Bridge

[Wings of Endymion]

Yuka rose to her feet, in the same motion turning away from the brilliant blue of the shimmering pond and towards the equally brilliant green foliage that surrounded it at a safe distance. The… whatever it was that Nicolai had entered into… deafeningly disturbed the tranquillity as it manoeuvred to where Cael stood. Crudely but carefully it extended a viciously clawed appendage; the gesture minded Yuka of a shy man attempting to shake hands, although in this case she felt that Cael might have preferred the warsuit to not have been quite so intimidating. The subtle annoyance in Nicolai’s voice as he explained his words only served to pique her slightly in turn, but she kept her face impassive and her hands folded neatly upon the staff that she held, knowing better than to let the emotion show.

The rusty red of the warsuit hurt her eyes, harsh reminder of the barren desolation of the underworld she had been trapped in for so long. Instead she averted her gaze once more, this time to the skies overhead. Her keen sight spied a lone bird soaring high upon the thermals, its wings spread wide as it journeyed its destiny from horizon to horizon. Always seeking, never finding… Yuka murmured, recalling the tanka about the eagle that wanted to know what lay beyond the rim of the world. Her mind was struck by a strangely bittersweet sensation, and the young woman wondered if the long-lost poet had experienced something similar when he or she had first composed the lines.

Yuka shook her head vigorously to clear it of the fugue, savouring the feel of her dark fine hair catching the cool breeze. Largely ignoring the conversation behind her, she cast her eyes upon her surroundings, searching for something, anything, that could provide her with a clue as to their precise location upon Althanas. Her feet began to pace slowly around the edge of the pool of water, her steps as light and sure as her wits were observant.

A measured tread took her eventually to the far side of the pond, where at length she caught sight of a foreign splash of colour amongst the shrubbery. Her straight locks spilling into her face as she bent forward, a closer look revealed a bright yellow flower of a variety that she had never seen before, neither in Nippon nor in Salvar, and certainly not in Haidia. She peered at it curiously, wrinkling her nose and furrowing her brow as she sought to identify any characteristic that could help her narrow her location. Unfortunately, botany had never been one of her strong suits.

Sensing an opening in the conversation, she turned back towards the warsuit and the pale man who stood before it, her robes flowing clumsily about her ankles. The motion felt oddly peculiar; she would have felt more comfortable in tunic and trousers, except that they had seemed far too informal for the occasion compared to what some of the other guests at the inn had been wearing.

“So, what do you think this place is?” Yuka asked of her companions, her voice echoing unnaturally loud across the clear waters. Free of her initial hesitation, it took on an almost boyish sub-tone, and inwardly she cringed at how brash it sounded.

[Inkfinger]

"Ah. I see." Warrior titles and clans, then...he was about to say something about it not being any language he recognized when Nikolai continued.

“….er.” Cael stared at the blades that came from the golem-suit’s fingers. They looked sharp, and with the size of the things hands he had no doubt that it would be able to remove his hands just as easily as it could the chains. He cast a nervous glance after Yuka's retreating form, and held his arm out, trusting the soldier against his better judgment. “Um. There y’go…”

But please, please be careful.

He couldn’t watch, he knew that much, or every time it looked like the blades were doing...well, anything, anything at all, he would jump. He knew that for sure. And there was no way in the world he wanted his limbs twitchy with those near them. It made him feel rather like a child getting a splinter removed: don't look, nothing is happening if you don't look.

Much like the aforementioned child, the trick didn't really work now. He found himself silently watching metal sharper than anything he knew carefully sheer through the solid iron like a hot knife through butter. He tried not to think about it, but not thinking about it left him thinking of other things - like being left alone with a complete stranger right now.

He choked back the whimper rather viciously, rather proud when it died before escaping his lips. This is not going to turn me into a coward.

Then Yuka returned, much to his relief, with questions to be answered.

Cael shrugged carefully.

“I don’t know,” he admitted, “when I woke up this morning I was in a jail cell in Salvar, waiting for…” He cut that thought off right there, shaking his head. “I don’t now, but it’s strange.” He squinted up at the treetops, smiling just a tad nervously. “It’s good to see the sun though. Or…I think it’s the sun, anyways. If you ignore the wrong color…”

[Gordie]

Once Cael had extended his hand, Nikolai carefully and deliberately kept his movements towards the man slower than would have normally been needed to.

The man flinched as he aced the blades on the two flat peices of the manacles on the one wrist and proceeded to turn the diamond-edged cutters on. Sparks immediately flew from the manacles as the spinning blades started to split the iron manacles into multiple peices, covering both the manacled man and the battle armour that Nikolai wore. The clan warrior noticed that the man would flinch even when he thought that nothing was happening.

He had only ever had to remove manacles from one other person, and those were thicker and made of a mysterious metal that even he could not identify, in the end, because they were running out of time, they had just cut his hands off. Once he was back at thier base, the med-techs surgically returned his hands to their owners, though he was more suited for the Labour caste now. Nikolai Sighed audibly as he dreamed of the time when he could hope that this was all a dream.

Half of the manacles off, the cutters turned off as the Jade Falcon Warrior moved to cut the other half of them from the man's arms. 'So weak, so scared.' Thought Nikolai as he watched the man flinch again, 'Like a babe, fresh from the Creche."

Yet more sparks flew as the Battle Armoured Warrior tried to cut through the other half of the manacles. The sparks flying ignited the grass momentarily while the hot metal burned through the individual blades, quickly doused by the moisture in the air and near by.

Suddenly a number of blips on his internal radar told him something was headed this way. Not just something, but many somethings were headed toward the small group. ''Friends' of Cael's perhaps?' The warrior thought to himself.

"Cael" The warrior spoke, his external mikes dialed so that only he could hear. "Multiple contacts due East, Orders?"

I am assuming we are south of the water