From: smash_themirror	Date: 05/16/2007 12:51:37

The Snow Queen was crying when he found her. She was still clutching onto the icicle blade and the shard of the devil's mirror was placed back into the frame. She was hysterical at the moment, letting the snow let loose in flurries around the forest. Possibly getting attention of Titania again. Yet, the Snow Queen didn't worry. She was letting out months of frustration in her crying, an act which very much was like emotional vomiting.

Then the snorting of Bae made the Snow Queen realize that she wasn't alone. Looking up to make sure she wasn't about to be attacked by another feral sprite, the Snow Queen grabbed her icicle blade and unfurled it threateningly.

"Who is there?"

She asked, as the Snow around the forest stopped abruptly.

	From: whos_afraid	Date: 05/16/2007 13:06:45

Hunter smelled her, smelled her tears, caught a scent of ice and woe well before he saw the woman in white. He'd smelled the reindeer before that. They had a heavier scent that had masked hers at first. If it hadn't been spring, and the smell of winter out of place, if he hadn't seen snow and wondered how that was possible in these ever-warm woods, if the woman hadn't been crying, the salty scent of tears strong, he might not have noticed her until she spoke.

Hunter stepped from the trees, hands raised to show he held no weapons in his hands. That didn't exactly excuse the crossbow newly strapped to his back, the axe at his waist, or the knives in his boots she likely couldn't see. But his hands were empty; he meant no harm.

"Put down your blade of ice. I will not hurt you," Hunter said calmly.

	From: smash_themirror	Date: 05/16/2007 19:59:53

The Snow Queen felt like she could trust this newcomer. He had a kind look to his face. A look that made it easy for her to trust him. Putting the icicle blade back in her bag on Bae she walked herself and Bae closer to her new companion.

"You can put your hands down now.. I trust you will not harm me." She said as she looked deeply into his eyes. Something just didn't seem right with this man, he seemed..all too feral for a man, yet she didn't fear him.

"At least you aren't brandishing claws and fangs ready to attack" she said as she pointed to the deceased feral sprite that she had just dispatched.

"Of course I fancy you already know of how dangerous these woods can be" She said, the more she talked the more she regained her icy cold composure, and the less it snowed.

	From: whos_afraid	Date: 05/16/2007 21:31:44

She was looking at him. Directly into his eyes, and the wolf within begged to answer the challenge. It was a dangerous thing staring a wolf right in the eyes; any predator would take it as a challenge, whether or not it was intended. Hunter's nostrils flared as he tried to keep the wolf at bay. It made her next statement about claws and fangs ironic.

He looked down at the faery carcass and raised an eyebrow. "You killed that thing? Here in these woods? I know the danger in these woods. I also know it's even more dangerous to anger the fey who live and rule here."

	From: smash_themirror	Date: 05/16/2007 22:35:54

"I think I already angered their queen by bringing snow here. She seems a little..well..distracted at the moment." The Snow Queen said.

"These forests have apparently never seen the cold delicate touch of Snow" she said as she tended to her wounds some more.

"I imagine that's what caused this creature to attack me" She added not bringing to attention the fact that the sprite was holding a shard of the devil's mirror.

"I fear these are dark times in this land, and only darker times are to come." she said as she offered Hunter the Icicle Blade.

"This sword is one thing I brought with me to this world from the last. I was a queen there..now I'm a beggar being clawed to death by a sprite."

She opened her furs enough to show some flesh.

"Go ahead, strike me down. Kill me and take my reindeer, sell the sword for a tidy profit. It's purest icy silver. Cold as night, cold as the full moon."

The Snow Queen looked aside

"I am just a blight on this world's surface. I don't even know who I am."

	From: whos_afraid	Date: 05/16/2007 23:06:29

Hunter just stared at her as she spoke. What the hell was this woman babbling about? She was making no sense at all. She also was leaving some things out - a surprising feat considering how much she'd just said. "I don't know if it's fair to say it doesn't snow here. It's late spring. I'd be surprised if it did snow."

His eyebrow went up when she opened her furs. "...What? I... what? Look I don't want your furs or your blade, and I don't particularly feel like killing you." he hesitated for a minute and then asked, "Are you well?" Because she certainly didn't seem it.

	From: smash_themirror	Date: 05/17/2007 20:12:43

(ooc: I didn't get a notice that I had a reply until now..oops)

The Snow Queen put the Icicle blade away. She was beginning to realize she was blabbering. Her emotions, which had so often been deep in check were running wild. It was the effect these woods had on her. She thought that if only she was fully aware of her memories, of the power she knew was hidden deep within her that Sprite would never have had a chance to do so much damage. She tried to get back up from her knees and tripped in doing so. She had lost alot of icy blood. As such she was weak. A feeling that was altogether new to her.

"If you'd please. I am sorry to let myself fall into Hysterics. You see. I am a newcomer, not just to these woods..but to this entire...world. I don't know where I came from, all but that I was once a ruler in a palace made of Ice...and that I had a child..possibly my son. And he was taken away from me. Then I found myself here."

She pulled herself on Bae, who lovingly licked her wounds.

"I'm lost, and alone in a very dangerous woods." She said plaintively.

"In fact I'm lost and alone in a very dangerous world."

	From: whos_afraid	Date: 05/17/2007 20:40:57

Hunter moved to help her up, but she'd already pulled herself onto the reindeer. "We're mostly all newcomers here, I've found. Some people came here purposely, some found themselves here after walking too far from home. We're all a little lost and alone in this world." It didn't faze him. He was accustomed to being alone, to quite literally being a lone wolf. Though if things went well, he wouldn't continue to be.

"I don't think this is a safe place for you to be. These woods are dangerous to strangers, and even to those who know it well. You're lucky it was only a sprite that attacked you. You might want to head into a town, a city. Someplace that the very plants themselves wouldn't attack." Estervale was likely a good place. Ozland was too weird, and Camlann... well maybe Camlann with its heightened guard would be a good place to be protected as well.

	From: smash_themirror	Date: 05/18/2007 01:39:35

(OOC: Fixed it for you)

The Snow Queen still felt that there were fragments of the Devil's Mirror here in the forest. She was too afraid to continue looking, but too desperate to stop.

"I can't leave these woods yet. There's..there's something I need to find before I leave. Beleive me, when I get it. I will leave fast enough. My Reindeer will take me away as fast as their feet will gallop."

She said as she felt it was time to tell the rest of her story.

"I think my coming to this world has something to do with this." She said as she pulled out of her bag the Devil's Mirror. Her hands slowly tracing the many cracked lines over the face. Large chunks of glass were missing from it. Chunks that could have been anywhere. Corrupting anyone.

	From: whos_afraid	Date: 05/18/2007 09:38:44

[OOC: Awesome, thank you!]

Hunter watched as she pulled something out of her bag. Something that smelled... bad. Amalthea had smelled of magic, but of a pure silvery kind that tickled the hairs in his nose. This thing smelled dark, pulsing with some unnamed power. It reminded him of sulfur, that pungent rotten-egg smell. He couldn't help his initial reaction. A whine sounded quietly in the back of his throat and he took a small step back, eyes wide. "What is that thing?" It looked like a mirror, but he'd most definitely refuse to get close enough to look for certain.

	From: smash_themirror	Date: 05/18/2007 12:17:07

"Go ahead look" She said as she heald the mirror out, catching rays of sunlight in the cracked surface.

"This mirror was shattered before I came to this world. It's broken glass scattered in the winds and pierced the hearts, eyes, and flesh of many people in this world. The mirror only reflects evil, warping any reflection to show only malicious deeds, and malformed faces. A verdant green valley would end up looking like a patch of wilted lettuce with weeds overpowering the plants."

She said as she continued to grasp the mirror with a deathlike grip.


"A piece piercing an eye would have the same effect, that eye would see only evil in the world. A piece piercing one's heart would make one freeze to all emotions except those of hate, greed, envy, sloth, and other dark feelings. It all depends on where the shard pierces what effect takes hold. I think I was brought here to collect all these shards...and to save those who are infected from living in the curse of this mirror."
The idea of leaving these woods seemed all too tempting for her. After all maybe she wouldn't be too lucky next time. The Feral Sprite itself did much damage to her. As well as those black flowers she saw when she first came. She fell under their magic didn't she. Maybe it was just another effect of the magic of these woods. Maybe there wasn't another shard of glass in here..

...or maybe there was many.

She had no idea for certain

	From: whos_afraid	Date: 05/18/2007 12:39:05

Hunter shook his head. The way that thing smelled, no way was he getting closer. "Thank you, I'll just take you at your word. I have no desire to see that. How did you get that thing?"

He was eyeing her suspiciously. Who was she that she would possess something of that nature. Was that why the sprite had supposedly attacked her?

	From: smash_themirror	Date: 05/18/2007 12:49:06

The Snow Queen decided to put the mirror away. Her new companion seemed ill at ease with the mirror around. As if he could...sense the evil billowing off of it. Then he asked her where she got it. The Snow Queen massaged her temples as if that act would awaken the memories in her.

"It was in my hand when I awoke in this world. Somewhere outside of a walled city. It was winter then, I recall the snow falling waking me up. I have no memories before that. So I wouldn't be able to tell you much about the mirror. Or importantly where it had been before I found it in my hands."

	From: whos_afraid	Date: 05/18/2007 23:41:09

Hunter's nostrils still twitched as the remnants of the mirror's smell lingered. "You just woke up with it? So then... You don't how you got it, where you're from, or how you got here? At all? Could it be possible having that mirror is clouding your memories? It certainly doesn't seem like anything I would be keen on possessing." Though he did know some of the sorts of people who would be. He would say he hoped it never fell into the wrong hands, but how was he to know this woman's hands weren't the wrong ones as well?

	From: smash_themirror	Date: 05/19/2007 01:08:21

The Snow Queen thought about it. What if getting rid of the mirror would give her back her memories? Would that act give her freedom from the cold biting winds? Would it free her from witnessing such dark deeds, from seeing innocents suffer, and die?

"I don't..know." The Snow Queen said in wonderment as she held the bag with the mirror firmly shrouded inside.

"All I know is, the winds, they howl and will not let up until I find the next shard."

At that moment the winds were howling, and nipping at her furs, as if to tell her to move to the next shard. She purposely ignored it.

"Can't you hear it? Listen" She said quietly to Hunter.

	From: whos_afraid	Date: 05/19/2007 11:32:01

The winds were howling, and it did seem unnatural. Then again so did this whole forest. "I hear it. Perhaps you should go and find that shard then. It feels very unsettling here." And that was reason enough for Hunter to move on, skirt Ozland - or maybe stop and see Pippi - before heading into the jungle and finally Mehrdadstan.

	From: smash_themirror	Date: 05/19/2007 12:15:52

It seemed like her new companion was trying to take his leave. The Snow Queen nodded silently as she got on Bae.

"I will, and afterwards I will leave these forests never again to return." The Snow Queen said.

"However afterwards I will want nothing more than to put this mirror away and never again gaze on it's cracked surface."

But where would be a safe place to dispose of it?

	From: whos_afraid	Date: 05/20/2007 14:23:29

"Probably a good idea. Maybe you can even find your way home, where that may be." He watched her climb onto the reindeer and too that as a good time to get the hell away from that mirror. The scent of it still taunted him, even hidden away. "Maybe you'll find a good place for it when you remember who you are."

Hunter readjusted his pack-load, nodding once at her. "If you don't mind, I'll take my leave. I must head south."