eclipse. [ian]

Ian
It's already dark by the time Ian parks his car at Red Rocks. Out past the city, the sky is clear and bright with stars. Overhead, the blood moon has already entered its eclipse. It's still visible in the sky, but the light is muted - dim and coppery beneath the cloak of the earth's shadow. The hood of the audi is warm beneath Ian's back. He's lying with his arms folded under his head as he watches the sky, one foot sprawled over the edge of the car with the other bent at the knee. There's no one around right now. The amphitheater is closed for the night and the park's hours technically ended an hour after sundown, but if there happened to be any guards on patrol, they were nowhere in sight.

(This is because Ian already bribed the lone park ranger with a bottle of whiskey, a very appealing smile and a tiny push of mental influence.)

So by the time Kiara arrives, she'll find the lot nearly-empty and the park dark and deserted, apart from Ian and his car. When he hears the tell-tale hum of a car engine approaching, he gives a long, slow stretch and slides down off the hood, running a hand over the back of his hair.

Kiara

Say what you would about Kiara Woolfe's tiny hatchback, it did have personality.

A tenacious capacity to endure the hardships an owner like the Verbena threw its way, too. It's been cleaned since the last occasion Ian had to glimpse it but the dust and mud is creeping back along the side panels; some coated to the rear window; dust collecting enough that her wipers have cut small pockets of visibility through it. It's a testament to how often the brunette must travel outside of the city limits that it so frequently appears to have returned from some gladiatorial bout in an rural mud pit.

By the time Kiara arrives, the sky has darkened enough that the stars are visible overhead, the moon already beginning to wan into its eclipse.

She parks two spots shy of Ian's (vastly superior) vehicle, pulling up in a small cloud of gravel and dust and appearing out of the confines of her car dressed for the location, if not high end fashion. Jeans, sneakers, a white cotton camisole beneath a fitted short sleeve shirt of muted, spring green. It cinches in around Kiara's narrow waist with the assistance of tiny buttons and her jewelry glints in the evening light (what little remains of it at present) as she pushes shut her car door with a hip, leaning back against it for a moment to observe the blood stained moon above.

"You know there's a prophecy that says the fourth blood moon was supposed to bring about the Apocalypse," Kiara's mouth, a familiar glossy red shade tonight, curves into a smile as her eyes dip to meet his, she watches him approach for a beat and then pushes off her car to meet him half way.

"I think that one came from the Christian camp." The pagan's dark eyes are luminous and bright; her mouth continuing its bent into a supple smile. "Unsurprisingly." She's left her hair out and it settles around her shoulders like a wild thing itself. Her expression shifts, then. The smile becomes a slightly more modest thing, a private little flex at each corner.

"Hi."

IanThey're both dressed for the occasion, which in this case means something more approximate to hiking gear than formal-wear. Ian's pants are specifically intended for that purpose. They're light and durable, made of some kind of dark grey man-made fabric with pockets on the thighs. He's got the cuffs rolled up to mid-calf right now. Below that: expensive-looking athletic shoes. On top: a white t-shirt layered beneath a thin black hoodie. The overshirt is unzipped. He's on the verge of pulling it off but it's cold enough that they might be glad for it later. Kiara pulls up in her hatchback and Ian watches her in the dark. With the moon eclipsed and the city lights far away, it's harder than usual to make out details.

"I don't put much stock in prophecies." She can probably hear the dry amusement in his tone, even if she can't see the smile. Then there's that little hi, and Ian closes the distance between them. He stops when he comes up close, the warmth of his body pressing into her space. There's a little pause (a breath) and then his hands are in her hair and cupping her neck and he kisses her like maybe a part of him had been afraid he might not see her again. Or maybe he just really... wants to kiss her.

(Probably both.)

When he pulls away, he kisses her lower lip once more, softly. "Hi." His voice is low and intimate, and there's a flash of teeth when he smiles.

"I'm glad you're back. Should I grab a flashlight or do you think you can brave the dark?"

KiaraHe kisses her like he'd been concerned he wouldn't see her again and she couldn't blame him for that. Her message to him, before she'd left to trek into the Umbra with Elijah had been vague at best, unsettling at worst. She slides her arms around his shoulders in return and crosses them; lifting herself into his space for the duration of a heartbeat, two. Then opens her eyes into his smile; his teeth flashing in the settling darkness.

There's a flash of hers in return, her hands lingering where they slide over the slope of his back to settle; idly holding to the open flaps of his hoodie.

"I'm glad I am, too," she murmurs against his mouth and her eyes rove over the vague outline of his features she can make out, her fingers coming up briefly to slide over his jaw, tapering off over his neck before she finds one of his hands and takes it; her focus shifting back to the sky overhead; the sight of it seems to arrest her for a moment.

"I'm not afraid of the dark."

She's smiling, he can almost feel the shape and sense of it; the curling, rejuvenating edge to it (to Kiara). "I'd almost forgotten how beautiful it is out here." There's a pause, her thumb stroking the edge of his hand; sliding over a knuckle in a thoughtful, fleeting gesture.

"I wasn't sure how long we'd be gone. I'm glad we didn't miss this."

Ian[Per+Alertness, +2 diff because it's daaark, -2 diff because acute senses]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7) ( success x 3 )

IanIt's a different sort of beauty than the kind found in the umbra. The constellations don't chase each other across the heavens. But the stars are still lovely, and there's something about the immediate realness that the physical plane allows - the grit and the imperfections. There in the sky is the moon. Not a shadow or a dream or a memory of the moon. The actual moon, orbiting in space around the earth. And there is Ian, real and solid and alive beside her.

There is room for wonder on both sides of the gauntlet. Tonight, they will marvel at things a bit less fantastic than dragons and dire wolves.

In the dark, Kiara's hand finds his. Ian lets the moment linger, reluctant to step away. She says she isn't afraid of the dark, and there's another smile at that.

I'm glad we didn't miss this.

"Me too." He lets his hand stay in hers, fingers loosely linked as he turns and begins to walk toward the trail. Even in the dark, his senses pick up enough that he can glean the path, and soon they're hiking up over sand and grass. Indistinct black masses rise up along the sides of the trail, and Ian reaches out to run a palm over the rough-hewn warmth of a rock formation. Occasionally he lets his eyes draw up to the veiled moon.

"What did you find while you were gone?"

Kiara[Hey how quickly are you going to fall over your feet, Kiara?]

Dice: 6 d10 TN8 (3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7) ( fail )

Kiara[Really quickly!]

KiaraShe's lost her strange, otherworldly aura now, Kiara.

Where she'd seemed illuminated from beneath her skin the last time Ian had seen her at the Chantry, she's lost that ripple effect of reality re-asserting itself against the pagan's will. Perhaps the fact she's returned now without any outward signs of trauma is a comfort in and of itself, given her recent track record.

Afraid of the dark she might not be, but capable of navigating her way along the trail quite as confidently as Ian, was another question altogether. She allows him to guide their path, one hand linked with his, the other held out to feel for nearby obstacles and, at least at one point to smooth her hand across the rocks, jutting out from the earth around them.

It's quieter out here, enough that they can hear their own breathing; the scuffle of their progress along the pathway. The distant cries of wildlife; the chirp and hum of a thousand tiny insects; unmolested by the frequent pedestrian traffic that finds them, even so far removed from the city streets. What did you find while you were gone, she makes a noise and there's the sound of a carefully drawn breath behind him.

"The Avatar Storm is gone, for one thing." There's a pause after she says that, as if she understood full well it was a revelation that needed some digestion. Kiara's eyes take in the moon above them. "I don't know when or if I was the last one to feel it, but - it was just gone when we crossed over."

A beat, Kiara's voice grows softer.

"We found the artifact Henry, Elijah's new mentor, was searching for. It was a crown, it belonged to one of my tradition's ancestors. The Aeduna. It was reputed to have great power, but - " There's an abrupt halt to Kiara's story as she missteps and trips over a low cluster of rocks; propelling her nearly headlong into Ian. She lets out a sudden breath of laughter and uses his body as a brace.

She straightens, sweeping the fall of her hair from her eyes. "Leah. Henry brought her with us. The Aeduna, the crown's former owner." Something like sympathy creeps into the brunette's voice. " - it was, it used to be, Leah. He didn't tell her that he suspected it, I don't think even Elijah knew." Kiara hesitates a moment, breathes out.

"I think he had good intentions for bringing her but I'm not sure she agrees. Or if she'll forgive him for that."

IanIan could recognize this place by smell alone. The particular combination of sandstone, scrub and Colorado air. He's been down this trail often enough not to feel lost in the dark, even were his senses to fail. And perhaps he ought to think twice about hiking out into the wilderness during an eclipse without a light-source, but there's no sense of anxiety in him tonight. At least, not until Kiara tells him that the Avatar Storm is gone. His steps are light and sure-footed on the path, but there's a moment right after she says it when he slows to a near-stop, trailing fingers over a jutting outcrop of stone.

It ought to be good news. Surely the Council would celebrate it. There were those yet old enough to remember when traversing the Umbra wasn't such a dire risk. When the Council held sway over a host of Horizon Realms. Ian wasn't one of them. As long as he'd known of the Umbra's existence, he'd known of the Storm.

It ought to be good news. Instead, Ian's first thought is toward the Technocracy, and what this will mean if Atreyu's predictions are true. It makes the muscles settle in his shoulders. This heavy acceptance of things he cannot hope to change. "...Oh." The verbal response is soft and slow to materialize. A beat later his steps pick back up to normal pace, and Kiara continues to relay her story until...

Kiara's weight tumbles into his back, and Ian, caught by surprise, gives a sudden exhale of laughter to go along with her own. It cuts some of the tension from the air, and she can feel his muscles relax when she gasps onto him for support. This time he does stop moving, putting an arm out to help Kiara regain her balance.

"I'm... less surprised by that than I think I should be. Is this crown something we can use?"

KiaraThere is tension that underplays it all. The revelation about the Storm, about what they'd uncovered. Ian's response to discovering it was gone is not dissimilar to the Verbena's initial reaction once the surprise had worn off. She hadn't believed it was possible (or maybe she just didn't enjoy the possibilities that it opened up) on either side.

She hangs on to his arm for another moment, regaining her equilibrium.

"Could we? If we found the stones that were missing and reunited them with it, possibly. They were gone when we pulled it out of the cave, after ... " She lets it trail off, her thoughts, her impressions and he can feel it, not simply translated through her touch, still steady on his arm; curled around his shoulder and bicep, but in her voice. In the tiny falter, there. After what, then?

"I don't think we should, though. The Aeduna were powerful and anything they crafted would be equally so. We put that sort of capacity in anyone's hands and I think it could backfire on us. Leah wouldn't even look at it after everything, so I gave it to Henry to keep. Just touching it was enough to make me feel ... different." Kiara's touch falls away from him and she lifts her chin, looks up toward the sky. It's very dark, here. There is more of a sense of the Verbena and the heat of her near proximity than a clear vision of her.

Of dark eyes and a face expressive of lingering unease.

Of their discovery, of its potential. "The power of the Gods. Leah said a lot of people have died for it."

Kiara

There is tension that underplays it all. The revelation about the Storm, about what they'd uncovered. Ian's response to discovering it was gone is not dissimilar to the Verbena's initial reaction once the surprise had worn off. She hadn't believed it was possible (or maybe she just didn't enjoy the possibilities that it opened up) on either side.

She hangs on to his arm for another moment, regaining her equilibrium.

"Could we? If we found the stones that were missing and reunited them with it, possibly. They were gone when we pulled it out of the cave, after ... " She lets it trail off, her thoughts, her impressions and he can feel it, not simply translated through her touch, still steady on his arm; curled around his shoulder and bicep, but in her voice. In the tiny falter, there. After what, then?

"I don't think we should, though. The Aeduna were powerful and anything they crafted would be equally so. We put that sort of capacity in anyone's hands and I think it could backfire on us. Leah wouldn't even look at it after everything, so I gave it to Henry to keep. Just touching it was enough to make me feel ... different." Kiara's touch falls away from him and she lifts her chin, looks up toward the sky. It's very dark, here. There is more of a sense of the Verbena and the heat of her near proximity than a clear vision of her.

Of dark eyes and a face expressive of lingering unease.

Of their discovery, of its potential. "The power of the Gods. Leah said a lot of people have died for it."

[reposting for me]

Ian[Dex+Ath, +1 diff because it's dark]

Dice: 8 d10 TN7 (3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )

IanIt's too dark to make out the details in Kiara's expression, but Ian casts his eyes toward her anyway. His senses fix on her for a moment, noting the change in her voice; the way her words trail off. He doesn't interrupt - lets her finish answering his question before he gives this muted, thoughtful sound. It's ambiguous enough to hint at a more complex response than the one he ultimately vocalizes.

"It's a risk to hold on to valuable things. Other people will try to take it." He finds her hand and lets his fingers curl around hers again, locking their palms together. There's a steadiness to the way he touches her that feels grounded and (perhaps) a little protective. "Normally I'd say keeping it isn't worth that risk."

Normally.

"I think you should be careful who you tell. Even if it isn't functional. But you probably know that already."

His steps are slow when he starts walking again, giving Kiara time to find her footing on the uneven ground. They're making their way toward a large rock formation further down the trail. Ian can make out little more than a vague impression, but he remembers the spot. He's been there before - perched up on the tallest boulder watching the sun set across the vast open sky. It is, in fact, one of his favorite places. By the time they get there, the shadow over the moon has inched a bit further to one side. It won't be long before the eclipse starts to recede. Ian puts a hand out to touch the rock, finding the handholds he knows are there. He drops Kiara's hand long enough to scale his way up the rock. She'll here the telltale sound of shoes on sandstone, and a few moments later he's leaning down to offer her his hand.

"The view's great up here."

Ian[Edit: here = hear. Honestly, self.]

Kiara[Dex + Ath, come on Ms Woolfe, impress me, I won't add a diff only because she's being actively helped up but, are you feeling dexterous tonight?]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )

KiaraShe nearly slips on the way up the boulder, too.

Her sneakers can't find the friction they need as she grasps Ian's hand and he can hear the soft gasp she makes, the way her weight pulls at him, threatening to drag him down like an anchor heavily toward the ground for a beat before she's gripping at his arms and scrambling up the rest of the way to arrive beside him; breathing a little rougher than she should have been for the difficulty involved.

"I guess I'm a little more tired than I thought."

She sounds a little surprised at herself, though there is, contained in there, a thread of weariness. Whatever adventures she'd recently been on, they can't have been without a considerable amount of physical (and emotional) endurance being required. She doesn't linger in it, though, Kiara. The realization of how ingrained her exhaustion might actually have been whether she acknowledges it or not. She just slides her fingers over his wrist in the dark, links their hands together and leans into him to rest a head on his shoulder.

(She never has been afraid of invading his personal space.)

She lets the silence settle there, for a long time (or so it feels), watching the moon slide out of sight and begin its return. Breathes in the scents of the wild around them and revels, just a little, in the sensations of it. The heat of the man beside her; the places their bodies are connected; the sounds of the world around them. The city isn't so distant from them here that faint noises don't still reach them, penetrating even out into the great rock formations but they feel hazy, distant and half formed.

"Do you ever want to stay in a place forever?" She says finally, her cheek brushing his shoulder. "Just - never go back? Leave it all behind."

IanTo his credit, he doesn't tease her about the less-than-agile ascent. Maybe on a different day. Maybe if the sun were out and they'd been racing and goading each other as they sometimes do. There's a different energy between them tonight. Ian keeps his balance when she slips, gripping her hand tightly so as not to drop her if she falls. Thankfully she doesn't, and though it takes a bit of effort, Kiara eventually joins him on top of the rock formation. The breeze is cool as it gusts around them. Kiara leans into his space, resting her head on his shoulder, and Ian's free arm finds its way around her frame instinctively. There's another sound he makes there, soft and resonant in his chest.

Do you ever want to stay in a place forever?

He closes his eyes. She doesn't see the expression that paints itself across his face. (Doesn't know the memory she just touched.)

"Sometimes," he admits quietly.

He unwinds himself carefully, giving her hand a little tug to let her know he's sitting down. There's a soft scrape of his feet on the stone as he settles down to watch the sky. When she joins him, he pulls her back against his chest, his legs bent at the knee and resting along the outside of her own. Once she's settled, his hands slide loosely around her waist.

Above them, a delicate sliver of white light appears at the moon's outer edge. Against the veiled copper-red shadow of the eclipse, it seems almost impossibly bright.

"This won't happen again for another eighteen years." There's a moment of quiet appreciation in his voice. Reverence for the beauty and wonder of the world they live in - how vast it is, and how small they are within it.

KiaraThere's something finely-woven and infinitely fragile to this moment.

The way they settle on top of the boulder, nothing but moonlight to illuminate (and right now, barely at all) their movements, to gauge where they were in relation to the ground, to each other. Ian settles down on the stone and Kiara slips down with tentativeness to join him; her body easily situating itself in the cradle his bent legs form.

When he tugs her back against him, Kiara's head settles in the crook of his neck; this close he can smell the vaguely sweet scent of her shampoo; the cloying scent of whatever incense she'd last been burning; it clings to her clothing; feels embedded into her skin and hair. That combination of vanilla and sage and something else, sharper, like the pine needles that dotted the ground in the distance.

She makes a quiet noise of agreement when he notes there won't be another blood moon like this, combined with the way it hangs, large and ornate above them, for years to come. Runs her fingertips along his arms where they encircle her waist; her nails ghosting along his skin; tracing small, intricate patterns along his forearm; down to his wrist and returning.

"I'll be in my forties the next time this happens." There's a twinge of something wry in her voice. "That's slightly terrifying." A beat, she lifts one of her hands to find the edge of his jaw by touch, slides her thumb along the curve of it. "I can't imagine myself at that age. What I'd be like." She says it into the darkness and perhaps there's deliberation to that. That he can't see her expression, the vaguely haunted shadow to her eyes, the edge of her mouth.

(I can't imagine I'll still be here).

"We should come out here more often. I can show you the other side. The way I see it."

IanWhen Kiara settles her head against his neck, Ian closes his eyes and lets out a long exhale. She can feel it winding through his body, relaxing muscles one by one. His chest, even through their clothes, is warm against her back. It shouldn't still surprise him - how easily they fit together; how much her body feels like home when it's tucked into his own. There's a feeling that he can't entirely vocalize, and on another night it might have unsettled him, but tonight he just... lets it be.

They'll be in their forties the next time they see this. (If they see it.) Ian laughs softly at that. The inflection of his voice has an almost purring warmth to it. "You'll be beautiful and terrifying and vital and wise, and I'm sure I'll still be excruciatingly attracted to you." He dips his head to chase the movement of her thumb, catching it briefly with his lips. She says they ought to come out there more often, and he hums his agreement.

"The sunsets are nice."

One of his hands plays at the edge of her shirt, working up under the fabric to trail the tips of his fingers over the warmth of her skin.

"I can see across, when I choose to. But I can't touch it. I wouldn't mind seeing it through your eyes."

Kiara"Mm," there's a low, teasing quality to her voice. "See, you had me right up until you reached wise, Ian Lai." She so rarely says his name like that, drawn out and in full, there's a strange level of intimacy to it. The way it sounds on her tongue, a foreign appreciation for the way Kiara lets it drag out and then offers a tiny hum of pleasure when he gently closes his mouth around her thumb.

He can feel the way her ribcage expands and contracts as she breathes, the way they're sitting, could feel the steady beat of her heart beneath her clothing if he attuned himself enough. The little flutter it gives when he touches her body beneath her clothing; a thousand tiny receptors firing all at once beneath her skin centered directly beneath where his fingers trail over her skin.

He calls her vital and that much seems appropriate; there's a sense of it even when she's still; the coil of it; her presence; that delicate pulsing quality to her, interlaced with the flush of new life. It's difficult to imagine Kiara Woolfe feeling anything other than rejuvenating, like wrapping your arms around a surging, crackling current of pure volatility; an impression of nature in red lips and dark, gleaming eyes. "I could teach you, how to reach out and feel it." Her fingers skim down and slide over his, where he's trailing them over her skin.

She turns her face into his neck and he can feel the tickle of her eyelashes when she dips them, her voice warm and low and intimate, speaking near his ear. "Out here, at the Chantry. It's beautiful. Everything is a little more honest, even how we see ourselves." He can feel her smile. "Besides, if I found a way to connect Samir to it, you shouldn't be a harder challenge than that.

I think he nearly ran away from my pagan sorcery." There's the barest laugh, there. A huff of amusement at the enduring perception her ilk have etched for themselves in history. The herbalists. The wise women. The witches and their nefarious schemes. "But, I could. Show you the way it feels to me."

Ian

There's a contrary inflection in his voice when he laughs at that - the way she says he had her until he said wise. (See, he thinks he's right on that count.) But he doesn't voice any further argument. The smile lingers on his lips after she says his name. It's the first time he's really heard her say it like that. Elijah used to say it often: Ian Lai. Like he needed two names to fit the size of his persona. It's different when Kiara says it. More intimate.

Everything between them is.

He keeps touching her, mapping the soft warmth of her stomach with these slow, circular motions. His body shifts a little on the stone, legs pressing in at her hips, and there's a soft exhale when he dips his head down to kiss the corner of her jaw. He has to unwind his other arm so he can push the hair back from her neck and shoulder. Then his mouth is there, kissing slowly along the curve of her throat. He lets the kisses linger for a long time, counting the beats of her pulse beneath his lips.

"I like your pagan sorcery." And beat, and he smiles softly against her neck. "I don't think I'll be much of a challenge."

Briefly, his eyes cast back to the moon. It's a little brighter now. Funny to think how it's up there, moving. How the Earth itself is spinning. How things get caught within each other's gravity.

"Wo xiang yongyuan liu zai zheli."

It's the first time he's spoken Mandarin around her. The first time he's used it at all, really, in months. It isn't something he normally does - slip into the wrong language. Not the way Elijah did that day with Henry.

He kisses her again, after he says it, and this time it's less sensual and more... like he needs it. The connection to her skin. Her body folded up against his own.

KiaraIt was funny the things darkness could do.

Cover and uncover truths, veil or unveil perceptions. Without the awareness that clear vision offers, all they have to translate tone and meaning and intent is their voices and their bodies - the latter had always been the easiest. It had also been the first real way they connected to each other - beyond easy flirtation and banter there was a conversation that happened when they let their bodies convey intention for them.

It was as easy (and terrifying) as breathing, in some respects.

But then - the pagan was a student of life, in more ways than one. Attuning herself to and listening with her body was instinctive for Kiara. Every part of her seems to sing when he kisses her jaw, the dove-soft skin beneath her chin, the slope of a shoulder. She makes soft, nearly interrogative noises when he stops his ministrations and her eyes open on the sky above them; the tiny pinpricks of light; the returning potency of the moon.

It soaks into the Verbena's skin, the strength of it. The governance and heraldry she puts in its presence, the constancy of its trajectory over the night sky.

When he speaks again its not words she understands and yet, there's a lashing sort of sincerity to them that pulls another noise from her throat. That turns her face when he kisses her skin again and drags their mouths into an unsure alignment. She kisses the corner of his mouth. Again. Her hand rising to cup the back of his neck, he can feel the cool press of her ring; the slide of fine bracelets down her wrist.

Her body is half twisted there in the cradle of his and her hand regretfully abandons his neck to slide down, under his shirt. A blind quest for the feel of his bare skin against her palms, perhaps.

"That's beautiful."  She seems to mean the sound of it, the way it falls from his lips. At least, if the way her hand slides back to his jaw is any indication it does. "Say something else?"

Ian[Life 1, practiced]

Dice: 3 d10 TN3 (1, 2, 3) ( success x 1 )

Ian[and again, apparently. +1 and -1 (resonance: primal)]

Dice: 3 d10 TN3 (2, 5, 10) ( success x 2 )

IanThe words sound fluent, the way they slide off his tongue. Fluid and natural. It's harder to lose languages when you learn them at birth. Kiara kisses the corner of his mouth and he doesn't move immediately to deepen it. Just closes his eyes and goes still like he's etching the moment into his memory. Then he takes a breath and moves his lips over her own, grazing them slowly.

"Wo bu zhidao gai shuo xie shenme. Guanyu ni de yiqie dou rang wo jingkong wanfen. Wo pa wo hui shanghai ni. Wo pa ni hui shanghai wo. Wo pa wo hui shiqu ni."

He pulls his mouth away and looks at her. In the shard of light seeping down from the dark sky, he can make out the shape of her eyes. The way they shine. He's listening to her heartbeat now. The motion of his hand stalls when it wraps around her hip. Kiara has her hand under his shirt too, and the skin there feels almost hot to the touch.

"Ni zhidao ni shi duome piaoliang ma? Wo..."

The words trail off there, and his pulse ticks up into an almost frantic register. Maybe she'll feel it, the way his body tenses; the way his lips part to allow these shallow, quick breaths.

He doesn't say it that way. In this language she doesn't know. Won't let himself be that much of a coward.

The next breath is long and deep. He leans in to press his lips against hers and doesn't quite pull away when he says, "I love you."

Kiara[Quick WP check.]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 8) ( success x 1 )

KiaraShe doesn't expect it, is the thing.

There they are in the darkness, lit only by moonlight and surrounded by the wilderness and she doesn't expect him to say that. She's listening, with her hand under his clothing and her face tipped back toward his; near enough that she can feel the way his breath ghosts against her cheek and there's a certain way she's looking at him, her eyes dark and glinting and only half visible that maybe she wouldn't, if it were stark daylight.

If it didn't feel like a half suspended dream, in the moment.

He's feeling the heat of her; the steady rhythm of her heart beneath her skin and maybe he draws the courage from that, too. The way she feels wound around him, present and vital and so utterly alive in his arms, wrapped up with him. She's fought a dragon and stepped across worlds in the last few days and yet - when he takes that long dragging breath in and leans down to kiss her and says -

I love you

- there's a significant chance she's never been quite so terrified. He can sense it, too. The sudden tension that runs through her. The way her entire body seems to wage a war with itself in tandem with the complicated flicker of emotions that run through her eyes, that curl her mouth into a half formed expression of surprise and - so it feels, uncharacteristic shyness.

"Ian - " It sounds so much like she's about to deny it, to push him away and curl her arms around herself as if to protect herself from the reality of his words. To keep that offering as distant and removed from herself as she could, because the alternative was - too big, too precious a thing to be set to her to keep. Kiara Woolfe was not the keeper of hearts.

But there's a hesitation, then. He can feel it, the rapid pace of her pulse, the way she struggles for a long moment to untangle her thoughts. How many times had she told him (warned him) she had a talent for breaking things that mattered to her.

Especially when they did.

"I don't - I mean I do, but - " There's a small noise, a half formed, shaky exhale. "God, I can't even do this right. I love you, too." Her eyes are wide, almost frantic in the dark. "I'm a little terrified of that." There's still a tension (possibly more so, now) in Kiara that suggests she's fighting back the urge to run.

Ian

He can remember the exact moment when he last said those words to another person. There's an almost heartbreaking clarity to it, the memory. Even after nearly ten years. The smell of Naomi's hair drifting into a curtain around his face, her dark eyes gazing down, wide and velvet-soft. Sounds of neighboring kids playing field hockey in the road. Afternoon sun slanting in through the blinds to leave streaks of light on the wall. He said: can I stay here forever? And she said...

...stay as long as you want.

The stutter-drum pulse of his heart (I love you.)

The searing press of her lips, branding her answer into his skin (I love you, I love you, I love you...)

He was having sex when his parents died. When his sister's tiny body was crushed beneath the wheels of a truck. Turns out sometimes forever doesn't last very long at all.

But the thing is, for a few impossible heartbeats when he kisses Kiara and says those words, he doesn't think about anything but her. Doesn't exist in any time but the one they're in. He isn't expecting her to say it back. Even as he says it, he thinks he knows how this is going to end. That he just took one step too far and broke something. He thinks she's going to leave, and for a moment she almost does. Ian, she says, and his heartbeat slows as this odd sort of calm comes over him. Already he can feel the world resettling into familiar lines.

I don't...

His arms fall away, dropping back to rest his hands on the stone. He can feel the violent pulse of fear and anxiety in her pattern and knows it's because of him. There is a moment of regret in that - flicker-soft and bruised. But then the tone changes, and she says something else. Awkward and hesitant. Ian tilts his head and looks at her.

In the sky, the visible section of the moon glows bright like a lantern.

"You don't have to..." he starts to say. "I don't expect anything. I just... wanted to tell you."

Kiara still looks as though she might run, and Ian doesn't try to contain that impulse. Doesn't lock his arms around her and pull her to him the way he did moments ago. Instead he waits quietly, watching her with this complicated, slightly vulnerable expression.

"I'm sorry if I fucked things up."

Kiara

I'm sorry if I fucked things up.

"You didn't." She stresses, and then with a shaky little exhale: "You haven't. I think they've always been that way."

She reaches for him, then. It's not a frantic, frenetic gesture the way it might have been given the way her heart is racing beneath her chest and fear still has its talons set deep into her. She gives him (herself) that much control, demands her hands not shake when she reaches out to touch him on the wrist; to curl her fingers there (be my anchor, keep me here). "Sometimes when we're together I want to keep going. I want to - " she breaks off, momentarily lost for how to articulate her thoughts. There's vulnerability on her face, too. An almost sweet sort of uncertainty, the way her mouth shapes her frustration, her eyes focusing beyond him, outwards, upwards.

Kiara looks at the moon, at the sliver of it that's returning into sight. She seems to take some measure of comfort from it. From the place where she's touching Ian. Feeling the steady reminder of his presence. Of its presence, high above them. "I think about you, when we're not together. When I was in the Umbra with Elijah. I wanted you with me. Not just because I trust you, but if I was going to walk into something blind, I'd want you there. I wanted to tell you that, before I left but I couldn't find the words."

She drops her face, then. Dark strands of hair fall across her cheeks, in the darkness, they spill like black ink over her features, half concealing her expression from him.

"I'm not sure how to do this. I've never wanted to try to. I'm still half convinced we should just walk away from whatever this is, but - " She stops, scoots a little closer to him until their knees brush and she puts her hands out to touch his shoulders, his jaw. They flutter with uncharacteristic uncertainty before landing, like startled birds. Her pulse leaping like some wild thing at the base of her neck, against her ribs.  "I don't want to stop feeling the way I do when I'm with you."

She leans into his space but doesn't breach it further to kiss him. "I'm selfish and I'm scared I'm going to hurt you, but I wanted you to know. That I do." Her eyes dip, she lifts a shoulder in some supple, subtle gesture. A helpless shrug of surrender. "I need you."

IanIt's... more than he's expecting. And for a moment he's almost painfully conscious of the fact that what she's just said ought to make him recoil. Need is not a word he's ever been any good at hearing. That he can sit there now and listen to her say it and not feel that same sense of nauseating panic...

He doesn't know what to do with it. What it even means.

For a few long seconds, he actually forgets to breath. Kiara touches his wrist, his shoulders, his jaw, seeking the kind of connection they've always found so natural (even when they were strangers,) and when she leans close he almost bridges the gap to kiss her. There's a tiny, fractional movement of his neck before he stops - hesitates. Because she's still talking and he wants to hear...

Oh.

Another beat of silence and he takes this sudden, deep breath, sending a jolt oxygen into his blood. "How do you do that?"

The next moment his lips are on hers and his hands are in her hair and he's kissing her like she's the air he needs to breath. There's a moment when everything slows, when his lips brush hers and he says, "I'm here. I'm always here." Then he pulls her into his lap and holds her with his arms wrapped tightly around her back. Her knees are pressed in at his hips and she can feel his rib-cage expand every time he inhales. The pulse point at the base of his neck is drumming hard, but not quite so frantic as it was a moment ago.

"I am so..." he gives this quiet breath of laughter. "I couldn't walk away from you if I tried, I think."

He kisses her again, at the edge of her lower lip, then softly underneath her chin. Something about the way he does it feels just a little bit like surrender.

Kiara[Life 1, doo de doo, we're just doing a thing.]

Dice: 3 d10 TN3 (6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

KiaraThere's so much power in words, which may, in some ways, be why they both struggle so powerfully at making use of them. Kiara doesn't tell him that part of her response, that instinctive panic to being told he loves her is the bone deep realization that it's the first time since her mentor died she's heard the words from anybody and felt sure they were true.

The only other person the Verbena has ever heard them from had left (her) the city.

It cut deeper than perhaps Kiara had even noted to him, that her best friend had found the capacity to leave her behind when so much of who they were was tangled up in one another. The worse pain perhaps that there was no real severing of that connection - an absence could only be a true one when there was something torn away, pulled out of orbit, when there was silence to be felt.

Sadie's absence was a perpetual wound, raw and real and endured because there was no other option. The tension pulled taut but never released.

How do you do that?

And he's pulling her into his lap and into his arms and Kiara's mouth is bruising on his. In the wake of what she said how could it be anything but, really? How could she not curl her hands up, under, his clothing with impatient, desperate movements and press her meaning right into his skin with her palms. There's a quiet breath of laughter and Kiara buries her face in the curve of his neck in response.

Puts her lips right over that pulse at the base of his neck and he can feel that, too.

The warmth of it; the way her hands seem to be feeding a surge of energy right into his bones; she breathes out and pulls back, lifts her face enough to meet his eyes; her mouth curled up at the edges; she's kissed him hard enough to cut it at the corner, this tiny mark of her momentary savagery and it's there again, as the moon reveals herself above them and in turn; offers a gradual revelation of their bodies; of their expressions; just how very much the Verbena is a child of nature.

Her hair a dark, tangled web around her face; her eyes gleaming and full of things she can't quite fathom into words. The sense of her will, too, the way her pattern pulses and surges against his with revitalizing energy. She pulls back, settling on her knees in his arms and slides a hand around to find his chest; everywhere she traces her fingers leaving a brandish; a tingling, electric current.

There's nothing in him that needs that energy, but he can feel it, Kiara's touch, sliding under his skin.

"Yeah." She says and then leans in to press her mouth to his. It tastes faintly copper-tinged. At another time, for a different reason, there might have been something ritualistic to that; the exchange of blood. The swearing of some kind of loyalty. "I know. I can feel it." She makes a low noise in her throat, her arms winding around his neck; pushing him over.

She'd told him once, not so long ago, that he could get lost in her, go as deep as he liked.

She tangles herself up with him now and returns the favor.

the silver crown, epilogue [kiara, leah, henry, elijah]

Book of Myths
Let's go home.

It's a sentiment they can all share, by now. Even the most incredible journeys must come to an end at some point. It isn't clear precisely how long they've been in the umbra. Time... moves differently here. The way it does in dreams. But looking around at their assembled group: four mages, six dire wolves and one fox, the prevailing mood is clearly one of exhaustion. But they are all still alive and well and whole. And they got what they came for, even if it is... less than expected. That's something to be thankful for.

Despite his reassuring words, Henry looks as though he may be in need of a long rest. His legs are shaky climbing out of the hole where he'd been buried, and when he gets to the top he puts his hands on his thighs and lets his eyes droop shut for a moment, catching his breath.

Leah doesn't speak to him. Doesn't even so much as look at him now that she's been reassured of his safety. She just hands the crown to Kiara and turns away like she can't really bear to acknowledge it.

"Yes. I would like that."

The wolves are slower on the way back. The fight took a lot out of them too. They seem... not exactly celebratory, but at peace. Free to roam their territory without the threat of the dragon looming over their shoulders. Perhaps the beast didn't deserve its fate, but if so, the ones to blame for that are long gone.

When they reach the winter tree, it's nearly nightfall. The sunset here is colorless, just a fading glow of light sinking low on the horizon. Before leaving, the wolves arrange themselves in a half-circle around the tree. The way they do it, it feels like a ritual. There's a moment of reflective silence, then they lift their heads in unison and howl a long, beautiful song. The echo of their voices reaches out into the the distant corners of the landscape and up into the sky.

When they finish, they turn and lope across the snow, disappearing into the dusk.

"What lovely creatures," Henry observes wistfully. "I think I will miss this place."

"We almost died, Henry." Leah's voice is cold and brittle when she turns to look at him. "You had no right to do this. You knew and you didn't tell me." For a moment her eyes burn, and there is this sort of... broken anger in them.

"There are things one must remember for themselves, my dear. I am sorry. I truly did not mean to hurt you."

Leah makes a sound, tired and disgusted, and turns away.

KiaraShe doesn't want to touch the crown.

She accepts it from Leah almost reflexively, but hooks it around a strap of her pack, Kiara, so she doesn't have to lay her fingers on it for long. She can feel the power in it, the vibration humming where it sits so close to her skin through bare layers of clothing. The return to the winter tree feels - different. The energy, even among the wolves is of another kind and when they howl their farewells, Kiara's skin prickles, she watches them dart off into the gathering dusk for a long moment.

We could have died.

She turns her attention back, at that. Her dark hair has half fallen from the confines she'd tied it to when they started out and the flower behind Kiara's ear is long gone; lost perhaps, in the midst of the battle (or when they'd been buried in the snow). Her lip still bears a cut she's neglected yet to heal, perhaps the sting of it, the reminder of what caused it, matters right now.

The tiny connection to life. Because she had (nearly suffocated).

"It was a huge risk to take, Henry." Kiara doesn't sound as angry and disgusted perhaps as Leah, but then, it hadn't been her past life being used as a lure. "What if the crown had reacted negatively to Leah being there? The Aeduna were - " she hesitates, casting a searching, considering look at the other Verbena's back, the tension visible in her shoulders. " - I don't think their power is something any of us are meant to have.

It's dangerous." She finishes softly. She has a hand on the tree before she speaks again, this time casting a look that betrays precisely the danger she's concerned with. "The stones, do you think - " her voice drops, edged with uncertainty. "The Nephandi couldn't have taken them from the dragon, could they?"

Her expression reads she wants to doubt the Fallen Ones would have had the capacity to.

Book of MythsLeah turns away when Kiara mentions the Aeduna, but not before a flash of sorrow shows in her eyes. Her flames have not disappeared since she'd recaptured them at the cave, but they are muted now - sliding and flickering around her body like a banked fire. Her flower, too, is gone. It isn't clear when she lost it. There was so much going on, possibly even she didn't notice. Since the avalanche, she's felt... different. Like there are two people living in her body. An eighteen year old girl and... something much, much older. The juxtaposition feels odd, sometimes. Like how she wraps her arms around her chest and folds her spine the way a girl would when she's feeling tired and vulnerable - even while her resonance burns with such heat. Even after melting part of an avalanche like it's nothing.

She takes a few steps into the snow and looks out at the setting sun. Perhaps Elijah goes to her. Perhaps he stays with Henry. Likely, he is as tired and overwhelmed as the rest of them.

Henry, for his part, seems genuinely saddened by Leah's response, and there is a noticeable droop to his shoulders for a moment as he watches her. He too, at times, feels like a person of two ages.

"I wanted her to have the crown. It belongs to her. I thought... what gives the Order the right to keep something like that?" He smiles sadly. "It felt like the right thing to do, bringing her. I thought maybe she would remember who she is. I didn't know the dragon would recognize her. I'm... I'm sorry."

He says it not just to Leah, who still does not turn - though surely she hears him. There's a gaze cast to include Elijah and Kiara as well.

Kiara wants to know if he thinks the Nephandi might have taken the stones, and there's a pensive frown as he considers this possibility. "I think whoever removed them did so before it was ever left here. There's nothing to gain by separating them, unless one wants to keep the crown from being used. The Nephandi would have wanted to use it, of that I am certain. Unless... do the stones have power on their own?"

He asks it of Leah, though they still don't know exactly how much she remembers. Henry speaks of her as though she is the same person who wore the crown but... that person died a long time ago. Whether it is only a part of her that remains, or more... they might never know. People believe different things about reincarnation.

"...Some." Leah offers, reluctantly. "Not much. They're periapts. But the real magick happens when they come together. They hold power from the spheres, and the crown unifies them."

KiaraKiara notices the way the older man seems to deflate beneath the rebuke from Leah (and, to a lesser extent), herself. She's close enough to Henry now to reach out after a moment and brush her hand over his shoulder. There's a crooked, slanting smile that crosses Kiara's lips, this tiny, gleaming thing that recaptures much of the Verbena's typical candor.

"I got to see more of the Umbra and battle a dragon, too," she confesses with a brief, bright expression. Her eyes a warmer honey-gold again; flecked through with the effects of the world they stood inside. "I don't know how many people will ever be able to make that claim." The humor is short lived, though, an interval before it fades and her fingers slide away from Henry's shoulder; leaving a little burst of bright energy in their wake; curling after Kiara's body.

"So, maybe Amara hid the stones somewhere else, to keep this," Kiara touches the crown lightly, grazing her fingertips over as her eyes tick back to Leah, a crease of worry creeping across her brow, drawing her brows together. "out of anyone's hands. It would make sense.

It would have been smart." A beat, a brief flit of appreciation and commiseration, perhaps, for Leah. "Whoever it was, they clearly don't think the crown is something to be used." Kiara's eyes return to the winter tree; she reaches out to trace her fingers over the point where she can feel the fluctuation; the cold air flowing through the portal between. "We might be in agreement on that."

She casts a look over a shoulder at Leah.

"What will you do with it? Will you keep it? Henry's right, I don't think it's the Order's to decide on."

Book of MythsKiara's brief reassurance does put a smile on Henry's face, if only for a moment. And he offers a quiet, "I did say we would have a good story."

There's a question posed to Leah, and the look on her face when she turns around is... complicated. For a moment she runs her hands up and down her arms before letting them fall. Sorrow shifts across her face again, dimming the light in her eyes.

"I searched for it for so long. Now I don't even want to look at it. Do you know how many people have died because of that crown? Because of this thing that I made... when I was beautiful and strong and so full of pride. Everything that I touch turns to ash. Even in this life. When I Woke Up I killed twelve people. One of them was Annie's brother, did she tell you that? Did she tell you that a Nephandus named John Brogan had a vision that I would..."

Her voice wavers and she stops, her eyes bright with tears.

"Sera believes I'm something else. Something beautiful. When I'm with her, I want to believe it too. But she wasn't there. She hasn't seen what I've done. Who I've been. You live enough lives, you get to see yourself do great and terrible things."

Her eyes cut away, and she looks down at the snow. "I am become death, destroyer of worlds. I don't care what you do with the crown. Just keep it away from me. I don't want to see it again."

And with that, she turns and runs through the tree, disappearing onto the other side.

KiaraShe turns and moves out of the path of the tree at some point while Leah speaks.

Her eyes, like the other other Verbana's, are bright with emotion but Kiara's shine with sympathy; with perhaps, some tiny degree of empathy. She doesn't know the way it feels to exist with the knowledge of all that you'd seen and done (and been) before. So many of Kiara Woolfe's lives are hidden from her, yet to be teased and pried to the surface. There are days when she desperately craves the truth of herself and others when the pressing awareness of it, other lives, other loses, seems too much to ever bear real comprehension of.

But - she knows there's a reason why running comes as naturally as breathing to her.

Leah runs, now. Once she's said her piece, she darts through the tree and Kiara can't seem to reach to prevent it but she does look after her for a long moment. And then wordlessly, passes after her into the tree, back over to the glade where there was that stifling silence and nothing but drifting snow and their breath misting out as they breathed.

Kiara's presence can hardly be concealed the way the snow crunches underfoot when she passes back through. She stops several feet from Leah, though and lowers herself to her haunches. Balancing there and reaching to scoop a handful of the frozen earth into her palms; feeling the way the cold seeps beneath her skin. "I didn't know about Annie's brother. I'm sorry." She measures the snow in her palm; tiny flecks of snow are falling over their heads. They catch in Kiara's eyelashes; on her cheeks, dotting them with wetness.

"But you didn't make this crown, Leah. Amara did. It's her mistake. Her cross is to bear all those people who died. Sometimes, it's not about where you start from. We have choices, we can change who we become. If we really want to." Kiara pushes herself back to her feet, slowly crosses to approach the other Verbena. Her hair dancing around her like a dark halo of curling flame.

"I've made so many mistakes already and I know I'm going to make more. But that's life. We can make shitty decisions." Kiara's eyes are fierce, the corners of her mouth shift, suggest at a smile. "It doesn't mean we can't make better ones, too. The Great Wheel turns for a reason. You come back for a reason. It's Mabon." She says softly, as if it has to mean something. "You found the crown on the day light and dark are in perfect harmony. Maybe that's deliberate.

Maybe you have both inside you."

Book of MythsThe others don't cross over right away. Perhaps Henry senses that the Verbenae need a moment alone. Kiara finds Leah standing in the snow staring up at the stars as she inhales deeply of the crisp penumbral air. There are tears on her cheeks, and something wild in her eyes. Like a part of her wants to fly up into that sky and disappear.

"I know that I do." She looks over at Kiara, and something softens a little in her eyes. "I know. Seeds grow in the ash. Death makes life. I forgave myself once. But I'm afraid to forget. I'm afraid that if I don't remember I'll do it all over again." Her eyes skip to the bag on Kiara's back, and there's this little, pained sound. "I can hear it singing to me."

She takes a breath and steps away. "I know what Henry wants. He thinks he fix what happened. Bring back a little bit of myth and magick to the world. But the world isn't that idealistic. I'm almost glad you didn't find the stones, even though... it hurts to see it torn apart like this. I don't..." she sighs in frustration, like she can't find the right words to express what she means. "I don't trust myself with it. Henry, maybe. Let him keep it, since he wanted it so much. Or you, if you think you can. Maybe it'll bring you better things."

Just then, a gust of cold air blows from the gateway, and Henry steps through with Red and Elijah.

"You know Henry," Red offers with a playfully pointed tone, "This is the second time now that I've stolen something from a dragon for you. I hope you remember that come Christmas."

Henry gives a hearty laugh, leaning against Elijah for support. "I would not forget, dear Red. And if I do, I'm sure you will remind me." He looks between Leah and Kiara, his smile sobering to something softer, more thoughtful. "Perhaps we should set the matter of the stones aside for a time. We can return to it once we have rested, and had time to think."

(Had time to reconsider, he might mean in Leah's case.)

"For now, I think, I'm about due for a nap."

Book of Myths[Edit: "he thinks he can fix what happened"]

Kiara"I don't think I'd want to keep it." She hesitates, then. And adds, with a twisting, aware little crook of her mouth. "I give myself credit for having decent self control but I think eventually - " there's a lift of both Kiara's shoulders as her fingers slide under the straps of her pack; she holds them there, the pack to her body. " - I'd forget all the reasons why I shouldn't try and harness that power."

There's a silence that passes between them, then. It doesn't last long, just a beat or two before the breeze heralds the arrival of the others and Kiara is twisting on the spot to observe them. Henry's evident exhaustion where he leans against Elijah, Red's pointed commentary on dragons. Kiara casts Leah one final, considering look before she reaches around and unhooks the crown.

Walks it over to Henry, turning it over in her fingers.

She doesn't hear it beckoning quite the way it speaks to Leah but Kiara can feel the power contained in it; feel the whispers of it, coaxing at her. There's a moment, when she stops before the others that her eyes seem to lose some of that lovely golden light, that a suggestion of something far darker; the capriciousness of nature itself, perhaps, the destructive, devouring edge of it that had existed in the brunette for a time, spirals there.

Then she holds it out, meeting Henry's gaze. "You should have this. To keep it safe." She rubs her arms after she hands it over and quickly turns, as if to avert her eyes from it.

When she reaches Leah's side again, Kiara offers the other woman her hand before they step back onto the Moon Bridge.

the silver crown, part II [elijah, leah, henry] [the silver crown SL]

Book of Myths
It's incredible, how fast the wolves are able to move across the tundra. Their paws hardly seem to touch the ground as they fly over the snow, the cold wind whipping through their fur and back over the mages (and the fox) riding atop their backs. The five travelers will find quickly that there's no room to relax on this journey. They must grab hold tightly to keep their balance, lest the wind and the velocity knock them to the ground. Thankfully Henry's magick protects them from the worst of winter's bite, but they can still feel the lick of cold lashing at their skin as they ride.

This is a harsh land. Beautiful, but unforgiving.

For awhile all they can see is empty snowdrifts. But gradually, the sight of a distant mountain range materializes on the horizon. Without the wolves, this journey will have taken them a long time. Perhaps that thought will bring some small measure of comfort to those still wondering if they made the right decision.

Gradually they draw nearer their destination, leaping and sprinting over rolling drifts. The mountains ahead grow taller and more distinct with each yard. At some point they will be able to make out a cave in the distance, carved into what looks like a sheer wall of ice. The mountains themselves, in fact, are made of ice - not stone. In the light of the sun, they seem to glow a pale shade of aqua. Something has unspooled itself over the ground past the entrance to the cave: a long, white serpent's tail, its scales shimmering in shades of blue-green iridescence where the light hits it.

There is very little in the way of cover out there. Only a few low snowdrifts - just tall enough to crouch behind. Beyond them, the ground is flat snow and solid ice.

The wolves stop running before they get too close. Slinking close to the ground, they detour off to one side, creeping silently over the snow. The little beacon of light stays with them for awhile, then rises up into the air, shoots over and stops, hovering, just above the cave's entrance. This is, it would seem, their intended destination.

They stop behind a drift, and Henry looks to the others, reassuring himself that all are well and ready. "When we go in, we must let the wolves lead. Our strengths are range and cleverness. And I will not have you dying by dragon-breath on my watch."

ElijahThe ride is lovely, in the very least. It's long, or at least it feels long, and after awhile the land turns into less land and more snow. Just drifts and a harsh, overwhelming sort of mountain of ice. Something that would seal itself shut or bury them in the ocean if it ever melted.

This was a land of almost unending cold, though, he knew good and well that the likelihood of all of this crumbling beneath their feet was slim. This was a place that was almost the very idea of ice. Once they stop, he has a chance to look around, listens to Henry and for once his imagination isn't wandering. He's present, or as present as Elijah believed himself capable of actually being.

Exhales, waits to see his breath before he takes a quick look at that tail again.

Gives a thumbs up, exhales slowly.

"Glad we're all on the same page," on the not dying courtesy of dragon's breath, that is.

KiaraShe keeps her eyes open on the way there.

It's tempting to close them and Kiara does bend low, arms wound into the fur of the great wolf below her; fingers gripping at its sides as it makes quick work of the distance. She turns her face into the beast's pelt and then, as the mountain begins to unveil itself in the distance; rises up and watches it grow nearer; her dark hair whipping out behind her like a wild, curling banner.

The sight of the dragon's tail, massive and protruding from the depths of the cave sends tension into the Verbena's frame, she's focused and grim as they creep down behind a drift of snow, her breath pluming out before her as they ready themselves to face - was there really any way to prepare yourself for what they were about to?

Kiara's fingers reach for Elijah's hand and she takes it without sparing the other a glance; but Elijah can feel the intention to it; the way the brunette seems to impress her feelings into one, brief capture of his hand; imprinting things into his skin in a sudden flood of familiar warmth (stay safe, be careful).

She nods at Henry and her jaw clenches; her hands rubbing absently over her jeans. "I'm ready." She's not, her heart is racing, beating wildly inside her chest but somehow - her voice comes out steady. She does spare a moment for their wolf allies, Kiara, and sets a hand on one of their massive coats as they pass, murmuring some wish for caution.

Book of Myths"Do you think I do not know you are there?"

The voice, deep and powerful, rumbles out from inside the cave. The mages feel it as much as hear it - the way it shakes the ground and vibrates into their bones. The sound of it is echoing and cavernous.

"Do you think I do not smell you? That I did not feel you coming across the tundra?"

The dragon's tail slides along the ice, moving in a slow slither as its owner shifts inside the cave.

"I knew you were here the moment you arrived, Amara. I have been waiting for you for a long, long time."

Those last words rumble so deep it makes the snow shift under the wolves' feet. The alpha bares her teeth and glances at Leah, but says nothing. Whatever this particular development, it does not change her plans. The wolves give a little shake and crouch down to allow the mages to dismount. Henry and Red hop off quickly.

They do not seem as surprised as perhaps they should to hear that name on the dragon's tongue. Leah though? She goes frozen-still, then gives this sudden shiver. It takes a moment for her to climb down from the wolf's back, and when she does she seems... angry. A little disoriented. She closes her eyes and puts her hands over her ears and bares her teeth like she wants to snarl the way the dire wolves do.

There is a conversation that needs to be had. But they have no time to have it. The dragon is moving. They can hear it, claws scraping on ice, scales sliding over scales. And then a great, horned head appears at the entrance to the cave. Iridescent-white like the rest of it. Pale, luminous eyes. When it breathes, crystals of frost form in the air.

This thing is no more a fire dragon than the land around them is in summer bloom.

The dragon takes a step out of its cave, spreads its wings and roars.

For a moment, everything is sound. Booming, echoing, ringing. Then the alpha lifts her head in a howling challenge and the wolves leap over the drift.

ElijahThere are some things he knows by touch, and would have been able to distinguish what Kiara's hand felt like even if they were cloaked entirely in darkness. She might not pay him a second glance but he does look at her, turns his attentions there and he does squeeze her hand a little. Enough to remind her that he's there, that he's heard, that he's actually paying attention or regards her enough to actually heed her instructions.

Stay safe. Be Careful.

But then, there is a sound. Something that resonates more in his chest than in his ears. The way he always thought dragons would sound, the way that it seems to know without having to know. Things seem to click into place for a second, eyes cast to Leah and her fire that was once there, the way the earth hadn't wanted her here, the way it had tried to steal her fire and he thinks of Amara Renata- firebird priestess- and he can draw conclusions. he can make parallels even if he doesn't know her, he does have enough faith in the cycle to be almost certain their dragon wasn't mistaken.

He hops himself down, gives the dragon a second look.

"Doesn't look that big," he tells himself, curses under his breath and says something else in some language only angels and Henry would know.



(ladida, you know, just prepping things with prime for prime 2, because prime is made of awesome and win

KiaraAmara.

The dragon calls Leah Amara and there's a beat where she's not the only one who freezes. Kiara too, stops and what little color her face had contained seems to drain away in an instant as her eyes shift to the fiery mage as she puts her hands over her ears. Kiara's eyes close for an instant and her expression is some mixture of comprehension and dawning horror.

Oh, God.

They open again and flick to Henry with this bright, fierce look there's no time to quantify because the dragon is moving. Its great body lashing the ground as it moves and the Verbena slings her backpack off her shoulders; jams a hand into its depths and pulls out a small drawstring purse; she's sliding her pack back on and tipping the contents into a hand before the dragon has fully stepped out into direct sight.

The pagan's expression is stricken, pale and fearful but there's determination in those dark eyes as they fixate on the wings that snap open as it roars. The sound of it seems to vibrate Kiara's bones, she closes her eyes and grits her teeth against the sound and squeezes her fingers tight around the dried leaves in her hand.

[Let's work a little Entropy up in here, oh yes.]

Elijah[Starting! Prime 2- Pew Pew! Diff 3 + 2 (sphere) = 5 -1 (because he actually has practiced this as weird as that sounds)= diff 4]

Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (7, 9) ( success x 2 )

Kiara[Entropy 1, I forget the title, locate disorder and weakness? Anyway, Diff 3 + 1, -1 Foci]

Dice: 3 d10 TN3 (2, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )

Book of Myths[The wolves get one Init score. They fight as one. +7]

Dice: 1 d10 TN1 (8) ( success x 1 )

Elijah[5+d10]

Dice: 1 d10 TN4 (5) ( success x 1 )

Book of Myths[Dragon +8]

Dice: 1 d10 TN1 (9) ( success x 1 )

Book of Myths[Henry +5]

Dice: 1 d10 TN1 (8) ( success x 1 )

Book of Myths[Leah +6]

Dice: 1 d10 TN1 (3) ( success x 1 )

Kiara[Ack! +5]

Dice: 1 d10 TN3 (6) ( success x 1 )

Book of Myths[Red +6]

Dice: 1 d10 TN1 (10) ( success x 1 )

Book of Myths[And the order is:

Dragon: 17

Red: 16

Wolves: 15

Henry: 13

Kiara: 11

Elijah: 10

Leah: 9]

Book of Myths[Leah loses a round being freaked out]

ElijahThis is Elijah. This is Elijah not losing his shit over the fact that there is a dragon who very adamantly wants to wreck Leah's world and, by extension, probably the worlds of everyone with her.

This is Elijah casting the most basic and effective form of magical defense he knows on something gigantic. Just keep focusing, this has to work, because it has before.

(Keep casting, sugar cube! Prime 2 really does work)

Kiara[Kiara is extending her casting this round, more Entropy to find any weak spots in Puff the Magic Dragon]

Book of Myths[Henry attacks the dragon with fire]

Book of Myths[The wolves all attack the dragon's wing (grounding it would be good)]

Book of Myths[Red bolts off at top speed towards the cave. Apparently he has an idea.]

Book of Myths[Dragon activates charm: Armor]

Book of Myths[Dragon spends 10 Essence and gains 8 soak dice against agg damage]

Book of Myths[Red does his thing]

Book of Myths[and the die of fate says...]

Dice: 1 d10 TN1 (8) ( success x 1 )

Book of Myths[the wolves do some serious damage to the dragon's wing. It is grounded and takes 20 damage]

Book of Myths[There is a lot of wind swirling around this dragon. Henry is going to convert some of it into fire. Spirit 3 / Forces 3 diff 6 -1 (practiced) -1 (resonance: ardent)]

Dice: 3 d10 TN4 (2, 8, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Book of Myths[he will extend into next round]

Kiara[Rinse and repeat as earlier. Okay let's get the diff correct this go around. Diff 6, +1 for extending, -1 focus and I think some WP here.]

Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (7, 8, 10) ( success x 4 ) [WP]

Book of MythsEverything has weaknesses. Even dragons. Isn't that how they're usually killed? Looking at this one, Kiara is hard-pressed to imagine it having many vulnerabilities, but there is... one.

If this is a winter dragon (an ice dragon) then surely it's vulnerable to fire? Watching it move, the way its scales seem to harden as it draws its focus, its clear that its defenses will be hard to breach through normal means. And unlike many dragons of legend, Kiara can find no chink in the armor - no tiny weak spot where an arrow or a bolt of heat might strike true.

But then it opens its mouth to roar at the wolves, and she sees soft, pink flesh. She sees an open passage leading down its throat.

Not a very appealing option. But a firebolt aimed at just the right time and place? That might do some serious damage.

Elijah[prime 2- extending?]

Dice: 2 d10 TN5 (9, 10) ( success x 2 )

Book of Myths[Since the dragon took damage, she gets a new Init roll. Hah. +8]

Dice: 1 d10 TN1 (6) ( success x 1 )

Book of MythsIt happens very quickly, as these things always do. The wolves are on their prey within seconds, ripping and shredding into the dragon's wing with their huge, terrible jaws. Looking over the top of the snowdrift, the mages will be able to see first hand just what kind of threat they escaped when they allied with these creatures. The dragon is tough though. Some of the bites land on scale and clink uselessly against the spirit's armor. But one, the alpha's, wrenches through the long wing-bone and snaps it in half.

The dragon opens its mouth and roars in pain and anger, sending the snow whipping up in little cyclones with its good wing.

From their vantage point on the ground, the mages work their effects. Kiara, gaining what insight she can into the beast's weaknesses. Elijah, conjuring a blast of primal force. Henry, transmuting wind into fire.

But Leah... she hesitates.

And Red? Red has his own ideas. He's off like a scarlet bolt across the ice, making for the entrance to the cave. Distracted as it is, its likely the dragon may not notice something so small and silent.

Book of Myths[Leah gets her shit together and decides to try this Prime attack thing]

Elijah[Prime 2: Again again! Keeep continuing on with the casting. We're going to actually release the dang effect this round (hopefully)]

KiaraKiara's crouching there, watching the wolves tear into the dragon.

She doesn't flinch when there's the terrible crunch of bone snapping and being torn away; her eyes narrowing against the wind, rather, she's deducing, the brunette. Her dark eyes focused on the dragon as if it held (and in part, it did) the keys to their survival. Elijah and Henry are both working and there's a beat, as the dragon roars and throws its weight around that she twists, her voice rising urgently over the sounds of fray.

"You have to aim for its mouth. When it opens it, that's the only weak point. It's armor is too thick. Aim for the mouth." She turns back, jaw set and her teeth sink into her lip until she can taste blood. There's a shiver and she focuses anew.

[Hey it's a Prime party, let's all Prime 2 together.]

Book of Myths[Henry extends his effect]

Dice: 3 d10 TN5 (2, 2, 10) ( success x 2 ) [WP]

Book of Myths[That... was supposed to be a declare. Not a roll. Sorry.]

Book of Myths[Dragon closes distance to Leah and bites her (split action)]

Book of Myths[Wolves be like - excuse us, we're attacking you]

Book of Myths[and the die of fate says...]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (2) ( fail )

Book of Myths[the die of fate says the dragon shakes them off and keeps coming]

Book of Myths[Second split Bite -3]

Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (2, 4, 5, 5, 6) ( success x 3 )

Book of Myths[Leah is obviously going to revert to defensive action and try to evade. -1 WP]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 4 ) [WP]

Book of Myths[er... that's 3. Ignore that WP. She spent one to do the action. But still, narrowly escapes!]

Book of Myths[Actually, let's just take that roll I did by mistake. So the total is 5 successes. Or 11 fire damage. And oh, hey, look at that. The dragon's armor doesn't work on Fire. Dragon loses 11 essence.]

Book of Myths[That was Henry. Sorry. I can type names.]

Kiara[Okay, so. We're gonna do this: Prime 2! Diff ... 5? +1 for targeting that mouth, -1 for focus (Blood). We're definitely going to need to extend, I suspect.]

Dice: 3 d10 TN5 (6, 7, 9) ( success x 4 ) [WP]

Book of Myths[Dragon loses 8 more Essence from a bolt of prime down the gullet (ow)]

Elijah[Prime 2: Because pewpew. Diff 3 +2 (sphere) +1 (targetted) +1 (extension): 7 - 1 quint (because I said WORK) -1 resonance (because "Magic, do what you will")

Dice: 2 d10 TN5 (8, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Book of Myths[and again, dragon takes another 14 damage!]

Book of Myths[And in case anyone is wondering, it has 37 left]

Book of MythsThe wolves warned that Leah would be in danger. Even they didn't know how right they were. The dragon gives a wrenching spin that sends the wolves sprawling across the ice. There are snarls and a couple of sharp whimpers as the dragon breaks away, lunging toward the mages. The ground shakes beneath its feet when it lands. When its eyes fix on Leah, it rears back and opens its jaws, striking out toward her with a vicious snap. Leah, her eyes widening in terror, turns to run, and she only just barely manages to escape the tearing strength of its massive, hooked teeth.

She's running headlong toward the only shelter she can see - the cave.

The dragon parts its jaws to snarl, but before it can turn to chase after its quarry, Kiara and Elijah release two consecutive blasts of pure quintessence straight into the beast's open mouth. It gives this surprised, pained, hissing roar (there is a sound like air moving through grass, whistling slightly) and lurches back away from them, snapping its jaws shut tightly and giving an unhappy shake of its head.

Behind it, the wolves get to their feet and dive in for another attack.

Book of Myths[Leah runs from the inevitable attack she's sure is going to come her way]

Elijah"OhholyjesusLeahgetthecrown!"

[action: run like Hell towards the cave]

Kiara[More Prime attacking! Kiara's going to keep the dragon's focus on them as long as she can to buy them time.]

Book of Myths[Henry goes for another Fire attack]

Book of Myths[Dragon uses charm: Quake]

Book of Myths[Wolves attack the dragon. Naturally.]

Book of Myths[and the die of fate says..]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (9) ( success x 1 )

Book of Myths[The wolves lash at the dragon's legs and underbelly, and the alpha leaps up and gets a hold of the dragon's throat, tearing a deep gash in its neck. Some kind of irridescent glowing ooze seeps out of the wounds. Dragon takes another 20 damage]

Book of Myths[Dragon spends 5 essence and starts an earthquake. The ground rumbles and cracks, and the ice above the cave entrance begins to fall in large chunks. Everyone standing must now make a reflexive Dex+Ath roll at diff 8 not to fall over.]

Elijah[This is the part where we faceplant]

Dice: 4 d10 TN8 (1, 4, 4, 7) ( botch x 1 )

Kiara[Dragonquake! Rumble, rumble. Dex + Ath.]

Dice: 6 d10 TN8 (1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 2 )

Book of Myths[Leah - ah!]

Dice: 5 d10 TN8 (1, 2, 4, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )

Book of Myths[Wolves roll as one]

Dice: 7 d10 TN8 (2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )

Book of Myths[Dragon probably will not fall from her own quake, but still...]

Dice: 8 d10 TN8 (1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10) ( success x 1 )

Book of Myths[Oh right, Henry]

Dice: 3 d10 TN8 (5, 7, 9) ( success x 1 )

Book of Myths[Well that was a surprise]

Book of Myths[Henry tries his effect at +2 diff because distractions]

Dice: 3 d10 TN4 (3, 7, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Book of Myths[Augh, that was diff 6. Still 3 success though.]

Book of Myths[Dragon takes another 7 damage]

Kiara[Prime 2: Give the dragon the worst sore throat ever. Diff 5, +1 targeting (throat), +2 (stuff is going on), -1 focus (blood), possibly extending as before.]

Dice: 3 d10 TN7 (4, 5, 6) ( success x 1 ) [WP]

Book of Myths[Elijah falls and loses a turn]

Elijahaction: Become acquainted with ground.

Book of Myths[Leah makes it to the cave's entrance. Where a bunch of ice is now falling in her general direction...]

Book of MythsThe tide is turning. Perhaps the dragon can sense it, because it uses its next act not to attack but to defend, calling forth a groundshaking earthquake that rumbles and cracks the ice. The wolves, nimble as they are, manage to keep their footing, as do most of the mages. Elijah, unfortunately, is not so lucky. He loses his balance and topples over, landing on his face in the snow. One of his feet gets twisted at an odd angle beneath him, and he has to fight to get standing again.

Henry, seeing Leah running for the cave, does his best to lure the dragon back toward himself, shouting as he fires off another pluming burst of flame.

"Hey! Over here you worthless excuse for a dragon!"

The dragon isn't that stupid though. It knows (or thinks it knows) what it needs to guard against. Not the wolves. Not these three ragtag mages. They've nearly killed it, but its own life is not the thing its trying to protect. So it gives one last roar and charges headlong for Leah and the now-collapsing cave.

Ice is falling in larger and larger chunks. The cave is crumbling. Above it, there is a sound... like a rushing wave. But there's no water here...

An avalanche. And a sheet of snow is coming down, down.... heading for all of them.

Book of Myths[Leah. *sigh* Really? Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck this dragon. Fuck the umbra. Fuck this entire day. *has Spirit 3 epiphany* *turns around and hits the dragon with fire*]

Elijah[Action!: Roll over, and attack the dang thing: Prime 2? Yes, yes Prime 2]

KiaraThere's a beat where all Kiara can feel is her heart, slamming against her chest. It's all she can hear, too. A pounding in her ears, almost like a rushing - no, wait. The Verbena's eyes widen. They drop to where she can barely see Leah now, through the collapsing snow and the dragon's charging form. Somewhere nearby is Elijah, too.

"Leah!" Kiara screams, there's horror and fear and it slices through the brunette like a knife. "No! Elijah."

There's no time. She focuses her energy and unleashes another blast of pure Prime toward the dragon. "You leave them alone."

[Whoop, one more Prime blast.]

Book of Myths[Henry is going to cast a protective shield on Leah so she doesn't get crushed]

Book of Myths[Dragon uses its last 5 essence and sacrifices itself to hit Leah with its ice breath. It was a brave dragon, in its way. We shall miss it. No, we shall not miss it. But hopefully it will re-birth itself in a better place where it can just be a dragon and not worry about protecting silly crowns.]

Book of Myths[the wolves are going to gtfo]

Book of Myths[The wolves run from the avalanche]

Book of Myths[Dragon hits Leah with 5 agg]

Book of Myths[Leah soaks maybe?]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (4, 7, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 4 )

Book of Myths[Hells yeah Avatar 5]

Book of Myths[Dragon dies. Leah takes 1 agg. Henry does his thing. Spirit 3 / Forces 2 diff 6]

Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 8) ( success x 2 ) [WP]

Book of Myths[That had Life 2 as well. I know what I'm doing, honest.]

Kiara[Re-directing Prime blast to get rid of some of that ice playing stacks on Leah. +1 for extending, -1 focus, yadda.]

Dice: 3 d10 TN5 (9, 9, 10) ( success x 4 ) [WP]

Book of Myths[Kiara's blast fires off at the ice descending above Leah's head and carves a MASSIVE hole in it. She manages not to get hit with anything. That is, until the avalanche hits...]

ElijahInt+survival: did Ian ever cover Avalanche Survival Techniques when they went camping?

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 8) ( success x 1 )

ElijahAction: (since there is nothing to poke with prime)... run? -1 WP

Elijahdex+athletics: Running?

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 7, 8) ( success x 2 )

Book of Myths[Welp. Leah can't even kill the dragon now. So she's gonna hit the snow with fire instead. Spirit 3 / Forces 3 / Prime 2, diff 6 -2 (burning resonance x 2) (Forces specialty applies: Fire)]

Dice: 4 d10 TN4 (4, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 7 ) [Doubling Tens] [WP]

Book of MythsThe dragon dies. It doesn't drop to the ground, broken and bloody, the way a mortal dragon might. Instead its body shimmers and goes dim - incorporeal. Fading into a cloud of frost. The last thing it does before it goes is open its jaws and release this violent gust of frozen wind. The blast hits Leah full on, and she shudders from the cold, but manages to stay standing.

Then the dragon disappears.

Perhaps, for a brief moment, those left standing will have time to realize what they've just done. Something that until recently they likely would have assumed impossible.

Perhaps they are too busy trying to stay alive. Or trying to keep their friends alive.

Henry does his best to protect Leah, conjuring a faint shield of protection from the falling ice. It isn't much, and it doesn't last long. Luckily, Kiara's attempt to obliterate the danger proves more effective, as her attack blasts through the falling sheets and rips a hole in the cave's ceiling big enough to leave Leah out of reach of the collapse.

Elijah, left with few options but to run, does so. As he turns, he can feel a rush of wind as the wolves bolt past his shoulder. He's turned, so he won't see what happens next, but Henry and Kiara do. They see Leah open her mouth and scream - only what comes out isn't a human sound at all. It sounds like a bird - like a raptor - and there's this bright, sudden glow of flame that spreads out into two burning wings at her back. Just before a massive explosion of fire erupts around and above her.

Then the avalanche hits, and there isn't time to tell if she survives. If Red is still alive in that cave somewhere. There isn't time to do anything but run.

It sounds like the ocean. Funny how much it sounds like that. Like they're about to get hit by...

The wave crashes around them, and everything goes dark and quiet.

ElijahHe doesn't have time to say anything. He just hears the sound, and it sounds like the ocean and something in his stomach turns and he runs. He runs like he's never run in his life- he doesn't want to get stuck in an avalanche, knows that his friends haven't turned tail and tried to break through with him.

He doesn't see what happens, just hears a sound, like the ocean, and the world goes dark and quiet and he knows he needs to go up and he's made enough progress to still remember where up is, plants his feet on what he presumes is solid ground and reaches upward, swims, pulls, pushes, does whatever he can think of to do because he didn't think to hold his breath and that's what he thinks is going to be the problem.

It doesn't matter if it's sand or water or ice or blood, if there's no air you'll die. Suffocate, drown, be crushed by the world around you and he doesn't want that. When he pulls up he can finally feel something like cold air instead of wet snow.

Elijah tries to pull himself out of the snow, can't push forward to feel any other living presence. Just knows it's cold, and just knows that he's the one who had the running start.

So, instead, he tries to listen. Maybe he'll hear someone, maybe something other than wind and stillness.

"Fuck," he hissed. Panic hasn't set in yet. It's getting there, though.

KiaraThe momentum of it knocks the Verbena off her feet. There's barely time for her to cover her face and half turn as if somehow doing so and offering her back to the oncoming wave of snow would make a difference before it hits and Kiara is buried in it; there's a rushing roar as it pours over the mountainside and covers everything in its path and then - nothing.

Silence and a tiny smattering of snow drifting down in the avalanche's wake.

And buried in there, Kiara breathes in a sudden, spasmodic way. Her body engulfed in the crush of it; she can't breathe and for a moment there's nothing but panic. Such an instinctive, human reaction before she squeezes her eyes closed and forces her body to listen; to slow the rapid thunder of her heart. Of this, she has mastery - it's freezing but she reaches down with her feet; feeling for the earth beneath her.

Striving for the connection.

The strength contained in the earth below.

Kiara[Life 3: Strength of the Earth, Umbral style. Diff 6, -1 focus, I mean what else is there to do right now but focus on getting out, -1 Quint because why not. She's not exactly getting anywhere fast is she.]

Dice: 3 d10 TN4 (2, 6, 7) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Book of MythsThere's little sense of where the others are - let alone what kind of state they're in. One can only hope that they made it. Where Kiara rests, buried deep within the snow, she feels as though she's suffocating. The snow is in her eyes, her nose, her mouth. It melts when she breaths but not enough. Can she die that way here? Does she even actually need breath in this place? Perhaps the reason she does is because she believes she is alive. And so so she is alive.

The reason doesn't matter. She needs to breath and she can't. Not enough. Only these little, shallow wisps of oxygen. But she pushes her foot against the ground and she forces herself to calm. To focus. And she draws the strength of the earth up through her body.

When she pushes at the snow, she finds that she can move it a little. That she can dig in these achingly slow little movements. It's frustrating work, especially when she has so little air and the world is black and pressing in on her. But she does make headway.

Elijah is luckier. He ran, and when the wave hit he manage to swim partway to the surface. When his hand breaks through, he can feel the cold kiss of open air. There's a long moment where he tries not to panic. Swears under his breath against the snow.

Then something dislodges the snow next to his arm. A paw, digging through the surface. He can feel the snow being pulled away, feel his arm being freed. Finally teeth latch down on his shirt and give a hard yank.

And he breaks free.

The wolf drags him out onto the surface, then drops his arm, looking him in the eyes with this quiet note of concern. It's the same wolf he'd ridden on their journey to find the cave.

"We said we'd help," he speaks. "We keep our promises."

Then he turns and trots toward where the other wolves are digging in two other places.

If Elijah turns to watch him go, he'll see something else in the distance. A figure running through the snow wreathed in flame, and a tiny dot of trotting beside her. The fox is carrying something in its mouth that glints silver in the sun.

"Elijah!" Leah shouts. "We have to get Kiara and Henry!"

Elijah[Int+enigmas, diff7. Because I'm pretty sure my friends are dying and I'm stressed because this is stressful]

Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )

Kiara[Strength + Ath, nnnngh.]

Dice: 8 d10 TN8 (2, 4, 4, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )

Book of Myths[Edit: omg, so many typos. So many. "and a tiny dot of red trotting beside her."]

Book of Myths[Kiara successfully digs her way to the surface]

ElijahThere is this moment when the world feels like it wants to slip, like some part of him wants to break down and fracture and it doesn't. He doesn't know yet that this is a possibility, could have very well slipped in and out of breaks with reality earlier in life and never noticed because everything seemed like a fracture in reality, truth be told. We digress.

There is a wolf pulling him to the surface and he doesn't have words, doesn't know what to say except that he wants to hug the damn thing and that it was a bad idea to not take them along. He was on his feet soon enough, looks to the distance and hears Leah, calls back.

"I'm gonna look for Henry!" because Kiara wasn't a sixty something year old man with bad knees.

He darts off to follow along with one of the wolves in the distance. Puts his ear to the ground. They seem to have a good scent on things.

"Please be okay?" he asks, hopes he hears something. Wouldn't care who he found just so long as it was someone.

KiaraThe wolves are digging into the layers of snow and it must feel like a futile moment.

There was just so much snow and it had buried the place where Kiara and Henry had been standing. Surely they couldn't have survived long under that much snow. Suffocation could be as real as it felt, after all. Convince the human body that there was no air and hyperventilation was entirely possible.

Kiara keeps her eyes closed.

Keeps her breathing light and as even as she can afford to make it; her arms pinned to her sides; her ribs throat aching with the need to breathe in. And then, she can feel it. The seep of energy flowing into her; the tender brush of the earth under her fingertips; setting them twitching. Sinking beneath her skin and curling around her legs.

It's a rush, a jolt of sudden adrenaline and the Verbena kicks out, hard. Or as hard as she's able to and moves an inch. Another. There's the desire to cry out of pure frustration and perhaps it's that, as much as anything. A pure, stubborn will to survive that has her coil all her energy into a sudden movement.  A sharp, animalistic snarl as she pushes at the snow with all her might -

And a hand bursts out of the snow.

Something wet and twitching finds it and there's an answering whuff. The Verbena keeps kicking and a snow-smeared head and shoulders appear from under the dislodged snow. Her lip is bleeding badly (a deliberately inflicted wound) and she seems disorientated for a moment, blinking rapidly in the light.

Oxygen floods her lungs and the Verbena sets her hand on the ground, content for a moment it would seem, just to breathe.

Book of MythsWhen Kiara breaks the surface, the wolves move to get out of her way, allowing her space to rest - to breath. Then there is a hand on her shoulder and it feels warm.

"You're okay, you're okay.." It's Leah, kneeling down to wrap her arms around Kiara's shoulders - holding her tightly for a moment as though to reassure herself that the other Verbena is really alive. There's a sudden breath and then "Thank you." Her flames feel soft where they lick at Kiara's skin. They melt the snow remaining there, leaving her dry. Then she's gone a moment later, rising to help Elijah and the wolves dig Henry free. If he was even still alive.

Elijah follows the wolves, pressing his ear to the snow in a frantic attempt to hear... something. Anything. But there's nothing to hear. Are they digging in the wrong place, or is Henry unconscious? Or worse.

"It's okay," Leah says, softly, as she comes rushing over. "We'll get him out." The wolves are digging fast, dislodging great piles of snow with their powerful legs, but it isn't fast enough and Leah sets her hands on the snow and says something in a voice that doesn't wholly sound like her own and isn't in any language Elijah or Kiara will understand (because no one has spoken it for thousands of years) and her eyes glow.

Book of Myths[Aaand melting the snow. Same as before.]

Dice: 4 d10 TN4 (2, 4, 5, 6) ( success x 4 ) [Doubling Tens] [WP]

Book of MythsAnd then the snow sizzles and melts and rises into the air in clouds of steam. When it finishes, there is Henry's form curled into a ball in the crevice, unconscious but alive.

Red drops the thing he was carrying and races down to look at him. When he presses his nose to Henry's face, he utters a plaintive whine.

Then Henry inhales in a gasp and opens his eyes.

ElijahIt doesn't dawn on him to hide the fact that he is terrified of the prospect of losing his mentor. That this would be it for him, he didn't want to study with anyone else, he didn't want to be around anyone else, he wanted to study with Henry. He wanted to share stories and incorporate the old man into his life and introduce him to Jenn and give him a freaking house key and build this person as a fact of his current existence.

And he might be dead. He might be unconscious, what if they were in the wrong place and Elijah couldn't reach any further than he had. Leah tells him it's okay, and he's looking at her like he desperately wants this to be true, like she has to know something he doesn't- because that wasn't hard. He was, by far, the least experienced person here. Took a lot of things for granted.

The snow is gone and he looked relieved for a brief moment, which then was kicked aside by the silence. Red pokes him, Elijah bridges the gap, should probably give Henry a chance to breathe, but he hugs him anyway.

"Je craignais tu es mort," because he wasn't taking the precious seconds it took to translate.

Kiara"I'm okay." Kiara echoes after a moment, her voice raspy.

She's tentative as she pushes herself to her feet, the strength she'd channeled, pulled out of the ground itself still thrumming through her veins. She feels - surprisingly energized considering what had just happened and for a moment, all the brunette can do is stand there and stare at the point where the cave was, where (had it only been minutes? It felt like hours) there had been a towering dragon.

Now, there's nothing but the snow and the sounds of desperate digging, followed by the sizzling sound of Leah's working melting it down. By the time Kiara's moved to stand beside the others, Henry's been uncovered and Elijah has all but thrown himself down over the older man, saying something in French the Verbena doesn't understand, but - comprehends the meaning behind.

Gratitude. Relief.

She catches sight of the glinting object Red had dropped and moves to stand over it, staring down at it with a complicated expression twisting her features; her supple mouth into a frown. "You found it," she offers simply and doesn't move to pick it up but glances instead across at the other Verbena. Studying Leah's face with no tiny amount of consideration.

"Are you alright?"

Book of Myths[Leah is going to heal this 1 dot of agg]

Dice: 4 d10 TN5 (5, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )

Book of Myths[well that was overkill]

Book of Myths[Leah's dice are appropriate tonight]

Book of MythsThere's a note of quiet panic in Leah's eyes when she sees Henry's motionless body, but it relaxes when he opens his eyes. There's a moment where she looks at him with this complicated expression. Then she turns and walks a few paces away. She stops beside where Red dropped the crown, her eyes drawn to it. But when she looks at it, there's no sense of relief or joy - no gratitude at being reunited with this lost relic.

This crown that had once been hers.

She just looks... sad.

"Red found it," she answers Kiara quietly. When she looks up, there are tears glistening in her eyes. "Physically, yes. A little frostbitten." She holds out her hands, and Kiara will see that there are places where the cold left the skin blackened. There's a patch of it on her cheek too. She takes a breath and closes her eyes. Murmurs another word in that ancient tongue and the wounds heal like nothing ever happened. She bends down to touch the crown, and there is this.. arrested heartbeat. Almost, she can't make herself do it. But then she wraps her fingers around it and lifts it from the snow.

The crown: truthfully, it's more of a circlet than a proper crown. Surprisingly simple for something so valuable. Just a silver band inlaid with a few simple, elegant designs (they look a bit like bird feathers) and notched with settings for nine stones.

But whatever used to be set there... the stones are gone now.

Still, the crown hums with mythic resonance. If they're quiet, they can hear it. The way it pitches higher when Leah touches it. (Like it's coming home.)

"The stones are gone," she says, her voice cold. Exhausted. Embittered. "It's useless without them. We did all this for a trinket."

Back in the crevice, Elijah is clutching Henry, holding him, uttering his desperate relief. And Henry is smiling and laughing and wrapping his arms around his apprentice like he'd be just as happy to stay there with him all day. "Non, mon cher ami. Je n'aurais pas partir tu."

ElijahThe sound is one of utter relief, followed by incoherent sounds of even more relief. They could have forgotten all about the crown for all he cared, if they hadn't come back with Henry he would have been inconsolable. Even if it did have all of its pieces. Even if it was a completed relic. Somewhere at the back of his mind, he hears this, puts it together catches the bitter tones and knows...

No, doesn't know. Elijah has no ties to his past life beyond the warnings his avatar has uttered all of once- you've faltered before. Just the once, before the world went silent and dreams stopped being shitshow nightmares where Nothing reigned supreme.

He takes a minute before he finally gives Henry a chance to breathe, and a hand up to actually stand because heaven knows it can't be comfortable having a lanky twenty-something piled on top of you like an overeager puppy.

"Well," he announces, "we just found out that the quest is going to take a little longer than anticipated."

Seems, at the very least, that if the desire to search was still there, he was volunteering his services.

KiaraThe stones are gone, Leah says and Kiara's eyes drop to the glinting object in her (now fully healed) hands.

She doesn't seem as dismayed as she perhaps should considering the apparent power in the artifact but then again, for all the fact she was nearly smothered by a mountainside full of snow, the Verbena seems remarkably contained but for the way her hand trembles just a little as she seeks to slide it around Leah's body, bracketing the other woman in a brief, supportive embrace.

She watches Elijah and Henry's reunion with a tiny, half formed smile for a moment and then takes a deep, cleansing breath. There were things she wanted to ask, questions that needed answering - among them, what happened now, to the crown, to the search for the stones and whoever had taken them from this place - but Kiara doesn't seem particularly inclined to ask them, as much as her eyes speak of them when they cut across to the others, to Leah's expression.

"Not for nothing." She does say, after a while. Her eyes dropping to the circlet. "At least we know where they aren't." Then, she squeezes at Leah's side lightly; offers her hand as it falls to her side.

"Let's go home."