Relieved that the big charr didn't seem about to make a comment or even a face in reference to her brief toplessness, Rilana pulled her cloak back on and sighed as the warmth returned to her pale flesh. She even chuckled at Chatrose's observation of Kona's arrogance.

[color=00aeef]"He's a gryphon. He isn't pleased to see anyone unless they are fawning over him properly."[/color] But when Chartrose asked about Kona being Marked and un-Marked the moon fey paused thoughtfully. Kona argued with her all the time. They bickered and snarked at each other constantly. But underneath it all, they were one. Their hearts beat together and she knew that when all else failed there would be Kona there to support her, loyally, faithfully, forever. But how did she put all that into words?[color=00aeef]"I suppose ultimately no, I would have the final say in that. He is my Familiar, not the other way around, and it was my...soul...or power...or magic...whatever you want to call it, that Bound us together in the first place."[/color]

The truth was, being Master over Kona had troubled her thoughts before, and she wondered what life would be like for Familiars who had cruel Masters. Was such a thing possible? [color=00aeef]"I think that if Kona were ever miserable being Marked, my heart would break until I let him out. You will feel everything that Tricia feels. You will know when being un-Marked is something she needs rather than when it's just her being a stubborn brat. It's not completely one-sided. She will live as long as you will, which is far longer than most animals."[/color]

She wanted to talk more, to discuss the differences between a Familiar like Kona who was sentient and intelligent versus an animal like Tricia who wasn't quite at that same level of awareness. But baring her secrets (and more) to someone who was essentially a stranger had left Rilana feeling drained. Perhaps a conversation for another time.

[color=00aeef]"The Ebon Knights have [b]no[/b] say in the matter,"[/color] Rilana snapped firmly, an icy bite to her words and a frosty gleam in her eye. "I am getting very weary of worrying about what they think!" They meaning Svarak, mostly. [color=00aeef]"As it turns out, being Envoy means I'm in charge of them until the moment we are back in Ebonfort Territory. So what if they notice? They are, all of them, traveling to a place where magic is celebrated and normal and if they have a problem with that then they can hike back to that dismal black mausoleum all by themselves. The would be fools to take issue with your talent here at the top of the world. Breathe easier, Chartrose, and worry about Tricia instead."[/color]

Rilana patted Chartrose on the shoulder and eventually showed him back out of her tent.

--

But whatever fire had existed in Rilana seemed to fizzle out after her birthday-night chat with Svarak under the stars and the moon, replaced by a grim determination. The Aurora Polaris was especially wondrous that night, a last hurrah before the devastating storms swept down in all their icy, deadly fury. It wasn't right, and it wasn't normal, none of it. The cold was unnatural and not only did it make Rilana miserable, it terrified her. It could only be magic. At first her thoughts were only on the crimson-eyed horror from Svarak's memory, but later she remembered the tale she'd heard in Stone Crest about some kind of ice wizard? No longer seeing any wisdom in keeping her suspicion to herself, she asked the others if they knew anything helpful, even going as far as to admit that avoiding some unknown terror in the mountains had been the reason she chose the forest road out of Stone Crest.

Whatever the rest of her party knew or didn't know ended up being irrelevant. The vicious blizzard swelled up like a living thing, cutting them off and dictating their course along ground that Rilana wasn't intimately familiar with. The best she could do for her charges was to help them survive. She showed them how to make barriers of snow around their tents to block out the wind, how to keep their beasts alive, how to avoid snowflake lichen and avalanches. Many times she was tempted to send Kona up above the storm, but one look at the wall of white stormclouds changed her mind for her. Ortha remained huddled uselessly on Bruin's rump. Rilana was thankful that the extradimensional two-headed monster seemed to be weathering the deadly cold a bit better than Tricia, though she complained quite a bit.

The Moon Fey felt no small sense of forboding at the sight of the strange tower, but they couldn't afford to not investigate it and take shelter. At the very least it would be a place to wait for the blizzard to pass so that they could then travel in the direction they liked.