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[Random the Navigator]

[Shhhh...Enya's about to wake up.]

Rowellan kept her silence; suddenly there was a fragile magic in the atmosphere she didn't want to disturb.

Enya's lids fluttered, then drifted open as she emitted a small "Oh...!"  Not in alarm; more as if she'd been reminded of something - which she had, by the mists and the light peering through them in Bjorn's music and the Sun's gentle warmth in Rowellan's caresses.  The Seafolk girl slowly sat up and said "Ahh, yes; someone gotta sing the Dawn Song...  You know it?" she asked Bjorn.  "If you not know it, you gonna..."

She straightened and smoothed her tunic and arranged her cloak around herself, still fending off the draft.  Facing the little window, she elaborated: "Seafolk be from Eastern Sea.  My People have always believed that Sun say Hi to us first in the morning.  So we greet it like so, all of us together; men, women, little-kids, everyone; if you not can walk, can get carried.  All come out to seashore for the Dawn Song.  Is not a song with words.  Music be in how we blend together...  I start; you come in whenever your spirit be ready."

It was barely dawn in Midgard; the Sun wouldn't rise over Alola for another several hours.  That realisation, months and leagues in the making, was still working its way through her senses of Place and Self, and the shift had been profound...  She turned back towards the window and, still seated, raised her arms in greeting to the Islands' still-sleeping Sun from this place called Midgard, the new eastern rim of the world.

[Kiyevanie]

[After completely waking up and a hearty breakfast our group of travellers heads out right away]

...They stepped out into the cool crisp air of a new Midgard morning. Weather indeed looked promising. From the east the sun was rising, sending the first almost warm rays over the Jamtland mountains, starting to light up the sky and the air lacked that certain smell that spoke of snow.

"A good day for travelling," Bjorn stated as they walked away from the keep.

There was a well-kept path leading South, but it didn't take long until Rowellan led the group away from that.  "If we want to go hunting that path won't do," she stated, and so far the area was easy going enough even without a path. There were softly rolling hills, low bushes and a few patches of snow here and there, but the landscape had its very own harsh beauty to it.

Still, both Midgardians were wary and alert as they walked through this early morning.  As peaceful as everything looked right now, these were still the Borderlands.

[Random the Navigator]

Enya strode along behind the Norsefolk pair, making much better time now that she was shod.  Her six orbs gleamed on either side of her capacious belt-pouch - even the empty one; for she'd promised Auryn a day out, he being "not meant for ball-travelling", and the Griffin was now on point, paws and talons making divots in the ground as he leapt and bucked and pranced.

[Kiyevanie]

It would have taken more heavy-hearted people than Rowellan and Bjorn to not smirk at the Griffin's antics.  "He's feeling that hint of spring in the air," Bjorn stated, in the back of his mind already forming a little melody about that.  "Like a foal when it's out of the stable for the first time."

"I feel with him," Rowellan replied.  "I'm used to our weather and love our home, but at the end of Winter there are moments I'm seriously considering to move to Hib..."

She stopped mid-sentence, even more on alert than before.  In the last hour or so the patches of snow on the ground had become more coherent, and there also were more fir trees; and if the huntress had had ears like Enya's, they would have swiveled around constantly.  Instead she slightly tilted her head now, slowly reaching for her bow.  "Ssssshhh," she said, all playfulness gone in an instant.  "I think I've heard something."

[Random the Navigator]

It didn't surprise Enya much that there'd be more snow away from the roads. Out here, so far from anything manmade, the snow didn't get trampled or ridden over or compacted by wagon-wheels.  All the same, walking through it was a slog and definitely took more effort than wading through anything else, including water.  Ahh, warm, shallow water, just up to the shoulders; water fit for swimming, splashing, or making love in...  Yes, Seafolk did that too.

But her daydream went *poof* when her companions stilled.  Of course, she *did* have mobile ears, so she heard something too, though in this strange land she couldn't have told you what.  She could, however, tell exactly which direction it was in; swivelling ears were good for triangulation.

She considered for a moment.  Tayu would be the best person by far to investigate on his ghost-silent wings.  But his elements were Grass and Spirit, and snow and ice were very hard on grass.  On earth too, for that matter, so as odd as it seemed, she'd have to be careful with Kilvanä...  Well, as long as the owl flew, he wouldn't be on ice; and the Ghost in him didn't have much to fear from melee attacks that wouldn't harm grass.  Ranged attacks were another matter; birds of any kind tended to fare poorly against them.

A-yeh, she and her companions hadn't made it this far without taking risks.  And her Soul-friends were long overdue for a battle...

She detached Tayu's orb and sent him out on ghost-silent wings.

[Kiyevanie]

The owl flew off in the direction where Rowellan had heard the noise, and the huntress nodded.  "Probably frost spectres," she whispered to her companions. "They're a bit out of their area, but I think I've heard that certain sizzle..."

"Ugh!"  Bjorn made a face and readied his sword and shield.  "And it was such a beautiful morning so far..."  He hated those creatures.

With two arms, two legs and something remotely reminding of a head on their not quite material bodies, they could be called humanoid.  Kind of.  If you forgot the fact that they didn't have faces or any other structures - or anything resembling intelligence.  Nobody knew where they came from; even the old songs just mentioned their existence.  Some thought they were lost souls of people frozen to death out there; others were deeply convinced that they were the Northern Winds come to life.

But whatever else they were, they mostly were an annoyance for travellers. Never alone, coming in small groups, they just attacked whatever came their way. Their attacks - mostly frostbite, icy winds and surprisingly solid blows from aetherial creatures - weren't deadly right away, but definitely could kill someone over time.

On the bright side, there were two things they didn't like at all: Fire and steel.  "Wish we had a torch or something," Rowellan muttered.  Arrows didn't help much with frost spectres, so she put her bow away again and too pulled her sword, then looked at Enya with a half smile.  "Or maybe a Soul-friend with a fiery spirit?"  She wouldn't tell the girl about how to fight; Enya had held her own pretty well out here, and maybe she already had met frost spectres and knew what to expect…

[Random the Navigator]

Whatever Enya's friends might have known about the creatures, they had spoken little of it out loud.  It was a good thing, then, that her awareness of the supernatural and Tayu's Spirit aspect were one and the same, because it made her aware of Tayu himself and enabled the airborne archer to 'speak' with her soul-to-soul.  Were the creatures she sensed through him actually spectres, spirits?  Only a ghost could hurt another ghost.  Or a Feral could; she'd never understood why that was, but a Soul-friend whose element was wilderness and survival would be hell on anything not of the natural world.

All that was certain about the oncoming creatures was that the 'frost' part of their moniker was well-earned.

Enya took stock of her available resources, not all of which (or whom) she was carrying.  By their actions Bjorn and Rowellan, who knew the beasts, felt that arrows weren't going to be much use.  That probably meant the spectres weren't Flying-types, at least.  Her friends had swords; they meant to answer the things with Steel.  For her own part, yes, she had a Soul-friend of Fire; and one of Rock (chuck a stone at an icicle and see which one breaks...); and one of Lightning which, while not especially effective against Ice, had no weakness to it either.

And then there was Auryn; protean Auryn, who could, at need, take on any of her natures that wasn't strong enough in her to manifest separately.

With Ice, the best things to do were to either melt it or shatter it.  Pepper could do the melting.  But Wuffels might appreciate a little help with the shattering...  Besides Rock and Steel, the other thing that could break down Ice was physical strength and power, the kind that fuelled the blows her homeland's boxers and wrestlers could apply even to stone.  So Enya went to the Griffin, touched foreheads with him and said: "Auryn...you be Force today."

After a few minutes of communing, Auryn nodded as if in understanding.  Then Enya released Pepper, Wuffels and 'Iheyu...and they waited.

[Kiyevanie]

While waiting, Bjorn called up his own little brand of magic - a hum, a song, a chant, almost inaudible - something that would encourage the other fighters in their little group.  It wouldn't make them superheroes or anything, but it might be the last little bit that helped in a strained situation, the one little encouragement that helped overcome desperation - although he hoped the situation wouldn't get desperate; he and Rowellan were experienced fighters, and Enya looked very well as if she knew what she was doing - as did her companions.  He had practised this often enough and could keep it up even in the heat of battle without even having to think of it.  Silently he wondered if the magic would work for Enya and her Soul-friends too; but if it was a matter of intention, as his teachers had often enough told him, it would.

They didn't have to wait very long though.  The crackling, sizzling noise that had alerted Rowellan in the first place got louder and then a few shapes made their ways through the trees.  Three... five... seven - no, there was another one, eight vaguely humanoid shapes in different sizes showed up.  Their basic colour was white, with a shimmer of blue, but they didn't look quite massive. More as if a snow cloud had taken shape; and indeed there were little ice crystals flying around them as if there was a little blizzard blowing them up.

The creatures, now finally spotting their prey, howled and it was like the howling of the wind.  Arms stretched wide, with icey claws, the creatures made their way forwards.

"They're not very fast," Rowellan informed Enya and her little group of Soul-friends, "but better get out of the way when they suddenly get all-still, that's when they're preparing an extra blow."  She took a breath and grabbed the hilt of her two-handed sword.  "Good luck!"

And then she charged.  If the Ice Spectres were not very fast, the huntress was. Knowing very well that she couldn't match their strength, she knew she had to go for speed and agility instead, attacking the first and smallest one before the creature even knew what hit it.  The Ice Spectre crumbled in a little heap of ice and dust.  But even as slow and unintelligent as the others were, that got their attention and Rowellan quickly dove away, getting out of the way of Bjorn or everyone else who would get into the fight now.

The Skald let out one of his battle cries, stunning two of the Ice Spectres into silence; then he stormed forwards, managed to separate an arm from one of the bigger ones with his first attack, then his shield shot up and he was busy blocking the blows.  Wearing a heavy chain mail as an armour, he wasn't quite as mobile as Rowellan, but far better equipped to stand up to the monsters' attacks.

[Random the Navigator]

Enya, for her part, was wearing nothing but her regular Northlander tunic, vest and leggings...and a rune-bordered cloak that protected her against the cold of these wild lands.  All the same, a transformation came over her too as she straightened up, her stance proud and erect as she faced into the winds, ears pinned, eyes blazing, her muscles firm and her countenance fiercely alight.  In that moment she didn't look like a child at all, but exactly what she'd compared herself to last night in the stables: A confident mage, sure of her power, her beasts and their elements and, ultimately, herself.

Or perhaps there was something childlike about her expression after all; for what stuffy, studious wizard ever looked so full of glee?

She saw the first spectre collapse into just another snowdrift and it hit her: These creatures weren't really *ice*, except on the business end; they were made of snow, of frost, a much less substantial material.  In that moment she wondered if this was going to be a real battle at all, then decided to go easy on the beasts so her Soul-friends would get in a proper training session...  No, that wouldn't do.  The extra turns she'd take for that would be turns her travelling companions would be at further risk of getting hurt.  She and her team would have to wrap this one up quick.

It helped that this wasn't a formal battle.  In a formal battle, each of her Soul-friends would have been restricted to using only four moves chosen in advance, whether physical ones, magical ones, or ones that helped her team (a lot like Bjorn's song, though she didn't know it) or hindered the opponent without actually harming it.  In a situation like this, when life, health and welfare were at stake and the other side wasn't playing by the rules, her team could use any moves they knew.  They'd been together a long time...so that was a lot of moves.

She picked the largest of the spectres as the first target for one of Pepper's Fire attacks.  Once that one was down, the rest would be leaderless if that mattered to them, and in any case her side would be free of the most dangerous opponent...  Hmm, melee attack or ranged?  She obviously didn't want the creatures to come any closer than this, but getting run over by a pony-sized dog who could cloak himself in flames would have to be pretty effective...

"Pepper!  Flame Wheel!!" she cried; whereupon the already-glowing canine flared, tucked his head in and did something like a series of somersaults, plowing into the spectre with all his mass and velocity behind him.

[Kiyevanie]

Rowellan, who had started to circle the group of Spectres, heard Enya's yell and ducked out of the way - fast enough to make way for Pepper to do whatever he did there, but not quite fast enough to evade the claw of one of the bigger Ice Spirits she was fighting right that moment, getting a slash along her cheekbone.  She started cursing and answered the hit with one of her own, separating the offending claw from its owner.  Not that she really felt the injury; for one, the cold claw made her face slightly numb.  What was more, for a split second she stood there, mouth agape and eyes wide to watch the maneuver of the huge dog who had just kind of turned into a flaming cartwheel or something.

She had seen a lot of impressive spells cast by Runemasters or magic users from the other realms, she had seen thanes call down Mjolnir's hammer out of the sky, but she had never seen something like this.

Bjorn was even closer to the whole thing, much closer - close enough that he could feel the heat radiating off Pepper in his attack.  The skald's eyes, too, widened at the sight while he was still busy holding off three or four of the middle-sized Ice Spectres.  So he saw right away what happened…

With all the speed and mass Pepper had built up, he crashed right into the biggest Ice Spectre, toppling the creature over.  But this Spectre was a little tougher than the small one Rowellan had killed in her first attack.  Yes, it started melting and dissolving everywhere Pepper's fire was touching it, but although it was already doomed it still clawed and hissed at its attacker.

Bjorn decided to make a go for it.  With a grunt he pulled himself free from the smaller ones and tried to attack the big one too - only to realize he couldn't. Too hot was the fire Pepper radiated, so the Skald went back to at least hold off the other ones, having Pepper's back in that.

[Random the Navigator]

The survival of the largest Spectre irked Enya to no end--not to say how much it chapped Pepper's hide as he cooled off a little by crunching the creature's icicle-talons between his teeth unbidden.  Fine, Tayu was still up there somewhere; yes, Grass was weak to Ice...but she wasn't planning to have him make real contact, and her only worry for him was that the Spectre might turn an icy wind or a snowstorm on him.

"Tayu!  Aerial Ace!!"

At that, the owl tucked in his wings high overhead and dove, extending his talons as he levelled out and smashed into the creature's "head" in passing.

And then, because this was a "multi-battle" with more than one opponent, she sent Wuffels after the Spectre that had wounded Rowellan.  "Wuffels!  Stone Edge!!"

The little dog growled, and a small cluster of very sharp stones suddenly erupted from the ground right under where the offending creature was standing; it would have been the equivalent of a spike-pit in a dungeon if Enya had ever heard of such a thing.

[Kiyevanie]

There was no chance the biggest Ice Spectre could have to send anything against anyone.  Pepper's first attack had already wounded it fatally, it had just been too stubborn and stupid to die.  But with the owl not only smashing the "head" but the air coming from his wings also fueling Pepper's fire again, the icy creature finally collapsed, a heap of dirty ice and snow, steam fogging up the air.

Wuffel's attack too added the final stroke to *his* opponent: already having lost its two arms to Rowellan's sword, it had also lost its balance and now for a moment hung almost motionless from those sharp stones...and then crumbled too.

"Three down," Rowellan yelled to the others, readying herself for her next opponent.

"Make that four," Bjorn called back.  His own strokes had been more in defense than anything else, but he also had managed to get rid of one of the smaller ones of the group.  "I wish they weren't too stupid to retreat when they see they're losing!"

For a moment there was confusion among the Ice Spectres, but then two of them - not realizing that it had been Wuffel's attack that had just impaled one of them - decided to attack the, in their limited minds, weakest opponent.

"Oh no, you won't!"  In a second Rowellan was there, spreading blows left and right.

And then she paled, as from the corner of her eye she noticed that one of the remaining Ice Spectres stopped attacking Bjorn's shield and instead turned around, making its steady way towards the tall blue girl sending her Soul-friends against them.  "Enya!" she yelled, unable to drag herself loose from the frenzied fight she was in.

[Random the Navigator]

"Ohh, Wuffels," Enya grinned, shacking her head bemusedly as the little dog bowed low, preparing to send a spray of small stones at the two creatures bearing down on her.  No, Enya wasn't worried about Wuffels; the pup could hold her own as long as she managed to keep from getting under Rowellan's feet.

The Seafolk girl's eyes darted as she quickly mentally charted where everyone was.  Tayu had ended his flight by swooping up into the nearest tree.  Pepper, wincing from the steam his opponent had released as it died, spit embers at a Spectre that was swooshing its way towards Bjorn's position. 'Iheyu and Auryn were still waiting for a chance to get in on the fun...  Well, she had a job for Auryn, at least.  He would help her test out whether these 'Spectres' were actually spirits of some kind; if they were, she had some fairly nasty surprises in store for them...  "Auryn!  Razor Wind!!"

It was a Feral move, one that sent blades of air spinning towards the back of one of Rowellan's foes.  If it did more than slice a few wedges out of the creature's frosty hide, she'd have her answer...

Only she wouldn't.  Too late, she saw movement and only just managed to focus her vision on the Spectre that was bearing down on her, whether blindly or by some greater cunning than its fellows...and from then on she was in no position to monitor an experiment.

She leapt sideways to evade the creature.  All the same, she wasn't quite out of reach when its first raking blow ripped her cloak away...the Rune-cloak that protected her from the cold.

She didn't have to think about what that meant.  She was suddenly at a huge disadvantage, even with 'Iheyu springing to her defense and darting around and between the beast's feet, nipping its ankles in an attempt to hamstring it if it even had hamstrings.  She had no time to call her other animal companions to her aid; they were already occupied with defending Bjorn, Rowellan and each other.

She had to survive this.  Her Soul-friends could exist apart from her...but not without her.

'Iheyu created an electrified field all around the monster, a move which would have paralysed most creatures but didn't seem to bother the Spectre unduly.

Its second swipe caught Enya just behind one ear and sent her flying.  She came up mad and got her legs firmly under her even as that whole side of her face purpled from frostbite.  "Eh-YAH-yeh!!!" she shrieked, alerting the rest of her team.  But could they break away?

Tayu released several feather-arrows from his perch and found out the hard way why neither feathers nor arrows were any use against animated snowmen.

Enya staggered, the effort behind the yell leaving her dizzy again.  There wasn't much to like about this situation...  ~ Aiee, 'least in this cold I not will bleed very much... ~

[Kiyevanie]

The next moment Bjorn was there.  He had noticed one of his opponents turning away and then heard both girls' yells and outcries.  With a few choice words - and Skalds can get very graphic when they set their minds on it - he got rid of the last Ice Spectre he had been fighting (five down) and was sprinting over to Enya as fast as he could.

Not fast enough to stop those first two hits, but when Enya was staggering, recovering from that last blow and her yell, Bjorn was there, slamming his shield into the Ice Spectre that had attacked the blue girl, making the creature stagger back for a moment.  He was breathing heavily right now; with the killing blow on his former opponent he had lost his sword, and it took him a few moments to find his foothold, but he stood his ground, gripping the shield with two hands now, so the next few blows of the monster just hit solid steel instead of blue striped skin.

Rowellan noticed Bjorn running over, but she was too focused on her own fight.  The little stones Wuffels was raining on the two Ice Spectres were just the distraction and additional damage she needed to slowly chop them down.  With some very distant corner of her mind she noticed how well the pup managed to not get under her feet or hit her with any of her attacks - Wuffels knew what she was doing, fighting in a team.

[Random the Navigator]

That teamwork was about to be demonstrated two more ways.

Auryn, who'd just split the air with the Razor Winds, heard Enya's war-cry and knew the next move was up to him, up to all of her Soul-friends.  They were independent enough and intelligent enough to decide their own courses of action in the absence of Enya's guidance.  They knew the moves they knew, whether those were requested or not.  And Auryn in particular thought he had something to prove...  After all, she hadn't named him Feral for the day; she had named him Force.

The pale white crescents of air hit one of Rowellan's opponents with a satisfying *chuff*.  Thin slits appeared in the Spectre's hide.  Behind it Auryn stood alarmed and angry yet resolute, gathering the power those emotions gave him for something else; and when he'd charged up enough for it, he released an Aura Sphere made of his pride and rage and love for his trainer.  The thing took solid form as a kind of psychic cannonball of fighting spirit, almost as if he'd manifested a Soul-friend himself, and if the shock wave it made in front of it didn't pulverise the lurching monstrosity, the impact itself most certainly would.

Meanwhile, 'Iheyu and Pepper locked eyes.  Enya saw this and had a hunch about what they were going to do...  "Get DOWN!!" she shouted at the Norsefolk...just before Pepper, who'd learned well about the steam, sent a heatwave at Enya's assailant that stripped the snow off the rises in the land between himself and his intended prey.  The blast did what it was supposed to; it caused that whole side of the creature to boil up and away.

But that wasn't the clever part.  The clever part was that with enough moisture in the air to conduct it, 'Iheyu's electrical field suddenly became much more effective on the beast; and rather than wait for the sparks to stop flying, she bristled and summoned a Fusion Bolt--a strong thunderbolt in itself, but made even more deadly when helped along by very hot air or a very large flame.

Enya herself was sprawled face-down in a low spot, mostly because that gave her cover from the forces being released around her--minimal cover, but cover nonetheless.  As she lay there with her arms protecting her head, the punctures and lacerations behind her left ear served notice that they, too, would appreciate it if she took a little downtime...

The Seafolk wanderer was in no shape to contest the point.  She barely had the time to pack some snow over the now-seeping wounds before she passed out.

[Kiyevanie]

With Auryn literally slicing apart one of the Ice Spectres Rowellan and Wuffels were fighting, it didn't take long until those two monsters weren't a threat anymore - the first one fell under Auryn's wind, the other one under Rowellan's sword.

So she could indeed drop to her stomach the moment she heard Enya yell her "down" - she didn't even think about it, it was pure instinct that made her react.  Still she felt the heat racing over her head when Pepper's heatwave smashed into the last standing Ice Spectre

Bjorn too had dropped flat on his belly, his shield still trying to cover as much of the girl and himself as possible.  So the heatwave passed harmlessly over his head - the thunderbolt, not so much.  None of the people in this little group knew much of "electricity" or that metal and steel made a perfect conductor for that kind of energy - the only thing Bjorn felt was the tingle and tickle that 'Iheyu's attack sent through his armour and body, and he was lucky that he wore his armour over a layer of wool and leather, both making for enough isolation that tingling and tickling were the only things he felt, together with his hair standing up and a certain dizziness.

The Ice Spectre on the other hand was not as lucky - between the damage it had already taken, Pepper's heatwave, Auryn's pure force and 'Iheyu's thunderbolt it almost immediately dissolved into a cloud of steam.

For a moment there was silence in the little open space between the fir trees, nothing but the last crackling of electricity in the air and the fighters' heavy breathing.  Then, with an audible groan, Rowellan made it into a kneeling position, looking around, checking for any danger that might still be lurking around, all senses still on high alert.  But there was nothing left of the Ice Spectres but a few heaps of ice crystals, some steam in the air and the wounds they had left behind.

"You okay?" Rowellan finally asked Bjorn, the Skald slowly getting up again too.

Bjorn nodded.  "Yepp. Just a few bruises..."  He looked around, noticing Enya laying there, very obviously passed out.  "Dang - Enya's out," he cursed. "My fault; that last one should have never gotten to her."  That was the way it worked in all the groups he had been travelling so far; people wearing heavy armour defended magic users and healers.

"They were just one too many."  Rowellan shook her head, suddenly tired as hell, but still making it upright to her feet.  The cut on her cheekbone had stopped bleeding so far, but it hadn't stayed the only one - there was a second on her forehead and a slash over her left arm that could have gotten ugly if it hadn't slashed just through her studded leather tunic, losing momentum there.  And she felt as if she'd been run over by a Troll stampede.  Still she shuffled back to where she had dropped her backpack, sorting through it for a moment, bringing out a small wooden box that had runes carved in and smelled of herbs.

She sceptically eyed Enya's spirit companions, not knowing how they'd react to anyone getting close to their friend now.  Tied as closely as they were, they'd probably know that neither Bjorn nor Rowellan would be a threat to Enya; just the opposite.  But she had seen enough hunters' companions suddenly turn feral when their owner was passed out.  So she very cautiously made her way back to where Bjorn was still trying to shake off the last impact of the electrical discharge, holding the little box in front of her.

"I hope you're letting me close," she said, addressing Enya's Soul-friends.  "I just want to check on your friend and patch her up a bit."

[Random the Navigator]

'Iheyu flopped down on her belly right where she was, panting.  The bolt had been one of her most powerful attacks; she wouldn't be sending any more of them today.

Wuffles came bounding over to Enya's side, nuzzling and whimpering to rouse her friend, then turning wet blue eyes on Rowellan when her efforts proved unsuccessful.

Tayu flew down and extended both wings, mantling the trio, both claiming and protecting them in the tent of his wings.

Auryn stood by, looking perplexed.  He had not been with Enya as long as the others, and it might have been the first time he'd seen her fall in battle.

But everyone seemed to be waiting on Pepper; by which it might have begun to dawn on Enya's human companions that he, and not Tayu, was the leader of her animal allies.  Tayu might have been her first Soul-friend, who'd been with her from the beginning of her singular career.  But Pepper had been her second; and, being of a communal species, he had become the strength of the group as a team, understanding what so many human leaders did not: that leadership wasn't about lording it over people, but about safeguarding them so that they could live their best lives.  Enya had chosen a risky life.  But it was her team, led by Pepper, that kept it from being deadly.  She, too, was living her best life, thanks in great part to this huge, stalwart, fatherly canine, whose inner warmth only echoed her own, whether by the hearthfire or in the middle of a maelstrom.

Pepper picked through the bare path he'd made, stopping once in a while to crunch on another icicle-claw; a fire-dog was still a dog, and dogs got thirsty.  When he reached Enya, he simply nuzzled her over until his red steel orb came into view; then he gave Auryn a questioning look, complete with a raised eyebrow--if not for the situation, it might have almost been comical.  The Griffin, understanding, extended a talon, which was the closest any of them had to a finger, and pressed the latch, sending Pepper back into his ball.  He did the same for Wuffels, for 'Iheyu, and for Tayu; Enya needed them all this way right now more than fretting over her or prancing around celebrating their victory.

Auryn nodded at Rowellan and Bjorn, then turned back to Enya to make sure what Pepper and the others had done was going to work the way it was supposed to.  And it did; with her soul-shards returned to her and already healing in their orbs, she found the strength to break through the surface of consciousness, grunt and groan a bit, and open her eyes.

"Hei..." she murmured with a weak smile, sounding exhausted enough for all of them.

[Kiyevanie]

"Hey..." Rowellan replied, more than a little relieved that Enya had woken up again.  She as well as Bjorn knew some battlefield medicine, but in a way treating Enya would be an unknown.  And Wuffels' pleading gaze sure had touched a string inside Rowellan's heart.  Both huntress and Skald had looked on in fascination at how the fighting companions had retreated into their orbs and now, besides Auryn, were resting themselves - or giving Enya back some of her strength, maybe both.

"How you're feeling?" Rowellan now asked while she sat down besides the blue girl, putting down the little wooden box and opening it.  "Let me check where those beasts have hit you."  She could see the purple frostbite on one side of Enya's face as well as the clawmarks behind the ear.  "Did they get you anywhere else besides your face?"

Inside the box was a little assortment of vials and tiny bottles, all wrapped in linen, with differently coloured strings of wool closing and marking them. Rowellan now opened the biggest one of the bottles and took a fresh piece of linen cloth.  "I'll have to clean this first," she said, meaning the seeping wound behind Enya's ear.  But before doing so she pointed at one of the vials. "That's something against frostbite," she explained.  "Like all my salves they're made out of different herbs, oils and some healing magic."  She had no idea if the healing magic would work on Enya too, as she came from so far away, but the runes in the cloak had worked.  Plus, the herbs would work anyway.  And whatever healing salves Enya might carry around on her own, Rowellan guessed that a cure for frostbite wasn't on the menu.

Very carefully now, Rowellan poured some of the aromatic liquid in the bottle on the cloth and started cleaning away blood and dirt and the rest of the snow crystals Enya had put on it herself.

In the meantime Bjorn had made it halfway to his feet as well, picking up the torn-away cloak, draping it around the girl's shoulders.  Warmth always was important, even more so for someone who wasn't used to the climate to begin with.

[Random the Navigator]

Enya didn't answer Rowellan's first question immediately, her eyes instead darting around in concern for her companions' whereabouts.  "Where everyone be...?" she mumbled, then caught sight of Auryn, whose front legs did a little dance when their eyes met.  "And ev'ryone else...? --Oh."  She'd figured it out, or at least come to a satisfactory guess.  "Heh...got to see to Soul-friends 'fore I see to me...  They safe, yes?

"So...do feel like tried to fly like Ikran but found out I be Teylu instead--is baby bug, goes squish.  And Spectre only got me once--but got me good!  What be those things, anyway?  You not did say much 'bout them before I send Soul-friends."

But as Rowellan began probing and cleaning her wounds, the noises she made were even more fearsome than anything the Ice Spectres could have come up with.  She yowled, she screeched, she "Aiee!!"d, she hissed, and the racket pretty much assured that there would be absolutely no game within three miles of this place.

Finally the stinging and throbbing subsided, and so did Enya.  She gave her friends a forlorn look.  "This means I not gonna get to see Frostfoals today, huh?" she said miserably.

[Kiyevanie]

Rowellan bit her lip at Enya's reaction to her cleaning her wounds.  "It shouldn't hurt like that," she stated, looking a bit helpless.  "Sting, maybe, but only a little, and then cool down."  She shared a helpless look with Bjorn. "I'm not sure if I should dare to give you anything else from my medicine."

"And we did tell you everything we know about Ice Spectres," the Skald added. "They're slow, they can be killed by steel and fire, and we don't know exactly who and what they are.  There are a few old legends about that, but none really has proven true so far."  He shook his head.  "Anyway - I'm sorry that I failed here...should have been my job to keep someone like you safe."

"Bjorn..." Rowellan started again, then sighed.  She knew that Bjorn took his responsibility as shield wearer really seriously.  So instead she turned back to Enya.  "Your Soul-friends," she said, "they were awesome today and sure saved our rears.  Eight Ice Spectres are serious opponents for a group our size, especially with no healer around."  A small smile appeared on her face.  "They make a great team - Wuffels knew very well how to aid someone she never before had fought with and Pepper knew that it'd be best for all of you if they went into their orbs again after the fight.  None of them looked seriously hurt - just tired.  And worried about you, especially Wuffels."

"About those frostfoals..."  This time it was Bjorn speaking.  "I'm not sure. The salve against frostbite should help, at least for Rowellan once she lets me patch her up; and one of those little potions she and I carry around will help to get some of our strength back after a short rest.  But the way you reacted to just the cleaning lotion..."  He scratched his beard.  "We might have to rest first and slow down a bit later.  Because right now we're not in the shape for fast travel, although I'd like to disappear as fast as possible."  He shook his head.  "My ears are still ringing from that last attack."

[Random the Navigator]

Enya winced at Bjorn's comment.  "Oooo...lightning and metal...'fraid I not did think 'bout that...  Was face-down in snowbank when did happen, but did see Pepper and 'Iheyu plotting first.  Sorry...  Bjorn, you sure you okay?"

She sat up slowly and blew another big sigh.  "Ice Spectres...yah, maybe you tell me all you know yourself; but if there be stories about them, might want to share those too.  Maybe some be true and some be not, but they give me more to be ready for just in case.  Fine, no time for stories before a big fight; I know that.  But at least tell me if they maybe actual spirits.  Coulda fought way differently then."

Then she gave Rowellan a rueful smile.  "And all that noise I make? ...You forget I cat-girl, and cats gonna yowl!"

[Kiyevanie]

Rowellan's mouth formed an almost perfect 'o' at that last piece.  Having grown up in a rough environment, she had learned early to not whine about something like cleaning her wounds - and that came quite handy as her parents had to use disinfectant on her rather often when she came home with her knees or elbows bloody from falling down somewhere or trying to sneak through narrow crevices.

"Alright."  She blew out her breath.  "So you think you might be ready for some of that salve?"  She lifted the little vial.  "It should numb the pain - from the frostbite and from anything else."

Bjorn did wince, though.  "Uh... lightning, yeah.  Not a good idea to wear armour through a thunderstorm, so I guess I got lucky here."  He started rummaging through his own backpack, bringing out a box not too different from Rowellan's.  "I'd rather have something stronger right now, but I guess some of this stuff will have to do to get rid of the last effects.  Don't worry, gonna be fine."  He uncorked one of the bottles, the one with the green woolen thread around it, sniffed at the content and took the tiniest sip, making a face.  "I wonder why it has to taste that ugly though."

[Random the Navigator]

"Yah, gimme salve, 'least 'til wizards make healing-ball for me," Enya grumbled.  "All hurting be on back of head...here, right under ear...yah, like th--YOWCH!! ...Aww; do wonder 'f that ear ever gonna come up again..."  Her concern was justified; at least one of the claw-marks was deep enough to have possibly done some muscle or tendon damage.  If the Spectre's blow had caught her at a slightly different angle, she would have lost the ear entirely...

She grinned at Bjorn.  "Medicine gotta taste nasty, or little-kids gonna get hurt all the time on purpose so they can have some!  'Specially the boys."  She wrinkled her nose playfully, then thought she'd better not try that again until her face muscles were fully-functional again.

Then she considered certain other aspects of their predicament.  "So you wanna go faster, hmm?" she finally said with a sly smile.  "Fine; I ride Pepper...and you two can share Kilvanä!!"

[Kiyevanie]

"If this stuff works on you like it's supposed to, your ear should be alright sooner than you think.  Alright then."  Rowellan took a tiny amount of the salve on one of her fingertips and very gently started rubbing - more like dabbing - the salve on Enya's wound.  "Might tickle for a moment, but that's it."  She grinned.  "And that's due to the herbs in there, not the healing magic."

The grin turned into a chuckle about Enya's comment on ugly-tasting medicine.  "That could be an explanation - boys always like to have their noses in something sweet.  No chance to keep my brother out of the dried berries - ever."  When Bjorn offered her the bottle she accepted it, and, just like him, took a tiny little sip, then held it over to Enya.  "Unfortunately that means we girls have to deal with that stuff too.  Just a tiny sip," she warned the girl.  "More like wetting the tip of your tongue in there, that's enough.  It will help our strength to recover much faster than it would without that potion."

"And in the meantime I will patch you up," Bjorn said to Rowellan. "You got your share of cuts and bruises too... and to be honest, I wouldn't mind a ride while we wait for our medicine to kick in.  I don't think there'd be anything left in an area with such a big pack of Ice Spectres, but... better safe than sorry, and right now we're not in fighting condition."

While he was working on Rowellan's face and they were waiting for Enya to try the potion, he frowned at Auryn, who was still waiting patiently besides them.  "Why ain't he in his ball, by the way?" he asked.  "Is it because he's the one operating them?"  There was so much he didn't quite know about how the whole thing worked.

[Random the Navigator]

"Auryn put ev'ryone back in balls?" Enya said, surprised.  "Ahh, he clever, yes...but that be new one. --Auryn, you sooo smart!" she cooed at him.  "Do think you got the hang of this already!"  She fished around in her pack a little bit, then tossed him an especially tasty poffin; and where only his front legs had been tap-dancing before, once he gobbled up the tidbit his hindquarters finally joined in the merriment.

"Is Griffin," Enya said, as if that explained everything.  "Sometimes think he got bird-mind and cat-mind and they not always agree!"

She took a tentative whiff of the contents of Bjorn's vial and recoiled.  "Whoof...smell must be enough to cure me; I tingling already!!"  Which, given her much keener nose, was quite possibly true; the airborne droplets that made up the scent might indeed have been as effective for her as an actual sip would have been for a human.  "All right...I fetch our rides; gotta let ev'ryone out and fuss over them anyways, 'cause they done good."

Which she did; and all five of her other Soul-friends gobbled up their well-earned poffins and made themselves available for petting, they weren't picky who from.

But Auryn came over and nudged his orb, asking to be taken back inside.  Enya understood why, and she planned to explain his situation for real once they got on the road again.  She was pretty sure he knew this, and pretty sure he would allow it--as long as he himself didn't have to listen.  Some things just didn't need to be relived...

She recalled him and most of the rest besides Wuffels and the transports, then had Bjorn help her up and onto Pepper before they collected their things, scaled Mount Kilvanä, and were ready to be on their way.

  -:-  -:-  -:-

[They move on, chatting about "done good" and hero-songs and how miffed Bjorn's lute would have been to be dragged out in weather like this...]


"...Talk 'bout 'miffed' and 'not want to come out', we maybe not gonna see too much of Tayu rest of today, 'less we need him," Enya chuckled.  "He shoot lots of feather-arrows today, yes?"  The Norse pair had already told her what had happened while she was unconscious.  "Sooo, he looking kinda tattered too, and he not like anybody to see him like that; you know he fussy 'bout his feathers!  Is prob'ly why he go back in his ball so fast."

She fell silent for a while, pondering the question Bjorn had put to her when they'd first set out again after the battle.  How would she answer this without giving away more of the story than Auryn would have wanted her to tell?  Well she knew his sensitivity on the subject of his origins...  But she'd trusted these two with everything else, and they needed to understand if they were to know what to expect of him--and what not to.

"And while we talking 'bout balls," she began, "maybe now I tell you why I say Auryn not meant for ball-travelling..."