Bach alternates his gaze between Aristespha and Sotalia. A few sweeps later, he blinks his blue eyes with a grimace and shakes his head in disbelief, leaning his back against his chair. "Wow... Just... Wow..."

Aristespha nods thoughtfully, agreeing in a similar bewildered fashion, and sighs. She runs her hands through her long, silvery blue hair, tossing the locks over her shoulders. "From what Deedri described, these golems were NOT as well constructed as the one we fought. But..."

With a stiff frown, she draws in a long breath through her nose. "Fighting multiple constructs of that variety, at once> THAT is an absolutely frightening thought."

Sotalia settles her elbows upon the dining table and props her head up with her hands. "From what I heard, they were nothing as large as the ONE we fought, thankfully. Even then... I think five was the final number. At least, that's how many piles of leftover parts they saw."

In the moment of quiet processing, Bach furrows his brow at the thought and glances over to Aristespha, twisting his mouth uncomfortably. "Well... If we haven't sent over anything official about that ancient golem factory to the authorities, now might be a good time."

With a few taps upon a tablet in front of her, Aristespha softly groans with an uneasy smirk and gazes down upon paragraphs of text on the screen. "That is exactly what I have been working on, today. I thought sending copies over to both Captain Hackle and Captain Hays would be good, too. Maybe bypass a few of the usual hurdles in these drawn out processes."

Bach and Sotalia nod with Aristespha's proposal. Grumbling out her irritation, Sotalia sneers her upper lip on her light tan face and narrows her golden eyes down at the table. "It's GOT to be that Terra Priest group around there. What the fuck are those nature nutjobs thinking?"

Cocking her head of fiery orange, wavy hair to the side, she slides her narrowing stare between Bach and Aristespha. "And... How the hell did they even get them working? Don't you need some actual skill and knowledge to pull that off?!"

Searching his mind for the possibilities, Bach shrugs his shoulders indecisively and gazes over towards Sotalia. "I mean... They probably got enough working parts and just slapped them together to see if, well, anything would happen. That's what it sounds like from what you all told me."

Dropping a hand down on the table, Sotalia drums her long, black nails upon the tabletop. "But... I thought they needed Faelatelia for their plans? Wasn't she some critical part?"

Aristespha shakes her head slowly and sighs, the situation visibly dawning upon her. "I believe they needed Faelatelia to bind spirits to the golems. But..."

She squints her violet eyes, examining her theory audibly. "It is very likely that Meredosia has enough working knowledge to get the constructs together from the parts. She did spend some significant time in that hidden factory. Not the ideal solution she probably wanted, but still viable enough as demonstrated."

Gritting her teeth, Sotalia's ire briefly flares and she growls. "Gods, it was probably her that got that big one working and put it on patrol. That fucking BITCH."

Bach ponders a moment and tilts his head to a side, searching his mind with his eyes. "Yeah... I could totally see that. She probably either found it inactive, or missing just a few parts, and then reprogrammed it to attack anything that wasn't her, or with her."

He furrows his brow and angles his gaze towards Sotalia. "Because... I really doubt she would have stayed long enough to get anything useful if that thing was stomping around like it was for us. And, from what Chelindia and Faelatelia said about her... I REALLY doubt she'd leave that facility unguarded after finding it."

Nodding slowly, Sotalia taps her fingers upon the table in sync with her frustration. She lifts her head up from her propping hand, settles back into her chair, and slowly shakes her head of wavy, fiery orange hair. "Still... WHY are they doing anything like this, now? It seemed like they were perfectly content to sit around in the woods and feel superior to everyone else. They're going to attract A LOT of attention now."

Crossing her patterned arms, she flutters her eyes with grimace. "You don't attack the Chrome Crusaders and NOT expect a lot of powerful people to take notice."

With a hint of worry, Bach curls the corner of his mouth down. "Yeah... I really hope Chelindia's group got out. Sounds like things have gone from crazy to completely INSANE."

Drawing a deep breath, Aristespha rubs her ivory, blue and gray hinted temples and frowns sharply. "Unfortunately, that is probably why the attack happened."

Bach and Sotalia shift their attention towards Aristespha. Moments of collecting her thoughts later, Aristespha contends with a saddened tone and wrestles her grimace. "Chelindia and the old members were very likely THE major regulating element in that organization. If they have left, you have a leader that no longer has someone to legitimately question her."

Rolling his eyes at the situation, Bach groans uneasily. "Ah. Shit. And, there's no longer enough people in that group to keep the rest from going too far off the deep end."

Sotalia cringes and tightens her crossed arms with an uncomfortable squirm. "OH. That's never a good recipe for anything. I know THAT from personal experience."

Aristespha aims her gaze upon the tablet in front of her and slowly shakes off the dour mood. "Regardless, I will be getting the report together to send off. I do not know what the official response to all this will be, given the location and situation. But... At this point, we NEED to report it, NOW."

Nodding her head, tinges of concern leak out upon Sotalia's face. "Yeah. Gods. Still, so strange to have seen how distraught Tassilda was. I mean, I understand completely. I don't think I would have been much better. But, just to see her in that state..."

Bach smiles at Sotalia with an encouraging tone. "That was pretty nice of you to talk to her and help her out."

Lifting an eyebrow, Sotalia smirks and presses down a bit of embarrassment. "Well... As much as I wanted to be the superior queen bitch of the land and get back at her... It was..."

She swallows down a fit of guilt and sighs. "It... It hit close to home. I don't know. Didn't feel right to be an ass to her then."

Shrugging her shoulders, she holds her hands up in the air and smiles genuinely. "Something in me just wanted to maybe help her along like I wished someone had done for me."

Bach nods and chuckles lightly. "Yeah... Well, you did good in my opinion."

Sotalia grins appreciatively at Bach. Seconds later, she blinks back to awareness and scans around the living area. "Well, are we going to do magic drills today or what?"

Bach glances around the room and turns his attention towards the archway leading into the hallway. "I've seen Cideeda today. She borrowed the latest issues of Tales of the Orion from me to read. But, I haven't seen Dretphi leave her room yet. The door was open though."

Sotalia laughs and snorts with a sly smirk. "Oh! She's catching up on all her stories. It seems like all the series she's following had new issues. Might be a little hard to pull her away from them."

A flash of frustration rises upon her face, and she crosses her arms tightly. With a pout, she grumbles petulantly. "It's still not fair that Cideeda keeps me away from the issues of Tinkering Tina until AFTER she gets done reading them."

Bach narrows his blue eyes at Sotalia and cocks his head of longer brown hair to the side. "You did spoil that one major reveal for her."

Sotalia groans and dramatically rolls her eyes. "Once! I did that ONCE. How long is she going to hold THAT over my head?"

With a shrug, Bach glances around again and lifts a curious brow at Aristespha. "Hey, do you know where my brother is? I actually haven't seen him today either, now that I think about it."

Aristespha blinks and lifts her head up from the tablet, thinking for a moment. She smiles and laughs. "OH. Sebastian is probably hovering nearby Cideeda reading along. He can't very well turn the pages himself, right now."

Sotalia grumbles to herself quietly with an occasional clear mention of unfairness and special treatment.

----

In a brightly sunlit room, Dretphi fidgets with anticipation, slowly turning to the next page of the graphic novel. Biting her lower lip lightly, she adjusts the pillows propping her back up on the bed and settles back in quickly. Her steely gray eyes scan the pages of dramatic, character focused scenes and elaborate dialog in fanciful fonts, and she smiles eagerly. Expectation gradually sways her body side to side, the literary tension builds.

Bach glances through the open bedroom door into the room and watches Dretphi pore over the book. Scanning around the room, he settles his wandering gaze upon the significant stacks of reading material next to Dretphi on her bed. He squints at the collection of paperback books and notices various bookmarks in one stack and none in others, one stack of older volumes sliding slowly into a splay. Dretphi blinks her eyes wide and reflexively mutters loudly a few choice phrases of grath, swirling with incredulous and astonished sentiments. She puzzles out loud to herself in mumbles of grath and swiftly flips back through a number of pages, frustration searching for an explanation.

Bach gently knocks on the door frame and smirks with a friendly laugh. "Ah. One of THOSE plot twists?"

Dretphi snaps her attention towards the doorway, subduing a flit of embarrassment, and smiles warmly to Bach. "Yes. You can say that. Trying to find justification for this recent decision."

She cocks her head of platinum blonde braids to the side and curiously gazes at Bach. "Is there something you need?"

Pointing a thumb over his shoulder down the hallway, Bach shrugs nonchalantly. "Oh, uh, Aristespha and Sotalia want to do some magic practice drills outside, since it's a nice enough day. We just wanted to know if you'll be joining us?"

Dretphi nods happily, glances at the book currently in her hand, and plucks up a bookmark off to the side. Placing the bookmark in the volume, she grumbles with an unamused smirk. "I am at a stopping point. I will..."

Furrowing an incredulous brow at the novel, she twists a faint grimace. "Process it later."

Lifting up an intrigued eyebrow, Bach focuses his gaze upon the book in question. Dretphi rests it on top of one of the stacks, and Bach inquires. "So... What's that particular one about?"

Dretphi slides off the bed carefully around the stacks of graphic novels, resting her feet on the floor, and stands up. She stares at the offending book and musters up a calm, thoughtful tone. "It is multifaceted. Political intrigue in the background. Primary plot about a young lady caught between choosing the interests of two men."

Blinking for a moment, Bach tilts his head to the side, crossing his arms, and puzzles at the statement. "Interesting..."

Dretphi braces herself against her bed, working on her shoes, and smirks curiously. "You seem surprised."

Shrugging his shoulders, Bach smiles awkwardly, stumbling about the point. "Oh, um, I'm trying to figure out the draw of such a book. I mean..."

He pauses a moment and carefully states. "I guess that sort of situation is a bit of a rarity in Grath society?"

Straightening up and tapping her shoes upon the floor, Dretphi smiles with blatant amusement and shakes her head. "Similar happens. Joining a house is significant. Choosing one between multiple can be stressful."

Bach nods slowly, understanding developing, and leans against the door frame, stretching his back. "Yeah... I can imagine having to choose something on that scale of importance can be daunting. Especially if you have significant relationships with two houses."

Dretphi gazes at Bach, thinks a moment, and smiles with a slight chuckle. "Oh. You do not have to forgo those relationships when you join another house. Houses handle everyday aspects of family. Legal liability. Finances. Child raising. Housing. Food. Support."

She exhales long and wrestles a smirk. "Still a significant choice."

Pausing, she searches her mind with her steely gray eyes and carefully pieces together an explanation. "A house does not bind you exclusively to that house for personal relationships. Most have preference. Aligns that way over time. Not a requirement."

Bach tilts his head to the side and cracks a humored smirk. "Oh, okay. So... Keep business and pleasure separate?"

Dretphi rolls her eyes with a tight smile on her tan face and shrugs her muscular shoulders, walking up to the doorway. "Yes. It works for grath. Acceptable. Helpful in properly managed houses."

The walk down the wooden floors of the main hallway. Dretphi glances over to Bach, hunting for the right terms. "Most grath are not... Possessive? Encouraged to be mutual? Honest? Open? It is hard to translate to Americ. Does not have equivalent words."

Bach gradually nods, the concept solidifying more in his mind between shifts of his expression. With hints of understanding in tone, he furrows his brow. "Yeah. I think I get the idea. It seems to work really well for most of the grath I've run into. Though..."

He eyes Dretphi with a vague frown. "I've heard of a few bad stories."

Dretphi sighs in begrudging agreement, shaking her head. "Those serve as lessons to heed. There are no strict rules. There ARE best practices."

She frowns gently and glances over to Bach. "That cultural aspect gets scrutinized in an unfortunate way. Houses function like family units. My house shared vacations with other houses. We would gather for sport events. Different members from houses would get together to experience new restaurants. Normal parallels to other families."

Sliding open the glass back door for Dretphi, Bach shrugs nonchalantly and motions her through. "No, I get it. That sounds actually pretty typical. Honestly, a bit more than some families I've known do on any regular basis."

Dretphi smiles warmly at Bach and brushes back her platinum blonde braids. "My mother always encouraged everyone to go out of the house. Figuratively. LITERALLY."

Bach furrows his brow, noticing Dretphi's tone shift. With a shake of her head, Dretphi averts her eyes briefly and grumbles amused. "My mother's encouragement hid an ulterior motive."

Sliding the door shut and wincing at the drastic change from interior light to exterior sun, Bach carefully approaches the topic. "Which was?"

Dretphi sighs in good humor and rolls her eyes. "Read romance novels without distraction."

Bach blinks in surprise and narrows an inquisitive stare at Dretphi. "Wait... Is that where you...?"

Nodding quickly, Dretphi snorts and cracks a smirk, remembering with hints of old irritation. "YES. Happened when I was a teenager. I grew tired of the... frustrating... antics of a boy I was dating for the night. Left. Arrived home early."

She grits her teeth briefly, tempering her past emotions with an aged acceptance. "I was upset. Sought out my mother. Found her in the living room. In my birth father's favorite chair. Wrapped up in a blanket. Reading a romance novel."

Twisting his mouth closer towards amusement, Bach raises a curious eyebrow, prying. "You mean the ones with the ridiculous covers?"

Dretphi sighs and nods her head with curl in her smirk. "Yes. Got over the surprise. Told her about my dating issues. She sat me down. Handed me the first volume of a series. Told me to read. I read it."

A happy smile appears on her face, and she softly laughs. "I got hooked. It is a hobby we still share. My preferences changed to graphic novels out of convenience with adventuring. We still trade titles. Seek out new books to inform the other of."

Shaking his head, Bach brushes his longer brown hair back, sweeping the white streak off to the side, and scratches his bearded chin speculatively. "You know, I can't help but to think there's some aspect of taboo with the differences of cultures going on that must be the big draw for those books."

Blinking blankly for a few moments, Dretphi quietly ponders the notion, crossing her arms, She sways her head in thought and mulls over out loud. "To a degree. We have never been interested in harem themed graphic novels. Possibly an exotic allure to the strict fashions of romantic relationships in the novels?"

She snorts and glances over to Bach with a slight, humored grin. "Any appeal fades after five chapters of torturous drama."

Bach chuckles and shakes his head, walking up to the rest of the group with Dretphi.

----

Meredosia struts confidently across the shaded clearing in the middle of encircling, gigantic trees and ancient buildings. Beaming out a smug grin to the world, she leads an accompaniment of evuukians in rustic, naturalist uniform. The gathering follows along, and many demonstrate their excited praise of Meredosia. A number prompt for answers to many questions in evuukian. Most of the decorated members seem eager. A few show their concern upon their faces, vocal tones mirroring the sentiment.

Meredosia smiles brightly, responding boldly and dramatically to the queries before her. Determination floods her demeanor, and she elaborately dictates her motives with extravagant motions to her followers. Finishing her impromptu speech with a slow grasp of her outstretched hand into a balled fist, she grins with a dark, distant stare ahead. The group enters the largest of the ancient structures in wide, expansive clearing and moves down the long, tall hallway towards a set of massive double doors.

Closing in on the entrance, Meredosia grimaces, a shiver zipping up her spine. The amulet on her chest shakes on its own, and she reflexively grips it tightly with her hand. Speeding up to doors in a near panic, she forcefully shoves them wide open.

Inside, she quickly scans the area in front of her and spots many elaborately robed evuukians on the floor, unconscious. Sounds of struggle alert the followers gathering around Meredosia to a few evuukian mages subdued in immobilizing weaves of white magical energy. Meredosia snaps glances to their faces and traces their eyes ahead to the central platform. Upon the middle of the rostrum, a thin man with wispy white hair stands calmly, thin threads of white energy swirling into him from the platform. A blue scarf floats slowly with the ethereal flows around him. The man tilts his head momentarily, gradually pivots in place, and aims his white glowing eyes at Meredosia. He curiously perks an eyebrow at the gathering.

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Anger erupts out from Meredosia , and she energetically points towards the man, yelling out an order. Guards escorting her don their bows, knock arrows, and take aim. From the archers, energy flows stream into the bows and arrows heads. They let loose a volley. The missiles streak trails of magical miasma across the length of the cavernous room and halt abruptly in front of the man. Hints of amusement leak through the blue scarf wrapping the man's face, and he addresses Meredosia and her followers. "Pardon my manners... I am Noxian. I must say, you have quite an impressive setup here. It seems you've been very busy researching so many subjects, and have even organized a team of mages."

Narrowing his stare towards Meredosia, he projects. "Who am I speaking to?"

With a blatant disgust for the words and boiling ire against Noxian's mere presence, Meredosia snarls her upper lip and growls out her demanding proclamation. "YOU speak to the Meredosia, leader of this revolutionary chapter of the Terra Priests. Now, why are YOU here in MY chambers?!"

A faint flash of red lightens Meredosia's crimson eyes. "ANSWER. ME. NOW!"

Lifting an annoyed eyebrow at Meredosia, Noxian grumbles under his breath and narrows a harsh, accusatory glare upon her. "Well, with THAT attitude... Allow me to cut straight to the point. I was eventually going to investigate this location in the future, but decided to make it quite a bit sooner. So, tell me..."

Noxian's tone darkens and lowers. "Do YOU have any involvement with the recent golem attacks upon the Chrome Crusaders?"

With near manic pride, Meredosia grins and levels a dark, spiteful glare upon Noxian. She crosses arms, puffing up her posture, and turns her nose up at Noxian disdainfully. "Why? Would you like to experience a demonstration... personally?"

Sighing out his frustration, Noxian wags a finger at Meredosia and chides her with a scolding tone. "SO, I am to understand that a capable, young individual like you... Finds a source of ancient power. Educates herself on how to manipulate magical machinery. Learns how to use that power on magical machinery. And then..."

A spark of ire rises up in his voice. "Decides to build a number of golems for some inane attempt to demonstrate some supposed superiority over others to bolster a poorly formed ego?! While, mind you, harming those that are trying to better the world for everyone else!"

He narrows a glare upon Meredosia, lifts his head up, and aims his eyes down upon Meredosia. "Such disappointing, childish, and utterly stupid use of such ability and power. What makes you think this is the right way to use such!?"

Meredosia's ivory skin reddens, locks of her gray hair float up, and she grits her teeth furiously. Spitting forth a volley of outraged evuukian, she hurls spiteful phrases upon Noxian. "I WILL NOT BE LECTURED BY A LOWLY HUMAN! A wretched defiler of nature. An undeserving being! I wield the power that I have gained myself. And, I will be the one to decide how I use it!"

Noxian laughs loudly and shakes his head in disbelief with a mocking tone. "Aha! So, the whole might makes right argument? Okay. Well, if you have such might..."

He straightens his posture, extends his arm out, and flexes the fingers upon his hand in a challenging gesture. "THEN... Let us see how right you are."

Meredosia's dark crimson eyes light up manically. Stretching a wide grin across her face, she commands her followers. Guards at Meredosia's sides ready more arrows and magic users within her followers ready spells. Waves of magical energy from the mages' spells splash uselessly upon the barrier surrounding Noxian. With a few quick gestures and white light gazes of concentration from Noxian, threads of elder energy stream out along the faint back trails and latch onto the originating casters, swiftly tying up the mages. Archer guards unleash their arrows and watch their projectiles halt abruptly upon the surface of the barrier surrounding Noxian. Glancing between all the suspended missiles, Noxian smiles underneath his blue scarf, and his eyes emit a flash of white. The arrows spin around and rocket back at blinding speed, targeting their owners. The missiles render bows broken and release concussive eruptions before impact, knocking out the guards.

In a fit of absolute rage, Meredosia musters enough focus, draws out a ball of elder energy from the amulet on her chest, and launches a massive bolt at Noxian. The magical projectile impacts Noxian's barrier and visually distorts the outer layers. Noxian directs his full, undivided attention upon Meredosia and calmly walks off the platform towards her. Trails of elder energy continue to flow into him from the rostrum, stretching out into long, swirling tubes. Meredosia fights rage, shock, and disgust, and manages enough concentration to fling powerful bolts of elder energy. Noxian cautiously moves closer and studies each impact upon his barrier with analytical, clinical inspection. A few meters away from Meredosia, Noxian throws his hand out, unleashing fibers of magical energy forth. The threads weave effortlessly through a bolt mid-flight, absorbing the projectile's power, and explode upon Meredosia into an immobilizing web, wrapping her up.

Slowly stepping forward, Noxian moves close and levels his glare centimeters away from Meredosia's ivory face. Infuriated, he stares through her with glowing white eyes, grips Meredosia's amulet, and yanks off her chest, snapping the cord around Meredosia's neck. With a cold, purposeful cadence, Noxian explains. "You may think yourself the prettiest flower in the field... But, you do not know that you are just simply another flower in the playground of elder giants."

He stands up straight, glowers down at Meredosia, and tightens his grip on the amulet in his hand. A loud crackle echoes out into the room, and a torrent of white energy erupts out from his hand. The flows rush forth, quickly settling into Noxian and disappearing entirely. He slowly opens his hand, letting the crumbling remains of the amulet trickle down into a powdery coating upon the floor. He glances over his shoulder, holds a hand out towards the platform, and a pulse of energy streams through the swirling streams into Noxian. Mere seconds later, the flows fade away. The rostrum glows brightly for a moment. With a few flickers of power, it shatters into a pile of rune decorated rock. Meredosia gawks utterly horrified, unable to form words in her mouth. Turning his head back around, Noxian stares into Meredosia's shocked, dark crimson eyes, and leans in close. "I truly do not know who should ultimately wield this power..."

He pauses a moment and darkens his tone. "BUT, I am DAMN certain..."

Drilling his stare into Meredosia's eyes, he growls. "IT. IS. NOT... YOU."

He steps back and away from Meredosia. Walking over the incapacitated guards, he calmly strolls to the doors leading into the main, large hallway. He nears the double door archway, his form fading into transparency. Quickly disappearing from sight, he steps out into the hallway. Seconds later, the white energy dissipates in the room, and the immobilizing spells fade away into fading clouds of miasma. Meredosia stumbles upon the ground in sheer shock and stops herself short of face planting into the remains of her amulet. She stares down at the dusty fragments upon the floor, drops of water landing and wetting the mess. Lifting her head up slowly, she grits her teeth and forces seething breaths through. She squeezes tears down her reddening face, intense, furious rage boiling from within. She focuses upon the fractured central platform and manages to only breathe in an infuriated stupor.

----

Bright noon sunlight slips through the double doors leading to the third story wooden balcony. Gerald eases his back upon a stack of pillows on his bed and winces briefly, his weight settling upon the mattress. "Okay... Request from me. Oh, gods..."

Straining, he arches his back briefly and squirms in the wave of discomfort. "Can we avoid any more long hauls, through the woods, in the middle of nowhere for at least THIS season? Holy hell, my back is still not on speaking terms with me."

Samantha pulls a can of beer from a package, cracks it open, and places it into Gerald's hand with a smirk. "Sorry to say, Howie, but I'm with Gerald on this one. The last part of that run was a bit much."

Howard's voice sounds out from the aetherphone upon a nearby desk, and an audible worried sigh resonates. "Yeah. I was not expecting ANYTHING like that. Especially on the very last night of the patrol. Seriously, I mean... A full out attack with multiple fucking golems?! And, just the idea of taking on the Chrome Crusaders of all people. Just..."

Pausing a moment, he releases a groan of pure disbelief. "Shit... That just blows my damned mind. You literally have guys in walking tank suits. Why the hell would you start something with them?"

A lull of silence lets the background noise from the other side of the call to echo into the room with Samantha and Gerald. An eager tone colors Howard's cadence, and his excitement seeps through the phone speaker. "But... It will be an... AMAZING... episode tonight. We've needed some good action for the season. Despite running for your lives, you all did really good to record what you could."

Standing proudly with a sly smile, Samantha chimes in with a sinister giggle. "Happy to deliver as always, Howie."

She crosses her arms, pouts with a grumble, and glances over to Gerald. "Gods. I SO wish I could have caught just a few seconds of the fight between Daedrican and Tassilda and that bull golem! But, SOMEONE decided to drag me to the safe zone, out of the action."

Pouring a long swig of his beer down his throat, Gerald eyes Samantha incredulously. Samantha sighs and groans annoyed. "We had to settle with Veevi going around trying to be heroic while running away with the rest of us."

Rolling his eyes, Gerald directs his voice towards the aetherphone and mockingly pleads his case with growing sarcasm tainting his words. "Yes. I did drag her away. Away from being near the fight where a POWERED ARMED, TRAINED PALADIN got IMPALED by a MASSIVE, MAGICAL STONE BEAST..."

Swirling the beer in the can in hand, he huffs. "I felt my actions were properly justified."

Howard sighs, and speaks through the speakerphone with a firm, thankful tone. "Gerald. Thank you. Really. Sorry, Samantha, but I'm with Gerald on this one. You damn well know my policy about camera crews getting hurt. We already got way too close at the beginning of this season with risking the crew. If the stars get themselves hurt by their own stupidity, that's one thing. They signed those release forms. Crew safety comes first."

Samantha snorts petulantly and groans out in defeat, accepting her boss's words. "FINE... I just hate missing all those opportunities."

She gazes at Gerald, smiles appreciatively, and rolls her hazel eyes at herself. "Still, thank you again, Gerald."

Lifting his beer up in acknowledgment, Gerald nods briefly and sips back the beverage. "No problem. We got plenty of shots, anyway. Should be able to milk these for probably another episode or two."

Samantha places her hands upon her hips, swaying her stance. "Still frustrates me that we can't record at the clinic. SOMETHING is going on with Tassilda, and damned if I have anything concrete to show for it."

Howard's humored chuckle sounds out from the aetherphone. "We'll see what we can get of THAT. And, it might serve us better if we didn't show anything. Let the fans speculate on that. The community team has shown me some choice debates on Tassilda's and Daedrican's relationship. I think we'll just let that continue. Fan theories are always so much fun, and make for great polls the advertisers love to see. Have to get that engagement."

Blinking to attention, Samantha memory throws something to the front of her mind. "OH. Howie. The crew have voted, and pretty much all of us want to do the resort springs mission."

Howard hums briefly and mumbles in thought for a few moments, projecting his curious tone into the room. "That works just perfectly fine for me. I get the feeling that three certain members of the crew may have pushed the vote that direction?"

With a smirk, Gerald snorts and shakes his head. "Yeah. But, really, after that golem attack, it didn't take much convincing. Urdi barely got through half of her description of the place before she had most of the team ready to vote with her."

A scheming tinge fills Howard's tone, and he resonates through the speakerphone. "This will actually fit quite well with my plans. It'll be very interesting to see what happens on that particular mission. I definitely hope to capture more of the evuukian market with the... Interactions... I'm hoping will occur."

His laugh echoes from the other side of the connection. "Also, we've been needing to get the Flames of the Phoenix close to..."

He pauses and mumbles a moment. "Oh, how to put it..."

Chuckling briefly, he states proudly. "Recreational water of some kind. We got to keep the ratings up with some gratuitous fanservice."

Gerald sighs, rests an empty can upon a nightstand nearby, and adjusts a pillow underneath him. "Well, hope my back is up for it by then. Otherwise, I might get some of the younger crew to sneak around for those shots, even if they'll probably be distracted the whole time."

Rolling her eyes, Samantha shakes her head of shoulder-length brown hair with a chuckle and grins impishly to Gerald. "Oh, it's not for a few weeks. They'll have some down time and maybe a small job to break up the monotony. You should be ready to peep with the best of them soon enough."

Reaching carefully out with his arm, Gerald slides a laptop across the bed up onto his chest and stares incredulously at the screen. "Yeah. Hopefully, a few nights on a real bed rather than a van seat will put me back on speaking terms with my back."

Howard laughs, projecting a reassuring tone. "You'll be fine. If you don't get better in a few days, hit the clinic. My orders. Can't have one of my best camera guys down when the best shots are going to happen. And anyway, I want some tastefully done shots from you specifically. It's a lot more work to censor and creatively edit when the rookies try. Nothing can replace experience and tasteful framing."

A brief moment of silence later, typing sounds out from Howard's side of the call, and he groans unamused. "Well, I must leave you two, for now. Production needs me to decide some things for tonight's episode. Before I go... Though..."

He lowers his voice. "One thing I want to share with you two..."

Gerald turns his attention away from the laptop and focuses upon the aetherphone with an intrigued quirk of his brow. Samantha steps over to the aetherphone upon the desk, leans close, and speaks curiously. "And what would THAT be, Howie?"

Howard's dark chuckle fills the room through the speaker. "I've confirmed what is in store for Trakenthin."

----

A reddish orange cast colors the darkening evening sky outside the second story bedroom window. Tassilda glances around the corners of the room with long pauses of paranoid suspicion. Seating herself on the floor next to her bed, she rests her head against the mattress and pulls her aetherphone off the nearby nightstand. She unlocks the security code, opens her contact list, and scrolls to a name in emin, pausing. She holds her phone in front of her, draws a few long, deep breaths, and presses the call button on the display. The phone initiates the connection, displaying status graphics. A few seconds later, the display flickers and the video stream shows a teenage girl, brushing her dark hair over her swirling horns. She briefly contorts her patterned, light gray and tan face in confusion and narrows her light blue on white eyes. A flash of recognition blatantly surprises her, and she stiffens to a careful, reserved expression. "Tassilda?! Hey! Um, how are you doing? I didn't expect... a call from you."

Tassilda sighs with a warm smile and calm tone. "Oh. I know... It is a spur of the moment thing. I just... really wanted to call you and..."

Swallowing down a wave of guilt, she exhales shakily. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything... Uh..."

The half-emin girl blinks uncertainly, glances around herself and the quiet bedroom in the background. "Um... No. I was about to lay down and maybe read. Maybe, write a bit? I really hadn't decided. I, uh, I picked up this book on magic and wanted to start on it."

A slight frown curls the corner of Tassilda's mouth, and she maintains her happy tone. "Well, I do hope you didn't pick up that book I suggested a while back. THAT was a paid endorsement deal."

With an awkward, nervous laugh, the teenager shrugs her shoulders and bites her lip. "Oh. No. Not this one. I exchanged THAT one and bought this one instead."

The video feed moves off from the young, half-emin's face and focuses upon a book titled "The Illustrated Guide to Magical History." The teenager's voice sounds out through the aetherphone speaker. "It's really cool and fun to read. They tell all the stuff about magic history with a really cute romance story. To be honest, I don't know what I'm reading it more for..."

Tassilda's smile fights against the emotional swell within, and she wipes the tears waiting in her light blue on black eyes. The video feed settles back onto the teenager's face, and she furrows a concerned stare through the phone. "Are you okay, Tassilda?"

Sniffing her remaining composure, Tassilda gazes into her aetherphone screen with quivering lips and releases a stream of tears with a hard blink. "Tessalla... I- I..."

Fighting through a wince, Tassilda gasps for air through a sob and wipes her eyes, smearing tears across her gray face. "I called to apologize to you. For... Well... EVERYTHING."

Tessalla blinks in sheer bewilderment, focusing her confusion upon Tassilda. "I, uh... um..."

Sighing deeply, Tassilda summons up her resolve and gazes into Tessalla's eyes on the aetherphone screen. "Oh gods... I want to apologize for being an absolutely awful big sister to you the last few years. The time you have probably needed me the most, I just was too wrapped up in hate that's not even my own. And, I kept myself away from you for stupid reasons-"

Her voice cracks. She closes her eyes hard and wetly sobs. Tessalla gawks in sheer astonishment. Forcing a breath into her lungs, Tassilda focuses upon her words. "I am so sorry. You NEVER deserved any of that terrible treatment. You deserve a proper big sister that I haven't been for quite some time. I just hope that..."

Wincing with a surge of pain, she sighs. "It's not too late to be one for you, eventually."

Tears well up in Tessalla's eyes. Mustering a smile upon her face against the flood of emotion, she speaks in between sniffs. "It's okay... It's okay... Really... It's NOT too late. I'm just- I'm just- I'm just happy to talk to YOU right now."

Tassilda breaks down in a mess of sobbing along with Tessalla. Surges of hidden emotions rise up and find their way out between each other. Both make eye contact through their phones in the lulls between outbursts. Minutes later, both slowly regain their composure and sigh out to some stability. Fluttering her light blue on black eyes, Tassilda sniffs her nose clear and awkwardly laughs. "Oh gods. I doubt that'll be the last of that. But, oh wow, I guess we both needed that."

Smiling, Tessalla cleans her face with a few tissues from off screen. "Yeah. I-I uh... Have to agree. Yeah... Oh... That was a pretty big thing to just drop right there."

Rolling her eyes at herself, Tassilda smirks with a vaguely guilty shrug of her shoulders. "Well, I'm not terribly good at this. So, you'll have to forgive me. And, also you'll have to forgive me for this next bit..."

She closes her eyes, slowly exhales, and gradually draws in a breath. With a meek, ashamed tone, she cautiously approaches the subject. "I know this is sudden and out of nowhere. But, I thought I needed to check with you first before I do anything else..."

Biting her lip, Tassilda musters up the courage. "I've been reviewing a lot in my life lately. And, I think... After my contract with the show is over... Um... Would you be okay if I stayed with you, father, and your mother for a while?"

She braces herself for the response. Tessalla stares blankly at the screen, completely dumbfounded. A surge of excited glee floods her face, and she joyfully sounds out through Tassilda's aetherphone. "Y-y-yYES! OF COURSE! I'd love to have my big sister here! Father would be so happy to hear that! And, I don't think my mother would have any major problems with it."

A wave of relief washes over Tassilda, peace tempering her tone, and she calms the teenager. "Okay, Tessalla. There's nothing official, yet. I thought I should check with you first before I asked father. There might be a few bridges I need to fix first before anything happens."

Tessalla smiles brightly and energetically nods in understanding. "I know, I know. I've just always wanted you around, and I just hope you can stay."

Furrowing her brow, she leans close to the phone on her side of the call. "You just have to promise me ONE THING."

Tassilda cocks her head to the side and hoists up a curious eyebrow. "And, what would that be, dear sister?"

Biting her lip, Tessalla grins excitedly and gazes eagerly. "You have to teach me some magic."

With a proud smile, Tassilda chuckles lightly and nods in agreement. "But, of course! I am no longer going to deprive you of proper magical knowledge. We'll certainly have to go over the basics and see where that takes us."

Tessalla pauses in thought, guides a stay lock of dark hair over a horn, and runs her fingers along the keratinous swirl. "Um, also... I REALLY need someone to show me proper horn care. Father does OKAY... But, he really doesn't know how to do it nice. And, my mother tries, but you know..."

With a slow nod, Tassilda sighs sympathetically. "It takes someone with the horns to know how to deal with the horns."

Tessalla recites a few phrases of a dialect of emin in agreement. Furrowing her brow, Tassilda twists her lips and gradually shakes her head. "We will need to work on your emin, too."

She cracks an encouraging smile. "That was very close, though."

The two share a giggling moment and calm silence. Tessalla tilts her head to the side and inquires, carefully. "Okay, um, not that I have a problem with everything that's happened tonight- It's been awesome so far. But..."

Narrowing her inquisitive stare, she wrestles a grimace. "I'm just really curious as to... what... prompted... all of this?"

Tassilda glances around momentarily, trying to hide her embarrassment, in vain, behind a bit of sarcasm. "Well. Of course, it's all over a boy."

Tessalla's light blue on white eyes spring wide open and a grin of teenage glee appears on her face. "GO ON."

Brushing back her raven black hair over a horn, Tassilda combats a surge of shyness. "Well, his name is Daedrican. He's presently a junior paladin of the Chrome Crusaders."

Sheer interest and intrigue draws in all of Tessalla's attention. Tassilda pulls in a long breath and smiles. "He's tall. Young, but not too young. Fit and quite muscular. A lovely shade of dark gray skin. Thick, black horns. Beautiful, flowing long silver hair."

Soaking in the descriptive terms, Tessalla giggles. Tassilda surveys the mental image in her head. "Of course, high cheekbones and a square jaw. And, his eyes... A wonderful shade of gold... upon white."

Caught up in the visualization, Tessalla smirks at the description and abruptly blinks. "Wait- What?"

Tassilda grins slyly, attentively watching the video feed. "He's quite the wonderful half-emin man."

The view of Tessalla tumbles through her hands and around surroundings. With sounds of frantic handling, Tessalla fumbles her phone in shock. Muttering a few swears under her breath, Tessalla secures her aetherphone, the display centering on her face once again. "Okay. I'm laying on my bed, and I've got the phone against my pillow. SAY THAT AGAIN?!"

Hiding her laughs of amusement behind her hand, Tassilda rolls her eyes at herself. "OH. You heard me. I'll be happy to explain it all to you soon enough. To say the least, he's gone well beyond any measure I had ever known to prove himself to me."

Tessalla stares through the video feed and gradually nods. "Okay. You do have a picture of him, right?"

Tassilda smiles smugly, nodding. "But, of course. Well, I'll need to explain what all happened first before I send it to you. There's quite the story behind it all."

Twisting her mouth, Tessalla grumbles and sighs expectantly. "Okay. You have to tell me soon."

She ponders in thought for a moment, gradually frowns, and gazes with concern towards Tassilda through the video feed. "Hey. I know this is probably none of my business, but... Um... Have you told your mother any of this yet?"

Tassilda blinks blankly. Frowning slowly, she averts her eyes away from the screen of her aetherphone around the room. Working through a wince on her face, she uncertainly gazes at Tessalla's face on the aetherphone display. "No."

Tessalla nods slowly, expressing her growing worry. "Oh. I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't have asked and-"

Smiling warmly, Tassilda shakes her head with a foreboding sigh. "Oh. It's fine. I just really haven't gotten that far yet. And, I honestly don't know what to do about her. That is going to be a far bigger problem in the future."

She furrows her brow and wrestles a grimace. "BUT, well, I've got enough to concern myself with right now, at the moment."

Tessalla smiles in commiseration and weakly shrugs her shoulders. "I wish I could help you there, big sister. That doesn't sound like it'll be easy."

Exhaling out her anxiety, Tassilda shakes her head slowly. "It's okay. I should be able to get a better idea on how to handle that soon enough. But, for now..."

She smiles warmly to Tessalla on the aetherphone screen. "One thing at time, one day at a time."

The sisters agree on the sentiment. Quickly, they move onto the subject of Daedrican and exchange knowledge in many sisterly topics as the minutes pass through the evening.