Silence hovered in the room for a few minutes, only broken by the rain pattering on the farmhouse. Kyerind drummed his fingers on the windowsill.

"Quit it with your fingers," Ashayie said. "I can't think."

"I just had an idea," Kyerind said. "Dad is taking a shipment to the Palace today. We can stow away in some of the boxes."

"Sounds exactly like one of those stupid schemes in one of my adventure stories," Shiryami responded immediately. "Whenever they try that, someone either gets killed, captured, or both. I'd rather not try it."

"Got any better ideas?" Kyerind continued drumming. "I'm listening."

Shiryami rolled her eyes. "I wish."

"Ha! I finally beat you, Shiryami!" Kyerind said, pumping his fist. "Yes!"

Shiryami looked at him oddly, then finally understood. "I think you're obsessing, Kyerind."

"Huh? What?" Ashayie asked.

"More wordfights," Shiryami said to her. "I'm starting to get sick of them, even though I'm so good at them and I usually beat Kyerind. This time, he beat me."

"I think you're both obsessing," Lilynris said. "We need to get out of here. We can argue later. I win the wordfight, so shut up. Can we accept this?"

"I just have some difficulty accepting the fact that you're going to be the big hero and a hundred years from now, no one will remember us," Kyerind said. "So can I please win this wordfight?"

"Fine," Lilynris said, waving a hand. "We'll firmly entrench it in the records, and years later I can contradict you. Typical celebrity stuff. Except we're cooler than the regular cast of celebrities."

"Yeah," Ashayie said.

"So now that we've got that established, does anyone else have an escape plan that does not involve taking any huge risks or dying heroically?"

"I object. Kyerind's plan has the potential to entail both of those," Shiryami said.

"And we go back to square one. Does the fact that we are running for our lives mean anything to you, Shiryami?" Ashayie said.

"My God," Kyerind proclaimed. "You got pounded twice in five minutes, Mistress of Words."

"And you are obsessing, Little Cousin. You remind me of Meryisi sometimes, you know."

"Now that is really dissing me. You want to fight, Shiryami?"

"We are at square negative two hundred and fourteen billion," Ashayie said to Lilynris. "We're not supposed to fight each other."

"I know." Lilynris looked at the holder by her side, the second and fifth holes still filled by the staves representing Ice and Life. She drew out the Iceheart Staff, held it in her right hand, and waved a few patterns with it. The temperature of the room immediately dropped several degrees.

"You know, this could backfire," Ashayie whispered. "He's fire, she's shock. They both have a high resistance to freezing. We don't have as much resistance."

"Well, I do."

"Well, I don't. I'm the one who's in danger here."

"Do you think I'm that stupid, Ashayie? I protected you before I tried to do that. And it seems to be working." Lilynris leaned back. "Now we can talk without those two interfering."

A few muffled complaints emitted from the two ice shells that were now Shiryami and Kyerind.

"Stop it," Ashayie responded. "We'll never get anything done if you two keep arguing." She turned back to Lilynris. "I kind of want to go with Kyerind's plan. We can all protect ourselves from getting killed if we're split up."

"I kind of want to think of something better..." Lilynris said.

Ashayie growled. She put her hands on Lilynris's shoulders, pushed her over to the window, and lifted her up so she could see. "Look! The crusaders are coming. If we sit here and babble all day long, they will arrive, find us, and kill us. We will not be able to fight off a thousand crusaders, Lilynris." Ashayie raised her staff threateningly over Lilynris's head. "We are not here to die at the hands of crusaders. We are here to find and defeat Jahbal! So, let's just quit arguing and agree with Kyerind. All right?" Ashayie flipped the staff in her hand.

"Thank you for agreeing with my plan, guys," Kyerind said, striding over with a smug expression on his face. "And just so you know, you're not supposed to talk about the one who lives in the Palace."

"Oh, whatever." Ashayie threw back her head. "He already knows we're here. What's the point? And what are you doing unfrozen anyway?"

"To stop him from throwing more obstacles in our way, and possibly from seeing into our minds and hearts." The smug, macho expression had disappeared. Then, the ice suddenly covered him again. Lilynris heard a mumbled cuss word.

"Lilynris, if those two are going to sporadically freeze and unfreeze all day, I don't think this will be such a good idea."

Shiryami had heard that much clearer than anything else. She turned her head and found that she could. "What did you two do to me?"

"Froze you so that we could have some peace and quiet," Ashayie said. "We're going along with Kyerind's plan."

"Well, it seems I won't be able to stop you until someone is dead. So be it." Shiryami rolled her eyes. "Why is Kyerind still frozen? There's this icicle coming from his nose, and I don't think I like the way it looks."

"The spell I used normally works in battle," Lilynris said. "It freezes an opponent randomly. I'm not sure how long it lasts, but I think it'll go all day..."

"All day?" Shiryami screeched. "All day? I thought you were a good person, Lilynris. Instead, you inspire us to rebel and then go off with your friend, leaving us out in the cold to die. You're even worse than the one who lives in the Palace." Ice covered Shiryami's forehead, but it didn't seem to affect her. She took the staff that hung at her side and pointed it at Lilynris, who promptly fell over, stunned.

Shiryami froze again. After the initial shock, she heard Ashayie talking again, though it didn't come through the ice easily: "...the only one left standing. Therefore, what I say goes." She picked up the four bags and slung on her own, then looked around at her three companions. "I hope Lilynris is okay," she said, looking at the closest face. "After all, there's not much more we can do without her. The rest of us aren't seasoned fighters like her. And since no one can exit the Two Rings, we would just have to stay here and await death."

Those words actually made Shiryami shut up and think for a moment. I spend so much time with my mouth open and running at high speed that I never really think about what I say and what it might do. My only objective is just to win the fight; but now that I have friends, I'll have to be a bit more careful. It might take a while.

Her eyes focused on Lilynris. Why did I stun her anyway? She only does what's right for the group. A snowflake dropped from Shiryami's eye at the sight of their fallen leader. Ashayie had been completely right when she spoke of Lilynris, and Shiryami shuddered to think of the scene of this shifting; of Lilynris lying fallen like this at the feet of the mysterious presence Shiryami had taught to fear and to obey her entire life. Of her friend not simply stunned, but dead, and of the other three powerless.

It will not happen. We will not fail.

Ashayie turned to her. "You know, Shiryami, you remind me of myself. Of course, you're only frozen and not stunned, so you heard everything I've been saying. Also, I'm not going to say what I want to about stunning Lilynris. Just don't plan on doing it again, or I will tell you what I think of you...with this staff.

"Of course, this doesn't mean I don't like you. I do. I'm just not going to let you do anything to mess up the quest. Maybe, though, you'll be the one that saves us all. Odd, that you and your cousin would provide our missing elements. It might provide a chance of success."

Then, Ashayie looked at Kyerind. "You, too, are more than you seem. Though neither you nor your cousin truly understand our quest, you also have a role to play. The what is unknown, as is the how and the why, but why would you and Shiryami be here with us if it was not important later? Perhaps it was not coincidence that Lilynris and I arrived here. Perhaps our quest would have no chance of success if we had not."

Ashayie looked up to find the others staring at her, all revived. "And why was I talking like that?"

"Huh?" Lilynris said.

"Shiryami and Kyerind heard me. I was going into an uncharacteristic snatch of poetic rambling about the quest. I have no idea where it came from."

Shiryami smiled. She scanned her mind for words but could think of none.

Then, Kyerind finally sneezed. "I don't think I like this ice statue thing. I think I'm allergic to it or something."

"Maybe you are," Ashayie said. "Fire and ice don't get along."

"This time, they do," Lilynris said. "I guess I might have deserved that for doing something so stupid, Shiryami. Just don't do it again."

"No problem. I certainly won't, considering that this whole thing depends on you. Are we ready to go?"

"Ready," they all said. Lilynris opened the door and led the way out, followed by Shiryami, Kyerind, and Ashayie.

Now, Shiryami thought, I leave behind my home forever. It was an important decision I made last night. The dangers are real. I have to learn to keep my mouth shut as well.

I will succeed. We will succeed. We must.

A/n: I thought that I just might say hello to my side that is disposed to poetic rambling. Eventually I'll think of an explanation for what Ashayie is doing. And now for a last crack out of Shiryami before I leave you hanging in suspense for a little while longer...

Another thing I must do: resist being frozen again.