[hr][hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/d5nSaD9.png[/img][/center][hr][hr][center][h2][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxaExUu86Zc]♫[/url][/h2][/center][hr][hr][center][color=808080][i][b]Present:[/b] Esmii [@BlackRoseSiren], Oksana [@Ti], Yuliya [@Arte], Marz [@Th3King0fChaos], Yvain [@jasbraq], and Khaliun [@YummyYummy][/i][/color][/center][hr][hr][center][h1][color=808080]The Night Before[/color][/h1][/center]
[color=808080]It was late, but there were no crickets to remind them so. Penny lay awake in bed - if you could call it that. In reality, it was little more than a pile of furs on top of some tightly-packed straw. There were a few of them to each mattress and, next to her, lay Yuliya. [color=f7976a][i]Couldn’t you be jammy instead?[/i][/color] she thought, but then, feeling guilty, she glanced over at her friend. Yuliya was just fine. It was this entire situation that was trying. Everybody wanted her help on their terms, their way, and it was almost as if she were a tool. Penny did not like being a tool.

On the other side, Yuli was trying to sleep. But she felt the eyes of another boring into her head. She had trouble sleeping at night to be truthful, especially after her rations had been taken. Alas, she turned over to face her bunkie, and forced a small smile alongside a few words [color=pink]“Can’t sleep?”[/color].  

[color=f7976a]“I can dream?”[/color] Penny laughed. She shook her head and sat up, pulling her knee to her chest and resting her chin on it. Her eyes darted about in the dark, regarding the others: there was only Esmii and she appeared to be sound asleep. The petite yasoi even snored. That hadn’t exactly… helped with the whole ‘falling asleep’ thing. She decided to just say it. [color=f7976a]“I was approached by the Arch-Zeno. He basically blackmailed me into… doing what he wanted. Now, these ungrateful fuckers.”[/color] She grit her teeth. [color=f7976a]“Ironically, Silas was right. We should’ve just moved on.”[/color]

[color=pink]“Mhm. Or killed the thing. If snoring hippie could have talked sense to her man, we could be on road two days ago.”[/color] she spoke a little groggily, but joined Penny in sitting up regardless. These Arch-Zenos had some intense nerve. Who were they to tell Penny what to do? Or her, for that matter? 

Penny snorted at the mention of ‘snoring hippie’, but her mirth cleared after a moment. [color=f7976a]“At some point, you know, we have to take the reins ourselves. I’ll give tomorrow a shot, but if it doesn’t work, I’m blasting that thing.”[/color] She paused and checked on Esmii again. [color=f7976a]“Truth be told? I don’t think we can trust everyone here.”[/color] She shook her head. [color=f7976a]“And I’m not referring to the dumb ones.”[/color]

Yuli nodded. [color=pink]“We can trust Yvain, right? And I don’t think Marz is suspect either.”[/color] she spoke and pondered for a moment. That left the suspects to Sven, Esmii, Nazih and Silas. [color=pink]“Do you think it’s hippie couple? Or are they part of the dumb ones?”[/color]

[color=f7976a]“Definitely dumb,”[/color] Penny whispered guiltily. She thought about Sven, though, and reevaluated him. [color=f7976a]“Well, not dumb, per se, but naive - idealistic.”[/color] She shook her head. [color=f7976a]“Yvain, we can explicitly trust. He’s a blood relation.”[/color] She didn’t outright say it but, at this point, they both essentially knew the other’s [i]second[/i] secret. [color=f7976a]“If the Traveler has her grubby fingers in this, then it’s either Nazih or Silas, and…”[/color] she trailed off, looking significantly at Yuliya.

Yuli scratched her neck for a moment, before looking back at Penny. Certainly interesting candidates. [color=pink]“Do you think it could be both?”[/color] she inquired. She thought for a moment. She supposed the powergazer would make a natural case, but she always got the vibe he was too selfish for that sort of behaviour. Nazih as a potential suspect surprised her though, wasn’t he supposed to be some sort of noble? He did have interesting smelling blood however… She silenced her thoughts and listened before she felt the hunger too deeply. 

[color=f7976a]“Could be,”[/color] the Perrenchwoman allowed, [color=f7976a]“but one has a possible motivation, while the other…”[/color] She scrunched up her face. [color=f7976a]“What reason would a Darhannic noble like Nazih have for siding with the Traveler?”[/color] She was antsy, desirous of rising but also not quite willing to brave the cold. Esmii, meanwhile, rolled over and ceased snoring for a moment and the two conspirators to her left went stone-quiet. Then, thankfully, there was a little sniff and a light snore and the yasoi was back to sleeping normally. Penny grinned wickedly for a moment. [color=f7976a]“For some reason, I just wanna tug them lil’ pointy ears.”[/color] Presently, she returned to her earlier train of thought. [color=f7976a]“If the Traveler has someone here, it’s Silas.”[/color] 

Yuliya had always dismissed him but, while Penny saw someone selfish in him, the little scamp was also clever, in his own way. Her friend was underestimating him and he was exactly the sort who could be radicalized. He’d come from nothing, after all, and she had seen, firsthand, how easily the emotions of such people could be manipulated all the way to the point of them being willing to murder or martyr themselves. 

A flash of anger and realization appeared on Yuli’s face. A memory went through her head - the night of the Lednikrayva. Silas had been there for the beginning, but he had not been there after the ‘specter’ had shown up. Pieces of a puzzle she never realized existed continuously went through her mind, and it all began to make sense. And as quick as she made that realization, she knew what must be done. Perhaps she would have allowed this nonsense to take place at the school, but not in her home country, not when the lives of her people were at stake, and she held responsibility for them. In a hushed and far more serious tone, Yuli looked into Penny’s eyes and spoke [color=pink]“We will have to watch him. Maybe Nazih too. I think they are close. I watch rat boy, you watch darhannic?”[/color]

Penny pursed her lips. They would certainly bear watching, and maybe even intervention, though she hoped not. She nodded. [color=f7976a]“Agreed.”[/color]
[hr][hr][center][h1]After the Fall[/h1][/center]
It was… a sendoff. If Elder Ozodbek was not jubilant, if he was not bowing in thanks, he at least expressed his gratitude. There was no parade, but there was a hearty dinner in their honour and even a monetary reward that was perhaps [i]just[/i] on the right side of insultingly paltry. Some of the people of Tagayungri grumbled that it might have been better to kill the begemot, but it was not them who’d ever had the ability to do so, and so the choice had not ultimately been theirs to make. Sven and Esmii had gotten their way, and the former bordered on smug about it, eager to remind his fellow biros to ‘have a little faith and do the right thing.’ The latter was playing around with the ruce seed extract, examining its properties as a sedative magically, while Nazih appeared to show an interest as well.

Penny, meanwhile, was busy speaking in gestures and a few shared words with the village women she had befriended, as Yuliya conversed in hushed tones with Nikolai. The children swirled about Yvain and a handful of girls glanced his way and whispered among each other. Marz and the village smith talked shop, the Hegelan seeming less than impressed but at least somewhat politic about the matter. They all found bread and meat stuffed into their travel bags. Even Ilvir was welcomed in, surprisingly, to be offered a grudging thanks before he departed and a more genuine one from most of the students. 

Yet, just as he had at another gathering some months earlier, Silas disappeared midway through this one as well. Few noticed amid the general merrymaking, but a couple did…Yuliya was one such person, and she found ample reason to excuse herself from her brief conversation with Nikolai and went to find the abscondee, glancing Penny’s way as she exited. The Perrenchwoman, however, was deep in the middle of some story, and did not seem to notice. The Vossoriyan’s natural path took her to the river, thinking that perhaps her quarry had made his way onto the boat ahead of everybody else, but she was not a wild tracker, and did not find any trace of footprints, neither with her magic sense was she able to locate him. Even her honed senses were out of luck, perhaps because of the environment or the beating sun, or maybe it was the lad’s skill in being a thief. 

The docks were barren of activity with only the winds and flow of the river filling the silence in the air. Parked in its lonesome was a large riverboat with no energy signature to be felt inside. It was tied to one of the many bollards on the docks, and sat upon that wooden structure was a warm body that made no effort to hide itself. They wore a hood and the royal Vossoriyan crest was easy to see on the individual’s shoulder. Whoever it was, Yuliya would know this person, but their face remained obscured.

[color=78CBE8]“You finally came home.”[/color] spoke the figure, her voice all too familiar to the princess. [color=78CBE8]“And you’re down a unit.”[/color] she raised her chin to reveal her tanned face and dual braids hanging over her shoulders. It was Khaliun, the royal sentry. 

Yuli smiled in surprise.. This was a familiar face she was all too glad to see at this moment. For tracking someone, she was worth five of anyone in her group, and she was someone Yuliya could explicitly trust. Best of all, it was someone she could speak to in her native tongue. [color=pink]“Not a moment too late, I hope. Though perhaps that ‘unit’ has gotten too far to do anything about anymore.”[/color] she spoke, walking towards Khaliun with a mix between a friendly grin and an annoyed grimace. [color=pink]“It is good to see you again, though as much as I wish to talk to you, I’m going to have to ask you to do something for me. We need to track that stray, and put it down.”[/color] 

[color=78CBE8]“Of course.”[/color] answered Khaliun as she heard the request. The lightest of pushes had her just an inch over the ground, feet hidden inside her cloak, as she seamlessly floated by the Vossoriyan Sanguinaire. [color=78CBE8]“He broke off twenty minutes ago. Going North.”[/color] she took her time, narrowing her eyes as if she was focusing on something, even if she was looking at nothing in particular. [color=78CBE8]“I could stop him. Even kill him, but -”[/color] her eyebrows furrowed, [color=78CBE8]“If I misfire, he’ll be onto us and panic. Better to confirm the task on the spot with my coverage. Do you agree?”[/color] she twisted toward Yuliya and tilted her head as she waited.

Yuli paused for a moment, and thought about it. A tethered could squeeze his heart and squish it, but the chance of a misfire could make this far more complicated than it needed to be. The alternative was preferable, but they needed to be inconspicuous. She procured two prime shots from her pack, and handed one to Khaliun. The Tethered took the juice and stared at it. [color=78CBE8]“Hegelan elixir. It pleases me to see you are more cautious this time around, my Lady.”[/color] the lid flicked off, and she drank. [color=78CBE8]“Mmm. How many more do you have?”[/color] Yuli polished hers off, and stifled the need to vomit [color=pink]“Four more. Should be plenty for the mission at hand, but I’ve learned some lessons from the past.”[/color] She spoke and nodded. She pondered for a moment more, before coming up with an idea. [color=pink]“We need to be inconspicuous. You keep on tailing him, I will meet with a couple of the others and tell them to look in different directions, then regroup with you north. Then we will finish the job.”[/color] Khaliun nodded.
[hr]
It was perhaps a couple of minutes after that conversation that Yuliya strode into the village hall and announced that Silas was missing. Maybe he had hoped to be quick and return before they noticed him missing or at least before they were ready to depart. Maybe he’d had enough - Penny guiltily revealed that he had confided his doubts in her - and simply decided to leave. Nazih recalled that he’d had a girlfriend, of sorts, who lived not too far to the north, in Kagan. Whatever the powergazer had been thinking was not of much import. What mattered now was finding him. Yuliya, who knew the land best, did not even wait for anyone else to volunteer. She headed due north with great pace. Penny headed south, along the river, taking Yvain with her. Marz went northeast, on a general course towards Hoch Dorumvir, along with Nazih. Sven and Esmii forded the river and searched west. 

Later afternoon gave way to evening, and evening ticked towards nightfall. Shadows stretched long and jagged across the plains, and the sun perched, orange and perilous, atop the slalom course of the mountains. First back were the two Perrench, and Penny threw herself onto a bench outside of the elder’s residence. They had gone for quite some ways, augmented by Kinetic magic, and even strayed from the river bank. They had found nothing. Sven and Esmii returned as the last of the day’s light faded, equally empty handed. Marz and Nazih came back with the stars, frustration evident on their faces once they reached torchlight. 

The six of them sat there in the burgeoning cold, their breath starting to turn into frost in this Godsforsaken place. Sven took a couple of steps forward. [color=385403]“At least it’s pretty out here,”[/color] he remarked, gazing up at the stars. Esmii hurried up beside him and the wrapped arms around each other. [color=#b08cc9]“There’s so many!!!”[/color] she wondered aloud. Gradually, the others got up to join them, and it was as if the Gods decided to award the small, shivering group of youths who had set out together on this thankless journey. A ghostly but brilliant scarlet glow lit the distant sky over the mountains, rippling in the night air and they all watched it undulate. Even some of the villagers emerged, casting their gazes that way. A portent of good fortune, it was declared, and Nikolai told them that none had ever seen anything quite like it.
Still, they wished that Yuliya, who had gone alone to the best of their knowledge, could have seen it. The hour was now dangerously late and she was missing, along with Silas…

Alas, not much longer passed before a tired Yuliya appeared on the horizon. Whilst the others had mostly retired for the night, only Penny remained, glancing up at the beautiful, merciless sky and shooting the odd glance at the horizon in some potent mix of anticipation and trepidation. The Vossoriyan maintained a vigilant gaze forward, her walk steady and calm. It took perhaps a minute still for Penny to recognize her friend in the distance and they found themselves reunited in shouted greetings, exaggerated expressions and, finally, a well-earned embrace. [color=f7976a]“Nothing, then, right?”[/color]

Yuliya shook her head.

[color=f7976a]“Well, at least you’re safe,”[/color] said the Perrenchwoman fondly, a pang of loss for Silas sequestered away. [color=f7976a]“At least we’ve still got [i]you.[/i]”[/color]

Yet, if one Aurora had faded, another lingered beyond the mountains for quite some time,  waiting, hoping, and then - with growing anxiety - dreading. This one had seen the brilliant red display in the clouds that so evoked another name: seen it and now, alone and cold in the mountains, knew what it had meant. 
[hr][hr][center][h1]Kirimansk[/h1][/center]
Some stayed up late, hoping. Others fell into an uneasy sleep, but they had already delayed their departure twice and they delayed it still a third time. One more night in those horrid straw and fur beds. How the royals among them loved [i]those[/i]. How they bore it with little complaint if it meant that their classmate and - perhaps even friend, for a couple of them - would be there when they woke up.

However, the morning brought no such relief, so they rose and conferenced. Yuliya, subdued for most of the past couple days, took the lead this time, seeming finally to have much to say. [color=pink]“None of us find Silas. I look extra hard, and still no luck. I think he don’t want be found.”[/color] she spoke, shaking her head in disappointment. [color=pink]“Нам нужно двигаться. Нет вопросов.(We need to move. No questions.)”[/color] she spoke to Nikolai in her native language, keeping the same disappointed facial expression as prior, her tone remaining the same. 
Nikolai shook his head. [color=3BFFB7]“She is right. I’m sad to say it.”[/color] He paused to swallow. [color=3BFFB7]“This village owes you a debt that it can’t repay. I do as well, but there is a more serious crisis ahead and we can continue to search for your friend. We will send him onwards if we find him.”[/color] His expression settled, implacable. [color=3BFFB7]“You cannot afford to take any more time.”[/color]

It was naught but five minutes before they were packed, dressed, and making their way down to the docks. There, they found someone waiting for them. [color=78CBE8]“You’re late.”[/color] Khaliun remarked, hood down and her fingers occupied with finishing her left braid as she sat on the same bollard as the day prior. [color=78CBE8]“An entire day’s worth of late. We will miss our window.”[/color] she pushed herself off her seat after finishing her hair and began to levitate the same way they had seen Jocasta do, with her legs hidden behind her cloak. [color=78CBE8]“I encourage you to hurry.”[/color] with a flick of her wrist, the sails were raised and the rope tethering the boat to land had been retreated. 

It was a large riverboat, with a reinforced bow and clinker hull, along with lateen sails and poles for navigating the occasional rapids it would inevitably encounter. There was a small cabin, a tiller, and a mostly-open hold. It appeared as if the tethered had slept aboard the night before after arriving at some point during the day. Ushered aboard, they bid farewells that were, in some cases fond and in some perfunctory. Then, they set off down the Belykuska River. It was, for the first time that they could remember during this entire ordeal, relatively stress-free. Mountains gave way to steppe and the river widened as it continued and tributaries joined it. Drifts of snow piled up in valleys and against cliffsides. Great taiga forests coated the rolling hills and eagles circled overhead. 

That night, they slept within the cabin, piled up against each other on naught but furs, with Esmii’s snoring to provide a constant backdrop. They sailed through the night and awoke in the morning at a small cossack village, where they came ashore for twenty minutes, traded for supplies, and continued onward. A second afternoon passed before Khaliun duly informed them that they were near. 

It was as golden hour was dipping into sunset that they entered the vast gorge that led to Kirimansk. Great shadows stretched across the ancient stone faces and agitated currents roiled beneath them. The riverboat rocked and the poles were retracted lest they be lost, for the depth was too great for them to be of use anyhow. They sighted their first huts: a cluster above the cliffside, with a handful of residents peering over at them. One little boy waved. The others merely watched. 

On they continued, as the outskirts of the town hove into view. A small monastery hunkered beneath the overhang of a great cliff, built right into it, and down a few flights of stone steps, lay a small dock. The burgundy-robed monks glanced up at them as they moved about their daily chores. Yet, something seemed… [i]amiss[/i]. They were few when they should have been many. 

The current lashed and swirled and the Belykuska was filled with pale grey-brown silt, perhaps in some homage to its name. They were now passing through the outliers and Kirimansk itself came into view as people blinked and shielded their eyes against the near-setting sun. As they drew closer they began to see, however, that something was wrong, and considerably so. Great flocks of crows and other carrion-eaters, including a trio of truly [i]immense[/i] birds, circled over a portion of the city. 

Then, they rounded a bend in the river and laid eyes upon it. Well up ahead, where the Belykuska joined the Kuska, a large area of the gorge had simply collapsed, decimating the section of the town that had formerly been built both on top of the prominence, on its slopes, and at its foot. Giant slabs of black rock stuck jaggedly out of the water and wreckage was strewn everywhere. Hundreds of people milled about, moving the debris by means mechanical, and mundane, but not magical. There appeared to be the remains of a port there as well, and rapid exchanges in Vossoriyan between Yuliya and Khaliun made it clear to the others that this had been an… unexpected wrinkle. 

[color=385403]“There!”[/color] shouted Sven, [color=385403]“On the shore!”[/color] He pointed eagerly to a lone woman who’d hopped up on a large breakwater and was eagerly waving them behind it with a red flag. Khaliun shouted in her mother tongue, the movements of her mouth queerly exaggerated as she did so, and Yuliya began using hand signals. [color=f7976a]“Oksana!”[/color] exclaimed Penny, rushing over to the side. [color=f7976a]“She doesn’t hear,”[/color] the Perrenchwoman explained to the others, waving at the familiar face, and one much more welcome than Khaliun, in her subjective opinion. 

As the group's attention focused on her, Oksana set to work, tossing them ropes and receiving some, and finally reeling them in as Yuliya, Marz, and Sven brought out the poles to help maneuver the riverboat into place. Her work done as Yvain and Nazih leapt ashore, the cossack hurried back to a nearby horse that must’ve been hers, swinging into its saddle. She stood before the group, then, hands poised in front of herself. With a warm smile on her face, she began signing a quick gesture, expressing the concept of 'Welcome' in a graceful manner - [color=dcf3ff]"Pryvit, Well-come”[/color] - as she approached. Though, upon making eye contact with Penny, she thought better of staying mounted, slid her leg over the horse, and dropped down upon the ground. Her hands moved outstretched as if hugging the air as she smiled warmly, the Perrench girl being the only one from the group who she recognised from her time in Ersand'Enise. She enfolded Penny in an embrace, smacking her hard upon the back, [color=dcf3ff]"Well-come to Hun-dry."[/color]

Penny coughed and returned the enthusiastic hug. [color=f7976a]“Happy to be here,”[/color] she replied, but her eyes went to the disaster zone just under a mile away. [color=f7976a]“But what happened!?”[/color]

If Oksana did not recognize the words, she knew the expression and the glances towards the scene of devastation. She shifted her signing, her expression turning more serious. Her hands traced an outline of a circle in the air, forming an imaginary boundary, while her face became solemn. Through her signs, she conveyed the concept as her fingers formed a symbolic gesture of caution, waving in a sweeping motion to alert the group to be wary further inside. [color=dcf3ff]"Poofth,"[/color] she exclaimed, as she attempted to recreate a sound that represented failed casting with the gift. [color=dcf3ff]"Magiya, poofth.”[/color] She waved them a few steps further up the steep walkway and… that was when Penny felt it: Her magic. It was there and then… it was gone.[/color]

[hider=Colour Codes]Silas: [color=7B68EE]“”[/color]
Yuliya: [color=pink]“”[/color]
Khaliun [color=78CBE8]“”[/color]
Ahrora: [color=3CB371]“”[/color]
Penny: [color=f7976a]“”[/color]
Nikolai: [color=3BFFB7]“”[/color]
Ilvir: [color=3469B8]“”[/color]
Nazih: [color=D2691E]“”[/color]
Ozodbek: n/a
Dastan: [color=FFD64F]“”[/color]
Oksana: [color=dcf3ff]" "[/color][/hider]