Closed Breaking the Ice

[Nephti]

73rd Spring 516

Nephti wrapped her cloak around her, feeling the chill of the ice around her reach her bones. Light passed through the ice strangely, lighting it all up with beautiful blue tints to it, shifting as she travelled. Alvadas had gone too far with the illusions, almost dangerous - first with the water, no this. Yet at the same time, she couldn't deny that the tunnels weren't beautiful, because they really were.

Reaching out, the Eypharian placed her hand against the ice walls, tracing along the dents and bumps that formed the tunnel. They were so smooth, as if someone had carved them out themselves, but they were part of the city. She stopped for a moment, simply wondering at the beauty of the city. Ahnatep never had this sort of mystery. A person could live in Alvadas for any length of time, yet still the city could surprise them one morning when they awoke.

That was what she loved about it, a part of which made her stay.

Smiling softly at the thought, the girl moved on, hoping the tunnels did lead to the Bazaar. She was cold and hoped to buy something to warm her. She had managed to collect a handful of coins - hopefully the quantity would be enough to purchase something. They jingled in her hand as she walked, clinking against each other. She couldn't quite tell, not yet, where she was going, but Nephti walked all the same, moving along the path hoping it would take her somewhere.

She stopped for a moment, shivering in the sandles she wore. She needed new shoes, too. This were old and falling apart, and it didn't help that the floor was made of ice, sending shivers up her feet. Shoes - and nice warm socks too. Her list was only getting larger as she walked, which wasn't exactly helping. Sighing, she ran a hand through her hair, then shivered again, wishing she had something with long sleeves. That, of course, would be even more expensive, as she couldn't simply buy something from a market stall. It would have to be tailored to fit her three pairs of arms, tailored to fit an Eypharian girl like her.

At least the cloak she wore was warm. Long and black, it trailed along the ice, sheltering her bare arms from the chill, at least a little bit. If only it was fur lined, that would make it warmer. If only. Nephti shook her head, speeding up a little. She was eager to reach somewhere warm.

[Lucas Arias]

Alvadas had definitely gone a bit too far this time, Lucas decided and shivered. Living underwater had been fun. He had liked talking to whale houses and riding sharks so much that he had considered returning to Syliras and plunging the whole city into the Suvan so that his former colleagues could enjoy themselves as well, but this here did not serve a point. At all. The tunnels made him feel slightly claustrophobic, although he applauded the city of Alvadas or whatever else was responsible for the illusions for its creativity.

Since he was not a coward though and definitely not some kind of lazy homebody, but a proper Alvad-in-training, Lucas had decided to brave the city’s newest invention, and he had decided to do so in style. He wore a blue shirt, blue pants and a deep blue cloak that was trimmed with black fur at the edges. He had even dyed his hair a nice shade of blue again. Only his boots were black because he hadn’t been able to find blue leather so far.

Maybe he’d find a pair of blue boots at the Bazaar though. If not, he’d just go to the nearest tavern and get a hot drink. A mug of hot chocolate with rum in it sounded really nice at the moment. Or maybe pure rum would be better, anything to get warm. He had the feeling that he was freezing from the inside, despite his new and much too expensive cloak.

As he walked through the tunnel he let a gloved hand run along the tunnel wall. It amazed him that the illusions felt so real. He still half expected his hand to move right through the ice every time, but everytime he tried it, his brand new gloves just got a little colder and wetter. If only he could find out how the city did it! He wanted to have that ability so badly!

He abruptly stopped thinking about how much he wanted to be able to produce illusions, as he noticed a multi-armed woman walking down the tunnel in front of him. He furrowed his brow. There was something familiar about her. Was it...? Of course! It was the Eypharian that had visited Okana’s tent earlier that season, and she was not really dressed appropriately for the weather. He wanted to find out why. Was it possible that she did not feel the cold and was immune to this particular illusion?

“Nephti, wait!” he called out to her and hoped that she would stop and turn around. “Are you aware that we are currently living in a city that makes Avanthal look like the middle of the Eyktolian desert?”

He realized that this might not be the best and friendliest way to start a conversation - belatedly as always. His mouth usually moved faster than his thoughts that already moved at lightning speed sometimes.

He smiled apologetically at her and hoped that she would not be mad at him. His cheeks even reddened, although that might just be the cold.

“Sorry, I was just really concerned because you are only wearing sandals. Did you ever manage to find Sayana by the way?”

[Nephti]

Nepthi heard boots behind her, then a voice call out. She turned, heart racing as she wondered who it was. Not many knew her name, and even less would call it out, get her to stop. It took her a moment to recognise the person who had, his hair a blue she didn't recognise. But it was Lucas, the fortune teller from before. She smiled at him, beaming a little more at his statement.

Yet he seemed embarrassed at what he had said, blushing a little. Nephti smiled, trying to show him that it was all okay. "I know, I know," she said, "But I have nothing else. I want to buy clothes warmer, but had no money yesterday." She jingled the coins in her hand to signify that she had it now, although that would have probably been assumed with what she said. She shook her head at his question, "But I still have hope for her return."

She shivered a little with the cold, wrapping her cloak around her body even tighter. "Why are you outside?" she asked curiously as she turned, hoping that the quicker she moved, the quicker she would reach a shop where she could buy some more suitable footwear. Yet as she did, she realised they had reached a dead end. Strange. Nephti couldn't remember there being one before Lucas had called her name, and it wasn't like they had moved. In fact, she distinctly remembered the long stretch before her.

Confused, she turned back to Lucas, pointed in that direction. Yet a couple steps revealed that the turn before them was another dead end. Nephti spun, getting more worried by the tick. It appeared the city had played a trick on them. They were trapped. And Nephti was cold.

Shivering, she turned to Lucas, trying not to show the chill that had come over her. "Where do we go?" she questioned, although she doubted the fortune teller had an answer to that. The walls seemed firm, ice for metres on metres, and they were everywhere. But the city wouldn't trap them forever, would it?

[Lucas Arias]

„Why did you not have any money yesterday?“ Lucas wondered because her statement worried him a little. He was just a fortune teller, not the most reliable career, but he always had more than enough money in his pocket and had managed to save seven hundred golden mizas so far. His financial situation had always been stable. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, of course. I’m just a little worried. Everybody should be able to afford warm clothes, even during a fake winter.”

“That’s a good thing”, he continued. “Not that you haven’t managed to find Sayana yet, of course, but that you have a little money now. As for why I’m outside …” He shrugged his shoulders and took a look at the thick ice walls that surrounded them from four sides. Was he just imagining things or did they look a little different than before?

“I didn’t want to be cooped up all day long. I don’t have a house at the moment. I live at the Cubacious Inn. It was fun while the inn was a whale, but now I just get cabin fever. So I thought I’d get something to drink at a tavern and buy new boots. These here are not the right kind.” He raised his right leg a little so that she could see what were perfectly normal and rather new looking black leather boots that seemed to be neither too big nor too small, which made his statement sound a little strange.

“I’d give them to you so that your feet don’t turn into blocks of ice, but your feet are smaller than mine, so I don’t think you’d be able to walk in them. We can trade cloaks though. Mine’s warmer than yours, I think”, he remarked, as if he were a perfect gentleman.

He noticed it as well. Instead of at the Bazaar the had ended up in a dead end. He followed Nephti as she pointed in another direction, but after a couple of steps they just found another dead end. “Honestly? I don’t have any idea”, he admitted as she asked him where they should go. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much though. In Alvadas you often end up in a completely different place than where you originally wanted to go. Maybe the city just wants us to encounter a few dead ends before it lets us out in this really amazing place where all our secret wishes will be fullfilled?”

He shrugged again and pointed in a direction that looked kind of promising to him. “Let’s just go left for now. The mark from Kelwyn is on my left arm, so left will probably bring us good luck.”

[Nephti]

Nephti shrugged at his question, "My job is fairly irregular. Not even a real job. I do card tricks, mainly. It's hard to find real work. There isn't much I can do." She smiled weakly, glad that she at least had enough to pay for a warm room to sleep in. Maybe one day she'd have enough to be able to have spare to spend on luxuries and to save. But Nephti had come to accept that a real, stable job would only come with something she was good at. And the only thing she could think of was fortune telling, but she hadn't felt like doing it all season. Something stopped her every time she went to ask the cards. There was no way she could have made a job out of that.

He talked about the Cubacious Inn, Nephti a little surprised she hadn't seen him around in it before. Then again, she spent little time in the room and if she was at the inn, it was in the room. So it shouldn't have been that surprising that she hadn't seen him. "I have a room there too," she simply stated, nodding. Then he claimed the boots he wore weren't the right kind but as Nephti looked at them, she couldn't figure out why. They seemed new and warm, perfectly suitable. But he had to have his reasons, so Nephti didn't question it.

Lucas offered to trade cloaks but Nephti refused, despite the shivering. Her cloak was smaller than his, so would do a lot worse of a job than it did with her. At least it covered Nephti fully, wrapped around her shoulders and just about brushing the floor. On Lucas, it would look ridiculous, as well as do a rubbish job. "I'm fine," she said through chattering teeth, although she was anything but fine.

Lucas seemed so optimistic, making Nephti smile. That was the way to be - how did she let herself forget that? After all, what he said could be true. Perhaps they would end up in a really amazing place. That, or they would be stuck in the ice forever - or at least, until it all melted again. With a city like Alvadas, it was impossible to tell. No, that wasn't what she should have been thinking. Nephti had Priskil watching over her; Lucas had Kelwyn. Their gods wouldn't let them die. Perhaps this was simply a way to bring them together.

"My mark is on my left hand too. Left is good. Our gods will guide us," she grinned, moving in the direction with a skip in her step. It kept her warm and in a good mood. Smiling, she continued down a narrow ice passageway, hoping it would lead on to the Bazaar or the inn, or somewhere. However, as the passageway grew narrower and narrower, the ice closing in, she started to wonder if it really did lead somewhere.

[Lucas Arias]

„You do card tricks?“ Lucas asked and his eyes lit up. “Then we have something in common. I work with cards as well, as you may remember. I’d like to see your tricks sometimes, if you are willing to show them to me. I love learning new things.” Fortune telling was actually not the only thing that he used cards for. When he had still lived in Syliras, he had visited the various taverns quite frequently and played cards with the patrons rather than going on patrols as his knight had told him to. His half drunken misadventures were hardly a proper topic for a conversation with an innocent, young Eypharian though, and thus he refrained from mentioning them.

“You do?” he asked as she mentioned that she had a room at the Cubacious Inn as well and scratched his head. “I don’t remember ever seeing you there, but then again I spent little time there. Tell me, Nephti, how did you like it when I changed the inn into a whale a couple of days ago?” Nephti would probably remember that event in some fashion. Lucas had bribed the patrons of the Cubacious Inn so that they would go outside and he could have a nice talk with the inn as only empty buildings became whales.

It hadn’t changed back into a house for two days, and they’d all had to climb in through the whale’s mouth in order to reach their rooms which had been a little problematic as the whale-inn had not always wanted to open its mouth. Sometimes it had wanted to sleep. It had also loved making them beg.

“No, you are not”, he observed as she insisted that she was fine and took his cloak off. “I’ll manage with your cloak. My shirt is pretty thick and warm. Besides, your cloak looks nice. I’ve always wanted to wear an Eypharian cloak.” He grinned as if this was indeed his greatest wish, although Nephti’s cloak looked as if it was hardly big enough to cover him.

Lucas was even more confident than before as Nephti mentioned that her gnosis mark was on her left hand as well. The gods would indeed guide them, and in a few moments they would be at the Bazaar and get new clothes and hot drinks! The passageway grew narrower and narrower however, and soon it was so narrow that Lucas couldn’t continue anymore. Oh, he tried to squeeze his body through the narrow opening that remained because he was stubborn like that, but the only result was that he almost got stuck.

“Petch”, he murmured and immediately apologized. He normally didn’t have a problem with swearwords – in Nyka he had worked in the Sharp Tongue Pub where he had been paid for swearing – but you didn’t swear in front of girls, especially young girls with more than two arms! “Let’s turn back. Maybe left wasn’t such a good idea. Or …” He drew his sword that had been hidden by his cloak so far. “Do you think I can widen the tunnel so much that we can pass through with this here? I’m not sure …”

[Nephti]

"I will show you," she smiled in reply. She had been shown, only last season, how to do them. That was the thing with tricks - they were meant to passed around, shared to those you trusted. Of course, if she told the audience, it would lose the magic that made them what they were. But Lucas was a friend and almost colleague, considering they both worked with cards. Of course she would show them. "When we get out of here."

Lucas didn't spend much time in the inn either, which made sense as the reason they hadn't seen each other. But it turned out he was the one that changed the inn into a whale. "Yes, I remember..." she looked at him curiously, "Why?" Nephti didn't quite understand the interest. After all, it was just a whale, that made life a bit harder for her. After all, that whale didn't always let them in. A normal building - at least, for Alvadas - was much better.

At the end, Lucas gave her his cloak and Nephti gave up her own, passing it to him first before taking his. It was a bit too large, but was warmer, and Nephti wrapped it tightly around her. "Thank you," she grinned, hoping he wouldn't get too cold.

They moved quickly, but with no success. The passage grew thinner until Lucas couldn't fit through, and they stopped, staring at the gap. Nephti was certain she could fit through, for she was smaller than Lucas, but at the same time, made no attempt to even try. Even if she could, the passageway appeared to get even thinner, so it would be pointless. And Nephti wasn't one to just abandon a friend.

He swore, then apologised, but Nephti didn't even care. Swears simply went past her - no one had seemed to care what a simple slave girl heard. "I don't know if turning back will be useful," Nephti shrugged, more interested in his second idea. She had her scimitar with her too, often carried those days so she wouldn't feel so young and vulnerable. She never used it, but this seemed like a perfect place.

Taking it out, she moved next to Lucas, nodding in agreement. "We can do it." With that, she hacked at one side, only managing to get her weapon stuck. Using her might, she tried to loosen it, although it was pretty firmly wedged. Hopefully, Lucas would have a little more luck, because he looked like he had some sort of strength.