Valence came to at a familiar sound of his sword being drawn from his scabbard. But that wasn't right; couldn't be right. He was... alone. Except he wasn't. And there was only one reason why his sword was being drawn while he was unconscious.

	Groggy and disoriented from the total lack of [i]mana[/i]- which he leaned on more than he previously admitted, now that the freezing cold of the ice bit into him- Valence rolled away from the vague blur of color to his right side. A moment later, he heard the tell-tale ringing of his sword, when it struck something hard, and a couple ice shards landed on his face. Some blow that landed short, because of his roll?

	Valence's mind cleared, and he felt his [i]mana[/i] returning, slowly. It would be days before he'd be at full strength again, but enough [i]mana[/i] returned that his body could recover itself- it seemed his body was too used to too much, and handled too little too badly. That was just too bad, he noted, as he rolled farther away, slipping and sliding as he went.

	Shaking his head, his vision returned, blinking groggily at the sight of the Princess. 

	Hell. It worked.

	Strength returning, he pushed himself up, unconsciously shutting off the flow of [i]mana[/i] to his runes, which were already trying to restore themselves. He took in the unsteady Princess and her own disorientation, though by the way she glared at him, he figured that it was more physical and less mental.

	"Hey now, don't try sticking me with my own sword. You ain't gonna be killing me anyways, nu-uh. I brought you back because... because of reasons, and you're sure as hell not gonna kill me and get yourself killed in the process."

	He brought Elise back from the dead. He also brought someone else back- and he has a mental connection with her. He closed his eyes, searching his mind for something new- and found it. It felt distinctly like the bit of foreign-ness that resided in the back of his head that connected him to the Valryk Princess, except it was... stronger. Much stronger, and it felt powerful, thrumming with life. How much, he wondered, of his [i]mana[/i] was absorbed and integrated into Princess Elise? 

	He opened his eyes, stared at Elise, and mentally tugged on the mental connection that he had with her. Might as well see what it'd do, right?