the way here?” Gina asked, still not quite believing it. Alfred, you noble idiot.

“Your father is very worried I am sure, and I am a poor Taylor son if I don't return you to his safety.” Each of his words were intended to be soothing while his fingers held a littler firmer onto Gina's flesh.

Gina tried very hard not to sigh at the poor boy. “You’re too sweet.” she said, letting Alfred’s hands slide down from her shoulders to her wrists. “But you’d be an even worse Taylor son if you made me break lady Sauver’s trust.”

She had to be careful with her words, surrounded as she was by Cal’s loyal retainers. She hoped that a pointed raise of her eyebrows would be enough to remind Alfred of the marchioness’ reputation when it came to those who defied her.

“Can anyone help?!” One of the merchants with tanner skin came rushing down from the hallway, holding his britches up by a sweaty hand, the fifty year old, chubby man searched around the front of the inn desperately.

Forcing a smile to his face, the innkeeper met eyes with the shocked man. “What's the matter?” he asked with a gruff voice.

“The woman...she's about to give birth.”

The innkeeper sighed. “Are you su-” From the back a woman's scream reached to their ears. “Ah shit, she's two weeks early.”

“You, Melvin. You had some medical supplies earlier. Still have them?” Jeon asked, turning towards the Probe Shell.

“I have a kit,” it responded, patting the satchel.

“Fuck! You promised no trouble!” the half-naked man scathingly lashed at the older business owner.

“Recriminations later,” Jeon scolded. “I can help, but I'm going to need hot water, lots of it. Clean cloths, preferably washed recently in hot water.”

Alfred looked on with a leer, the events reinforcing his beliefs as he reached for Gina’s hand. His larger touch held to her palm and fingers with a soft strength.

“Come. We can get teleportation back to our home.”

“I told you, I can’t.” Gina insisted. She glanced back over her shoulder, unnerved by the screaming. She didn’t remember seeing a pregnant woman among the merchants the previous night, but then she had been almost dead on her feet at the time. Either way, midwifery was far outside her range of expertise.

“Listen, lady Sauver’s trip will all be over and done with soon.” she tried to reassure Alfred, turning back to him and nodding as if she believed it. She could feel the zodiac symbols prickling the skin of her forearm. “You’re right though, dad must be so worried…” She chewed her lip for a moment. “Could you do one thing for me? Could you take a message home that I’m safe and I’ll be back as soon as I can?”

Gina bounced on her heels and gave Alfred a shamelessly pleading look. Go home, Alfred. she willed him, silently. Go back to where it’s warm and safe before you get killed trying to protect me.

“So, show me to the patient,” Jeon instructed, now in full doctor mode. The owner of the establishment rushed off down the hallway.

“I'll see what I can get.” the man answered Jeon breathlessly while he walked quickly. Alfred meanwhile was taken by Gina's stare, brushing away hair from her face while her eyes tried to convey her hopes of him leaving.

“Gina, Melvin,” Jeon summoned, then glanced at Alfred. “You best stay here for now.”

“I shall ask the Marchioness if I may stay.” the handsome young man smiled reassuringly. “If I am able, I will then ask someone to give the message, I promise.”

“Thank you.” Gina whispered with a smile - it was all she could do. As soon as Alfred had turned down the longhouse corridor to find Cal's room, however, she caught Melvin's eye, tapped her sleeve where she had kept her Tarot card the previous day, and gave a subtle shake of her head. She hoped that Alfred would have more sense than to try and force his way through Cal's guards.

“I'll, um, help the owner fetch and carry.” she said to Jeon as the alien doctor took charge. Midwifery might not be her speciality, but she hadn't finished asking questions of the innkeeper.

Cal's card beeped, and when she answered, Melvin relayed the message that Alfred was here and Gina said to not grant him permission to stay.

Through the sobbing, the Probe managed to deliver the message; repeating itself twice before Calamity put away her tarot card. As the half naked merchant brought Jeon into his room, Gina followed the older man to a supply closet. The room shelved many sheets, several washing buckets, and long cotton cloths she was quick to tell were used to dry with as the man grabbed them and handed them to her. He was grumbling but kept the content of his complaints to himself.

“You said a messenger came from Thronehearth?” Gina asked as she piled up a tottering armful of sheets and towels. “Who was it? What did they say?”

“His name is Theaobin, and he is somewhere in town. He's holding onto the message from the Emperor…” It looked as if that were all the man wanted to say, speaking with timid fear of the powerful man.

“Theaobin.” Gina repeated, stumbling a little over the unfamiliar name. She adjusted her grip on the towels. “Can you describe him for me? I expect the marchioness will want to meet him as soon as possible.”

“The most expensive man here. You'll see the gems if you even look his way.” A finger tapped on the outer ridge of his ear, “He got some Elf in him, ears a little dagger-like.” And in this fact, the innkeeper held suspicion as he leered cautiously.

“Thank you.” Gina nodded, balancing the last of the towels and sticking her toe round the door to pull it open for them. “I’m sure the marchioness will thank you too.”

Her smile waned as they headed back down the main corridor of the inn. Following the groaning, Gina also had to pass Panos' crying, making the intersection of the hallway a grim and primal place of human suffering. Leaving Panos’ sounds behind the teenager was able to cross the hallway with Alfred not noticing as he spoke with Calamity's guards.

“Can I have three breakfasts brought to my room, please?” Gina asked as she and the owner passed her door. It felt like a sad little gesture, but it was all she had been able to promise. “I’ll take them to the marchioness when she’s ready.”

Together, Gina and Jeon were left to see a half-naked woman in her mid twenties, soaked with sweat and heavily with child. Her alluring makeup was running down her cheeks and staining the pillows as she turned her head side to side with pain. Her legs were spread open, dress hiked to her waist and baring everything to the two new people into the room.

“I was to have a good time and now she's about to spill out her child!” the interrupted and flustered man explained to Jeon. “How long is this going to take?”

“As long as it takes,” the doctor said, glancing over to him. “It could be twenty minutes or two days from now, followed by a week's confinement while she recovers. I take it you're not the father? In that case, I suggest you leave the room.”

Gina blinked. Are you fucking kidding me? She had assumed, perhaps naively, that the older man had been pulling his clothes back on because the woman’s screams had woken him up. No wonder Alfred had sneered.

“Are we in a…?” she blurted, and just tapered off into a groan when she realised that the answer hardly mattered. She looked at Jeon instead. “What do you need me to do?”

“I don't have my MedBot,” Jeon sighed, then glanced to Gina, leaning in closely. “While I'm assisting with the delivery, I need to you keep her calm, but more importantly, alert me to any sudden changes. Even in my time, there remain risks.”

Under the violet brushes of eyeshadow, the woman's eyes opened to see the three people standing in the room, huffing for every breath. Her brown curls matted against her skin.

“Wh-...who are you?” she asked with a tone of fear.

“I am the doctor,” Jeon replied. “We are... travel companions of the marchioness. Well, I say travel companions, but in truth we are in her charge while she delivers us to the Emperor. The young man is my assistant, while the young lady has graciously volunteered to sit by you as you give birth.”

“What I wouldn't do right now for a sterile field generator or even some povidone-iodine antiseptic,” he sighed to Melvin. To his surprise, the Probe Shell fished out two brown plastic bottles.

“Why do you have this in your bag?” he demanded, taking hold of both.

“I believe in being prepared,” the Probe Shell provided.

The merchant had lingered, but with what he might have considered his part of the task done, he left with heavy sighs of disappointment. They couldn't be heard for long as the woman groaned again, the tone ringing with panic.

“WHY NOW?!” she cried, tossing her head back. 'Melvin' could sense her stress was elevating to dangerous levels via her biomarkers.

"Perhaps she needs a sedative," the Probe Shell suggested.

"No, not unless we need to do surgery," Jeon said. "We can't use any of the usual pain blockers, so we're going to have to find something we can use - like an analgesic!"

He smiled. The lecture on the history of medicine in his freshman year came back to him.

"We need morphine," he said, then turned towards the android.

"I got Vicodin," Melvin replied.

"Oh. Well. Yes....?"

Wordlessly, the Probe shell handed over a pill bottle.

Gina dumped her armful of towels at the foot of the bed and moved to get out of Jeon’s way. She hovered for a moment, gnawing her lip. She wasn’t qualified for any of this, and she was also fairly certain that helping this woman give birth had precisely fuck all to do with getting her friends home. And how long would it take? Her own mum had liked to tease that Gina had taken all night before finally deciding to come out. This could take hours...and the king won’t wait hours! But seeing the young lady in such obvious pain and distress…

She knelt down beside the head of the bed and offered the woman her hand to squeeze.

“It’s going to be alright.” she hushed, stroking the woman’s sweat-matted hair away from her forehead. The woman was barely older than Gina herself. Crazy. “You’re going to be fine. I just need you to breathe for me, okay? What’s your name?”

The young woman looked up to the teenager, bewildered. Though the hand wasn't rejected, in fact it was squeezed as another wave of shuddering pain and contractions surged.

"Marelinta..." she named herself, after taking a heaving breath in a moment of bodily calm.

“Hi Marelinta.” Gina replied. “I’m Georgina.”

“Take this,” Jeon said, producing a pill. “It will help with the pain.”

Marelinta's face grimaced at what Jeon produced. It was clear to the doctor that these people weren't used to seeing pills. It must look strange to her.

“What...what is that?” Marelinta turned her eyes back to Gina, more trust given to the girl than the lanky doctor and his 'assistant'.

“It’s medicine.” Gina explained. “You swallow it. It should take some of the pain away.” She looked around. “Melvin, can you get her some water or something to take it with?”

“Of course,” the Probe Shell responded, checking the room for a cup or glass that it might bring the water back in.

Odd that the woman didn't know what a pill was. Jeon's previous tenant, the assassin, held a public job as an apothecary. Certainly his shop was filled with various medicinal herbs and spices. Did these people not use prepared medicines? Or did the people use healers for even minor complaints like headaches and splinters?

This created a whole new dimension on the healer's shock when it casually began pulling out the shattered glass from its face after the battle - someone was taking care of themselves and leaving them out of it. If it was determined they weren't magical, it might lead to a strike among the healers.

Water was found, poured from a glass pitcher into a matching cup. Though Marelinta had fragments of reservations she followed the teenager's suggestion and swallowed down the pill. She flinched as pain freshly jabbed at her, head pulling back.

“Easy, easy.” Gina shushed. Sounding calm and in control was the best thing she could do right now, even though her head was pounding. “It’ll help, I promise. You’re going to be okay.”

This mother to be was in their care, what were they going to do?

“Melvin…” Gina said quietly, touching the boy-construct’s arm as he began to move away to help Jeon at the foot of the bed. “There’s a man in town with a message for Cal. Theaobin. The owner said he’s got pointy ears and he looks rich. We need someone to find him.”

"I see," the Probe Shell frowned. Clearly she wanted it to go find him and bring him back. Of course, the question is why didn't the man stay and deliver the message if it was that important?

Glancing back at Jeon, it sighed and took off the messenger bag. "I've got some basic stuff in here. Do try to stay out of trouble, the last time I let you out of my sight you wound up with your own spear sticking out of you."

"No spears here," the doctor retorted. "Go find that messenger and get back here as soon as you can."

Outside, two of the ravens watching over the inn took flight, already starting their search.

The woman on the bed whimpered from another spasm of pain, and squeezed Gina’s other hand hard enough to make her flinch.

“It’s okay Marelinta, I’m still here.” she said, turning back to the pregnant mother. “Just keep breathing. It’s going to be fine.”

Should she be lying down? Walking around? Crouching? She glanced towards Jeon, looking for some kind of direction.

"Oh yes, perfectly normal this," Jeon said reassuringly, wishing he had a room full of equipment to monitor patient and soon to be born infant. He smiled at Gina. "Try stuffing some pillows and blankets under her, it'll go better if she's on a slight incline."

"Now Marelinta, I'll let you know when it's time to push," he said. "Just try to relax, and this will be all over with soon enough."

[Minkasha]

Gina Wright, Jeon Smythe, & 'Melvin'


A grueling half an hour passed. Gina and Jeon were caught in the drama of Marelinta's dawning into motherhood. Gina pacified the woman's fears, Jeon using a mix of primitive tools and advanced knowledge to help facilitate life's springing. Gina saw the power and pain of a woman's body, Jeon was able to witness the birth of a little girl in this far off and strange place.

The little girl was wiped clean, the screams ended and replaced with cries. The stress of the situation hardly had the time to fade before a new concern arrived: Calamity had summoned them.

Gina was still kneeling beside the bed, finding it difficult not to smile in spite of herself, when the guard appeared. She nodded acknowledgment, hoping that this meant Panos was feeling a little better.

“Is there anyone you want us to get for you?” she asked Marelinta, who was now lying with the newborn cradled against her chest.

“We'll try to check on you and your daughter again shortly,” Jeon added, packing up the supplies he found in Mevlin's bag. “For now, rest and let her nurse when she gets hungry.”

Marelinta didn't allow her eyes to peel off from her new daughter, the child named after the kind teenager at her side: Georgina. (Gina had been on the verge of objecting when she first heard it, but instead she had managed to stutter out an “Oh...wow...th-thank you…” before blushing scarlet and lapsing into silence.) Baby Georgina sank deeper into her mother's breast as the mother held her fondly.

“My cousin Holden…” she answered with a thin voice, tired by the whole ordeal.

Gina nodded and headed for the door, where she found the inn owner hovering, and so relayed the message. The man seemed to know who she was talking about even if Gina didn’t, because he jerked his head down sharply and hurried away.

Led by the resolutely stoic guard, Jeon and Gina retraced the longhouse corridor once more, Gina stopping briefly by her own room to collect the three plates of food that were going cold on the dresser where the innkeeper had left them for her.

“Do you need help with that?” Jeon frowned, turning.

“No, I’ve got it.” Gina reassured him. “I waited tables over summer.”

Her mum had suggested it rather than have her mooch around for the rest of the school holidays, and with her head still full of Austere and Them, Gina had agreed. To think, she had been feeling almost normal again before West Hills, and before this. Now she wasn’t even sure if she could trust normal ever again.

At least I can help. she thought, listening to the baby gurgling quietly in the far room.

With the three plates balanced on her forearms, she shuffled after Jeon and the guard as they entered the Marchioness and Marques' room. Panos was in a wretched position of pain, with his arms crossed over his head, legs bent and thighs held together tightly. Though he was quiet, unconscious, his process in becoming so was clearly a journey of terrible emotional turmoil and lassitude. Gina quickly backed into the door and pushed it shut behind them, so that the guards wouldn’t see or hear any more than they had to. Calamity had her arms crossed below her chest, glancing between Panos and the other two, dismayed.

“I don't know what to do...he told me more of what...happened.” A hand covered her mouth, the black-haired young lady reeling from more visceral details of the brutal act.

The warm, fuzzy feeling left in Gina’s stomach by the memory of Marelinta and her tiny baby fizzled. Her face fell with it, and she awkwardly slid the plates down onto a table so she could cross the room with free hands. “Oh I’m sorry Cal...” she said gently, cupping her hands around her friend’s upper arms. “I’m happy he trusts you enough to talk, but...fuck, that must have been hard...”

She glanced over at Panos, thinking that the young prince probably wouldn’t want to wake up to the rest of them seeing him like this, and noticed that he hadn’t stirred.

“You didn’t...you didn’t voice him, did you?”

“'Voice'?” Jeon interjected, confused. “What's this 'voice' thing?”

The question provoked a stressed and irate glance from Calamity at the doctor, but it was quickly withdrawn as she sighed and rubbed her forehead.

“I did.” she admitted to Gina, “Just...so he would rest. For some reason I had to do it twice...” The touches of weariness came from more than being Panos’ emotional support. “I don’t know what to do. He can’t continue anymore, not like this. If...I made him forget would he be better off?” Tears filled her eyes and she met Gina’s, “I don’t want to see another person who is reliant on us die.”

It was her last words that hit Gina the hardest. Neither of them wanted Panos to become another Baka, another Vahsi, another Nisha. Blood started to thud in Gina's temples. Cal's expression put immense pressure upon the United Kingdom girl, what was the right course of action?

“I…” Gina began, and immediately faltered. Yes, he probably would be better off. No, it wouldn't be right. She rubbed the back of her neck, uncomfortably, and turned back to look at the sleeping Panos. Then she looked at Cal. She'd be taking a risk too.

“I feel like we should ask him if he wants it…” Gina said at last. “And maybe me and Jeon should stay away; he'd probably hate knowing that we know...but Melvin needs to be close by, so he can stop you if you're going to hurt yourself...and if it works he should maybe take one of the stones, in case O'doln or someone else can tell.”

Mind you, she thought ruefully, if O'doln could sense the effect of Cal's magic on people, then they might be in for a whole world of pain when they got to Thronehearth.

She was hurt before? How was he supposed to treat anyone if they keep the information away from him?

Calamity looked to Gina with wounded incredulity.

“Would he say yes? He could hate me for asking.” The multiverse-leaping princess looked to the prince of their group, “But I will try. I have to.” The adolescent features crumbled into timid fear, yet the eyes held strength and a will to follow through.

Gina just wanted to hug her friend and not let go. “Listen, Cal...” she said quietly, “You know him best out of all of us. Much better than me. Trust your instincts on this one. I know you’ll do the right thing by him either way.”

“When this is over I want to forget it all…” The young lady gave a closed lipped smile somberly to Gina, “Or most of it.”

Amethyst eyes met Jeon's as she glanced at the doctor. “Oh, right. Speaking of memory...I have magic from my father's bloodline. I can...make people do things if I focus on my words.” There was no pride or hubris in what she shared. In fact, the truth of it made her look unsettled as she said it out loud that directly.

“So…” Jeon drawled slowly, “You could already use magic before winding up here?” Did that mean she could also work magic in his world?

“I see,” he said, eyeing her with a bit more respect. “The fact you do this reluctantly says volumes about your character. Is it possible that someone like myself can learn to do these things?”

Calamity looked back to Panos and shook her head.

“It is inherited from Fey blood.” The teenaged young lady walked over to the bed where the young lad lay in the slumber induced by her power. Kneeling at the bedside, black hair rested over her shoulders as her forehead laid down on the bedside.

“Stay close...please.” She asked as she waited for the two of them to leave.

“We will.” Gina promised, beckoning Jeon to follow. “Shout if you need us.”

Whether she chose to ask Panos or to keep him in comforting ignorance while she charmed him, Gina trusted her friend to do what was best.

Jeon followed Gina outside the door, closing it behind him then giving the guards a pleasant nod.

“Your friend is likely to still be in the common room,” he said. “It may be better if we wait in my room - with the door open, of course.”

“Sure.” Gina nodded gravely, the third breakfast slowly going cold in her hands.

“Let me help you with that,” Jeon said, offering his hands. This time Gina let him take it.

Once inside the room, Jeon put the things down on the table, then glanced around. “Where I'm from, the walls and furniture is what you would call 'bare', no decoration. The room is painted with holograms, allowing you to change the look of the walls and furniture in a moment. But this is an actual room....”

He paused. “This looks incredibly cluttered.”

Gina sat down and took a bite, wondering at the alien world she was getting only the tiniest glimpse into.

“Try not to talk about holograms and stuff while we’re here.” she suggested, breaking open the small loaf on the side of the plate and offering half to Jeon. “You’ll confuse people.”

“A little confusion now and then can lead to some interesting ideas,” Jeon replied, taking the offered bread.


'Melvin'


The robot in boy form was not able to find Theaobin quickly. As much as a wealthy dressed man might have stood out from the many in brown, fur rimmed winter garments, he wasn't spotted at all. The ravens saw only a mix of yurt and long house snow covered buildings with many people on foot about the town.

What may not have helped was 'Melvin' walking freely in thin robes and showing no distress about being in the snow. He earned a few eyebrow raises and no answers from the community. That was until he walked up to a girl about the age 'Melvin's' disguise was.

A pale girl with straw colored blonde hair and darker green eyes, 'Melvin' saw from her heating body and smile that she was experiencing attraction for its current form. Wearing a woven, closed lid basket, she looked to be carrying trade goods.

"How are you not cold?" the young lady asked Melvin while looking him up and down.
"A wizard cast some sort of warming spell on me a while ago," the Probe Shell says with a shoulder shrug. "Have you seen a tall man walking around in fine leathers?" The girl huffed.

"There's a lot of those" The annoyance couldn't have been more obvious, and yet she extended a hand. "You didn't tell me your name. Where are you from?" Again the green eyes looked over the boy, her heart rate subtly increasing while she continued to speak with him.

The Probe arched the puppet's right eyebrow, but didn't take her hand.

"The inn," 'Melvin' said, bowing its head slightly as he took a slow half-step back. "Before they sent me out, I was helping to deliver a baby and I've not had time to wash my hands first."

She did not offer her own name, despite recognizing that it was a stranger here. Clearly she expected the Probe Shell to recognize her. That marked her as important - or arrogant. Possibly (probably) both.

"They'll probably send the guards after me if I don't return soon," it added, backing away as it scanned the immediate area while the scout ravens over head wheeling gave 'Melvin' a literal bird-eye's view. If it darted towards one of the other inns at an angle away from the garish one, it would probably confuse anyone trying to find it.

"Please excuse me," the Probe Shell added with a slight bob of its head, an escape route mapped out in its head as it dashed off to the left. The girl followed. ‘Melvin’, through the bird contraptions, did see another gathering place - another longhouse where people entered many numbers. This one drew more than the Dead Drac.

“You won’t get in trouble if you’re with me!” She suggested while moving at his pace, “I want to know your name. What is it?”

'Melvin' stopped suddenly, frowning as it scanned the girl then the surrounding area.

"Why?" it asked, studying her curiously. "Why won't I get in trouble if I am with you? You do not know me, so how can you be sure? You have no idea who I am or why I am here - or do you?"

It reached out in an attempt to grab her wrist.

"We were kidnapped from our separate realities and brought here to occupy these bodies. Did you kill us in our own realm to bring us here? Are those souls that belong to these bodies dead now as well as a result of your meddling?"

"You have plunged us in the middle of a coup and a war," It went on, looming over her, "none of us is walking away unscathed by this. One of us is losing their mind as we speak, and I still bear injuries no healer of this world could even comprehend let alone heal. You declare us "mage born" when you know we have no magic and seek to separate us. Do you enjoy our suffering? Are we merely entertainment for you? Playthings?? Rats in a maze?"

'Melvin' paused, its tone implacable as it stared at her.

"Identify your species and your intentions. You will answer."

"You will answer."

The young girl looked horrified the further 'Melvin' went on questioning her. She looked bewildered, as if she struggled to understand all that had been said to her. A few passing adults were starting to glance their way as they walked on over snow crushed paths.

The Probe stared. She was well dressed and sure of herself, it was possible she was the daughter of some high ranking member of government. But the others had easily been moved into new bodies in this dimension, it had to face the possibility that nobody was as they seemed.

Silently, the Probe Shell spun on its heel and walked towards the longhouse. It may only be fooling a girl, or an intelligence who could do the impossible - and there was no way of telling unless it gave itself away. The girl didn't follow, 'Melvin' walking to a new business establishment, one which lacked any grotesque racially motivated murder scene in front of it. Instead hung a neat circular sign with a white ring and at its center a white bear head looking upright and to the right. Below dangling from this sign was another which said 'White Bear Inn'. Entering the White Bear Inn the robot wasn't the only one to do so as several men were entering just as it was. There were more merchants of several skin tones who were drinking in nice circular wooden tables. A few were gambling with games of dice, but there was a conduct to everything and a liveliness which the Dead Drak lacked. This in lacked a magical symbol before its fireplace, the inn keeper tossing in wood as 'Melvin' studied the area.

Among the gamblers the robot saw the Elf-blooded man. He was gambling and sipping a drink. His red hair was kept short except a thick braid of hair on the right side of his face. The man's nose was pierced with a silver ring, green eyes and bronzed skin brought out the color of his jade square studs. He was wearing robes with rectangular cuts of various following spiraling lines around and down the body. His ears did have a noticeable point to the outer cartilage and those who gambled with him did so with tense and timid expressions even as Theaobin smiled.

The Probe Shell did a scan of him, then strode up to the table.

"My lord," he bowed. "My lady the Marchioness was told you had a message for her. Would you please accompany me to see her?" Theaobin did not bother to give any expression or gesture of acknowledgement to 'Melvin', tossing the die again and smirking with amusement.

"Where is her seal? You haven't presented it to me. You aren't the first child to play pretend errand boy." He said cooly, tilting his head while watching another man at the table take the gambling risk.

And messengers were expected to wait.

The Probe Shell shrugged.

"I'll let her know that you are occupied," 'Melvin' stated flatly, unconcerned. It took a couple of steps back, then headed towards the door as it instructed one of the crows outside as to who the target was and orders to follow them.

It compared its scan of Theaobin with that of the girl. Perhaps they were related? It would not be surprising with how events had turned out previously. Theobin's physiology revealed that his proportions were slightly longer yet symmetrical. To the naked eye it would be imperceptible, but it was also shared that this man wasn't entirely Human.

The Probe began running comparisons on all the beings it had scanned previously, looking for a match. Perhaps if it could find one, it would know what it was dealing with, here.

'Melvin' also kept a wary eye out for the girl it had confronted. It doubted even its questions would thwart her interest. Not seeing her, however, it decided to take an evasive route back to the inn.



Gina Wright, Jeon Smythe, & 'Melvin'



If Gina was wanting a quick solution to the inner turmoil of Panos, she wasn't getting it. Gina and the others were left to wait. Ten minutes of awkward silence as a girl from early twenty first century Earth waited with an alien doctor, trying to swallow down food she wasn’t hungry for and listening tensely for some signal from Cal’s room. There wasn't much to talk about between the teenager and man more than twice her age and technological revolutions - at least, not when there was a chance the rest of the inn could overhear them. When the robot-in-boy guise returned, Gina was almost grateful for the distraction.

“Did you find him?” she asked Melvin.

"He brushed me off," the Probe shell replied. "As I didn't come bearing the Marchioness' seal, he didn't believe I was sent on her behalf."

However there was a pounding on the door frame. "Is there a little bastard in here?" A man's voice angrily asked.

Gina flinched, shocked by how violently the sudden noise set her heart racing. She swallowed and gritted her teeth.

Melvin glared at Jeon.

"I was gone a half hour! What did you do?" it whispered furiously.

"Me?" Jeon denied, shaking his head. "I've been sitting here with Gina! What did you do?"

"I'm looking for the dead lad who thought it smart enough to harangue my daughter! Get out here, now." The man's voice through the ajar door sounded as if there was no room for compromise.

"Oh. Sorry Jeon, I think this one is for me," 'Melvin' smiled. Pockets formed within the synthetic flesh of the probe shell, filling with warmed preserved blood. This was probably going to get messy.

"Get out of sight," the doctor scowled, gesturing for Melvin to back away from the door. "I'll deal with this, but with today's surprises, I want to make it clear that whatever happens, neither one of you is ta kill this man, even by accident. Is that understood?"

Gina glanced at Melvin, who seemed unconcerned, and hurriedly tiptoed to the wall near the door - out of sight from the entrance, but close enough to hear and react if needed.

Striding over to the ajar door, Jeon firmly planted his leg behind it before pulling it open slightly.

"Shut it!" he ordered. "That's the Marchioness' guards down the hall and the last thing she needs right now is some damn fool bellowin' his head off!"

"Now what's brought you screamin' bloody murder on my doorstep?" he demanded. "You're seekin' some boy for the high crime of talking to a girl, did I hear you right? What did he say to her?"

Jeon was made painfully aware that the guards he had tried to threaten this man with apparently gave him their blessing, for they were standing beside him, appearing as angry as he was.

The man in question was six feet tall, graying in middle age with whips of blonde remaining held back by a copper hair ring. He was fit, clearly a very dangerous and well trained warrior. Faded scars covered his face and the exposed skin Jeon could see of the neck.

"This is Stror, show your respects!" Though Jeon had gotten some social clout from his 'heroic' actions in the prior battle, it was still challenged by those who knew this warrior before him. Even Calamity's men held him highly. He helped himself in by pushing open the door, the thin doctor feeling the door stab into his foot and then dislodge his position to force him a step back. The guards only continued to watch with crossed arms.

Gina glanced at the opened door and hoped for once that Cal and Panos wouldn’t pick this moment to emerge from their room. Stror seemed like another ally of the marchioness who they would need to pretend to know - maybe even a useful one if they could only calm him down. But there seemed to be little chance of that in the moment. He was a man made fully in the image of Calamity Sauver: dark with rage and violence.

"Who are you and where's the lad? Is he your son? Did you raise him to be such a pissant?" the man called Stror challenged, growling through rough, cracked, teeth.

"His name's Jeon and he's a hero too," 'Melvin' said, stepping out before Jeon could respond, hanging his head. "He closed a Draconian portal, cutting off their forces who were attacking the Marchioness, killed their wizard. He's still a bit hazy on details, the wizard struck at him with lightning just before he got run through. Amazing he survived, really."

"He rescued me at grave risk to himself and made me his apprentice. When I was trying to get him help after the battle, a man threw a glass at my face and I had several large shards stuck in it. Ask them if you don't believe me," he said, waving his hand at the guards beside hm

"Melvin...." Jeon began.

"It's alright master," 'Melvin' replied. "When I was running the errand for the Marchioness, there was a girl who I asked her if she'd seen Lord Theaobin. She was cross with me, I asked her to excuse me but she kept running after me, demanding to know my name although she never told me hers."

'Melvin' paused, looking up at Stror. "I was afraid, sir. I didn't know why she was following me, others have been plotting against the Marchioness, I didn't know what to do."

The Probe Shell closed its eyes, turning its head to offer up its right cheek as it tensed up for a punch to its face. It was a pose it had seen a few times watching over Jeon in the orphanage.

Gina held her breath, her back against the cold wall. Even though Melvin seemed to know what he was doing - He’s a cyborg, right? He probably won’t even feel it? - her mind was still racing for something, anything that would halt Stror before he beat what looked like a ten-year-old boy to a bloody pulp.

Sir, surely you wouldn’t strike this boy in front of a woman? Yeah, right. At best she’d commute Melvin’s sentence to being beaten up outside instead. Gina chewed her tongue, fists balled against the wall behind her back.

She didn’t look at Stror. Everyone else was watching Stror. She watched the guards instead, and the corridor behind them. She told herself that she was keeping lookout. The warrior hero was calculating through seething anger what to do to 'Melvin', knuckles cracking while he closed and open his hands slowly.

"You laid your hands on my daughter." he bent down and grasped the boy by the throat to lift him with the strength pure and undiluted by comfortable society. Stror looked to be a man who knew winter, and war: he knew suffering. He squeezed while he held on easily. The guards glared at the boy, only one of them looking insecure at the scene before him. "I hear you're one of our Marchioness' guests. You're going to beg for her apology." He smirked, spitefully enjoying his suggestion. 'Melvin's' feet were left to dangle many feet from the air.

"No," the Probe Shell managed to rasp out, weakly grasping the man's wrist to pull itself up. It had to be careful - if it over-exerted itself, the man's wrist would be crushed - and that would be harder to ignore than when it pulled the glass out of its face.

"Do this, and know no one will dare approach your daughter ever again," Jeon warned heatedly. "He was doing his duty, that's what they'll remember, and was beaten to a pulp for it. Does your daughter need suffer for your pride?"

Gina swallowed as Jeon and Melvin pretended to be suitably horrified by getting the bloodthirsty marchioness involved. It was as good a chance as they were likely to get.

“I’ll...inform the marchioness, sir.” she quavered, in a small voice. Better me then you. She practically fled the room, pausing briefly in the corridor outside to touch the shoulder of the one guard who had looked uneasy.

“Help me.” she pleaded him in a whisper. “I’m new to the borders, who’s Stror to the marchioness?”

The man frowned as the situation continued, dancing his eyes between the conflict and Gina.

"Stror is our greatest war veteran, he fought with the Marchioness' parents and lived!" The jolt of pride pulled him to look back at the man as he held the boy longer. Gina pressed her palms together and mouthed Thankyou! before running to Cal’s door. Before she knocked she put her ear to the wood, not wanting to distract Cal if she was still halfway through the process. Though unable to hear words, she did catch the sounds of her friend crying.

Stror coughed, tossing the boy without focus which sent 'Melvin to impact against the door and roll on the ground as the treasured veteran seized into a fit and gripped against the doorframe for support. Outside Gina paused again, flinching at the thump of Melvin hitting the floor. Jeon’s a doctor. she remembered. Maybe that would be enough to get back on the dangerous veteran’s good side.

"You!" Jeon ordered, pointing to the guard on Stror's right as he strode forward, "Brace him in case he falls! And you, go back and guard the Marchioness' door. Someone may used this as an opportunity to attack."

While the guards were antagonistic against Jeon they fell in line to his words now. Gina saw a man looking down at her as he took post at his leader's door. He shook his head gravely as Gina put her hand on the door handle, lips drawn into a tight line. Maybe he had heard the crying too. Hopefully he would think it was just Panos. Gina could only nod in silent acquiescence and step back. Behind her, Jeon had hurried to Stror’s side.

"Stror, can you hear me?" he demanded, checking the warrior's pupils. "Do you know if he's had these before?"

The 'Probe Shell' rose, scanning Stror in the doorway, looking for abnormalities in his brain and body. Stror's dilated eyes kept to the ground, his fit unrelenting as the coughing increased its jagged utterance. The brawny young man holding him at he shoulders looked at Jeon. "Ever since The Battle of the Eastern Hoard he's had this..." He trailed with the memory or understanding being painful to recall. Though his manner of speech suggested it was a well known event, something Jeon should already know.

"Well?" Jeon snapped, staring at the confusion and doubt in the guard's eyes. "I do a lot of traveling in my line of work, so I'm often the last to hear about things. Everyone I meet on my return is talking about what happened yesterday, not last month. What happened at that battle?"

'Melvin' could see the man had terrible scar tissue riddling his lungs. He had been horribly poisoned by an air toxin at some point in his life as the scars riddled the trachea, bronchi and to the more narrow channels.

"It's his lungs," Melvin said.

"Very good," Jeon replied. "I'm going to need a table, a large bowl, a pitcher of hot water, and a towel. I think the dry air is affecting him as he's been over-exerting himself."

Stror's strong hands pawed at the doorframe and held tight. The great power and command of his figure and presence were equal the visible pain cull his capability. His admirers stood stupefied.

"This is its worst!" One of the men exclaimed while watching the aging blonde shake while trying to delay his next cough, water in the eyes.

"Does your cough come up bloody at times?" Jeon asked, concerned. Just what was the man exposed to out on that battlefield?

"What are you doing? Help him and get a fucking table!" The guard at the door yelled at the group paused next to their war hero. They quickly scurried.

"And tea! With honey!" he yelled after them. "The heat should help you take in the moisture, while the honey will coat and soothe."

“Towels.” Gina piped up from outside. “Right.” She hurried off in the direction of her own room.

"Yes, thank you!" Jeon called out after Gina.

As soon as she was inside and out of sight of the hall, she slid the edge of Melvin’s tarot card out of her sleeve and tapped it.

“Cal?” she whispered as she tucked the card away again, stooping beside the bath and gathering up the towel she had neglected to use the previous night. “Are you okay? What’s happened?” Calamity's crying came out clearer as she responded with her end of the line.

"I tried to talk with Panos, telling him what we could do because of what happened to him...He tried to kill himself by biting his tongue! I had to command him to stop and...and things got out of control..."

Gina felt her head starting to spin. “How?” she whispered. “Are you...is he...?” If she was worried of his death, for now, she felt her innate connection to Panos. With jagged recollection Vashi's and Baka's deaths had come with a terrible severing she did not feel with who she was concerned for.

"He is okay, he punctured it a little..." Calamity was panting, her heavier breathing faint but noticeable.

Gina licked her lips, clutching the towels to her chest. "Can you both still meet the king?"

The Probe shell scowled as it listened in. Good thing it was winter, Panos could suckle on an icicle while his tongue healed from its puncture, but maybe a styptic swab would be better to stop the bleeding. The pain would be sharp but fade quickly.

"I will have to. I don't know what will happen when he wakes up. I don't know what I did...exactly." The guilt and pain color her voice to becoming a vivid warning of her desire to weep.

Gina’s insides crumpled in sympathy. “We’ll work something out.” she said, as reassuringly as she could manage. “I’m sure Melvin can help.”

She glanced at the door.

“I need to go. We’re helping Stror at the moment, he’s a war hero who knew your parents. If you can’t put your marchioness face on right now, just tell the guard through the door that you want to see us in your room, okay?”

She bit her lip, tapped off the card and scurried for the door.

"I need hot water and a basin," 'Melvin' told the innkeeper. "It's an emergency."

Meanwhile Jeon saw a narrow dining table presented but Stror was in the way, gripping the wood of the doorframe to the point some cracked under his power. His leaking eyes glared at Jeon, nodding his head yes. The men set the table down in the middle of the hallway, looking at one another and unsure how to proceed as it seemed none of them wanted to move their war hero.

"He'll need a chair. Where's that basin and the hot water?" Jeon growled.

'Melvin' could see the older man was already hurrying for such requests by the provoking of Calamity's guard. He was already pouring hot water from the large, magically empowered, fireplace into a metal container with handles. The guard took hold, ignoring the patrons staring from their tables.

With a heavy clank a man at the summoned table ran to one of the rooms and grabbed from it a chair. Another rushed in to bring the tea to Jeon, the hallway becoming a rapid makeshift care center. It had clear line of vision to those in the front of the longhouse, people unable to help but stare.

“Towels.” Gina said briskly as she reappeared, dropping an armful of them on the table next to Jeon.

"Thank you," Jeon smiled, talking the tea.

"Drink the tea slowly," Jeon ordered Stror. "It'll help to open up those lungs and to ease your cough. Then when you're ready, we'll move you to the table and let you breathe in steam for a bit."

"Melvin, do you have any eucalyptus or peppermint oil in your kit?" the doctor demanded.

"I have both," it replied. "Are you sure you don't want anything... stronger?"

"Let's start this carefully and elevate as needed," Jeon responded as the requested oils appeared from the medical kit. Though there was pride to wrestle with, the powerful veteran did take the tea in hand. However the fits were unforgiving, making his hand shaky and instead of a gradual swallowing he gulped the hot fluids. The guards nearby gasped as he fell to a knee against the doorframe and sucked in air.

"Take it easy," Jeon said, coming down to help him up. "I don't suppose if any of you know if there's a sauna here in this village?"

For a much of such power, he was reduced to horrid physical weakness by the cruelties of a war unseen by the Multiverse Travelers. His hacks lessened to quiet huffs and spouts of air but he needed more or the agitation would build into searing coughing once more.

"Let's get him over to the table," Jeon told the guard holding onto the other side. "We need to ease his breathing more. Ready?"

[Minkasha]

Jeon Smythe, & 'Melvin'

The men around did not look eager, staring at the man half raised to standing. Stror glared at everyone around him, shoving Jeon off him. "I could break every damn bone in your body, I don't need your mothering." He scoffed, dropping the tea cup onto the ground and trying to stand upright all on his own. His posture shaking despite his best efforts.

A man reached out to grab his shoulder, trying to guide him to the table but it was met with a shove as well. "Ack!" The stressful breathing cut him internally and a pained face showed despite himself. He was like a cornered animal, but he wasn't running away either. The man was in need but too proud to accept it.

If he was in his time and place, they could give him medicines to help stabilize him while new lungs were cloned for him, then put him on a bypass machine during surgery. Jeon scowled, his fists balling up in frustration. No organ cloning or bypass machines here.

He waved 'Melvin' over. "Without my med.... well, I feel naked without it. I don't suppose you've got anything in your bag to treat this?" he asked softly.

The probe shell glanced at the stubborn warrior and sighed. It could bring the hero inside its surgery and treat him there, but an instant miracle would surely be noticed. Or it could prepare a 5-day nanite treatment course, but the man would likely take them all at once. And once again it would be noticed. And if he got noticed, they would be more exposed and others would become more determined to make them into 'wizards'.

'Melvin' shook its head, speaking a little louder so he could be heard. "The monks would make a herbal tea - mint, magnolia flower, and eucalyptus. But if your potassium was low...."

"Yes. If he has a lot of attacks like this, it would be low. Fruits and veggies would help, but it's winter here."

"They may have dates or raisins," 'Melvin' replied, then glanced up at the doctor. "Is that the right answer?"

"Yes. Even pickled beets would help him if they don't have fresh tucked away someplace. Think you could make up the monk's tea blend?"

"Yes, master."

The fall from his grace was becoming a burden Stror couldn't continue for his body eased but also slumped over. Again the soldiers tried to move him, but this time were able to as he was without strength to fight.

The lost face behind helmets stared at Jeon.

"I...think he liked that tea..." One of the mumbled, rushing off in the direction of the innkeeper.

"I think what he needs is to be someplace that's warmer, more humid," the Probe Shell said. "Or failing that, a sauna."

"I must confess, I'm rather curious as to why healers were unable to treat his lung injuries?" Jeon asks softly. "We know they do internal injuries, so why is this different?"

"Too much damage?"

"Possible, but why can't they work in tandem or a series of treatments?"

"Perhaps they're doing that now?"

"But why here? This is a terrible place for someone with lungs in that sort of condition."

"Perhaps he likes it here?"

Jeon paused, then shrugged.

"Well, there is that. But warmth and some humidity in the air would do him wonders between such treatments."

The remaining men, now having lowered their war hero down onto the table looked at Jeon and Melvin with offended agitation. The candidness of their conversation wasn't welcomed by those who they were helping.

"This is his homeland. He didn't sacrifice himself to that magic to live elsewhere, sir" One of them told Jeon, holding back much anger in the process.

Jeon paused, looking over at the man who spoke, then scan the rest of the room before returning to the speaker.

"Sir," he said deliberately, "I am a doctor...."

"Apothecary," interjected 'Melvin'.

"Apothecary then," Jeon continued smoothly, shooting the 'boy' an irritating glance. "It is my profession to treat my patients and to do what I can to end or at least reduce their suffering. And it's clear to me that this man is, in fact, suffering as a result of his injuries. Do you deny this? Do any of you here deny this?"

He let his eyes sweep the room.

"We can see that Stror is a proud, noble warrior, and what the magic has done to his body. What my apprentice and myself are discussing is the best possible care for Stror," he stated, bowing his head at the man.

"Forgive me if I am wrong, but I hope that you feel as I do that for all his sacrifices, whatever relief that can be provided for him, should be considered?"

This approach paralyzed much of the friction, the soldiers shifting from hip to hip. Stror laid on the table with a grimly frustrated expression to his face and restless body language.

"I did not give my all to lose my homeland, do what you can and be done with it." he scoffed, wielding his pride as firmly as the situation allowed him to.

"If Mohammed will not go to the mountain, then the mountain must go to Mohammed," the Probe Shell sighed, looking up at Jeon, who winced at the misquote.

"Don't do that," he said, shaking his head, then glanced up, considering the ceiling. "Well, I see two possibilities. The far more unlikely one is a natural hot spring. They like volcanic areas, so if there's a volcano near by, we're in luck."

He peered around the room. "Anyone know what a volcano is?"

"If there's no hot spring close by, then we'll have to try something else - a sauna. Anyone know what a sauna is or where one can be found?"

The men at first and then were agitated as question after question was loomed over their heads.

"Yes there is Mount Feris." Running quickly but with ridged stiffness a guard cautiously brings the hasty tea to the lowered warrior on the table. "Why are you not doing anything else? We got him on the table, sir" Another prod Jeon with impatience.

Why were people always so impatient?

"What would you have me do?" Jeon asked as he threw up his hands, staring at the man who delivered the next cup of tea. "Lay Stror on his back and cut a hole into his throat so he can breathe through a tube? Is that what you want me to do with him?"

"Surely in your profession you know there are times you must wait? Well, now is one of those times," Jeon replied, letting his hands drop to his side. "Drinking the tea is helping him to recover. I know it's only temporary relief, but I can't properly examine him until he's had a chance to stabilize."

Meanwhile, the probe shell began examining the structural integrity of the building, to spot weaknesses it could exploit should it be necessary to extract Jeon from the upset guards. The building was constructed by stone walls and wooden ceilings, it was all painfully primitive compared to what the robot was accustom to. There were minute cracks everywhere, with the strength it had, it could fell a wall if focused upon the weaknesses.

The soldiers huffed, or crossed their arms. One walked in a frustrated circle. "If your boy knew how to behave, none of this would have happened." reasoned one of them bitterly.

"Then I would have been left unaware of Stror's current condition," Jeon pointed out.

"I got shards of glass in my face when I asked for a blacksmith's help. I got accused of using 'magic' when I pulled those same glass shards out myself. I tried to avoid his daughter," 'Melvin' sighs, staring at Stror, "He shows up to beat me to a pulp."

"I should stop trying to help people."

"Melvin!" Jeon rebuked, but now the others were staring at him instead.

"Then what good would you be for, apothecary? Maybe we all should stop doing what we ought to because it's hard." mocked one of the gruffer soldiers, made emotional by the exchange and the state of their star-studded companion. Stror reached up from the table and grabbed the man's wrist. Apparently it was with enough strength to make the man gasp in pain.

"Shut it, this is becoming a bunch of bitching and I'm tired of it." The weathered man commanded, finally ending the back and forth with his own authority earned by merit and peaked prowess. "I can't tolerate you but you helped me." the middle aged warrior admitted from his laying position, looking down at Jeon. "Do what you need to and I hope we'll not meet again."

"Melvin, we'll talk about this later. Give me a...." Jeon paused, floundering. He was going to have to depend on ancient medtech. "...A stethoscope, a tongue depressor - and a head mirror."

Reaching into its satchel, the probe shell produced the requested items and handed them over.

"Now, write up that tea blend your monk friends used to use and sketch out a small sauna for him, would you?" Jeon asked before turning to Skror. "Pick up your tea and follow me to my room so we can conduct this check up privately."

Stror pushed himself up and gradually stood, once again allowing the full presence of his powerful body grip the area. The men looked less and less with anger than confusion at Jeon and cautious study of their leader.

The graying blonde walked after the medical expert, eyes staring into the back of Jeon's skull.

Jeon paused at the doorway to look back into the main room.

"Someone fetch a pot of tea, we may need a few cups. And don't forget to knock!"

"Come in," he said, waving Stror inside. "I have some questions before we start the examination, it'll better help me to evaluate your current condition."

Closing the door after him, Jeon waved him to a seat. "Now, the first lesson they drilled into us is to never assume. So are you currently under the care of a doctor or healer?"

"What exactly happened to you on that day you received this injury? I need full details, don't assume I know what happened, you are the best source." The few places to sit were either a dark wood chair at a small table or the bed. The veteran lowered himself upon the chair, leaning forward, arms on the table and eyes down to it before he straightened himself up with a deep breath.

"There is a woman I see when she visits from Whitemantle, she heals what she is able. But it is magic and always comes back" He stared off into a stone wall, the weight of his experience as close to a literal curse as Jeon had ever encountered in his medical career. When Jeon inquired about the injuring event, Stror looked annoyed.

The scar across his cheek, diagonal his nose bridge and the slash at the sight side of the neck already told some story without him speaking.

"Five years ago, in Linemlya the Orcs were taking the land. Those easterners don't fucking know how to raise a sword, they needed us or the kingdom was going to fall and the empire would be open to attack. I was serving the Marquess. It was raining...everything felt hot, blue fire everywhere...there was a horde of them, like a pile of green flesh knocking down the tree line" It was a story he had told again and again, first starting with vigor and trailing into lethargy. The downfall repeating in his mind once more, "The fire released a smoke that fell on us, burning us...and the Orcs charged us then. In the blue-black we fought them off, walls of bodies and the smoke didn't end until the last of them was culled. I was coughing blood but I survived...but the battle was to stay with me, I learned...Is that what you wanted?" Stror asked, irate and the walls of honor and self protection put back into place.

"Yes, thank you," Jeon said grimly, then sighed, holding up the stethoscope. "Please strip to the waist, I'd like to listen to your lungs." Stror now takes notice of the item in the doctor's hands and his mood shifts to one of caution.

"What is that?" his voice challenges, armed against the unknown.

"It's a listening device called a stethoscope," Jeon replied. "I use it to listen to your lungs and heart. People often complain that the chest piece is cold, but it's harmless."

"Since the problem is with your lungs, this will allow me to listen to the noises they make when you breathe." Stror kept stiffly stoic, staring with hesitation upon it and Jeon. However, there was no resistance. Layer by layer the man peeled off his winter clothing, revealing a fit body with only a thin layer of weight gained by living a life not as vigorous as his youthful military days.

When the stethoscope was maneuvered closer to his chest, Stror's hand quickly held the Zyan's wrist, stopping the medical device inchers from pale flesh.

"Why are you doing this? Why aren't you a warrior?"

"Why aren't I a warrior?" Jeon repeated. "You were strong and good with weapons, so you faced enemies armed with sword and magic. In a way, you are lucky, as you can see your enemy."

"My enemy is death. The battlefield is my patients, who come to me suffering from injury, disease, or old age. For weapons I have drugs that can relieve pain in the right proportions - or kill. My scalpel is smaller than any blade you carried, but no less deadly. And while I may win the battle, in the long run, I shall lose the war - not once, not twice, but many times. In truth, I already have many times. All I can do is a delaying action, to keep Death as far away from my patients as possible, as long as I am able."

"So, may I fight this battle?" Though he'd never articulate it, there was a surrender in the man's eyes. A flair of his nostrils and the wrist was released. Breathing, the shoulders slouched and Stror sat still, waiting for the doctor to fight his battle.

In the main room, the Probe Shell sat drawing, but the Probe was pleased by the doctor's speech, having been there many times beside him.

"Like I said, this will feel cold as first," Jeon warned, "but it should warm up quickly."

Pressing the chest piece on the man's chest, just over his heart, he began his examination. The pulse was quickened, not to such rapidity that the doctor could expect a full fight or flight activation of his body, but he could easily predict a stress response. Examinations did have a way of making patients anxious, the stress on the warrior's face exuding it.

As Jeon traveled to the lungs, the scratchy drawing of oxygen could make him cringe: he could hear the damage. Though he was fit man in his middle age, his lungs sounded older, scarred to a degree which aged them. As the test breaths continued, Stror was able to complete with adequate breathe, but the Zyan had right to question the man's long term stamina in high intensity situations.

"That isn't cold" The toned father retorted with a stiff upper lip, pride to buck the vulnerability.

"Well, that's good, isn't it? Mind you, when I was in school it got out that my insides are quite a bit different so my classmates would come over all the time to have a listen. All those cold little disks pressing against my chest, made me jump every time," Jeon shivered, reminiscing. "Then, of course, the professors decided I'd make a great prop for their lecture on human oddities so they'd bring me in to this big lecture hall that was absolutely freezing, me with my shirt off, of course, and then have all those first years come up afterwards and get a listen. Got bloody annoying."

He paused, putting down the stethoscope and looked Stror right in the eyes. "Best have a seat for this." And he resumes once the man had lowered himself.

"So, what do you know about oysters? Don't know if you seen any up here, but you'll find fresh water ones in rivers and streams, and of course salt water one in the oceans. Some like to shuck the shells open and swallow the whole slimy mess down in the belief it'll help with the ladies later."

"Well," he shrugged with a grin, "there is some truth to that, but mostly it's marketing. Get told something often enough, people start to believe it."

"The thing is, sometimes when you open up the oyster, there's a pearl or two inside," he paused. "So this poor thing is stuck down there on the bottom and sucks in some water to breathe and to get a bit to eat, and it gets this nasty bit of grit with it. And it gets stuck in there, just irritating the hell out of the poor oyster, so it starts painting it with this stuff to get rid of the edges - but it doesn't stop painting it so eventually you wind up with a pearl."

He paused, looking at Stror. "The reason I'm telling you all this, is because we do something like that as well, just not as pretty. Do you use coal around here? Well, when the miners go and dig it up, there's quite a bit of dust that gets into the air - and some of that gets sucked into their lungs - not unlike that magic smoke you were breathing in while fighting the Orcs."

"So while it was keeping you from breathing in clean air, you got tiny bits of grit of whatever they were burning to make that smoke down in your lungs where they got tangled up in there, ripping a bunch of tiny holes that make it harder to breathe. So your lungs tries to cover them up - and that makes your lungs heavier. But that's not it, I'm afraid."

"When miners get coal dust trapped in their lungs, their lungs start turning black and the cells nearest the trap dust begin to get sick, becoming cancerous - growing oddly, and not letting you breathe well. Meanwhile, that cancer begins to spread to the rest of the body, making other organs sick until the body can't go on any more."

"You're a warrior, Stror," Jeon added, "And I know you want the unvarnished truth of what you're facing here. That grit caught in your lungs is giving you a magical cancer. The healer sees it, I'm sure, and they can reduce the cancer so it's easier to breathe, but I bet they can't see the grit inside much less get it out, so the cancer keeps coming back."

"Short of magically growing you a new pair of lungs, which, to be honest, I don't know if they can do that, your life will continue like this. The healer will roll back the cancer, you'll feel better for a while, then everything will slowly get worse until the next time you see your healer and all the while it'll take a toll on your body."

"Now, you're still strong and vigorous, so you're likely to have a long life despite the cancer. The sauna and the herbal tea Melvin is writing up for you will help to ease your suffering, but it's not a cure."

"Do you have any questions?" Though Stror had flaunted that he felt no cold from Jeon's stethoscope but as Jeon explained what was taking place the warrior had drawn back several times. By the end the doctor's hand was slapped away from the man's chest as the fighter stood.

Huffing heavily, Stror glances side to side, trying to process what he's been told. "We're done" The man flatly delivers before dressing himself as he leaves the room, closing the door behind him and leaving Jeon alone.

Melvin had already bundled up the papers on how to build a sauna and the herbal tea blend for the warrior.

It glanced back as it heard the door and slipped quietly out of its chair, ready to present them to the warrior.

One-in-ten odds that Stror would strike at the probe shell, but he was more likely to leave, quietly. Either way, the Probe was likely to have a visit by the man's daughter again. Stror's heavy steps weighed on the wood of the longhouse, the offer snatched and he peered onto the documents. He seemed unnerved by what he was reading, the technical details of the construction of a sauna being what kept his eyes busy.

Despite himself Stror returned his vision onto the youth half his height. "How do you know all of this?" It bypassed his prejudices, and frustrations. For a moment 'Melvin' had a psychological opening to the prized war veteran.

"That is not the question you should be asking," the probe shell said, locking eye contact with the warrior, "But I'll answer it. When I was small, I lost my parents in a distant land called 'Zhong-guo'. Not knowing what to do with me, the people there took me up to this place of wise men and other orphaned boys."

"There was not much you could do there except work, train, and read," 'Melvin' shrugged. "So I did a lot of it. One of the wise men there could speak with me, so he became my master. He tended the herb garden there and would make up medicines. Sometimes we take them down to the village, and we would build these saunas for the people who needed them in winter." 'Melvin' successfully threw off the fighter's scent, a local hero also limited in his geographical knowledge.

"Explains why you look like a pushover. You don't have the training. When you want to replace the attitude with some discipline, find me boy. And stay away from my daughter" With the final warning he walked around the robot to go down the hallway, the loitering guards following him with fanfare.



Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Gina Wright, Panos Lambros'


In this moment of urgency Gina faded into the background until a man tapped her on the shoulder. It was the man that had blocked her from Calamity's room.

"She wants to see you."

“Oh.” Gina said, hiding her worry behind a mask of feigned surprise. “Um...of course.”

She glanced back at Jeon and Melvin tending to Stror, before following the guard back into the corridor. The men hovering outside were all Cal’s, but she still thought it best to open the door as little as possible. Squeezing through sideways, she pushed it closed behind her and turned towards the bed, fearing what she might see of her other two companions.

The young leader was laying against the side of the furred bed, on her knees with a clutched hand hold the Greecian's. The pale young man was laying on his side with small lines of blood falling from his lips, unconscious. The look in the girl's eyes was fearful, dare Gina think, hopeless as she stare at Panos. There was sad fire to them, as someone who was facing the inevitable but had to continue.

Wordlessly, Gina crossed the room and knelt down, putting her arms around Cal and squeezing gently. The hurt was deep enough to choke words. She waited patiently for Cal to find hers.

"I want him to wake...but I'm afraid to learn what I did to him..." Calamity admitted grimly to Gina. "This power of station, the power of my blood. I can command people and tell them what to do and still nothing works. My mother...she made it seem reasonable, even if she was wicked..." With grief fresh in her heart, Calamity put the limp hand to her forehead and closed her eyes, unintentionally placing their wedding rings near one another.

Gina rested her head against Cal’s, feeling her own eyes begin to prickle in sympathy.

“I don’t know your mother.” she murmured. “But I know you, Cal. You’re a good person. Even when being good is really...fucking hard.”

Her eyes drifted up towards the unconscious Panos. Plans and solutions could wait. For a moment, she just wanted to be there for her friend. Panos, for as jaded and rude as he was could be seen in this moment as beautiful and wounded. His almost supernatural color and clarity of his skin, the innate airs of his being as his hair fell with a lounging pride across his face and around him. The young Lambros was a born noble. But he was a miserable and mean person. Could he ever be more? Not with the cruelty of this place. Cruelty could only break whatever good was left in people. Only kindness and patience had any chance at all. Someone like Cal, who had promised not to leave him alone.

"I hope that in the end the Note Writer can tell us what this was all for. Why it was worth it."

Calamity leaned into Gina. "We're going to get a lot of answers when we complete this...trial...prison?" She had to ask the fellow teenager, knowing she'd understand the caged sensation of this adventure. "You have been so brave and strong Gina. I know I couldn't have done this without you."

Gina smiled wanly at the compliment, hiding her doubt. As far as she was concerned, that was all bravery was: stepping up when there was no-one else to do so, and concealing your uncertainty until the danger was passed and you could find somewhere private to safely break down in a shivering wreck. “It’s not just me. You held it together all this time when everyone’s expecting you to be a monster. And the king, and that fancy dog back on Valkure…that was all you.”

The young lady hesitantly smiled, willing to hold onto some light despite the darkness. "I wish this never happened, but, I feel fortunate I made you as a friend. We are going to be okay, I can't accept anything else. Not after this, not after what Panos has been through." The hue of her eyes darkened and she looked on to the princely young man with fire in her tired eyes, hands holding Gina's in return.

Gina drew in a breath, letting it shudder out. “We can do this. Whenever you’re ready.” Calamity reached for Panos' shoulder to gently move him. His face shifted with confusion before swiftly slapping away the hand by instinct and opening his eyes wide. Following the drive of fear he pulled back further on the bed before realizing who he was looking at. Calamity sighed with relief as Panos looked on to them with recognition. He grimaced in pain as a hand cupped his mouth.

"What happened? Were we attacked in the battle?" Panos asked with cringing hesitation as he slowly tasted the blood in his mouth. He sighed with a shiver of pain as he had to endure his wounded tongue. Calamity glanced over at Gina, it seemed Panos had forgot all things back to the beginning of the Draconian fight.

"It's okay, we're safe now." Gina said quietly, settling down on her knees. "The Dracs are gone - Jeon and Melvin closed the portal thing they were using to get into the castle. How are you feeling?"

Panos leered at her in the way she had come to expect.

"I'm injured and it's uncomfortable." The young Lambros admitted with a huff, before scanning with bright eyes to Calamity. "Why am I here in this state?" The young woman paused, Gina seeing her about to clench her hands but stop.

"We are about to speak to the emperor, we are in Whitemarch now. Do you not remember the fall?"

"Fall?" A blanch eyebrow raised.

"You fell and hurt yourself, knocked out as you landed. We were so worried..." Calamity softly told Panos while turning her head to Gina for support in fooling Panos.

A fall it is then. Gina thought, taking Cal’s lead and running with it as best she could. “Off Cal’s sleigh.” she said, nodding seriously. “I didn’t see it, but I freaked out when they brought you in with blood all over your face. The healer said you’d just bitten your tongue though, and you’d be okay if we let you wake up in your own time. We weren’t going to leave you behind, so we carried you here.”

She raised her arms to indicate the room and the inn around them, and then sighed.

“We should probably fill you in on what’s been happening, huh?” She massaged her temple. “Well the short answer is we won…there was a portal that the Dracs were coming through - Jeon and Melvin closed it, but now everyone thinks they have magic too…uh, and while that was going on, the king sent me looking for the arcanium that let the Drac prisoner escape…”

She proceeded to summarise how they had uncovered lady Leann, only to find that O’doln had whisked Kinglos, Charlie and Hedspeth away to Thronehearth; their journey to Whitemarch and its portal; the events at the inn; and the message that was apparently waiting for them.

“And assuming Theaobin doesn’t fuck things up for us,” she finished, “We’re going to head through the portal, deal with the whole Jeon situation and check if the king’s still under Cal’s orders. We’ve got those three anti-magic stones you found - I don’t have one but I’ll just dump Melvin’s card before we go - and I’ve still got Bonroe’s confession in case we need to nail Hedspeth.”

She shifted her weight, having grown uncomfortable kneeling beside the bed.

“One last thing, there’s a big man outside called Stror. He fought with Cal’s parents, but it left him with a lung condition. Caroline told me Cal’s parents died fighting orcs in the east, so maybe it was the same battle. Either way he’s a war hero, and Cal’s ally. He’s pissed off at Melvin, but maybe them helping him out has calmed him down a bit…”

Panos did not look pleased hearing any of this news.

"Dioonyysuss!" He emphasized with a seething hiss while rubbing fingers against the area between his eyebrows as if trying to rub away a headache. "Now, what, the silent, weird, boy is a burden to our cause too?"

Calamity stood and sat on the edge of the bed, which Panos showed no aversion to. "He isn't a mute. He can speak."

"And promptly got us into trouble because of it, ugh..." Panos quietly groaned with his tongue's pain, now his verbal lashings also stung him too. He waved it off, as if to dismiss his own experience before leering at both young ladies. The sharpness of his eyes revealed his spinning thoughts. He rubbed a finger over his thumb, the skin dry. "I need water."

Calamity looked around and found it in the room to pour. For the first time Panos looked at Gina, speaking to her without complete contempt, and addressing her for her opinion.

"With Jeon's and Melvin's unreliability, how can we assuage any court without drawing more unwanted attention? People at that level of power are excited to exercise their power over any social error. You don't have the training, and you are bearable, but Jeon sounds entirely a dunce. Only Calamity and I have lived in these social webs..." The young man turned away as he gritted his teeth, having to stop because of the pain. He sighed and crossed his arms, tossing his hair back with a dance of his neck.

Gina scratched her cheek. "Well, they can't not go, if the whole pretext is to present them to the emperor...you're right though, it's probably best if you and Cal do most of the talking. It's your territory. That said, if you could give the rest of us a crash-course before we go through the portal, it might be better than nothing?"

She stood up and stepped back out of Cal's way as she brought over the water jug and cup.

"There's some breakfast if you want it." she remembered, indicating the now-cold plates she had put down on her previous visit. She folded her arms, crossing her legs at the ankles. "Do you want me to bring Jeon and Melvin here after they're done with Stror?"

"We don't need to make the couple's bedroom look any more popular. Even having you here is strange and would make rumors." Panos sighed as if pointing out the obvious others cannot see. Sipping on water, Calamity awkwardly glanced at Gina.

“It’s alright.” Gina reassured her, deferring to the experience of the two genuine royals. “I can go get Theaobin’s message, and if they ask I’ll just say that’s why you called me in.”

She paused for a moment to consider.

“What about Jeon, would it be weird for him to be in here?”

"Here he is an...apothecary, it should not be too strange. He should see your tongue as well." Cal insisted, walking beside the bed.

"The four of us act far too familiar for strangers that met today. We are fortunate we are only around stupid men and their swords, others will suspect something is strange if they see us as we are. And, if we don't have Jeon practice what he says and let him offensively ramble, we are fucked." Panos said flatly, before finishing his water.

I’d better brief them both on the fall story, and all. Gina thought, chewing the inside of her cheek.

“More distant in public, got it.” Gina nodded. “Melvin said Theaobin wanted your seal as proof, could you press it for me?”

She went to the dresser and began hunting for wax. Calamity helped her look for it but there was none to be found in the sparse furnishings of the room. The marchioness decided to stay and help feed herself and Panos due to his injury. Gina cracked the door and sidestepped through, taking stock of the scene as she pulled it closed. The guards were still observing Jeon's work, while Stror coughed fitfully on the table. Gina singled out the guard who had previously helped her and touched his sleeve to garner his attention.

"The marchioness has asked me to go and collect Theaobin's message." she told him quietly. "And to take a guard to make it official. Could you please come with me? I'll be leaving in a few minutes."

As the man who had stayed at the door to protect his leader, attention was already set highly upon his code of conduct. Following after, he remained (no surprise) behind Gina.

Gina shifted foot to foot to peer past the other guards, and spied Stror seizing one of them for a stern rebuke.

"Melvin." she hissed, beckoning to the android as he stood back from the exchange. "A word, please."

She retreated halfway up the corridor, out of immediate earshot of the cluster of men by Jeon's room, and stooped to speak to the child-sized construct.

"They're alright." she whispered. "But Panos has lost his memory of everything since the battle. We told him that he fell off the sled during the Drac attack and hit his head. If you and Jeon could stick to that story too that'd be great."

'Melvin' looked up from his sketch and nodded. "I'll let Jeon know. He may ham it up, you'll please forgive him for that."

“Vague is best.” Gina cautioned, “By the way, where was Theaobin last you saw him?”

"At an inn playing cards," Melvin said softly back, nodding at its general direction. "As I didn't have a ring or some other device bearing our marchioness' crest, he accused me of lying. And as my efforts to avoid a confrontation has only lead to another confrontation because I wouldn't give a girl my name, you'll forgive me if I want to stay here and have Cal send someone else in livery to handle this."

“That’s what the guard’s for.” Gina said, motioning with her thumb towards her escort standing further down the corridor. Hopefully an armed man with the marchioness’ impaled hand sigil on his surcoat would be proof enough for Theaobin. Back in Jeon’s bedroom, she heard footsteps and a door closing. “Better get back.” she ushered Melvin.

Being in the main corridor gave Gina a view of the innkeeper coming and going, allowing her to find the old man. Between the woman giving birth and the afflicted war hero, the man was busy going back and forth, now offering a refilled water pitcher to Marelinta's room. Gina fell into step beside him as he reached the end of the corridor.

"Thank you for all your help." she said, while he was setting water down at the woman's bedside. "Is Holden on his way?" She paused to push her hair behind her ear. "What's their story anyway? I mean, who are they, Holden and Marelinta? And what's she doing here?"

"That's my cousin...the father of my child." Marelinta, whom Gina had taken to be asleep, explained with half lidded eyes while feeding.

"He'll be here soon," the man reassured, but looked at Gina with an odd expression while considering further what she had said. "It would be...inappropriate to share too much with a guest of the Marchioness." The older man seemed to openly flinch at the consideration.

“Well, I won’t pry.” Gina crossed her legs at the ankles. “That said, if it’s offending me you’re worried about, I’ve already delivered a baby today. There aren’t many secrets after that.” She smiled faintly. “I don’t think there’s much that could shock me anymore.”

The innkeeper simply smiled back, awkwardly. He ducked away by placing more water at the woman's side and excusing himself quickly from Gina. Marelinta looked at the teenager one last time before closing her eyes and dozing back to sleep. Gina took a moment to satisfy herself that mother and newborn were comfortable, then quietly withdrew, closing the door behind her.

She trotted back up the corridor and found her guard. “Shall we?” she asked, pulling the warm mittens Cal had given her onto her hands, and headed for the door.

It was Gina's turn to be taken to the other inn. Below dangling from this sign was another which said 'White Bear Inn'. Entering the White Bear Inn, the young lady wasn't the only one to do so as several men were entering just as she was. There were more merchants of several skin tones, who were drinking at nice circular wooden tables. A few were gambling with games of dice, but there was a conduct to everything and a liveliness which the Dead Drak lacked. This inn also lacked a magical symbol before its fireplace, the wood nearly charred and burned away within.

“Party starts early here…” Gina murmured to herself as she stepped away from the door, and teased off her mittens while she surveyed the scene. A bit of elf in him, the innkeeper had said. That probably meant pointed ears, like O’doln.

Among the gamblers the young woman saw the elf-blooded man. He was gambling and sipping a drink. His red hair was kept short except a thick braid of hair on the right side of his face. The man's nose was pierced with a silver ring, green eyes and bronzed skin brought out the color of his jade square studs. He was wearing robes with rectangular cuts of various colours, following spiraling lines around and down the body. His ears did have a noticeable point to the outer cartilage, and those who gambled with him did so with tense and timid expressions even as the man smiled. He was very easy on the eyes, yet also sleazy in a way which bristled her instincts, instructing her to be careful.

Hello, Theaobin. She threaded her way through the tables towards the messenger, sticking close to the solid weight of her armed guard. The sense of him looming at her shoulder wasn’t any less unnerving, but it was nice to think that he was a barrier between herself and the unfamiliar crowd if she needed it. She put on her best professional face.

“Theaobin?” she hailed the gambler as soon as she was close enough to make herself heard over the background chatter of the merchants. “The innkeeper at the Dead Drak told the marchioness you had a message from Thronehearth for her. She sent me to get it from you.”

The surrounding men looked up at Gina, then back down to the table after a moment's consideration. They didn't want to look in Theobin's direction. His lips smirked with teeth gleaming and fatal eyes on her.

"A girl sends another girl in her stead, what an incredible child. Come over here. My dice may make use of your blessing." His tan hand raised, the gambler's tools laying in his palm, caged by closing fingers. Slowly brought upward, the fingers pulled away and showed the dark wood cubes.

Gina smiled politely but didn’t move, not wanting to let the gambler divert the conversation away from her business here. She was hardly new to young men who were aware of their own good looks in the brash, unsubtle way of all wannabe playboys.

“Oh you wouldn’t want my blessing.” she grinned, shaking her head. “My luck is terrible.” And ain’t that the truth. She cleared her throat and folded her hands. “The marchioness hates to be kept waiting though. If you can just give me the message I’ll get out of your hair and let you and your friends get back to your game.”

The Elf-blooded man smiled, teeth bright and eyes charming.

“I am the message. I am sent to...mmm.” He manipulated the dice in his hand, still holding them out for Gina's influence, “Survey the situation here and see if it is truly worth the Emperor's time.”

“I see.” said Gina. Cal and the others would need to meet him then. She immediately worried for Panos - if O’doln’s presence had upset him, then another red-haired elf with a dangerous smile certainly wasn’t going to help, memory loss or not. She straightened. “I guess we’re both messengers, then. I take it the emperor gave you some kind of seal or token…?”

She let the question hang for a moment. If Theaobin had thought it necessary to check that Melvin was really who he said he was, then he couldn’t complain if she returned the favour. The Elfin man seemed pleased by Gina's question, producing from his pocket a silver stamp seal. Its symbol was that of a man's fist holding fiercely to a sword at the blade, the weapon bearing a very sharp and almost crescent shaped handles of the hilt.

“The Marchioness is a remarkable young one, but the Emperor must watch much at once. Now, if you'd want to help our meeting's pleasant blossoming, help me win this roll of the die.” he intoned with a baritone voice to tease her, slither pleasantly into her ears. Handsome eyes twinkled with opportunity, or was it opportunism?

Gina considered the impasse. Was he magical, like O’doln? She didn’t have anything incriminating on her for him to snatch or sense, much less anything valuable. If all else failed then she had Cal’s guard at her back - though she had to hope that it was still far too early in the day for anyone to be getting stabbed in the pub.

“Alright.” she acquiesced, stepping forward and lacing her fingers behind her back. She leaned daintily forward to blow on the dice in Theaobin’s open hand. He’s looking at my boobs, isn’t he? “I warn you though, I wasn’t joking about my luck being awful.”

She smiled thinly as she stepped back, and changed the subject while she waited for Theaobin to send his dice rattling across the tabletop.

“What’s been happening at Thronehearth? Is King Kinglos still there?”

Theaobin tossed the dice, and rolling upon them was a symbol of a leaf on one, a hand with four fingers raised on the other. Those at the table grimaced, a sudden spring of coins heading into Theaobin's collection. He leaned onto the table with a hand, the other grazing over the new additions.

"The Stonelord is visiting, perhaps this time he'll be reasonable with his demands, hmm?" he asked with a teasing inflection of voice. The men around chuckled and some scowled, not in favor of the man mentioned. "The Dwarf tries to squeeze our commerce to dust. Painfully greedy and short sighted, but what can be expected?"

For a moment Gina thought he was talking about an actual dwarf man, but then she remembered what Caroline had said about the elf queen’s friendship being needed to keep “the dwarves” pacified, and the pressure their race was putting on Kinglos’ fragile kingdom.

Theaobin sighed while grabbing one of the gold coins and handing it to her to make his point. The piece was the size of a one pound coin, with the portrait of an older, bearded man facing to the right. He was dressed with a hood which his crown kept upon him, the rim of the hood receded enough to keep the face exposed. Etched beneath, an impossible to read mix of curved and rigidly straight characters shifted in her vision to read 'Emperor Gorgazin, may he rule for many days'.

"And that king of yours...who knows?" Theaobin asked of Gina with a playful smile, eyes headed in her direction.

Gina had nothing to trade for more secrets - or at least nothing she wanted to give Theaobin. Except perhaps secrets of her own, which she also needed to be careful with around all these strangers.

Careful. The merchants last night had seemed convinced that the emperor was on the verge of having Kinglos replaced, and who knew what he, O’doln, Charlie and Hedspeth might have said while they were in Thronehearth. The letter folded into Gina’s bodice, Bonroe’s confession naming Hedspeth a traitor, scratched insistently against her skin. That was their nuclear option - but would she get the chance to talk to Hedspeth alone and convince him to flee, or would she have to pull the trigger on his death warrant?

And that king of yours…who knows? Theaobin’s smile twinkled dangerously.

“The marchioness certainly wants to know.” Gina answered evenly, and raised her eyebrows in questioning promise. “Would you do me the honour of coming to see her, so you can survey the situation properly?”

The dapper man leaned back, straightening himself from being over the gambler's table. He was six feet tall, and his smile never retired. This seemed to amuse him, the aura of supremacy even more patronizing than Panos' bitter ire. Turning his eyes to a man nearby, he gracefully gestured a hand to Gina.

"The money for the lady, after all I would not have won without her." The men at the table grumbled, a servant gathering the mass in a coin pouch to hand to Gina.

“Oh.” Gina said, deciding to look politely surprised. “Thank you.” Theaobin clearly wasn’t short of money, then. She dropped the lone coin with the emperor’s face in with the others, sure that a little petty cash would come in handy at some point. She studied the servant for a moment, curious as to whether he was a local or someone Theaobin had brought with him from Thronehearth. The servant looked to be a regular man grabbed from the city and converted to service, his winter wear having no formality or practicality for extensive indoor activity. With a snap of Theaobin’s fingers people obeyed. This was power.

"We have yet to introduce one another cordially, what is your name?" Theaobin asked while extending a hand to hold hers. It wasn't for a handshake, but held upright to hold her touch in a ladylike manner.

“Georgina Markoni.” Gina answered, reasoning that the false name she had given the previous night was as good as any. “And I’m pleased to meet you.”

She obliged Theaobin by laying her free hand on top of his, their fingers lightly touching.

“Though of course lady Sauver will be even happier.”

Gina was given an unexpected sight to the top of Theobin's head as he leaned down and drew her hand to his lips. With a diplomatic press to her pale skin, the tanned man glanced up and winked with a heart throbbing tease. Releasing her hand, the elfin man introduced himself.

“Theaobin Londale, an Overseer of our great Emperor Gorgazin. I look forward to the lady's happiness, but I am never fond of leaving any woman unwell, or unamused in my presence.”

Gina let out a hm, half a laugh. “Well, I’m not unwell as far as I know.” She swept her free hand towards the inn door, half turning towards it. “As for staying amused, how about we walk and talk?” Her accompany guard was watching from a narrow distance behind Gina and Theaobin seemed to notice in the moment. If Gina glanced she'd see the man was openly staring at the man, surprised.

Elves kissing humans doesn’t happen often, then. Gina surmised. She could have guessed as much from the bloody frescos at the Dutt villa, and the general antipathy everyone here seemed to have for the other kingdoms - though since no-one seemed overly bothered by O’doln and Lyina, it clearly wasn’t banned. She filed the nugget of information away for later, and looked forward to handing off the minefield of social graces to Cal and Panos.

"It is the ears, hm." Theaobin remarked, his small and quaint noise of social retort matching Gina’s. "Do you find my blood as distracting, Lady Markoni?" he inquired while following her out of the inn.

Gina tugged on her mittens, her breath puffing white in the air as the cold wind raked her cheeks once more.

“I try to stick to judging what people do.” she said, turning back towards the Dead Drak. “Still,” she added candidly, “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a bit distracting, if only ’cause I’ve only seen one elf - and that was yesterday when O’doln was fighting the Drakes.”

The snow crunched beneath their feet, Cal’s guard shadowing them from a pace behind. Gina looked sideways at Theaobin, curious as to how much of what she was saying was news to him.

“Did he tell you what happened?” The man of Elfin blood was curiously studying her, not thirsty for every word given but open and wanting to hear more. Now wearing a fur coat given to him, he kept step with her, hands behind his back.

"Of course, O'doln is my cousin. I know the things he does not wish to share either" Theobin intoned with a closed lipped grin following. "We are not Elves, Lady Markoni, merely laced with their ancestry but far from whole. His blood is more potent of their kind than my own, but he is still ample his Human follies. After all he is so loyal to such a silly man"

[Minkasha]

Gina Wright

The snow crunched beneath their feet, Cal’s guard shadowing them from a pace behind. Gina looked sideways at Theaobin, curious as to how much of what she was saying was news to him.

“Did he tell you what happened?”

The man of Elfin blood was curiously studying her, not thirsty for every word given but open and wanting to hear more. Now wearing a fur coat given to him, he kept step with her, hands behind his back.

"Of course, O'doln is my cousin. I know the things he does not wish to share either." Theobin intoned with a closed lipped grin following. "We are not Elves, Lady Markoni, merely laced with their ancestry but far from whole. His blood is more potent of their kind than my own, but he is still ample in his Human follies. After all, he is so loyal to such a silly man."

“Maybe he sees something everyone else doesn’t?” Gina suggested carefully. Although they were alone in the snowy street save for Cal’s guard, she was wary of openly naming the king, even one who seemed to be about as popular as the plague. And even though she seemed to have Theaobin’s curiosity now rather than just his lecherous eye, anything she said to him still had a good chance of making it back to emperor Gorgazin. By his own admission, that was his job here.

On the other hand, he just said O’doln’s keeping secrets. Secrets that he’s clearly happy keeping too. And if that secret’s about the king…

“I mean,” she went on, with a slight smile, “You know him much better than I do, but with magic like I saw yesterday, I imagine he could find work elsewhere and be very well paid for it, if he wanted to.”

She paused to look at Theaobin, curious to hear more about what made his cousin tick. From what Lyina said, he’s the biggest risk of finding out what Cal did to the king…but if he has Kinglos’ best interests at heart, and if we could convince him…

"Some are idealists, and that cannot be dispelled even with the most powerful of magics. I'm curious...What is it that you see of the marchioness that others do not? You know her much better than I." Theaobin said, charming Gina with a smile as he used her own words for playful intentions.

Gina laughed slightly, conceding the deftness of the reversal. “Nowhere near as well as a cousin, mind.” she returned, wrapping her arms around herself in thought. There was plenty to admire about Cal, but they were talking about marchioness Sauver. She laughed again, more nervously. “She scares me, to be honest. But when the Drake army came pouring through that portal, looking like they wanted to murder us all…I’m glad she was able to scare them too.”

Slowly falling snowflakes landed on her arms, connecting together as they settled. Like a path. Gina mused. She hoped that it was one that led home.

“And I’m glad of the king too, crazy as it sounds.” she added, creasing her brow as if pensive. “He tracked down the traitor behind it all. Who knows what would have happened if she got away to try again.”

She paused for a moment.

“Is it really never too late to do something good?” She smiled, self-deprecatingly. “Or is that too idealistic?”

Gina's ploy of propping the king up was effective, the handsome Elf-blooded Human twitching a brow briefly with a well placed smile to try and conceal the moment of irritation.

"One star in a dark sky is only one diminutive light. We may focus on the light of the lone star, or see the great blackness around it. One heroic act, who will see its light within the darkness?"

As the question was asked it was the moment the three walkers re-entered the inn they had left, walking beneath the lynched draconian mannequin to enter.



Jeon Smythe, & 'Melvin'

'Melvin' successfully threw off the fighter's scent, a local hero also limited in his geographical knowledge.

"Explains why you look like a pushover. You don't have the training. When you want to replace the attitude with some discipline, find me boy. And stay away from my daughter." With the final warning he walked around the robot to go down the hallway, the loitering guards following him with fanfare.

'Melvin' watched as Stror left, then sighed as the door closed behind him, shaking its puppet head.

"This began because I was trying to stay away from your daughter," the Probe avatar said softly. Stror would likely instruct his daughter to stay away from 'Melvin' as well - but a headstrong girl like that could already be waiting outside for her father to leave. Perhaps wondering how badly 'he' was hurt.

Images of Theobin, Stror, and his daughter were tagged and uploaded to the ravens on lookout as the Probe shell headed back to Jeon's bedroom. They flew through the snowy skies, forced to keep low and fly from rooftop to rooftop to study the faces of the people below. For now, only Theobin was found, in the company of Gina and a guard as they walked gingerly back to the very inn where Jeon himself was located.

The Probe Shell sighed as it glanced at the marchioness' door, flanked by guards.

"Stror has ordered me to stay from his daughter," the avatar said to them. "To abide by his wishes, if she shows up, please tell her I went out."

"Ah, there you are!" Jeon said as 'Melvin' entered the room. "Did you give him the plans and the tea recipe?"

"Yes, of course. How did he take the news?"

"As well as could be expected," Jeon sighed, leaning against the bed mattress.

"So... badly."

"He's in the denial stage."

"He wants me to stay away from his daughter."

"Well, that should be easy enough to do, right?"

"So, do you know what we have to do in order to leave this world and go back to where we belong?"

"I think there's some sort of connection that has to be made, but I don't know what exactly whoever's doing this wants."

"Great."

From where Jeon stood, he could feel Gina coming closer to him as she entered the inn. Jeon paused, glancing towards the unseen inn entrance and said, "Gina's back. How do I know that?"

"Pardon?" 'Melvin' asked, glancing up at him in concern.

"I can feel the others," the doctor said, shaking his head as if to clear it. "I could feel it when she left the inn, and now she's back and I know it without seeing her. And I know she feels the same thing?"

The Probe Shell paused. Did he mean...?

"Do you know what she's thinking right now?"

At that moment, Gina was in fact thinking about how far she should play her hand with Theaobin. The part-elf indicated that she should go first with a gracious wave of his hand, before following himself. The guard came last, the heavy door swinging closed behind him with a loud bang that made Gina flinch, though she had no idea why.

“You might be right.” she sighed in answer to Theaobin’s comment about the king, and twisted her mouth regretfully. “Still, like you said, the emperor has to watch a lot at once, hm?” She glanced back at Theaobin, mustering a smile. “It’s only fair that we give him the whole picture.”

She looked around the common room of the inn, noting who was present. They would have to be more careful here, with more potential eavesdroppers around - even if most of the Dead Drak’s patrons were nominally loyal to Cal.

“The marchioness is just through here, sir.” she said, stretching an open palm towards the long corridor that connected the various rooms of the inn, and then beginning to thread her way through the tables. Jeon and Melvin were standing to one side, talking.

“Doctor.” Gina acknowledged Jeon with a nod, remembering Panos’ advice for them to seem less well-acquainted in public.

Jeon froze, looking up at Gina. Did the girl have some sort of title...? If only he could read her mind, then he'd know exactly what sort of answer he was to give in front of her strange companion!

"My lady," he said cautiously, slightly bowing his head. His eyes glanced towards Theaobin, taking in the curious construction of his face and ears before remembering to bow his head to him as well. "My lord."

Was he a doctor here? Was there a sheepskin back at wherever this body called home, hanging on the wall? Or were they trained like he was supposedly training his apprentice?


Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Gina Wright, Jeon Smythe & 'Melvin'

Calamity exited from her bedroom, painted on her face was a serious and somber expression that may have resembled the real marchioness if they could have met her. Gina did catch the other teenage girl look cautiously between Jeon and Theaobin. Before Gina and her companion were close enough to begin appropriately speaking, Calamity stood next to Jeon.

"My husband, when he fell was injured." she said, staring at Jeon's eyes as if looking into his soul with their amethyst stare, begging he'd go along. "Would you go and tend to him?"

"Of course," Jeon said, bowing his head in acknowledgement. He turned towards her room, only to pause for a moment to glance back. "Apprentice, please grab the supplies in the room and bring them over."

"Of course," the Probe Shell replied, bowing its puppet head as well, then bowed to Calamity before backing into Jeon's room. After all, she was the Marchioness as far as everyone else was concerned. Especially the messenger. These acts of submission to the courtly hierarchy seemed to please Theaobin who did not glance their direction but smiled brighter to Calamity.

"Oh, what happened?" Theaobin asked Gina, overhearing Calamity from several arms' length away.

"He fell from the marchioness' sled during the battle and hit his head." Gina said in a low voice, but loud enough for Jeon to hear. "He's alright, from what I've heard - he just doesn't remember any of the battle from when he was knocked out."

As Melvin hurried away to fetch his things, Gina waited for Cal's eye to fall on her.

"Lady marchioness." she explained, gesturing to Theaobin. She didn't have to fake a sense of tension now that she was back in Cal's presence. "As you ordered, here is Theaobin Londale, the emperor's overseer."

"Very good." Calamity said crisply and quickly to Gina, the young woman putting on a stoic face. The expression was without flaw, her eyes only lingering on Gina to express something she couldn't say or show, perhaps reassurance or solidarity? "Welcome to my lands, I expect we shall leave together soon to meet the Emperor?"

Gina hadn't seen Calamity smile with her charms but the beautiful young woman could light a room with her black hair and crystalline purple eyes. Calamity was putting on a show, both appealing and terrifying as her smile faded back to the serious stare upon Theaobin.

The man of Human and Elf blood bowed at the hip to her, "I must say I am here on reconnaissance on his behalf. I am to survey the situation and see if and when our ruler may accommodate a meeting."

Gina saw Calamity hide her hands behind her just as they started squeezing with frustration, her face smooth and icy still. "I assure there is must to discuss. I may share with you details of the battle? And I will be in need of Wizard-Lord Tengirn's scrutiny."

Calamity didn't miss a beat listing the man's name. She must have drilled it into herself as they rode through the snow. Theaobin seemed impressed, but Cal was gesturing to another door in the hallway. "A place where we may talk." Calamity was going to have to handle this one alone, as she had to act from a position of strength. The young woman glanced at Gina.

"Follow the doctor and make sure he takes care of my husband." she commanded, walking off with Theaobin to a door across the hallway.

"Of course, marchioness." Gina responded dutifully, lowering her gaze.

While walking with the man, Calamity stole an honest look Gina's way. She looked worried but determined, returning into character as the door was opened. Gina sent her a slight smile of encouragement as it closed.


Gina Wright, Panos Lambros, Jeon Smythe, & 'Melvin'

Entering into the rented room, past the guards at the door, Panos was sitting on the side side of the bed with a leg crossed over the other as he held a hand to his mouth with some visible discomfort. When Jeon entered, Panos sized him up with sapphire eyes and then looked away.

"Ah, Good morning Lord Panos," Jeon said cautiously, closing the door behind him, then nodded at the younger man's face as he stepped in front of him. "What happened here?"

"Please rate your current pain from zero to ten, where zero is pain free, and ten is the worse possible pain, so severe that nothing else matters?"

The Probe Shell saw the items lying on the unmade bed in Jeon's room. Picking each up, it gave them a spritz of sterilizing spray and wiped them down before returning them to the bag. Ideally, they would be returned to Supply for full decontamination, but that might raise questions if it gave Jeon a different set.

Stepping out of the door, the avatar glanced down the hall where Calamity and Theaobin had stood, giving Gina a polite, professional nod. So far, no sign of Stror's daughter.

It stepped out behind her, following her back to the marchioness' room.

Before following Jeon inside, Gina took a moment to glance around the inn, looking to clock anyone who was still loitering about the main room and hallway. There wasn't anyone Gina could at least quickly deduce was suspicious as customers passed through the hallway or were enjoying themselves in the front of the longhouse inn.

"I am to assist the doctor," 'Melvin' spoke to the guards at her door. 'Melvin' was allowed inside, Panos cupping a hand over his mouth. Still his body language was closed, and pulled away as he faced his whole body away from Jeon and 'Melvin'.

"It is a four, five since you walked in." Panos hissed as he reacted from the pain, his own lashing out with his tongue wounding himself. "I fell like a stupid fool." Panos admitted with great self criticism.

"Ah. Well, that happens. A great big hole opened up once and swallowed..." Jeon faltered, "...me."

The Probe paused, its puppet staring up with concern at the doctor.

"A hole swallowed you?" it prompted.

"Twice, come to think of it," Jeon says. "Or three, not sure how I got here. I seem to have a lot of troubles with mysterious holes. Anyway, this one was while I was in the System Health Organization. One moment I'm walking along, I fall in, the next thing I know I'm lying on the floor having aged a dozen years and no idea what just happened to me and couldn't tell anyone else what happened, either."

"What's your point?" 'Melvin' asked. Was he remembering being swallowed by the avatar at the battle? Or the gate that brought him to Earth as a child? Were there other gates?

"Feeling foolish," Jeon grinned. "It's going to happen, quite a lot. Especially when lovers are involved. Best thing to do is to accept it and get on with things."

"So, your mouth hurts. Open up and let me take a look and let us get pass this." Gina, Jeon, and 'Melvin' could see Panos subtly stiffen where he sat, eyes aside until he narrowed them upon the doctor.

Finally the Lambros prince complied and with his tongue also displayed (but kept within his mouth) they could see incision marks with small trickles of blood. It was not at the tip of the mouth where most accidental injuries would have taken place, but the middle of the tongue as if it was stuck out before bitten.

"Melvin, do you have any oral antiseptic and a dermo regenerator in that bag of yours?" Jeon asked after a moment.

"Are you sure you want that?" 'Melvin' asked, digging in its satchel. "A few days and it'll be healed on its own."

"Cal asked we tend to him, so that's what we're going to do."

"It's going to 'buzz'," the probe shell warned, giving him a look but handing over a pump spray and the dermo regenerator with its System Health Organization tag certifying its inspection.

"Panos," Jeon said, turning to the young man as he received the spray and the medical device. "I have this spray here that will clean your wound, but I should warn you that it will sting somewhat and leave a weird taste in your mouth. Afterward, I have a device to help heal your wounds a little faster. Do I have your consent to treat?"

Panos stared up to the doctor and the strange objects in the man's hands.

There was debate in his eyes, glancing over to Gina and back up to Jeon.

“I’m sure it’s safe,” Gina offered. “His world’s just a bit ahead of yours and mine, that’s all.”

"Spray it on yourself first." The Greecian royal told Jeon, not trusting him (despite having had a head injury treated by him before).

Jeon's right eyebrow quirked and he sighed. Every time they wanted him to try it first.

"Okay," he said, holding the sprayer up to his mouth and giving it two pumps. Benzocaine and eucalyptus erupted into his taste buds, but that was all. He then turned on the dermo regenerator and, holding the softly buzzing device over the back of his hand, then turned and showed his hand to Panos.

"May I treat you now?"

Gina motioned towards the door with her thumb. “If you prefer, I can step out?”

"Doctor, his wounds will heal on their own," the Probe avatar said.

"Painfully over days, assuming no infection."

"That's his choice, yes?" it asked, then turned to Panos. "How does your culture normally treat infections?"

“With medication, going to the doctor. I didn’t come from barbarism” Panos snapped at ‘Melvin’, shifting weight side to side before saying “Touch me more than necessary and I will find a way to maim you.” The teenager warned and jumped his eyes to Gina, extending to her a trust once unfathomable. “Watch him closely.” he ‘asked’ before waiting to comply with Jeon’s procedures.

Gina nodded earnestly. “Sure.” The shift in the young prince’s attitude towards her was one she was still processing, but if he was willing to extend a measure of trust to her then she was determined not to break it. She turned to Jeon, confident in turn that the alien doctor knew what he was doing and wouldn't cause Panos any needless discomfort.

"Very well," Jeon said, handing Panos the oral antiseptic bottle. "You'll have to do this yourself then. Hold this up to your open mouth and push down the button on top so that it sprays into your mouth. You may experience a small burning sensation from your tongue and any open sores. The rest of your mouth will tingle a bit. It's important that you do a thorough job so that everything is covered. The aftertaste will fade quickly. You will then open your mouth wide so I may look inside."

Panos didn't hesitate, speeding through the ordeal as if to race it and pass it. While Jeon knew there was to be stinging, Panos' self control or detachment allowed the young man to be stiff and reserved through the process.

Keeping his eyes away from Jeon's, Panos opened his mouth, the punctures still remaining, of course, but the swelling was starting to be tamed.

"I need a UV otoscope," Jeon ordered the Probe shell. After his assistant retrieved it from its bag, Jeon held it up to his eye and leaned in to inspect Panos' mouth and tongue before straightening back up.

"Hmmm. Spray it again. If there's any burning, it'll be less intense." Panos followed instruction, quiet through the entire experience. Dropping the spray so that it rolled to Jeon's feet, the blanched haired royal studied the Zayan closely.

"Why isn't Calamity with you two?" Panos asked, scanning his fellow multiverse travellers.

"Not until we finish this," Jeon ordered sternly, holding up the dermo regenerator. "Calamity needs you to be fully alert, not distracted because of pain. You do this right and don't try to rush it, it will take only a couple minutes. You just open your mouth wide, stick out your tongue, and rub the head up and down while slowly moving it to one side while holding down this button, then back again. It'll start making your tongue itch, that's the tissue healing."

Gina waited for Panos to begin reluctantly rubbing the regenerator over his tongue before throwing the disgruntled royal a bone.

"Cal's fine." she told him. "She's just next door with Theaobin. Turns out he's not so much a messenger as an overseer, here to see if we're worth the emperor's time."

She wrapped her arms around her ribs, wondering how best to explain his relation to O'doln, and her own hunch that the elvish wizard might be an ally even if he knew what Cal had done to king Kinglos. She still wasn't sure. The things O'doln does not wish to share could mean any number of secrets, after all.

While she worked the thought round in her head, trying to knead it into shape, Jeon and Melvin continued to watch Panos apply the healing gizmo with a doctor's critical eye.

"Remember," the Probe shell said as Panos continued rubbing his tongue. "Gina told them that Panos hit his head. We may want to bandage it."

"It's been a few days, I think we can go without the bandage."

Gina's neck prickled a little as the conversation steered close to dangerous territory.

"What do you think, Panos?" she asked, pushing her hair behind her ear. "Like you said, you know these royal types better. Would a sympathy bandage or looking strong be the better play?"

Gina's search for insight was damaged by the young man's mental state. While he had begun the task, as it continued something about it disturbed him until, with wet eyes, he pulled the device away. The dermo regenerator shook within his trembling squeeze. The other hand concealed his eyes while he hung his head low, breathing rapidly, as he tried to steady himself by the hitches of breath. Gina knew why, knew what must have come into his mind. She bit the inside of her cheek in sympathetic discomfort.

“I’m sure that’ll do for now.” Gina said, looking at Jeon. “Right doctor?” She quietly moved a little closer to Panos, not touching him but close enough to offer a hand if he reached for one.

The Probe Shell scanned Panos as it and Jeon glanced at each other.

"He hasn't eaten yet, and with his injuries, his blood glucose is low," 'Melvin' said. "I should go to the kitchen to see if I can scare up something for him, in large portions."

In case he wanted them to test it.

"You do that," Jeon said with concern. "Panos, how are you feeling?"

Across from him, Gina quietly shook her head in warning. But the warning was too late, the Lambros prince tossing the dermo regenerator at the doctor. It seemed the young man was aiming for his face, but luckily the quick toss landed instead against the left collarbone.

"This must be funny to you! Or, these stupid devices, toying with us with them...is that how you get off?!" Panos' emotions quickly jumped, his face a warped story of pride and pain. The voice was loud; Jeon and Gina could hear the guard on the other side of the door clear his throat in discomfort.

Jeon frowned with concern as his hands jerked upward to catch the falling regenerator, then glanced with concern to Gina.

Gina held up a placating hand towards Jeon - I know, I’m sorry, it’s okay - as she shuffled closer and sat down on the bed near to Panos. Her instinct was to take his hand, but she wasn’t sure if he would want to be touched. She wished that Cal were here.

Instinctively, Jeon glanced around, then used his sleeve to dry the device.

“It’s okay.” Gina shushed Panos softly. “You’re right, no more gizmos. Let’s just take a minute until Cal gets back.”

"Okay," the Probe-shell sighed, heading towards the door. The stress the young man was under combined with a lack of proper food and rest was not good. Ideally, a prolonged rest would be ordered, with a therapist to provide counselling. Unfortunately, there was no place for that here.

Slipping out the door, 'Melvin' gave the guards a cautious nod, then headed down the hallway to the main room, looking for the staff. It wanted to return quickly, as people in Panos’ state were often very fragile.

‘Melvin’s’ search led him from the front of the longhouse shaped inn to the back as the owner guided him to the kitchen. The robot could scan the meaty, vegetable dense soup and realize that key oils and minerals were deficient in the meal, the cooking sciences having none of the sophistication of his time period. The population was undeniably dealing with subclinical levels of malnutrition, something it was going to have to take into account as it fed and ensured Jeon was healthy.

The Probe shell frowned as it surveyed the kitchen and the food. If Cal didn't have her own personal cook, it might have to step into the role to make sure they were eating right. Its onboard stores would stretch for the Zayan and the three humans, but it was completely inadequate to feed all of the marchioness' troops.

Of course, it could produce new "rooms" set up as automated farms, even create grow chambers for meat, where a nutrient solution was fed to a culture to grow a massive sphere of living, brainless muscle tissue - but that required sampling. Alternately it could reproduce Soylent pops - combining lentils and soybeans it could extrude as a meat-flavored filament that it could then wrap around a stick to simulate texture. But besides the power and massive time requirement, if 'Melvin' started feeding the troops from its pouch, there would be more attention brought to it and Jeon.

No, it would need to source local supplies and visibly transport them with the troops, even if they were reserved for the marchioness' personal chef. But how long were the troops going to be effective living on this swill?

'Melvin' smiles at the landlord as it drew on its internal supplies for four NutraBuns, wondering if it should insert meds into Panos' bun. "Please sir, may I have soup and tea for four?"

Hopefully Cal would receive better fare from this landlord, but she was more than welcome to its soup.

Back in the room Panos was crestfallen, tensing and holding himself stiff as he stared from his lap to Gina’s. The young man was trying to arrest his emotions, prevent them from escaping, but his body had to become rigid to attempt the restraint.

“You-you’re acting as if you pity me. I don’t need it…”

Gina shook her head. “I don’t pity you, Panos.” she said with quiet sincerity. “I get it, though…no-one wants to look weak, no-one wants to be a burden who needs help…I’ll admit that I fucking suck at it…”

She looked away to the side, her cheeks prickling at the admission. She remembered her room in West Hills (https://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=33384&page=30&p=1285770&viewfull=1#post1285770), the steady hiss and spatter of water as she quietly broke down in her shower cubicle. Shutting herself away rather than let Cece and the others see how badly the events in the maze had gotten to her. Hiding because she remembered all of the students’ eyes on her; in fear, in hope, in relief that someone had stepped up and looked like they had some kind of plan. When you’re the leader you can’t be weak. Cal and Panos had been given no choice in the matter, neither in their own worlds nor here - they had been born into positions of responsibility and scrutiny of the kind that Gina had only taken up because no-one else would.

She realised she was fidgeting with the ends of her hair. Her heart was racing, and she didn’t know why.

The fuck, Gina? This isn’t about you.

“And yeah,” she added, moving her hand firmly back to her lap. “I guess strength is a whole lot more important when it’s someone like you and Cal, rather than a pleb like me. I promise you though, it’s not pity. I just worry.”

“She told you…” Panos realized with tears running down his pale face, failing to restrain the truth: he was internally suffering.

Gina bit the inside of her cheek. She could lie, but that wouldn’t be fair even if it worked. She sighed softly.

“Like I said, I was worried. I went to Cal and she said…she said to promise not to leave you.”

Gina glanced up at Jeon, feeling a second wave of guilt. She knew that the alien doctor meant only kindness. But she wasn’t going to talk openly about Panos’ trauma while anyone other than Cal was in the room with them.

Jeon caught Gina's glance. Had he known more about this group's stress before his battlefield injury that wiped out his memories?

What Panos needed more than anything was a long rest - but that wasn't likely with the situation they were all currently in. So the only alternative was pharmaceutical. Some brandy and St. John's Wart, assuming any could be found in this place, wasn't going to be enough to treat this, and he had no idea of the sort of drugs was in that cyborg's miracle satchel. Not to mention the potential for side-effects and the difficulties in getting Panos to take them. If only his medbot was here - but it would stick out like a sour thumb.

“So that’s what I’m going to do.” she said, pushing her hair behind her ear as she turned her head to look at Panos. “I’m not asking you to like me, or ask me for help. I’m not asking you to forgive me for showing up in your world and dragging you into…all of this shit. And I’m not going to promise it’ll all be okay. I’m just going to promise that I won’t leave you behind. None of us will.”

Panos nodded slowly, being impacted by her words.

So was he the target of whoever pulled him out of the airlock, or was it the cyborg they were in the midst of rescuing? Jeon was left in an awkward place when the sharp crystalline blue of Panos' eyes glared at him.

"Get out!" he barked at him, wet face holding with a stone cold grace and body stiffly held while he waited for the doctor to leave.

Jeon scowled, then kneeled down to pick up the spray bottle Panos had dropped earlier. Slipping the bottle and the dermal regenerator into his robe, he turned to the door, only to pause glancing back at the prince.

"I was treating a patient whose suit had been punctured and was running out of air when I got brought here," he stated plainly. "Whoever brought us here may have very well killed her."

”Whoever brought us here is going to answer for it.” Gina said, a muscle in her cheek twitching tight. It was easier to hate the Note Writer than to try and make each other feel guilty. And it was easier to hate the Note Writer than to think about the people she had left behind. How long had they been away now? A week? What could have happened to her friends in that time?

A trail of bodies. the black thought came to her, unbidden. That’s all you ever leave behind you, Gina. Hiss. Shriek. Bang.

Yes, it was easier to hate.

“We’ll come find you soon.” she promised Jeon, though her voice came out strained. “Then we’ll go to Thronehearth and maybe finish…this.”

Opening the door, Jeon stepped out.

"When you see my apprentice, please let him know I've got back to our room," the Zayan doctor asked the guards as he stepped past, closing the door behind him.

Perhaps, the Probe considered as the shell waited for the food to be dished out, Panos should get that long rest after all?

"Everywhere I go...I'm used like this..." Panos mumbled.

“It wasn’t your fault, Panos.” Gina said quietly. “None of this was.” She looked down at her arm. “And after one more of these…fucking symbols…we’re going to get out of here.”

Panos stared at the center place between himself and Gina. "I don't think there is anywhere I could go..."

Gina bit her lip, wishing she had more to offer than words. The room suddenly felt very large and very empty - too big for a pair of lonely, suffering souls. “If the Writer can send us anywhere…” she said, slowly, “Then what if you ask them to send you to Cal’s world? Then someone would always be there with you. Someone you know you can always trust.”


Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility, Gina Wright, & Panos Lambros
Just in the moment Gina invoked the young woman's mention, Calamity herself returned and, after swiftly closing the door, rushed to Panos to sit on his other side. They held hands and he closed lip smiled to her, but his happiness was painfully brief.

"Where is that man?" Panos asked with an unnerved reservation about Jeon. Gina’s spirits rose a little at the implication that he hadn’t truly wanted Jeon to go, right up until he added: "He is not going to do anything stupid on his own is he?"

Calamity glanced away, able to keep the steely act, but Gina could tell she was worried as her hand clenched her dress. “He is speaking to the Emperor's envoy..."

Panos paled.

Gina sucked her lip, remembering the way Theaobin had spoken to her. She briefly considered the Tarot cards, until it occurred to her that one chirruping at the wrong moment had almost landed her in trouble at Cal’s castle, and the same thing happening to Jeon when he was under suspicion of being a mage would be worse.

“What did he talk to you about?” she asked Cal quietly. “He told me O’doln’s his cousin, and he said he knows the secrets he didn’t want to share.”

Calamity walked further into the room, nearer to Panos and forming a wide triangle between the three teenagers. Finally her hand released.

"Oh," The young woman first responded to Gina's information, "He was trying to have me give him a solid answer about Jeon. I think he wanted me to want the worse for him. I can tell he is like my mother: he likes to use power, even to hurt others. He hid it in many other questions about Whitebar or my life, but he returned to Jeon and the 'magic'"

Sighing, she sat next to Panos' other side. The three of them now faced the door, together on a fur layered bedside.

"I tried to impress onto him that there was a lot of uncertainty at the time, and that the Draconian attack was worth the Emperor’s time."

"Another sadist in power, always." Panos looked between both women.

”How lucky are we, eh?” Gina agreed sardonically, and twisted a curl of her hair round her fingers. “Maybe I should try and talk to O’doln when we get to Throne-wotsit, see what he thinks of Theaobin and his motives?” She glanced towards the wall, and the adjoining room where Jeon was alone with the emperor’s agent. “As for Jeon…”

"Jeon has the wit of a koala.” The young man in the middle warned Gina and Calamity. “He knows how to do the thing he's best at, and can't comprehend anything else outside of that. He's an idiot doctor talking to a politician. We are going to have to interrupt that conversation to save him and us."

”He’s not an idiot.” Gina defended their absent companion, before slumping forward to rest her lips against her clasped hands. “But you’re probably right, we shouldn’t leave him alone, if only so we can keep our story straight between the four of us…”

She unclasped her hands and stood up, brushing down her skirts.

“Okay, what’s a good excuse for us to burst in? Do we need his permission to go through the portal or do we just announce that we’re going?”

"We need his permission, we cannot see the emperor unless Theaobin approves of our reason so." Calamity stressed with knitted brows and a tapping of her lower lip. "He is trying to learn if Jeon has magic or not, when we need him to see the attack on the city is the problem. If Theaobin keeps attention on 'Jeon's magic', I wonder if that'll get us, really, to the emperor at all or instead to that wizard we were told about?"

Panos sighed. "We are going to have to set the building on fire."

"What?!" Calamity stood with a jolt of shock.

Gina blinked, mirroring her friend’s surprise. “You…you mean this building?” she asked.

Cal knelt in front of Panos. "What are you talking about?"

Panos' sharp stare eyed the two young women. "We need an act dramatic and bold enough to lower Theaobin's guard or he's going to not let this go. A large fire that puts his life in danger may unsettle him enough to where we can have the advantage and get through easily."

“Okay, I get where you’re coming from.” Gina scratched her head as she followed Panos’ logic. “But here…we can’t just burn down this guy’s pub. What about Mari and her baby next door, they’re in no condition to move. What if they got trapped?”

She dug a thumb into her palm, trying to think of an alternative she could contribute.

“What if we tell him about the arcanium? Say you were wanting to tell the emperor personally, but if he’s the gatekeeper he needs to know what’s at stake. Lyina gave some to the Drac prisoner, sure, but who’s to say she didn’t give them more that we don’t know about? Let him picture them opening up portals in Greywall and Thronehearth next. Surely that’ll shake him. And it won’t contradict anything Kinglos or O’doln might have told him…and it might even get Jeon off the hook. I mean, who knows what kind of crazy Drac magic was going off during that fight?”


Jeon Smythe, & 'Melvin'

Jeon had the guard at the door watching him step away, only from Calamity to come forth from another, a strained look on her face. He caught it, a rare glimpse, before it was sealed under the cold façade of her current character. She hurried a couple of paces up to the man, leaning in to whisper.

"He likes to be entertained, don't give him any direct answers-" The teenager rushed out, wanting to share more insight but caught her conversation partner rounding the door into view.

With a stiff and icy body language Calamity straightened herself as Theaobin arrived. At first impression the dapper man looked displeased with Jeon's appearance, disappointed and bored. Then the man handsomely smiled and bowed gently.

"All this trouble is by you?" He asked with a light-hearted jest that was also a jab of his lowly first glance at the Zayan. "I am Theaobin, an envoy of the Emperor. I think we should speak together."

"Trouble, my lord?" Jeon blinked, confused by this sudden change. "Of course we can speak. After you?"

Jeon waved to the door Theaobin and Calamity had just stepped out of. Theaobin began to turn around and Calamity stepped to follow when he bowed his head in her direction and raised a hand momentarily. "Forgive me Marchioness, I am in need to lean more of him on my own." Jeon could see the man had ears not entirely Human in their shape.

If only medbot was here, I'd love a scan of that cranial structure and those ears, Jeon sighed mentally. I wonder what the muscle groups are like?

He was already mentally picturing the auricularis superior, the auricularis anterior, and the auricularis posterior muscles

"Very well." Calamity said, playing it cool while walking away. The teenager stole one last glance with the doctor as if to repeat her warning.

Listening in through the card in Jeon's pocket, the Probe shell was wondering what additional trouble the doctor was going to get them into?

When the door closed, Jeon bowed his head slightly and waved Theaobin towards the nearest seat.

"So, my lord," he asked, his voice crisp and professional as he watched the official move, "Please tell me where it hurts, this trouble of yours?"

I definitely need to set up some office hours. And an office. Theaobin laughed a warm chuckle while studying Jeon.

"My injury isn't a physical or a pain, but," One of his red brows twitched with a charming bravado, "A raised curiosity. You have my interest. Thank you sharing time with me." Politely the man sat his hands in his lap, eyes keeping attuned to Jeon. He was being watched, a deep stare over a warm smile.

”I see," Jeon said, politely. Those usually 'curious' about his profession were either wanting to become doctors themselves, wanting to be married to a doctor, or interested in some of the more unusual items in the pharmacology - especially their recreational use. Or all three at once.

Still, he had none of the tell-tale signs of a drug abuser, nor did he think the 'elf lord' would have problems obtaining whatever he wanted, illicit or not. So it had to be that other thing.

"If it's about the battle," Jeon sighed, shaking his head, "I must warn you that the only thing I remember about it is waking up inside a wheelbarrow outside an aid tent after the battle was long over, with some sort of short spear welded to my ruined suit that's going to be impossible to replace."

A bit of laughter jumped through the room.

"How amusing, magical practice can have wild consequences if not careful. I wonder what you did...that spontaneity is what often put my magically practicing cousin in harm's path." He shared with a contemplation while crossing his legs, "Magic can be such a danger when not measured and kept properly noted, don't you agree?"

"Anything can become dangerous," Jeon sighed. "I've heard some of the men talking, but I can't believe it, myself. That I dug a pit deep into the ground, shattered the enemy's portal, then leapt into the air throwing bolts at their wizard? That he sent one back at me but got impaled by another?"

"And you think that was all spontaneous?" the doctor scowled, looking up at Theaobin. "Do you see a lot of wizards who can do all that? Could you do all that?" The slight kick and quick tap of a finger told Jeon that his own questions pierced.

"Magic's capacities are near infinite, which is why we are so cautious, isn't that right?" Theaobin asked Jeon, still keeping to a politician's smile. "There are those of magical blood who act without consideration or consciousness. They have been called the wild mages, as a man of medicine you tease me with your innocence of this matter. Your memory loss is...worth consideration."

"Seems rather subjective to me," the Zayan doctor shrugged. "Someone sees something they don't understand, they assume it's magic. In the common room, there's a fireplace that keeps the room warm without an actual fire. Do we assume that it's because the innkeeper is a wizard?"

"I really don't know much about magic, myself," Jeon admitted. "But what I've been told is it needs this 'arcanium' to power it. Surely you control the source in the empire, yes? No one would have given any to me as we were going into battle, I'm just an apothecary. So how did I use it?"

"Or," he paused, eyes narrowing as he studies Theaobin carefully, "Are wild mages somehow able to work this magic without it?"

'Or were they the source of this material?' Jeon wonders, feeling a chill going down his spine. 'And if they thought he was a source, would they kill him to get at it?' As Jeon's questions continue to spiral Theaobin's stare settled with a hunting kindness, softly curled lips with eyes piercing and unwavering. The series of questions asked provoked the Elfin Human to tap his fingers once on the arm of his chair.

"Hmm. You have far wider knowledge than you let on" What that could mean or what the consequences of such an accusation could be were interruption of the door opening abruptly.


'Melvin'

In the kitchen the older man walked closer to 'Melvin', presenting a vat of soup rich in carbs, proteins, some minerals, and little else. The Innkeeper encouraged 'Melvin' to have as much as he'd be able to carry back to his room. Breaded bowls were nearby for use.

Picking up a tray, the Probe shell ladled soup into four bowls.

"Sir, the woman who gave birth earlier, has anyone checked in on her?" it asked the Innkeeper. The man seemed a bit scattered.

"I can't be sure...I'll go look after her." He walked around 'Melvin' to return into the hallway.

"If you excuse me, I have to deliver this tray," the Probe Shell said, passing him to head for the guarded door as the N-gate hidden within its frame opened slightly to release a pair of drug pellets, which got loaded into its launchers.

"I've brought food," the Probe shell told the guards at the Marchioness' door, "For the people inside. Could you please let me in?"