Obieth watched as Aethril stepped forward, and when the swans hissed she stepped forward too, hissing back. Her innate and immediate ferocity was at once tempered by a vague regret as she noted how many teeth they each had--but in her hesitation Aethril was already pushing forward, and back again, stone in hand. Split-hollow ears twisted toward Aethril as she spoke.

She wasn't sure what she was meant to do with the opal, and so she leaned forward and sniffed it closely.

It smelled like blood. This wasn't very helpful.

Teal eyes shifted back up to Aethril. "If they come alone... and are caught... like this one? They will be easy," she said, and it wasn't arrogance so much as thoughtfulness. She looked out over the bloodied scene, the flattened grass and the hellswans, then back to Aethril. "What was it... doing?" she asked, and flicked her ears. "Before..?"

@Aethril

"It was trying to kill the ivory deer," she said, twisting the stone between its fingers. "There's a chance it would have moved onto trying to kill everything else in the palace. I told it to leave and it got hostile." It'd been powerful, too, as a painful jab in her chest reminded her when she happened to breathe a little too much.

As much as she liked the idea of gifting Isra the damn thing's stone to destroy herself, it'd be a waste. Something that powerful had to be reused; it just had to be made more useful. The Hand toyed with this idea for a moment; the idea of making it more compliant, training it to protect the very place it had tried to destroy.

She licked her teeth. "Try not to underestimate them. One did a good amount of damage to me and managed to wipe out Isra at the same time." Her gaze darted to the palace, and then back towards Obieth. "I have to visit Draco."

Aethril had some ideas. It may take a while, but... it may just be worth it, for Isra.

"Do you wish to come with, or stay and guard the palace?"

@Obieth

Obieth listened, ears flicking to and fro as she considered. This thing had done damage to Aethril, and "wiped out" Isra? How? She hadn't seen-...

The Valkhound looked at the Hellswans, then the stone, then Aethril. Then at the palace and back again, thoughtful. "I will come with you." After all, what if it had been a trap? Bait-? Why would one rebel attack? Maybe it was a distraction; maybe more would--already were?--attacking the palace. But in Obieth's mind, the palace was merely stone. The palace was not her Mistress of flesh and blood--and the Palace wasn't the one dictating that she could sleep in a Bed of her own. Aethril was. "Where is... Pollen?" she asked, in afterthought. "I can warn her... before we go?" It was an uncertain question, and the way Obieth cut her gaze across the palace grounds a moment later (this incident had truly spiked her natural levels of suspicion sky-high) suggested she feared leaving Aethril even for a moment.

@Aethril

"Pollen will be fine," Aethril said-- and she was quite certain of this. The golems would take care of her if there was another issue befalling the palace, but also "we won't be gone very long." Draco was a quick trip-- in and out. If another rebel managed to try and slaughter deer in the palace, she'd be impressed.

Briefly, she twisted the gemstone in her hand. "It's best not to leave her alone immediately after telling her something's wrong," she continued a little more gently. "She'll panic and worry. Let Isra's golems do their job until we get back."

She reached out to rub her palm against the side of Obieth's ridged head before continuing on. "Come on."

exit aethril
@obieth

Obieth obeyed, remaining silent and alert as the hand touched her skull. Teal eyes cut around the room, and her tail twitched again.

"All right," was all she said; no second-guessing here. Her attention was taken by the foliage, the trees; who knew what other rebels might be hiding here..?

When Aethril started off, Obieth was right beside her: stalking quiet, every muscle tensed.

exit Obieth

Character: Arwen Age: +8 (8th Cycle) Magic Level: +5 (Master) ROUND 1 Attempt: +7 Penalties: - ROUND 2 Attempt: +11 Penalties: - ROUND 3 Attempt: +20 Penalties: - ROUND 4 Attempt: +13 Penalties: - ROUND 5 Attempt: +16 Penalties: - ROUND 6 Attempt: +19 Penalties: - Total: 99

Character: Aethril Age: +1 (1st Cycle) Magic Level: +3 (Pupil) ROUND 1 Attempt: +5 Penalties: - ROUND 2 Attempt: +12 Penalties: - ROUND 3 Attempt: +13 Penalties: - ROUND 4 Attempt: +3 Penalties: - ROUND 5 Attempt: +19 Penalties: - ROUND 6 Attempt: +16 Penalties: - Total: 72

WINNER: Arwen

you had two round 3s, to note!

@Arwen and @Aethril for claim purposes