An abrupt stop had the brim of Cter's pointy hat sliding down over her eyes. Her crystal brooch underneath ripped through the fabric, leaving a hanging flap that exposed what it was supposed to hide. Before the Monster Mage could realize that her lumbar was hurting from the sudden lurch there were hurried footsteps outside the carriage closing in on the door. It opened with a hasty tug, and a fair-skinned soldier entered with his head nodding at the Royal Mage of Ice to follow.

"Seems that we've arrived."

As Terri stood up with a long steps towards the carriage door Cter glanced out the window as best as she could from underneath her hat. Its brown rim blended in with the myriad of trees outside. Only trees with nothing to indicate that it was a spot one should stop at.

"Where are we?" the Monster Mage asked with a grimace at the end as her lumbar managed to make itself known to her. She stretched it out, feeling her hat press against the top of the carriage. From the time they'd spent traveling Cter reckoned that they were somewhere deep in Monster Country. Where though exactly she did not know as the curtains had been closed throughout the entire journey.

Once or twice she could guess somewhat based on the smell of Golden Flowers, but the time between those guesses weren't how she remembered from her many earlier trips. Either that meant that the convoy had to take different routes due to fear of being attacked by the monsters, or they did not want Cter to know where they were going. Both were a possibility as well.

Especially since she was meant to be a bargaining chip.

There was really no other reason for her to have been taken away from Soul's School and for the humans to have made such a secret operation of it all. How secret a four-piece security convoy really was wasn't for her to judge though, but the air of it all was that they did not want Cter to know where she was taken or that others would know that it was her being transported.

It wasn't as tense as the air inside the carriage though.

Days passed before a single word was said between the three mages. Days passed before someone broke the tension and asked if there was anything they could do to make the travel more comfortable for the Monster Mage. A rather tone-deaf question to ask days into the forced journey. "You could start by creating a Third Fusion so that these humans have similar fear to their fellow soldiers lest they actually have a modicum of humanity against the monsters."

The question wasn't as tone-deaf as the answer was though.

After that, the carriage remained silent for the remainder of the journey barring the efforts of the large wheels hurrying over varying types of roads. From dirt to bricked to dirt again the days turned to weeks to then reach over a month on the constant move. Even during the stale nights the convoy kept moving, stopping only to switch horses and restock provisions. After a month on nothing but rations and water Cter had begun to forget what taste actually was. Something long forgotten and spoken only by those that had enough will and strength to believe.

Maybe she could have added some magic to her rations to at least give it some texture, and which she almost did before she could feel the carriage slow down as she let her magic begin to form. Same did the hats of the two Royal Mages lift up as the Monster Mage's aura collected. She had been forbidden to use any of her magic.

For her own sake.

Similarly to how she had been confined to the two-storied house.

For her own sake, and her sake was the monsters' sake too. If she was meant as a bargaining chip like she believed that she was then stepping out of the non-magical line that she had been told to stand on would have made whatever bargain she was supposed to be chipped in for worse for the monsters. It would not have made her less worth for the monsters, but less worth for the humans.

Not less worth in what they would want to have the monster equate in the trade, but less worth in their willingness to give the monsters fair terms. Negotiation meant dialogue, and dialogue meant that the monsters could be equal to the humans. If Cter acted out of order then there would not be any negotiation.

So she still had to play to their trust. Still had to play their game until she had a chance to show them that the monsters still needed to be respected.

Not feared.

Respected.

For as much catharsis it would have brought Cter to make a full display of her magical prowess that would have made her entrance at Fenkeep Castle look like a Soul School's first-year's feeble attempt at magic, it would have only been that. It would have only been catharsis and nothing substantial. What she needed was substance. What she needed was to make herself trustworthy and worth more to be negotiated for. She would have to compromise herself for the chance of compromise.

"Cter?"

The Monster Mage blinked out of her thoughts to find Terri stood between her and the soldier that had opened up the door. Between his wide hat and shoulder she could see the edge of a spear flashing in the dancing splotches from the thick crowns of leaves above. Sun cats danced around her, slashing through her vision. She checked her pocket.

But found none there.

"It will be a bit of a walk," the Royal Mage of Ice explained as Cter heeded the flashes from the displayed spear and followed outside the carriage. Flanked on each side were humans dressed in the same intent-hiding garbs as the one that had opened the carriage door. Once Cter was completely surrounded by the guards Terri continued. "And it'll be a walk only you and I walk." He threw an authoritative glance at one spear beginning to angle down towards the Monster Mage, straightening its blade up again. "You'll be good on the way, won't you, Monster Mage?"

Cter didn't answer at first, instead she tried to make any form of eye contact with any of the humans around her. She wanted to see if they had fear in their eyes. She wanted to see if that fear was because she was the Fourth Monster Mage or if it was because she was a monster only. It would have given her a clue as to what she was being bargained for.

If the soldiers knew then the fear would have been more about her rather than what she was. If they knew then whatever negotiation that was to unfold with her as bargain wouldn't have been as important as she initially thought. If it was safe to tell what the negotiation was about then it wasn't important.

"Answer, Monster Mage," said a raspier voice from behind. "There is a monster village nearby. It is out of our way, but if you can afford to stall for time, then so can we."

Cter turned around to–

"Keep that head looking forward, Monster Mage," Rasliela interrupted with her raspy voice harsh to show that she meant what she had said. "Answer the Royal Mage of Ice, and not me. Keep your left arm at your side as well. There is no magic necessary for you at the moment."

That so, Royal Mage?

The wide-brimmed hat angled up with a jolt that broke loose the folded arms that the old mage had tightened over her chest. She met the Monster Mage's fully turned eyes staring confidently at her along with the rest of her fully turned body. "There is no magic necessary for me at the moment?" the Monster Mage repeated like poison from her tongue while lifting up her left arm with its naked carvings for all to see.

A soft, gentle glow bathed around her arm held up with rebellious pride for the old mage to bask in. Faintly, it illuminated within the shadow of the wide-brimmed hat, showing wrinkles not from age, but of expression. "No magic necessary for me to summon forth?" The Monster Mage's words were slow and articulate, with each word being a challenge towards the old mage.

A challenge that the old mage accepted.

"Guard," she addressed to the one stood closest to Cter with a direct point of her finger. "Please lower the Monster Mage's arm." Her attention drifted back to the defiant Monster Mage. "Seems like our doubts have been made manifest."

Cter was thankful for Terri slipping up and giving Cter free rein to do whatever she wanted. He had told her that it was just going to be him and her that would walk towards wherever the negotiations would take place in an effort to make sure she stayed calm. She wouldn't have to worry about the guards or Rasliela, was his intent.

But not in the way he meant for it to be.

Terri was understanding. He had done all that he could to make sure that Cter was treated more as a priority rather than a prisoner. He had been fair when the world was unfair. Had it not been for him then Cter and Rasliela would have had things escalate at Soul's School. He was the one to make sure that Cter had it comfortable. He did not see Cter as an enemy, but as a friend on the other side of the deep, vile line in the sand that had been slashed between them.

And that Cter could use.

"What the!" was coughed as a startled yelp from the pointed-at guard recoiling his spear against an invisible force around the Monster Mage. The bounce from him trying to put down his spear in front of the Monster Mage rung out like a struck wine glass. Rippling distortions flowed out from the impact, fading in its wavy pattern as it ran down the length of the Monster Mage's body. The challenging eyebrow raised in defiance behind the one-sided barrier magic keeping the Monster Mage safe held strong against the growing whispers surrounding her.

"I only answer to monsterkind, Royal Mage," said Cter, reveling in Rasliela's increasingly shocked posture. Her voice traveled clearly out the one-sided barrier, with no muffling effect to it whatsoever. Cter could see that Rasliela noticed. She could see the uncertainty on her face despite it being shrouded in shadow.

"I only answer to those I have sworn to protect. Do not try and hold sway from where you stand, Rasliela. You speak of humans being so much more powerful than monsters, yet you capitulated immediately as the war that you yourself thrust upon this world began, whereas the monsters are still fighting the war that has been thrust upon them through humanity's failure to cope with their fear."

With her robe sweeping behind her, Cter turned with her left arm leaving a glowing, horizontal trail behind it. Using a small coating of stasis magic she kept her plain robe from settling as she stood facing the many soldiers surrounding her with spears held insecurely towards her. Finally, the Monster Mage kept her neck slightly bent down so that her eyes and face were hidden, only coming into view as she raised her left hand spread out in front of her face.

"I am Cter!" she declared loudly, shattering her barrier magic with a powerful gust of wind that had her loose fabric waving like a stoic flag. "The Fourth Monster Mage of Jarasevo!" The windy blast knocked away the unsure-held spears from the soldiers' hands, raining down like twigs and bouncing on the ground with a sound akin to a novice percussionist.

Amid the loud drizzle of spears was a sound that had Cter's soul feel warm and comfy. She didn't even have to look behind her to see as it was loud enough for her to not be mistaken in the slightest. "Stay inside, Princess," Cter advised condescendingly to the shut carriage door behind her. "You're too old for this."

She managed one catharsis-filled step before a thought struck her hard. "And you!" she said to the human soldiers reeling from the magical gust that had knocked them all unbalanced. "Should one of you follow the Noitaidarr Royal Mage's threat about the nearby monster village then best believe that I will rain upon you fury that will strike you in ways you may never be able to imagine!"

With a wide-swept arc of her arm Cter launched a handful of pebble-like fireballs around her which landed on a dropped spear each, engulfing the wooden poles in blood-red blazes. "Go home to your families!" An army of shadows walked with Cter as she passed through the startled soldiers. "And forget about this pointless war."

The many small fires flickered in the Royal Mage of Ice's eyes as Cter neared him standing with a rigid posture at the side of the dirt road at the beginning of a small path barely wide enough for one to walk on. Shrubbery and bushes reached over the path, hiding it from all but those who knew that it was there already.

Terri looked over Cter with a sigh as she stopped in front of him which perpetuated through his shoulders, sinking down his arms. His head shook disappointingly, and he turned in towards the path as if completely ignoring Cter presence at all. "Couldn't leave well alone, could you?" he asked in front of him, forcing Cter to walk into the question to hear it.

"She threatened the monsters I've sworn to protect," answered Cter in front of Terri so that he would have to walk into it as well. "Leaving well enough alone would mean leaving the village to her whims, of which I trust none of."

"Trust," repeated the Fenkeep Royal Mage disappointingly. "You're not the one to speak about trust right now, Cter." It was difficult for him to keep his anger subdued. "You're not the one who should speak at all right now."

He was most likely correct in that.

"I've been quiet for too long, Terri."

It wasn't a good excuse, that she knew, but Cter had been sitting still and quiet for over a month straight. She could feel her legs remembering how to walk properly with each step she took. In truth she should have made a magical cane like Rasliela's to check for roots in front of her, but Cter had hope in her heart and soul that she had seen the last of that old mage for the rest of her life.

Whichever one's ends first.

"None have spoken up for the monsters for too long," the Monster Mage continued after brushing a leaf-covered twig away from her face. "It has been all too quiet on that front, the one that matters. The only real front that has been in this war." That there was the prospect of negotiation meant that Sir Gerson's tactic of never giving the humans the opportunity of a traditional war had worked to great effect.

From the very start when he was helping build up the human country's armies he had made sure that they focused on their armies being well-equipped to fight against the other human army on big battlefields with the two stood on either side in the morning and then retreating for the evening. None of that Sir Gerson had let the humans have though which meant that negotiations were necessary.

And that monsterkind had a chance to steer the war for the first time since it started.

"You're as much a stranger to this war as I am, Cter." The Monster Mage stopped as she walked into that tired sentence, as did the Royal Mage as the sounds of perturbed shrubbery stopped as well. "You don't know anything of it, so whatever it is you think you know you should keep a reminder on that it is just a guess from someone who hasn't seen or experienced anything about the war."

A small snowfall descended from his frozen hair as it scraped against a branch hanging over him while he turned his head over his shoulder. The bright-blue of his eyes were friendly, but only barely. There was a lot going on behind them, and Cter got the feeling that he said what he said more to help him rather than help her. "Just some advice, is all."

Another small snowfall danced down from his orange hair, landing and melting onto some leaves at his shoulders' height. His steps began anew, but Cter stood for a few seconds, thinking. When she reached the end of what she could think she decided to ask. "And how good is that advice if you just said that you're as much a stranger to this war as I am?" A low-hanging cone fell off after Cter lifted her arm through its branch towards the Royal Mage's back. "Even more so since you haven't seen or felt a Fusion. How would you know?"

A sigh had a bent branch whipping loose from the Royal Mage's sinking shoulders. With his hand massaging his forehead Terri turned fully towards Cter, gesturing for her to sit down before remembering where the two were. The Monster Mage caught herself moving her left arm behind her to conjure up a magical chair, but decided against it at the last moment.

"Because as it stands I am the only royally appointed mage who's soul has not been touched by a Fusion. I am the only one with a clear view of things. I am the only one that hasn't had that horror directly influence me and my soul. Mine is a perspective that is necessary for this war to end."

So Kry, Kurant, Lerljung, Manny, and Rasliela were all present when the Second Fusion was formed was what Terri was saying. Or to be more precise, it was what Cter heard Terri say. That was what Cter got out of him sighing dramatically with an implication that he knew more having not seen anything. That he was lecturing Cter about not knowing while not knowing himself.

"There are things in the world one should not know, and the fear of seeing and feeling a Fusion is one, if not the prime example of such." Terri blinked for eye contact before immediately blinking it away. "It changes a person even if they don't realize it themselves. They may be able to live with it, but they can't tell that they have changed because of it. It only takes a few days of a nasty cold for one to forget how it was to be able to smell things and taste food. It changes the person, if only temporary for the remainder of that cold. With a Fusion-touched soul though..."

The Royal Mage's words hung in the dense forest for a short while before he managed enough strength to look the Monster Mage in the eyes.

"With a Fusion-touched soul the cold never leaves. The cold never weakens, and instead it is the soul that changes so that it feels less to the human. We know that the soul can adapt, we've seen it happen with each new generation of human mages being more powerful than the one before. We've seen it with some human mages having their eye color gradually change as they accumulate years of being a part of their own Cooperative Connection. We have so many examples of it changing for the better, so that unfortunately means that it can change for the worse as well. It is the now more popular version of that Xoff legend about how the stars were formed in the night sky."

Terri looked at an angle into the thick forest. "The Fourth Monster Mage I met at Fenkeep Castle wasn't the same Fourth Monster Mage I saw at Noitaidarr Castle. It isn't the same Fourth Monster Mage I am speaking to now. It isn't–"

"We're going to be late to the negotiations if we keep standing around talking, won't we?" came a cold, direct interruption which was accompanied with an emotionless nod for the Royal Mage to resume leading ahead. "Go."

The Royal Mage stood firm. "I will have the blame be put on me if that happens." His attempt to persuade failed as immediately after hearing it Cter summoned a blade of crystal onto her left arm. With it she cut a path around the Royal Mage through the thick bushes. Even with her crystal-sharp magic it still required some effort from her as she trimmed the stems the same she had seen it be done in the Royal Garden at Jarasevo Castle. "It is for you that I say this, Cter."

Sure.

Sure it was.

With a downwards flick the Monster Mage threw off her crystal blade from her arm down into the dark soil, sticking it deep enough to stand on its own. "It's not far left, is there?" The blade dissipated with a quiet shimmer, letting free the few leaves that were stuck on to become fallen down. "Otherwise you would have dropped me off closer, wouldn't you?"

A few seconds and steps passed before Cter heard the Royal Mage resume his walking. It wasn't quick to catch up with her, instead he kept a respectable distance from her.

A distance he did not have to keep for long as Cter was correct in her guess. The path turned upwards with the surrounding forest becoming thinner and thinner as if the trees were stepping away to let the two mages through. Eventually the trees became sparse enough that Cter could see that she had walked up a hill.

She knew that she had been by the stinging in her legs, but the view confirmed it. A view that spanned wide and far with a pair of familiar mountains peeking their peaks just above the far horizon. They were close to the Xoff border, but exactly where along it Cter couldn't make out from the view she was afforded to see.

Three hooded figures sat at a camp site, with two being human sized. The third figure was bigger, much bigger. At the bigger figure's side sat one of the human-sized one who was the first to notice Cter and Terri exiting into the hilly glade. The Royal Mage took lead again, and the Monster Mage followed. As they neared the camp site, the lone human figure spoke from across the bigger figure and its human companion. "Looks like we can begin then." He took off his hood to reveal that his royal presence. It was the Xoff king, sat alone on a tree log at a simple campfire.

"That we can," replied the larger figure while taking off his hood to reveal his golden beard and snow-white fur. "My friend."

The other human kept his hood on, but Cter still knew who he was. She recognized the glint in his aura. A glint that of the cut of a piece of broken glass. A glint that had changed him and his soul. Someone who had been the closest to a Fusion when it formed.

The first one he was close to.

"Singe my soul."

But the second one he was the closest to.

"It's Manny."