[center][h3][u][color=#cbc66d] Roslyn Wicke [/color][/u][/h3][/center][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/vzhDyH3.png[/img][/center][center][color=#cbc66d]" "[/color][/center][h1][center]The Riddle of Lindenholdt Part 4.1[/center][/h1][center][sub]Date: Zales 33rd
Location: Inn, Outside of Lindenholdt,  [/sub][/center]
[h2]Light and Shadow [/h2][hider=*] 
[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_AzwJwy7Ns[/youtube][/center]

Ipté gave way to Shune on their fourth day in Lindenholdt and snow fell gently - [i]silently[/i] - on the rooftops of the slumbering town. 

A dog howled in the predawn murk and a shutter that had come loose at some point during the night flapped in unsteady rhythm, keeping time with less certainty but just as much persistence as any clock. Yet, not one of the nine students of Ersand'Enise stirred.

The streets lay still and empty. One of the great bells of the Dom St. Adelheid swayed softly as a crow took flight. 

Bare trees.

Frozen river.

Darkened windows.

Then... consciousness! One of the students woke with a singular and determined purpose. She dressed quietly, having chosen to sleep separately from her friends. She grabbed an orange and some bread and slipped out from the door. There were a great many gambits - clever and risky and interwoven in a game of queens, knights, and pawns - that she may have been leaving to enact her part in. Yet, [i]this[/i] venture was a purely selfish one. Only she and one other knew why she had journeyed outside.

And, so, the others slept. They slept as the wind rapped upon on their shutters, the embers crackled in the inn's fireplace, and dreams led them on threads through their slumber, mingling with their plans and anxieties for the day still to come.

The sun of Shune broke the barrier of snow and silhouette and reached out with arms of light to take Lindenholdt up in its embrace. It is only through light, the Stresians say, that we can see where shadow lies deepest. Here, its nascent glow revealed dark daggers and serrations stretching across town. The towering spires of Dom St. Adelheid skewered the wintry homes, squares, and businesses that they met with in warped outline. 

It was a poet's dream without a poet to appreciate it.

The von Mollern family were the practical sort, not much inclined to wordplay, wit, or the arts. The Grunewalds put their business and the interests of their country first and foremost and left the soaring appeals to others better suited for the job. The farmers, miners, merchants, and builders of the town spoke not a word of flowered prose and Berthold Lothmann, alone among these people who made but did not [i]create[/i], was not to be found at the new church's great pipe organ, as had been his custom since its completion four months prior. 

One by one, in an inn named for dancing boots, the eight remaining youths - and many others - rose for the day. They rose and walked by the kitchen where Margarethe was preparing breakfast and on to the dining hall, where Margit - fresh from the snowy outdoors - had appeared to serve the tables. Had they slept well or had the threads of their dreams woven, instead, into nightmares? 

Roslyn had no illusions this was going to be easy. In fact, she expected a fight and dressed for the worst. She donned the three pieces of the Trappings of Sheer Menace, her ring and brought along the smoking bandit. Finally, in her satchel she hid away the pirate gloves, her ammo, anything else she thought might help her. 

It was then, her hand bumped one of the small figurines she purchased from Jana the day before. She stared for a moment. Casually, she reached for it and gave it a small squeeze for a little luck. Maybe the gods might watch over her and if they didn't, she didn't blame them. This was not smart to go out alone. Not with a command mage around, but what choice did she really have?

 Securing Xiuyang's inferno blanket around her, she quickly crept down the stairs. She stopped long enough to snitch some breakfast before exiting out the door.

She didn't worry about her friends noticing her absence. Marci said she'd cover for her and the tethered seemed confident in that task. Suddenly the chill plowed into her face causing her to pull the scarf higher. Her hand reached for her compass and she thought of the words spoken to her through Marci and Zarina. 

[i]The spirit of the sword is found in its manas and its manas seek a worthy spirit. 
You are awaited, Aratana Zankoku-sa says to me. 
Make haste, Hocho Kyuu Juu Kyuu says to me. 
You shall find she who hungers in a land with a flourishing people and a broken church.
Hidden from those sharpening their daggers and creatures of the damned, she craves a nascent potential.
It is here that you will seek her and fight for her.
It is here you will be tried and deemed worthy.[/i] 
[hr]

[color=#cbc66d]"Let's see if you're right about me being worthy."[/color] She mumbled then stepped off into the snow.

Marceline had a job to do. Her energy level didn't matter. Her emotional state didn't matter. For [i]some[/i] reason she was - figuratively - jumping through hoops for the academy: going to one exotic destination after another and risking her life to do their bidding for little but vague promises of advancement. 

The job came first. 

Her hair, usually kept in a bob, was noticeably past her shoulders now. She threw a tie around it. Instead of bathing, she spot-cleaned herself with the Gift as she dressed, the act of it waking her further. Already, she was reaching out with her senses, spreading her awareness across town, filtering the wheat from the chaff, as her mother had taught her some seven years ago. 

Blessedly, there were no stairs today, for she had fallen asleep in her own room. Marci pushed the door open with a shy creak and rolled noiselessly out into the hallway. She heard a set of footsteps - large, bouncy, Ingrid - making their way down the steps. She thought to greet the Eskandishwoman before thinking again and thinking better of it. She needed to focus on Roslyn. The fewer who knew what they were doing, the better. The sooner the Hendlishwoman got it over with, the better. Marceline picked out a corner for herself near the storage pantries, locked her brakes, and focused. 

She found Roslyn headed south, along the bank of the Althern. She had passed the Weberplatz, the port, and the small Frickmayer Estate and was, now, striking out past the farms that ringed the town. Presently, she seemed to have woken a farmer as she cut across his empty fields, but nothing came of it. She was more careful with a second.

Onwards, she went, and Marceline's attention was drawn, momentarily, to the steps. [color=598527][i]What is it with people waking up at a reasonable hour today?[/i][/color] These steps were smaller, trudging, purposeful: Xiuyang. Nobody would recognize [i]Marci[/i] by her footsteps. Again, she thought of interacting; she wanted to, but the job came first.

Roslyn was approaching a forested area and, with some alarm, Marci noticed the energy signature of a large animal present, but a closer inspection revealed it to be a stag. She sent a quick warning. [color=598527]<Large. Stag. Ahead. Don't. Startle. Him.>[/color] The crisis seemed to resolve itself as the two skittish beings skirted widely around each other in the trees, but then a new one presented itself immediately. Distracted, she stepped into a sudden and steep ravine and began to tumble. Before Marci could intervene, Roslyn had caught herself, more or less intact, and was crouching in the snow, rubbing at her wrist and checking her things. The tethered did the same. [color=598527]<Dropped. Your. Snowpepper. | It's. Hanging. From. That. Big. Elm. With. The. Weird. Roots.>[/color]

A quick thanks and Roslyn was moving to retrieve the little pouch from the branch it had snagged on, but then came a distraction. Heavy - [i]very[/i] heavy footsteps on the stairs: Johann. He was whistling and it was annoying. Marci pressed two fingers to each temple, breathed, and reached out with her senses. 

[color=goldenrod]"Oh! Hallo, Marci!"[/color] came his pleasant singsong voice, and she could just smack him right now. [color=goldenrod]"What are you doing hiding under the stairs like a little troll?"[/color] he laughed. 

She glared sugary-sweet daggers at him. [color=598527]"I'm doing my morning sweep of the town and this was the only place where I could get some peace and quiet."[/color] Her smile was a fixed thing: levered at him like a cannon. Johann scratched at the back of his head. [color=goldenrod]"Ah, yes. Well, um... good luck."[/color] He gave her a double thumbs-up and backed away a couple steps. [color=goldenrod]"I shall see you at breakfast soon, then!"[/color]

She nodded and sought out Roslyn again in the woods to the south. Only, when she found the Hendlishwoman, she was [i]not[/i] alone. [color=598527]"Oh, [i]Gods[/i] no,"[/color] she whispered.
[/hider][h2]Hidden Among the Woods[/h2][hider=**]
[i][color=#cbc66d]You hid yourself well, no doubt about that. [/color][/i] Roslyn kept flipping her eyes from the path to the compass. She hurt a bit, but ignored the sting of her flesh wounds. The compass continued to lead her further out than she expected. 

The cold bit at her flesh caused her to tighten the blanket about her and adjust the scarf. She couldn't help the small smile at recalling the farmer's stunned expression. If she had to guess, she looked like a right old fright to the old man. A ghost, splattered by color and a rainbow colored scarf with a red blanket like cape. Who wouldn't have thought their mind was playing tricks on them from a sight like that? 

Her eyes noticed the deep indentations near some trees. Footprints. [i][color=#cbc66d]Shit... [/color][/i]

Not wanting to give away the fact she knew, Roslyn continued onward. She attempted to stretch out her senses, but the elements and fear battered away at her ability to focus. All she could think about was how bad of an idea this was. Keep going and don't stop, she told herself. Maybe she could lose them along the way.

It was moments later, as Roslyn was focusing on the footprints and moving quickly, that Marceline's message came through. [color=598527]<Rosy. Watch. Out. | He's. Coming. From. - >[/color]

A wild-eyed man, ragged with frostbite and some sort of madness, came crashing out of the bushes at her, and he swung for her head with an axe, letting out an inarticulate cry.

Roslyn's eyes went wide when the man came rushing out of the bush. Her body twisted and she jerked away, tugging her face back to try and avoid the swing. She gritted her teeth then drew. Deep down, the girl didn't want to hurt him. It seemed like he was crazy or something. Better to put him down, she realized and immediately cast chemical with a dose of temporal. 

It didn't work like she had hoped. 

[color=#cbc66d]"Shit!"[/color]  Roslyn hissed as she pulled back, trying to keep her head on her shoulders. This was bad, she thought.

The cast had been quick and panicked and he was in such a worked-up state that he'd be difficult to stop cleanly. His swing missed and his axe went into the ground and his frostbitten fingers lost their grip on it.

[color=598527]<Holy. Shit. Rose.>[/color] came Marceline's pinch message, as both parties struggled to recover from the initial near-miss. [color=598527]<Want. Me. To. Put. Him. Down. Question.>[/color]

Roslyn panted heavily, her form trembling. She had tried and... failed. Failed like always. It seemed when she was alone, she always came up short. Even worse, the man seemed half dead. It was a painful reminder of who the weakest in their group was and she felt helpless to change that. Any one of her friends could've easily defended that...  

[color=#cbc66d]"It feels like she who hungers is full of shit now."[/color] Roslyn mumbled, realizing how stupid she was doing this. [color=#cbc66d]<Might. Be. Best.>[/color]

[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1418437062427672737/1419190931818807306/image.png?ex=68d184cd&is=68d0334d&hm=77a421415db77e96d0b73396b03134ddf05e8150292d156187211f39cb599ca1& [/img]

Marceline could sense her friend's brain activity in turmoil but, for all of her skill and natural ability in precise sensing, she couldn't read minds. Roslyn was in danger, and so she cursed under her breath and began drawing. 

Above Roslyn and her desperate opponent, the clouds rumbled and crackled with electricity. The tethered drew past six, past seven, and on past eight. Margarethe, not so very far from her and in the midst of a conversation with Evander, grimaced and pressed her hands to her temples. [color=#FFB8D9]"Oww! Scheiße!"[/color] she hissed, leaning against the counter for support. 

Lightning danced within the clouds and Marci focused on the wildman. His bios were all way off. He was hypothermic. Signals to his nerves were being blocked. He'd been out there, possibly, all night. At the last second, the tethered pulled back on her attack as Roslyn's assailant ground his teeth and missed again, clumsily. His manas! That was it! Marceline had [i]thought[/i] that something weird was going on with them. [color=598527][i]Command magic, again![/i][/color]

She altered her approach, trying commandment instead - a spell that she was less familiar with and confident in, but this man had to be taken alive if, indeed, he would even survive without a highly skilled binder onsite.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCabI3MdV9g[/youtube]

Then, [i]they[/i] were there and her spell simply... stopped. Six... humanoids. Somehow, one of Ersand'Enise's most skilled and promising young tethered mages had completely failed to detect them. 

[color=#AFEEEE]"Ei schü! Fansem!"[/color] called one of the voices.

[color=#E0FFFF]"Nezmeir zünchee fei ca bausch!"[/color] another shouted back as they arrayed themselves.

[color=#91FFFF]"Fei hahlee cöhlee!"[/color] called out a third, commandingly.

[color=#69FFE3]"Fei hahlee!"[/color]

[color=#E0FFFF]"Fei cöhlee!"[/color]

[color=#AFEEEE]"Fei hahlee."[/color]

[color=#91FFFF]"Fei cöhlee"[/color]

A glow filled the entire small clearing that Roslyn and the ragged man who had assaulted her stood in. He was not moving, she noticed, but when she tried to turn to get a better look at one of the newcomers, she found that she could not either. Six of them: none more than four feet tall. They wore long tasseled cloaks in white, with hoods embroidered in silver and short staves that wrapped about their forearms as if alive. This magic. She had never read about it. She had never been told about it and, yet, somehow, Roslyn knew it.

Mahzeree Chrümsah fei ca Frinzen-töft: Old Magic of the Valley Cherune.

The familiar pain clung to her insides as Roslyn watched the man rise again then attack her again. Her feet snapped back with quickness born from instinct. She side stepped, narrowly ducking out of the way. The swing battered her hair away as snow crunched beneath her. Terrified that Marci couldn't put him down, Roslyn began to draw again. 

Then someone shouted, followed by another. Roslyn could only focus on not having her head taken off when light abruptly filled her vision. The glow that filled her felt... familiar. Like an old friend saying hello after years of absence. It reminded her of how she learned magic best. She always preferred a more personal touch and to 'feel' it over written instruction. It tied back to the first time she was exposed to it, though she didn't properly remember it. Faint, hazy dreams eluded her whenever she tried to focus on them. Her childish giggles ran from playful figures as she darted through the woods behind her home.  

Unfortunately, the lighthearted comfort became shrouded by fear. She couldn't move or defend herself. Just like the encounter with Belthagor, she was helpless and at the mercy of someone stronger. She tried to speak, but whether it was terror or the spell, she found the words stuck in her throat.

[color=#6e9839]"Girling's being friendlike,"[/color] came a voice. [color=#6e9839]"Madness all of the inside in that man - Churchlike madness."[/color] A young woman - a [i]human[/i] woman - materialized as if from nowhere and strode into the center of the clearing. [color=#6e9839]"Girl can speakings now. Her naming is of the flowerlike, sü?"[/color]

The new arrival was petite and pale, with wavy light brown hair, a button nose, and freckles. She studied Roslyn with curious but shrewd hazel eyes, her too-wide mouth eventually cracking a smirk. [color=#6e9839]"Hi!"[/color] she chirped. Meanwhile, the Hendlishwoman's assailant remained incapacitated.

If Roslyn could've moved at that point, her nose would've scrunched up in confusion. She almost nodded, but instead focused on calming herself. Why did this feel so familiar? 

Her voice remained timid as she spoke. [color=#cbc66d]"Y-yes, my name is Roslyn. Who are you? And them?"[/color]

[color=#6e9839]"Oh, uslike?"[/color] she jerked a thumb back at the others. [color=#6e9839]"We livings here secretlike... even though Lindenholdt being our land since forevering."[/color] Her eyes flicked back and forth between Roslyn and the trapped man as the others spoke rapidly, one appearing to give the lone human among them a command. She nodded. 

[color=#6e9839]"Man-guy not being this girl's friend, huh?"[/color] she prodded, before arching an eyebrow. [color=#6e9839]"Whatlike Roslyn doin' alone in the spooky forest this morning so earlylike? Reshta's luck we findings you..."[/color] She shook her head and Roslyn could feel the magical restraints on her body start to loosen, though they didn't go all the way. If she was wary of these small people, they were wary of her, as well.

Roslyn took in the woman's words, her anxiety fading only so far. Slowly she tested her mobility as the magical restraints faded. A relief washed over her face when she could move again, but she'd need to contact Marci quickly. To let her know she was all right in case the tethered worry. 

First she had to deal with this. [color=#cbc66d]"I see, and yes, you're right. He just came at me and..."[/color]

She trailed off recalling what happened. With a heavy sigh, she attempted to move closer to him and reached out with her gift. [color=#cbc66d]"I can't leave him like that. I wish I was a better healer though."[/color]

 A slow, gentle attempt to mend what she could. Sadly, she wasn't a healer like Xiuyang or Seviin. She still had to try despite the lacking wisdom of her actions. [color=#cbc66d]"I'm... looking for something. I didn't expect trouble, but it seems like it has a talent for finding me."[/color]

[color=#6e9839]"Oh ya?"[/color] the girl followed up, motioning to some of the others to move inward. [color=#6e9839]"They fixings him up real goodlike, don't worrying, Rosee."[/color] She furrowed her brow, strutting in close. [color=#6e9839]"Well, if she needing's to find something, she can ask they. Maybe they helpings can."[/color] She smiled sweetly and shrugged, but still didn't seem to trust Roslyn enough to full release her.

[color=#91FFFF]"She knowings this girl, Margo?"[/color] said one of the tiny people. She was perhaps of an age with them, her long platinum blonde hair done up in intricate braids, her eyes a pale grey-blue. [color=#6e9839]"Cheh, Lümee. Sen teh fune cetahlee,"[/color] the human replied. [color=#6e9839]"Juhé, fönzeen tac ä lartön!"[/color]

[color=#91FFFF]"Nacu nacu."[/color] The tiny woman grimaced and held up a placating hand as her eyes darted between the two of them. Margot sighed. [color=#6e9839]"Felümee, her sister."[/color] She gestured at the girl. [color=#91FFFF]"Lümee for shortlike."[/color]

Lümee scrunched up her face and glared at Margot. [color=#6e9839]"Greating shortlike,"[/color] the human girl doubled down, grinning wickedly.

[color=#cbc66d]"Nice to meet you."[/color] Roslyn politely said, letting herself relax some.  

[color=#cbc66d]"As much as I want to, I'm not sure anyone can help me with it."[/color] She walked the line of truth as far as she felt comfortable doing. However, she kept tabs on their position. [color=#cbc66d]"I think if someone sticks with me, they might be attacked. I don't want anyone getting hurt."[/color]

Behind her skirt, she tapped her finger against her palm in a discreet fashion. She hoped to keep Marci from doing something rash. [color=#cbc66d]<I'm. okay.| Safe. Maybe. Question.> [/color] 

That familiarity kept gnawing at her, but she pushed it down. Time was ticking away and she had to keep going. [color=#cbc66d]"Are you going to take him back? And let me be on my way?"[/color]

From Marceline, there was only an ominous silence. It appeared that Roslyn was on her own. [color=#6e9839]"Oh,"[/color] came the reply. Margot cracked a smile. [color=#6e9839]"They's not fearing anylike in those woods."[/color] She shook her head. [color=#6e9839]"They's living here since well before humans. And don't the worrying; they's healing this madmanlike who tried making dead on her."[/color] She blinked, one eye at a time. [color=#6e9839]"Good news: I think they's gonna helping her. She's gonna being much safelike now."[/color] Her smile was large and toothy and her breath smelled of iron. [color=#6e9839]"They's generous peopling. Wanna be the helping to her. She's wiselike to be accepting their offer."[/color]

Roslyn tried to school her reaction, but she didn't like the silence. Did something happen to her friend? Her anxiety spiked in her chest and the want to flee grew with her racing heart. Her eyes closed for a moment then she exhaled. She finished by shaking her skirt out before she broke her silence. 

[color=#cbc66d]"It feels like I have little choice, but I can use the help."[/color] Roslyn paused for a moment before she finally began to feed her curiosity. She uttered the first question on her mind. [color=#cbc66d]"What type of magic are they using? There's something about it I can't quite place about it."[/color] 

She reached for her compass as her eyes flicked down to it. While she eyed the second needle's movement and listened, she considered downing a mana brew. Was it needed though with the escort she had now?

Margot smiled sweetly. [color=#6e9839]"Nonsenseness!"[/color] she chirped, as Roslyn was released from the spell. [color=#6e9839]"She is always having a choice-make."[/color] She shook her head. 

Three of the strange small people - they were neither hegelan nor cazenax - were tending to the now-unconscious man. A fourth and fifth seemed to be weaving some form of spell, tending to the perimeter. The sixth was Lümee, who spoke in uncertain and heavily-accented Avincian, eyes darting towards Roslyn's satchel and the tenseness in her arm. [color=#91FFFF]"We's is Elder Magic-kind. Uses magic of the all-world and none by the body-self."[/color] She shook her head. [color=#91FFFF]"Yumans not knowing herewith."[/color]

Roslyn's right eyebrow raised at the woman's syrupy attitude, but said nothing. A clear doubt in her expression said it all. Her mind reflected on the interaction so far. None of them had done any harm to her aside from frighten her a bit. Their reasons were valid and she'd likely done the same. 

Spotting Lümee's darting eyes, she reassured the odd humanoid. [color=#cbc66d]"If you're worried I'm going to pull out something harmful, don't be. I only brought things along that would help me stay safe. Nothing more."[/color]

*Not that I could do anything against you*, her inner critic shot back. 

Something about what the woman said stirred something inside of her. A faint sorrow and joy that she couldn't explain. Something dream-like almost. [color=#cbc66d]"All-world? Like the world around us? That shouldn't be possible. At least, that isn't what we're taught at the academy." [/color]

The moment she was able, Roslyn took a step in the direction of the sword. She needed to keep moving while she talked.

Lümee seemed to accept Roslyn's explanation. She shrugged and let herself fall a few paces behind as the greater group broke apart. One of the healers peeled away from the now-semiconscious man, as did one of the perimeter guardians. Both followed.  [color=#91FFFF]"Oh, surune,"[/color] Margot's sister chided, [color=#91FFFF]"there's being very much things she hasn't know-made. She's academy -"[/color]

[color=#69FFE3]"Precious academy,"[/color] giggled another.

[color=#91FFFF]"Preeeeccccious!"[/color]

[color=#AFEEEE]"Very-much preciouslike."[/color] teased a third.

[color=#91FFFF]"Ersand'Enise-place is not knowledge-lock of all magic-making there is,"[/color] the tiny girl concluded. She raised her arm to shield her eyes from a gust full of icy snow, the tassels on her sleeve fluttering as she did so. 

 [color=#6e9839]"So, what's this compass-device she's having?"[/color] prodded Margot, skipping curiously along beside Roslyn. The roguish girl's sister glanced up and nodded in curious agreement, suddenly floating with each step as if her legs were twice as long as they were. 

Roslyn could not have been far now. The compass needle swung visibly with each step, the way it always did when she was close and even the slightest change in direction would cause a wobble.

[color=#cbc66d]"I'm sorry I'm not well educated on all magic in the world."[/color] Roslyn couldn't help the bitterness in her tone. It felt like they were mocking her, but she was likely being oversensitive. [color=#cbc66d]"Still, I can't explain it. It feels... familiar. Makes me think of home."[/color]

She shook her thoughts away from her foolish thoughts and tugged up her scarf, blocking the wind from her skin. When they asked about her compass, she sighed. [color=#cbc66d]"It's something I earned from the trials. It helps me when I need to find... things."[/color]

A little bug of worry wormed into the back of her mind. Her eyes looked down at the needle and her pace slowed, careful to match the direction best she could. What was going to happen next?

[color=#6e9839]"Ah!"[/color] exclaimed Margot. [color=#6e9839]"Looking-see she's close."[/color] She grinned. [color=#6e9839]"Bestings lucky. She's hoping Rosee will find-get something dangerless."[/color] Margot blushed a bit. [color=#6e9839]"Mostmuch because She's a biglike coward."[/color]

Meanwhile, Lümee seemed to be thinking on another tangent. [color=#91FFFF]"Homehearth's where her heartbeat goes,"[/color] She smiled warmly, but her eyes sparkled with curiosity. [color=#91FFFF]"Where's that for her?"[/color]

In the meantime, the other two strange little people were spreading out to flank the central trio. They spoke back and forth in short, rapid bursts, their body language, insofar as a 'surune' could read it, betraying a level of anxiety.

Roslyn gave them a sheepish smile. [color=#cbc66d]"I wish I could put her mind at ease, but that's not likely. Based on a riddle, it mentions a fight where I'll be tried and deemed worthy. But... after failing to deal with the last threat, I dread it might be wrong about me."[/color]

She took her eyes off her compass for a moment. A wistfulness entered her eyes as she thought of home. [color=#cbc66d]"Arkney in Hendland. It's beautiful."[/color] 

A small laugh came from her chest, bringing a smile. [color=#cbc66d]"I recall playing in the woods when I was younger. While everyone, including my brother avoided them, I was never scared. I used to bring a few small trinkets in there sometimes. I faintly recall running and giggling while someone chased me. It's hard to tell what's a dream and what's memories now."[/color]

She hadn't noticed the nervousness that spread among the others.

Lümee and Margo exchanged a look at Roslyn's self-doubt and the former dashed in to deliver the proper 'encouragement'. She leapt up and socked Roslyn just below the shoulder, [i]hard[/i]. [color=#91FFFF]"That is weakenings-talk. Sameself weakenings. Do not talking that way."[/color] The tiny woman wagged her finger. [color=#91FFFF]"She is capablelike magicmaker."[/color]

[color=#E0FFFF]"Even if magicmaking is suruneside,"[/color] snickered one of the two men behind them - more of a teenage boy, really.

[color=#91FFFF]"She can doings it and winning magnificent-seen prize or she will beating all weak-think out of this silly-think surune. Comprende?"[/color]

The expressions of all four of Roslyn's escorts perked up at her mention of her hometown, though. [color=#91FFFF]"Arcnee!"[/color] Lümee exclaimed. [color=#91FFFF]"She have-knows a cousin there!"[/color]

[color=#E0FFFF]"[i]He[/i] have-knowing three cousins, an aunt, and a girlfriendly-no-longer, there!"[/color]

[color=#6e9839]"It being yoursame fault, Zender,"[/color] teased Margot. [color=#6e9839]"Them call he 'wandering worm' for the bestings of reason."[/color] She shook her head.

[color=#AFEEEE]"If she remember-knows these things from childtime,"[/color] replied the oldest of the group, [color=#AFEEEE]"Then she is knowing the cherune-people. They made remembering-not for protecting them-people, mostlike."[/color] he nodded sagely, but, before anything more could be said, all of the tree branches around them shivered and a chill rose in the air.

From somewhere not so very far away came a feeling of discomfort that each of them could sense in their manas.

Roslyn had looked back at her compass when suddenly... SMACK! The impact sent a heavy sting into her shoulder as she gritted her teeth, biting back the flinch. Her other hand came up to rub the spot gingerly. That hurt, but she resisted saying anything. The girl's eyes peered down at the smaller humanoid. 

[color=#cbc66d]"Beth oedd pwrpas hynny? ||What was that for?||"[/color] Her voice slipped into Hendlish, proving without a doubt her heritage. [color=#cbc66d]"You jump high and hit harder than you look. And yes, I understand."[/color]

She sighed, grumbling underneath her breath. [color=#cbc66d]"It's just... not easy when it feels like I'm playing catch up with my friends."[/color]

Roslyn considered what they said, but before she could inquire more on the subject... something changed. Even she felt it and it sent shivers down her spine. Her eyes once more looked to her compass to ensure she was still on the trail. Cautiously, she slipped her hand into her bag and withdrew a bottle. A mana brew. Her teeth gripped the cork then tugged it out fast. With a quick press to her mouth, she downed it without hesitation. 

If she had learned anything, it was to be better safe than sorry.

[color=#6e9839]"Ah shittings!"[/color] growled Margot, dancing back nimbly and withdrawing some sort of mace from the pack slung across her shoulders. [color=#6e9839]"This thing and this hereplace?"[/color] The air became rich with energy and she could feel the cherune-like human draw in the way she was more accustomed to. [color=#6e9839]"It's fucking cursed-land."[/color]

Roslyn was just barely out in front of the others now, and her compass pointed to a great mound in the middle of a clearing. It was difficult to sense clearly with all of the ambient energy swirling around, but there was no mistaking the sight of a sword, jammed into it almost up to the hilt. The cherune fanned out. 

[color=#91FFFF]"This is suicide-making!"[/color] Lümee shouted, and a tornado of heat and light began to form around her. 

Roslyn turned, momentarily, to glance her ally's way, but, then, the ground erupted and every single one of the cherune was hurled back into the trees. It was only Roslyn left: Roslyn and the sword in the stone.[/hider][h2]Blood Trap[/h2][hider=***]

Roslyn glanced once, twice and even a third time to ensure what she was seeing was right. It pointed directly at the sword before her. What the hells?!? She tensed on the spot and fought the impulse to freeze. What did she get herself into? Upon hearing Margo's words, followed by Lümee's fear, she turned to look at them. The ground erupted beneath them as she shifted her feet to stay up. Suddenly, all the small humaniods had been flung away back into the woods. Her eyes widened then glanced at the sword in the stone. Did it do this? 

She didn't touch it. Not yet. Roslyn took deep, purging breaths as she tucked her compass into her bag. She couldn't act rash here. Her hands cupped about her mouth and let her kinetic magnify her voice. [color=#cbc66d]"Lümee! Margo! Is everyone all right?"[/color]

*Please, please be all right*, she prayed as she took a cautious step away from the sword.

There was no reply from Margot or the cherune and it couldn't help but inject a further shot of panic into Roslyn's heart. Perhaps as a consequence, it took her a moment to notice that, not only could she not hear her allies, she could not hear [i]anything[/i] from outside of her immediate vicinity. She was in a sonic bubble.

Then, that was the least of her problems. She took a step back from the sword and a second to gather her thoughts, and everything changed. The mound of stones that the sword was located on shifted. The center rose, sword sunk deep into the largest of its stones. The periphery swirled and congealed into a statue. It was of a tall and beautiful woman dressed in a Nikanese-style kimono. 

She stood, unmoving, before Roslyn, energies of Earth, wind, water, fire, and lightning swirling behind her, surrounding the legendary lost blade. Though the statue's lips did not part and the Hendlishwoman's ears heard nothing but the gusting wind and crackle of branches and rubble, a voice spoke to her nonetheless.

[i]"The spirit of the sword is found in its manas,"[/i] it declared, in a serene voice, [i]"and its manas seek a worthy spirit."[/i] The ice and snow began to melt around the sword itself. [i]"You were awaited, Aratana Zankoku-sa said to you. Make haste, Hocho Kyuu Juu Kyuu said to you."[/i] In her periphery, Roslyn could see a couple of semi-familiar figures moving. [i]"You have found she who hungers in a land with a flourishing people and a broken church."[/i] The voice repeated a new version of the words that had sent her on this mad quest in the first place. [i]"Hidden from those sharpening their daggers and creatures of the damned, she craves a nascent potential."[/i] They were Margot and at least two of the cherune, but they seemed unable to come any closer or interact with her. [i]"It is here that you have found her and will fight for her."[/i] Winds swirled about the statue's base. Had its eyes [i]moved[/i]!? [i]"It is here you will be tried and deemed worthy,"[/i] it concluded.

She hadn't even seen it move. It was right beside her, swinging a phantom blade at her neck. [i]"or not."[/i]

Upon hearing the rumble of stone, Roslyn's eyes flicked to the mound and sword. Her eyes widened at their pieces floating up and stacking into a feminine form. It smoothed out to a pretty woman, dressed in an odd garment. Something similar to something Xiuyang might wear. Energies flared about the statue as she stood motionless. 

Roslyn's breath stuck in her throat. The words echoed in her head while she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. However, her attention fixated on the statue before her. Something told her not to look away. 

Suddenly it was there... then it wasn't. 

Wait, where did it go-

The statue materializing next to her interrupted the girl's thoughts. The need to survive acted first before her brain caught up. Drawing from heat at her side, Roslyn's kinetic sped herself forward. Fear filled the girl's face as she felt the blood trickle down from a shallow line on the back of her neck. 

That was close, she shuddered. She twisted about mid-step. Her arm jerked up the smoking bandit. The tip ignited and fired.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1cTxKNpBUM&list=PLPJny5xpzQqQYQFkrsntsCt1Kqghs88LB&index=14[/youtube]

Roslyn fired without hesitation, and the statue did not even try to dodge. A colossal burst of smoke and sticky scalding mist exploded out of the hand-cannon's barrel and enveloped it in its entirety. When the obstruction began to fade, the young mage's heart couldn't help but skip a beat.

As she watched, her opponent stood unmoving, completely covered in the devilish solution, but the barrier did not fade or drop. Powerful energies still swirled around the sword. Then, the ground shuddered. Both the snow and the yellowed grass beneath it faded and blackened, disappearing into the base of the statue. Roslyn's eyes flicked up and down for any visible change and it was then that the Hendlishwoman beheld the face of damnation. Its carefully-carved stone pupils shifted and narrowed, an eerie light emanating from them. 

Then, Roslyn felt a tug on the very fabric of her being: blood drawing. The statue smiled... [i]hungrily[/i].

Roslyn kept on her toes as the smoke cleared. The sticky substance smeared across the surface as the statue came to a stop, eerily still. Again, the ground shuddered beneath her feet. She heard the energies swirl around the sword while her heart hammered in her chest. Everything seemed to wither and die at the statue's feet. 

Her attack did nothing! 

The immobile face's eyes glowed. It cracked a grin, a wickedness bleeding from its features. Fanged teeth flashed in her direction when something tugged at her. A sensation of invisible spiders seemed to crawl along her hair, nails and being. Immediately, she drew and countered. Binding went to work alongside magnetic. It seemed to weakly push at the attack. 

No... fuck! Roslyn focused on her butterfly wings. The pale, ghostly creature fluttered across her vision. It surged with temporal then popped into faint lights. Immediately, her gift powered through with new strength. 

This isn't working. Her eyes flicked to the sword, but the swirling power felt too strong for her. It came to her instantly. Her gloves! She couldn't attack as she slipped them on. Her hand then reached into her bag, watching the statue, for a pouch of snow pepper powder. It darkened then withered into dust. She held out her other hand and focused on the sword. 

Come on, come on... She pleaded.

Roslyn's focus was absolute. This was her gambit and she was committed to it. She slipped the gloves on, visualized the sword, and imagined it snapping right into her hand as if called by kinetic magic.

That was... not what happened.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdPhKXfbPSk&list=PLPJny5xpzQqQYQFkrsntsCt1Kqghs88LB&index=10[/youtube]

It seemed like longer, but it must've been less than a second. The statue disintegrated and formed into a serpentine beast of stone and malice. It reared forward, jaws distending open, fangs flashing. Its head plunged towards her neck. 

The sword wasn't flying over. 

Roslyn's eyes widened.

The serpent's knifelike tail flashed across her vision.

She felt a tingling in her hand - a firmness.

She didn't register the damage immediately, as it carved across her chest. 

The tail skipped through open air, tip soaked in blood.

It sliced through Roslyn's arm and separated it from her body.

Kyuketsuki 2 materialized in the dismembered hand. 

Before gravity could take it, before its strength could fade, the hilt of the newly materialized blade was in its grip. The tip, and half of its length, had appeared right where the head of the beast was.

It stiffened, shrieked, and thrashed and She Who Hungers drank. Chunks, like dried blood, peeled off from the monstrosity. They poured into the blade and then into the hand holding it. Tendrils of material - dark and red and sinewy - writhed and whipped about. They connected Roslyn to the piece that she had lost and tethered them together. 

[color=000000]"Perrrrfect,"[/color] the guardian of the blade hissed into her mind's ear. She could picture its wicked smile. [color=000000]"Your [i]hunger[/i], your [i]thirst[/i] for wealth and power, has brought you this far. You are clever,"[/color] it laughed gutturally. [color=000000]"You... are... worthy."[/color]

Then the nightmare apparition shuddered and hissed as it fell away to nothing, the last of its energies sucked into the final unclaimed blade of Kagemitsu Kenshin. The impossible cold and shock that had [i]just[/i] started to set in as Roslyn's nerves screamed after their severed part quickly turned to a burning, crackling pain. Bone reformed. Blood and tissue weaved themselves back together. The ground around the sword's new wielder became dry, cold, and desiccated, until all that remained was bare stone.

With the mysterious barrier having fallen the moment that the sword's cruel guardian had, the others had rushed in. At least a few were now reaching and surrounding their friend, concern, admonishment, awe, and a maelstrom of other emotions and impulses etched onto their faces. 

It was then that Roslyn felt it in her newly reattached hand: a cold hunger and a burning desire, fire and ice. The blade tugged. It tugged her towards the others, towards their power and their blood, though not with much insistence… 

...yet.[/hider][h2]Mistakes were Made[/h2][hider=****]
The town was nothing but a blur at her speed. There was no subtlety, no effort to cloak oneself. Just unadulterated power that propelled her fast enough to make her whistle through the farms like an arrow. Radiation was brewing in her, collecting deep in her as she waited to face whatever enemy befell Roslyn. 

Bark scorched and snow melted as Ingrid went by them, it was all so unfamiliar, no markings or show of a fight. Nothing to give Ingrid any sense if she had been on the right path. But then she sensed 'it'. It was not within her understanding just what 'it' was but she didn't care, that is where Roslyn was, it had to be.

The scene that laid in front of her was horrifying, enough to make her grimace. Her first thought was that it was a possession and she could only scowl at the thought. Something had happened but Ingrid did not know just what it was. A part of her knew she should just fire, end it before a beast sprouts from her and consumes the others. But another part, a much weaker but louder part, begged that this was just some odd blood magic, not some evil possession. 

In the end, Ingrid released her spear far into the woods. No sense of relief came as she knew that until she could confirm what was standing there was indeed Roslyn, she would have to view her as an enemy. But that didn't stop Ingrid from moving to Margot, she had been in too many battles to freeze when someone was dying in front of her.

She looked Margot in the eyes for just a moment, telling her she was here to help. This cazenax was not like the others she had seen though they seemed to vary greatly from one to another. She unlatched her Scepter of Ahn-Shune and started to chant[color=8882be][i]"Shune, enlighten me to the nature of Oraff so that this woman may come to health once more."[/i][/color] Ingrid repeated that phrase as her manas were guided to the woman.

Evander stepped through the portal last, the warp closing like a curtain behind him. His eyes sweeping the carnage in a single motion. Stone dust settling, blood in the air, Roslyn clutching what wasn't entirely hers, and the others crowding in. *Demons of the woods... the drunk wasn't off.* He exhaled slowly, as though disappointed in his classmate rather than shocked. Accepting dark magic was for the weak and cowardice. 

"Pity," he murmured, "we're too late." 

Evander's gaze lingered on the blade, then her hand. Whole. But wrong. The others swarmed in to surround her with their concerns. But, Evander's boots held the same ground, tilting his head.  

He preferred distance when monsters were still deciding if they wanted to remain inside or outside the skin. After all, what they witnessed wasn't a victory but a binding to dark magic. Roslyn at this moment could not be trusted. Whether she was coerced or she surrendered willingly scarcely mattered; the observable truth was obvious, the blade commanded more than the hand wielding it.

Xiuyang, with the benefit of her equipment, witnessed Roslyn's dismemberment ten seconds ahead of the others, and was the first to cry out. [color=slateblue]"ROSE!!"[/color] The first to see the golem's apparent destruction, to see the reconstruction of Roslyn's arm, the first to see the fear in her eyes and feel and recognize the hunger that might take her in that moment of weakness, Xiuyang decided that she was the only one who could change this outcome.

Even as the golem appeared to still be attacking, Xiuyang was running straight towards her friend with abandon. She moved to restrain the hand that held the sword, and the magics that stirred within it if it proved to be necessary. Above all, she sought to put herself between Roslyn and the heartless ideologues who would kill her with all the pious hesitation they would offer a gnat.

[color=slateblue]"You're okay, Rose. You're not hurt. You're safe."[/color] Xiuyang remembered the ravenous desperation of the souls trapped in Halge Larchelon, how teaching them that their food would not be scarce anymore allowed her to tame them. Roslyn needed to know, first and foremost, that she was not broken or bleeding, and that her friend was not going to hurt her.

Roslyn didn't account for the time. A mistake she realized far too late. As the statue's beauty crumbled away into a serpentine beast, the world slowed. The fanged mouth lunged at her neck followed by the tail at her chest and arm.

I'm dead...

The truth echoed in her head and sent an icy cold sensation deep into her soul. Her hand remained outstretched until something solid had begun to form. The tail flashed forward, cutting through flesh and bone. Warm, wet blood splattered across her face. Her eyes shifted to see her friends arrive moments too late.

A sensation of death settled in her chest as her knees slammed into the ground. Her arm fell away as it hovered in the air. Emotions whirled in her mind. Fear, anger, bitterness, and sorrow fought for dominance before the numb acceptance surfaced.

In a blink of an eye, She Who Hungers appeared in her severed hand. Roslyn watched the horror's chunks peel from it and poured into the sword. Mana surged from the blade into her flesh. Before her eyes, sinew and muscle wove back together until it was whole once more.

The guardian's voice scraped across her mind, pleased with the result. Then it was gone. Her mind struggled to catch up with what had happened. Her legs continued to buckle beneath her and she hunched over, still gripping the blade. A cold hunger and burning need surged in her tendons causing it to tighten its grip.
The sensation of someone touching her wrist jerked Roslyn back into the presence. Her hand twitched as she swallowed, finding her voice. 

[color=#cbc66d]"I-I didn't know. It happened so fast.. I had no choice."[/color]

She leaned in and wrapped her arm about Xiuyang's shoulder, struggling to rein in her feelings. However, her hand hadn't let go of the sword.

Marci touched down on the snow and the others were running. Her first impulse was to follow, but she could not. Ingrid hurled a heavenly lance into the forest and then ran to heal... what the hell [i]was[/i] that!? Xiuyang nearly smashed into the massively intense intense kinetic barrier that surrounded Roslyn as she bolted in, but it dissipated split seconds before she barreled through. Dory did not rush over, though, taking a handful of steps forward and stopping to sense. Evander, in fact, took a step back. 

Marceline's insides had shriveled as she watched what she'd momentarily thought was her friend's death. Now, she gathered what kinetic energy that she could and pushed at her wheels. Almost immediately, she stopped. She reached out with her senses, since Xiuyang was already there enfolding Roslyn. She reached out and sensed it: three - no, five... no, six, seven, ten... a [i]dozen[/i] blood magic mana reservoirs spaced evenly around the clearing. 

Her first thought had been Margot, because she didn't trust the little thief further than she could throw her, but this was beyond the sanguinaire's abilities. What the hell was [i]she[/i] doing here!? Those also weren't cazenax. Two of them - tiny men - hung back, not too far from Margo and the other one of their kind: a young woman whose chest had been caved in by some sort of massive impact.

The field had disappeared and both Roslyn and Xiuyang were inside of where it had lain. All of this: it was an incredibly intricate set of triggered spells set by a grandmaster blood mage. The sword itself: she could sense the sanguinaire manas inside. She could sense how they hungered. She could feel Roslyn's biochemicals. The manas in the sword were communicating with hers, trying to compel them to compel [i]her[/i] to kill so that they might feed, but their pull was faint and tenuous. [color=598527]"The sword has sanguinaire manas,"[/color] she told Evander. [color=598527]"Not dark magic that I can sense."[/color] She shook her head. [color=598527]"She isn't compromised, [i]yet[/i]."[/color]

Marci was just about to put hands to wheels when she sensed the enormous surge of energy from all twelve of the reservoirs. There was a sudden deafening 'pop' and a rush of air. Then... nothing. Nothing seemed wrong or different, until she sensed again. 

There was a bubble of incredibly thin, dense, and intense energy surrounding Roslyn and Xiuyang, at some distance and then, another few meters out, lay a second, with Ingrid, Dory, Margot, and the tiny woman trapped inside of it. She, Evander, and the two tiny men were left on the outside. Slowly, insidiously, rubble began to skitter and congeal inside of the innermost bubble. A few pieces stirred in the space in between.

Evander glanced at Marci, "What's the difference?" he said facetiously.

Though Marci's assessment held merit, sanguinaires were inherently dangerous, predatory beings reminiscent of demons. A sudden memory of Brother Ash's violent attack on him and his classmates surfaced, reinforcing the brutal nature of these creatures who existed solely to hunt and consume blood.

"She may not be compromised yet," Evander warned, "But if the sword has sanguinaire manas, it will hunger for blood." His gaze swept the group around Roslyn. "Our blood."

A sudden, immense surge of energy erupted as if summoned by Evander's warning. A bubble materialized around Roslyn, Ingrid, Dory, Margot, and the tiny woman, creating an otherworldly barrier. Evander remained unnervingly calm, standing motionless beside Marci and watching the unfolding scene with intense, calculated observation.

*What now?*

[color=#cbc66d]"Oh gods, not again."[/color] Roslyn gritted her teeth as she heard the familiar rumble. 

She released Xiuyang and pushed herself upright. The girl gripped the hilt of the blade tightly with both hands, feeling a faint tug on her manas. That sensation was unpleasant as it made the hairs on her neck raise. 

[color=#cbc66d]"I'm sorry for this. I didn't want to drag anyone into this."[/color] She watched the ground  for signs of the golem rising up. [color=#cbc66d]"This is different. I don't like this. We need to find a way out."[/color] 

Xiuyang breathed deeply, willing herself to remain calm. She reached out with her senses, discovering the sources of the barrier's energy. As Ingrid tried to break through, Xiuyang tried to point them out to her. [color=slateblue]"Oh, my schedule was free. Weather's great, too,"[/color] she quipped. She then noticed the rubble moving, trying to form something, perhaps another automaton. [color=slateblue]"Skinglue! Now!"[/color] Xiuyang called out, reaching for her smoking bandit.

[color=#cbc66d]"Right. I will say, it wasn't effective with the last one. Not sure it's going to help here. "[/color] Roslyn said, reaching to pass over the smoking bandit to her friend. [color=#cbc66d]"I got one shot left in that."[/color]

[color=slateblue]"I'll only get one,"[/color] Xiuyang replied, lowering her beanie and taking aim. She would time her shot for the very moment before the automaton formed, hoping to glue its pieces together so it couldn't shapeshift like the last one. If the shot was good enough, she hoped it wouldn't move at all.

Roslyn smirked when she heard Xiuyang's confidence.

Laska was the last one she expected to show up, but she was grateful for it. As the nun snapped orders, the Hendlandish girl noticed the look on the blanket. Of course. Once the shot was fired, Roslyn dropped her sword. She stretched out the blanket and threw it over all three of them. 

Huddled together, she instinctively leaned closer to Xiuyang as she prayed for this to work. 

Even if it didn't, she refused to lose another friend. Never again.

It worked like a charm... almost. Roslyn, Xiuyang, and Edyta all drew their deepest breaths simultaneously, Xiuyang fired, and the innermost bubble of the transparent prison filled with the sticky nightmare mist. It coated the congealing rubble before it could form into another of those invincible golems and, just as the rezaindian nun was flash-freezing it, Roslyn pulled her into the inferno blanket's embrace and she jolted at the sudden touch, disappearing into greyspace.

She missed the show.

In truth, it happened so fast that all outside of that narrow ring between barriers had next to zero chance to react. Three teenagers' passion for explosions collided in a blast powerful enough to level a city block. 

The barrier conjured by advanced blood magics and employing that school of the Gift, alongside kinetic, arcane, and atomic magics was strong enough to stop virtually any single living mage from blasting through without also meeting his - or [i]her[/i] own demise. However, it had been designed to be attacked from the inside or the outside, and not from within the narrow band between. Its mysterious creators had also not counted on Ingrid Penderson and Dorothea Hohnstein, now with the added support of one Fe Lümee Zänschöf. 

The girls threw caution to the wind and [i]blasted[/i] a hole through the invisible prison that would've made St. Gèrard himself proud. The problem was that it came... at a cost. 

The barrier shattered, they failed to contain the entirety of their blockbuster spell, and all three young crazies found themselves bathed in fires of their own making. Each was gruesomely burned as the fourth - Margot - did not hesitate to use them as shields. Three of the mana reservoirs enchanted with the spells that had nearly doomed Roslyn and Xiuyang melted and burst, and a fourth began to crack. 

The pair who had ended up trapped within the innermost layer, now minus Edyta Laska, were forced to fend off the roiling burst of flame, shockwave, and raw destructive power that swept over them. Roslyn managed to do it. Xiuyang was caught by a flailing follow-up from Lümee that would've bisected her had she not managed a last second dodge-meets-desperate-defense. As it was, she found herself relying, once more, on her skills as a healer.

It was actually worse for the pair of Marceline and Evander, standing outside, but they had both recognized that glint in Ingrid's and Dory's eyes and already began to brace for the worst. Their two unfamiliar associates - the other pair of cherune, were caught a bit less prepared, one ending up singed and the other quickly reaching out to twirl a hooplike magic item in front of himself at speed. Sure as snow fell upon the world around Lindenholdt, every bit of flame, shock, and shrapnel disappeared into the  whirling hoop with no trace of an exit point. 

The smoke, steam, and debris settled, and a panting Roslyn, possibly-cursed sword still in hand, beheld the shattered pieces of the pre-empted second golem trying and failing repeatedly to come together. The ruined mana reservoirs, disguised as innocent boulders, bubbled and steamed. The ground was strewn with fire-blackened shards of what had been impossibly invisible panels. If they had never witnessed the type of magic that these strange tiny people wielded, they had never seen any of [i]this[/i] either.

The girls were not stupid. Edyta stayed away. The others scrambled out of the barrier's perimeter and took stock of the situation and their surroundings. A couple collapsed from wounds, exhaustion, or anxiety, some of which could be repaired by a binder and some of which couldn't.

[color=#6e9839]"Holding still, sisterfriend,"[/color] Margot hissed, as Lümee whimpered - seriously injured for the second time today. [color=#6e9839]"Whereforth in Margot's job describetake is it saying 'healings-bitch'?"[/color]

Lümee was crispy. She lay on the ground, a potato chip of a cherune being for the second time today. She let out a weak groan. [color=#91FFFF]"Whereforth in Lümee's job describetake is saying 'livings-shield'?"[/color] She coughed. [color=#91FFFF]"Healings-bitch-sisterfriend shouldwith be shuttings the fuck up in thistime and application of the healings."[/color]

Xiuyang lived. A hand and a part of her hip were missing, but she stood. Her beanie had shown her only blackness, and so she knew that if she did not move, her defense would not hold. She'd shoved Roslyn away from her, and made no sound when the lance hit. She was simply in shock—or at least, mild surprise. [color=slateblue]"Welp."[/color] She put the stub of her wrist to her hip, using the blood that flowed from both as material to heal herself. [color=slateblue]"I [i]*hope*[/i] that was friendly fire."[/color] She eyed the group of singed women with a dangerous smile.

There was silence from the small but dense cloud of smoke until Margot's and Lumee's banter could be heard. The cloud was dispersed quickly by Ingrid to reveal their battered and charred selves. [color=8882be]"Okay, maybe a little too much power in that,"[/color] Ingrid coughed and laid a hand on Dory to heal her. Ingrid's injuries were nothing to scoff at but she had taken worse and she had a strong constitution. 

[color=8882be]"Oh definitely. We were just trying to break the reservoirs."[/color] She smiled back to Xiuyang, completely unaware of the greater context of her smile. 

Since the bog, Roslyn felt like a chunk of meat dangling in a sea of darkness. No matter where she turned, things loomed nearby. 

First Belthagor. 

His Wailing Leviathan and Levidan's gargoyles. 

The greedstone. 

And now, this. 

All of it within a small window of five months. It wasn't simply misfortune. Deep down, she knew it and this realization brought to light the real selfish reason she came here. She had picked her poison before someone decided for her. This was her choice and she hoped not to regret it later. 

Roslyn broke from her thoughts when someone shoved her away. She crashed into the ground, hand gripped the sword, when the lance hit her friend dead on. Instinctively, she drew from the destruction's aftermath as the light erupted. Lowering her arm from shielding her eyes, she heard her friend's words. The golem not far from them continued to try and fail reforming endlessly. 

Now standing outside of the barriers, Roslyn continued to pant heavily. She wiped the sweat off her dirty face as she noticed Xiuyang standing upright.  

[color=#cbc66d]"I'm sure no harm was meant and it did break the barrier. It was really impressive, but it looks like you two got caught in it too."[/color] Roslyn pointed out once she had her breath back. 

Spotting Lumee and Margo, she walked toward them. She held out a hand to the smaller of the two to help her on her feet. They almost died because of her. All of them did and she couldn't hide the shame. [color=#cbc66d]"Are you two okay? I did warn you, didn't I?"[/color]

Dory's face turned melancholic. [color=86608E]"Ingrid... There is never enough power. I could not even put my all into it."[/color] She wiggled her finger. [color=86608E]"My finger got itchy... so I had to turn it down a bit."[/color] She pointed at her charred flesh. [color=86608E]"This would not be so lightly burned if that were the case."[/color] A sigh as she caressed said char. [color=86608E]"I've seen kitchen accidents with more hurt than this..."[/color]

For a second, Ingrid believed Dory but shook it off as just some wit.[color=8882be]"Rude to make fun of the person that protected and now healed you but I'll let it slide."[/color] Ingrid began healing herself of all the small but growing injuries to herself. She greeted Roslyn rather coldly but said nothing more than that.

Marci shot Evander a look that seemed to say, 'I have a plan', as she pushed forward with the help of the Gift, right past the others, ending with Ingrid. [color=598527]"Rose!"[/color] she called, very obviously worried. [color=598527]"[i]Roslyn[/i], oh my Eshiran! What were you thinking!?"[/color] Was she trying to make up for her earlier lackluster effort? [color=598527]"Xiu!?"[/color] She regarded the healing limb for the first time in mild disbelief. [color=598527]"Oh my [i]Oraff.[/i] That is more than just a flesh wound!"[/color] She shook her head and tried not to think on it deeply, but that was some [i]absurd[/i] healing. Xiuyang had always been a decent binder, but since when had she gotten better than Marci by [i]that[/i] much!? 

Who had been responsible for that follow-up blast? She distinctly remembered a wild arcane lance coming in about a second after the rest of the calamity. Marceline turned on the spot, ready to demand answers and give someone a piece of her mind, when she took in Ingrid's barely-restrained distaste for Roslyn. The tethered rolled her eyes. [color=598527]"Oh, like [i]you're[/i] perfect?"[/color] she snapped, [color=598527]"Like [i]I[/i] am?"[/color] she admitted. [color=598527]"How many times have you blasted first and asked questions later, or decided, 'it would be cool to go on a solo quest for some artifact'?"[/color] 

Roslyn was busy apologizing to Margot. [color=598527]"And you know who that is, right?"[/color] she butted in, [color=598527]"She was only following you because she either wanted the sword, your blood, or one of your kidneys."[/color] Marci did not hesitate to level her glare at this new target as Lümee began to rise, more or less healed of her burns. [color=598527]"Now, Rose, because you're getting your share of dirty looks, show us you can put the obviously cursed sword down and it hasn't taken control of your soul. That might put some people at ease here."[/color]

Margo had just been making a joke about one of them being 'moremuch okay' than the other when Marci butted in. She straightened, snorted, and rolled her eyes. [color=#6e9839]"Or, she's welcoming."[/color]

[color=#cbc66d]"I didn't expect a trap. It tossed the others back and the barrier went up before I could get out. That was terrifying."[/color] Roslyn stated, answering the first question. At this point, all the emotions from earlier had left her oddly numb. Or in shock, maybe. 

She heard something about Xiuyang and  her eyes turned to her friend. She noticed for the first time the bloody stump that was hidden from her. All the color drained from her face. [color=#cbc66d]"Xiuyang? What the...?"[/color]

Her eyes looked at Xiuyang and her words trailed off for an answer. There was worry and hints of fear, mostly for her friend's well being. 

Roslyn's hand retracted when Lumee got up and then she cocked her head at Margo. Her eyes squinted as she suddenly recognized the girl. [color=#cbc66d]"No-Wait a moment... I fought you in the trials. I lost, I think. "[/color]

Before more could be said, Roslyn spotted the suspicious looks Marci mentioned. She had done something dumb and now no one trusted her. Her hand held out the sword then promptly dropped it. She even kicked it away from her to further try and convince them she was sane. 

 [color=#cbc66d]"Aside from the icy burning sensation in my arm when holding it, I'm fine. I don't know how else to prove it."[/color] 

Noticing her sleeve had become disconnected from her dress, she used it to distract herself. As she slipped it into her bag, she added. [color=#cbc66d]"And Marci, she could've stolen from me any time. From what I can tell, I still have everything here and I am unharmed. They also kept me from having my head chopped off and saved the victim. It's pretty clear, you aren't the only one tracking me... "[/color]

It was a small hint to everyone that having this conversation here wasn't ideal.

No more attacks came from the unfamiliar faces, so Xiuyang nodded to Ingrid and released the tension in her body. She quickly hid her fully-healed hand behind her back, though it was already too late to conceal the evidence from Marci and Roslyn. [color=slateblue]"Oop. Sorry you had to see that. I thought it was healed already."[/color] She flashed a sheepish, toothy grin. [color=slateblue]"No harm done here. Everyone good?"[/color] She took a moment to check the golem again, to make sure it wasn't making any progress toward becoming a threat. When Roslyn mentioned a burning sensation in her arm, she received a hard pinch. [color=slateblue]<Say. Less.>[/color] she warned. [color=slateblue]"Well, if the crisis is resolved, we should scatter soon. We're making this place look crowded."[/color]

Ingrid was dumbfounded. She was cold to Roslyn because she was disappointed. But now she was getting some sass from Marci and it pissed Ingrid off. [color=8882be]"You know,"[/color] Ingrid started to raise her voice but it quickly died down. She shook her head, feeling like a fool for trying to even talk to her. [color=8882be]"I'm allowed to be disappointed, Marci, so fuck you. All you told me was she was in danger and she was in the forest, not in the archives. I'm leaving to take care of business because I was [i]asked[/i] to."[/color]

Ingrid walked a few meters away, loaded up on kinetic energy, and blasted back to the mine.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_WzkH3RRvg[/youtube]

Edyta knelt at the edge of reality. She had known this would happen from the moment she saw who was involved. Once, she had prayed that the wicked one before her might be redeemed, but she had made her choice and, now, the Red Rezaindian made hers and made peace with it. Quietly, she drew Palenie and Zamrazenie and crossed them before her chest. 

[color=6ecff6][i]In nomini Ipté, Shune, Oraph, Eshiran, et Dami,[/i][/color] she began. [color=6ecff6][i]Mother of Beauty, Father of Love, keep always in my mind that which I fight for and yearn to return to.[/i][/color] She bowed her head. [color=6ecff6][i]Mother of Wisdom, Father of Learning, let me remember well my training. Let my senses and mind be sharpened for the task ahead.[/i][/color] She breathed, and her breath came out in the cold and stillness in a small white puff. [color=6ecff6][i]Mother of Life, Father of Refuge, I beg of thee the strength to flourish, such that I might be an instrument of your will.[/i][/color] From her vantage point, her senses swept the scene that lay about her. [color=6ecff6][i]Mother of Death, Father of War, I am thine instrument. Work thine Acts by my hands, smite the evil that hungers infinitely. Empower me with thy strength and resolve.[/i][/color] Her weapons gleamed under the faint rays of sun and Edyta breathed once more. [color=6ecff6][i]Mother of Liberty, father of Judgement, I affirm that my choices are mine own. Let them be judged as just and worthy. Grant me thy favour that I might carry out the justice that is thine and thine alone to dispense.[/i][/color] One final breath. She filled her lungs with air, fresh and cold. [color=6ecff6]"This,"[/color] the nun whispered, [color=6ecff6]"I humbly pray."[/color]

[color=6ecff6][i]In nomini Ipté, Shune, Oraff, Eshiran, et Dami... Amen.[/i][/color]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGS4G93Q0GI[/youtube]

For a moment, in the wake of Ingrid's sudden departure, Marceline just sat there. Then, she pursed her lips, nodded, and turned to Roslyn and Xiuyang. She still didn't know what the deal was with the latter's extreme and sudden healing - unless she'd somehow [i]imagined[/i] it - but she didn't disagree with the idea of moving on. The less questions that people asked about what they were doing here in the first place, the better. She shot a glance in the direction of Ingrid's dash and then looked back at her friends. [color=598527][i]The things I do to prove my loyalty,[/i][/color] she thought, knowing she had struck a nerve, but at least Roslyn had shown, beyond a reasonable doubt, that she was no slave to the sword, especially compared to... Marceline kept her eyes from flicking Dory's way. It was an effort, but she was master of her face. [color=598527]"Welp,"[/color] she joked quietly to them, another glance going the way of Ingrid's departure, [color=598527]"I just had the thought that I'd rather not sleep alone tonight."[/color] Then, a bit louder, she twisted to regard Evander and Dory. [color=598527]"Hardly the behaviour of one bound to a dark item, though,"[/color] she admitted, spreading her hands, [color=598527]"we should probably keep an eye on it."[/color] Presently, her eyes flicked to the sword, about a yard and a half from Roslyn, lying atop the carpet of snow.

Whatever might've come next, Margot pre-empted it by agreeing with Roslyn's assessment of her and the situation. She stepped forward, with a little smile and flick of her hair over her left shoulder. [color=#6e9839]"Yes, they are known to each-otherfolk, though -"[/color] She scratched behind one ear and chuckled, deprecatingly conciliatory. [color=#6e9839]"Though thislike was more troubling than she expected to go through for themfolk. Her sisterfriend damning near gottings chopped in half-piece twice."[/color] She shook her head and glanced over her shoulder at the now fully-healed Lümee.

It happened with uncanny speed. The three cherune dropped their strange hoops at their feet and then appeared to drop into them, disappearing from view. At the same moment, Margot dived for the sword, came up in a roll with it, and dived into a hoop of her own, the enchanted device disappearing behind her. The entire sequence took less than a second and she was gone.

The first thing Xiuyang took notice of was herself, running. Momentarily, she wondered just what she was supposed to be running from, until she sensed Margot's next move. [color=slateblue]"Alright, guess I'm chasing [i]*this bitch,*[/i] now!"[/color] She swapped her beanie for the Gaze of the First Founder and took off in the direction of Margot's temporal trail, using kinetic acceleration and arcane cloaking to hide herself from whatever ambush the three stooges were probably setting up for her pursuers.

Roslyn heard Zast's laughter echo in her head when Margo took her sword and vanished. Her hand snapped to her compass as she rushed off after them. Anger boiled within her as she gritted her teeth, hurt by the betrayal. She had nearly been killed to get that thing and now... it was gone.  

[i][color=#cbc66d] Some worthy I am... Nothing but an idiot. [/color][/i] She scolded herself, eyeing the compass. 

Exhaustion weighed down her limbs, but she simply poured in adrenaline to counter it. Her eyes watched the needle twitch to a direction guiding her way toward the sword then boost her distance. The inferno blanket had been hastily tucked away as she reached for another snow pepper powder. She just needed to get within thirty yards of the thief before she could steal it back.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j8jUUzGqDo[/youtube][/hider][h2]Woodland Chase[/h2][hider=*****]

It was one of the ten legendary blades of Kagemitsu Kenshin. Of this, Margot was certain, and she [i]had[/i] to have it. She didn't care what it did. She had to have it because it could change her life. If she could sell it to the highest bidder (and she already had a few in mind), there would be no more scrimping from job to job for her crew, no more ranging far and lying about what they did to the coven. If she kept it for herself and used its power - whatever that was - there would be no more fear of those shining mages of Ersand'Enise and those attack dogs of the church. Curse them and their ten - no, [i]'five'[/i] - gods. She was done playing Quentic! She was done running and hiding from them like an animal in the night. This was the key to it all. [color=#6e9839][i]Sorry, Roslyn, you're seeming like good folk.[/i][/color] 

Was she trying to assuage her conscience? She'd have had to be a slave to it first, and she'd long since stopped. There were only those who ate and those who were eaten. Sure, these Mehrune could dress the truth up in things called 'laws', 'traditions', and 'expectations', but they always looked back for precedent and not forward and, when push came to shove and the veneer peeled away, it was always power - raw power - that won out. She was sick of having too little of it, of she and hers having too little!

Once, through the henmune to put some distance, but they would try to follow. Her manas communed with those of the grandmotherforest and she flipped the henmune up again, preparing to drop it around her person and sink into a different space. Already, they were shouting and chasing, like the big loud dogs they were, who strutted upon the land and mauled all others. 

Margot dropped through and found herself another couple hundred yards away while Lümee and the men help up for a moment to set the chünzeif. Her sister shot her a look and the thief knew that she would have to deal with it later. She was soft, that one. She was too curious and did not approve. Margot needed to be her guiding light. Perhaps because, in blood, if not spirit, she was mehrune, she had always been a paragon of following the Cloister. 

On that note, not back to the coven. Not yet. They would have to make sure - always sure - that this would be just another fanciful tale and not a discovery leading to her people's ruin. She prepared to drop a third time and, surely, she would lose them completely.

On her way to the mines, Ingrid weaved through the trees with no real speed, saying all the mean things she wanted to say in the moment but didn't when she sense a big temporal disruption from where she just was. She knew, despite how she felt right now, not going and something tragic happening would haunt her. With that she started to go off at an angle, looking to sweep ahead of them. With no one to care about, she could move at some real speed. Kinestic, Atomic, and Temporal coming together for this moment.

Dory's eye twitched. [color=86608E][i]All that effort to save that sword?[/i][/color] With a slash of her sword, a small portal opened. [color=86608E][i]No no no, that won't do at all.[/i][/color] With a quick step she entered and closed immediately after. She travelled through a space only she could freely traverse among her companions, mostly to let her own thoughts loose. [color=86608E]"To think they're not only weak but also suffered several concussions! A blind, deaf, comatose peasant could sense that someone would just take it instead."[/color] 

The annoyed Feskan popped back into reality at the last signature and they seemed to be. The dirty thief was already going, the faintest track left. [color=86608E]"Uuugh, the things I do for your friends, Marci."[/color] And with that she popped out once more before in yet again. [color=86608E]"Fick dich ins knie!"[/color] The frustration began to boil over as she popped in and out over and over again. 

[color=86608E]"Verdammt!"[/color]

[color=86608E]"Nutte!"[/color]

After many attempts of catching the other Dory got a glimpse of her target and did not waste it. Her hand twitched as she stopped herself from the one spell she knew would work. [color=86608E][i]That could make too much of a mess...[/i][/color] No, there was one other school she could always rely upon, for there was not enough time to think of any elaborate plans. The Feskan casted a swift paralysis spell, praying to herself that it would work

[color=598527][i]Little fucking scumbag,[/i][/color] Marci had seen this coming and even warned against it, but she'd either let her guard down, been thrown out of sorts by Ingrid's outburst, or tried to be too clever and been hoisted by her own petard. She sensed Margot even before any had laid eyes on her. The tethered reached for the fabric of space and hurled herself ahead of where the bandit had just appeared, but she could neither cast nor move quickly enough to catch her. With a hiss of frustration, she reached out again, found Margot, and tried to anticipate the rogue's next move. A second pair of teleports from each woman followed, and she found herself nowhere even close. [color=598527]"Verdammt!"[/color] Then, she looked up and her heart skipped. Dory [i]had[/i] guessed right, or... nearly right, at least.

For a moment, hoop held up over her head and about to drop, Margot froze. She froze and cocked her head slightly. Was it a twitch? An effect of Dory's magic working, was it fear etched onto her features, or was is something else entirely?

Wait, it worked? Was the very first thought that ran through her mind, yet at the same time there was a smile on her face that practically spelled 'I got you now, you lil' shit.' Her sword would soon disappear as she approached the frozen thief. Did she intend to punish the other through blunt force than by sharp steel?

Margot stiffened and her face seemed to change. Xiuyang, hurtling towards her, drew closer. Ingrid closed in. Marceline prepared to teleport again. Evander was dangerously near, and stood still and focused. Roslyn barreled in the direction of her lost preciously-claimed prize.

Then, all at once, the thief struck a pose, stuck out her tongue, and disappeared. The forest floor beneath Ingrid, Xiuyang, Roslyn, and Marci erupted into thousands of needle-sharp fragments that sprayed outward. 

Then, from behind Dory, the sanguinaire materialized, a wide, greedy, [i]wicked[/i] grin stretching grotesquely across her features. She leapt in with a wicked diagonal slash that would surely slice the Duchess regnant of Feska in two unless she pulled back... or was [i]made[/i] to.

Xiuyang was late to arrive. The Gaze of the First Founder showed her the illusion, but it was too late to warn the others. With binding, she dissolved the spikes around her and reformed them into a lance. Setting in on fire with arcane, she hurled the remains of Margot's sophomoric trap back at her.

And there was what they were chasing, Margot thieving away a treasure. It was not even a surprise and Ingrid couldn't care less as they had her surrounded. But as they closed in, spikes launched up at Ingrid. Some she blocked most but one particularly large one got around her iced shield, plunging itself through her knee, up her thigh, and out of her hip. She let out a single yelp of pain but suppressed the rest of it.

It was hard to tell what finally tipped Roslyn over her limit. In the end, did it matter? Energy drew hard into the small girl with teary eyes and heart boiled with fury. Her mouth opened to let out a deafening scream when she let it all go. 

Bottled up emotions came rushing out in a burst of chemical and temporal magics. It ripped across the forest's spiky trap as it razed the area around her to the ground. Energy tensed then popped, tossing back the splinters into their fellow trees. She breathed heavily in the center of her wrath... 

And still the hollow fact remained: it didn't matter.

Margot twisted back from Xiuyang's attack at the very last moment, almost as if she had some form of... prescience. The blazing lance ripped through the air past her, causing it to waver and ripple with heat. It sheared a small tree clean in half and toppled a second before coming to rest, still burning, some hundred meters distant. 

Marceline's arc lightning, dancing from one flying shard to the next, followed rapidly. This caused the thief, still reeling from her sudden dodge, to throw up a desperation binding shield. Distracted by the effort, she stumbled and her blade scraped the ground. It dug in against a root and jarred loose, glowing slightly as it - and [i]she[/i] - clattered to the ground. 

Eyes wide, Margot was slow to react. She leapt nimbly to her feet as another explosion blossomed in the near distance. Roslyn had obliterated the spikes that had come for her and was making haste.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l1EdBvly9Y[/youtube]

She was beaten there as the mouth of reality irised open. From within hurtled the wrath of Eshiran incarnate. [color=f26522]"Eshirus mihi testis est, te ad infernum mittam, peccatore!"[/color] (As Ehsiran is my witness, I shall send you to hell, sinner!)

Edyta Laska slammed into the sanguinaire like the hammer of divine punishment that she was, her boot smashing Margot's jaw on contact. The Rezaindian's victim crashed through two small trees, rebounding off the sturdy trunk of a third and landing in a heap. 

Sister Laska disappeared as Margot erupted from the ground in a panic and ripped every bit of matter that she could from her surroundings to both heal herself and construct a defense.

Then, she was right on top of Margot. Frost coated the tree trunk from Palenie and Zamrazenie trailed smoke and steam as they scythed through the sophomoric shield. [color=f26522]"Jesteś istotą nieskończonego głodu."[/color] Edyta declared coldly. [color=f26522]"Nigdy nie będziesz zaspokojony."[/color] (You are a creature of infinite hunger. You will never be satisfied.) Margot gathered light and sound around herself and bent them, but the nun was both a better illusionist and a better fighter. The sanguinaire stopped dead in her tracks and let out a choked scream, clutching at her chest. 

Sister Laska stalked forward, robes fluttering in the winter wind, and made a twisting motion with her hand. [color=6ecff6]"I warned you,"[/color] she snarled, [color=f26522]"I [i]prayed[/i] for you and believed that there was good in you."[/color] Margot collapsed, gasping and spasming. [color=f26522]"You have let down not only me, but yourself and your Gods."[/color] Edyta raised her twin sickles overhead to deliver the finishing strike. [color=f26522]"Burn in eternal hellfire, sinner."[/color] She brought them down in a killing arc.

Only...

They did not hit. Two large haureenium spikes rocketed up at an angle from below and deflected the twin blades. A third nearly skewered their wielder, and she staggered back, eyes wide and enraged as a tiny man - a cherune - fluttered in and out of view, his focus on his cover illusion having wavered as he cast the spell that saved Margot's life. 

The thief gasped for air and spasmed and rolled onto her stomach, pushing herself up onto all fours. She was just on time to witness Edyta Laska sliding in with an eerie grace and slicing her cousin into three neat pieces. Each hit the ground with a wet bloody 'thunk', and his head landed upright, face frozen in a final look of terror. Blood crackled on Palenie and steamed off of Zamrazenie. The rezaindian stood panting in the cold snow and composed herself to pronounce judgement, but she found the sole choice taken from her hands. 

A limping Ingrid, an enraged Roslyn, and a bloodthirsty Xiuyang and Marci had arrived. Meanwhile, Kyuketsuki 2, legendary cursed blade of Kagemitsu Kenshin, lay on the ground between Evander's and Dorothea's feet.

Dory eyes the Revidian as she walked over and grabbed the blade. [color=86608E]"And they call me a monster."[/color] She rolled her eyes. [color=86608E]"Go do your evil slaying, darlin'. You go girl."[/color] What a nuisance she was, always so trying her hardest to appear just and holy whilst being nothing but a bloodthirsty hound. 

[color=86608E]"Well, actually."[/color] The woman tapped the masterwork on her palm. [color=86608E]"Could you not do that? Killing a little girl isn't part of my modus operandi, you see?"[/color] Dory approached the hunted bloodmouth and ever-so-holy huntress. [color=86608E]"I hope you understand, dearest sister of mercy."[/color]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DKYWNxLD04

Edyta whirled at the approach of the vile sinner who wore the face of a good Quentic duchess while communing with demons and murdering yasoi. Now, she dared open the filthy pit on her face in what she must've have thought a sly and clever attempt to belittle the judgement of Eshiran. The Rezaindian's eyes flashed and she did not hesitate. 

# [b][color=f26522]**"KNEEL!"**[/color][/b]

She glared at Dorothea. [color=f26522]"Do not think for a moment,"[/color] she hissed, crouching before the witch, [color=f26522]"that I do not know of your [i]true[/i] nature, [i]demon[/i]. You yet draw breath only because my superior, whose wisdom lies beyond mine, has commanded that I stay my hand unless it is forced."[/color] She tilted her head, eyes wide like saucers, and grinned toothily. [color=f26522]"Wanna force it?"[/color]

Meanwhile, a gasping yelp and sobbing broke into the scene as Lümee rushed over to her fallen sister, tears streaming down her face. [color=#91FFFF]"I'm sorry!"[/color] she sobbed. [color=#91FFFF]"I'm sorry. They won't be sinning. They won't doings thislike again! Don't kill her - [i]please[/i] - she is my sister and she is bad-like sometimes but not of the evil!"[/color]

Ingrid crunched and melted away the material inside of her to fill the whole the spike had made. It was unrefined and sloppy but it knitted the flesh whole and that would have to be enough. She was ready for a fight but it seemed with the sound of 3 plops onto the ground, the fight was already over. Ingrid came over, leading with her unmarred leg.

She glared at Lumee, begging for her sister, it was pitiful[ and disgusting. Margot knows just what she was doing and now her kin had been slayed, it was the just outcome under Dami so why did it feel so bitter. [color=734960]"You have shown your strength well sister, we have all bore witness to it. But to lay hands on a lady of state has spoiled this."[/color]

Xiuyang did not particularly want to kill Margot—only to stop someone unworthy of being entrusted with the sword from making off with it—and that included Dorothea. Laska made her choice, leaving Xiuyang to reassess the battle lines from afar while she had the situation well in hand, for the moment. Roslyn's scream drew her attention away, but she never kept her eyes off of the others for long. This lost treasure threatened to divide their group into three parts just like the corpse on the ground. [color=slateblue]"Rose, with me,"[/color] she beckoned.

Roslyn flitted through the trees using her kinetic and compass. She ducked, weaved and darted past the fallen debris into the still untouched forest. Her eyes narrowed on Dorothea's location as shadows of her friends materialized ahead. All of them seemed to be heading to converge on a single goal. Margo. 

A deep bitterness filled Roslyn's core. She had defended the thief and her friends moments before their crime. Now they had tried to kill them all. If she had known the future, she'd left the curse thing where she found it. She made this mess. 

The last one to rush out of the clearing, Roslyn dug in her heels and came to a stop. She flinched upon hearing the death nun turn on Dorothea and shout.  It left her stunned into silence as the anger had long since withered up. Her eyes looked at the scene, hesitating, then sighed and stepped in next to Xiuyang. She had caused enough trouble for one day. Her eyes shifted, unable to watch what was about to come.

Dorothea dropped as she was forced to by the nun. [color=86608E][i]I've heard of this, but... I never guessed it'd be this annoying.[/i][/color] 

[color=86608E]"Because your superior knows that the Bringer of War deemed me worthy to wield it's divine blade."[/color] Grinned from ear to ear. [color=86608E]"Force it?"[/color] She chuckled. [color=86608E]"You'd absolutely make my day."[/color] Dory tried to move, showing it was to no avail. [color=86608E]"But Eschiran does not like to be in the presence of cowards, remember."[/color]

[color=f26522]"Perhaps that is why I am disgusted by your mere presence,"[/color] Edyta rejoined, shaking her head. [color=f26522]"Many unworthy hands have held that blade over the ages, wishing only to kill with it for the sake of power and selfish ends. Speaking of which..."[/color] She rose and flicked a hand at Dory. [color=f26522]"That [i]other[/i] sword you've helped yourself to: hand it over to its rightful owner [i]now[/i]."[/color] She gestured at Roslyn and ignored the unreadable gaze of Marceline, watching her, and then the sword, like a hawk. The tethered's eyes flicked to Dory as if to assure her that she would let nothing further pass.

Sister Laska would waste no more energy on this [i]creature[/i] and so she twisted, still communing to hold down the witch's manas, to regard Ingrid. [color=f26522]"I care nothing for shows of strength,"[/color] she replied to Ingrid in a solemn voice. [color=f26522]"And we should not fear kings."[/color] She shook her head. [color=f26522]"People under a ruler, if she proves cruel and corrupt, have Ahn-Dami's right to overthrow that ruler."[/color] Her eyes narrowed. [color=f26522]"and, should she prove too powerful, that right becomes a duty - a duty of the church."[/color] Margot was healing herself and Edyta walked up and kicked her again to disrupt it. [color=f26522]"No reprieve for you. You are a parasite who steals the livelihoods and blood of others. You have no right to take what is theirs simply because you are stronger and more ruthless,"[/color] she growled. [color=f26522]"Your existence has brought hardship, ruin, and death to your fellow man. As you draw breath, you make the world a worse place."[/color]

Lümee scrambled to her feet and tried to block a follow-up blow that didn't come. Instead, Edyta Laska turned to the others, eyes lingering, in particular, on Ingrid before shifting to Roslyn. [color=6ecff6]"What is your justice? Does this avatar of unscrupulous greed walk away with some token punishment once more? Do you take up your cursed blade because you claim it? Can you handle it?"[/color]

[color=86608E]"Hah! There it is.[/color] Dory's express radiated pure smugness. [color=86608E]"It appears you don't know a single thing about me. Or perhaps you do, but just deny it. We kill for the exact same reason."[/color] The duchess cackled.

[color=86608E]"I was going to give it back to it's very unworthy owner because my dearest sis' friend wanted it so very much."[/color] The woman glared daggers into Edyta. [color=86608E]"But I really don't appreciate this attitude. Perhaps I'll wait with returning it until they prove they have the soul and strength to be worthy of wielding it."[/color]

Dory rolled her eyes as she was still stuck. [color=86608E]"Speaking of not appreciating things. Perhaps I should visit the nunnery to file a complaint."[/color]

[color=f26522]"Ah, your true colours,"[/color] Edyta replied, with a triumphant smile, [color=f26522]"There they are, starting to peek through the veneer."[/color] She shook her head. [color=f26522]"I fear none of your threats, for those strong in the faith will see justice done truly."[/color] She furrowed her brow, however, and nodded, considering. [color=6ecff6]"Though, perhaps I [i]do[/i] owe you an apology,"[/color] she admitted, expression lightening as she peeled her attention, once more, away from Margot while the others deliberated what would happen to her. [color=f26522]"For I [i]asked[/i] instead of commanding a thief who wraps herself in virtue."[/color] The Rezaindian narrowed her eyes. [color=f26522]"So I shall offer that hesitant hand of yours some help in letting go."[/color] She stepped back and called upon her manas, focusing on Dory's thumb that held the sword in place. She scowled in distaste at the act and raised her voice.

# [b][color=f26522]**"Rupture"**[/color][/b]

Xiuyang just watched Laska wield her authority like a rod of iron. No silly quips. No attempts to lower the temperature. For all the years she sat in judgment of an institution she truly knew little about, she let the minutes pass and observed their definition of justice at work.

She had judged them for one single reason: withholding of knowledge of the Gift from those they deemed wicked or unworthy. In Laska, she found a definition of "wicked" in alignment with hers. In her life's journey, she had learned firsthand why some should not wield the forbidden schools. Perhaps the gods had sought to teach her. Eshiran had certainly used Xiuyang, unworthy as she had been judged by those who considered themselves more pious. She had used her, despite not once calling on her name until her life was in the hands of Juulet. If anything, she had not held Eshiran in regard as she did the others.

Yet none of what she'd learned would change the fact that she was an abomination in their eyes. No matter how much common ground she found with Laska, she could never be part of the church. She would never be like her. She would never wield this kind of authority.

Perhaps that was the gods' wisdom.

This was barbarity and masochism at its finest. It should be clear to anyone here and Ingrid thinks she can remove the source. [color=8882be]"You ask what punishment can be given to a thief that is not a token effort and I can give you one Laska. One that she will remember. Then let this barbarity be done."[/color] She drew a crude knife from her hip. [color=8882be]"An old and simple punishment, you cut the hand that stole."[/color]

When Laska turned and spoke to her, Roslyn had to face the scene. Her eyes darted from Margot to Lumee while she untangled her emotions. She wrapped her arms about herself as she took a deep breath. Before she could speak, Dorothea's words came first. 

Her fingers bit into her arms and her small form tensed. The woman wasn't wrong, but of course the powerful tore at the weak. Especially at their lowest. For a moment, Roslyn considered using her gloves to snatch the sword from that noble ass's hands... but she stopped herself. 

[i][color=#cbc66d]Of course she'd go for someone less powerful than her. [/color][/i] Roslyn felt any respect she held for her better crumble away. 

She ignored the dirty jab as she focused on Laska's earlier words. 

[color=#cbc66d]"Okay, can this stop? Please? The hurting and the sass? I don't think it's helping anyone right now."[/color] Roslyn asked calmly, hoping to avoid escalating the situation. 

She moved on to Laska's earlier statement. [color=#cbc66d]"I won't lie. I'm angry and bitter which makes me a poor person to judge her actions. Especially when she tried to kill my friends."[/color] 

Roslyn then took a firmer stance as she looked at both Dorothea and Laska. [color=#cbc66d]"As for the sword and being worthy, who is to decide that? The sword called me. Not you or Lady Hohnstein. Me. It nearly killed me and I was stupid enough to let it go. That will never happen again and I will not let it consume me either."[/color]

[color=f26522]"Your foolishness brings me almost as much displeasure as your cruelty and greed."[/color] She caused a second finger to rupture and the sword clattered to the ground and skidded a couple of feet away, not far from Roslyn. She would not need to do any worse, she prayed. [color=6ecff6]"But you are wrong if you think that I hate the sinner. I feel anger towards her, for that is a mortal emotion and I cannot overcome it."[/color] She shook her head. [color=6ecff6]"But I pity her and lament what she might've been otherwise, even as I protect others from her viciousness and deceit."[/color]

Ingrid, meanwhile, had pronounced her judgement over Margot, and Lümee immediately moved in to intercede on her sister's behalf. [color=#91FFFF]"They mustings not!"[/color] she declared, interposing herself between the towering sanguinaire and the smallish thief who had been subtly and secretly healing herself. [color=#91FFFF]"In the cultural of their peoplefolk, to chopslice one's hand is to marking her as the exilekind."[/color] She shook her head adamantly. [color=#91FFFF]"None will shelter her. None will speaking with her or givings her workmake. Allfolk may murderkill her if they wishlike."[/color] She shook her head again. [color=#91FFFF]"It is the fatefinal worse than death."[/color] She swallowed, gazing up with a mix of fear and resolve at these looming mehrune, and continued. [color=#91FFFF]"She is the badlike person, and this is known."[/color] Lümee sighed, [color=#91FFFF]"but she is stealing because no optionchoicings are there. She is stealing so otherfolk won't havings to and Lümeesmall is too scaredy to stopping her. She is sorry. She askings them please not to justicekill another personlife."[/color] 

Edyta Laska's attention was split between two separate dramas: one expected and the other serendipitous. She considered Roslyn Wicke and sighed, not responding to the stupid things that the girl said, while considering the meaningful. What the mission called for left her feeling uncomfortable, but the commands of Mother Madrona were to be followed both as those of a superior and those worthy of respect. The Hendlishwoman was a couple of years younger than her and, in some ways, seemed it. She was also weak. Speaking to both Dorothea and Edyta as if they coveted the sword was an attempt to deescalate the former, the Rezaindian knew, but it was also the act of someone not willing to take a position and own it, not willing to support those who supported [i]her[/i]. [color=6ecff6][i]You yet have a ways to go,[/i][/color] Edyta could see, [color=6ecff6][i]but this could ruin you. As it stands now, you are good, but you are a sinner.[/i][/color]

She tilted her head. [color=f26522]"This liar -"[/color] She gestured at Dory with one sickle. [color=f26522]"says so only for her own gain, so that she may hold the sword, but she is not entirely wrong. You must show the strength needed to wield this weapon and, if you do not, rest assured that I - or another like me - shall have no choice but to cut you down. Take it,"[/color] she prodded. [color=6ecff6]"Take it now, and with caution instead of fear."[/color]

Marceline found herself paralyzed, and not only in the literal sense. Her pulse pounded in her ears and she did not know what to think. For a moment, the absurd notion that she should risk everything and repeal time occurred to her. She even started searching for the threads. 

What [i]was[/i] this side of Dory!? She'd risked Ingrid's anger to gain Roslyn's trust and have her toss the sword and that had only played into Margot's hands. Then, she'd been ready to risk Edyta Laska's wrath for the sake of the sister-in-law she'd never had. She'd been just about to intervene when the words had come out. 

Until then, the nun had seemed the cruel one, but the Feskan's choice of words in characterizing Roslyn had held no clear benefit to her. Laska was never going to have just let her [i]keep[/i] the sword if that had been her goal. They'd been hurtful for the sake of being hurtful and the satisfaction of seeing another laid low. That couldn't be right. It couldn't be Dory. It was the stress of the situation or she had a plan. She wasn't... evil. She was being judged once again! Only the night before, she had spilled her heart out to the younger girl and so many truths had come with it. So many truths and... [color=598527][i]A lie.[/i][/color] the subconscious of her mind completed the thought before she could override it.

And yet... Marceline had never seen the Rezaindian like this either, though she'd heard stories. She was [i]far[/i] too close to someone this dangerous and it set every alarm bell in her head ringing, begging her to teleport away and... What? Abandon everyone and cover herself in shame? Let this holier-than-thou killer have her way with Dory? And so, once the sword was safely out of her sister-in-law's hand and Roslyn was taking it up, Marceline reached out with binding to repair the near-severed digits, glaring at Edyta to do something, shooting confused looks between Roslyn and Dory that, for once, were not the least bit performative. 

It was all wrong and Marceline was not the cleverest person in the room. Ingrid was mad at her and, now, Dory, Roslyn, and Edyta probably would be too. She didn't know how to make it better. She didn't know what to do. Her heart thudded behind her ears and she focused on fixing a pair of broken fingers, as if they were a proxy for fixing so much else.

Strength meant different things to different people and shown in various ways. Roslyn had never felt it, but she saw it in her friends and others. That part was easier than finding it within herself. Spotting Laska's sigh, a part of her wondered if her answer wasn't the one the nun was looking for. The older woman's warning confirmed it.  

[color=#cbc66d]"I understand."[/color] There was no going back now, her actions would have to prove her determination. She stepped up to the sword then reached for the hilt. Once her fingers gripped it, her fate was sealed and she lifted upright to return back to Xiuyang's side. 

Her eyes, filled with sorrow and pity, shifted to Margo and Lumee. There was still one last thing to deal with now.

As soon as Roslyn stepped back to stand beside Xiuyang with her sword, Edyta drew to near-full capacity and released her. [color=6ecff6]"Yes, now for this one,"[/color] she agreed, turning to Margot, who was trying to heal her broken jaw. 

Meanwhile, she was not the only one doing so. [color=598527]"Don't move suddenly,"[/color] Marci asked Dory, [color=598527]"or it will ruin the healing."[/color] The damage was severe and she was a good but not elite healer.[/hider][h2]Dami’s Judgement[/h2][hider=******]

[color=6ecff6]"The first priority in judgement should go to the aggrieved."[/color] She shot Marceline, who was healing the vile witch instead of participating, a brief distasteful look. Then, Sister Laska refocused her attention on Margot and the tiny 'sister' who would inevitably try to ensure that she escaped without punishment.

[color=86608E]"I won't, I won't."[/color] Dory waved her other hand slowly. [color=86608E]"Besides, I'm already more than happy that I have such a reliable lil' sis."[/color] A soft chuckle left her vocal chords. [color=86608E]"I do deserve it though, haha. I tried to stop an agent devoted to the hand of death from killing."[/color] She eyes her ruptured digits and grinned. [color=86608E]"I think I got off quite easy."[/color]

Her gaze tried to meet the Kerreman. [color=86608E]"But I don't think it is a good idea to further punish them. They tried to steal a little trinket and I caught her, but in the process they lost someone."[/color] Her eyes darted to the three pieces of what used to be a living being. [color=86608E]"I think that's more than enough punishment for just a thief."[/color]

Ingrid snapped Margot's wrist and clenched it firmly, [color=8882be]"It is convenient that your people see it like that, almost like you are trying to avoid harm,"[/color] Ingrid glared through Lumee. The knife was held to Margot's joint; it wouldn't take much for Ingrid to slice through. [color=8882be]"She did not steal bread to fill your bellies. She didn't take a quilt to keep you warm in the hundri. She didn't take money to buy things."[/color] Her eyes lowered at both of them, as if they were the same.

 [color=8882be]"She took a treasure well earned by a woman more meager than herself. She got one of your own killed and set deadly traps for the people she took from. Defending her only adds to [i]your[/i] guilt."[/color] Ingrid pulled the knife into her to break past the skin and into the flesh.

 [color=8882be]"But you are right,"[/color] Ingrid held the knife still, [color=8882be]"If you are being truthful, then it would be better to just kill her and that would not align with Dami.  In times like these, reparations for harms are appropriate. Hand over all the ill gotten goods she and your group have taken and a fifth of your yearly earnings and that will be the cost of life."[/color] Ingrid's voice was lighter, like this was the best she could do.

[color=8882be]"This,”[/color] Ingrid paused, [color=8882be]"is the final offer, Lumee."[/color] She solemnly said.

Marceline breathed a sigh of relief that Dory hadn't pressed the issue any further. There was a hint of an edge to her comment, but it was either benign enough to slip beneath the Rezaindian's notice or she simply couldn't be bothered with Dory any longer.

Ingrid had issued an ultimatum to Margot and Lümee and Edyta's face remained unreadable in response, while Marceline's eyes lit up. That was [i]exactly[/i] what she would've done. The sanguiniare did not give her the satisfaction of a scream as Ingrid paired words with some gratuitous torture. Instead, her face bunched up bitterly at the notion of her and her band of forest thieves having more than some noble girl. Lümee pre-empted any foolish talk to that effect, however. They had reached too far above their station, tangled with monsters, and they were soundly beaten. [color=#91FFFF]"We willforth handing over what we having, but it isn't muchlike!"[/color] she promised. 

Margot was about to open her mouth again, but Lümee shushed her. [color=#91FFFF]"Where there lies living, sister, there be always a path."[/color] She hugged her tightly and Margot breathed and nodded, defeated but unrepentant. She took an elbow to the ribs and gritted her teeth and bowed her head. [color=#6e9839]"It is as she is saying,"[/color] the rogue grated, [color=#6e9839]"but their peoplefolk - their smallfolk, even though Margot's looking like you mehrune - be livings secretlike, lest the boot comeforth and crushing them again."[/color] She raised her head, clasping her wrist to stop the bleeding. [color=#6e9839]"Keepings a hostage if it fills them with trustfeeling, and their bloodgold they shall having fulllike, but they will never leave footprint in the cloister. If they will not accepting this, then murderkill her if they must."[/color] She reached up to pull down her collar and bare her neck.

Xiuyang rubbed her temple, as if it would somehow help her think. She felt like she was getting whiplash. Laska was behaving strangely, giving the right to judge the thief first to Roslyn, then to any bystander with enough gumption to speak first. It just so happened to be Ingrid, who was a friend of Roslyn, but it could have been any one of them, with any possible motive. How was it that Dory appeared the most merciful among them? That couldn't stand. Something wasn't adding up.

[color=slateblue]"Will all of us testify before Dami that this punishment is both sufficient and just?"[/color] Xiuyang spoke up. She glanced at Laska. [color=slateblue]"You have the most to lose if we overstep the line between mercy and cruelty. What say you?"[/color]

First Hohnstein, now Ingrid. It might've been unintentional, but it still stung what modest pride Roslyn had. 

[i][color=#cbc66d]Does everyone think that little of me? [/color][/i] She wondered realizing for the first time how everyone saw her. Was she nothing more than a small thing to pick on? Then again, had she done anything worthy for them to think differently? 

Despite her achivements, she had a long way to go before opinions might change. If they ever did. 

Roslyn bit her tongue while Hohnstein rose onto her feet. The sound of Margo's wrist being snapped caused her stomach to tighten. Not because it sickened her, but because of a part of her was petty. She pushed that side of herself down as a tiredness washed over her. It was one that she never felt before.  

[color=#cbc66d]"As I said, I am too emotional to be a proper judge here. I don't think any punishment will be enough. A person won't change unless they want to and hurting them only adds to that bitterness."[/color] Her voice turned sour. [color=#cbc66d]"The world is unfair for everyone, especially for those without the gift. I think what Ingrid suggested is a good alternative to me. I don't want any more death today unless we're given no choice."[/color]

Edyta tilted her head and narrowed her eyes slightly. [color=6ecff6]"It is not the one I would've chosen,"[/color] she admitted to Xiuyang, with a faint grim smile, [color=6ecff6]"for a hardened criminal who will only repeat, but Dami's will lives in each of us."[/color] She shrugged.

Hesitantly, Marceline nodded, eyes flicking Dory's, Xiuyang's, and Roslyn's way. She struggled to hide the eagerness she felt over poring through the thieves' stash. She knew that it made them little better than the people they'd nearly executed. She counseled herself to have a heart and have a conscience. This wouldn't change Margot. It would only punish and embitter her. Roslyn was right. The thing was that, if she were to be completely honest, she didn't think that [i]anything[/i] would change the thief at this point.

Plus... she really wanted to see what the thieves had, so she tried to cover her unease with the justification she had come up with and she agreed that this was what justice looked like.

[color=8882be]"Then your sister, Lumee, will stay with us as you return with the dead as their death is tragic and deserve a propper burial."[/color] Ingrid spoke to Margot and looked for Lumee to put down her 'hoop'. [color=8882be]"Understand that this opportunity is only available to you becasue of the group's consent and your sister's advocacy. Know that their fate is in your hand and should you not return, your punishment will be passed to her."[/color]

[color=slateblue]"If I mend her hand now, she may yet keep it—but it will never perform a thief's work deftly like it used to. Another lies dead. If we say this is insufficient, and take our spoils, do we not affirm a thief's worldview—that the strong will make sport of the weak as they will?"[/color] Xiuyang replied, unflinching in the face of Laska's hardened eyes. [color=slateblue]"Perhaps she will not change her ways, but what of this one, or the others?"[/color] She gestured to Lümee in particular. [color=slateblue]"Can any soul be punished without harming another? Is any one of us an island? If one of our own needed to be punished, and we believed their sentence unjust, would we let it slide?"[/color]

Xiuyang did not raise her voice nor fill it with emotion as one taking a soap box might. She kept her voice soft and even. She had no power to enforce her will over the others, nor the authority to overrule Laska, and she would not throw herself on a thief's pyre. She could only offer the others a pause to think.

[color=#cbc66d]"Truthfully, I don't know what to do. All I know is that ultimately, change can't happen without choice. That's something that Ahn-Dami teaches us."[/color] Roslyn stated as she listened to her friend's words.  [color=#cbc66d]"At this point, I am still learning and don't have the wisdom for this. I harbor no ill will since none of my friends were killed and personally rather just return to the inn. "[/color]

The nun smirked at Xiuyang's words and, after a moment, nodded, stepping into the center to loom over the captives. [color=6ecff6]"There are two paths that lie before she who wishes to deal in justice."[/color] She scowled thoughtfully. [color=6ecff6]"The first is Eshiran's route: if one is judged, truly, to be too far lost to what is right, to deep of a danger to her fellow to be left among them. Then, it is written, that Father Eshiran must bring down his blade and Mother Eshiran draw the life from the unrepentant sinner."[/color] 

She rested her hands, for a moment, on the butts of her sickles, now sheathed at her waist. [color=6ecff6]"The second is the path of Shune: if one's mind may yet be changed by reason to see the harm of her ways, then it is written that those enacting justice must do all in their power to see that it is so."[/color]

Edyta's breath condensed as a cold white cloud in the somnian air. [color=6ecff6]"Therein lies our question and, for the sake of brevity, I ask for only one word in answer."[/color] She narrowed her eyes and regarded the cowering thieves for an extended second before raising them to take in the others. [color=6ecff6]"Can this woman be redeemed? Yes -"[/color] She tilted her head. [color=f26522]"Or no?"[/color] She tilted it the other way.

For all Ingrid has done and all that she will do, there was only one answer for Ingrid. [color=8882be]"Yes."[/color]

Xiuyang only pondered Laska's question for a moment. If ever there were an example of someone who did not deserve her redemption, yet had found herself receiving it as a gift from the gods all then same, it was herself. [color=slateblue]"Yes."[/color] Her voice had the slightest hint of stubbornness to it now.

There was no good answer here. If Marceline answered in the negative, she would receive nothing, a person she tangentially knew would die, and a precedent of assumed guilt would be set. If she answered in the affirmative, she and the others would receive no compensation and their hardship would have been for nothing. 

Given the choice between two undesirable options, her answer was obvious. The [color=598527]"yes"[/color] that she uttered did the least harm and caused the least pain and she could leave feeling as if she had done the right thing, even if she did not truly know if it was.

[color=86608E]"That is not our decision to make as strangers."[/color] Her gaze turned to the 'blowing-it-sky-high little one'  [color=86608E]"It is the judgement of the ones that know her that are of most value."[/color] Dory sighed. [color=86608E]"I will instead cast my vote towards mercy in the name of the Lord of Love unless her companion does not see it fit to leave her among the living."[/color]

It took all of the faith and strength that Edyta Laska, nun of the Red Rezaindian Order, possessed not to visibly roll her eyes. Instead, they turned to the only person - save Evander, who appeared engrossed in some other pursuit - who had not yet offered her final verdict. 

Roslyn chose to speak last and see where the others' answers laid. Deep down, she doubted the girl would stop thieving despite this incident. A selfish part of her wanted retribution for the suffering and pain. Another fought for compassion and mercy as she empathized with the victim. Her eyes shifted to the fallen cherune then sighed.   

The question felt simple until she looked to the implications and the consequences. Someone would be hurt if they decided wrong and the girl still might die. 

She looked to Lumee. [color=#cbc66d]"If I say yes, who will ensure Margo will change? Will you stand up to your sister and ensure she does better or will you crumble to her whims and let her destroy herself? Killing not just her, but eventually anyone she loves?"[/color]

Margot and Lümee exchanged a look. The former quickly looked away and the latter's eyes sought her out. [color=#91FFFF]"Margot,"[/color] she called, her voice a loud whisper. [color=#91FFFF]"Margot."[/color]

The older of the two snorted through her nostrils and twisted to regard her little sister through the corners of her eyes, still clutching her bleeding wrist. [color=#6e9839]"Ru?"[/color]

[color=#91FFFF]"Ce sei zu churmee, sa-sa?"[/color] Lümee pleaded, and Margot's face tightened into a mask of anger for a moment.

[color=#91FFFF]"Ce [i]sei[/i]!?"[/color] she insisted, and a tear rolled down Margot's cheek. [color=#91FFFF]"Nune rajes ther eef ulf zin suhree."[/color] She shook her head. [color=#91FFFF]"Nim suhree cei. Nim [i]sor[/i] fee, sa-sa."[/color]

Margot's lip quivered and, for a moment, she shot a resentful glance up at her captors, one that seemed to accuse them of being interlopers. One that seethed at their presence in this moment. [color=#6e9839]"Cohn, sa-sa,"[/color] she grated, working her jaw. [color=#6e9839]"Cohn-si zaft eef loc."[/color]

[color=#91FFFF]"Cohn ce cheirah?"[/color]

Margot shook her head.

[color=#91FFFF]"Sei! Cür-si suhree."[/color] Lümee shifted over to begin healing her sister, daring anyone to try to stop them from a simple act of kindness. [color=#6e9839]"Cür-si suhree,"[/color] Margot echoed faintly, gritting her teeth against the pain. [color=#6e9839]"Cür-si suhree."[/color] 

It was a few more seconds before Lümee looked up from her work. [color=#91FFFF]"She'll do it,"[/color] she announced quietly, almost casually. [color=#91FFFF]"She willforth be her sisterfriend's keeper, even where this is not easytimes."[/color]

In response, Edyta Laska merely scowled. [color=f26522]"So you have chosen Shune's justice."[/color] She nodded tightly. [color=6ecff6]"Who am I to deny the learner on this day, when so many pay homage to him in their decision?"[/color] She let out a breath that she hadn't been holding but had, perhaps, [i]seemed[/i] to have been. [color=f26522]"But know that you shall not go unmarked. Walk in the light, or I shall personally see that it consumes and eats you alive."[/color] With nothing further to say, she turned, robes fluttering to catch up with her abrupt motion, and stalked away.

Xiuyang exhaled, letting go of a tension she hadn't allowed herself to acknowledge. She put an arm around Roslyn's shoulder and pulled her close, as if to say without words that she knew she'd made the more difficult choice.

Roslyn didn't know the exact words, but the exchange gave her enough to guess. The look Margot gave her didn't fill her with confidence and part of her considered saying no instead. However, this was Shune's day and not Dami's. Lumee deserved a chance and would be the one to suffer when -not if- this failed. She hoped the cherune could endure the guilt. 

It seemed that Laska had taken her words as a decision and left it at that. Likely for the better, Roslyn thought. She didn't say anymore as she leaned into her friend and took the support.   

She whispered. [color=#cbc66d]"Thank you, and I'm sorry for all of this."[/color]

Marceline heaved a great big breath of relief and glanced up over her shoulder, halfheartedly reaching out for Roslyn to find a hand and squeeze it. She had been a partial cause of this and there remained more questions than answers. What was the true nature of the sword? Just what sort of nerve had she touched with Ingrid? What had happened with Dory? Who were the strange small people accompanying Margot? They were neither hegelans nor cazenax. It was all rather a lot for Marci, and Xiuyang and Roslyn were already... supporting each other. There was no room for her.

[color=598527][i]You are support from a distance; that's what you do.[/i][/color] The tethered set her mind to just that and it was true: they still had so very much left to do. Yet, as she commenced the arduous task of wheeling herself over this treacherous ground, a ray of sun touched her cheek and she paused to look up. Finally, after nearly two entire days, the weather was clearing. She tried to refocus on the task at hand. Ingrid and Edyta had to infiltrate the mine and disable the disruptor. Roslyn and Johann had to slip into the archives, research, and make sure that the former was caught to bait Karl von Mollern and determine if he was, truly, an enemy or an ally. She, Marco, Xiuyang, and... Dory had finally gained their long-awaited audience with the elderly Lady Frickmayer.

Still, as she approached the blasted area, drawing and casting near-constantly to make her way, a thought occurred to her: what about the mana reservoirs and the strange magics they had senses. Marceline changed direction, reached out with her senses, and drew in close.

Ingrid leaned against a tree, taking some weight off of her bad leg. [color=8882be]"You have no need to apologize for someone stealing from you."[/color] She wanted to speak to Marci but there Marci went, off to do another thing. [color=8882be][i]And none of it is my buisness anymore,[/i][/color] she thought to herself, still stewing the drama of the last fight.

[color=slateblue]"I [i]*have*[/i] questions,"[/color] Xiuyang whispered back, slightly stern. [color=slateblue]"But they can wait. A friend in need can't."[/color] She held her closer, tighter, just a moment longer. She remembered when she'd found Roslyn drinking like she wanted to die, after that vile bog took two of her friends away. She would never let her wallow in those emotions again.


When Roslyn felt Marci's hand touch hers, her fingers gripped tightly back and didn't let go for a bit. A clear sign she wasn't mad. All of her friends were important to her, especially now. She was lucky, she realized. 

[color=#cbc66d]"Yes, but I did do something selfish and that put you all into danger. I stepped out of the expectations and you all had to rush to save me. I didn't..."[/color] She then took a breath, [color=#cbc66d]"I'm not used to my actions making this much of an impact. I guess I should've realized that had changed now."[/color]

Seeing Ingrid's state, Roslyn drew then healed her. 

Catching Xiuyang's whisper, she nodded then darted a glance down at her friend's hand. A silent hint that her friend also had to share. 

[color=#cbc66d]"I'm lucky to have all of you and I swear, I'll do better."[/color]

Ingrid nodded at Roslyn, [color=8882be]"Thank you."[/color]

The group of biros found, indeed, something very worth their while in the broken reservoirs: the imprinting of five new spells that none had encountered before within the mana colonies there. Margot and Lümee departed, the latter leaving behind a backpack full of recent plunder; the former left to the silence of her thoughts and running a wrist that should not have been tender any longer but, for some reason, was.

They lingered for a few minutes more, extracting what they could from the reservoirs and inspecting the bag's supplies before making their way back to the inn. Some talked. Some offered theories and ideas. Others were quiet and shambling. A couple were exhausted.[/hider]