Frozen Memories - 1-8 Bridge

by Xeir Zith

Hidden Past - Back Cover. Hidden Past remake! This is entirely overhauled with missing dialog added to inital scenes with expansions and spelling fixes to the original writing from Hidden Past. In Bridge we see exactly what happens between Frozen Memories and War of the North - Frozen Memories. Xeir dreams and Elsa lives in a simulated city. Light works, Jarius writes Xeir sleeps

27. Kiyori - Tears of Nothing: Chapter Seven

Frozen Memories 1.8 Bridge

Hidden Past – Back Cover

Kiyori – Tears of Nothing

Chapter 7: Five Minutes to Payday

10 November 2057

Arendelle

Castle District

2 PM

Franz paced in the castle guestroom the two brothers had been given. They had waited all morning and no sign of the Kopekh and their prize. Franz and Hans both had charged the Kopekh leader, Sharka, and his wife, Altan, with finding and keeping Anna safe, and then bringing her to the Castle directly so Hans could get some stuff he wanted to finish.

As the clock tower in the city rang two in the afternoon, Hans spoke. "It seems that trusting the kopekh was a bad idea, brother."

"Just you wait, the Kopekh will come through." Franz said simply. A knock came at the door. "Come in" Franz called. A single Kopekh member entered. He had been freed through Xeir and trained a quick teleportation spell to use to get away from Hans and Franz once he gave the information he had to the two men.

Seeing that it was just the single Kopekh soldier, Hans smirked. "See, Franz, I told you it wouldnt work! Anna is too smart for that. The Kopekh couldnt get her, or she manged to change things around."

Franz glared at his brother, looking at the Kopekh soldier he asked sternly "You have Princess Anna then ? Well, where is she ?"

The Kopekh smirked behind his mask and held up a dagger, it had a note tied to it. "It would have been better" He said, his voice muffled behind his mask "To throw this through the window, but we did not know which was yours" His eyes glittered. "Now we do" Flinging the dagger towards Hans, Franz threw a log from the fireplace stack, in the confusion, the Kopekh soldier disappeared in an explosion of raw magic.

Hans sprang out of reach of the dagger as his brother threw a log, the dagger nailed the log dead on and the two men stared at the fallen log. Hans then went to the door and looked both ways in the hallway. There was no sign of anyone whatsoever.

He turned back to see his brother taking the dagger, a common Arendellian blade and removing the letter from it. It read

"To whom it may concern.

Masters of sly tounges huh ? If Sharka ever catches you sneaking or lying your way within the Taelieon District, Or utter a mention of seeking Princess Anna of Arendelle, Sharka will remove your most valued asset.

Sharka knows your face. You can change your names, but you cannot change your face.

Signed

Sharka of the Kopekh"

Hans smirked as Franz lost his temper, they were down two brothers thanks to Elsa and her assassins. Henri was dead, frozen and roasted to a crisp after being caught in Elas bedroom, the other two, one of which was a mute and the other not, were long gone from the kingdom, they had long disowned their siblings and sought fame as actors.

Franz smashes his fist onto the table in the room. "Blasted fools!" He screamed

"So it seems the Kopekh are now protecting Anna" Hans said upon picking up the letter. "I wonder if Anna herself put them up to it, or someone else did" Hans remembered that Anna was not exactly the best when it came to leadership or other needs. Really just a simple child when one really thought about it.

"If Anna is now being protected, we cannot get to her, the high priest here cannot get to her, and word of mouth in the kingdom already most favor her to take the place as Heir." Franz said simply as he rubbed his chin.

"There is a problem there" Hans agreed, "If the Kopekh are protecting Anna, the question is, did Anna somehow convince them to protect her, or did someone else, and if it was Anna, how ? How could a Woman with the mind of a child convince grown men to protect her instead of hand her over to us ?" Hans wondered aloud.

"If it was someone else, then who was it ?" Franz then said giving his brother a careful glance, Hans did not answer right away. He could sense somehow that Elsa was dead, with the way Kiyori was leading the kingdom that in and of itself was true enough.

"It couldnt be Elsa, for all we know shes dead, long dead, nobody has seen her in a year and a month now, but word is that Elsas old bodryguard, that big brute of an asshole, Mark Wolfe, was seen in the kingdom" Hans said

"So if we were to look for this man, he would not be as helpful as the Kopekh were." Franz said in reply.

"We dont need to worry about that. We could have the high priest search for him" Hans said to him.

"We could, but wouldnt it be counter productive to what we want ?" Franz asked him

"And what do we want ?" Hans asked him in reply, Franz looked at him.

Pointing at his brother Franz said simply "Good question. I'd suppose to start with, what I would like to know is, is Elsa dead ?"

"You know as well as I, we started remembering me talking about the bitch a month ago." Hans said to his brother

"Yeah, I remember. Even so, this Mark Wolfe, if we could take him prisoner..." Franz said in thought

"He'd be too strong for normal soldiers" Hans said, "the High Priest would have to go all out, send in the big guns, maybe even send in a mystic"

"You mean a Mystic like Blackbird ?" Franz said, Hans glared daggers at his brother

"What did I say about bringing her up ?" Hans asked him with a death galre

"That would would do to me what she threatened to do to your wife" Franz said, he waved his hand "Relax brother we both know you wont harm your own flesh and blood. The fact is, a bloodmage or other mystic, one strong enough to take down this Wolfe, so we can question him, would be nice."

"I suggest something different, questioning Mark Wolfe wont work, I just know we wont get the answers we seek" Hans said, he thought quietly for a moment, then said. "No, to get what we need without getting seen is, we have to make the people in this kingdom believe we have left.

"And how do you propose we do that ?" Franz asked, the oldest brother of the bunch. Followed by the Gemini twins of Fritz and Jermiah.

"There is talk of a woman being in Arendelle, skilled in magic, you remebmer how my friernds, those two evil women, now control the food in the kingdom ?" Hans said, Franz nodded, it was all Hans had really ever gloated about. "Those two women, if I can find one of them, or their siblings, they can help us find out whats going on." Hans said

"Fine, I'll leave this to you, where do you think they would be right now ?" Franz asked him.

"The last time I spoke with them was in the Marketplace District, its either that or the Pine District, either of the two. We can scout one of them out tonight, then the other tomorrow. In the mean time, I am famished, lets find out what is on the table." that said both men left the guestroom after Franz tossed the letter into the fireplace where it burned to nothing.

Arendelle

Pine District

At that same moment

"You are sure you werent followed ? That mans soldiers are everywhere lately looking for the three women to be voted about" Came a quiet even toned voice of Draco Junior.

"Relax brother, I know when to sneak around." Nasty replied. Sounding a bit shaken and yet looking none the worse for wear

"You look nervous. Did something occur ?" Jr asked her.

"No, other then Dad contacting me, warning me about the Necromancer and her undead companions." Nasty said.

That got Jr's completeattention. "Dad contacted you ?"

"He did, he also sent two of his shadowlings, Nymeth and Belyrr to help me out. For the next two weeks, they take orders from me as I see fit. Dad also advised me about the Wolf Queen. Apparently she wants one of us to claim the throne during the coming shitstorm concerning the three women up for the post of Heir" Nasty said to him.

"So whats your plan, sis ?" Jr asked her, the two took a seat at a table in a small parkland.

"Right now, be careful. The Wolf Queens undead wolf minion is also able to transform into a mostly human looking guy named Halen."

"Heard of him, sure as fuck tempted to take a whack at him too" Jr said, he gave his sister a look "Seriously though, that is not all that Dad said is it ?"

Nasty shook her head. "No, he said that even if the Wolf Queen were to come against us in any manner, she wouldnt be able to control our Shadowmagic, Father said we'd be too strong for her to try to contain. But we cant let her know that" Nasty said, she drummed her fingers on the table top. "Dad also said that Sutri got her Gift"

"So that leaves you and Brutus ?" Jr asked, never speaking in a gloating tone whatsoever. Even though he had Kobolds of his own; chosen direct from his fathers own shadow kobolds, he never gloated to Nasty or Sutri, but he did gloat them over Taris, because naturally Taris was the runt of the nest.

"Exactly, but what gift would Brutus get ? He's just a drunken fuck with his own bar and we both know it. The only reason Dad still thinks him family is the monthly Dragon Wine delivery Brutus sends to him." Nasty said, so what gift could Brutus get aside from being firmly part of the family instead of merely tolorated ?

"Fair point" Jr said, a thoughtful look on his face "Whats your plan now ?" then he looked his sister over carefully. "Did you even sleep last night ?"

Nasty shook her head at the qestuon of sleep "I havent really slept since we got to Arendelle in the first place. Been too worried finding news of our current control methods and if they still held."

"Control methods ?" Jr asked, clearly confused at what she meant.

"Taris and I came up with the idea of controlling Arendelles food supply, basically the Kreen district is full of spiders, and we made things work in our favor that we control the food through the spiders on condition that unless the Spiders keep the food and hide it in the various districts, we'd harm one of their family members each hour." Nasty explained, "Basically it was mostly Taris idea, but she insisted to do it with me instead of on her own"

"Taris is resourceful. Mother taught her well" Jr mused thoughtfully, rare praise for the runt in Nastys eyes.

"Either way, we still control the majority of the food stores execept in five districts, Marketplace, Kreen, Pond, Castle, and Galasia." Nasty told him

"Only those five, out of all seventy one ?" Jr asked her

"Only those five." Nasty confirmed.

"Anything else from Dad ?" Jr asked out of the blue after a moment of quiet thought. Jr sat upon the table, his feet on the bench seat, his sister seated on the same bench seat next to him.

"Only that I needed to be careful, and watchful. Its possible the Wolf Queen will make a run for one of us, try and lure us in. I doubt she could take Brutus, the guy can kill a waterbuffalo at five kiloemters!" Nasty said.

It was mention of her brother killing something from a mile away that made Jr bark out in laughter. "So we dont have to worry, the Wolf Queen cant over power us with her magic, think about it, if she tried, she'd die due to her body just giving up due to old age."

"Father said that we're his offspring, but not under her control to begin with" Nasty said

"Whats the plan then ?" Jr asked her

"Right now,.. I just need sleep. But I cant sleep, not now, not that I know that Fathers old... boss... is skulking this kingdom." Nasty said, the gears clicked and clacked and finally it all came together

"You're scared because she knows your face ?" Jr mused, it was starting to get the picture as the ink was still wet

"Exactly" Nasty nodded to him

"Huh, well... tell you what, the wolf queen does not know where Brutus lives. Niether does she know what I look like. so..." Jr started to say when Nasty interruped him

"So what ?" She asked

"So we cover your face and I can get you back there safely and unseen" Jr said, Nasty nodded and conjured some shadows into a cloak and the two siblings headed back to Brutus' house.

Brutus house and tavern were infact in the Pine District, close to overlooking the river that had the Roughwater District across from it. The house was just nice enough that it overlooked the district itself. The last owner had given it to Brutus when he died hundreds of thousands of years ago. Nobody knew exactly how the guy, Brutus, survived so long.

Only that he somehow did, was it magic or something else ? It was the mere fact that people believed in his mouth watering ale that could make someone live forever. And Brutus was seemingly proof of that selfsame fact. But the truth was, Brutus was a Dragon Brutus was also a mortally addicted Alcoholic too, but that was a different matter entirely. The fact of the matter was, Brutus had a house for the siblings to stay in, and it was perfect for their needs. With Nasty safely there however, she could get some much needed sleep.

Arendelle

Pond District

Six PM

Tiri gargled the ale she was given. "Tangy" She said simply to the keeper. The man paid her little heed, she had been drinking all day and always said the same thing. Tangy, yet sweet a second or so later. Tiri had been at the bar since sunrise. Mostly because Xeir was upset and was also drinknig herself into a stupur had those two Kopekh guys not convinced her to sober up.

Tiri found herself really liking the Kopekh, Sharka, his wife Altan, their friends Taichar and Altun, and also Nekhii and Aruchii, and Aruchiis sister Kara. They were all nice people the whole lot of them really. But when Tiri was told of what drove Xeir to drinking all night. How Tie, one of xeirs Sparrow Servants had been knocked out and trapped on a model for Xeir to find at some point. It made even Tiri upset.

To the point of openly wanting to take on the High Priest, but then she'd break down in a fit of drunken laughter and rouse everyone for it. Tiri herself was trying to enjoy the day, getting drunk enough to have a drunken fight somewhere, really just to get things nice and drunkenly done for one could be of help. But she was not expecting the High Priests own men to want to show up and watch her, they never engaged in a fight with her, nor did they drink any alcohol with her. They just watched her. "Hey, hey you, yeah you ya fucker not drinkin'!" Tiri said seeing the two men not touching their ales a few tables over.

The two men seemed to ignore her. At least until Tiri got up and went over to them. "I was talking to you sober fucks, why arent you enjoying yourselves at a bar designed for drinking ?"

"Leave us alone, drunken wench!" Said one of the two men.

Tiri looked them both over carefully, then smirked. "OK! Cheers!" Tiri raised her mug in a toast, then drank it down, then smashed it to pieces on one fo the two guards heads. The man went down as Tiri opened her arms wide. "Come at me!" She said to the other soldier.

"Why you fucking bitch!" The other soldier screamed launching to his feet and running at her, the two wrestled briefly before trading blows, Tiri briefly made the man smell her armpit, which by that point stank of ale, the man staggered away.

Tiri saw the expression on the mans face, it couldnt be that bad could it ? Tiri sniffed her own armpit, and wrinkled her nose, it wasnt that bad. Then again as an Icewraith she couldnt really smell all that good to begin with. The first man had gotten his bearings had gotten up from the floor and ran at Tiri.

Grabbing her and rushing her backwards, the two blasted against a pillar with a crack of ice and wood. "Nothing like a bar brawl to get the blood pumping huh ?" Tiri smirked. The two traded blows briefly before Tiri knocked the man senseless and then turned to his fellow, the first man to fight her.

By that point the man had drawn a dagger. "Ah, you fight dirty, I like that!" Tiri called to him. She settled into a stance and made a 'come hither' motion to the man, he ran at her, they treaded blows briefly once again, each strike with the dagger a clean miss.

Tiri ended up disarming the last man then breathed in his face, the man fainted. But by that point the bar brawl was over. It was about five minutes worth of a fight of course. Perfect amount of time really to get their bearings. Tiri pickpocketed both men and then ambled off. Quickly disappearing into the kingdom of Arendelle

She met up with Xeir a few moments later. "Something wrong ?" Tiri asked as she handed Xeir the scrolls the men had on them. "Two fucks that showed up in that tavern were both good fighters, I think we're onto something here. They had these scrolls on them." Tiri told her

"That's fine, if the High Priest is starting to send better fighters, then that makes things more fun" Xeir said, the list of orders were simple, find a guy named Mark Wolfe. Apparently the guards they had found all carried the same kind of orders. It made sense of course. She held the orders up. "Same as the others" Xeir sighed

Tiri looked at one of them and snorted. "So exact same as the other squads that we intercepted today ?" Tiri asked, Xeir nodded. "You think the high priest wants this guy, this, Mark Wolfe ?"

"No, if anything the High Priest wants Mark Wolfe dead, someone else is seeking this Mark Wolfe fellow and somehow got the High Priest to agree to want him alive" Xeir said as she burned the orders.

"The orders are all the same then, 'find Mark Wolfe, and take him to the Docks District ?' Why the hell for ?" Tiri asked, none of it made sense.

"I do not know, but I mean to find out. See to the Sparrows and make sure they are all accounted for, Tie woke up not long ago from her ordeal, and thanks to Kara, was able to remain quiet calm." Xeir said, she turned to leave, but Tiri's voice stopped her

"Where are you going ?" Tiri asked her. It felt like a trap.

Xeir smiled and cast a sidelong glance towards her friend and former body. "For a walk on the docks. Dont wait up for me" Xeir told her. Tiri nodded and headed back for the house in the Yaeko District, they had work to do.

Xeir waited until Tiri had left. "If I were the person looking for Mark, why would I go to the docks ?" She mused thoughtfully. She headed in that direction, moving swiftly to the rooftops she took in everything she could. She balanced at the edge of the rooftops, looking over the docks.

A flick of her vision shifting showed her in perfect Dragon Vision what she sought. She counted six ships at harbor, one of them being stocked with goods, two more being unloaded, and the last three being patrolled or waiting to be unloaded. She spotted her goal not far away and smiled. A brief memory assaulted her. "So that must be Prince Hans, and who is the other man ?" Xeir silently teleported off the rooftop to the ground level. Nobody really paid her too much heed as to her sudden appearance in the street.

Xeir appeared like any other in the docks area. Moving among the people at the docks she was able to explore them a bit easier. The fjords went in two directions and the docks merely jutted out into them and made something of an inlet of a sort. The Docks District was sperate from the Port District. And it allowed a lot of movement between the two.

The way to tell them apart was easy. The docks were dirtier, and in more use whereas the Port was more offical for passports and visitors. It was the point where those coming from the harbor had to go through before entering the kingdom itself.

The Port District bordered the Marketplace District and also the northerly portion of Roughwater district to the east and south, and the Docks District and Castle District to the north and west.

The Port District was more the core of places to work from, be it information gathering or simply waiting to board the chosen ship. Xeir smirked, water bound vessels were soon going the way of the dead for sure. But for Xeir, she was there for information that only her eyes could collect.

She neared the two men, both of them Princes by the look of them. And she heard one of them talking to a nearby soldier who wore Kiyoris colors. "You're telling me that none of you can best a simple woman in combat ? What are you, a child ?"

"Far from it, the woman in question is the former Queens doppleganger, we never were told her name, but we have arrested her on many occasions this past year" The soldier said. "The strange thing is that we've only been able to arrest her, never modeled her, the High Priests magic never worked to trap her down."

"So we're talking about a woman who looks like Queen Elsa, but isnt queen Elsa, and can somehow avoid being turned into a model ?" Hans asked the man.

"Exactly, but when she fights, even when drunk, she is too skilled for us. We'd have to gang up on her to take her down." The soldier replied.

"It seems, Franz, that our backup plan is not working as we had hoped." Hans said to his brother.

"Stuff it little brother, what about the one known as Mark Wolfe, have you located him yet ?" Franz asked

"Not yet no, but we're close, theres only a few District Taverns left to visit and ask around in." The soldier replied. He then stood there looking at the two men.

Franz glared at the man. "What are you waiting for ? Get going. And dont bungle this." He said, Franz, Hans and Xeir could see, was starting to falter in his plans. Of course Xeir could also see that Hans was starting to lose it too. But it was possible that Xeir could get more information from both men, somehow. The soldier left.

Xeir watched at the dock edge as Hans turned and stalked onto his ship, his brother growling under his breath a few curses before following him. With the two men now aboard their vessel Xeir needed a way to get aboard without getting seen.

So what other way to do just that then sneak her way aboard and listen into what was going on without a sound ? Going to where the cargo was loaded at dock level. Xeir used a bit of magic to create a static field around her, rendering all electronic recording systems inert and off and thus vibisle to the naked eye only.

Xeir focused her vision and Hans and his brother appeared in bright gold. Her targets to listen in on. Moving towards them without attracting too much attention she ended up in the stern hold, directly below her desired targets.

"You're sure this Mark Wolfe will be of help in finding Anna ?" Hans asked his brother. "Why him ?"

"He bested your men, he bested the Duke." Franz replied, "And from what I heard, he through another, bested your possoble asperiant at Napoli" Franz had a smug look on his face.

"The fact you knew of our Napoli branch only slightly worries me." Hans replied. But he said nothing further on that fact. "What is your plan ?"

"Simple, this, Mark Wolfe guy, he never met me, he doesnt know what I look like, but he met you, and he knows you. And he knows what you look like. He knows you're married. But he does not know that you have me as a brother." Franz replied as Xeir listened in.

"That still does not explain why you want Mark Wolfe" Hans said. Xeir felt a pang of some form for the man, why was Mark Wolfe so important ?

"Mark Wolfe was the old queens husband and bodyguard, he was also close to Princess Anna" Franz replied.

"I am not sure I like where this is going, but continue" Hans said to his brother. He watched as his brother went to the map of the kingdom as a whole.

"Mark Wolfe can give us the secrets we need, but, we only must capture him, for questioning. Nothing more." Franz said, he had insisted on the soldiers only seeking to arrest in terms of needing questions answered at a neutral location. "We just need to get the man, and have the soldiers take him to a nuetral district for me to question him"

"You question him ?" Hans asked to Franz, out of the blue, the plan was forming.

"Like I said dear brother, he knows you, he knows what you look like, how you act, how you smell, how you do things." Franz said. Hans simply glared at his brother at the mention of stink. "The fact dear brother, is that we simply need information. Mark Wolfe is simply to be captured, and taken in only for questioning. After tha,t he's free to go"

"What questions could the man possibly answer ?" Hans asked him, of all things his brother leasding him down a weird road.

"We need to know why we remembered Arendelle last month, when we had forgotten about it for a year." Franz said, "You want to know why Anna is on the list for sole Heir to the throne when its supposed to be your wife!"

"What I want is Arendelle in templar control, this high priest is different" Hans replied, he did not like it, but it made little, if any, sense to try another plan at that moment.

"The High Priest is the least of our problems right now. For now, we relax and let the soldiers hunt Mark Wolfe." Franz said.

"So that's your plan then, sit back and wait." Hans asked

"Right now, yes" Franz replied.

"Tell you what, we wait one night, and if the soldiers do not bring the man to the district you want for questioning, we do things my way" Hans said

"Your way ?" Franz asked

"We blow up a location, make it look like an accident, draw him there." Hans replied, he was already working out the back up plan to the backup plan

Franz smiled. "Alright, tonight then, if nothing works out by moonrise, then we will easily take it one step further. And go your way"

Xeir knew that was her cue to get out of there. Someone planned to take on the place, destroy the district ? Or something else entirely ? What exactly did Hans hope to gain by capturing Princess Anna ?

But there was a more pressing matter for Xeir, Waterlight was on the docks. Sneaking off the ship as quietly as she came in she spotted the one eyed woman on the docks looking over a fish vendor.

Arendelle

Docks District

That same moment

Stepping up next to Waterlight, Xeir spoke "It isnt every day a possible Princess is out among the people"

"Xeir!" Waterlight said, they were in full view of the ship belonging to Hans and his brother. "What are you doing here ? You're not supposed to be seen with your arm like this!" The women spoke softly and tersely as they viewed the market vendor.

"I needed a walk, so far so good" Xeir replied, she told Waterlight what she learned about Mark Wolfe.

"So it seems we're not the only ones looking for him." Waterlight said, "whats your plan ?"

"That's just it, find him, keep him safe. Hans and his brother wants to question him, but I dont think they will simply "Question" him either" Xeir replied to her old nursemaid and her mothers Lady-in-Waiting.

"When I find him then I will try to keep him safe. Though there is no promises on how he'd react to my precense though. Kalda never did like how I looked" Waterlight said, it made Xeir smirk slightly. She was mostly right. Kalda was actually more scared of Waterlight strictly based on her scars and missing eye.

"You bear those battlescars with pride" Xeir mused, a respectful tone in her voice

"I do indeed" Waterlight replied, "I will find Mark Wolfe, and keep him safe, or at least watch him from afar when he is grabbed by those thugs called soldiers." Waterlight told Xeir about her tour of the castle. "Every soldier pointed out to me was more thug with little if any training than a trained and proper soldier." She said

"Great, I'll take care of the thugs, you keep an eye on Mark, something tells me he'll be key to a lot of what is going on." Xeir said, the two women split up. Waterlight remained on the docks and seemed to be shopping. As Xeir headed off somewhere else.

Keeping an eye on Mark was one thing. Finding him however, was easier said then done. But Waterlight liked a challenge, and this was perfect. She headed into the Port District, ready to begin her search

Arendelle

Port District

At that same moment

A woman collided with Waterlight, dressed in Assassin Robes, Waterlight however caught scent of someone familiar. "Diamond ?"

"Shh!" Diamond said clamping a hand on Waterlights mouth. "Its Diana right now. Until everyone knows me as Diamond, just call me Diana. I'm one of the Assassins here, I was told I'd make contact with a friend from my Husband, never expected it to be you." Diamond said to Waterlight.

The two women hugged tightly. "Its good to see you too, Diamond" Waterlight said.

"And its good to see you too, Waterlight, what are you doing here ?" Diamond replied, she was tempted to ask why Waterlight was one of the three possible Heirs, along with Anna, and Sapphire. Diamond and Sapphire had already talked about why Sapphire was chosen, she had originally been Xercines bodyguard the last year and watched Kiyori steadily take over and kept Xercine as a puppet councilman.

So now that meant that Sapphire had a lergitimate reason to be an Heir, as did Princess Anna, she was after all the Princess of Arendelle. And quite honestly, if Sapphire were to be chosen, she'd become queen, and then step right down in favor of Anna as Queen instead. But she'd need to first get rid of Kiyori.

"Well I was shopping" Waterlight replied indicating a bag of food she had just bought.

"Since when did Waterlight have to go shopping ?" Diamond asked with a silly expression on her face that made Waterlight crack a smile on her otherwise stony quiet face.

"You always were a ray of sunshine, Diamond, I am glad you are here in Arendelle." Waterlight replied. "What exactly brings you here though ?"

"Been looking for Mother, she's been missing the past year, nobody knows where she went" Diamond replied

Waterlight nodded, "Ah, I should have thought as much, its also why I'm here on this planet. When your Mother left, she gave me instructions to wait a year, and when Xeir woke up, to aid her as she saw fit until your Mother returned or until Xeir sends me back, whichever first." Waterlight said

"That explains why you're in Arendelle" Diamond replied, then she did a double take. "Wait, what exactly do you mean by "this planet ?" you mean there's more then one planet ?" Diamond was confused

"Earth is just one of many planets in the Mortal Realm, your mother just liked Earth because of how close it is to the Mythic Realms boundary between Mythic and Mortal" Waterlight explained.

Diamond looked at her conufsed then said "I dont follow" it was mostly true, Diamond was confused, there was a boundary between the two realms that much she knew, it was like a nebulae or some such. But it was not just Earth ? "So there are more planets out there ?"

"There are, and this planet is just one of many. But this was where Xeir went after her fight with Kethend. Therefore this planet has something of importance to both your mother, and Lady Xeir." Waterlight said.

The two women by that point had left the Port District and ended up in the Dojo District as they talked. The Dojo District was the next district past the Roughwater District.

"So, whats your plan now ?" Diamond asked to Waterlight.

"Xeir asked me to keep an eye on Mark, there are two men who wish to question him, but Xeir did not tell me why they wanted to speak to him or why they wanted him other then to ask him questions." Waterlight replied as she walked along. Diamond stopped

"Wait, protect Mark or just make sure he's got an eye on his every move ?" Diamond asked, "I ask this because, well, I left my husband to keep an eye on him. Last I saw the two were sparring at the Marketplace District somewhere." Looking around Diamond then said, "But this looks more like the Dojo District now that I think about it."

"So it is" Waterlight replied, a smirk on her face. "Perhaps you wish to spar ?"

"What me ?" Diamond looked at her, Waterlight and Diamond used to spar, a lot. With Kanwar nearby, the two women would really go to town on each other, magical and martial. Dragon or humanlike. At one point Light even let them use the Throne Room because of a storm, but otherwise. Almost all their sparring happened in a pit arena in the Courts of Light somewhere.

"You see anyone else around ?" Waterlight asked her

"Are you really asking me if I want to spar with you ?" Diamond asked in reply, giving Waterlight a confused look

"No I'm asking that truck over there, seriously Diamond you're the only person outside of your mother or Lady Kanwar who would spar with me. So why not let us take a few whacks at each other for old times sake ?" Waterlight said to her.

Diamond was thoughtful. "I dont think we should do it here, the Galasia District might be safer. If we spar here we would draw unwanted attention. Infact if we spar anywhere in the kingdom, we'd draw unwanted attention" Diamond said

"You have a point, even if we were just like we are now, no weapons, no magic, just whacking at each other. Testing each others brief defenses ?" Waterlight said, "You know, like this" As she spoke she tried to nail Diamond in the face, only for Diamond to react as expected and knock her fist aside.

"We cant do it here!" Diamond hissed, she spotted two soldiers not far away.

"Sure we can, unless you want to party with a mortal" Waterlight said, Diamond looked at her carefully

"Why exactly are you here Waterlight, you're normally at Mothers side at all times" Diamond asked her.

Waterlight smiled softly. "I just told you, Diamond, that I was given orders to help Xeir when Xeir woke up. Xeir is now awake, and my orders are to make sure Mark is alright and keep an eye on him." she explained for the third time.

Diamond sighed, this was not going to be easy. But it made sense in the long run. "Alright, in the Marketplace there is an Assassin Den, it is overseen by a woman named Blackmane. Mark lives there"

Waterlight smiled again. "It is alright Diamond, I understand how you feel about your mother missing. I do not know where she is, if I did, I'd be with her right now and you'd wonder where I am too" She said, trying her best at that moment to calm Diamond down a bit.

"Yeah, you're right" Diamond replied softly as the two women headed for the Marketplace District. There was still a lot of things they had to do.

Arendelle

Marketplace Assassin Den

At that same moment

WHACK, Mark saw stars as Nara and he were sparring in the little arena that Blackmane had built when she rebuilt the den, a good training and testing area, perfect for sparring. Within days of reopening a Den, a training arena was also built near it as part of its property space as a whole.

"Come on Man, put some strength into those swings!" Nara said, Mark had grown lax it seemed, even with Iries armor made for him. Which she was now sending in full mass production for the Assassins across Earth at that moment. It made more sense. But Mark was not as good as a fighter as he used to be.

At least, not since Kiyori took out Kalda. Nara struck, Mark blocked and ducked around him, whacking Nara in the leg, Nara went down in a heap, Mark rolled to his feet. Nara laughed.

"That's what I'm talking about! Come on, listen kiddo, without Kalda you're going to have to fight dirty, so lets forget about being gentlemen and spar, as if fighting for... oh say a lady's honor ?" Nara said. That made Mark snicker. "What ?"

"What do you know about honor ?" Mark asked him, he barely met Naratas, but he remembered the weirdo from the first meeting they had on the Whitesparrow. Once Naratas had introduced himself it was then that Mark knew who he was. "What do you know about women anyhow ? Any woman in Arendelle would whack you and hog tie you"

That made Nara laugh again as he got to his feet. Settling into a stance he said "Alright, lets say we're fighting over... oh I dont know, the throne. First person to shit loses!"

And that made Mark crack up laughing. "Do dragons shit like normal humans I wonder ?" He asked

"That is a question I am not sure I should answer." Nara replied with a rather 'I am an idiot for bringing it up' tone

"Alright, new wager then ?" Mark asked, "Say, loser buys dinner ?"

Nara thought a half a minute on the offer and then agreed. "Free food, why not ?" he said, the two went at it. Whacking a few times at the other rapidly before breaking up and relaxing after a good ten minutes of sparring.

By that point they were at a stalemate and Diana and Waterlight were watching them both. Of course neither woman knew what the stakes were. But the sparring was so good the two men were skilled enough at it.

It was also rather dusty.

Finally Mark laughed, "Truce ?"

"Stalemate then ?" Nara replied as an offer. His arm holding Mark against the wall of the training arena.

"Why not, I'm sure you're starving, you know what. Fuck it, I'll pay for lunch. Oh, hello ladies" Mark said upon seeing Diana, and also a woman he did not recognise whose face was hidden by a hooded cloak.

"A good spar ?" Diana asked seeing that they had been noticed. She honestly could care less if Mark swore in front of her. But she wasnt so sure about Waterlight.

"One could say that" Nara said, a smile growing on his face as he seemed to eyeball Diana

"How long were you two watching ?" Mark asked the two women, nodding in greeting to Waterlight.

"About a minute" Waterlight replied. It was mostly the truth

Diana then spoke up "This is Waterlight, a mutual friend of ours had a job for her, so I figured take her here and let her get started."

"A pleasure!" Nara said as he spotted Diamond next to Waterlight. Keeping his hands where Diamond could see them

"A job ?" Mark asked as Nara made a beeline for Diana and promptly walked dead into her open palm, falling flat on the dusty ground at their feet.

"Yes, and it seems it is now much easier knowing my target is quite safe" Waterlight said

"Target ?" Mark asked her, Waterlight said nothing. "I'm your target ?" Waterlight nodded silently. "Anything else I should know ?"

"Only that two weird men want to question you, I'd be careful going out the soldiers were told to arrest you only for questioning, they might rough you up, but that is all I really know on the topic." Waterlight replied, she was only told so much by Xeir in the first place. And she was not allowed to reveal Xeirs name.

"And our mutual friend, who are they ?" Mark asked

"The Kopekh" Came Dianas easy calm reply. Mark looked at her, she merely nodded in his direction.

"Waterlight here is on one of the three posters plastered on the kingdoms buildings and all bulletin boards. How could the Kopekh send her to protect me ?" Mark asked giving Diana a pointed look

He had her there, but before Diana could dig herself deeper Waterlight spoke up. "Diana is mostly right, Sharka overheard two men talking, one of the men wanted you to tell them cerain bits of information of where Princess Anna is hiding. But he never found out what or where they wanted to question or take you. Or what they'd do after getting what they wanted. So out of worry, he sent me to make sure you at least have someone nearby to keep an eye on things." Waterlight explained as best she could.

Mark sighed. "Alright, Sharka is currently watching and keeping Anna safe until further notice. Waterlight can do the same for me I guess. But please dont be a mother hen watching my every move alright ?"

"Alright, but no promises" Waterlight said, truth be told she was only going to make sure he was alright every few hours or so. She would never intrude on his personal time either.

A few minutes later and the four were at a nearby eating place. "Its amazing the more I think about it" Mark mused.

"What is ?" Nara asked around a footlong sub sandwich that would put Subway to shame.

"The fact that Arendelle still is standing after all these generations." Mark said around a mouthful of turkey and cheese. "I mean sure I've been in the library, the history of the kingdom is something else indeed!"

"This kingdom is old I agree, but it was at one point, only one of many outposts." Waterlight said.

"You know about it ?" Mark asked her as Diana raised a curious eyebrow.

"For the most part by word of mouth, storytellers like to embellish their tales when they talk of heroism." Waterlight said to Mark, he was eating and listening. Never really noticing that Waterlight was not yet hungry.

"Storytellers are respected even here" Mark said simply, Diana nodded.

"Have you tried the other libraries yet ?" Waterlight asked him

"There is more then one ?" Mark asked her

"Yes, there is two Libiaries in this kingdom. One of them is in the Castle, the other" Diana said, "Should be in the Pine District, or the Pond District, possibly the Greensky District, from what I recall, its big." It was infact in the Greensky District, a gorgeous three floor building that was built into a hillock and looked out over the Greensky District as a whole. It basically was the border of ther Greensky and Wolf Districts on the northern most eastern part of the district border.

Mark somehow felt excited for it for some reason. The mere fact that the library was so close, and was apparently second only to the Castles own library, if not larger. Mark swallowed what meat he had in his mouth and spoke. "Alright, soon as lunch is over, we head for the library. Hopefully it will have some information in there concerning a rather interesting problem." He said

"Problem ?" Diana asked, Mark looked at her, "What kind of problem ?"

"The High Priest has a device called a Star Formation. I want to find out more about it. And I cant go near the castle library itself" Mark said in reply to the question.

Waterlight smirked. "I have a better idea. Finish your dinner, and plan otherwise, soldiers are looking for you to take you..."

"To two guys that Sharka didnt like the look of, I know" Mark said, he smirked. "It feels like a trap"

"So what do you plan to do if it is a trap ?" Diana asked as the question made Waterlight pause

"I plan to spring it. If whoever wants me wants to talk to me, I will worry about getting out of the place on my own. I have a few new tricks up my sleeves." Mark said, meaning the Essence Flames, which made Diana smirk, he had a point, thanks to the Essence Flames one could not be caught and shrunken into a model.

"Alright, if the four of us were seen going into the library, that could cause issues or turn heads" Waterlight said.

"From what I know of the library. Groups of people constantly come and go, but if those dressed as Assassin's were to show up as a group, then yeah, we'd turn heads." Mark said with a smirk on his face, a smirk that Diana wanted so desperately to whack. "Fact is, only one or two of us need to go into the library. Not all of us at once"

"He has a point" Nara said with a thoughtful nod. Seeing the glare given him by Diana he asked "what ?"

"Whose side are you on ?" Diana asked him with a pout clear in her tone yet Mark did not recognise the sound.

"I would prefer to be on the winning side. Or did you not want me to answer that ?" Nara replied with a impish grin on his face, then he got serious when he asked his question. Diana struggled to keep her dirty glare of death on her face but started to smile at Nara. "Its settled then ? Mark and I will go to the library, you ladies can enjoy yourselves... no ? Why are you shaking your head no ?"

Diana spoke before Waterlight could. "If you go with Mark nothing will get done, but if I go with Mark, something might get done." Diana said

"If you go with him, what would I do on my own lonesome... aside from get into trouble with the High Priests thugs ?" Nara said, his impish innocent expression on his face again

"You get into trouble without me as it is" Diana replied

"I know" Nara nodded dumbly. "That is why I want to get into trouble, but with you"

He had a sparkle in his eye that made Diana speak in Draconic right there in front of Mark "Not here, stupid." her tone told Waterlight everything she needed to know, Diana, or rather, Diamond, and Naratas, were husband and wife.

Mark raised an eyebrow in curious wonderment. "When did you start speaking Draconic ?" He didnt know the dialect that Diana used, only that she had spoken in Draconic to begin with, and to him, that was enough tell him Diana was either learning things she shouldnt, or doing what Blackmane most likely advised. So Mark decided not to bother or worry too much about the fact that Diana just spoke in Draconic and focused instead on getting to the library. He shook his head before Diana could answer "Nevermind, forget it. Nara and I will go to the library, we'll meet you guys there." With any luck, Mark could find out more about the star shards that Irie and Diana carried everywhere they went.

The meal then passed in silence for a bit and then when they were leaving the diner Mark asked "Has anyone seen Irie recently ?"

"I'll check on her" Diana said, Mark thanked her, then he and Nara headed for the library in the Pine District while Diana headed for the den, Waterlight knew that Mark was under a good set of watchful eyes, so she did not have to worry about anything on that front. However she was curious of why the two Southern Princes wanted Mark.

What could Mark know that they wanted from him ? Her eyes fell on the nearby poster board. Her own mug, somehow quiet pretty in coloration on the board stared back at her, along with a woman named Sapphire, and also a woman named Anna. But the more Waterlight looked at the posters, the more she realised what was going on. "Sharka and the Kopekh coming to Arendelle cannot be a coincidence" Waterlight mused. Turning she headed where she needed to go, she wanted to talk to Sharka.

Arendelle

Taelieon District

A few Moments later

A little before eight that evening and Waterlight was moving rather quickly into the Taelieon District looking for Sharka. She came across two members of the Kopekh, Taichar and his wife, Altun. "Taichar! Altun, I am surprised to see you in Arendelle, is everything alright in Mongolia ?" Waterlight said as she stepepd into Taichars field of view.

"Lady Waterlight, how good to see you, its been a while" Taichar said in greeting, earning a soft smile from Waterlight. As Altun hugged the Dragoness.

Returning the hug, Waterlight smiled. "Its been too long old friend, how fares Mongolia ?"

"Fares well enough, no Templars or other crap to worry about. But we came here with Sharka, our current leader, he should be in the centeral part of the district with Darbai or Atlan, Princess Anna is here too, but I havent seen Aruchii or Nekhii since Kara returned to us." Taichar said

"No need to worry about them right now, from what I heard, Nekhii and Aruchii are safe and helping someone just as important as Anna. Now, which way to Sharka, I need to speak to him, its urgent." Waterlight said to them

It was her expression alone that made Taichar nod, knowing how urgent in the way Waterlight expressed it only meant it was time of the essence, as if Taichar were a policeman getting into his squad car, the siren would be going off before he shifted into gear! "Last I saw he was with Anna in the Taeleion Districts centeral courtyard area, its multilevled, kinda like a mongolian mall. But he's easy to spot. Princess Anna is also quite easy to spot, but hard to miss when around him."

"But, if you cannot find either of them, look for Altan, she is Sharkas wife, and she is easy to spot with her black and white dreadlocked hair." Altun said, that made Taichar nod, Altan's hair was black and white, like stripes of a tabby cat. If Taichar did not know any better, Atlan was a cat of some kind.

"Thank you both, please keep an eye out for any of the High Priests men, they're looking for Mark Wolfe, thankfully I have someone with him even now to ensure he'll be alright." Waterlight said,

"Where is he headed, maybe we can meet up with him ?" Altun said

"He is going to the Pine District, to the library there, they are open I assume until nine or later" Waterlight said, "If you go now you can catch him, and please, do me a simple favor and keep an eye on him, even from afar if you must do so from a distance, just make sure him and the guy with him stay out of trouble, or trouble stays away from them."

"Consider it done" Taichar said moving from the post he was leaning against, originally they were set to keep watch on the road that cut into the Taelieon District, Taichar and his wife were really just patrolling at random, no real set time slot of doing whatever.

"No need to worry of payment either, we're the Kopekh, and Mark is family according to Sharka, distance cousins. And therefore, we're able to cover each others backs." Altun said when Waterlight was about to hand off a few pieces of gold.

"Very well, just make sure Mark and the guy with him stay out of trouble." Waterlight said, "I will talk to Sharka and see if we cant figure out how to keep the high priest at bay a bit longer."

"The High Priest wants Mark ?" Taichar asked as Darbai stepped into view

"No, two men want Mark, but they're using the High Priests thugs to find him. They want to question him, and I think I know what they want to question him about, or rather, who they want to question him about." Waterlight replied.

Taichar spotted Darbai and spoke. "Darbai! This is Waterlight, you remember her, the Lady who helped us in Ulanbataar during the Oil Refinery Fire crisis four years ago ?" Taichar said to the other man

"Yes I remember" Darbai nodded, he then greeted Waterlight "Hello My Lady, what brings you to the Kopekh ?"

"I need to speak to Sharka, and quickly" Waterlight said to him as Taichar and Altun took their leave, they had a new task.

Darbai nodded. "Come with me, I just came from where he's at." He turned and lead Waterlight deeper into the Taelieon District, up a flight of stairs and to a long winding ramp that lead to a third level of the multilevled district. Were a fight to occur in the district, it wouldnt be good.

Arendelle

Pine District

Pine District Libr4ary

That Same moment

"Wow, I never expected a library to look this good" Nara said, for what it was worth, the only two libraries that he had really visited was a place in Michigan, which had a gorgeous backyard view of a forest in the wintertime. The other library he had been at was Lights Crystal Palace Library. Mostly he ended up there when hiding from Kanwar and her somehow easy to access stash of heavy shit to slam down on him with whenver she could.

"And here I was expecting it to be closed" Mark replied as the two came upon the main door which slid open without a sound. "Quite nice I must admit" Mark said as he surveyed the space they could see for the moment. "Reminds me of Egypt" Mark mused

"Does it ? It reminds me of a really nice place in Michigan" Nara replied, getting a confused look from Nara, "What ?"

"Why do I not want to know what you were doing in Michigan ?" Mark asked him as the two headed down a stack of books and took a right deeper into the library heading for the most likely place the refrence desk was located.

"I was on a task for a friend of ours, The All-Mother, I think you've heard of her ?" Nara said, Mark nodded, though Mark never met the woman he had only seen glimpses of her in Kaldas journal and memories. But he never met her personally. "She had me make a delivery, and then run some errands and missions for a lady in Michigan. Who knew preparing a wedding ring took that much work ?"

Turned out a woman that the All-mother had need of was getting married. But in order to lock her cooperating, Nara had to run some critical errands and also help at the local library on the womans wedding day directly. "It truly had a beautiful view out the backwindows looking to the east." Nara concluded, meaning the gorgeous view through the back window wall onto the snow covered forest of trees, in the summer, the greenery of the trees was equally beautiful, but to Nara, the wintertime effects of the trees was breathtaking.

"So in other words, while helping a bride to be you also learned something ?" Mark looked at Nara

Nara simply nodded "Yes, Libraries are considered sacred spaces in certain cities." he said, Mark simply smirked as the two headed deeper into the structure, took a flight of stairs up, and managed to find the reference desk.

"Well, there is one good thing about this library" Mark said as he looked around, it was filled with people, mostly older men and women burning the midnight oil, an occasional soldier patrolling.

"Really ?" Nara asked keeping an eye on their surroundings "What's that ?"

"Its open twenty four hours a day, execept on the Kingdoms offical holidays, which it is closed" Mark said reading off a sign written in norse

"Works in our favor, normally my favorite library, if you want to call it that, closes at around now" Nara said, The two of them waited for the librarian to notice them.

"Good evening, welcome to the Pine District Library, what can I do for you ?" The Librarian said in greeting to both men.

"Yes, I'm looking for the kingdom records room, I was told there was one here" Mark said

"You were told correctly sir, Might I see some form of identification ?" Said the librarian. Mark showed the woman his drivers license, it had a picture of him on it, and strangely, the license was egyptian. The woman however did not let that bother her. "Alright, follow me gentlemen." She took them to another set of stairs and they went up to the third level. Nearby was a door, it slid open as they arrived.

"This is the kingdoms records department, our records go as far back as the creation of the Pond District. We were starting to collect information regarding the creation of the kingdom, but we cant find anything on it, anything older then the time period concerning the Pond District, and you'd have to go to the Castle Library itself" she told them.

"Thank you, we'll be alright on our own in here." Nara said, giving the woman a soft smile as he then asked "Are there anything important about the room we should know ? Any special rules or the like ?"

"Just one, we simply wish to keep things neat and tidy, so please treat the items in here with respect if you can." The Librarian told them, both men nodded. There was no doubt, Mark knew, that Nara would treat the books, the whole building, with the utmost of respect.

Outside the library two men watched the main door. "Alright they're inside, I see them climbing the stairs" Said one.

"Good, we know now where they are," said the other, who was larger then his fellow. "You stay here, I'll tell the boss" The big brute of a soldier ambled off to tell Hans that they had tracked Mark to the library in the Pine District

But he wouldnt get that far. As he rounded the fcorner a hidden blade caught him in the jaw as he was pulled around the corner, he sank to the ground in a heap as Altun leaned against the corner. "One down, one to go, dear. Do you want to take him this time or should I down both ?"

"Where is the other ?" Taichar asked as he peeked around the corner behind his wife

"Over there, next to a fish seller stall" Altun said as Taichar peeked around her. "He looks to be watching the front door of the library"

"Yup, and this big fucker must have been going to get reenforcements" Taichar said looking to the soldier, Kiyoris colors for sure. Patting the man down he continued. "You take outt the other, do it silently, dont worry of hiding the body. Act as if you're shopping for dinner tomorrow. He will suspect nothing"

"mm" Altun said in reply, pushing from the corner she ambled through the sparsely populated streets and headed for the fish market stall. The soldier paid her no attention as he leaned on it. Infact nobody paid any attention to Altun as she casually asked the man for a fish with a long nose, a small swordfish.

Slick!

The swordfish slit the thugs neck, allowing Altun to head off as if nothing happened, the fish seller had no idea the soldier was dead outside his stall until someone said something in the morning.

Joining his wife in the street looking aty the library, Taichar smiled. "Nice shot,"

"And getting better all the time" Altun replied, "Shall we ?" The two entered the library, and briefly shifting their vision they followed Marks footsteps.

In less then a minute however, the two found themselves at the opened door of the records section. Two men inside.

"I'm telling ya man, finding anything regarding the Star Formation, you're better off looking for the guy directly." Nara mumbled as he set a book back on the shelf. "Hi" he said nochalantly to Altun as she was standing right there as he set the book on the shelf. He did a double take. "DONT HIT ME!" he said briefly really quickly rather then shrieking it out.

"Why would I hit you ? When my job is to make sure the two of you are out of trouble ?" Altun asked as Taichar found Mark

"Trouble ?" Mark asked seeing and hearing the two arrive.

"Nothing we couldnt handle, libraries are important places of learning and knowledge. A fight here would cause trouble, mostly for the patrons, resulting of course in the loss of hours of operation, or books." Taichar said leaning upon a post.

"Speaking in riddles I see" Mark growled. He hated riddles

"For the most part, but you have us confused, why are you in the library this late at night ?" Taichar asked

"Looking up an item called the Star Formation, no doubt from before Elsas own mothers time" Possibly made during her great grandmothers time" Mark replied

"You do know there were two men, dressed in Kiyoris colors, outside the library, we intercepted one as he was leaving and took out the other while shopping, but never found their orders." Altun said stepping into view. "Fortunately, it was just those two."

"No orders on either ?" Mark asked as he picked up a book slated sixty years before the birth of Elsa and thumbed through it.

"No, nothing on either execept for coin and basic weapons." Came Altuns reply as she watched him read

"I see" Mark paged through the old book, finding nothing, then picked up the next one. "I am starting to wonder if a Library would even have what we're looking for"

"What are you looking for ?" Taichar asked as Nara was about to gloat.

"See! I told you we'd never find anything looking in the records, you'd have better luck looking up the guy your cousin mentioned, Hima Alo and this... Starmaster or Starman or whatever" Nara said

Mark ignored Nara briefly, but spoke to Taichar, "Looking for information regarding a powerful device that Kiyori has in his possession, called a Star Formation. It is damaged, my cousin and one of the Assassins under my command each have a shard of a star, wether they are from the same star or from several, that I am trying to find out"

"A Star Formation ?" Taichar asked simplky, they had dealt with such technology in their history

"It makes sense, the last six months in Arendelle have been strange signs in the sky, the stars unnaturally clear." Altun said

"They were unnaturally clear and bright even in Mongolia" Taichar said

"But not as clear as they are here in Arendelle." Altun pointed out

"Ah yes, the Auroa Boralis" Mark said, "That might be why the stars here are so bright and clear."

"Not entirely" Altun said, Taichar nodded, she could explain. "The Stars even in Mongolia were bright, but there were some minor issues recently, almost everything related to star patterns and star charts were thrown out of whack about six months ago. That was around the time I noticed the stars at night being brighter then they should be"

"I see, all the more reason to figure out how to destroy or fix the Star Formation" Mark mumbled

"What is the Star Formation ?" Taichar asked out of the blue

"It is a weird weapon, a tool that uses star signs in the night sky, once lined up and properly connected, they make a formation, a connected weapon, which can then be controlled. Anything more then that and it gets too complicated for even me to explain" Nara spoke up and tried to explain it.

Mark sighed as Altun and Taichar simply nodded. "You two are here to make sure trouble doesnt find us right ?" They both nodded, "Alright that takes a load off, Nara"

"Hmmm ?" Nara perked up

"You mentioned a guy, Hima Alo, who was he ?" Mark asked.

Nara looked like the deer in the headlights. "Good question, I barely knew the man but I do know his skill as a fighter is intense. However compared to you, you still have a long way to go. But since you have the Essence Flames, there is very little the man can do in comparison."

"Who was he ?" Mark repated.

"He was a friend of the original maker of the Star Formation, at least as how I hear it, he made the Star Formation, but his friend, became known as Starman or Starmaster or some such, Irie would have more info regarding that." Nara said

"Yes, she did mention seeing a memory get triggered by her shard" Mark nodded

"So what do we do ?" Taichar asked as Altun became engrossed in a old tome. It was the one Mark was about to pickup.

"Why not go here ?" She said, she found a map and showed it to Mark.

Mark looked at the map. Using his magic, Nara made a copy of it and blew it up, able to zoom in on it. "According to this, a guy named Starmaster hid the shards across the world, including Ulanbataar" He said pointing at a location.

"Huh" those with him all grunted

Mark sighed, "A pity, Irie said that her mother spotted the light from the purple shard, but Irie was able to safely recover it. Diana said that she was able to safely recover the pink shard she has in the Dust District. But Iries shard was in the Marketplace District"

"Its possible the shards form a ring ? Where would you suppose the next one would be ?" Nara asked

Mark looked at the two recovered locations. Marking with items on the magically copied map. "Alright, Dust District crumbled when Diana picked up the shard right ? Nothing happened in the Marketplace district when Irie got her shard. So, Dust District is way the fuck over here." Mark pointed to where the Dust District was, it was twice the size of the Greensky District and it was basically the buffer zone between the kingdom proper and the rest of Norway.

"And the Maraketplace is here" He tapped the other part of the map, basically next to the castle. "What are the odds the remaining shards are scattered in a circle ?" He said out of the blue marking possible locations, making a perfect ring around Arendelle. "Not including Dust or Marketplace, which of these could be possiblities ?"

Two were recovered in Arendelle, so far. He did not know that one was recovered in another realm entirely, the realm of Dreams. "Star Shards... what do they look like ?" Mark was asked by Altun, a flick of the wrist and Nara conjured some magic Mark could play with and Mark made a star shard, it looked like a shard of colored glass.

"This is a star shard" Mark said to them both. "So far we have two of them, I do not know how many more there are, or how many there are in total to begin with" The shard even maically conjured soon faded away.

"So we find these shards, that's fine, but to find these things. where do we look ?" Taichar asked, it was a question that nobody could answer but it was also a question that had to be asked anyway

"According to my cousin the shard apparently holds pieces of memories in them, and what she saw in her memory walk as she called it, the shards 'will know when to be found, and who will find them' she was really cryptic about it and it annoyed me to no end" Mark said

Everyone went silent as the ten o'clock hour rang in the Bell Tower District. This was going to be a long night. Finally after a few minutes, Mark said. "I need a drink, where's a bar ?"