Shadow was surprised at how fast his daughter changed over night. Once combative and rude to him, she was now warm, smiled, even apologized for her actions, saying she wanted to try and have a better relationship with him. She even confided in him about the male Omega she liked in Conaska.
He watched Shadow Jr. carry the barrels onto the land, Sous using her magic and wand while Shadow Jr. used her hands. Sous looked down at her wand, she laughed realizing just how weak she was with her spell casting.
She scratched the back of her head. "Wow, this really takes me back." She said, also a bit embarrassed by how far she regressed.
Her and Shadow Jr. got back on the boat and leaned over the side just chit chatting with one another.
FLAP, FLAP!
A gust of wind blew their way with Sous covering her eyes with her arm, same with the Shadows. She watched as a shirtless man with dark eyes and hair descended onto the boat.
"Umm, whats with the lack of shirt?" Shadow Jr. asked.
"Sous!" The man yelled out. A sweat drop appeared over Sous' head. This man spoke to her as if he knew her.
She looked about herself, thinking maybe he was trying to catch someone else's attention. He stepped forward to her. He pointed at himself.
"Sous, its me! It's Icarus!"
"Icarus!" She looked at the man who was about the same age as her. She walked closer to him, looking at him all around his body. "When did you turn back?" She asked.
"While you away," he answered her. "It was Tany. I need your help with something."
Sous shook her head. "I can't do anything right now. I have to stay in this area with Shadow." She looked over at Shadow who was sipping a mug of beer. He turned away from her, pretending to look the other way. "Ack!" Sous gawked.
"Yeah, we can help!" Shadow Jr. belted out.
Sous turned to look at the young Alpha. She shrugged her shoulders.
"What! He looks fun!"
"I DON'T WANT THAT CARD FROM THE CRIMINAL PACK! AAAHHHHH! MOOOMMMM!"
"What is all that racket?" Kara asked coming around the corner with her robe wrapped around her. She looked at the analog clock that was on the wall and looked back her younger children. "What's the problem?"
She looked at the cards that were in her children's hands. They were playing a card trading game called The Criminal Pack. The cards had criminals on each one, why they were in prison, and their powers. The players would then play against one another.
Kara took the cards from her child's hand. She looked at her other child who had cards in his hands as well.
"He has my Sous card!"
Kara's eyes became wide at hearing her name. She looked at the child and took the cards from him. She went from one card to the other and finally found her. Sous.
The card had her image on it, now Kara hadn't seen Sous in two decades. So she had no idea what she currently looked like. But here, she could see Sous was tall, had long blonde hair that was wild, had seals on her neck, dark blue eyes, large blue wings, and antennas.
Kara swallowed and looked at her child. "Can I have this card?"
"What, no!" The child snatched the card from her. "She's the most powerful magae. NEVER!!!"
Kara puffed out her cheeks. "Now, you know not to yell at me, dear. I'll get you a new card."
"Sorry mommy, for yelling. I can't give you this card because its rare because she's so powerful. I can tell you about her."
Kara sat down on the ground next to her children and sighed.
"Okay, tell me."
Sous and Icarus took to the sky heading north of Nadia toward the Valley of Trey. A kingdom came into sight once they reached high enough in the air to see the snow covered mountains.
They hovered above with Sous in complete awe at what she was seeing. Sous' eyes widened as she took in the sprawling kingdom nestled between jagged, snow-draped peaks.
Below, smoke curled from hundreds of chimneys into the crisp air, weaving through streets laid out like a child's dropped game of sticks. She pointed silently toward the eastern wall, where sunlight glinted off something metallic...armor? A patrol? Icarus followed her gaze, his wings beating steady counter-rhythms against the thin mountain wind.
He dipped lower without prompting, angling them toward a cluster of slate-roofed buildings near the city's edge where the shadows lay deepest.
"You know who lives out here?" He asked.
"The elves," Sous answered. She remembered because there was a time when she thought it were the elves from the Valley that partnered with Apex when in fact it was the elves or Dimona, now led by Queen Alana Aurora. "Are you going to tell me what you did to get turned into a bird to begin with?"
He shook his head. "Ask Tania." He soared down below, Sous following in his wingsteps.
The air thickened with the scent of pine resin and woodsmoke as they descended. Sous's boots scraped gravel on a narrow ledge overlooking the elven quarter, a district of woven willow walls and mushroom-shaped dwellings carved into the mountainside.
Below, lanterns shaped like glowing cocoons cast pools of amber light on empty pathways. Not a soul stirred. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath here, muffled by the dense canopy of frost-laden firs.
Sous crouched, her breath misting in the unnatural stillness. Something was wrong. Elves didn't abandon their streets at dusk. Their absence felt like a scream.
Kara sat on the floor in her bedroom with dozens of card packets in front of her. Zhiliary sat on the edge of her bed watching.
She opened one packet after the other until she went to the box, and cut it open. She dumped the cards out, going through the cards like fifty two pick up.
There it was!
Kara picked up the card, holographic card. Sous stood with her back straight, a profile image of her standing next to an emaciated wendigo.
Kara turned her back to Zhiliary, not wanting her to see she was holding a card of Sous in her hands.