Warming back up (Afina)

[Anastasia]

Vul'lath seems quite happy with his statue. As happy as he ever gets, anyway.

---

Catching up to Kascha isn't hard. She sits on a couch of phase spider silk, watching the Sylican spiders weave their webs. Ebony seems to have moved on since Elena mentioned her whereabouts. Kascha's gaze is steady as she watches them weave away in a corner of Aurora's courtyard. She doesn't even seem to notice or react to Afina and Crystal approaching.

[Ebiris]

"Hello Kascha, how are you today?" Afina asks, fluttering over and landing on the couch's armrest with her feet dangling off the side, torso twisted to face the blonde ghaele.

[Anastasia]

Crystal perches besides Afina, "Good day," she adds.

Kascha blinks and rubs her eyes, turning to the two pixies. "Oh! Sorry! I was completely lost in my own thoughts. Say, are pixies afraid of spiders?"

[Ebiris]

"Certainly not these ones," Afina says, given she's wearing a very fetching outfit of dyed phase spider silk right now. "Well, I can only speak for myself I suppose. Has anyone else been avoiding them?" she wonders. One of Ilsenine's rivals back in the Gloaming Forest had a very spidery motif and greatly favoured the creatures, but there aren't very many Gloaming Forest pixies around besides the four of them.

[Anastasia]

"Some of the common soldiers dislike them," Kascha admits, and then quietly, "I wasn't terribly fond of spiders in my mortal life, either."

"After the devils, what is a mere spider?" Crystal demurs, "Facing down Hell's servants renders fear over a mere spider quaint."

[Ebiris]

"That's a shame," Afina opines. "I don't really have any strong opinions either way on spiders in general, but there's certainly something charming about these ones," she nods her head towards the playful and obliging phase spiders. "Anyway, I was wondering if you'd be able to help Crystal and I with some advice," she says, moving to the point. "We're looking for ways to acquire wealth so Crystal can erase the debt she's fallen into. We tried raiding slavers on Fire, but their currency wasn't exactly one we could liquidate for ourselves. But I thought your Seira must have gone through a few fortunes in her time, and that might give you a few ideas you could possibly share with us?" she asks hopefully.

[Anastasia]

"Oh, you need money? Well, there's an easy way for pixies like you to make money," Kascha hums, "But you may not want your dust or essence out and about there, since it makes strong scrying links."

Crystal nods at that, "Yes, we've...discussed the possibility already, hence coming to you rather than embarking on a trip to Dweomerheart."

[Ebiris]

"Well Kascha is a wizard, you can't blame her if that's the first thing she thinks of when she sees you," Afina consoles Crystal. "But I don't think that'll make money in the quantities we require even aside from the scrying thing."

[Anastasia]

"Are we nothing but chances for magic for your kind?" Crystal crosses her arms, "Though I concede my own spell casting suggests the same."

Kascha smiles, eyes lighting up from that. "Well, I do have some experience. Seira sends me to my home lands sometimes and I have contacts there. I've picked up bits and pieces of ways to make money. In fact...hmmmm. It's in the same prime as the city of Balmuria and these occur in both regions. There's castles in the clouds that are owned by powerful giants. Some are upstanding folk and others, ah, are not."

"I see your meaning," Oh, Crystal turns back to her and smiles, "I have a spell that's quite useful for just that occasion."

[Ebiris]

"Do they drop galuh boulders on unsuspecting innocents living below?" Afina asks. With time and mellowing she feels a bit guilty over how she so harshly conscripted those giants who were only trying to enjoy their ysgardian holiday, though she can't deny it's worked out well for all concerned!

[Anastasia]

"No, but they do lead war parties for raids," Kascha remarks with a long, sad little sigh. "Most of the bad apples just lord over the landlings, but not all of them. I know a few that have done terrible things and that mortal efforts to stop them have failed."

[Ebiris]

"Well considering all the help we've had from your world, rooting out a few rotten giants is the least we can do," Afina declares. Not just in terms of the quality of recruits among their officers, the two deities from that world have both supported the Crusade greatly as well. "I like fighting giants anyway," she confides to Crystal, "They always get so indignant when you hit them."

[Anastasia]

"This is true," A smile grows on Crystal's face as she nods, "Yes, I do think this is a promising course of action."

[Ebiris]

That's it settled then. "So where are we going to find the worst of these cloud lords, then?" she asks Kascha, eager to go repay some of the favours Lifasa owes her world. "And do you want to come along with us?" she asks, making sure to offer since Kascha lives a less sedentary life than Vul'lath and might want to contribute to her own suggestion.

[Anastasia]

"I'll take you there. The one I'm thinking of is over eastern Pallanth, a local elven nation." Kascha gets up slowly, "It's an isolated tundra...that borders temperate forests on one side and warm plains on the other." Clearing her throat a little bit, "Geography can be a little strange in my world, especially after all the history involved."