Iron Maidens: The Good, The Bad and The Grumpy

[Kuno]

---

She was told that she had a maternal side. Silph felt it now - a sense of misguided warmth swelling in her pit at the sight of the two freaks settled at her feet. The one's acrobatic feats allowed her to escape her fetters with a broken finger, and she watched as the demon tended efficiently to her injury. A soft snort escaped her.

To think that only the night before one had been actively trying to kill the other.

She supposed the circumstances were ideal for forging quick friendships. It couldn't be helped; even she, for all her conservative ways, had found herself growing - dare she say comfortable? - in both demon and mad woman's presence alike. To be quite blunt, she needed them: heavens knew escape would be near impossible on her own, and both seemed to be able to contribute much to breaking out. Reva, with her knowledge of the prison and her obvious capacity for fighting. Rowan, for her...well...

Well. She was sure the woman had some demonic qualities that might help.

Before her, Rowan shivered. Very quietly, Silph came to sit close besides her, a palpable heat emanating from her skin. She crossed her arms to her chest.

"I have plans. But I will need help, yah? I think…"

Cerulean eyes panned Reva and Rowan's way, pensive.

"I will need to know when and where shipments come. Specifically the firewater. I think we can take that cart to travel through the mountains. It is sturdy...it must be. Once we get out, I can get us through mountains." Her face was one of fierce confidence. "I am sure of it. Would you like to try?"

 

[Applo]

---

"I, erm…" Reva stared at her left hand. It had taken all her nerve not to flinch from the hellsp- from Rowan's touch. She knew she could trust her cellmate, the voice had said so, but still every one of the aasimar's instincts told her to pull away. Part of her had expected her cellmate's touch to burn. As it was the only pain there had been, had been that that she had expected to inflict on herself. "I don't know exactly where or when things arrive here."

Sitting up, Reva looked over the edge of the cliff at the freezing cold floor far below. She'd never paid too much attention to the daily comings and goings of the prison. She had always had other things to watch out for. Normally sharp pointy things. And after her first failed attempt, Reva had given up on escape. The feeling of the cold cutting at her like knives was not one she wanted to experience again.

Another thing she had learned on her previous attempt to regain her freedom was that you couldn't talk to anyone else about it. Her cellmate had been insistent about that. If anyone found out, they would either demand to be taken or rat you out to the guards. And it wasn't like you could ask the guards. At best they would probably laugh.

Putting her head in her hands, Reva sighed heavily. She wanted a drink. She needed a drink. Since she had been thrown into the cell the night before she had had to do too much thinking. The warm, numbing hug of alcohol would make everything better. The problem was the only place she knew where there was some was the warden's office and if you were sent there instead of being invited, the chances of being given any were next t-

"I think, though, I might know where you could find out." Twisting Reva looked at Silph and then more hesitantly at Rowan as the idea that had spawned in her mind took shape. At her side a fist clenched. "Follow my lead and scream loud."

Swinging a fist at Rowan felt right deep in Reva's soul. Opening her hand before she hit her cellmate's face didn't, but she did so anyway before throwing herself on top of the woman with apparently murderous intent.​

---

 

[Lillian Gray]

Follow her lead...?

Rowan peered suspiciously at Reva. A bit too late to the literal punch, the tiefling was thrown onto her back with Reva straddling her. There was a joke at the aasimar's expense somewhere in that, but Rowan was too busy snarling at her to speak it. She couldn't have waited a few more seconds to explain herself? Had the assimar decided not to so much as hint at a plan she would have kicked her over the cliff's edge into the icy pit below.

A shame. She'd been looking for an excuse not to like the strange woman. But if she was the reason they escaped? Rowan would find an excuse to kiss her instead.

Rowan grabbed the back of Reva's head and yanked on her hair before kneeing her in the gut to get her off. She rolled, pinning Reva to the ground and put both of her hands around the aasimar's throat. There wasn't much pressure in her hold but it was enough to incite a small gathering. The prisoners outnumbered the guards three to one. If they could get a riot going, that might have been enough of a distraction to sneak into the prison and do...

...something.

They really should have thought this out.

"Sorry, lovely." Rowan smirked before returning a closed fist punch to Reva's face.

 

[Applo]

---

For a moment, Reva's glowing eyes were unfocused but the smile of seemingly genuine enjoyment that had spread across the aasimars face as Rowan's hands had pressed on her throat remained. Then as suddenly as the tiefling's punch had landed, Reva's arms shot towards the horns atop the woman's head, pulling down on them at the same time as she threw her own head upwards. Forehead violently connected with forehead and Reva followed up by launching a knee into the hellspawn's gut before wriggling herself free and standing up.

The world was blurry, but Reva could see the other prisoners who had gathered round to watch the morning's entertainment. In the distance, she could just make out the fuzzy shape of guards coming towards her. That was good. What wasn't so good was the fact that Silph was sat exactly where they had been. That had to change now for her idea to work.

Swaying slightly the aasimar closed the gap between her and her cellmate before she fell on the seated blonde. Why the woman hadn't followed her lead, Reva didn't know. Maybe they were a fool. She just hoped that they would get the idea now, though perhaps she needed to make sure.

Perhaps it was because it was because of all the blows her head had already taken, or perhaps it was something about the woman, but when Reva's forehead connected with Silph's, the aasimar suddenly felt like the whole world was spinning. Slender arms wrapped around broad shoulders."

"Her... desk… she had a… big book… lots of numbers… lots of letters."

Reva hit the floor like a felled tree, glowing eyes rolling back in their sockets until they were barely visible at all.​

---

 

[Kuno]

---

While she admired the woman's...initiative, certainly some more forethought would have been greatly appreciated. She gathered Reva was prone to instinct over thought - a pity. Given more time, Silph might have come up with something more concrete. More logical. Certainly not...this.

Silph wasn't quite sure what she was watching.

It was a fight, yes, but for what purpose? To draw the guard's attentions? To start a prison riot? It certainly drew everyone's attention.

Still, the cue she had been given had gone largely ignored. Reva attempted rather foolishly to bring her into the fray, but a cost. As their heads knocked together, Silph could only stare with slight bewilderment as the mad woman fell limp, words streaming from her lips with no particular meaning.

Until suddenly the words clicked, and understanding washed over her features.

Ah. So that was her plan.

Silph stood. The jeering of the crowd raised in pitch, and, blinking slowly, she approached Rowan. Her own eyes drifted down to her hands, and she clenched and unclenched her fists.

Thoughtless violence repulsed her. She did not want to hurt the other: Silph was, after all, accustomed to her own strength and understood the ramifications of baring it against another. Though Reva's purpose for their little "fight" was clear, she found she could not muster up the will to strike the other woman needlessly. Her hands flattened out, and she sighed deeply.

Fine. This was what they wanted.

With no enthusiasm whatsoever, Silph gave Rowan a lazy shove. True, it was enough to push the demon back, but it was done with about as much energy as one would swatting a fly. The Diane woman's eyes rolled down to meet Rowan's, dull and tired.

 

[Lillian Gray]

The lackadaisical enthusiasm was simply rolling off of Silph in dull droves of waning energy. She didn't want to hit Rowan, but she did it anyways for the greater good. Reva had seemed simply delighted to smack the tiefling, but Silph? She looked as if there were about a dozen other things she would've rather done than start a riot.

Come on, love, put a bit more effort into it.

Rowan closed her fist and threw it at Silph, narrowly missing her nose and landing square on her cheek instead. It was going to hurt. It needed to hurt. Rowan was trying damnedest to make it look real. They could suck it up and sing songs after they got out, maybe apologize, Rowan would see how the mood was. Then she threw another punch, and another, before she felt a pair of arms hooked around her shoulders and a set of hands gripping the back of her hair. When she turned what little she was able, Rowan saw a stranger's face. A broad shouldered human in tattered rags, certainly not one of the guards. He glared down at Rowan with an all too familiar fire in his eyes. Rowan knew the expression well. He didn't have to know who Rowan was to hate her, he simply did because of what she was.

"Sonofa..." Rowan growled.

A different man came to Silph's defense, throwing up his arms and aiming for Rowan's face. He got one good punch in before a sole tiefling threw his way into the throng, knocking the man to his back with apparent ease. Rowan took the opportunity to try and slam herself against the broad shouldered human with very little success. Out of nowhere, a small man came running towards them with murder in his eyes.

Reva, what in the thirteen have you done?

Within a matter of minutes all hell had broken loose. It was mostly humans and lizard folk, the prisoners discernible by their rags and beaten appearances. It wasn't difficult to tell them apart from the armor clad guards. Rowan knew there was at least the one other tiefling now that he'd come to her defense, and at least one halfling biting at the ankle of her captor. That was a surprise. Rowan thought most of them had been wiped out by some strange fog halfway across the continent. Maybe he'd been one of the many to lose his mind. That wouldn't have surprised her, considering their current location.

The halfling with a death wish grabbed the broad shouldered man's leg, screaming and cursing about some kind of debt. It wasn't clear how they knew one another, but there was some sort of opportunity there that Rowan wasn't willing to squander. She slammed her heel into the broad shouldered man and threw herself out of his grasp and onto the ground.

All around her she could hear the sounds of prisoners and guards letting out all their pent up aggression. It was a mess. A huge fucking mess and Rowan didn't see how this was supposed to get them out. If anything, they'd all find a way to be locked along the side of the mountain, exposed to the elements in nothing more than their dirty uniforms. Rowan gritted her teeth and turned, bracing herself for the next hit. Fortunately it never came. The second tiefling pulled her to her feet, a solemn understanding that the only two hellspawns needed to try to have some sort of camaraderie if they wanted to avoid a knife to their gut.

Rowan raised her fists, searching for Silph and Reva.

 

[Applo]

---

Violence spread through the assembled prisoners like fire through a summer stubble as built up tensions and resements were let loose. Fists met jaws; Feet met ribs; Blood met the dirt. For most, what had started the fray was long forgotten by the time a high pitch metallic scream cut across din of the fracas. The shrill blast was quickly followed by the sound of heavy, scaly feet pounding across the stone floor. Those at the edge of the fray and those who still had their wits about them were quick to break off from the group and do a sudden but well practiced impersonation of a ceiling inspector.

For their part, the guards piled into the impromptu riot like alcoholics into the earliest opening tavern. From then on the prisoners were fighting a losing battle. Armed with heavy metal clubs, wooden shields and boiled leather armour the lizards began systematically dismantling the fight. Those who were smart enough not to resist were left sprawled in the dust. Those who weren't were dragged away by as many of the guards as was needed until peace reigned once more and all the prisoners were contained by a ring of guards.

"Alright you scumbags…" A green scaled lizard in finer armour than the rest of stepped forwards. "You lot knows that drill. Wardens gonna want to deal with the trouble maker herself. If any of you care to tell us who started all that foolishness, it will save a lot of time. Might even get ya off scot free."​

---

 

[Kuno]

---

Silph rubbed her stinging chin. While there had been various strikes across her body from other fruitless attempts to fell the large woman, none quite had landed with as much precision and pointed effort as had Rowan's fists. Perhaps the demon was used to such skirmishes. It would hardly surprise her. Silph, on the other hand, knew little of fights, as she had often been barred from many of them - for good reason. Ones who thought to wrestle with her had quickly found it to be a pointless endeavor. Soon the Diane woman was left to another task as the cave descended into violence: moving Reva out of harm's way.

The blonde found the mad woman where she had last left her. After throwing a screeching, bedraggled prisoner off her flank and back into the mob, she knelt down by Reva. She tutted her tongue as she found her to still be unconscious.

"You are out cold, yah? You have raised much hell."

And hell it was. She had long since lost Rowan to the sea of fists and yelling echoing raucously throughout the cavern. By the time the guards came to mercilessly break up the rabble, she had imagined to be felled as well, until she saw her standing some feet away.

The main guard's message was curt. At the mention of seeing the Warden, Silph's eyes lit up, and she glanced aside at Rowan, thinking.

It would be easy to out her as the troublemaker. Demons were well-known proponents of chaos, and hardly any of the prisoners would be remiss to speak up in the woman's defense. But what and how she would speak to the Warden was questionable, and Silph had a clear idea of where to go once she was within the Warden's grasp. Which meant she needed to be the rabble-rouser.

Which meant...which meant…

She sighed. Unfortunately, she was beginning to find Reva's idea a viable one.

Unfortunately for Rowan.

"It is because of this damned demon!" Silph boomed suddenly, jabbing a finger at the nearby tiefling. She spat roughly on the ground."By the gods-"

Perhaps she caught the guards momentarily by surprise, for there was nothing to impede her next course of action. She did not think she was a good actor; Divines knew the arts were far above her ignorant station. Still, the human managed to at least look wrathful as she surged forward, coming towards Rowan like a racing carriage. Then, her arm was blazing forward, fist cocked straight for the tiefling's face. She tried to pull back as much as she could but, lo-

Ai, Akadum. She prayed the woman's skull was as resilient as her horns.

The assault was over as quickly as it had started. No sooner had her knuckles bared against the left side of the woman's face than Silph felt the brutal smacks of metal clubs upon her, and the guards descended upon the large woman with renewed vigor.

 

[Applo]

---

As his subordinates piled onto the rampaging human, the green scaled guard rubbed at their temples, not moving an inch. His attention seemed entirely elsewhere until the mad woman had been pinned to the floor and handcuffed.

"Well I guess that answers that then… unless anyone has anything else to add?" For a few moments, slitted eyes flicked between the assorted prisoners, daring any of them to speak up. None of them did. "Ok take that one and the hellspawn up to the holding cell. Warden can sort it out. Rest of you back to your cells, NOW!"

Some of the prisoners took off at a sprint at the command, others were slower as parting words and threats were muttered to their fellow combatants. Silph was dragged upright and propelled towards onwards by a guard on each arm the head of a club in her back. Rowan, unshackled, was guided by another pair of guards, neither of whom seemed keen to lay hands on her, preferring instead to use their light shields to direct her.​

---

 

[Lillian Gray]

Rowan peeked up at the guards escorting her back into the narrow hall, her lavender eyes following them with great interest. She smirked with absolute delight at the small bit of power she still held over them. Even now, with Silph in chains, they dared not touch Rowan. Superstitions still held true, even in the cold Kaleshian empire. Men and women would always fear her kind. Touching Rowan would curse them. Looking in her eye would curse them. An action, any action, which offended Rowan's good graces would curse them and their sons for generations.

Naturally it was a load of bullshit, but they sopped up the lies and fear until the truth was too far obscured from the stories.

"Where are we headed, darling?" The question earned her a smack from one of the lizard's shields, at which she made a lewd noise of approval. It wasn't genuine, just something to piss them off. The guard only smacked her again, this time closer to her shoulders than her backside. Rowan couldn't help but smile wide.

They were led up a series of stairs that seemed unending, until they reached a corridor which chilled her to the bone. It was open. Natural light came streaming through frost glazed windows. Despite the roaring fire nearby, the glass remained frozen, an icy web creating an intricate pattern on its surface. Rowan yearned for the threadbare blanket off in the corner of her cell. At least that was something compared to the rags on her back. There were several cages on the opposite side of the windows. So that was to be their new home, was it? Great.

Just great.

"You know, it gets lonely." Rowan purred. "You sure I can't share with my new friend here?" She sneered at Silph. "We'll get along just fine, keep each other warm until one of us--"

"Enough!" One of the guards bellowed. He shoved Rowan with his shield up against the bars, fiddling for the keys on his belt. Once he obtained the one he was looking for, he hastily unlocked the door and pushed Rowan inside.

 

[Applo]

---

Moments turned to minutes, and minutes turned into hours. The corridor that fronted Silph and Rowan's cell was deserted and apart from the sound of the wind rattling the windows and the occasional crackle from the fire, deathly quiet. It was also frigidly cold. Occasionally the screaming silence was broken by a guard propelling a prisoner into and along the corridor before disappearing through a heavy looking iron and oak door at the opposite end; but these moments of comparatively frenetic activity were few and far between.

This obtusely uneventful state of affairs continued until the weak sun that snuck in through the window's frosted pane was quite clearly well past its peak. Two guards, better dressed and armed than any that either human or tiefling had seen so far, sauntered unhurriedly out of the heavy door that the prisoners had seen some of their fellow inmates marched in but not out off. Wordlessly, but with the air of those who feel absolutely in control of their own private universe the pair approached the woman's cell, and starting with Rowan shackled the pair hand and foot. Once they were satisfied with their work, the guards marched the pair noisily along towards the heavy and slightly ominous door.

The change between one side of the threshold and the other was almost magical. Hard stone gave way to plush rugs and rich mahogany panelling; bare wooden benches to opulently styled and decadently upholstered chairs; and perhaps most noticeable of all the biting cold was replaced by a comfortable warmth in the air that invited one and all to throw off thick coats and heavy cloaks and bask in tender embrace. The fireplace responsible for this entirely convivial atmosphere was a vast construction, dwarfing it's counterpart responsible for heating the corridor in which Silph and Rowan had been caged. Taller than either woman by nearly a head, the stone hearth crossed most of the width of the room, effectively splitting the chamber in two. The fire that blazed inside it sat atop a grate the glowed cherry red with the heat and nearly all the smoke was drawn neatly up the gaping chimney above it. Above the flames it was possible to make out what was effectively another room with an ornate desk, even more decadent furniture and a dramatic view through a leaded window of the neighboring mountains. It was into this more office-like room that the guards marched the pair, sitting them in stylishly uncomfortable chairs in front of the desk whose grandeur was only slightly ruined by being covered in books, scrolls, documents weighed down by empty glasses and all sorts of other bureaucratic detritus.

"Wait here. The Warden will see you when she is ready."

With no other words, the guards exited the women's universe as lackadaisically as they had entered it, leaving the pair with only each other and the roar of the fire for company.​

---

 

[Kuno]

---

Time drew out like a blade. A fire burned in its stony chamber but did little to warm the prisoners, thus serving instead as a callous gesture. An immeasurable silence filled the icy hall, perhaps by grand design. Gods only knew the thoughts that festered in a person's mind as the seconds ticked into minutes ticked into hours, the frigid isolation only serving to encourage the fearful paranoia of impending doom one might hold. But such cunning use of the environment served no purpose on the blonde, formerly do-gooder blacksmith.

In the interim, Silph slept. Not exceptionally well - one could only get so comfortable shackled and sitting upright against metal bars that bit into her back. Nor had she particularly desired to fall asleep. But as the minutes had passed in silent relief, the consequences of a sleepless night filled the gap that brawl-fueled adrenaline had given her. Her body forced her into a dreamless rest, and for that, she was grateful.

Hours later - or a moment past to her - the guards finally came for the two prisoners. The whine of the cage door was what startled awake. Whatever vestiges of sleep remained in her bones was shaken out as she was rudely pulled to her feet by a lizard guard. He looked different from the one who had first caged her. Eyes sweeping over him and his companion, Silph noted the higher grade of armor and the reinforced shield at their sides. Different, too, was their own trepidations; where the previous guards had balked at touching the demon, these ones shackled Rowan hands and feet with no hesitation. Interesting, but also troubling.

On the other side of the door at the end of the hall was...Silph supposed something that was intended to impress, though she could feel nothing but ignorant contempt as her eyes glanced about the grand and illustrious space. Lizards and their vain insistence on finery. The warden's need to dress up her office in every bit of grandiose comfort she could lay her scaly claws on were met with a soft snort from Silph. Back home, there was no need for such frivolities. Comfort was found in practicality. Comfort was found in a good hearth, a good meal, and pleasant company. Comfort was found in family, in loved ones, in parents and friends all seated about the fire...

Silph shuttered such thoughts away as she and Rowan were seated before the desk. The warden was not in, apparently, and the guards couldn't be bothered to linger. Perhaps they relied on the notion that no one would be stupid enough to try anything here while restrained.

Speaking of.

The blonde glanced at the shackles about her. With a light tug, she tested its mettle. Luckily they seemed to be of the same stock as the bars of their cell. She was grateful that she'd shown no feats of strength to elicit more challenging restraints. By Akadum's grace, she was quite sure she could break out of them, though the same gift was sadly witholden from her companion. Silph's head swiveled left to where the tiefling sat beside her.

"Rowan." Despite the appearance of being alone and unmonitored, her voice remained low. "How freely can you move?"

 

[Lillian Gray]

Rowan had no real thoughts towards the new room. It was just as cold, just as cramped, and the company was just as tiring. There was no rest, same as before. Whatever the guards were attempting to do wasn't working. Cold and tired as Rowan was, she wasn't really that bothered. Now Silph on the other hand... what was she up to? Was she playing some sort of game where they supposed to be helping one another? She shifted her glance to the cell beside her and grinned coyly.

"Can I move?" Rowan already had one of her wrists free of the frozen shackles. "I'd say I'm free."

Certain activities had given her a bit of an edge when she was restrained. There were a dozen good ways to break free of a pair of shackles, and another dozen ineffective ones. Luckily for Rowan, and Silph by extension, she had mastered a few. There would be no explanation. Rowan didn't want to have to explain to Silph where she learned that trick.

"Are we seriously helping the crazy Aasimar?" Rowan asked.

 

[Kuno]

---

She was agile, this Rowan. Silph supposed she shouldn't have been surprised she could so easily escape her bonds. It did raise a few questions, foremost of which being how guards were able to keep one like her so contained. It called into question many, many things - all of which she neither had the time nor energy to entertain.

"Aasimar?" Silph inquired, her expression clouding with confusion.

The strange word carried a hint of familiarity. She had heard it maybe once, twice in her life. Perhaps whatever it meant explained the strange coloring of Reva's eyes, and her, er, quirks. Silph shook her head once, as if in understanding.

"We help her and ourselves. All together. Then outside we go our separate ways, yah?"

 

[Applo]

---

In a universe more constrained by a sense of narrative and timing, Silph's statement would immediately be followed by the creaking of a door and the Warden's voice gently asking who would be going their separate ways on the outside as if she had only heard part of what the north woman had said. What actually happened was the fire, quite by chance, chose that moment to make a sudden sharp cracking noise as a small pocket of resin was vaporized and that was it.

The Warden didn't appear for another five or six minutes and when she did it was not silently through some hitherto hidden doorway but rather backwards through the same door Silph and Rowan had watched the guards leave through, a letter held in front of her eyes. Cassia Pius almost seemed surprised when she finally noticed the odd duo sitting in front of her desk though the evidence was gone in a flash. With a sigh the letter was tucked away, and she walked slowly around her desk before settling into her chair, slightly straightening the files on her desk as she did so, and staring at Rowan and Silph.

"Would you like to explain to me what happened this morning?" The question was gentle and weary sounding rather than loud and angry. As much as it was possible for a non-lacertilian to tell, the Warden looked tired. Certainly she gave off the impression of someone at the end of a long day when she fished a steel flask and a tumbler out from her desk and poured herself a generous drink of the flask's dark amber content. "I think I know what actually happened, but I would appreciate it if you would both indulge me."​

---

 

[Lillian Gray]

]"Frankly, it seems like a racist attack on tieflings as a whole, but I'm pretty sure the freak just got a little irritated after we made her sleep on the floor." Rowan shrugged. She'd managed to slip her wrist back in the shackles so the Warden wouldn't notice. It was sore, but there were more pressing concerns. Like the lizard warden sitting behind the desk in front of them.

Rowan leaned back in her chair. The smirk on her face was subtle, but she doubted the warden hadn't noticed it entirely. She propped one leg over her knee, appearing completely comfortable in the privacy of the warden's private chambers. At least for now. Rowan missed the heat of the fire in her cold cell, and if she could drag the conversation out to keep warm she would certainly try. Even if it meant taking a beating on the floor.

"One thing led to another. People get a little worked up, all that pent up aggression." Rowan shrugged.

 

[Kuno]

---

So the warden entered alone. Good. The imperceptible raise of Silph's brow was the only sign of the fleeting thoughts in her mind. She ran through her ideas impatiently, half-listening to the warden. Instead, she scrutinized her. It was hard to tell with Lacertilians, but if her eye and her instinct were correct, the warden was tired, if not more subdued than from their very first encounter. She was not sure how much that information would help her, but the idea of a slightly less difficult, er, challenge of the lizard eased a bit of the knot in her stomach.

In truth, the Diane woman was concerned. It was her first active role in breaking a law, and the warden was merely playing her role. Still, she confessed to feeling no small amount of justification for it.

Her head angled up haughtily. As Rowan told her side of their story, Silph did not have to try hard to make her face bare with scornful attempt.

"Lies," She hissed just as the last word dropped out of Rowan's mouth. "The demon lies. She started the brawl! I have done nothing to her that she has not brought on herself."

The last words raised to a louder volume, and subtly, out of the eyesight of the warden behind the desk, Silph tensed her shackle-bound arms. A crack emerged in the center.

 

[Applo]

---

Ruby red scales wrinkled slightly between Cassia Pius eyes as her finger drummed on the table in the near silence that followed Silph and Rowan's statements.

"How interesting." With the slow movements of someone who would rather be anywhere else doing anything else, the Warden picked up one of the files that littered her desk and flicked it open. When she put it down again, Cassia moved with new vigour, striding purposefully around her desk and before quite unceremoniously putting a boot on the chain between Rowan's wrists. The shackles slid towards the floor and for a moment it seemed that they would slide off all together.

They didn't.

At what was quite possibly the point of no return, the steel manacles twisted slightly, biting into Rowan's flesh and getting stuck behind her thumb. Cassia kept up the pressure with her boot until a drop of blood landed on the floor; she smiled when she saw it and the pressure on Rowan's wrists abated.

"Your reputation precedes you, horned one. I had to be sure." An almost jovial pat of the warden's hand landed between Rowan's horns before Silph felt a pressure between her wrists. Unlike her horned cellmate though, the pressure Silph experienced was in an upward direction and really quite gentle if insistent. "My dear, if you would come with me a moment, there is something I'd like to show you before we all continue this little chat of ours. I'm sure your friend here won't mind waiting. If she gets bored, well my guards are right outside."

Despite the wording of what the Warden said, the pressure on Silph's wrists made it clear the she didn't actually have a choice in the matter and the red scaled Lacertillian quickly maneuvered the north woman through a door opposite the one they had entered their office by. The corridor beyond this door was lined with the same plush rugs and expensive furniture that had filled the office and on either side finely decorated doors led into rooms unseen. The warden ignored them all, steering Silph towards a heavy looking door at the far end of the corridor. When this was opened a blast of cold air rushed into the corridor as a small balcony was revealed. Without hesitation Cassia pushed Silph out into the fresh air before grabbing a cloak that hung by the threshold, stepping out after her and closing the door once more.

"I would ask that you don't lie to me again. You aren't very good at it." Stepping past Silph, the Warden put her hands on the balconies parapet, a long stream of steam pouring from her nostrils. "I brought you out here to make you an offer. You ended up here because the twerp of a border guard you rubbed up the wrong way was the cousin of the judge that sent you here. Basically, you got screwed. Fortunately, the crime you were sentenced for is relatively minor and this prison is short on space. With the right papers I could have you a free woman in three or four moons. All I'd ask for such a favour is that you keep Reva from causing anymore trouble that I have to document in that time.​

---

 

[Kuno]

---

There were two types of prejudice: one born from blatant ignorance and the other borne from skewed experiences. The former was easier to overcome; despite her relative discomfort of tieflings, Silph had, to a degree, started to view her as more - dare she say it? - human. An actual being with thought and feeling as opposed to the chaotic beasts her parents had often warned her about. But unfortunately for the Warden, Silph's bias towards lizardfolk stemmed from the latter type of prejudice. And if there was one prevailing truth that Silph had learned throughout her travels, it was to never ever ever trust the words of a Lacertilian.

The cold air whipping frantically at Silph's bare skin matched the frigid stare of her eyes. The Diane had said naught but a word as human and Lacertilian had passed down yet another hall onto the balcony. Silent, too, she was as the Warden picked away at her quick and flimsy lie. It was the words following that that coerced a haughty scoff from the blonde blacksmith.

So the Warden knew of her innocence. The level of spite Silph felt for her and her people was rising at an astonishing rate, so much so that the offer that came forth next from the lizard's lips was nearly rejected immediately. Instead, by force, Silph stayed quiet a moment, thinking.

The proposition raised many questions. She wondered why the Warden did not just kill Reva and be done with her troubles. After all, she was a testament to the corruption of the prison, and she doubted very much that her people would have taken any qualms about that. Though the offer did sound enticing, no doubt purposely so. To be home and rid of this place within three to four days sounded like heaven, and it...well, it was more than tempting.

Alas, she was a Lacertilian, and Silph trusted her as much as she could - well, not throw her but -

"'A favor'?" Silph echoed. Her lips curled in disdain. "You lay claim to holding an innocent woman and call freeing her a favor? Gods above, and for this I am to help you?"

She took a step forward and stopped, shaking her head emphatically.

"I don't believe you. For what then will become of the girl after I leave? Surely you will not make another offer to another prisoner to keep Reva quiet? For all my lack of skill at lying, I am no idiot either."

 

[Applo]

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"Either you understand my people far too well or not at all, I can't decide which."

Slowly and with apparently an exertion of great effort, Cassia turned her back on the hard, unforgiving mountain landscape and locked eyes with the hard, unforgiving north woman instead.

"First of all let me educate you a little. Despite what you think, you are not innocent; I have the judges paperwork that says you are not. I can not overturn that and even if I could it would take far longer than the four moons or so I need to say that you are no longer a threat to the empire or it's people."

Pausing, Cassia listened to the low howl of the wind. Oh how she detested these god cursed mountains.

"As for Reva, she is my ticket out of this sun forsaken hell just as she is yours. Stupid and impulsive and frankly insane as she is, she is also valuable. Her tendency to hit anything that confuses her makes it hard to realize that value and that's where you can help me."

Silph scoffed lightly. If anything had changed in the past few seconds, it was only that her stance had become even more aggressively rigid, if not hostile.

"Papers spell what lies we speak. You teach me nothing." Her twin braids were the only thing moving on her, until her chin jutted forth stubbornly. "And your four moons are still four moons too long. And for what? To contain the girl's wild insanity?"

What had Rowan called Reva again? Osa...Aasi..mar?

"Is it because she is Aasimar?"

For the first time since she stepped out onto the balcony, Cassia smiled.

"So there is a spark of intelligence in there. Yes, in part at least. If Reva and your horned cellmate share one thing in common it is that they are both rather unique specimens. In Reva's case though, her value comes more from the life I suspect that she has lived. Uncovering it has been a project of mine. I probably know more about her than she does."

The warden's words passed and receded into the cold, tense silence. Her prisoner was unresponsive. Indeed, as Cassia had so insulted, the human's appearance was dull, all emotion squashed as she stared back lifelessly.

No, perhaps that wasn't all true. There was something churning in that thick skull of hers, barely registered beyond the blank look of her eyes. A grand decision was to be made...and it took her no less than fifteen seconds to consider it. Her eyes drifted down to the metal about her wrists. The frigid winds had helped to make them brittle and cold. Silph raised her head slowly, meeting the warden's eyes.

"I don't want to help you." What was the point of lying? The warden herself had said Silph wasn't particularly good at it. "But...I will keep an eye on her. As you've said."

"Chain her to the bottom of your bunk for all I really care. As long as she isn't doing anything my guards have to write down, my plans can proceed to both our benefit."

Apparently satisfied by the north woman's grudging acceptance of her deal, Cassia stepped gracefully around Silph, one hand already reaching for the clasp that had held her cloak shut against the freezing air while the other reached for the door handle.

"I have a bottle of the best whiskey in the empire if you are inclined to a drink to toast our little arrangement. Even if not I'd suggest you take it if you want a good night's sleep. Reva does scream rather doesn't she? The poor thing only seems peaceful when she is a few sheets to the wind. Give her a bottle and you'll be her best friend and well rested."

"Hold. One question."

Silph spoke with an authority she did not have. She glanced up, blinking in the wind.

"Why me? Why not Rowan instead?"

"You really need to ask?"

Halfway through the door, Cassia turned on the spot to look at Silph. Her face was a mask of genuine surprise.

"I don't trust that creature. I don't trust it's kind. They are tainted. You, well your peoples ways are certainly hmmm, different to my own, but, well you are a business woman. I can work with that. The hellspawn is only here because I am certain it terrifies Reva. I thought it might help her to take a shine to you. I can have it moved to more suitable accommodation if you would prefer that."

"No. That is alright."

For despite the warden's previous insult, the Diane woman was an intelligent woman. Inwardly she weighed the authenticity of the Warden's disgust against hellspawns with her own deep-seated suspicion of lizard words. She trusted the other's prejudice, and in so doing solidified her own plans in cement.

The hammer would come against stone soon.

"Like you say," The human continued in the same airy tone, "It might help Reva like me more."

With that being said, Silph came along, following Cassia out of the frigid cold and back into the warm hallway.​

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