Ice + Fire Mages = Peril

[Anonymous]

This certainly was not Reshona’s idea of fun, wandering a lifeless icy environment searching for said non-existent life with two fire mages. Evil fire mages at that.

     They seemed to be too cold to cause trouble today though which was surprising considering their ability was fire. She wasn’t going to complain though they were actually being quiet for once.

     Their mission at the Eir Ocean was look for signs of life; the reasoning behind sending the trio was that Kasu and Sithon could melt parts of the ice and see if anything had survived frozen in it. So far they hadn’t found anything, and Reshona doubted anything could exist in such an environment.

     “Can we go yet?” Sithon managed to say through chattering teeth.

     “No,” Reshona said, “We need to find something no matter how small.”

     “But it’s freezing!” Kasu moaned, “If we die, you’ll be in trouble!”

     “No, if you die, they’ll just assign me another mage,” Reshona corrected.

     “Don’t you care about us?” the pair asked in unison, staring at her with their best puppy god eyes.

     She didn’t answer and just continued walking.

      “Reshona…” they whined.

     Argh, why did that always get her? She was too nice for her own good…

     “Fine, we’ll start heading back, there’s nothing here anyway.”

     “Yay!”

     They turned around and began heading back in the direction they came, but unfortunately the snow and wind had started to pick up now, just great. Then the sound of footsteps behind her suddenly stopped. She turned round and saw the pair peering over the edge of the peak.

     “You know we’d get there quicker if we just slide down here.”

     Reshona went over to them, peered down and discovered it was a long way down. However the ship could be seen at the bottom and the twins were right sliding would be quicker…if they survived that was.

     “Do you have a death wish?” Reshona asked.

     “No,” Sithon replied, “But there’s plenty of ice around, just let us use our magic and we could make a sled.”

     At the mention of ‘magic’ Reshona instantly sensed danger and remembered something their last Mordecai had said to her, just before he was carted away to TRIM because the twins had destroyed him.

     “Never ever let them use magic if there aren’t any other Mordecai around.”

     That sounded pretty conclusive but then again, he had suffered a mental breakdown and the weather was getting bad.

     She suspected she was going to regret it but said, “Alright…”

[Anonymous]

Vyne flew over the surface, scanning the surface for the hole in the ground she called home. It was the only place to get away from humans and her damned sister, Demya. The annoying girl was meant to be old enough to have learnt to have shut her mouth but all Demya did was talk. Talk about her appearance.

Vyne flew slowly over the terrain, pausing in the air when she saw humans. Slowing made her altitude drop and in the end she decided landing would be best. A storm was coming anyhow so being on land was best.

But the humans... as much as she hated humans and how they destroyed the earth TWICE, she could not let creatures die in the cold.

'You there, come here or you'll freeze,' she called in an Ancient Adelan accent. She scratched the surface with her feet and pulled her jacket tighter. 10 minutes, that's how long it would take to get back on foot.

[Anonymous]

Reshona froze when she suddenly heard a voice, then she turned and saw what would definitely count as ‘life’. How many people had come here and not found anything?

     “Hello,” Kasu said cheerfully, “Who might you be?”

     The Mordecai sighed internally, the pair could be polite when they wanted but not around her generally or the other soldiers.

     “What might you be?” Sithon asked earning himself a kick in the shin from his twin.

     Sensing the two fire mages would probably make things worse she stepped forward and said, “Thank you.”

     Then she turned to the twins and said, “Follow me and keep your mouths shut.”

     When she turned round she knew they were swearing at her behind her back but they had done worse things to her. Like running away and testing her sanity to name only two

[Anonymous]

Vyne bowed her head at the thanks and kept walking, her tail and wings dragging slightly behind her. She turned her ugly head and pulled off her hood so that the humans could see her properly, 'I am a Harpy. One of two in existance.'

They got to the hollow cave. She stamped her feet and shook off the snow beofre bending down to feel for the edges of the rock. It moved easily at her unspoken command and she stood up, 'get in.'

Not botherring to see if they would obey she hopped in. The cave would be too small for the four of them so she put shoulder to the rock and punched. The rock wall easily moved back. She continued punching until the the cave became a cavern. She went over to the firepit on the original side of the cave and dropped some roots she had scrounged under the earth for. They had been held captive under the earth for many centuries and were the only ones she found that still looked edible.

[Anonymous]

“Cool!” The twins said in unison as the harpy moved the wall back easily.

     Reshona groaned internally, she had told them to keep quiet. They never listened to her…Then their incessant questioning began.

     “Do you live here?”

     “Have you ever met the other harpy?”

     “Does the other harpy live here?”

     “Can you fly?”

     “What’s flying like?”

     “What’s your name?”

     “What’s the other harpy’s name?”

     Reshona pinched the bridge of her nose, a headache was definitely starting.

     “Don’t be so rude,” she said to her two charges.

     Who was it that had cursed her? She would have dearly liked to know. Maybe their former Mordecai was sat in his TRIM laughing at her knowing she had been burdened with them and he never had to see them again…Perhaps a visit was in order, Reshona thought evilly.

[Anonymous]

Vyne closed the earth behind the three and sat down to light the fire.

“Do you live here?”
'Yes.'

“Have you ever met the other harpy?”
'Yes.'

“Does the other harpy live here?”
'No.'

“Can you fly?”
'Yes.'

“What’s flying like?”
'Jump off a mountain, find out.'

“What’s your name?”
'Vyne.'

“What’s the other harpy’s name?”
'Demya. You two are very much like her, she too is useless and annoying.'

Vyne turned back to the Mordacai, 'you are a Mordacai. Why don't you control them?' It was a sharp question. Vyne did not like humans, Mordacai escpecially. Mordacai seemed to think they were better than everyone and everything else in the world. Even their predecessors had been supercilious.

[Anonymous]

Reshona had to stifle a laugh when the harpy suggested the twins try jumping off a mountain to find out what was flying was like and implied they were useless and annoying. However, then harpy turned on her.

     “Hey, leave Reshona alone,” Kasu said.

       “What the..? Did one of the evil children actually stick up for me?”

     “Um…well it’s just they’re treated badly enough as it is without me playing with their minds to make them behave,” the Mordecai replied.

     That was her reason, and these two had had a worse life than most, they had been born in TRIM and then sold to Edanith as soldiers, some childhood.

[Anonymous]

The harpy nodded and lit the fire using sticks, 'good. You care for eachother.'

Bad childhood hey? They were all still chlidren in Vyne's eyes. She put the roots on a rock plate above the fire and watched where the smoke went so that she could make a hole in the roof for air to flow in and out. When the roots were cooked she broke them in half and threw a half to each of her guests.

[Anonymous]

Thankfully the two twins didn’t complain about their ‘meal’ but she supposed that the food the mages were given probably didn’t taste of very much. It would certainly explain why whenever she gave them anything vaguely sweet they would behave worse than usual.

     Reshona was surprised by what the harpy said but she guessed that was true, the twins did seem to like her even if they didn’t always act like it and she liked them. It was almost like they were her nephews or something. Some of the older Mordecai would probably berate her if she said that out loud but what was the point of treating the mages like slaves, they were more effective and less likely to run away if you were nice to them. Kasu and Sithon had run away from her many times but they never tried to escape from the army, she assumed because TRIM had been worse.

     “How long do the snowstorms usually last?” Sithon said, actually asking a sensible question for once.

[Anonymous]

Vyne shrugged. 'Anywhere between a few minutes to a few days,' she said before biting into the root. It was slightly dry from being in the ground so long but it tasted good. After eating she began preening herself. Her wings were ruffled from the wind and it was best to fix them now before she needed to fly again. One was broken and she gave it a disgruntled look before handing it to the boy, 'humans like trinkets. Take this.'

[Anonymous]

“Cool!” the twins said in unison, causing Reshona to shake her head exasperatedly.

     She didn’t like the idea of being stuck here for days but the twins were too entranced by the wing to care. Normally back in Edanith she had the nights to her self and didn’t have to deal with the twins all day accept when they were on missions. Every time a mission with the pair took longer than a couple of days she felt like throwing herself off a ravine.

     “The twins are fire mages; maybe there is some way they could use their magic to get us back to our ship?” Reshona suggested, “Or will the storm be too strong?”

     She’d probably regret letting the twins use their magic but the sooner they got back to Edanith the better.

     With how heavy the snow was falling though, chances were when they went to search for the ship, it would covered in snow and difficult to find. She guessed they would have to cross that bridge when they came to it.

[Anonymous]

Vyne eyed the Mordacai. The woman must be stupid, 'you when the wind stops howling, then you will be safe enough, it alone could kill you.'

She finished the root and turned to face a small rock. It riased into the air about 3' and remained there. Another lifted on the other side ot the room. This one was less stable because it was behond her.

[Anonymous]

That was disappointing; hopefully the little devils would behave for once but for the minute they seemed happy enough.

     Then two of the rocks in the room started floating.

     “What the…?” Reshona thought.

     She then realised the harpy was doing it; a psychic harpy? That was certainly unusual. Then again she had never met a harpy until today; she had only heard stories about them.

     “You’re a psychic?” the twins said in unison, just noticing the floating rocks.

     Though they would never openly admit it, they were always a little uneasy around psychics. Reshona wasn’t entirely sure why but she guessed it was to do with something that happened at TRIM. Hopefully they wouldn’t freak out.

[Anonymous]

The rocks sank a little as she listened to the trio. Her eyes flicked towards the twins. They were nervous about something. Odd, they were mages; they should be able to handle magic. Had they even seen her enlarge the cavern?
'Partially, this is earth magic. I am training.'

[Anonymous]

The twins seemed to relax a little when she said it was Earth Magic partially. That they twins could handle.

     “I see,” Reshona said.

     She considered adding that there were some earth mages in Edanith but the harpy seemed to dislike the fact she was a Mordecai.

     Reshona then felt the twins tugging at their psychic link. They didn’t do that very often…Did they want to show off with their magic? She wasn’t going to let them, they were dangerous anyway and in an enclosed space, fire magic was not a good idea, it’d eat up all the oxygen.

     “No,” she said to the twins, “Behave.”

     They probably wouldn’t listen but it was always worth a try.

[Anonymous]

Slowly and wobbily, another rock lifted into the air. This one did not rise as high as the others. Vyne made an irritated clicking noise and tried to get it to rise higher. The idea was that the harder she focused the more rocks she could lift. It wasn't training for strength but stamina and focus. With other creatures to keep an eye on, paying attention was hard.

[Anonymous]

The twins kept tugging, and Reshona was a bit of a disadvantage because there were two of them.

     “If you use your magic here you might use all the oxygen, so stop pulling on the bond.”

     Kasu scowled and stopped resisting but Sithon didn’t. Oh well, at least it was only one now.

     “Is it normal for harpies to have earth magic?” Kasu asked the harpy, “I always pictured them using wind.”

     Reshona groaned inwardly, there he went asking questions again. At least it was kept one of the evil children entertained. Sithon however kept trying to cast. The Mordecai had vowed to never use her bond to forcefully stop them though and she wasn’t going to break that.

     “Sithon please stop it.”

[Anonymous]

Demya scowled and the rocks sank a few inches, 'you are stopping them using their magic?'
She stood up and came up incredibly close to the Mordacai, Reshona she had heard the twins say. She brought her face so that it was almost touching Reshona's.
'Magic is a part of a mage. Stopping them is like stopping them using their arm,' her fetid breath blew into the Mordacai's face as she talked. She thought of twisting an arm but decided against it. The mages DID seem to care about her.

She turned aound and cursed. She had lost concentration and the rocks had fallen. She sat back down and slowly lifted the first rock again before answerring the girl mage's questions.
'Why would that be? What tales have you heard of us?' she asked, 'I use earth magic, my sister has power over vines.'

[Anonymous]

[OOC Kasu and Sithon are both male o.O]

Reshona was unnerved when the harpy came so close to her.

     “Magic is a part of a mage. Stopping them is like stopping them using their arm.”

     Maybe in the past that was true but magic wasn’t as necessary as it had once been now that technology had advanced so much. Besides the twins were potentially dangerous when allowed to use their magic and it wasn’t as if Reshona had chosen to be a Mordecai. She had no say in it whatsoever. Being a Mordecai on a planet such as Lanaes which disliked non-mages was not a good thing.

     She breathed a sigh if relief when the harpy backed off again and answered Kasu’s question.

     “Why would that be? What tales have you heard of us? I use earth magic, my sister has power over vines.”

     “Well, you can fly and I would have thought it strange for some to manipulate earth when they didn’t spend all of their time on it.”

[Anonymous]

OOC: opps, sorry. I thought Kasu was a girl.

'I fly poorly. Too many wounds, too much muscle.' She was obviously not going to get much training done while the trio was here but on the plus side, being distracted helped train focus. The rock behind her lifted.

'Do you two train also?' she then looked at the Mordacai, a sour expression on her face, 'would master allow it? We will be here for a long time.'