Ziotea finished checking over her armor and got to her feet.  The dusk sky to the west reminded her a bit of the trees she'd seen in Idden-Mar, all oranges and reds, but that wasn't what interested her at the moment.  She turned to look eastward, at the paired glaciers pointing the way to the Narrow Gates.  Somewhere ahead of them lay three damaged ships, and an unknown enemy.  The thought was both exciting and worrisome.

She glanced around at the others of their little expeditionary force, wondering in passing what was going through their minds.  Overhead the thin, shimmering barrier of Ragnar's aegis kept out the worst of the cold and the wind.  Ziotea looked around for Ragnar himself, spotting him on the upper deck.  She made her way in that direction, but Galahad arrived before she did by quite a bit.  She would have joined them, but from the look of it the two were arguing.  [i]Not my affair,[/i] she thought to herself, giving the pair space to sort it out.  It was odd for them to fight, but she supposed any relationship had rocky portions.

Instead she turned eastward again, regarding the reflected gold of the glaciers, taking the time to appreciate the view.  The colors were odd but Ziotea found they were growing on her, much like the sunset behind her.  She stayed that way for a few minutes, just fixing the image in her mind.  Somewhere ahead ether sparked, and she wondered if it was from their destination.  After a moment, though, she realized it couldn't be, for it was getting closer at an alarming rate.

"Ragnar, everyone, be ready.  We have incoming," she shouted.  "Some sort of powerful magic attack, it'll be on us in a moment--"  She could see it by then, a massive ball of white ether speeding toward the Sword of Dawn.  "Ragnar, it's up to you to protect us!"