Fredrich's alarm sounded, rousing him from his sleep. With a grumble, he sat up, flicking the alarm off and standing up. Long since having gotten used to sleeping in his equipment, he simply made to walk out of the tent as a chill traveled through it.
"Ah." That girl was nearby. She'd make for a poor spy, if she ever became one. Those raging Arts of hers screamed to any would-be targets that she was a threat.
Of course, she would be a good solider.
Had she not been an , it was no use crying over spilt milk. Walking out the tent, Fredrich slowly stretched his arms – best not to seem too carefree, around her – and turned to face Frostnova.
"You're ready?" She asked.
"What about breakfast?"
"It's over there." She flicked her hand over the heater from yesterday, and Fredrich followed suit.
After Fredrich finished his meal, feeling slightly unnerved by the stares Frostnova sent his way, the two were back on track. The Spymaster had been silent for much of the trip; Fredrich supposed the Spymaster was conserving energy, or perhaps had little to say in the first place.
Either way, it wasn't his place to ask.
The Yetis were up quick and early and had already completed their preparations as Anne and Ben woke up. Levina made a quick note to wake the two researchers up earlier in the future; it wouldn't do to keep their "allies" waiting.
For the time being, however, the embarrassment of having the entire camp stare at the two while they ate was more than sufficient.
"Alright, let's go." Petrova said as the researchers finished packing up.
Levina walked up beside him, taking position at the lead of the group. "I apologize for the lateness… I didn't expect that we would start this early."
"I've noticed something, y'know? Every time you get into an awkward situation, you revert to sounding like a dictionary." Petrova commented.
Noticing Levina wasn't replying, Petrova tacked on: "Oh, right. Apology accepted."
"Thank you." Well, he wasn't wrong. The diplomacy books she'd had to read were essentially dictionaries.
"Good! Now, let's get down to business."
What busi– oh, the day-long trek. Levina resigned herself to yet another day of boredom. Sometimes, she really hated her job…
As night fell, Andrey watched Frostnova finally build her own tent. Properly. It had taken much trial and error, but –
A well-placed ice bolt sent the whole thing tumbling down.
"Why'd you have to do –" Andrey began to complain.
Smiling, Frostnova summoned a pillar of ice and slipped in.
"Oh, COME ON!"
She giggled. "I knew you'd say that."
As the new day started, Levina walked out of her tent, watching the first few rays of sunlight glint off the snow. After she woke Anne and Ben – best not to be late again – the researchers ate a quick breakfast and joined the Yetis in yet another trek. They were nine days to their target location.
Levina tried not to think about if Fredrich had been taken elsewhere.
"It's unlikely." She reassured herself, without much confidence.
"It'll be a hell of a report once we get back, huh?" The voice almost made Levina jump in fright, her head snapping to the right.
Ah, of course. Anne. Who else?
"I hope so." Levina replied.
"'Hope' so?" Anne raised her eyebrows. "We found an ancient altar, fought a battle, and now we have to rescue one of our teammates! Heck, this is even more interesting than Sargon!"
Levina was starting to suspect Petrova had rubbed off on Anne more than she had thought.
Noticing Levina's stare, Anne hastily corrected: "Okay, maybe it was a bit dangerous… but I'm sure we'll be fine!"
"…Okay. I appreciate the vote of confidence." Levina sighed.
"So, uh… any thoughts?" Andrey asked.
"On what?"
"Anything. I am bored out of my mind here." Andrey sent off another pulse of Arts, feeling his energies diminish slightly as he did so. "And my Arts are slowly killing me, so there's that."
The results of his scan soon returned to him. "No other conscious beings nearby."
"My Arts are also killing me, and I am also bored out of my mind. You're not the only one." Frostnova flatly replied. "And you're not the one walking."
"Okay, I admit it, I'm not the only one suffering." Andrey conceded. "But there's got to be something we can do to alleviate this slightly."
"Any stories you can tell? You know my past, but I don't know much of yours."
"You want to know about the various torture methods at my disposal, or the corrupt mess that was Leithanien court politics?"
"That could be useful." Frostnova cryptically replied, her gaze shifting towards Fredrich.
Andrey sighed. "You're fantasizing about using them on Fredrich aren't you."
"I'm not that much of a bad person." Frostnova smirked.
"Oh yes you are. Anyways, shall we start?"
Day turned to night, and the two groups slept. Unfortunately for Andrey, he had no such luxury.
Again, he was left idle in his lair.
He tried another cast of his Arts, only for them to fail him – and suddenly darkness engulfed the cave.
Heh. Perhaps he would get his beauty sleep after all.
Petrova woke up bright and early, as usual. Stepping out of his tent, he went through the usual motions of packing up his tent, dumping it on the nearest cart before beginning to prepare the usual breakfast.
His eyes impulsively flicked to the right, where Frostnova would usually be waiting. Just empty space, replaced with a blinding vista of endless snowdrifts.
He chuckled; it was for the best. Would've been bad if his soup froze. Petrova had faith, though; she would be back soon. And then she could go back to freezing his soup every other day.
Instead of a Yeti, however, he was pleasantly surprised to find Levina sitting down beside him.
"Good morning." She cordially said.
"Good morning to you too." Petrova replied, picking up another steel bowl and ladling some soup into it. "Want some carrot soup?"
Levina hesitated for a moment, before gratefully accepting the offering. "Thank you."
"Seems like something's on your mind."
"No… just surprised that you would have carrots. Carrots are hard to come by in Rim Billiton."
"These are… probably… grown locally." Petrova replied. "You're from Rim Billiton?"
"Yes."
"Huh. I've heard about the place, but that's about it. Everybody's that obsessed with carrots there?"
Levina sighed. "You'd be surprised what careful marketing and a few 'experts' can do to prices."
"You don't sound particularly happy about it."
Levina hesitated again, before admitting: "No, I'm not. Have you ever studied economics?"
"How … economies work?"
"Yes. In essence, such a drastic increase in prices incentivizes farmers to solely grow this crop, in the interests of their own profits. If prices continue to remain this high, almost all local farmers will solely plan carrot crops. And however nutritious carrots are claimed to be, they cannot be the sole food in one's diet." Levina paused for breath, before continuing. "Thus, Rim Billiton will be forced to rely on exports, not only causing money to flow out of the country, but also creating significant dependence on its neighbors. This could easily cause economic collapse and the effective conversion of Rim Billiton into a vassal state of, say, Siracusa."
Needless to say, this all went over Petrova's head.
"So it's bad."
"Yes… sorry, got somewhat carried away." Levina seemingly decided to just end the conversation there, engrossing herself in eating her food.
Well, that was awkward. Petrova turned back to his stew, eating another few spoonfuls; idly wondering when he would be able to find some salt again.
The other members of their impromptu manhunt party soon joined in, and after finishing breakfast they were on their way.
For once, Frostnova made her tent properly, and slipped in.
"Goodnight, Andrey." She closed her eyes and relaxed her sore body.
"Good night, Frostnova."
Not desiring a repeat of yesterday's embarrassment, Levina sat apart from Petrova the next day, quietly eating a ration bar. It wasn't as good as freshly cooked food, despite the noticeable lack of salt in Petrova's stew. Shortages, most likely. That was natural for such a group.
Her mind jumped back to her little… episode yesterday.
"I didn't have to blurt out half of my paper's abstract…" Resisting the urge to simply bury her head into her hands, Levina took another bite out of her ration bar. She had never truly shaken off the sneaking suspicion that the paper had gotten her fired, but it was… well, she probably looked weird now.
"Hi, Levina." Petrova waved at her from afar.
"…Hello, Petrova."
Petrova walked a few steps closer. "Why is it that every time I see you, you seem lost in thought?"
"I'm… just thinking about a few things."
Petrova chuckled. "Yeah, I can see that. Come on, let's go. One week left."
Levina got up, burying the wrapper of her ration bar with a bit of snow before following behind Petrova, as they began yet another day-long trek…
"So, the duke's eldest son was the pacifist, yet he advocated for a larger army?" Frostnova questioned.
"Exactly."
"What are you supposed to do with an army aside from beating all your enemies over the head with it?"
Andrey laughed. "Sometimes, the threat of a massive army arriving at your doorstep is enough."
"…I wish the Yetis could do this. It would make everything so much simpler." Frostnova complained.
"Maybe if you recruit a few thousand more Yetis or so."
"Mhm." Frostnova smiled. "Now, I think I need to sleep."
"Good night, Frostnova."
Andrey watched as Frostnova woke up in her tent. "Good morning, Frostnova. One week left to get to the town."
"Good morning, Andrey… we're on track?"
"If I remember your map correctly, yes. We passed the boulder marked yesterday, at roughly noon. By that landmark, we're still on track."
"Okay. How are you?"
"I feel fine… okay, the crystal ran out of energy once or twice, I'll admit."
"Stop scanning." Frostnova ordered.
"But –"
"I can see everything fine in the tundra, Andrey. Save your energy for when we get to the town."
"For dealing with the smugglers?"
"Mhm. I don't trust people who break the law for a living."
"You break the law for a living." Andrey pointed out.
"It's di – okay, fair point."
"See? Either way, though your reasoning is off, you're not wrong. My past experiences with smugglers haven't been pleasant either."
"Hm?"
"Either you pay them a ridiculous amount of money, or you coerce them. And most of them have strong mercenaries under their payroll –" Andrey contemplated their situation – "then again, I don't think that'll be a problem for you."
"I don't want to risk sabotage." Frostnova replied.
"Reasonable. We'll see if Fredrich has the money, then. That'll solve our problems. Alternately, I could use mind control –"
"No."
Andrey sighed. "Fine."
Once Fredrich awoke, the three of them were on their way again.
Levina sat down, alone, beside the "fire." It was technically a chemical heater, but she didn't care much. Either way, it provided her a good opportunity to warm her hands, and mull over a few things.
The Yetis were surprisingly trustworthy. No evidence of unscrupulous behavior had been observed by any of the researchers, and Levina doubted such a massive group could act that for so long.
They'd have to part ways eventually, once the researchers found Fredrich; Levina only hoped they could do so on friendly terms.
It awakened a sense of loneliness in her, much to her chagrin. She'd grown quite attached to Petrova in particular, and it'd be a sad occasion to part with such a friend.
Standing up, she walked back towards her tent. Anything was possible right now; overthinking it would do her no good.
AN: I originally intended for this chapter to go through about 10 days, until Petrova and Levina met up with Frostnova and Fredrich. I thought up too many ideas… anyways, hopefully everybody enjoyed this bit of character development!