There were questions. So many questions.
Where is he?
Is he ok?
Is he suffering?
Does he miss me?
Am I right for him?
Was Karen right?
Can I love?
Am I a monster?
How does any of this end?
Seeth was rolled up in thick, cushy bedding on a large bed Mawn had set up for her in a rather large and luxury room suitable for the girl. The white and gold aesthetic of floors and walls, milky white silk bedding and glass work lanterns hanging from the ceiling was more expensive than almost everything Seeth had ever owned in her life, it was difficult to take comfort in anything though when she was so devoid of friends and had the only person to really care about her in her life in god knows what awful position somewhere in the universe.
Despite her best attempts to shake off the comments, Karen's words were still digging a hole in her. It wasn't easy to shake off being called an unlovable monster. The thing that really ate Seeth up though was that she really actually agreed with Karen. She was a monster, what she could do to people... what she did do... It didn't rest easy with her. She'd also never felt more alone in her life. Diego was gone, there were no corrupted czarites anywhere, it seemed like most of the city wanted her dead or gone... The only person who'd treated even remotely nicely was the woman hired to kidnap her boyfriend! To be fair to Mawn though, she was turning out to be quite the saviour, Seeth never could of predicted that she was the person she'd end up staying with back on the space station. She seemed to be fair, non-judgemental and cool headed... polite as well. She didn't want to come across as needy or using Mawn, but Seeth knew she had to stick close to the dragoness if she had any hope of surviving. Mawn had provided a load of documents containing the rules of her stay under the DA government as an "Unclassified high risk biological Xeno" in Mawn's possession and the list was... large. Mawn seemed to know how to skirt around the various guidelines though to allow Seeth to actually live properly and not locked in a bio-hazard plasma glass cage. Although she was painfully aware of how much fuss she was causing Mawn and how much damage she could do to Mawn if she messed up. The dragoness was being exceptionally lenient with her, maybe too much so...
"Mawn must take reasonable and necessary steps to contain the Xeno to prevent damage to other people and property, all damage done to Mawn's property is her own to take care of and is not covered by government insurance... huh... she's liable for everything I do..."
Seeth wasn't sure if Mawn should be trusting her this much... She could literally destroy Mawn's entire business within a day, still, she was hardly going to complain, it was nice not to be locked up. She decided to haul herself out of the bed and get dressed, snapping some tight fitting pants and a large bra on, along with a hoodie and some combats which Mawn had very kindly provided, the loose fitting clothing was odd to her but actually rather comfy, she assumed Mawn provided it to make her look less threatening and more... normal...
She padded out the room quietly and followed the distant sound of music down a couple of corridors, the increasing volume of the metal tunes confirming she was heading towards the right direction. She stopped in front of a pair of glass doors which opened into a large personal gym, where by Mawn was currently bench pressing some weights, dressed in a tight fitting black tank top and equally black mini-shorts that clung rather closely to her hips. Seeth knocked sheepishly on the door and waited for a response.
"Come in!" She huffed as she heaved the bar up and slowly lowered it back down, exhaling loudly as she did so. "Seeth! How may I help you? Would you care to join me?"
"Uhm... maybe? I'm not sure, I'm a bit all over the place right now... I'm just looking for someone to talk to... being honest with you..."
"Yeah, by all means. Don't mind if I continue my reps do you?"
"Absolutely not. Please do."
"So, what's on your mind?"
"Well, I have some questions about you... I'd like to know more about you. I'll answer anything you want in exchange."
"Sure, seems fair." She paused as she lifted again. "Fire away!"
"Who exactly are you? What do you do? How have you managed to make this much money?"
"I've dismissed my surname as me and my father had... disagreements... so I'm just called Mawn now. I'm a private merc and through my initial successes, I managed to purchase myself several data scrubbing companies and merge them together. As a result, I pretty much just generate money. I take freelance merc work I deem to be interesting enough, sometimes for the royals as well."
"For the royal family?"
"Yeah, there are a couple of princes whom I deal with an a princess too. I'm their merc of choice. As a result..." She huffed loudly and heaved the bar up again. "I'm extremely wealthy... The royals can pretty much pay you whatever they want... but yeah... anything else...?"
"What kind of merc work do you do?"
"Anything really. Assassination, spying, data breaking, escorting/body guarding, theft, disruption... hell, I've been hired as a date a few times."
"Huh..."
"I also own a porn company and a local fruit vender."
"A porn company?!" Seeth was taken rather off guard.
"Yeah, we make and sell various films, its not too bad, not a huge money maker though, more an occasion interest and hobby than an actual revenue source."
"You... get involved often...?"
"Not usually. I find most of the cast very uninteresting or repulsive. Can be fun to direct though. I also very rarely do my own videos, those tend to sell well."
"Huh... Sounds like you have quite a few different things going on..."
"Yeah but I make sure that everything can run itself. I pay my managers and admins very well to make sure I get plenty of time to myself. Once I get bored of something I tend to move on very quickly and I don't like getting tied down, so I make each project as self sufficient as I can. I don't think I've even touched the fruit vender in years... just runs by itself."
"That sounds effective..."
"I can tell you're itching to know about the porn aren't you? Everyone wants to know. Its really boring you know. Watching some steroid pumping jackass stick his dong inside some dumb ass slut. People think that watching it will just... make you want to do it... I think they believe that I'll just jump in, the guys do at least. Bunch of idiots. So no, its not massively exciting, unless I suddenly get the urge to do my own stuff."
"What do you usually do?"
"Solo. Most porn stars disgust me. Jacked up arrogant assholes. So... if you don't mind me asking... how do you... work...? I guess? You kill people right? By..."
"We corrupt them. Its essentially murder to be honest with you, completely destroys the persons personality, whoever they were is gone. And yes, its by sexual intercourse. I don't... do it anymore. To anyone. Corrupting them I mean... But the others of my kind strive to do so much as possible."
"So how is Diego not... corrupted?"
"He is what's known as a Mark. He's immune to the corruption, couldn't tell you why. Works for him though... I think..."
"Ah. How can you tell if someone's a Mark? Or is it pot luck?"
"No, we can tell... Marks seem different, they smell different, I don't really know how to explain it, its weird. But we can definitely tell."
"Am I a mark?"
"Do you really want to know?"
"Yes."
Seeth paused for a second, she didn't know where this was going and wasn't sure if Mawn had a motive.
"No."
"Ah. So I should be careful around any weird fluids I see lying around?"
"Yes, but I won't be making a mess anywhere. If I do, I'll be sure to let you know."
"How bad is your corruptant? Is there protection?"
"Its only bad if it enters your blood stream. Skin contact won't immediately corrupt you providing there's no open wounds, standard bio-hazard suits will protect you. Don't get it in your eyes or stick it up your bum and you'll be fine."
"Okay, good to know. I'll avoid bum shuffling and crying near you."
"Heh, yeah, that might be a good idea." Seeth began stretching her limbs out, starting with her legs. "You do a lot of working out then?"
"Oh yeah, need to keep in top condition! Scyler won't kick his own ass will he?"
"I did notice you had a bit of a nasty swing on you."
Seeth kicked her leg up onto a bar to stretch herself out and found herself glancing more than once at Mawn's glistening abs which almost had an iridescent effect as she heaved the bar up again. She was actually really enjoying Mawn's company, as Mawn did hers too. Although Seeth had a small part of her that feared where this new friendship may lead...
There was an uneasy silence in the meeting hall of the ship. Ink, flanked by her closest allies formed a line in the hall, just wondering when this meeting would be over. The snake entered the other side of the hall, slithering over with her follows closely behind, a small red Controller walking right next to her with a large and ornate notebook in her hand, quietly scribbling away. Ink eyed up the snake carefully, glancing at Leech who wasn't sure what to do. Krynyth's following had gained significant numbers in only a few days and those who'd joined her had no interest in taking part in Ink's plans.
The two leaders met face to face, staring straight at each-other, both grinning widely. The scene was bizarre and eerie to say the least.
"So. Krynyth. It seems you have your own ideas." Ink always was very direct. This was no exception.
"Do you have a problem with my existence Ink?"
"Not so much your existence, or what you're doing. To be honest, I find your ideas and ambition admirable. My only issue comes from your pilfering of my resources."
"I see. Then I propose a solution. I do require resources from you for the time being. Taking space, food, energy and bodies from your pool is essential to my plans, but I will have Amour keep a log of everything we owe you, once we become strong enough to utilise our own resources, we shall repay you all debts. I will have Amour see you once a week to keep track of everything."
"You will pay me back two fold for everything you use."
"Two fold? That hardly seems fair."
"Life isn't fair. You need me, I don't need you. Either you agree to that, or things get very difficult for you."
Krynyth thought for a second, staring right into Ink's eyes. Ink was not moving, only grinning as she always did.
"Fine. Agreed. But do not expect anything more from us." Krynyth was clearly unhappy with Ink, she'd gone forth and offered a perfectly fair deal but Ink was greedy. Krynth was initially planning to work very openly with Ink and even try to get her involved, but this greed would not do... If Ink was gonna be like that, then things were not going to be smooth at all. There could be no future with people who only worked towards their own needs here.
"Good. I'm glad you saw fit to talk to me. Any stock exchange shall be handled by Slade. Talk to her."
"What?! Why?!" Slade yelled from somewhere in the background, obviously annoyed by more responsibilities.
"Because I said so. You know who to talk to about taking things from our supply. Anything else? Or are we finished here?"
Krynyth hissed quietly and sharply turned away, slithering off across the hall. "We're finished. I shall have Amour speak to Slade soon. Unto us Ink, Unto us."
Ink stared at her in disbelief. "Oh...kay..." Ink signalled for her gang to follow her away from the retreating freaks, gathering all her Controllers up for a brief chat. "Unto us Ink, Unto us." She mocked, shaking her head. "What the hell was that about?"
Before she could laugh too much, a very annoyed Slade spoke up loudly. "Why am I dealing with those freaks? I don't wanna take you're fucking stock, I hate numbers and counting and shit. Why not Plum?"
"Because you're an asshole and I want it to be difficult for them to get anything from us." Ink grinned, a tentacle leaning on the annoyed girls shoulder and giving her a playful hug as she gave Ink her death stare back.
"Rrrrright. Whatever. Fine. You're the boss. You're a bitch but you're the boss. What the fuck ever."
"As for the rest of you, keep your guard up, I do not like that snake or her little helper, Amour... Leech, see if you can find Lark & Yark, I have some work for them." Ink was still half laughing from Slade's response. She did actually like Slade, she was simple, honest and to the point, she wished more controllers would be like that.
Krynyth moved quickly back to her quarters, slithering through the main hall which was being tidied up and fixed by Nodes and Slaves, lines of broken wooden benches facing towards a large and intimating alter were being repaired and painted, it was almost weird to see such hard and dedicated work from such depraved and desperate creatures. Whatever Krynyth had done to them, it certainly did inspire a hard working attitude. But she ignored the work and headed straight for her personal quarters, Amour following closely behind with her notebook, on which she'd been scribbling away the whole time.
As soon as the door shut behind them, Amour hopped onto a table and sat informally on it, crossing her legs over to form a platform to write on. Krynyth slithered over to her sleeping blankets, a pile of pillows and blankets in the corner of the room and rolled into them, sighing loudly.
"Uhm... right... Ink at least agreed to send us some materials but I'm worried about this Slade girl, is she difficult to work with?"
"She can be. But I reckon I can make it work. Just need to find her soft spots, make it easy for her. From what Lark & Yark told me, she's very lazy, she has no interest in working for Ink, she does it for her own well-being."
"As long as you can work around her. That's all I care about. I've had enough delays as it is... Tell me of the Marks we're watching. What's the status on the lizard?"
"Still held up securely, well guarded. Nothing unusual from him. No reason to be concerned."
"And the missing pair?"
"Ember still frequently passes by our entrance but she's taking more and more concealed routes, she's..."
"Difficult to track?"
"Yeah. Very. Surprisingly so. She doesn't give the impression she would be, but she's incredibly resourceful."
"I agree. She would be a substantial asset should she join us, I want you to keep trying with her but don't waste too much time on her, I understand the difficulties and do not expect progress. How goes the wyrm operation?"
"Perfectly. I'm learning a lot about Ink's command structure and her group. They are deeply flawed, Ink rules through strength and intimidation, not unity. They will be incredibly easy to split but she's already forewarning people against us, might make things more difficult."
"Play it slowly my apprentice. You are more than skilled enough to breach their minds and wills, you have all the time in the world. Relax, let their opinions re-form. The time for you to shine will soon be upon us."
"I will endeavour to keep those thoughts fresh."
Krynyth stopped for a second and smiled at Amour.
"You know... I really do not think its correct nor fair of me to call you my apprentice. That would imply you are strictly learning from me."
"I am."
"But I have still so much to learn from you! Such an enigma. You defy much and prosper in the most sterile of situations... no... you are not my apprentice... you are so much more. My Amour, thank you for your help and contribution to my cause. But I will have to ask you a favour, unlike yourself, my mortal coils require recharging..."
"Right... I'll leave you to it, in the mean time, I'll keep myself busy." Amour nodded, getting the hint quickly as the snake stretched herself out. The sound of stretching muscles clicking and pulling filled the room as she wriggled on the spot.
"Sounds excellent. I will return in a few hours. I shall drift unto dreams untold and weave myself a splender. Take care my precious one. You still do not know your importance to me."
Amour jotted down a couple of notes, slapped the book closed and hopped down from the desk, leaving through the door as Krynyth coiled up and settled down to nap for a few hours, curling up into the sheets. Amour looked over the hall is it was slowly being repaired and brought up to standard. Before this ship was theres, it was a pirate vessel but before that it was mostly likely an old empire battleship. This hall was huge, most likely the ships chapel, it was perfect for their needs and was soon to be the cesspit of desire and ambition. She couldn't wait for it to be finished, but this was not the place for her for the time being. She was not a labourer, she was far more important than that, and the first item on the list was finding more out about this Slade figure...
She'd scribbled a rather accurate looking sketch to Slade in her book, drawing some arrows pointing to her features with some labelling. She danced her pencil across the page, never actually touching the paper as she thought about how to best to approach her goal. She thought for a few minutes before flicking the page over to sketches of Lark & Yark of similar quality. Tapping the pencil on their bust drawing, she had a drawn out map of their frequently used routes through the ship and decided on where to try and intercept them. She locked the book closed and strapped it to her side, sliding her pencil into a pocket on her robes and strutting off down the hall, taking a sharp left out of sight, towards the main bulk of the ship.
A pair of fiery orange eyes watched intently as Amour disappeared out of sight, her jelly locks bouncing slightly with every step she took.
"No likey. Too nice... Too pretty! Whats you doin' with the twins?!" Embers eyes narrowed and she scowled a little. "Bet she no wear socks either." She was currently hiding behind a set of crates, but began to move forward, sliding up against the wall and peering around the corner into the main hall, spotting Krynyth's chamber at the back. "Is too many slave... Is too many Node! Cannot sneak! Hmmm...." She thought careful, deep in thought, unaware that her legs were seemingly taking the direct route and walking her straight through the hall with-out so much as even turning their heads. Despite still being completely encompassed in her own thought, she ended up strolling straight into Krynyth's room completely unnoticed and closed the door behind her.
It was only when the snake rolled over and bolted her eyes open to look at Ember that the girl was even aware of what she'd done.
"Wahwahwha. Sn-snek. Snu-sno.-"
"What are you doi-"
"SHUSH!" Ember exclaimed loudly, before continuing to stammer for a few more seconds over her words. "Sno-fus-uhhh-shume."
Krynyth waited patiently from her bed, staring with bemusement at the gibbering wonder. "Are you finished yet? You are interrupting my weaving sequences."
What proceeded to untold was possibly one of the most confusing conversations one could witness.
"Hear blabber and love sickness! Who you do with that?!
"Perplexing and ever mystical, indeed you are one with the ways of Ionace."
"You no fool me! 'Ark twins are agendered! I know! You fritter but you can't fratter! Where's the socks! Where?!"
"Socks? Hah! Oh Ember, you are beyond this world. Please tell me of your goal here. Maybe I can assist you!"
Ember felt the room getting darker, the air getting heavier... she was beginning to feel like the room was expanding and she was shrinking endlessly. The only thing that remained still, was Krynyth.
"Y-you won't do the shimmer to me! LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA!" She covered her ears and sung very poorly at the snake, regaining some small sense of scale in the room. "Das bets. Now where you doing it?!"
"I haven't the slightest idea what you're referring to here Ember. Are you hungry? You and your friend must be awfully hungry in your hideout. Please. Allow me to feed you."
"NO! Sock-less wench! Defiler of wallpaper! Big dipper! GARLIC RABBIT EATER!"
Krynyth smiled as the little controller huffed and shook with frustration.
"Little lost lamb... how can I help you when you fight so valiantly? You've come here with a purpose, you want something. Indulge my curiosity and divulge with your objectives so that I may assist you."
"But das what you want!"
"No... thats what you want."
"Das what you want!"
"I cannot help you if you do not tell me what you want."
"But das what you want!"
"Really. Its what you want, surely not?"
"Das what you want!"
Kry raised her eyebrows. "Ever perplexing... Perhaps too much so... maybe I judged you incorrectly. Maybe you're not as intelligent as I thought."
"No! Nonono! Das what you want! You wants me to talk to you, because you can engage me and judge me! And then learn me! And then try to infiltrate my interests! Converge! You try to intergrate me into your sockless slithery schemes! I no tell you anything! You dangerous! The less you know, the less you can do!"
The snake stared at the enigma with a mixture of disbelief, envy and annoyance. The two exchanged a razor sharp stare that was thick enough to cut through the general tension in the room at this point. After a few seconds of silence, Kry tried to speak up.
"Tha-"
"LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA."
"... Yo-"
"LA-LA-LA-LA-LA."
"... H-"
"LA-LA-LA-LA."
"Ho-"
"LA-LA-LA-LA."
The snake sighed loudly and rubbed her forehead. Ember was not as easy to manipulate as she'd hoped. It would likely take far more than meer words to sway her. The little controller made her way right up to Kry's face, speaking quietly to her.
"I know your games snake. Scrubba-dub-dub all you want but I understand your ways. No socks. No. Trust." She snarled, the words "Scrubba-dub-dub" never being said so seriously before this moment.
"You imply an element of chauvinism in my goals. I have grandiose accomplishments planned ahead upon which their rewards you could barely comprehend. You may know of my converse, you do not know of my future. Our future."
"I know."
"How can you."
"I know! You will doom us all."
"Your lack of faith in understandable. Undesirable perhaps, but understandable. You will come around. I do not need to force you."
"...."
"......?"
"Why is Amour going after the 'Ark twins?"
Krynyth's jaw practically dropped off.
"Thats... thats what you wanted?! You disturbed my sleep for THAT?!"
Ember nodded, stone faced at the snakes increased aggression.
"Why didn't you just say that at the beginning Ember?!"
The girl shrugged and sighed loudly, waiting for an answer.
"Ugh. I don't even know. She said she was going to take care of things. Most likely something to do with Slade, I don't know. I am beyond this. Pestering me with such trival queries. I thought you wanted something serious and definitive."
"It is, shoe swapper. Meep beep can't. You should know."
"Perplexing. I'm sure. You truly are a wonder. Now please, leave me be, I desire sleep more than I desire to continue this conversation."
"Meep."
Krynyth sighed loudly and nodded "Yes."
Ember nodded back smiling. They'd reached an understanding. With that, she quickly departed, leaving the snake behind swiftly and returning the relative safety of the maintenance walk-ways above the ships corridors. Taking extra care to make sure she wasn't being followed, she made her way back to the den, where Plasia was etching out some form of plan or map into a large piece of slightly warn paper, the wall behind her was covered in similar ideas, clearly she'd been busy trying to conduct something. The den itself was a organized mess of papers, pillows, rubble and food. The two slept on piles of cloth and pillows on one side the room, the center had a large table which was covered in Plasia's scribbles and the edges of the room housed the rubble from previous conflicts, piled up where it wouldn't get in their way. The only entrance into the room was a large hole at the top of a wall, the drop being about 12ft. Little Ember seemed to navigate this with no problem however.
The smaller controller entering the room broke the concentration of the larger. Since Leech had tried to break her again, Plasia had actually gained more control of herself and managed to stop dribbling everywhere most of the time. A dexterous tentacle grasped the edge of the paper firmly and raised it up for Plasia to see, despite being more monstrous than before, she did admit, the tentacles had their uses.
"Ember! Any luck with Krynyth?"
"Yupyup. We talked. I understand her better now. She no threat. Not to be trusted."
"No socks of course."
"Yupyup. But she won't jimble us. Amour is more risky though."
"Amour?"
"Sneks friend and helper, wears shifty coat with pockets. Too many pockets. Too many spaces to hide things."
"Hide things? Like that? You think she'd dangerous? Weapons?"
"Noooo... she hide chocolate bars. Why she hide them? Why not share? Ember love chocolate."
"oh. Well. Thats not too bad."
"Yes it is!" Ember finished clambering down from the hole and sat on the edge of table, looking over Plasia's plans. "What person hides chocolate from Ember? Meanies. Meanies and frimble-froxers."
"Frimble-froxers huh?" Plasia had been hanging around with Ember for a while now. Whilst initially she thought she was mad, she'd come to understand the girl quite well. She still did throw her off now and again, but otherwise they got along very well. Plasia had quickly come to appreciate the little wonder as the girl seemed to be her only true friend and ally on this ship. "Do you have any plans to deal with her?"
"Hmm... Meep and beep. No. She is... dangerous. Ember avoid. Don't want to meet a frimble-froxer alone. Hazardous for health and sanity."
"Ah." Plasia's second tentacle reached down and picked up a chocolate bar which was hidden from Ember's view in some rubble, she smiled and threw it at her, hoping for the girl to react and catch it, but Ember was a little too deep in her own thought and the chocolate slapped her across the cheek. "Uhm... sorry! I uh... thought you'd catch it..."
"Cheeky chocolate slap bap! Awh, plas! You's lovely! Thank you! Ember save this for later!" She reached down and picked the bar up, sliding it into her cleavage for later. "Is well safe! Where you find that?"
"I was searching around the area and stumbled across a wrecked fridge. Might be a bit gone off but it should be fine, knowing you."
"I hopes it is. Mould is licious. Fruity and crumbly."
Plasia smiled warmly. Sure, she was weird. But she was lovely none the less.
"So Plas! Plans and plas, how they go?"
"Ah, they're going well actually. Those drones you found have given me some really solid info from their data banks and the maps you stole have been incredible. I've managed to build a really complex and hopefully correct ship-layout, theres a whole layer of tunnels no one is using which would be ideal for us."
"And the man? Special man?"
"Diego? Well, its gonna be difficult, we both know that. But I am putting together a plan. Unfortunately, we need more people to carry it out properly."
"Names names names."
"I think Lark & Yark would be useful, some muscle would be good too, maybe Cherry? She knows Diego personally, might be more willing to help... gonna be hard though."
"You leaves that to Ember. Nice and shiny I will be!" Ember paused for a few seconds, ruffling her hair a little. Plasia knew what that meant.
"Cmon Em, out with it. I know you've got a question. I know that look on your face."
"The man, the special man. Why?"
"He... he means a lot to me. And a lot to a friend of mine. Seeth... long story short, I screwed them both over, badly. I was selfish and stupid."
"That was old you. Not your fault. New you better."
"I know... which is why I need to do this."
"You have feelings for him. I know this. You mention him or think about him, you bolsum and twinkle. You break him out because you want him? Honest and true now plas."
"Honestly? I little. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. But thats not why I am doing it. I owe him. I owe her. Forgiveness and redemption for what I did I what I really want. And if he gives me anymore than that, then he truly is a wonderful little lizard. Not that I deserve it."
"You are trying. I see that, I'm sure he will see that. If what you say is true, he forgives and forgets and moves on. Has he seen you since the change?"
"No... I'm afraid of what he will say..."
"He sees inner beauty I bet. I think you'll look better than a toffee rumble! And who doesn't love a toffee rumble!"
Plasia giggled softly, it had been hard for her to remain steadfast recently, guilt wracked her mind over almost everything she had done, but Ember was... well, she was truly something special, she always knew just what to say to bring a smile on her face or lighten her mood. Admittedly, Plasia had no idea what a toffee rumble was, knowing Ember, it most likely didn't even contain toffee, but the thought still made her laugh. There seemed to be a form on innocence in her that was difficult to find these days.
"You've got a massive log cock and slimey, wiggly tentacles too! I'm sure he'll be a big fan of those!"
Maybe not. But she was still lovely.
"He's more of a boobs guy... but I suppose I've got plenty of that too... Thanks Ember, you're a really good friend."
"Rump and pump! Better than dip and dump! And gloyic."
Gloyic seemed to be Embers way of saying 'You're welcome'. Plasia smiled again. Maybe things would work out. It was too early to say yet, there was still so much to be done, but Embers faith and attitude was a powerful and much needed boost to Plasia's ever dwindling moral. She knew they needed more friends in this dreaded place though, as she knew that that was something big brewing. Friends would soon be something in shorter supply than they already were...
