The Frozen Sheet

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Ty Lee

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@AngelLass

The news had spread throughout the village like a wildfire.

The spire of smoke was still visible, that day in the reasonably cold summer. The days were usually shorter in such a time, leaving more room for the plants to grow, and the animals to fatten up. In this village, there was only summer and winter, autumn and spring being largely foreign concepts in this part of the world. The village of X'dyr, Raybrandt tongue for 'Hope', was certainly an interesting place which would meet not only the eyes, but all senses.

The ice sheet everyone resided within was something of creation, whereas the Ice God Chillix froze the northern forests, to make room for His Iceland. The once pristine forest, home to the entire race of Fae, frozen in an instant. A kilometre thick sheet of ice separated the canopies of the forest with the sunlight they desperately needed, but at least in such a state, they'd never decay for a long, long time.

Raybrandt lore was always hot on the mind, as Vina thought to herself. How did everything begin? How did I end up here? These were but few of the questions which plagued her somewhat frail mind, while she waited for the current meeting to be over with. The Raybrandt who stood out front, the leader of the village by vote, was rambling on about safety measures to those who would keep watch. While she wished to simply skip this procedure, many younger recruits for the warriors within the village had to learn this off by heart, usually on the first day too. The ground search was to find out exactly what caused the meteorite to fall from above, and how it could've been conceived in the hands of the Elder God, Zaserazi.

The meteorite which had smashed nearby wasn't going to be taken lightly. The way it hit the sheet, it caused a dramatic crack within it, one which was observed by Harts, winged people, to be several kilometres long. This caused a great amount of fear, considering the nature of where everyone of the eight races were settled, a crack like that could loosen the entire sheet and cause widespread melting which would surely drown everything out within the frozen forests which lay in all directions, the nearest settlement being at least a hundred miles away.

Vina soon perked up, as she gazed toward her hand, tiny little spears forming due to her mind wandering. She began to space out once more, when...
 
"That's fool-hearty at best." a man spoke up from the opposite corner of the room.

He was typically a pretty reserved man in they eyes of most people. He rarely spoke during briefings, usually only to ask for clarification-- and even then it was a rare occurrence.

All eyes turned to the white haired man who had interrupted. Zander L'esther. He stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall in the back corner of the meeting hall. He was one of the few from his clan to join the watch-- being both physically able to endure the long cold hours, and unburdened with fear. Should he die-- he had no one immediately under him to care for. He was a good fit for his job. Strong, serious, and level headed. Though he remained uneducated, other than the basic skills of his own art, he was a bright man with street smarts.

A good guard dog.

"If you send someone out there now to look at that thing, you're sending them to their death." He said simply. "A storm is on the way, and we don't know if that impact woke something up out there. Whoever you send will need time to prepare." he reasoned. "Leaving in the morning is a knee-jerk reaction, an instinct that will get people killed." he cautioned.

A hushed murmur rippled through the room. He had a point.
 
"Though, we must investigate such a thing soon! To leave it fester within wild lands... It would destroy evidence!" A Veras elder spoke harshly toward Zander, his grey eyebrows perched as high as they would go, while his completely black eyes bore into the younger one.

Soon, there was a definitive thud, something which had become familiar in these meetings. Being at most of them since they even existed, Vina would usually form a reasonably large spear within her hand, simply to stomp on the ground and haul herself up, the four metre polearm a true showcase of her materialisation magic. "That is true, Elder, but we must not forget that lives are more important. Do you really think destroyed evidence is worth more than the lives of those who will become our future? I'd think not."

The way she spoke was very precise, very to the point. There was a distinct lack of bullshit when Vina spoke; a good thing in most of the room's eyes. Seating himself, the elder grumbled as he murmured to himself.

"So, we shall prepare the investigation over the course of today, to travel out in two days time." The Raybrandt leader's voice was so divinely smooth, the way he allowed the words to roll off his tongue was enough to convince world leaders, let alone woo women. He was young for his position, but he indeed did his job rather well.
 
Zander raised an eyebrow at the elder who snapped at him. He only offered a word of caution-- yet the elder seemed to dislike the idea with unbridled enthusiasm.

It only took a few seconds for someone else to step in. A woman he had noticed a few times. She seemed to value her own words more than gold, the way she held onto them, only using the precious few she needed to part with.

When the Raybrandt spoke up again, Zander abandoned his thoughts to pay attention. He stopped leaning against the wall, pleased that his voice had been heard.

Once the meeting was dismissed, the white haired man looked around, trying to spot his little cousin who had come in with him. She already seemed to have run off.
 
Luckily for Zander, this cousin of his hadn't travelled far. As the people were clearing out from the village hall, Vina had bumped into the little girl, who was praising her for what she said, and how she said it. The Yertas simply dismissed it with a wave of her hand and a nervous smile - the latter being what she was poor at portraying.

Regardless, she looked around, sighting the L'esther approaching. She raised a hand toward him, pointing downwards, though the little rascal had already gone off to talk to someone else.

Having realised this, Vina blushed and looked around, swearing she had seen the girl just before her form.
 
Zander raised an eyebrow at Vina before realizing what must have happened. The little kit was fast on her feet and could talk to a box of rocks... currently, she was chatting to one of the elders, who honestly seemed more anodyne than anything else.

"Gotcha--" Zander caught the little girl under her ribs, flipping her under his arm as she kicked and laughed happily. "Sorry." He apologized to the elder-- someone of the Hart clan.

"Bear-- put me down!" The little girl squirmed, her pale pink hair a tangled curly mess. She laughed happily when he flipped her onto his shoulders, where she held onto his horns, pleased with the high up view.

Zander looked over his shoulder back to Vina, offering her a small smile. It was a simple gesture, passive and friendly. Nothing more.
 
Having sighted the little girl reunited with her older family member, Vina sighed in a relieved manner. She waved toward Zander as he smiled, before she quickly made her way out of the village hall, into the freezing cold winds of the morning. It was honestly the worst time to be out and about - unless one was a Ftoyl.

She held herself together as she made her way toward what was the Yertas settlement. She had nothing else to do today, so she thought she might as well do something worthwhile - like dancing within her home.
 
Zander made his way back to his aunts home, his cousin happily clinging to his horns as he walked, steering from her perch on his shoulders. "Andie, you're old now, right?" she asked.

Zander glanced up at her, raising an eyebrow. "Meaning...?"

"Meaning you should have kids soon, right? You're older than Noona, and she had kids."

Zander scowled slightly as he walked through the snow, a think coat of white fur on his legs protecting him form the chill. "Age has little to do with having children." he informed his cousin.

"Well, I know you need to be married-- but you can get married now, right? So how come you don't have a mate?"

"Well, for starters--" He laughed. "If I marry, I won't have a mate, I will have a wife. We are not animals." He reminded his cousin patiently. "Secondly, I have no reason to have children. If I want to play, I have you and the others."

His cousin seemed skeptical, playing with the metal inlaid into his horn. "Well, you need a wife." she said, echoing the words she undoubtedly heard form her mother.
 
The village hall was now practically empty, the place seeming a little worse for wear, but it was enough to survive several winters, each with some kind of new breed of snowstorm which brought a world of pain to those who were builders. Luckily, there were plenty of those.

Vina soon found herself meditating, though she was very much troubled. The way the vibes were coming to her - they seemed awfully out of line, and as such, she decided she needed a good drink. The fine alcohol brewed within X'dyr was something which was world class, but very much exclusive to this desolate place.

Being smart and wearing a long overcoat, the Yertas pushed through the doors of the local tavern. Inside, the hubbub was something to behold, roughly one hundred individuals spent their days within this place - but not always the same hundred every day. This was lucky though, as this kept the money flowing junk which kept the business alive. The Veras owners had been successful for most of their lives.

Seating herself down in a more...quiet corner, Vina ordered up a sweet blue wine, born from the heavily frozen sap of the trees which covered the entire northern hemisphere.
 
After bringing his cousin back to her mother, Zander headed out once more, having the rest of the day for himself.

A drink, he decided, was just what he needed to warm himself up. He susspected he would be on the first voyage out to the rock, as he was the reason they would not be leaving in the morning. All the more reason to get some spirits into him now, rather than later when he needed to prepare.

There were a couple of good pubs, but always one obvious choice. A Veras bar, where the drink was reasonably priced, the fights were good, and the games were casual. He duck inside, brushing off his shoulders of the flurries that had attempted to make a home there, rubbing his ears to warm the tips.
 
Being able to throw one's overcoat off indoors was such a treat to the ebony haired one - Vina usually had a hard time keeping warm as it was, but this place was absolutely cozy, just the right temperature. The smell of the place was good too, something which the woman had grown accustomed to over the years. Soon, her drink arrived, and she sipped it, minding her own business within the small booth in the back corner.

How it felt good to be alive at this time. The wine was sweet, but it had the side effect of tapping into one's emotional centre within the brain, which is why many have been reported to be crying after only a few glasses. Luckily, this woman wasn't so weak in the stomach.
 
"May I join you?"

Zander, as opposed to ordering and waiting had ordered his drink at the bar and carried it over, as well as the rest of the bottle. It was the same blue wine she drank, though only made last year. The older the wine, the sweeter. The L'esther seemed to like it bitter.

The bar was an odd place. While differing families could mingle there without raising any eyebrows, they could also brawl there just as easily.

He slipped into the booth seat opposite of her, placing the bottle on the table. "I wanted to thank you for earlier."
 
The woman eyed him, but generally accepted his presence in such a place. There was something about the warm indoors which made her social, that, or the alcohol she consumed. Nevertheless, she made herself comfortable after Zander had seated himself.

"It's alright, I just do what I can." Her simple reply was all which left her vocals, as she took another swig of the sweet wine. If anything, this caused her voice to sweeten as well, not the mention her reddening cheeks.

"So," Vina turned to him passively. "What brings you here? Have you nothing to do for now?"
 
"My shift doesn't start until the morning. I figured now would be a good time to relax." He confirmed, sipping from his own glass, keeping his blue eyes down. Something about the white haired man seemed terribly lonesome. Maybe it was the wine. Or, perhaps, it was those horns. They certainly looked heavy-- which might be why he kept seeming to look down.

Or perhaps still, a lack of self confidence. A submissive gesture he had become accustomed to over the years?

To look at him, he was no weakling. That fact that he was on the guard was another fact to attest to that. True enough, his clan was known for keeping secrets-- but they were usually so boisterous and rowdy. Zander seemed to be a stark contrast, at least in personality to his family.
 
"Oh?" The Yertas perked up, her fur trimmed attire shaking about lightly as she did. Hearing of another on the guard, one which she hadn't heard of, was definitely a surprise to her. "I'm on the guard too, I'm usually placed right in the thick of things."

With a nod, Vina's features lightened as she leaned forward, elbows upon the table before them. From the looks of her, she definitely was carrying some weight around, secrets, lies, they were all too evident upon her face. Regardless, she kept her calmness at its maximum, while she sighed in a heavy manner.

"If we're on the guard together, I guess it would be good to be acquainted. I'm Yolavina." She turned her torso enough to allow herself room to expand a hand toward the L'esther, a smile on her lips as she did this. It was good to meet someone new.
 
Zander met the hand shake, his own hands warm and larger than hers-- though he remained gentle. "Zander L'esther." he introduced himself. "I'm usually point, sharp eyes and what not."

As he spoke, his blue eyes shifted to the golden hues of a hawk, then back again. "If we're usually at different posts, we might be teamed with one another to look into the meteor." He pointed out. In all likely hood, it would be a group of four people. One from each station of the guard. He offered her a smile. Charming, sweet, sincere-- again, a simple gesture. "I think we ought to get along just fine, despite whatever feud our famlies have going on."
 
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