Sygnet shivered. She didn't like the cold, especially not this kind. She'd put her foot into the Bay of Forochel once and had to visit the Shaman of the village to find a remedy to stop the frostbite from spreading. This felt like the same cold and she shivered again. Valadhiel seemed perfectly fine with it but she was probably used to it by now.

At long last the cave dead ended and the small party stopped.

"Wait here," Raze instructed... As if they had another option. The man and his mole began digging a tunnel into the end if the cavern that closed up behind them.

Micha turned to Sygnet after Raze dissapeared. "
We are going to meet the snow queen," he explained. "She rulles under the mountain and has a way out..." Micha shivered. "The catch is that we have to be frozen in oce to get theough the exit. She has a way to keep it feom killing us but last time it took me near three months to recover on my own. With the skill of the elves it may be reduced down to one month. It is an extremily painful process..."

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Valadhiel nodded. She had to go through it once and she vowed never to do it again. Until now.

Sygnet wrinkled her nose disapprovingly, "I suppose we must do what needs to be done," she said, taking a deep breath. She despised the cold but they had to get out.

Micha despised the cold as well... And like Valadhiel he also had vowed never to do it again... Until now.

They waited for what seemed like an hour or two before Raze finally returned. Once he did the tunnel his mole had dug was left open for the group to walk down. It would have been pitch black in the tunnel if it were not for the ice blue glow of the fridgid cold that seemed to illuminate the passage with an eerie haze.

They walked in and on for quite some time...

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Sygnet kept close to Micha with Valadhiel a little behind her. Valadhiel spied the bandage on her shoulder and spoke up, "What happens to your shoulder?" she asked.

Sygnet smiled, "There was a bear attack not far from Bree. It got me pretty bad but I'm still walking here today thanks to Micha," she said, smiling slightly.

Micha glanced over at Sygnet. "I just dis what any reasonible travler would do if they came across someone being attacked by a bear."

He looked back ahead of him for a moment and then fell back by Sygnet's side. "Are you sure your shoulder is alright? O have noticed that it seems to bother you a little at times... I am concerned," he admitted. "When we are frozen... It might agrivate your shoulder. The process is painful enough without having to deal with extra pain from an unhealed wound."

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Sygnet nodded, "It is sore but I've managed through worse," she smiled, "Right, Valadhiel?"

"Oh, yes. Do you remember the herd of angry moose that charged us when we were children?" she laughed.

Sygnet joined in, "I do. How could I forget?" they chuckled and both proceeded to fill Micha in on their great adventure.

Micha enjoyed their stories, they were entertaining but also they helped to keep his mind off things ahead.

All too soon, however the things ahead were the things present. Raze escorted them into a large cavern. This cave, however, was not made of water carved stones or soft glowing lava flows... it was made of pure ice. Ice crystals were the walls and a slick floor like a frozen pond stood beneath their feet. Towards the back of the room was a long stairway ascending to the tops of the cavern, nearly fifty foot up. On top of the pedestal sat a woman... an ice women.

She looked as though she were a statue at first, but then she moved. With a sound like the click of metal on glass her feet sounded on the stairs as she made her slow descent. Finally she stood before the group and as she walked into the light of the reflecting crystals in the center of the cavern her appearance of ice crumbled like flakes from her skin. She too had pale white skin and eyes so deep and blue that it seemed that one could get lost in them for an eternity. On her face, hands, arms, and neck were cyan blue markings that looked similar to tattoos of some sort... tribal markings perhaps. Her finger nails were a aqua and shone in the dim light like crystals in the sun. Her dress looked as though it were made out of perfectly shaped ice crystals, it reflected every glint of light like diamonds. Her hair, in stark contrast to everything else was jet black.

"Micha Lonewolf," she said softly and with evident sorrow in her eyes. "Why have you returned?" Her voice sounded like the voice of a faerie out of a midnight dream.

"Not by my choice," he answered. "We were pulled into the Valley by the Elder Elves."

"I warned you to never approach them again... I told you they were seeking to build their strength."

Micha nodded. "That is why I came. A darkness has been growing in middle earth. When I heard it was centered in the misty mountains I had to know... I had to warn the world if it was them."

"And so it was," came her reply, so soft it was nearly silent. She turned from the group with distraught eyes took her fingernails to a column of ice beside her. She scrapped, shaving off perfectly curled slivers. She gathered them in her hand and took them towards Micha. "I'm sorry my friend... but this is all I can offer you."

Micha looked back at the group. Him, Sygnet, Valadhiel, Eshlyn, Nessia. Five companions and four perfect curls of ice.

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Valadhiel first spoke up, "You guys go. I...still have unfinished business here. My dragons need me," she said, patting the one at her side. She had hoped to be able to bring him with her but maybe the world wasn't ready for dragons.

Sygnet began to protest against her, "Valadhiel...I only just got you back...I do not want to lose you again..." she trailed off, her voice faint and soft.

Micha sat in silence as the two argued and looked up at the ice queen with knowing eyes.

"It's me," he said softly. "I've been before." He stepped away from the ice curls in the woman's hand. "A mortal only gets one chance at this sort of thing... a second time through would likely take my life anyways."

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Sygnet stopped mid-sentence and turned to look at him, "Micha...you - you can't..." she looked into his eyes with her light blue eyes that were full of hurt, pain and tears. "I lost Thalion...I...I can't lose you too..." she said as a sparkling tear fell down her cheek. She couldn't let him stay. This place was more painful to him than she could probably even describe. She hated the idea of him waiting alone here.

Micha didn't know how to respond to Sygnet's reaction at first until he broke. A tear of his own escaping his weary eyes. He placed his hands on her shoulders and pulled her in to a hug.

He held the hug for some time without a word. Finally he stepped back and put a hand to her cold cheek. "You have been the closest friend I have ever had, Sygnet." He paused with a slight smile. "And to think it's all because of that bear that we ever crossed paths in the first place."

Micha glanced back at the ice queen's still outstretched hand and the four ice curls, then back to Sygnet. "I don't know any other way. My chances of surviving the process again are half what any of the rest of you have."

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Sygnet was getting desperate now, "I can take care of you...I will do anything. Please..." the last word was barely audible as she reached out and took his hands. She looked at the Ice Queen, "Can we do anything? Anything at all?" she asked, begging for a different solution.

"The only other way out is through the Valley... A group this small would never survive the Elder Elves," the ice queen responded. "And the crystal has a mind of it's own... It gives what it will and none can take from it more."

Micha sighed and grasped Sygnet's hand. In words equally as inadible as her pleading to him he said, "I dont want to loose you either."

At this the elf Nessia stepped forwards. "I desire to stay," she announced. "I am a historian and teacher amoung our people and I do not wish the Valley and the ice people to pass into legend again as they have for our people. I want to stay and learn about this land."

"Nessia!" Eshlyn said. "You would never get out."

"I will stay and study this land until you return with an elven army to deatroy the Elder Elves once and for all," Nessia explained. "When that has been done I can return safely the way we came."

Micha looked over to Nessia in wonderment. He hated to turn down her offer but he could hardly ask her to do it.

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Sygnet didn't know how to respond. Valadhiel took her friend up in her arms and hugged her gently. Valadhiel approached Nessia with her dragon to climbed up into her arms, "Can you take care of Atla for me? Just give her a place to stay until she is older," she turned to the Ice Queen, "My lady, she can stay where I kept my things. It's not much, but it's liveable," she smiled, removing her coat and offering it to the elf, "It helps with the cold feeling," she said, smiling warmly. She then bent to stroke her dragon and saying inaudible things to it.

Eshlyn still stood in silent protest and Micha still stood unsure.
He hated to cause her the pain of him staying behind... But he felt guilty for Nessia volunteering.

He looked to Sygnet, unsure what to say or do.

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