Pia studied the Icespeaker again. The woman was roughly five years Pia's senior, and seemed to be lacking color in addition to emotion. At first meeting, Pia had assumed the hermit Icespeaker was albino, but upon closer inspection, saw that she lacked the familiar pink cast to the eyes. To say her eyes were sky blue couldn't do them justice, but Pia wasn't a poet, so she didn't try to describe the bitches damn emotionless eyes.

The sorcerers met at the hot spring hidden under the icecaps of the stone curtain, the mountain range between Talkar in the south and Shutha in the north. Pooling in a cave made of ice, the spring had been an easy compromise, made easier by the ice sorcerer's apparent nihilism.

"You're angry with me again." She said, showing no outward sign that she was bothered, but continuing, "I don't like that." 

"I shouldn't be," Pia said, splashing her face with hot water while Dekishi nuzzled her under the surface. 

Predictably, the Icespeaker stated, "Explain," rather than show any body language that might indicate an interest to hear more.

No... that wasn't quite right. It wasn't that the woman lacked body language, it was just that her nonverbal signals were so subtle. And the ones Pia could see were often accompanied by clear, if wordy, explanations of exactly what the Icespeaker was thinking. 

It had been disconcerting at first. When asked her name, the Icespeaker had explained that since they were alone Pia wouldn't need her name for conversation. All while hardly moving and only blinking three times. Only the reassuring glow of her mother in her soul had allowed Pia to resist shivering.

After a week of visits, however, Pia was pretty sure she had the measure of her Icy sister. Now if the bitch would just budge.

"I knew you would be the most difficult," Pia explained.

She blinked acknowledgment, then said, "And yet, your delusion sent you here anyway." those stunning eyes narrowed ever so slightly. She still didn't believe Pia had found her with the help of a god. Though, to be fair, the god in question was technically dead.

The Icespeaker continued, "If I'm so difficult, then try your luck with Earth, or better yet, Fire. Assuming they exist of course, which you have yet to convince me is true. But since I doubt you have any further arguments on that front, and I am tired of hearing the old ones, maybe instead you can explain why your divine delusion would send you to death in an effort to take down your greatest challenge first?" 

Dekishi raised its head to snort at the Icespeaker's not-so-subtle threat, while the woman's own snowleopard familiar swished its tail in the universal sign of a cat's irritation. At least it was expressive. If anything, the ice sorcerer herself had grown more still, and Pia reminded herself: Ice was stubborn and unmoving... Presuming you didn't turn this living snowcap into an avalanche.

She needed to back off, but not before addressing the fundamental flaw in the Icespeaker's accusation, "She did not send me, I sought you first." 

"Because I would be the most difficult?" The Icespeaker asked, directing the conversation back to the root of her question. Her familiar cocked its head. The Icespeaker didn't care why Pia had come, but she cared very much that she didn't know why. That curiosity was the only thing that kept her coming back to these baths. 

Pia smirked, explaining, "Why would I waste what little time we have with them, only to fail when I reached you?"

"Fair point. And what exactly does that failure entail? The end of the world?" She didn't scoff, and didn't smirk, but her familiar huffed. It disappeared, leaving behind a replica made of snow and reappearing behind Pia.

Pia didn't move, but Dekishi rose it's head out of the water to bear sharp fangs at the magical cat. "Perhaps," Pia answered, "or perhaps something worse. Its slow decay. You've experienced the storms?"

With the expressions of a porcelain doll, the Icespeaker said stubbornly, "I have experienced many storms. I don-"

Pia interrupted, snapping, "A magical storm, where the sky boils black and lightning strikes in a rainbow of cursed colors. You know exactly what storms I mean, Icespeaker. Do not toy with me."

A large paw landed on Pia's bare shoulder, sharp claws curling as if to knead the Cleric with a deep rumbling purr. 

Right... balance. Pia reminded herself. Using fire tactics, allowing her temper to run her mouth, had the potential to get through to the Icespeaker, but too much too fast and the woman would instead lash back, or worse, further fortify her stubborn defenses. Except that Pia had no idea what else to do now that she'd fully explained herself.

Pia exhaled, forcing as much air from her lungs as she could, then allowed herself to sink into the spring, away from the threatening familiar and stubborn Icespeaker. Once seated at the bottom of the pool she took a breath, letting her power over water separate out the liquid from the oxegen so she could breath. The coughing that would accompany her return to the surface might be less than dignified, but she needed time to think. 

Dekishi pranced around her as she sought the glow of her mother in her heart... and found glee. Something had happened. 

Mother? Pia asked, straining to open herself to her mother's answer from the outer plains.

Air...

With one word and a flash of divine intuition, Pia understood. At least one other had awakened. She wasn't alone anymore. But that wouldn't help her here. 

Except...

The hermit Icespeaker had explained -at length- that she already knew she was mad, had known her entire life that something was wrong with her. The idea that she was instead a Chosen of the gods would seem ludicrous. And she'd only further solidified her opinion of herself over the last few years in solitude. 

And there was something wrong with the Icespeaker. She was a kinslayer... which would've been bad enough, if she hadn't also confessed to premeditating the murder. And she didn't have to. She could've gotten away with it, could have claimed it was an accident, since her power had awakened during the attempt and finished the job. 

But that wasn't what she'd wanted... She'd wanted to be banished from her Talkar tribe. To live alone...

Pia kicked off the bottom of the pool, splashing the cat into angry hisses as she coughed the water from her lungs. The Icespeaker watched -unmoving- until Pia regained her breath. "You..." Pia gasped, then coughed some more. She waited until she was fully recovered before continuing, "Perhaps, I was wrong to call you stubborn Icespeaker. Perhaps discerning is more appropriate. If I am able to prove myself, will you then consider the possibility that you are more than others assumed to teach you?" That made the Icewoman twitch ever so slightly. Her familiar chuffed.

"And how do you presume to do that, when all you've said so far has only served to convinced me that you are as insane as I am? Or do you now wish to convert me to your dead religion? Dead by your own admission."

Pia smirked in answer, pulling herself out of the pool to sit beside the Icespeaker's familiar, she said, "I don't convert, and Inryuu wouldn't ask me to. Or did you forget already what I said moments ago? She values freedom, and freedom of choice. If you choose to close your eyes and ears to what you are-"

"What, I am?" The Icespeaker interrupted. 

Perfect, Pia thought, resisting another smirk. The Icespeaker was long winded, but careful in her word choice, it had been Pia's hope that she would expect the same of others, "Of course," Pia explained, "Only you can determine who you are, you craft it from every choice made and action taken, but no one has control over what they are. And you, Icespeaker, are an ice sorcerer, and-"

"Enough." the Icespeaker said, her familiar disappearing into a pile of snow to reappear once more by its human's side. She did not like the barbarian title, but if she wasn't going to share her name, she would just have to deal with it. She continued, "How do you expect to convince me?" 

"I don't," Pia said, running her hands over her long hair and banishing the liquid from it. She was starting to get cold, but now wasn't the time to show weakness again, "I wish to make a deal with you. I will do as you so wisely suggested, and attempt to wake the others. It seems the air Chosen has already done so..." she trailed off, giving the icespeaker time to respond. She didn't, though her familiar chuffed again, and Pia continued, "if you are the last, then I propose you at least speak to the woman in your dreams."

"I do not care what you do, and I have already killed that dilution." Icespeaker stated, slipping into the hotspring. Pia could feel the water temperature drop a fraction on her legs.

"Yes, so you've said. And how many times have you 'killed' her I wonder?" Pia asked as innocently as she could manage. She felt a laugh in her mind and grinned, adding, "I suspect our mother found the exercise amusing, though also educational. Tell me, Icespeaker, did you use the power she crafted you with in your assaults?"

The Icespeaker stopped her walk around the inner perimeter of the pool, settling icy eyes on Pia while her cat growled. Pia stood, banishing the last of the water from her flesh as she reached for her clothes, not looking at the Icespeaker and continuing, "I'll stay here a while longer and formulate a plan for the others. Perhaps the Air Chosen will decide to come visit..." She arched her neck back to look over her shoulder at the Icespeaker still watching her from the water, "Unless you've changed your mind, and want me to leave..."

The icespeaker actually reacted, though only with a small scoff, saying, "I don't care what you do where, what point would there be in driving you away."

Or in killing me, thank Inryuu, Pia thought. She moved to her small tent set up near the entrance, saying, "I'm going to take a nap, I'll tell our mother you said hello," letting the flap fall closed on the Icespeaker's blank face and hissing familiar. 

Ice might be painfully passive, but on the opposite end of the spectrum was fire, which was dangerously aggressive. Sitting in the middle, Pia would bring the two together and wear the ice down while working on the others...

*** 

Sasha didn't usually go to the mages guild to gather information herself, but today she made an exception, leaning against the receptionist's desk and engaging in smalltalk as she waited. The new sorcerer had caused quite the stir. Enough that it caught the attention of no fewer than five of her regular contacts, all of whom seemed to unknowingly race each other to report to her.

"That's all well and good, Miss Sasha, but why are you really here?" The journeyman manning reception asked.

Sasha grinned, "Oh, nothing important, Journeyman Perla. How about you? Keeping busy while you work?" 

Perla coughed into her hand, looking away from Sasha to shrug, "as busy as I'm allowed to be and still stay alert. I thought being an apprentice was difficult, but then they added work shifts to the increased study requirements, and I'm afraid I have very little time for anything else."

Perla flipped absently through the Guild’s logbook, looking for all the world like a bored and overworked Journeyman Mage. Then again, the best disguises were the most honest. And the warlock spy had a decent poker face. Though it helped that both women knew the other's true nature. 

Sasha rested her chin in her hands and sighed. She’d made good time to the guild, but apparently she needn't have bothered. The fire sorcerer was taking her dear sweet time to report it seemed. 

“To be fair…” Perla said in a whisper, “they don’t have to report until tomorrow.” 

Blink barked, then disappeared, reappearing on the other side of the counter to nose at Perla’s elbow and make her jump. “Don’t be rude Blink,” Sasha told her familiar, then turned around to lean her back on the counter instead, showing some of her hand to the woman who already knew some of her cards, “The guards told them to report right away. Their justification was feeble, but as I understand it, the sorcerer seemed compliant enough.” And there was something tugging at Sasha's soul to be here… to meet this person. 

Perla didn’t question how Sasha knew the details, she rolled her eyes saying, “They’re a fire sorcerer, it's a copper flip on if they’ll rush over to get it over with, or disregard the instructions completely. I know at least one fire sorcerer who would most certainly do the latter.” 

Who had done the latter. It had saved her freedom. Sasha shrugged saying again, “Well, it's not like I have anything important to do. Or is it just that you don’t want to talk to me.” she exaggerated a pout at Perla, who exaggerated her second eyeroll in response. 

The two continued their pointlessly fun banter even after the door to the guild opened, the newcomer standing politely to the side. Sasha shot glances at the fire sorcerer, noticing Perla do the same. The woman was on the taller side of average, with pale, short cropped blond hair and dark blue eyes of a shade Sasha had seen before on another fire sorcerer. Her clothing was a mismatch of leather pants cut in a tribal fashion and a cream tunic with… “Is that trim cloth of gold?” Sasha asked the stranger, allowing the seamstress in her to take over and break any ice. 

She twitched her hand, as though she longed to touch it, which wasn't entirely untrue. Cloth of gold wasn't uncommon in nobles' clothes but Sasha herself had only worked with it once before, justifying the expense with the experience she would get working with the luxurious stuff.

It took the woman a moment to respond. She held her book of papers loosely in her hand and was staring at Sasha with a look that could only be described as relief. 

Perla cleared her throat, leaning across the counter to take the papers from the woman's slack fingers and asking, "and the purpose of your visit Miss…" she flipped open the papers, and finished, "Kylana?" 

Despite knowing exactly what the sorcerer was there for, Perla took another moment to look at the papers again before she declared, "Oh! You're a sorcerer, just here to register then?"

"I… yes, my apologies," Kylana's smile was nearly as warm as Sasha expected her skin to be, and though she nodded to Perla, she returned her attention to Sasha to answer, "and yes it is. It was a gift from my second father… would you like a closer look?" She stepped closer, lifting her arm to allow Sasha to examine the trim around the end of her sleeve.

Sasha took advantage while Perla wrote out Kylana's information, flipping through some of the pages. Sasha brushed Kylana's wrist and the woman twitched at roughly the same time that Perla fumbled her pen, dropping it to roll under the counter.

"Sorry," Sasha and Kylana apologized in unison.

Sasha snickered, feeling strangely at ease while Kylana blushed, saying, "It's alright, I just don't want to burn you." But if that was the case then why did she keep shooting nervous looks at her papers while Perla ducked under the counter. 

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that with me," Sasha assured her, playing along, "I'm an earth Sorcerer myself and can handle a little heat." Though little was stretching it. Sasha had only met one other with skin as hot as this woman.

Under the counter, Perla whispered to Blink -and thus to Sasha- "her papers are forged, and badly…" Ah, so that was the real reason she was so nervous. 

Sasha focused on the gold trim, making note of the hints of red and giving no indication that anything was amiss, while Perla righted herself and finished logging the sorcerer. Though she hesitated before initialing, glancing at Sasha with pleading eyes. If the forgery was detected later, it could come back to bite any of those who had signed off on it until the discovery. 

Sasha cleared her throat, asking, “Are you new to the capital then, Miss Kylana? Could you perhaps use some assistance getting around? I happen to be a bit of an expert and have nothing much to do today… Isn’t that right, Journeyman Perla?” With her contacts and experts, Sasha could fix the woman’s papers at the very least. Though why she felt inclined to do so she still wasn’t sure.

Kylana practically beamed at Sasha, “You are too kind M’lady. If it really isn’t any trouble then I could most certainly use your assistance. Do you happen to know any good saddle makers? I have a bit of a special commission…”

Blink leaned against Perla’s leg until she finally initialed Kylana’s papers, handing them back with a relieved smile, then he disappeared, reappearing beside his human with a friendly bark. Kylana jumped, but then exclaimed, “Oh my, isn’t he beautiful. Your familiar, I presume? I didn’t know blink dogs could form a familiar bond.” 

This coming from a woman with a damn dragonell familiar, Sasha thought, saying with a shrug, “I guess so, I’ve never met another to be honest. Why don’t we talk about it while I show you to the best saddle maker in the city, inner and outer…” 

***

Kylana had suspected that she would like the other Chosen, but she hadn’t expected to feel this at ease. Nor had she expected to find them so damn soon! She couldn’t help but smile, nodding with enthusiasm as Sasha led her from the Mages Guild back to the outer city. 

Kylana explained on the stairs that she needed a special saddle for her familiar, and Sasha just grinned, explaining that the crafter she had in mind was the best, and though he hadn’t worked such a project before, that she knew of, the challenge, and his lack of experience, would guarantee her an excellent price. Though Kylana suspected most of her savings would be due to Sasha’s recommendation. 

She managed to resist blurting out her true purpose and glee at finding her earth Chosen sibling so quickly. The last thing she wanted was to scare the kindly woman off by sounding insane. Earth had a tendency to be patient, but also stubborn, Kylana would spend at least a few weeks getting to know her before dropping any hints that Sasha might be more than she ever believed herself to be. Afterall, what broke through earth better than little seeds left to sprout on their own?

***

They flew over her master's summer home on the way north. It was no more than a square speck in the valley separating the village of Ryukyu from the mountain of the same name, and yet Lily liked to imagine that Velona could see them if she happened to look up. Perhaps she would even suspect something was off about such a strangely square bird...

She sighed mournfully, leaning back against Rose's primly straight spine. If the kingdom had their way Lily wouldn't be able to see her master again either... except... "maybe she could visit on the way back and forth..." with a growl she shook her head at the idea. Perhaps her master and even her friends could visit the gilded cage the kingdom had prepared, but only for as long as the king allowed it. And he could change his mind on a whim... 

Rose didn't comment, directing the carpet down at the slowest angle Lily could imagine, they flew towards the floating coast. Below, plants bloomed in their myriad of colors and animals in their summer pelts hunted in preparation for returning winter. But even in summer the stone and brush of the living tundra turned to ice before reaching the ocean. 

The two dragons glided down over the ice, but hadn't touched down before the wind picked up, kicking up snow from below to sting their faces and obscure the water in the distance. As they continued to push forward the cold increased, frost forming on the edges of the carpet farthest from Lily and across Rose's exposed skin. 

"This isn't natural." Rose called through chattering teeth. It was true, Lily could feel the magic in the air. She focused on her own magic, finding the heat in her energy and expanding it out to encompass the entire carpet. Rose sighed in relief, shivering one more time at the memory of the cold before continuing on. But even with Lily's heat shield, things only got worse as the snow began to pick up, pelting them with melted water that still stung and obstructing their vision to just a few feet ahead. 

"Damn them," Rose cursed, turning the carpet around to return to dry land. It took them less time to fly away from the isolated storm than it had for them to attempt to fly into it, and by the time they reached the brushland of the tundra once more, the snow had died to nothing and the wind was no more than a pleasant tickle. 

"Well, I think this confirms it." Lily said, stretching as she stood to hop off the carpet, "let's set up camp and we can try again on foot."  

"As we suspected, your heat helped, but it didn't alleviate the whiteout..." Rose mused, mentally rolling up the carpet and directing it into her bag of holding. 

"Shon could help..." Lily tried to sound off hand, but scowled a moment later when Rose outright scoffed at the idea. 

Meeting her sisters disapproving eyes she did so again, adding, "You're the one constantly complaining that he refuses to use his magic. He probably wouldn't even know how to help here even if he was willing. And besides, if he were going to help anyone it would be his team and that's exactly what we are trying to prevent."

Lily growled, scratching her itching neck, and chose to ignore the comments on Shon, instead arguing, "They might want to go with the kingdom, all we're trying to do is let them know they have options." if they could really be called options.

To her surprise, Rose didn't scoff again, or roll her eyes, or even scowl. Instead her face turned pensive as she faced the frozen ice shelf in thought. Lily dropped the tent she'd removed from her bag to join her sister, curiosity getting the better of her admittedly bad mood. 

Rose didn't acknowledge her, and Lily did her best to let the silence stretch for as long as the water dragon might need to think. But in the end her neck itched and the last thing she wanted to do was think, so she asked, "Copper for your thoughts?" 

Rose answered with a question of her own, "How do you do it, Lily?" 

Cocking her head in further curious confusion, Lily gave an exaggerated shrug and answered, "I don't hate the kingdom, or even the Mages and their guild, I spent a year with them before and it wasn't nearly as bad as my tower, it's just that I found freedom, and I don't want anyone to take it way, even if its only for a few years. I want to adventure and fight and travel and be with Shon and... why are you looking at me like that?" 

Rose had cocked her own head, her slitted eyes looking particularly feline with the expression. At Lily's question she shook her head and said the last thing Lily wanted to hear, "I meant, how do you act like nothing's wrong?"

Lily lifted her chin a fraction higher to avoid shrinking away from Rose's stare but Rose continued, "You sent your mate and his team to hunt a death knight, a monster we know virtually nothing about, and yet here you are pretending like their success is a forgone conclu-"

"And what else am I supposed to do," Lily snapped, "I trust him, trust his strength."

"You're scratching your neck again." Rose pointed out, "You only do that when your nervous."

Lily growled dropping the offending hand and looking away. It was true, and she didn't appreciate Rose bringing all her recent fears out into the open, "What else am I supposed to do," Lily grumbled again, "of course I would rather be with him, of course I would rather fight this thing together then send him with even an army. But I can't, so all I can do is trust." And yet, she was the one who told him about the death knight in the first place. The one who sent him on this particular mission... If something happened and she wasn't even there to help... If the last time she saw him was really the last time... 

"Please Rose... lets not talk about this right now." Lily whispered. 

For a moment Rose looked like she wanted to say more, opening her mouth, then closing it again, then sighing before finally saying, "let's set up camp. I get the feeling this might be a waste of time, but its something for us to do, right?"

"Right..." Lily agreed with a nod, forcing a smile and turning back to their tent.