Talk About Breaking the Ice

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Shinsou pursed his lips and clicked his tongue at the report offered, absorbing the information whilst noticing a sharp change in the mage’s demeanour. Rehtul’s knowledge of the workings of underground Corone was far more diverse and wide reaching than his own, and the Telgradian found it useful to have the intelligent mage’s insight on matters that were more difficult to wrap his own head around without all of the intricate “pieces” of knowledge required from the inside. But, it wasn’t just that which impressed the leader of the Brotherhood. It was how coolly and carefully Rehtul always handled the information at his disposal. So it was rare, and perhaps even the first time, that Shinsou had seen Rehtul’s emotions slip through that icy, intellectual exterior and into the Whitevale office.

“Well,” Shinsou began, taking a final sip of his tea before placing the empty cup carefully on the silver tray, “With that in mind, let’s look at the big picture here. For starters, this new – and, frankly, crudely assembled – group of Dhethean traffickers will be vulnerable without the protection the guild has denied them. While they might currently have the local authorities tightened up, it won’t be long before their lack of friends and connections unravels their operation.”

His gaze found once more the frozen statue, which stood idly in the centre of the room as Rehtul’s aura coated it with a thick, glassy frost.

“So, I’m suggesting we apply a little ‘oil’ to these tightly wound screws. But that said, I understand your, and the guild’s, situation more than anyone – you have to keep your head below the parapet. However, the Brotherhood does not. We don’t run in many political circles and because of that we’ve the freedom to be quite direct with our methods. So, perhaps we can do something more publicly to get these traffickers off the streets, and allow the authorities to loosen their shoulders a bit without putting you guys in the crosshairs?”

To Shinsou, direct and unsubtle action was the obvious play. Rehtul was a friend, and whether the Telgradian liked it or not the guild and their workings were a vital part of both their friendship and Corone’s northern lifeblood. Helping him and taking any potential heat off of the guild would inevitably build bridges with both them and the authorities, too, and stop a horrific trafficking ring. Without another thought, the spellsword reached into the inner pocket of his white coat to grab a small flask. The water within gave his tongue a welcome lather, but the Telgradian could feel small crystals of ice cascade down his throat. He glanced at Rehtul, whose eyes were already locked on the bottle.

“…It’s better with the ice, don’t worry. Now,” Shinsou paced towards once more towards the icy cocoon that lacked any hint of thawing, “How about this? I figure that if we can thaw her out, she’d be able to give us a better idea of what we’re dealing with…”

[Rehtul Orlouge]

Rehtul had the good graces to blush when he realized he had partially frozen Shin's drink. His emotions seemed to be affecting his magic more and more these days, and that didn't quite feel like something that should be happening to him, considering the amount of effort it used to require for him to summon up even the most basic of spells. He had thought to talk to his father, the world's foremost magical researcher, but had balked at the idea of asking the man for help considering the current state of their relationship.

Eh, it's probably nothing anyway. Time to look into the problem at hand, then we can begin to work on those traffickers and I can blow some steam off. Rehtul stood up and began to speak as he walked across the room.

"Yes, it's often better for those in my profession not to make themselves publicly known. However, I don't particularly need to worry about that. Including you, there are only three people in the world who know of my affiliation with the Colors. So long as I can trust in them... and you, everything will be fine if I'm seen in my public persona. It'd be far stranger if I disappeared, considering I'm one of the last remaining officers of the Ixian Knights who wasn't killed in combat or tried in court. The benefits of the Corone Rangers thinking I was little more than a paper pusher, I suppose."

If the government of Corone had known that Rehtul was in fact the de facto commander of the Ixian Wetworks division, he'd have been killed outright long ago. It was the entire reason that he had come up with the pseudonym "Black" in all of his dealings with the assassins of the Knights, and had never allowed them to see his face nor hear his true voice. To the authorities, they would assume the name was either complete bunk, or if they were lucky the surname of the leader of the wetworks team. When none of the captured spies and assassins had ever been able to identify him, he was released as though he had merely been a clerk working on behalf of the Knights and keeping track of their expenditures and other important documents relating to their operations.

"Now, let's see what I can do here," he muttered under his breath as he faced the statue.

He brought his magic to bear against the forced enclosure of the fae creature trapped within and smirked slightly.

"To think we'd be meeting again under circumstances like this, Crystal," he said as invisible tendrils of his magic worked their way into the ice encasing her and probed for weaknesses. As his magical power circulated through his body, he could feel his hand tingling. He shook his right hand absently to recover the feeling.

As his magic went to work on the statue, he felt imperceptible cracks starting to form in the encasement. Slowly, those cracks widened enough to be seen and worked their way through the entirety of the body before finally shattering completely. A loud crashing sound combined with the tinkling of small pieces of glass hitting the floor echoed out into the hallway. Rehtul brought out an arm and caught the fae before she was able to hit the ground. As he looked down at her, he noticed something, however.

His hand had seemingly been completely covered in the crystal ice that he normally created using his magic.

"No... it's not covered..." he whispered, barely able to comprehend what he saw. The appearance was fading back to normal skin, but he could see clear through the ice to the other side. His hand had become crystal ice.

[Sugarp1e1]

With a loud crash, Crystal could feel the ice encasing her form break away, allowing her limp body to fall forward. But something stopped her descent.

She let out a groggy moan as her eyes fluttered, their vision gradually returning. Her fingers pressed against her first pair of eyelids and rubbed away the sleep.

Crystal's first sight upon awakening was the plain wooden floor beneath her. A far cry from the stone floors of the Durklan Ruins.

It was then that she realized she was being held up by somebody. With her wings too drowsy to flutter, Crystal instead pulled herself away from the person's arm by standing under her own power.

Her own still-recovering power. She staggered to her feet only to quickly lose her footing and stumble backwards into the podium on which she was displayed, the impact launching flurries of snow from Crystal's body and undoing her Glamour for a split second.

She held herself against the podium to keep from falling and regained her balance. Rubbing the sleep away from her hidden remaining eyes, Crystal finally spoke in a hoarse voice.

"Where am I?"