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Return of the Emblem Chapter Fifteen: Terra Incognita


Phoenix
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It's a Trap

"Hadn't thought of that," Jethro winced.

"Wait," Tatiana crossed her arms, "Are you talking about Fox, the Separatist warlord?" Hardly anyone went by that name, so ...

"It makes sense," Jethro nodded, "Cygnus and Fox are in league with each other, and that Seraphiel girl is obviously one of Cygnus' 'children.' No one can just walk up to a royal and say hi, but if she looks like the boy's mother, he'll want to meet her in person the moment he hears about her."

"Still, that's suicide," Tatiana grimaced, "She would be a prime suspect."

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A Man Called Gar

He had the gist of it.  "That's assuming she'd keep the face after the deed is done."  He scoffed.  "Even if she got caught, they'd just plan around it."  And the worst enemy of all plans was sheer unpredictability.  "Raquel, if you can still track her, where is she?"

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Wielder Positioning System

"I can find her again if I focus," Raquel frowned, "It wasn't too hard to do once I got used to it ... but it's really hard to say exactly where someone is. I don't know this city very well, so ..."

"That seems like Gabbie's domain," Reign noted. It was just as well she wasn't around, right now ... "What if we got you a map of the city? Even if you can't figure out where Seraphiel is right now, you need to learn how to pinpoint people."

"Sure, I guess ..."

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Nyet

"That sounds like Gabbie's domain, too," Reign noted.

Raquel shrugged. "If he's a wielder I probably can. Maybe. ... I think ..." If the current trend held, tracking wielders should get easier in time, just like everything else. "Hmm, yeah I can do it. If he's a wielder, then even if I haven't met him before, I'll be able to find him."

Tatiana shook her head. "I doubt he is. From what I've heard, this emblem magic is quite ... flashy. Something like that would have sparked a lot of rumors by now. Bosconovitch's men can never shut up about his fights, so if anything strange happened, that would become public knowledge, too. That doesn't mean he couldn't be a wielder, but it's not something you should bet on." They might just have to wait for the seeker woman to return, then ...

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Counting

"... yyyes," Raquel winced faintly, her answer not coming easily. She was a little reluctant. While based on everything she could do, it ought to be simple enough, but it would also be extremely tedious, and she knew she couldn't give Gar a legitimate total in the next five minutes. Knowing him, that didn't really matter so long as it was doable. Nothing seemed to be getting done quickly at the moment anyway, so perhaps she could look into it somewhere in the outrageous amount of spare time she had these days.

"See if you can identify the ones we don't know while you're at it," Jethro put in, causing Raquel to flinch, "We'll write them all down and keep the list updated."

Raquel tried not to groan. She never got tired anymore, but this sounded really ... boring. With great power came great responsibility.

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Plan A Start

"Pretty much," Jethro nodded, "I want to know who to look out for in case we run into any of them. Picking someone out of a crowd without a face is a real hassle."

Raquel supposed that was true, given the encounter with Seraphiel, but she would have definitely preferred to stick with counting for her own sake ...

"I suppose for now," Tatiana spoke again, "we should wait for this Gabbie woman to come back and then see what she can do about Bosconovitch."

"Go ahead and try to get a hold of that other Guardian, just in case," Jethro urged, "If we have to head down to Kursk, fine, but let's not waste any time."

"Very well," Tatiana sighed, starting for the door. Sending a formal request for a meeting with the Prince and getting word back was going to take a while, so best to leave Plan B to her sister and her associates. "I'll let you know when I hear back from the palace."

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Xenia

With the possible threat this imposter posed 'twasn't likely the prince's bodyguard was gonna go gallivanting around some forest on hearsay.  Still the best shot at this point though.

A Man Called Gar

"If we're done, I'll be heading out once I get that location," said Gar.

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Capabilities

"By yourself?" Jethro's eyebrow crept up a little higher. "We don't even know what she's capable of ... that and most of these artificials have been way tougher than normal people." Jethro didn't just recall Zerachiel and how tough he was, but Cassandra. He'd stabbed her and that didn't even come close to ending the fight proper. Regrets aside, he didn't like anyone's chances without more information, especially with an unknown magical power hidden up this one's sleeve.

"Speaking of unknowns," Jethro glanced at his daughter, "What kind of power does she have? If she's a wielder already and not just someone that can turn into one--take me for example--she has something, right?"

Raquel tried to shrug, but wound up frozen and confused. "I ... don't know! She's really prim and arrogant though, so she probably has some shiny attack dogs or something. That's my guess."

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Just Talk

"Do you even know where the inn she's staying at is?" Jethro asked.

"Wouldn't she be in the palace by now?" Reign noted questioningly, "If Tatiana has to send a letter, you'd have to sneak in there just to meet her."

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A Man Called Gar

"That's... why I'm waiting for Raquel to get the general area...?" Gar was rather confused at the line.  "The woman's gonna be at the center of a storm, just the outskirts and I could pinpoint her room in a blink."  Gar looked over at the other speaker.  "If Palace security lets her in that quick I'd have no trouble getting in."

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Direction

"She's not the only one that needs a map," Raquel sighed, thinking back to the encounter with Seraphiel. "Maybe I should go with you ... all I can do from here is just point in a direction." She'd know Raquel was coming once she got close enough, though ... at least she might. It was definitely a possibility if she was paying attention.

"Just be careful, then," Reign shrugged at Gar, "whether Raquel tags along or not."

"I really need to be closer ..." Raquel said apologetically. Hopefully that wouldn't interfere with Gar's plan too much.

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Xenia and a Called Gar

"Him, careful?  Ha." Xenia snorted.

"Hm?"  It might make it tricky if things went the way he wanted it to, even if there was no risk.  "Well, I do have prep to do along the way, and that would mean we could leave right now and work on the way instead of waiting, minimize downtime."  Raquel wasn't a threat to any of his contingency plans and wasn't one to blab...  But maybe this one was...  "Sure," he replied.  "You can come."  A good test.

 

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Okay

So it was going to be another outing, and potentially another encounter with Seraphiel. Raquel could tell without even looking that Jethro wasn't too thrilled about the idea. Aside from his own preference, there didn't seem to be much reason to keep her here.

"If whatever he's planning seems too dangerous, just get back here, alright?" Jethro finally spoke up. "Don't forget what Fox was able to do to you, and he's not even a wielder."

"Er- ... okay." That was the last thing Raquel wanted to remember, right now.

"So, meeting adjourned, then?" Reign asked.

Jethro nodded reluctantly, "Until Gabbie gets back. Then we see if she can track down Bosconovitch for us."

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A Man Called Gar

"Really, when isn't it dangerous?" Gar amusingly said.  "But if she gets aggressive it rather tidies up her intentions, no?"  Gar smirked, waved and headed out.

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  • 3 weeks later...

As it turned out, Gabriella had been on a tour of the capital with Connor. She didn't arrive back at the Rusoyev estate until the early evening. By that point, the group was a bit too spread out for another meeting. Veronika took the opportunity to fill them both in on what was happening, and after some brief deliberation, Gabriella determined that she ought to be able to track down Bosconovitch, even if he was in some far off part of the country. There was just one detail they needed to figure out, though ... the group itself. Who was staying and who was going with her? Whether the group needed to stop by Kursk in search of Bosconovitch didn't matter so much. The issue was making sure the search party wasn't too small to defend itself, or too large to move around quickly. Gabriella was quite keen on just tracking the man down herself, but her chances of convincing him to help on her own were slim. In the end, Veronika decided that she would accompany Gabriella. They were still short on magic, both offensively and defensively, but there was an unspoken hope that the Disciples of Thanatos would help their own in an emergency.

With that matter more or less settled, Gabriella found someplace quiet to get ready for the big search. The Rusoyev sisters meanwhile, took some time to inform their mother of the situation. She wasn't happy to know her daughter would be flying off with so little protection, and likely to a battlefield of all places, but that seemed fairly close to the norm, these days. All the assurances in the world only earned them reluctant acceptance from the older woman.

A little later in the evening, an hour or two after sunset, Tatiana got the news she'd been hoping for ... sort of. Prince Deniska was willing to speak with her, but from the look of his reply, he wasn't inviting her or any representatives to the palace. Instead, he was coming to Rusoyev Manor. That was ... good, but also potentially bad. Politically speaking, exposing the Prince, the sole legitimate heir to the throne, to any danger, or even having them endure comparatively subpar security, was a very bad idea. It was Deniska's idea, but the blame would still rest with the Rusoyevs if anything bad happened. On the bright side, Deniska seemed to know about the debate with the Conclave, and took a special interest in it. The subject of his visit was clear, and there likely wouldn't be much deviation from there. All Tatiana had left to do was make sure they were ready to receive the Prince into their home, though her mother was really heading up that operation. She had to make sure Veronika's group knew what to expect and how to act. At worst, some might want to just disappear for a while and not have to run any risks. Jethro was certainly tempted to do so, being a former Ursian army officer. And a somewhat reputed one at that.


When the Prince's carriage pulled up just outside the mansion, Tatiana was waiting there with a small group of maids. This was her request, albeit flipped around, so it was her responsibility to see to their extremely high profile guest. The Prince's carriage wasn't the only thing that came to the mansion. The entourage consisted of over a dozen royal guards, mounted up and ready to intercept any threat. Another group of royal guards, mounted on wyverns, was patrolling overhead. The corp was taking no chances in times like these.

Thankfully, Prince Deniska was still a very easygoing and very enthusiastic young man; he knew just how to ease the tension. <"Good evening, Representative Rusoyev,"> he bellowed, bursting out of his carriage. Coming out behind him were a blonde woman dressed almost like a woodsman, and an ice dragon child.

<"Good evening, your Highness ... Princess Zima ... and Ms. Ivanovna,"> Tatiana gave a respectful bow. Her maids all followed suit, creating a wave that rushed out from Tatiana. She couldn't hide the fact that she was a little nervous. Even if the visit had been expected, there was a lot riding on this meeting, and a lot that could potentially go wrong ...

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