Ailene watched from the Keep walls as Lak and a select number of warriors left for Sunai'on to meet with their neighboring Kaidons. They didn't have to call for a meeting; it was another Kaidon that called for this gathering several hours after the battle occurred. The elders were quick to answer the call and agree with Ailene when she suggested for Lak to attend this meeting to stand in for their Kaidon.
"Elder Lak will do what is best for all, my lady," said Sasan from behind her, also watching the group head toward the sea.
"We're at the edge of a knife, sister," Ailene said. "And I fear that things are about to become much worse."
"Your worries are valid, but we can only control the here and now. Let those that can do something do what they can. For now, you need to rest. Tomorrow will be chaotic enough and you need to take better care of your health."
Ailene winced at the jab. After the battle, her Keep sisters had dragged her back to the safety of the Keep, scolding her the entire way and the female elders forbade her from stepping foot outside the walls until after her child is born. Sasan became even more strict with her, had her hero equipment confiscated and locked up, and would have barred her from attending council meetings if the elders hadn't stepped in to calm her down. The sole human on Sangheilios was practically under house arrest now.
Sighing, she turned and followed her sister-in-law back inside with her guards falling in behind her.
"Oh, one of the guards noticed a compartment in that strange vault. Do you want to look into it?" Sasan mentioned and quickly added, "So long as you don't touch your hero gear, that is."
"A compartment? Sure, let's check it out." That got her curiosity; what else did her old comrades, family and friends pack away for her?
A lot; they had stored a lot more things for her. The compartment had revealed a large wooden trunk of Asgardian design and Ailene could feel Loki's magic on the trunk. She knew he'd frozen time on the trunk as it's contents looked new or the same as is did five centuries ago, but she didn't expect to not find the bottom of the trunk for thirty minutes.
"How much crap did they pack in here?!" Ailene exclaimed as Sasan surveyed the piles of objects that now surrounded the trunk, even the guards looked flabbergasted by the sheer volume of things that came out of the modest sized trunk. So far they had pulled out her old fiddle, more musical instruments she had collected plus some someone else added, her Irish dancing shoes, twenty books of varying genres, her performing dance dress, a belly dancing costume (she was going to kill Tony for that in the afterlife), several dresses of varying styles and designs, a satchel of Norse runes and another satchel of ogham staves, and several photo albums. The last thing to be pulled out was a beautiful wedding dress styled to look like an Elvish dress from the Lord of the Rings films, drawing an "Ooooh" from Sasan and Ailene when they finally saw it.
"By the gods, what is this?!" they heard an elder female behind them and they turned to look at the small crowed gathered at the threshold. Most of the crowd was young children and teens, but there were a few elders among them.
"Uh, we found more things my family and friends sent me," Ailene explained sheepishly, putting the dress back in the trunk and finding out that whatever spells Loki had placed on the trunk was now gone. "Shit, we should've unpacked this in the master room."
Sasan looked in the trunk and then back to the volume of objects surrounding them. Ailene could see her sister-in-law's realization that they had a whole mess to move from one end of the Keep to the other end. As the female Sangheili organized the small crowd to help move the objects, Ailene looked back in the chest one more time, not making any mention of the last object in the trunk before closing the lid.
Thel made his was to the Halo's Cartographer, destroying as many forms of the Flood he could on his way, when he ran into R'Tas Vadum and his band of warriors.
"In the center of this zone is a sacred Icon critical to the Great Journey," he informed the commander. "I must get inside!"
"Then we will cut into the heart of this infestation, retrieve the Icon, and burn anything that stands in our way!" R'Tas rallied his troops and they began to cut a path through the snow and into the facility ahead. "The Flood is not to be trifled with, Arbiter. I hope you know what you're doing."
"So do I," he mumbled before bringing his rifle up to shoot down a Flood form.