13229/Discordants: Two words with Korek

Discordants: Two words with Korek
Date of Scene:	31 October 2022
Location:	Palace - Asgard
Synopsis:	Thea interrogates Korek and confers with Sif and Vintridr about what the future may hold.
Cast of Characters:	Jimmy Hudson, Thea Queen, Vintridr, Jane Foster

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Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    There was always the dark.
    It was there whenever he closed his eyes and there when he opened them. Sometimes it faded in the shining of light but always he felt it there with him. Quiet and dark and peace. It helped the steady flow of words and thoughts, the cascade of awareness that often served to draw him in so many directions at once. But if he closed his eyes it was there.
    Korek had been taken. The Asgardians were not kind. Though in truth they had no reason to be. There was laughter at points, though eventually he learned it was his. Part of him thought it was wise to ask after Dorin. How did the seneschal fare? Did he survive the stab wound? The poison? He had liked him.
    He must have mentioned it out loud, for one of the guards struck him. Though the other quickly berated his colleague for that attack. Emotions were high and then he was thrown into the dungeon. Into the dark. Home.
    Asgard was home. Technically. Trollheim was connected to the shining realm. Brilliant above ground, dark beneath, and the capital of his people. The capital of his people. His people. His capital.
    Father.
    The dark in the dungeon cell was peace. He had so much of it. It was disrupted at times by hints of light. A slit in the doorway and through the criss-cross lattice weave of iron that served to hold him there. When food was brought to him. Did they forget about him for a time? A week? More? Starvation would not take him. But time was ever difficult to tell.
    Then he marked time anew when she arrived.
    When the Young Queen arrived. Escorted by guards and shown to the cell. Far less luxurious than Prince Loki's. This one was several floors down and away from the light. But when she was there the lanterns were on, glowing their glow of spherical brilliance. Cast her in a lovely sepia tone.
    He rose on one elbow, crippled legs still twisted, healed over poorly but healed. Rose up on that elbow on the stone bed that served as his place of rest.
    No words were given to her. A slight smacking of parched lips as he looked across the distance. Then slowly sat up.

Thea Queen has posed:
It had been a long time coming. Had Thea been delaying this? Perhaps afraid of the answers she would get? Or were there even any answers to find here? What's true is that Thor is gone and a blow was struck against the Asgardians. There were many questions still. Little answers. And if there was someone that had been closer to Korek it was her. Even if she still had no idea why he brought the ring to her.

When Korek doesn't say anything Thea does the same, just looking at him, arms folded. She looks at him as if studying his motions, expressions. Trying to figure out why he did what he did.

"Thought you would be more talkative now." She finally speaks up, tone less-than-friendly.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    Slooowly he leaned over and took up what looked like a pan. It had perhaps been silver or tin at one point, though now had a touch of rust along it edge. He took it and reached to the bucket trickle of water that flowed from one corner of the cell and held it beneath.
    Then, as it filled, he waited.
    Which in turn meant Thea waited.
    Until the pan was filled with enough water for him to sip. Just three small sips before he sets it down on the end of his stone bed. He turned to her then, and his form was not as she saw it that one day. Not the handsome man in the coffee shop. Nor the form of Frikke whom he had worn for a good amount of time. He was that severe elfin featured man with the twist of wicked tusks that curled out of his jaw as if ready to gore whomever he looked upon.
    "Did you?"
    Those words floated there.
    "What else do I have to accomplish? I have those lines in the saga now, don't I?"

Thea Queen has posed:
Thea is patient enough. She knows the type. In fact she can be just as infuriating when she wants to so she doesn't really give him the benefit of her fury, or her impatience. She just waits, arms folded over her waist. The more time he spends like this the more time she has to study him.

A snort at the words, "For a moment there I thought you actually cared for Trollheim, but I was mistaken." her shoulders rise, "How long were you Frikke?" she then finally asks.

"Were you him already back in the North? Is that why you came to me after?" She inquires.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    "No," He answers easily enough, quick enough. Either he is being truthful, or his kneejerk is to lie. Whichever he seems open to speaking of the matter, no hesitation. No remorse.
    "After you left Northfort. I found him and his entourage traveling to the South after you had left. On their way to Asgard." Korek lifts a hand and looks at it, then flexes the knuckles several times and takes a deep breath. "Traveling traveling. They had guards. Dorin was there. Ever loyal. I lured Frikke with a wolf cub. Don't remember if it was real."
    Chewing his lower lip for a moment he lifts his green eyes up to Thea's gaze. "He did not suffer. And if you wish to see to his remains. Well."
    His smile returns then, "Perhaps I'll tell you. When I think of something I want."

Thea Queen has posed:
The way those blue eyes flash are murderous. Is she ready to jump at him? Not that she seems armed. And there's the guards too. But the look is there, along with the twitch on her jaw. In truth it was she feared but to have it heard is a different manner than simply believing something is real. It makes it too tangible.

"And what do you think you could want?" Not that Thea cares about recovering the boy's body. She had lost part of her family already. Never recovered her foster father's remains either. She wasn't a believer that it made things easier. Grief was grief. But she could still pull at Korek's string. See what he could reveal if she would just show some vulnerability. Or that he had some measure of hold on her.

She paces to the side, tucking at a side of the wall with her foot, "You don't really sound the type to work well with others. Were you working with Malekith and the rest of those dark elves?"

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    "I can be very cooperative. You don't survive long when you have been where I have been if you don't work well with a team." A pause as he looks across the way at her, lowering his head as if trying to look into the corner of her left eye, then the right. As if shifting his view might change her in his mind's eye. "And then knowing when to stab them in the back, another skill set entire."
    His smile widens, a double-twitch of expression. Then instantly drops.
    "I came to yooou." He says, letting that last word draw out, his eyes hazing distantly. "Because he had good memories of you. And you." His smile broadens, "Are the weakest of all of them. The chink in the armor that would most let me get through it. Get away with it. Though I do like you."
    The pan scrapes along the stony bed as he sliiiides it along the side, his hand lightly tapping at it. "I didn't lie to you, you know. Never lied. Told you the tell and the tell was to be told."
    Yet he says naught of Malekith. Even as he still lightly taps at that pan, like a cat casually considering knocking a vase off a shelf.

Thea Queen has posed:
"So you take their memories." Thea stops her inspection of the wall to look back at the half-troll. "Is that why you are such a crazied wretch? Too much blood on your hands.." then she smiling way too sweetly when he calls her the weakest. It's not as if it's a lie so she doesn't dispute that, "You would have had a place in history, in that saga.." she finally tells Korek, shaking her head at him. "As it stands I will make sure that your presence is written off from any and every occurrence that happened at that place." she says, "It won't be too hard with the kind of powerful sorcerers we have on our side.." she lets that linger for a few moments before continuing.

"No, you never lied. But I do. For unlike the Asgardians I have little care for concepts of honor and honesty. I am just human after all. We are frail, but we are also capable of the worst." Another smile to her lips.

"Then you can just rot here."

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    "It's not..." The pan is forgotten for a moment as he lifts his hand, uncurling it toward the ceiling as he gestures, "As if they survive in me. They do not. More just you can peruse, and experience and wander. Though perhaps that does take a toll. But you can say that of anything really? Enough days living in one particular way. We all pay our tolls."
    He then smiles to her as she would deny him his place in history, he sniffs as he straightens up. And then suddenly /slaps/ the pan toward the lattice-work barrier with a flick of his wrist, the container _clanging_ against the metal barrier and ricocheting back toward the other side of the cell. He laughs, just a short sharp laugh as he says, "I'd been wanting to do that for days. No audience."
    Then he looks back, "They'll always remember me, I was there when Thor died. When good good father twisted the magic turned the lines, brought the first defeat of many to you. I'll rot here. So long as Asgard stands. Which shouldn't be long really. In the greater scheme of things."

Thea Queen has posed:
"What father are you talking about?" Thea then finally asks with a brow arching back at the troll. The ricochet-pan gets somewhat ignored by Thea, she only moving head to the side as if in an instinctive manner. Ready for a fight if so needed.

"When Thor returns I will have him come meet you. Would you like that?" She then finally states with that faint smile still on her expression. Which is mostly just her way of keeping her own 'devil' at bay. So much for trusting redemption stories. But maybe she was just projecting herself on this Korek. It's clear there is no redeeming aspects here.

But then again she had said the same about Slade Wilson.

Something seems to click at that point. Oh yes, she knows well about secret fathers. "Is that -who- your father is?" she eyes him more attentively, frowning now.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    A short 'fft!' of sound comes from him, dismissive hand gesture flaring fingers as if brushing off her words with such purity of derision. The very prospect of Thor being alive, he tosses it away as easily as he tossed that pan.
    But when she asks that latter question he cocks an eyebrow at her sidelong. And for some reason it silences him. For a moment. Or two. His eyes go up as if looking at something on the ceiling, his lips moving slightly as he murmurs something silently. A seeking in his thoughts, a recollection. Then he blinks and tilts his head to her.
    "I do not know. I think so. It pleases me to imagine so. But to /know/? Do any of us really know?"
    Then his smile widens, "But then I suppose if you keep pulling back and back in your thoughts, it can reach the absurd so quickly. Do any of us know we are real and all. But I will not burden you with those musings."
    He straightens, pulling a leg up to his chest and wrapping his arms around the knee. "I have said perhaps three words to him. Four? Yes four. Though he does give something most fathers do not. Purpose."

Thea Queen has posed:
"Oh, don't worry. I know all about those musings." Thea tells back at the half-troll, having moved to stand right in front of the cell now, "It certainly is easy to get lost in your thoughts, and others." she continues to look at him, searching for those openings.

"Ah, purpose.." A nod from Thea, "I thought a father's purpose was to love you. Doesn't seem like it from where I am standing though. For here you are, rotting. But maybe that was the whole idea. You have served your purpose after all..." she nodding slowly.

"But what words have you shared with him?" She then finally asks.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    "I have, that's true. Though there are... so many little... tendrils. To pull on and to follow. Though sometimes you just have to wait." His head lifts as he smiles, rising up and then gaining his feet fully. A few steps start to carry him toward her but he limps. He limps so very badly.
    "Oh are you smiling? At what she did to me? It is to laugh is it not?" The barrier between them is solid, the holds through which they view each other in that so finely crafted lattice are too small for him to reach through, for either of them to reach through. And they are too durable for one or the other to likely break down. Yet she can likely read that wish in his eyes as his smile widens a little more manic.
    Though he retains that control, refrains, watches. "I have to simply wait. Here is as good as anywhere else."
    He looks to the side as he considers that question she asks of him at last and then he rounds back quickly. "Yes. No. My. Lord."
    Then he looks back and his smile twists wryly, "And 'indeed'. You would be surprised how far that can carry one in a conversation."

Thea Queen has posed:
"Not particularly." Thea replies, shaking her head. And she does sound honest about that. "I take little comfort from the misery of others. I -am- vindictive though, but that's a whole other matter." her shoulders rise in a brief shrug.

The rest she listens for a time, absorbs it. It's information, but she doesn't particularly feel it as that truthful. Her reply to it all? "Indeed."

"I still don't understand your purpose with me, I helped nothing on what you were doing. You already had an in as Frikke. And your ring had no magic that could influence the ritual." she says, "You said you don't lie to me, so why not just tell me what the real purpose was?"

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    "You helped." Korek says quietly, "In your own little way."
    For some reason that smile had a hint of sincerity to it, even as he took in a deep breath and then exhaled slooooowly. "I do not know entirely the purpose. Of the ring. Of my need to give it to... one of you. And to not hide myself. But it was what I was tasked. And I do as I am told."
    A beat, then he adds as he turns away. "Usually."
    That said he shuffles over, limping still and then half falls half sits down on that large stone bed. "Is that all?"

Thea Queen has posed:
Continuing to look through the small opening that gives sight to the cell there's a slow shake of her head, "Helped who? You?" a beat, "Your father?" then her head canting to the side, "Frikke?"

"How free are you of the influence of those you kill, mmm?" she inquires, continuing to prod at him for answers. She reaches inside her pocket, lifting the ring up so it can be visible from inside the cell.

"To whom did this belong to?" She finally asks, "Look at it!"

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    Settling down on that stony bed, Korek draws one mangled leg up and rests his chin on the knee, eyes narrowing to slits as he watches across the way. His green eyes meet Thea's, his nose crinkling as he says, "Me."
    A beat then he adds, "And him, I suppose. Through me."
    Then his eyes widen a little, head tilting to the back as if giving some deep thought to the idea of being influenced by those he kills. He lowers his head back down and pushes both his hands through his ragged raven-colored hair. "Nobody is free of the influence of the people they kill don't you imagine?"
    He points at her, finger going forward a few times as if emphasizing. "You still carry the weight of those you kill on you. I could tell. One of the reasons I liked our talk. How you deal with it. How you push yourself on and imagine doing... good?"
    Then the ring is brought forth and he /winces/ as she yells, frowning. A turn of his head away as he murmurs, "It was mine. I wear them at times, pretty things. Spend enough time with them and such resonance can be felt through them. It is how I remember who I am sometimes."

Thea Queen has posed:
The pressing on that particular wound has Thea taking a step back. It's true enough, "No, we are never free." but they can imagine themselves free of it. Doing good, trying to become someone better. Or at the deep-end of a bottle, brain high on drugs. "There comes a time where you eventually need to stop imagining yourself doing good and actually begin to try doing it. Maybe that's the difference." she tells back at the half-troll but her tone doesn't have the same bite of before.

Was she truly doing any good?

"Sometimes it's better to forget, isn't it?" She says, looking at the ring, "Store those memories somewhere else so we can be free to do what we want. But forget too much about you and in the end what are you?" she shakes her head slowly, some lingering silence for a few before she finally speaks up again. "When we spoke a while ago I don't think I was wrong about you. You wanted to do better. Maybe you just can't fight against what you are, your nature. Or what you believe your purpose is that leads you to these kind of acts. But there were glimpses of some good. More than just imagining yourself being good. And you can still help, tell us about what your father is trying to do next..., what's he planning now that Thor is gone?"

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    A small smile is there as he edges around on the bed, turning his back to the wall and then pushing against it. Now both feet are on the bed and he seems at the least to be trying to take some ease. But with his injuries it is perhaps more difficult.
    "There is no such thing as good, there is advantageous, and disadvantageous." And considering what he had done, what had happened to Trollheim during his 'rule', how he had gained his place. It is easy to see how he would view the world that way.
    Yet he does not push on that sentiment, perhaps letting her gain that argumentative high ground and leave it to her. Instead when the subject of Malekith's plans comes up...
    He smiles.
    "Oh on that front you likely know as much as I do. His thoughts and plans are always..." A hand lifts to gesture as if something so small was flittering away from him, then he looks back. "Though I would take stock. What pieces are off the board now? What thing connects them? Here, this is what I understand about your position now."
    He lifts his chin, smile coming to life. "Odin is sleeping. Northfort has only that old bastard at hand. Alfheim weak. Thor so very dead. It feels like the first notes played doesn't it? What should come next?"

Thea Queen has posed:
Yes, Thea can see why he would think that but then she speaks up. "I call bullshit." in very much that Thea way of hers. "You had no advantage coming to me and giving me this ring. None. Besides the danger of being found out and your plans being put to light. So no, Korek of the Trolls, I think that was something you did not because it gave you an advantage, but something else.." not that she goes ahead and continues talking on what she thinks that was.

Instead she focuses on the rest. How he explains the pieces being off the board. Her eyes go wide a moment, then a frown. The word is there at the tip of her tongue, "An invasion." it would make sense with those realms that are traditionally allied to Asgard being weakened.

"This isn't the last time we have spoken." she calls out to him, then a glance to the guards. "I am done."

And she turns to leave down the hall.

Jimmy Hudson has posed:
    Turning away it does not take long for Thea to be free of any vision or hint of Korek's existence. Though his voice does lift, rising loud enough to chase after as he calls. "Goodbye Thea. I will miss you."
    Though after that there is only silence as she strides.

Thea Queen has posed:
Walking out from the dungeons Thea is stewing over what she spoke with Korek. Some she already suspected as true. But hearing it being said just makes it all too real. It's why she has her fingers curled around that ring fiercely. Fiercely enough that her nails nearly draw blood from skin while she is walking the corridors, searching for some of the usual suspects so she can confer with them.

Vintridr has posed:
    Vintridr is leaning against a wall just outside the prison area when Thea emerges. "I take it what you heard was not to your liking?" she asks with a glance at the young woman's clenched fists as she moves from her spot to accompany her.

Thea Queen has posed:
"Hello, Vin."

Thea isn't too surprised to find Vin out here, she even sparing a faint smile back at her friend but then looks down at her hands. At the one holding the ring. She quietly puts it away, "Not fully." she tells back to the Valkyrie. "Even if I suspected it so." Thea isn't the type to live in a fairy tale where everything has an happy ending.

"He killed Frikke." She finally tells her, exhaling softly. "Lured him during his trip to the Asgardian Palace when he was chosen for fostering and ...." she shakes her head. "Well, Frikke is truly gone now. And I feel it's my fault in a way." she drops her shoulders some.

Jane Foster has posed:
Asgard ought to be a place of wonders and delights. In some ways, it still is for Jane. Strange new horizons opened when first she crossed paths with the Aesir, and they lead her further into places than she could ever imagine. With some quiet consideration, she steps inside, brushing off a few stray oak leaves trying to get a free ride. Boots scuffed off, she wends a path according to her own intentions through the building after offering greetings.

Hers is a different purpose, seeking another person. Not one that she expects to find here, though, and ultimately won't; Sif isn't in the vicinity, though that guess about the lady huntress being about would be apt. Rather, her turn down the corridor puts her squarely on a collision course with others.

Vintridr has posed:
    "I would tell you it was not, but I doubt you'll let yourself believe it just yet," Vin replies.

    "It was not your decision to call him to Asgard's courts; nor was it your decision to let him travel unaccompanied. If you must blame someone other than the one who murdered him, blame Asgard for not making sure Korek was fully neutralized after we unseated him."

    She reaches up and touches Thea's shoulder, both for a gentle reassuring squeeze and to pull the younger woman to a halt just before Jane rounds the corner into where Thea would have been walking. "Doctor Foster, well met."

Thea Queen has posed:
"If, if, if.... It's a lot of ifs, isn't it?" Thea replies back at Vin, gaze straying to the palace walls for a moment, "But he's dead. Left to rot in a forest somewhere.." arms wrap around her waist and she supports her weight on one leg, hip jutting to the side. She still smiles faintly up at Vin at the hand on the shoulder, but the smile doesn't really reach her eyes.

"Hello, Jane." A glance over her shoulder and a respectful nod offered. "Went to talk with Korek. He revealed a few more things." gaze going back to Vin. "It would seem he may be one of Malekith's sons. Or at least he made it sound like that was so. He spoke of his father having twisted the magic of the ritual, not sure if there would be anyone else powerful enough to do it if not him?" and it had been him leading the attack after all.

"And I fear Malekith's next step may be an invasion of Asgard now that he has weakened some key points."

Jane Foster has posed:
The woman is pale, unlined by the weight of responsibility or the consequences of grief. Jane isn't untouched by emotion, though, simply bearing few of the physical hallmarks that would send another person into the shadows of sleepless nights and eating poorly. Her fingertips scale up to the necklace at her throat, something that escaped an immolation by sheer dint of not wearing it that day. Habit to toy with the muted chain, its pendant a stony weight against her chest. Thea's statements roll over her in a wave and, submerged beneath the information, she doesn't immediately surface except to murmur, "Well met" in the habit of Shakespearean actors and guests to Asgard everywhere. This is no stage.

Her blink focuses in, and then the relentless configuration of missing bits filled in or puzzle pieces turned around draws her to a total halt. She doesn't seem overly surprised by the familiarity between Thea or Vintridr, but there may simply be no place for it, spinning out a measured pattern into the vast unknown. "A son of Malekith. An heir, one of several potentially? The way you phrased it, we could expect similar sleeper agents hidden throughout the Realms in key places where their parentage wouldn't be expected. Or have I jumped a river too far upon that one? For I can see a pathway forward to find them, though it may be an absolutely wild goose chase." Her lips press together for a moment. "Others powerful enough to twist the ritual as the Accursed have? A few. Odin, though unlikely. The Prince-Regent and the Queen both have great knowledge of magic. The Enchantress." The latter name falls like a golden petal, softly twirling around to land on a bed of silence. "Any with reason to do so is another matter. I find it difficult to surmise the Enchantress would go so far, given her objective often includes the Crown Prince at her side. She's made no secret of her fondness in the past. So, Malekith strikes here first and not at Midgard? Unsurprising. He's already weakened Alfheim, and the next traditional ally to the golden city is Vanaheim. Has anyone been there of late to assess its status?"

Vintridr has posed:
    "The Lady Amora might do so, but only if she felt it would ultimately result in her having the Odinson in her bedchambers," Vin opines. "She may have the morals of a serpent at times, but her motives at least remain consistent."

    "Loki's schemes are rarely straightforward, but this does not feel like his particular style -- for one, there doesn't seem to be much room in it for him to play the hero. As for the All-father..." Her face darkens and she looks at one of the torches in the wall. "... The All-Father kept his own counsel in all things. If this was his plan or purpose, we may never know."

Thea Queen has posed:
"He's half-troll and half ...." There's a pause there as Thea considers, ".. maybe elf? I cannot be sure. Black hair, pale of skin." she shakes her head a few times, "I am not an expert on non-human races unfortunately." then the talk about that Amora the Enchantress having her arch her brows. "That Amora sounds like a minx.." she comments, just the faintest hints of that usual amusement returning. Yet the matter is serious enough that she is back to her more somber self soon enough.

"Odin is asleep, Thor is .., away." she refuses to think him dead, "Loki rules in his father's stead. There would be no need for Loki to weaken the elves, or create a rift with the North if it was him behind this. Which speaking of, once the Lord of the North learns of Frikke's death..." a beat, "He may downright turn hostile, or not particularly care about Asgard's fate if it comes to be attacked."

"I still think he is one of Malekith's sons. Though I wasn't trying to imply there may be others infiltrated. It's as you say, can all just be a wild goose chase to take us off the real purpose, which is to get ready for an invasion. Korek was very certain that Asgard wouldn't be remaining whole for much longer. He expects this place to fall, and soon."

As for Vanaheim she lifts her shoulders in a shrug. She really isn't the best to answer that.

Jane Foster has posed:
Jane mildly shakes her head, "Pale skinned could be a few things, though we have rather straightforward ways to figure that out." She glances over to Vintridr, and if her distaste for her own suggestion shows, she takes pains to suppress the grimace. "Without magic, a blood sample might do it." After all, who came back with dark elf blood all over? Nearly everyone here! The task is set aside for the nonce, shifting to another avenue once Thea and Vintridr guide her down a different mental garden trail.

"The death of the young man is confirmed then? Then surely Asgard shall take that to heart and consider good counsel under the circumstances. I don't know it's our place to offer political recommendations, but I dearly hope it's considered. A suggestion to Lady Sif, perhaps." Not a warning, more a quiet awareness of the painstaking negotiations that rotate around inter-realm politics. Jane chooses her words carefully, hands curled into her hem.

"Korek expects it to fall. Then he probably expects to be free, or restored after a fashion. Do the dark elves use necromancy? I'm fairly sure it's the least of their black arts. He might well not care now his piece is played, though that seems unlikely. I suppose it boils down to this, and perhaps better than us, you would know," she asks Vintridr more directly. "What can we do to shore up the defenses of Asgard so it doesn't fall? If it's at imminent risk?"

Vintridr has posed:
    Vintridr considers Jane's questions. "The defense of the Realm is the Prince-Regent's purview, as is diplomacy," she points out.

     "That said... Right now, morale has been the hardest hit. The All-Father was highly respected, and the Odinson respected and beloved, and in one fell swoop the Realm appears to have lost both. None question Loki's cunning or his craft, but he never enjoyed that level of respect or confidence."

Thea Queen has posed:
"Yes, it's confirmed..." Thea replies with a somber tone to her, lowering her gaze. "Assassinated on the trip to Asgard from the North lands." she explains.

Looking between them Thea then offers, "Asgard still has many allies, and they will be here to aid if that invasion comes. Be it in preparation against it or actively fighting. Thor has done much for Midgard, and so has Sif and Vin and ...." she smiles faintly. "Well, I could be here all day saying names. So those allies in Midgard will come, for sure."

"If you find Sif before I do talk with her about these findings. She should know of this as soon as possible. As should Loki."

Jane Foster has posed:
"A heavy burden to bear the crown, if I'm to paraphrase." Jane gives the thinnest of smiles, familiarity something loosening the annals of grey slumber around her heart. Beneath it, another fire burns in brilliant candor. "We need to convince those allies of goodwill, where we can, as much as they might listen to two mortals from Midgard. The strain of coming days will be lighter if we can spread it out, surely." Her dark gaze shines faintly and she nods to Thea. "They do need to be informed as soon as possible. I have plans to return if we can where troubles took place, and investigate further. There may be something we overlooked around the Spaceport."

She dips her head, lost in thought for only a moment.