A non-descript village existing just on the opposite side of Earth's reality, mirroring the town of Ceracka. Populated by astounding creatures of all sorts, as well as mediums from the Ether Plane, this Nether Plane village serves as one of a few hubs for travel between planes. The master of this place has been gone for some time, leaving the government in a state of blissful disarray.

---

Yuan Orchards
Korliss's Keep

Mara-Kuru's Estate
Other Side of the World
The Wretching Dragon
Kaies Metsaf's Grave

Wu Yuan I

---

Dewei blinks slowly when they reach this side of the portal. Ai...? Why does he sense her in the nether plane?

It really, truly feels like all hell is breaking loose in a way it never has before.

Minna, for her part, is wide-eyed at the sights of Wu Yuan, but...somber and silent.

Kaies makes it through a moment after, and looks around to a strangely peaceful sensation. This place feels so much more like home than Alfheim had.

A two-headed wolf is loping down the street, but stops at the sight of them, and trots closer. Looks at Minna, tilting its heads in a wise-dog fashion.

Minna just looks back a little bit. Her face isn't scared, exactly, just...profoundly sobered by all of this. Like she's scared of the world in general, but has no care for its individual dangers. "Hello..." she finally ventures quietly.

"Hello!" answers the dog-thing. "Are you Dewei, Minna, and Kaies?" It's other mouth is panting, long tongue hanging out.

"Yes," Dewei notes, stepping up near Minna.

"Ah, good! Mistress Amilei is expecting you. This way, please." It turns and saunters down the street, towards the edge of town where Korliss's Keep lies, these days open to the public.

---

When Felina steps back into the streets of Wu Yuan, her abrupt entrance swallowed in the chaos of the city, she heads straight towards what she thinks is the house from her vision.

Phenhine's house is far enough outside the city borders that it cannot be seen from the main road. It is a medium sized affair, nothing like Mara's estate, but is surrounded by vast fields of grapes and apple trees in various shades of blue. There are no guards posted in front of the red door, no obvious security, and no subtle security either.

Felina takes in her surroundings as she walks. Pretty...peaceful, too. Mm...really, could mean any number of things. Likely more than one. So, she does the normal human thing to do, heads down the path at a normal pace, and knocks on the door.

It opens after a moment. On the other side there stands a massive, handsome spider, who opened the door from its side with a pedal. Black, with strong red marks up and down its abdomen, it is without a speck of hair and seems to be very proud as spiders go.

Can I help you?

"Maybe. I'm looking for a Miss Phenhine." Of course she's not afraid of spiders. Some of her best friends are spiders. ...Okay, so maybe not, but she's been running around Wu Yuan long enough to judge people by their manners first.

The spider's mandibles bristle a bit. Of course. May I ask your business, then? Phenhine seems to have lost her social nature lately, and refuses to see certain people.

"I have news about an Archangel by the name of Spintrius."

One moment, please. The cordial spider turns about with a rhythmic clacking of its well-armored feet, and scuttles into the body of the house to deliver the news. Come in and make yourself at home, please.

"Thank you kindly." Felina smiles at him, and examines the decor while he's away. Not really looking for anything of substance...just looking. Tasteful stuff, really, and much better decorating sense than she has. Looks over a painting throughtfully. Looks Chinese.

The spider is quite a while in coming back. In the interim a pair of falcon-sized honeybees with strangely muted wings flit into the room, jabbering to each other in bee-speak. They fly in front of Felina, side by side, and appear to give a quick bow before flitting to a countertop and brings her a cup and some honey tea, nice and hot. 

Felina smiles at them, and accepts it gratefully. "That's very kind of you, thank you." She sips it. "It's very good."

A grateful buzz and bow sends the bees off again, to be replaced shortly thereafter by a very patient millipede, the size of an average alligator. Its feelers sniff at Felina, and thus satisfied, it turns and shuffles out.

Pardon the wait, the spider's ethereal voice quietly apologizes, lady Phenhine will see you in her parlor. The third door on the right of this hallways. If you get lost, ask Sneakers for help. It gestures towards the patient millipede. 

Felina bows her head to the spider. "It's no problem, and thank you kindly." She smiles at the millipede as she passes, and then heads down the hall.

Phenhine's chamber is actually pretty obvious, as a cluster of soldier ants, each the size of pit bull terriers, marches back and forth along the opposite wall in patrol. The door is open, leading into a mostly dark-red room with thick, plush carpet and a four poster bed arranged with blue sheets. It is a tastefully decorated room, and on that bed sits a tastefully decorated, full blood Dumeni woman.

"Felina Deyono, I... must say I am honored to receive you in my home." Phenhine rises, looking the part of a modern mystical woman in a fitted black outfit that sets off her pale skin and silver hair nicely. Her eyes, while black as coal, give off a greenish reflection as though their color is not true ebony. 

Felina smiles a little, and bows politely. "The honor has been mine, Lady Phenhine. You have a lovely estate, and such kind help."

"They are lovely, are they not?" She smiles a black-lipped smile as a lumbering bumblebee lands on her shoulder, mute-winged like the others. "Perfection in nature. As honored as I am, I must ask that we handle business first, and then perhaps engage in pleasantries. Have a seat, if you would, and tell me what news you bring of Spintrius?" She bows again, though her not quite but nearly Yue-ish height still keeps her eyes above Felina's. Unlike Yue she is a vivacious woman, with strongly accented curves drawn out by her outfit. Her entire bearing simply screams 'temptress who earned nobility and hasn't been a whore for a while'.

Felina nods, and sits, crossing her legs. She can actually be very polite when she tries...to an extent. "Spintrius resigned from his post as Major General. He's currently awaiting trial, likely on hefty charges."

"That is sad to hear," Phenhine answers a bit too quickly. Her voice is flowing and rich, not to deep, and not too high. Even in normal speech it is striking, slightly mysterious, and more than a little bit knowing.

Felina nods. "It really is. Anyway...the day before, he stabbed me a number of times, thus, I had enough concern in the matter to scry back through his recent history and look for the motivation behind the madness." She tilts her head. And here she is.

"Ah..." Phenhine had wondered how close the legendary Ono construct had come to finding things out. She had hoped, in her optimism, that Felina's arrival was more of a coincidence. "And now you wish to know why I asked him to bring Minna Adair to me. Will you have a drink, then?" She smiles. "This may take a while."

"That would be lovely, thank you." Felina smiles. All told...she's hoping a peaceful resolution will be possible.


Phenhine rises, floating on silent feet to a silver cabinet against the wall. "Do you like nectar wine? I have little taste for hard liquor, I admit. It leads to bad decisions." She smiles over her shoulder, lips just visible past her short, punky hair.

"I've never had it, but it sounds lovely."

"The bees gather it for me." The bumblebee on her shoulder buzzes irritably for a second, earning a laugh that is pure Dumeni ecstasy. "The honeybees. This nice lady is a messenger." She fills two cups about halfway, shimmering in crystal, and walks back over to Felina. "Here you go," she smiles.

Felina returns the smile, and accepts it with a graciously bowed head. "Thank you, Lady Phenhine..." she sips it. Blink. "Oh, my. That is good."

"I always thought so," the Dumeni woman nods, sitting and sipping her own. "Now then. Please let me know why you are here, and do not be subtle with the details. I am difficult to offend, my dear."

Felina nods. "Minna Adair is my charge and has been for most of her transition, as I'm sure that you're aware. I have multiple reasons to believe that her death would be of some benefit to you, that you've actively sought said benefit, and that you are a driving force that led to an unhappy chain reaction of events with those around me, or at least an earlier and significant link in the chain. Especially considering that I'm not at all sure Minna is out of danger yet, I'd very much like to hear your version of 'why'." She sips her wine.

"Fair enough." Phenhine lays her wine down, and the bumblebee flies off for no apparent reason. In reality, she had decided this to be a private conversation.

"I have reason to believe that the essence of emerging divinity may be used to reassemble the long-ruined pieces of my universe. I have searched a while, and I know that Minna is likely to be given another chance if she passes in this life. She will lose nothing. The slaying of Radivishe Moorn was convenient, but more along the lines of justice for me and my kind."

"Your universe...the Dumen's original, you mean? The one Moorn wiped out?"

"Yes." Phenhina sips again, smiling warmly at Felina. "He deserves hell for that, regardless of what he might have become."

"Well, I'm sure that you know my history with him." Felina nods. "I suppose you're the wrong person to try to sell him to, especially without reason to not respect your opinion on the matter. So, I won't. What purpose would reassembling the universe serve, Miss Phenhine?"

"You can imagine how devestating the loss was to the shape of existence. An entire universe, inverted, and destroyed in a blink. All those lives... good men and women, beasts, gone in a wink over one man's selfishness." Her voice conveys her sorrow on the subject impossibly well, as though injecting her emotions into everything around her. "I want to give my people another chance."

Felina had closed her eyes respectfully through the dissertation...she understands, of course she does. Radivishe Moorn had done enough in his first life, that... well... anything she could have done to him, with any sword, could never have been penance. Finally opens them again. "Why in the original universe, though, Miss Phenhine? I understand the emotional impact, but...two, almost three thousand years is a very, very long time. I mean, life expectancy, world outlook...the entire Dumeni culture, save a few staples based on physiology, has changed dramatically, and no return will change that. If you want your people to be able to start fresh, why not start with a new world?""

"There was something there," Phenhine instantly answers, waxing almost philosophical. "Something intangible that made life as a Dumen... better. It flowed within all of us. I know it sounds ridiculous to you. I am far too young to have ever been there, and in fact, it was my family that escaped its end before I was born. But I have been there in this nether world."

Felina considers this quietly, dutifully. Caring about all this is helped along by the fact that she's married to a dumen and has two of the tiny handful of half-dumen children in existance. "It's only slightly rare," she begins thoughtfully, "that an energy flow, often from the way planes or dimensions overlap in a given area, becomes an integral part of the race itself." She blinks. "That makes it sound too scientific, really, since it's often considered a mystical or religious thing, but it is the underlying hard explanation." Considers a few more seconds, sips her wine. "The Dumen are nothing if not a quintessentially mystical race, at its core though not always individual practice. It's a strong possibility, I think."

Felina examines the crystal glass that she's holding. This is the part, in years past, where she would have really wished that her father was here. But it's her turn to be the master wizard...and planar and dimensional dynamics are her specialty, anyway. "And is that same effect is present in the nether plane's version of the universe?"

"Yes. I thought to use that place to start over, but there are... complications." She stands from her seat, reaching down to flick open two of her outfit's buttons around her navel. She pulls the black material away to reveal a pale, taut set of abdominals framed by dozens of tiny, slashing scars that, for some reason, end up much more pink in her species. "It is a place of horrors, lady Deyono. Beasts dwell there, creatures of such dimensions that they themselves are entire worlds. Monsters of every shape and form, so ravenous that they devour even each other, and the people - the people - are as definitive of evil as anything I have ever seen."

"I see..." Felina nods, examining the scars a moment. "But, it exists as a case study. If it can be used to pinpoint exactly what creates that environment, then there's a good chance it can be recreated later. Without having to kill anyone, divine or otherwise, I might add." Sips the wine.

"I'm sure that you know that I'm married to a Dumen, Miss Phenhine. That certainly amplifies my usual concern in the matter, and I'm known for getting involved in this sort of venture anyway. I will do everything in my power to help you...provided that Minna is left out of it. You can't build a new world on blood. That's Moorn's way of operating. There are other ways." Considers. "Hell, there are even other ways to get ahold of divine essence."

Phenhine buttons her shirt back quickly, as if embarassed to have shown Felina her scars. "... is that true...? Spintrius suggested otherwise when we talked about it." Actually, the insinuation that she could be anything like Radivishe Moorn was very nearly enough to get her to call her guards to escort Felina out. It's an insult of the most vile calibur.

True. She's known it had been risky...but a strong enough point to lodge it in the Dumeni lady's brain, possibly enough to cause her to reexamine later. "Theoretically, no. But I've been working on an energy capture containment and homogenization process for life energy. The project's not quite done, but very close. If it works properly, it could be calibrated to contain bits of divine essence from multiple donors and unify them. Divine essence doesn't regenerate fast in its hosts, but it does regenerate, so I'm quite sure that volunteers could be found."

Phenhine thinks hard about this. "It isn't as if I am in a hurry," she says to herself, but aloud, "and I should think you above all are trustworthy. Fine... I will abandon pursuit of Minna." A strange sadness creeps across her face. "I only hope I have not further shamed my species in this quest."

"Certainly not, Lady Phenhine," Felina puts in, sincerely enough, eyes softening. "The Dumen are one of history's great tragedies, not one of its scandals...despite what people sometimes claim. You were only doing what you felt was best for them."

"I agree with that, anyway." Phenhine finishes her nectar, sets it aside. "Lovely thing, this nectar. If you feed bees with juices from a venetian man-trap, it taints so subtly that even the bees cannot tell. You have to mark the ones who take of it so that you will know which nectar is poisoned." She glances at her bumblebee as it flies back in, smiling profoundly. "So subtly, even, that the nectar you drank does nothing by itself. You have to bring it out, you know?"

Felina sighs quietly, and raises her glass, smirking a little in a tired kind of way. "'Tainted,' yes?" Of course, her "poison fix it now" spells and senses are all in a much fuller swing now, although she'd thought and hopes that they'd been active enough before.

Phenhine smiles a little more brightly. "And that," she says, referring to Felina's antitoxin spells, "is how you bring it out."

"Ahh..." Felina blinks once, slowly. Closes her eyes when the room starts to sway. Hell... "Yue. Take Minna and get her out of here. Hide, now." Despite the dancing colors inside her eyelids, her wry smile creeps fully across her lips. "Well-played, that," she observes, a touch softly. "I personally liked how neatly you evaded my questio..." jerks suddenly to the right as though avoiding projectile to the shoulder. She'd thought there had been. It never came. Sways and catches her weight on a side table, a hand to her temple, fighting gamely to break through the delirium.



"Be careful, now. I don't want you to hurt yourself falling." Phenhine is up in a half instant. If Felina has the wherewithal, the likelihood of attack is simply too great to remained seated. "Or break anything of mine. Stop struggling, that cup is crystal!"

"Well, you're the one who poisoned me, don't whine to me about it," Felina notes through increasing dizziness to the fluffy floaty purple thing a few feet from Phenhine. Her sword is about a third of the way drawn at one point before she seems to remember herself, and it's back into the sheath as quickly. Drugged, light-headed, and hallucinations cannot hide the fact that her sword handling is sure and unconsciously superb. Slashes at something unseen with her claws, growls under her breath when it meets nothing. "Hate hallucinating," she mutters as a bout of dizziness forces her to a knee, fingers to her forehead. Mutter something less intelligible. Then..."this won't kill me, will it? Husband and kids...they'd complain...." Her voice is getting increasingly airier, but she's forcing it admirably steady.

"Oh stars, no." Phenhine shakes her head, pointlessly. She doubts that Felina can see her claws in front of her own face at this point. "I hate killing. I loathe it. It's just going to knock you out for a day or so."

"Except Minna," Felina manages. Swirling. Blackness all around, can't throw it off. "Except those...colors..." and, that's that. She collapses. For a "legendary Ono," she certainly gets knocked around a lot. Likely by the same person twice, since Phenhine no doubt formulated Spintrius's defenses against her in Alfheim.

Phenhine is quick to step in, and catch the fallen matriarch in her unusually strong arms. She lifts Felina into the chair where she had been but a moment ago and calls for help. The handsome spider clacks into the room in an instant, flanked by a whole platoon of army ants.

"I will take this," she whispers, reaching down to snag the black sword from Felina's belt. She draws her hand back as if on instinct, just evading a harsh counterward. "Fine. No one touch the sword. Take her belt. In fact, take everything she has."

We're robbing her? That seems beneath you, lady Phenhine.

"No, no. We will give it all back. This is a bargaining chip. Take every scrap of clothing off her back. Ikma. Put her up there, on the wall. Spread her arms and legs, but cover her naughty bits. I want to look at her later." She leans down, gazing an unreadable gaze at the unconscious Felina. "She is a work of art. Her mind, her body, her emotions and decision... she is a perfect being. I want to learn from her. And I want to punish her. As typical as it sounds, I want her to know better than to step between me and what I want." Then, Phenhine parts her ebony lips and runs her tongue along Felina's face, brushing her chin, lips, eyes and nose in a display that is as far from sexual as it gets. Even the army ants seem repulsed. "How lovely," she giggles, "just wonderful... get to it."

---

"Felina contacted me in my mind, warning me to get Minna out. But she said nothing of the threat, and honestly, she sounded out of sorts when she warned me." Yue leads them all by his energy sense, passing various behemoths and slug monsters and freakshows of all sorts.

Dewei frowns a little, and nods. "Out of sorts...how? Under duress?"

Yue shakes her head. "No. Like she was on something, or had spent ten minutes with Ai in her parlor." 

Dewei's brow creases. "I know I don't need to tell you mother wouldn't intentionally get involved with something like that at a time like this, for any reason. Drugged or poisoned...though I can't imagine how."

"Won't know till we get there," Makyon points out. Yue glances at him, worried that he is correct, as they reach the house with the red door. 

"She is in there," the Incubus nods. "I hope you two are ready. It could be bad, in there."

Dewei nods, hand on the hilt of his sword. "Is it locked?"

Yue taps on it, a horrible swell of worry rising in his thoughts. "Hello...?"

The door opens a bit, to reveal the massive spider Ikma on the other side. Yue's pupils dilate, and she steps back.

Spider.

"Can I help you?"

Dewei narrows his eyes, slightly irked by the "nothing's going on inside" facade. And also absolutely stolid at the threat to his mother despite never having talked to a giant spider before. "We're looking for my mother, Felina Deyono."

"Ah yes, we thought someone might." The spider clacks backward, making room for them to enter. "She is in milady's parlor. Follow Sneakers down the hall."

Yue is bleach white at this point. Spiders have always terrified her, even back when she was more manly.

Dewei can sense that he means the millipede, and heads that way, expression set, without much mind to Yue.

Makyon follows, as does Yue after a moment, though he looks on the verge of screaming with every other step. The spider shuts the door behind them. It knows that their mother is now stark naked, stuck spread-eagled against a wall in Phenhine's parlor by the webbing of a gigantic ensorcelled spider. There'll be a fight, and he is irritated that he's just finished arranging things in here again. The bees will be furious.

Sneakers leads Dewei patiently along, never missing a beat. The parlor door stands open, and Phenhine is inside, sitting in her chair, gazing at Felina with an absorbed look upon her Dumeni face.

And, although he'd thought he was ready for anything, it's all Dewei can do but to stop dead and gawk for a moment, stunned and absolutely outraged at the other indignity of it. His sword sings out of its sheath, face a twitching mask of barely contained rage.

"Imagine, you reacting with anger. Sit down, and put that toy away before you get hurt." Phenhine, though no more powerful than your average Dumeni female, is unmoved by what would have terrified any rational person in Dewei's anger. Her eyes shine with a calculating light, looking over Dewei and Makyon, who looks as though he cannot decide whether to roar or faint.

All the blade does is raise towards Phenhine, though, in characteristically restrained threat. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with you, lady," he manages quietly despite being surprised at the aggressor being dumen. "What's wrong with her?" Referring to the fact that she's unconscious, of course.

"A massive orgy tired her out," Phenhine is quick to respond. "Please, sit, before you force me to hurt you."

Makyon takes a look back about now, wondering where Yue's inevitable shriek of outrage has gone. When he looks, though, all he sees is a wave of dog-sized army ants filling up the hallway, scrambling for position. Walling them in.

Dewei narrows his eyes, glancing back to them. With his mother here...and prone.... He grits his teeth, and sheathes his sword, posting straightening from an attack stance. Doesn't sit.

"Close enough," the Dumeni woman purrs, her voice as smooth as cream. "You must be her son. She mentioned having a Dumeni husband, a catastrophic discord of the natural order that I would love to repair. At the same time, I have no wish to harm your beautiful mother, who tastes like the scent of fresh, sweet grass by the by." She beams at him, so prettily that Makyon cannot help but feel a little distracted. Her voice is so rich in tone, so vibrant, and that face...

Dewei, of course, works on slipping away even further...before forcibly shaking that away. Mother. On wall. "And what 'repair' do you propose, Miss?"

"Obviously, the union of a noble Dumen and anyone else must be dissolved." Phenhine could not care less about Orrin and Felina's partnership. But misdirection, sleight of mind, and most importantly, bargaining chips win days far more easily than fists. "I want Orrin for myself."

Dewei's brow furrows a touch. "It wouldn't work. My parents are very happy together. But...you know my father?"

"I know of him," Phenhine is quick to answer. "Married to the famous killer of the devil, Radivishe Moorn. I am willing to accept a substitute for him, though, because I know you have her. Her name is Minna." Quick, and to the point. Phenhine does not want to risk getting her head chopped off today.

"No. We're taking my mother, and leaving. Do you really think a row of ants is going to stop that?" STill, he's more on-edge than his boasting seems to indicate. If Felina is down...this woman can plan. Well. And she smells good. And...damnit!

"I know you know that I am three steps ahead of you." Phenhine rises from her chair at last, stepping closer to them. "Do you like music, young man?" If she is paying attention to makyon at all, it is not obvious. 

"What does that have to do with anything? And..." Dewei blinks. Full-blooded Dumeni female. Right. Crap. His first thought, although for some reason it take him a moment to bring himself to do it, is telekinetically pinch her windpipe. It's a good threat, anyway.

Phenhine's eyes go wide when she tries to breathe, and nothing happens. Her fingertips go to her neck, clawing instinctually for whatever is hurting her so badly. 


The ants attack.

Makyon kicks at them as they surge into the room, but there are just so many, and their armor is actually unbelievably hard.  One, two, ten bites to his shins and ankles topple him, though in fairness to him his heart is only half in it. He lacks Dewei's willpower to resist Phenhine's natural charm.

The ants stream towards Dewei, their footsteps filling the room with soft clicks.

Dewei's first thought, of course, is to throw a shield over his mother, which he does. Leaps backwards towards her to buy time. His sword flashes out just enough to slice a blade-cleaning rag in half, stuffing half in each of his sizeable ears, and then spring-leaps towards Makyon, sword flashing down and trying to clear the ants away from the apprentice.

It works, more or less, though instead of cutting the little monsters end up bouncing away. The heavier clacking of Ikma's arrival sounds from outside, along with the buzzing a drove of impending bees.

Phenhine coughs, sputtering for breath. She rights herself and instantly begins to sing, the first notes full of hate as, from somewhere else, a shield forms around her.

Dewei grits his fangs, and tries to help Makyon up. He tries to create another shield, a strong one, around the perimeter of the room to keep new allies out.

The song intensifies. Makyon stares glass-eyed at Dewei, unmoving. Unwilling to move.

Precious few notes trickle through his makeshift earplugs...but on those few notes, the half-dumeni boy is beginning to waver quite a bit. Both of his hands are clasped over his ears...he can recognize the effects, but just barely, only for what a logical, reasoning person he tries to be. Tries to weave a more complete sorceric deafness over himself.

Phenine picks up the rhythm of the song, putting every bit of her air into it. She steps closer to them, and that is the breaking point for Makyon, whose immense hand shoots out to clamp around Dewei's throat.

Dewei squawks a choking yelp, startled, and grits his teeth. Finds himself entranced by Phenhine a few moments, the way she moves....

Shakes it off, extremely grudgingly. Starts to kick back against Makyon. Suddenly can't find the will, distracted again. And tries again to bite it back. Tries to picture Ai's face. That works. He kicks, but...it's still half-hearted.

Makyon's reaction is to crumple, without the will to fight back. He is pushed back to the wall and, without any will driving him, just stands there as Phenhine steps right beside Dewei, still singing her lovely tune.

Dewei's sword snaps up, ready to stab right into her, but...he can't. Just...can't. He's fighting with his will, and losing.

The Dumeni enchantress steps back at the sword, and though her song continues, her face is full of fear. She's terrified that he will win over her allure and then... it would not take much for him to end her.

Dewei's sword hand trembles, his eyes strained and too mixed to decipher. "Please..." he manages to whisper after a few moments... "stop singing." Wants to add "please do not make me kill you," but can't bring himself to.

Phenhine's song never wavers for a moment. She presses herself against the wall, not nearly far enough away to prevent a strike, and lifts her voice as high as it will go. Her eyes flood with tears that may or may not be real, and she prays softly that these are not her last moments.

Dewei's fangs are bared by this point, for how deeply he's torn. Keeps trying to picture Ai's face...that's what's keeping him so steady. That and earplugs. But the last note...her back to the wall, the fear...he just....

The hovering bumblebee chooses this moment to dive for Dewei's ears, intent on pulling the rag out with its forelegs. Phenhine continues to sing as though nothing is happening, though she tries to press herself as small as she can against the wall.

Dewei doesn't realize it until the last second, and even then, his jump back is half-hearted.

For a bumblebee this particular bug is awfully quick, and determined. The half-rag is tugged away from Dewei's ear and dropped into the waiting columns of ants below.


The half-dumen's expression borders on desperate...but only for a moment, before falling into complacency. The sword lowers.

Phenhine waits a moment before pushing herself away from the wall. The last thing she wants is to be surprised.

"You," she quietly says to Makyon, her voice still as sweet as nectar wine. "Take his sword."

And he moves to do just that, though without roughness or anger. Just subservience.

Dewei, for his part, simply allows this to happen with hardly a glance.

The bee is buzzing furiously as the ants leave the room to take their guarding posts back up and to distribute the parts of their few dead to one another.

"Yes, I know, it was stupid to do this with the others gone, but what was I to do? They may not be back until tomorrow. I could not have entertained Felina until then." Phenhine wipes her eyes, and takes a moment to catch her breath. That was a horrifying experience and she hopes to never ever repeat it. In the meantime she steps close to Dewei and reaches for his arm, gazing at him, watching for any counter strikes that might still be around.

There may still be something slightly bothered in his eyes, but his face is calm and sedate. The barely-visibile pupils of his grey eyes just follow her quietly, and he makes no move to resist.

"I don't want to hurt anybody," Phenhine assures him, "and I don't want to steal you from anybody. I want Minna. And I want her now. Can you get her for me, young man?" Dewei, actually, is probably older than Phenhine.

"Of course," he affirms with a single, borderline apathetic nod.

"You're a half breed," the Dumeni woman notes, touching his ears, "so my effect is somewhat diluted upon you. But remember, no matter what... you are mine, until you get me what I want." Her arm loops around him. "Even if you have someone. I promise I will give you back."

Dewei smiles faintly at the touch, and nods. "Of course."

"Is there anything you want from me in return...?" Phenhine might be a diabolical villain type, but she is nothing if not fair according to her personal morals. In the back of her mind, she's planning to do a bunch of nice things for Felina after this is over.

"No," he says softly. "I will do it for you, and for Ai." The deeply buried functional part of his brain tells him that he can't be with Ai again until Phenhine releases him from her charms.

"Ai, huh?" She smiles more brightly. "You must really think a lot of this Ai, to hold onto her name even now. Alright." Phenhine gives him a little push. "Go get Minna. And bring your father, too. If you can. I want to meet him."

Dewei smiles a little, but doesn't answer...just nods, and heads back towards the Second Floor Keep.

Makyon starts to follow, but stops at Phenhine's hand on his arm. "Nuh-uh," she whispers, "you are mine. And then you get to go on the wall with Felina."

Makyon stares, empty-eyed, but nods.

The heavy clacking of spider feet brings Ikma into the room now that Dewei's shields are down. "Are you okay, my lady? I was worried about you.

The Dumen nods her silvery head. "I am. What's that you have trailing behind you, Ikma?"

The spider bristles amusedly. "A succubus. I've never seen a woman so thoroughly dazed by your song. She was cowering from me, even though I offered her tea, but when your voice floated down the hall she froze up."

"Alright. Strip her and put her on the wall, too. This is turning out to be a lovely evening!" Phenhine trots over to Yue and kneels, looking closely at the incubus's smooth cheek. "Yes, I like her."

---

Beasts of all sorts point and whisper when the procession comes through. Hundreds of gigantic army ants, a massive spider, an albino lady, two Dumen, a warlock, and about fifty honeybees marching through town gets plenty of attention. Many of the town's inhabitants have never seen any of the humanoids before, and stop to look.

"You would think they had never seen insects before," Phenhine notes to Legion, who seems amused more than anything at the turnout. "Orrin, what do you think of all this?"

"It's impressive," the dumen notes. He's been keeping an eye on either Phenhine or her shadow...when her face turns roughly towards him, he looks for lip reading purposes. The silent crowd is...errie. "It takes a lot to make this particular town stop and take notice."

She notices him watching her lips and can't help but wonder. Obviously he wasn't affected by her singing, which means he is either hearing impaired, sorcerously shielded, or gay.

"I should think so, with all the monsters round..." she notes just as they reach the red door. The ants and bees disperse at a nod, vanishing within a few moments into their respective hidey holes.

Orrin glances up to Ikma and Minna-daughter, but it turns out the spider isn't going to run off with the rest of them. Ting smiles a little at her dad, reassuringly though trying to keep it appropriately wan.

Phenhine smiles at Ikma, patting him gently on his foreleg. "You are so soft-hearted," she notes, "I just love you. Now, you two," she looks to Orrin and Ting-minna, "if you have some brilliant scheme in mind, as I should hope you do, do let us know beforehand if you would like to buried here, or back home." And she turns to glide into her home, followed of course by her loyal lackies.

Orrin's face darkens a touch at this, of course. When he looks to Ting a few cautious seconds later, she just shrugs a little. Eh. They'll make it work. Phenhine leads them straight back to her parlor, where Makyon, Yue, and Felina have all been webbed to the wall. She walks right past them as if they weren't even there, and takes some wine for herself. "Legion," she calls to her pet boy, "wait at the door. Ikma, if you please, set Minna into the chair there."

The spider steps inside and lowers his head for Ting to slide off.

Orrin starts to help Ting down...and then spots the people on the wall. Including his wife. His naked, spread eagle, unconscious wife. Really, it's very hard to tell whether he's more likely to go on a sociopathic killing spree or have a stroke. "What in all the thousand hells is wrong with you?!" A dagger is in his hand startlingly suddenly, but although he dearly wants to put it in this sick fuck's heart...he steps quickly towards his wife, intent on cutting her down. "Fel...?"

"She is fine, Orrin. Unhurt, just sleeping." Phenhine pours her wine, sips it. "Ah... do not bother trying to cut her down." Her fear, for once, is under control as she walks closer to Orrin, turning to admire her collection. "She is lovely in her way. So little in the way of curves, but then, she has perfect marks for aesthetics. Do you not agree?"

Ting is very softly relaying Phenhine's words to her father telepathically, though of course she nearly falls on her face when she started to have her dad's help getting down and then didn't, and can't really use her left foot. She catches herself on Ikma's lag.

"You are really pushing your luck," the other dumen growls in a soft, threatening tone even his daughter's only heard once in her life. And he'd ended up putting a dagger through that guy's eye on that occasion. He has other daggers, so decides to brave trying anyway.

The knife sticks in Ikma's webbing, held fast, but penetrates no more than a quarter inch.

"See?" Phenhine sighs, shaking her head. "No one believes when I say that I do not want to kill anyone. What do you think, Orrin?" She bats her lashes at him. "Do I come across as less than trustworthy?"

Orrin smiles, the line of black tattooed script on the left side of his face shifting just so to accomodate. He is, of course, very attracted to Phenhine. And yet... "I trust you, Lady Phenhine, about as far as I could roll you down a flight of stairs, and would dearly love to test exactly how far that is. Claiming to not want to kill anyone works better when you don't make death threats. You are tempting me right now to do things that I may very much regret in two minutes, so please step away from me and just start explaining why you want Minna and I."

"But Orrin, pudding, if I were to be direct in everything I wanted, people would know exactly where I was aiming. And then they could cut me off in my aspirations. You must understand that." She steps closer to him, fighting her trembling. "I will tell you. But you must let me stand near you or else I will lose the passion for the explanation." She hopes he isn't a moron. If he is, he could kill her easily. With Legion just outside, though, and Ikma in the room, he would never make it out with his skin. She dearly hopes he is wise.

The assassin glares at her. Ting cringes. She's never seen her laid-back father so pissed off. "Why you are so keen on testing your own mortality, I can't guess," he growls quietly. "Fine. Explain."

"Because," she whispers, "it gives me a thrill, when I see a man who wants to hate-fuck me."

Ikma cringes a little. She's really pouring it on, and even he has no idea what his nutjob mistress is getting at.

"I want Minna because our people need leadership. A vision, Orrin. We are scattered. We are dust. But a Dumeni goddess could draw us back together, and I can make that happen." Phenhine shrugs a bit, glancing at Felina and Yue and Makyon on the wall. Poor them, only Felina seems to have been noticed. "I just needed a transitioning goddess. It was tough, though, because so many others wanted her blood. I had to fight off I cannot tell you how many assassins to get a place in line to get at her."

"Helpful in an extremely demented kind of way," Orrin observes. God, Phenhine really is pretty. Without the song to push him over the edge, though... he glances to "Minna." Back to Phenhine. "Last time I checked, Minna isn't Dumeni."

"God, you are a moron, aren't you? As circuitous as my agenda has been so far, do you honestly believe that I am going to throw up my hands at that?" Phenhine giggles softly, putting up her arms as if surrendering. "Oh no! I confused her albinism for my species! I thought perhaps her eyes were glass, and she wore lipstick! I have failed, oh, God, curse my incompetence!"

Orrin narrows his eyes. He knows what she'd meant, and is just waiting for her to say it. Doesn't jump so easily at a knock to his own ego, though.

Her hands come down. "Oh, Orrin, I apologize. I should not make fun. Forgive me?"

"What is your plan for Minna?" The other Dumen inquires, voice still soft and controlled. He is doing his damnest not to think of what's right behind him. Failing miserably, but trying.

"I will offer her a chance to be what I want her to be. Dumeni. She will lose those degenerative traits of albinism, Orrin. Though we are pale, and have light hair, we have no issues with the sun. We are almost free of disease. Have you ever had a cold? Ever?" Phenhine shrugs again. "You have to understand that I am protecting her, even as I am striving to attain her. Spintrius wouldn't have killed her, but he would have left her a husk. He is an idiot, though. I gave him everything he would need to misdirect the blame for his actions onto the shoulders of that boy Ale, and he was apprehended anyway."

"And if she doesn't want to participate in this endeavor?"

"I imagine I'll have to give her to the next in line." Her response, for once, is simple and not misleading.

The last bit, at least, is straightforward enough for Orrin to believe. "And you're sure, dear Lady Phenhine, that you aren't hoping to become that Dumeni goddess yourself in this venture?" It's certainly possible, with the right help.

"Aren't I divine enough for you, Orrin...?" She takes a half step closer. Misdirection.

God he's attracted to her. And fighting that so hard. "Divine enough to skirt a question," he smiles.

"If I said no," she wonders aloud, "would you believe me?"

"Just because this has been dragged out so long without an answer, I'm leaning closer and closer to 'no' by the moment."

"So why should I even bother answering?" For a moment she wilts, her words bordering on despondent. "Ask yourself, Orrin, what is stopping me from just throwing you in a dungeon? Or putting you on the wall with your friends?"

"You're the one who dragged your feet on the question," Orrin points out, though her infectious disappoint gets to him and guilts him. "And, really, considering your pet warlock outside the room, nothing."

"Oh, nevermind Legion. You know I love you best of all, Orrin." Phenhine's words are quiet, not as if she fears the warlock will hear though. As if they are a secret to be shared only with him.

The dumen is silent for several long moments. Gathering himself. "Lady Phenhine," he finally notes, softly. "I am insanely attracted to you. And I know you know that. But there is only one woman I love, and she is stuck naked and unconscious to the wall behind me."

"Enthralling, isn't it?"

"Has anyone called you a pervert yet today?" Ting chirps before she can stop herself. Ooop...damnit, again! Impulse control...needs some more of that stuff. She immediately cringes a touch fearfully, which isn't hard because she really does regret it.

"Pervert?" Phenhine looks around to Minna-Ting, laughter twinkling in her eyes. "I am wealthy, my dear. Eccentric is the word you're looking for."

Ikma twitters a bit at that. Phenhine has her flaws, but she can be fun when she wants to be.


Ting's lips twitch towards a smile, though she keeps her eyes down. Heehee.

"But you know," Phenhine continues, glancing to Felina, her eyes drawn to the Serinian's midsection, and her waist in particular, "you have not yet asked me what I want with you, Orrin. Much about Minna, though." She reaches up, gently scratches her fingernails down Felina's skin. Not enough to tear, and not really suggestively either. Just... does it.

Orrin, of course, is watching the fingernails like a hawk, and one of his fists is clenched. "No, I suppose not. I had less reason to fear for my life."

"Why?" Phenhine turns her fingers, touches Felina briefly with her fingertips, and pulls her hand back. She looks to Makyon next, and gives him the same treatment.

"No obvious motivation for me, obvious motivation for Minna." He tilts his head. "So. Why did you want to see me, Lady Phenhine?"

The Dumen woman seems more interested in Makyon's far-too-chiseled-to-be-natural abdominals than in Orrin's inquisition. "Did you know," she chuckles, glancing over to Yue, "that this woman is a man?"

Orrin nods. "Yue's a very old friend of Felina's." He frowns. "How long do you intend to keep them here, Phenhine? This won't do. It's degrading, and none of these people deserve it." Least of all Felina. "If I know my wife, she didn't even come in here looking for trouble."

"You must not know your wife that well, darling. She came here with every intention of getting in the way of what I wanted to do.  Telling me that my methods were incorrect and asking inane questions." She looks at Yue again, studying him. "What a pretty man. Ikma told me on the way here that he was like a six foot tripod. How delightful!"

"And I bet she offered to help with new ways so you wouldn't be so far behind," Orrin observes.

Phenhine glances at him. "You avoided my mentioning this woman's colossal endowment. I bet you have a miniscule member, Orrin."

"Think whatever you want, lady, it doesn't bother me."

Ting is trying terribly hard not to titter. Like she really wants to hear talk about her dad's ding dong.

"I was just making a point. You would be amazed at how irritating it can be when you wager on things you do not know for sure." Phenhine turns fully towards him, smiling still. "Are you queer, Orrin?" Also making a point. She wants to know why he didn't react to her song.

"No. Ask her." Glances momentarily back to his wife. "Deaf." He knows where she's going with it.

Phenhine clasps her hands in front of her hips. That was what she wanted to hear. "Leeeeeegiooooon! Darling, come here, would you," sweetly calls the pallid spinster. As her stoic man-boy makes his way to her side, she lets out a slow sigh. "You have lovely enunciation for a deaf man, Orrin. And I doubt you could read my lips from behind me. Legion, somebody has pulled a very rude trick on me. When I give you the order, I want you to burn Minna alive. Can you do that for me?"

The warlock nods enthusiastically.

Orrin's eyes narrow. "What? Phenhine, that's ridiculous! Mara deafened me right before coming here; there's no need to take it out on Minna!"

Ting actually does an admirable job of acting, here...wide eyes, shocked, fearful expression, and all. She clambers up to her foot, leaning on a couch to do it.

The Dumen shakes her head slowly. "Mara? The Serinian that Legion and my bees left lying semi-conscious before Dewei opened the door?"

"She's psychic. Believe it or not, we saw an array of giant bugs with a Dumeni lady and warlock coming towards the keep with ill intent ahead of time.

Ting, for her part, gimp-creeps towards the door.

Phenhine's smile sours. Her eyes flash indignantly, at being mocked. Or she decides to appear, anyway.

"Legion, I have a better idea. Burn her. Don't kill her."

A swirl of bright orange flame forms at the tips of the quiet warlock's fingertips, leaping out in Ting's general direction. It is a blast that lacks the pure force of the ones he had employed in the keep. Minna, he is sure, should not be able to take such a blast.

Phenhine, on the other hand, just wants to see how Orrin reacts.

Ting's little brain works quickly. She just throws her little arms up, shrieking quietly, and tries to jump aside.

Orrin, for his part, seeing his daughter's decision to not really defend except a human-like dodge, is sprinting that way, grabbing her arm and trying to drag her out of the way with swift, sure footing that may or may not be enough.

"Stop, stop!" Phenine's sweet voice sharply cries. Legion's attack instantly ceases, though the flames had gotten close enough to burn Ting-Minna more than just a little. The Dumen enchantress covers her mouth with her hands. Without a thought to what might happen she rushes over to Ting and kneels next to her, apologizing so fast the words almost blur together.

"I am sorry, so sorry, Minna, I thought for sure you were someone else! I was so sure, I am sorry, I am!"

Ting sniffles, half-clinging to Orrin's also burned arm though it hurts to do so. It's easy to act pain and fear when she's in it. She just has to stop stifling her own emotions so much. "I'm sure someone else wouldn't have appreciated it, either, she murmurs quietly.

Orrin, for his part, is very interested in Phenhine's reaction, but...also just getting over terror for his daughter, holding her tightly to steady her.

Phenhine stands, stepping back to give them room. "Okay... okay. Sneakers!," she cries, out of the blue. Ikma, who has been silent this entire time - thinking that Ting would have revealed herself to dodge the flames - is bristling audibly., but doesn't say anything even when the patient millipede arrives. "Take care of their burns. Dewei, please, when they are healed, escort Orrin out of here." She steps back, hitting the wall sounds with her back. "I'm sorry..."

Sneakers rambles up to Minna-Ting, looking her over.

Orrin starts to protest...Ting shakes her head, looking up to her dad. "No...I want to stay and talk to her," she notes quietly.

Needless to say, the dumen is deeply torn. Glances sidelong to his son...right now, an enemy, as hard as that is to accept. If Dewei tries to coax him to leave...if there's a fight, Ting may get involved. He finally nods, hesitantly.

Dewei, for his part, is gazing hard at Minna. He just can't figure out what's wrong....

Sneakers's antennae waver, wiggling back and forth in a pattern that is far more complex than it looks. A mid-level healing energy floats over Ting and Orrin as it does, and if one were to look really closely, one might see its little mouth moving as if speaking an incantation.

Ting smiles a little at the creature, though seeming timid about it at the same time. Before long, their burns are knitted, and "Minna" hugs Orrin.

"Be careful," the dumen notes softly. Glances up to his son, rather unhappily, and allows himself to be escorted out.

Ting's eyes travel down for a few moments, rubbing one arm absently with the other. "So you aren't going to kill me...?" she tries quietly, after a few moments.

"Legion, guard the door, please." Phenhine waits for him to leave before looking back to Ting-Minna. "Heavens, no. No! And I am not going to harm Felina or her friends, either. I just... needed a bargaining chip. You understand, right? Felina would never have let me have you. But I need you now, not later. But I couldn't hurt her, without risking retribution."

"She's a good lady anyway...she's taken good care of me," Ting corrects. Looks up. "So...what you told Orrin was true, then...? All this craziness, you just wanted to make me dumen...? Why didn't you just talk to me?"

"That beast man would have ripped me apart and you know it." Phenhine stands up. Closes her eyes. "This was all a mistake. This was not how it was supposed to be. Legion!"

The warlock is at her side again in a heartbeat.

"Cut them down. Give them their things. And you!" She looks at Minna, tears forming in her coal black eyes. "Leave!"

Ting has a little bit of a "deer in the headlights" look going. She doesn't know what to do...guilt at the facade is poking at her claws first. But...the others, if they're about to be released and she reveals the ruse.... She glances at Ikma, then as quickly down.

But...would things have gone any differently had she really been Minna...?

"But...will you be okay...?" she inquires genuinely timidly. Doesn't realize what a Minna-ish thing this is.

"What do you care?" Her demand is punctuated by the sizzling scorch of burnt webbing. Ikma catches him and sets him carefully to the side, as Legion begins working at Felina's webbing.

"Well...with everything that's happened, we had every reason to think you were a bad lady. But you're really not, are you? And if you're not, then...it just matters." Ting's eyes remain down through this.

Felina tumbles from the wall, caught by Ikma. The spider and the warlock, both confused as all hell, begin cutting Yue down. About this time a platoon of ants, led by a returning Sneakers, brings in the articles of the hostages.

"I am not a good lady. I am a fetish-minded freak." Phenhine collapses into her chair, hands over her eyes. "I wanted to make something good happen. But I couldn't stop myself when Felina came, I... wanted her for my own. And her friends, so beautiful, so fit... but I still had to get you and make my dreams real... and then Orrin was in here, and by then I was so... consumed by the people on my wall, I could not think of anything but the fire blazing in my little body." Her face is buried in her knees and arms about now... so she is laying it on a little too thickly. Every good actress knows how to channel her genuine issues into her character, and Phenhine really does feel this way about herself. "I cannot help it..."

Of course, if she's acting, it's way beyond the empathetic little Ting's skills to catch it. She settles herself, still careful to keep the illusionary gimpy foot gimpy, on her feet on the floor in front of Phenhine. "Everybody has faults," she notes quietly, thinking of the fact that she's a liar. "But that doesn't mean they're not good people. Good intentions aren't everything, but they help a whole lot."

"How can you say something like that to me...? Thinking of what I was going to do with them?" Looks to Yue, who is dropped next to the other two. They'll wake up tomorrow, thinking all of this was a dream if the poison worked properly. "I..." she begins slowly, clearing her throat at the same time. "I suppose getting you to agree to become Dumeni is not an option."

Ting blinks, hackles up again. "What...were you going to do with them?"

Phenhine is quick to shake her head at that look. "No, I was not planning to harm them, I swear! I just..." she looks away. How does one explain? "I told you I was not right. But I do not know how else to explain what I am...? A sado-exhibitionist, I suppose?"

Ting bites her lip. Okay, so she's a little freaked out over this point. "So...they were just going to have to stay on the wall overnight...?"

"Of course... but they're sleeping, they would never know the difference. I might have painted on them, too, but... without a brush, knowing me." She shakes her head again. "I just cannot control myself, Minna."

"Well...if you know something's wrong, you can start to fix it." Ting nods hesitantly. "I just got freaked out with my mom up naked on..." closes her eyes. Damnit. "Heh...oh, yeah. Was going to tell you that, it's why I sent my dad away, but...I wanted to wait until these three were already gone...."

Phenhina hides her eyes in her arms. "Stupid... stupid! I thought you two were playing me. But... now that you are out, what... do you plan to do to me?"

Ting blinks. Shakes her head slowly. "I don't really want to do anything to you. I just...want everyone around me safe, that's all. I really don't think you're a bad lady. I think most of the really bad stuff that went down was just when things went totally out of control." Examines her hand. Heh. Human fingernails are so worthless. She misses her manicured claws. She ponders dissolving her illusions.

That's a good answer, Ikma notes. Poor mistress...

Phenhine looks to him, wondering how long he had known who this Minna was. "This was my first 'scheme'. I was just too scared and too... lustful to see it through. How does one ever become good at it, I wonder...?"

By now, Legion is peeking back into the room. He doesn't look terribly happy, not at the weakness his mistress is displaying or at the notion that his labors went for nothing.

Ting glances at Legion, but looks back up to Phenhine. "Most guys never do. People don't like schemers...most of them die doing it in not-very-long, and the ones who don't get their own eventually 'cause everyone--everyone--doesn't like them and eventually someone's going to come along strong enough and smart enough to win." She nods slowly. "I get tired of being nice all the time, you know, I really really do. But I like having friends! Good ones I mean. And schemers only get other schemers mosta the time. It's a tough way to go, being a bad guy. I don't want to do it 'cause I love the people around me and don't want to hurt them, even on accident." Ting's far from lecturing. Thoughts tend to run into one another in her brain and just go on awhile until the stream of consciousness is interrupted by breathing.

"It... goes with my species, I think." Phenhine raises her head, and her black eyes are streaming wet. "Because my kind have been so scattered, I never really knew who I should be. How I should act. I never had friends, only... worshippers, for one reason or another. Those who loved my voice. Those who loved my body. I only knew two things, coming into this... that..." a sharp intake of sobbing breath breaks her sentence for a moment. She gathers herself and continues, while Sneakers nuzzles her for support. "I knew that I had to kill Radivishe Moorn, when I learned that he lived yet. And I knew that I had to try to bring my people together, so none of the rest would feel the way I feel right now."

"Aww..." it's a total impulse that may or may not be safe. But at this, Ting gets up, and hugs Phenhine gently. "It's okay... I'll like you for you, if you want."

For a second, Phenhine feels her facade cracking. Slipping, at the physical contact. She had plans for Minna, but this is not Minna. What good will the moping do if this is not Minna?

It just feels so good...! 

Gingerly the Dumen returns the hug, more cautious than she really needs to be. Her eyes narrow over Ting's shoulder, though. Shit...!

Legion's fury is unmistakable. Phenhine can practically read his hatred for Ting off of his forehead. 

"Get back!" she cries, pulling away from Minna-Ting. "Please, do not touch me, I cannot handle, I can... just..." she looks his way, meaningfully. 

Ting blinks, confused. She feels rebuffed, but then, she doesn't know Phenhine well enough to think that it was a good idea, anyway. She rubs her arm sheepishly. "Um...okay. I'm sorry. Can I...just take my family home, then? If you're okay?"

Phenhine curses under her breath. She really can't do this, but it may already be too late to get him back under control. "Can you teleport? I think that may be the safest way out of here." Again she looks to her warlock, who is shaking with rage.

Ting glances back that way. Ohhhhh.... She nods. "Yeah." Heads over to her family at a normal pace. No sudden movements, nope.

Phenhine pulls herself up, moving to intercept Legion. She warns Ikma out of the room with a gesture... the warlock can be touchy about others sometimes, and close proximity is very, very bad when that happens. "I send my apologies to your family, miss... send Dewei back to me and I promise I will free him from my influence. When... they want justice, I will be here." Her arms wrap around Legion's neck, distracting him from Ting well enough.

"Eh...we're not vengeful types usually." Ting draws her finger on the floor beside Yue, and a portal opens to drop him into his bed in the keep.

He doesn't react in the least. Not a twitch, not a quiver.

"I cannot say that I have ever known anyone to be so forgiving," Phenhine points out, eyes set on Legion as if making a plea to him. 

Ting finishes dropping Makyon through a hole as well, and then their articles of clothing after glancing over to make sure important things are there, and much more gently, tenderly concernedly gathers her mother into her arms. "Then don't take my word for it. Wait and see."

"I can do nothing else, I suppose." Phenhine starts to step back, out of Legion's arms, but finds herself held fast. She gives no outward appearance of it, though. "Y-you will understand if I do not see you out...?"

"Yep. Bye bye, take care." Ting wonders if something is wrong, but...makes a mental note to her father and brother to please leave, Phenhine said so, and then vanishes, bound for Korliss's Keep.

Phenhine can feel the elemental shock coming before it actually happens. Something in Legion's eyes, something in that jealous smile, gave his intentions away. His restraining arms around her shoulders and waist come to glowing life, and yet she had seen it coming. Still, that knowledge does not stop her frantic screams from echoing even into the main streets of Wu Yuan, screams that continue until a terrified Ikma smashes his foreleg into the warlock's temple. Servant and mistress tumble to the ground together.

"I... deserve these burns, Ikma..."

Ikma doesn't even hear her. He is far too busy running to get Sneakers, and just hoping, hoping that he has enough time.

And it's not twenty second later that Ting reappears, cautiously ready for a fight, but then drops that defensiveness when she sees Phenhine, quickly dropping to her feet beside her, without her illusions this time, setting a hand to either side of the Dumeni woman's face. "Silly lady," she chides gently as high level healing magic begins to manifest around the Dumen... "if you play with sociopathic fire mage thingies, you're gonna get burned. Aww, poor thing, this looks like it hurt..." And she silences as the spell builds, just concentrating.

She isn't answering, but whether it is because of the physical wounds, or something else, is not clear. 

Legion, on the other hand, is awake and not pleased to find himself on the ground. He sees Ting, and that fury returns to his face.

Ting blinks. Looks down to him. "Dude, if she's your girl, that's great. I'm female, straight, and have two other guys I'm interested in."

Minna, he doesn't know who hit him! Ikma warns, pacing unpleasantly. I hit him in the back of his head. Run away, Minna! Take my mistress and run! Please!

Legion's blazing hands are thrust away by a hard thrust from Ikma's foreleg. The spider swings, attacking madly to buy Ting time.

Ting glances up. Growls quietly...this time, her claw glows purple, and the sliced rift she tries to shove Phenhine into leads to a safe spot on the ether plane. Is ready to defend that entrance, naginata materializing in her hand, as it blinks towards shut.

Phenhine goes without incident. Legion's attention is elsewhere, and the crackle of lightning elemental magic that streams from his hands blasts Ikma's striking forelegs clean away, sending on careening just past Ting's shoulder. The helpful spider's head hits the ground, just barely evading the spell, hissing in pain and annoyance.

Ting stands up, and her naginata whips down easily into an attack position. "Okay, you know what?" She smiles. "You're a bitch. Also, you smell like old cheese, but mostly the first one."

Minna please... Ikma's spider-voice is breaking, as if trying to cry but not knowing how. He is so strong, please run... please...

"My name is Ting," she notes softly. Then smiles. "And that's okay! He can be my bitch anyway."

Legion glares at her, but his hands are already moving towards her, his mute lips quivering in rapid incantation. A water elemental spell bursts in spheres all around him, flooding the floor of the house. His other hand crackles with lightning element, which he holds up, as if hesitant.

Geep. Problem is, that will fry everyone in the house. Ting hums quietly under her breath, and a glowing thread laces rapidly around both of them. "Just a second please!" She smiles, raising a finger. "Pretty please? Let's go somewhere else where you can beat the crap out of me all you want and not worry about bringing the house down around you?" she smiles prettily.

Legion just nods.

Ikma protests, burbling in the water until he can lift up on his remaining legs.

Ting smiles, and then they both vanish for a cool desert.

---

And so, not too much later, Ting--looking like herself now--splashes into the water on the floor, and wrinkles her nose. Wet-ish! She looks around for Phenhine.

By the time she gets back, Sneakers is busily tending to Ikma's wounds. For a spider they are not horrendous, though still severe... he'll have to learn to walk on six legs instead of eight for a while. Troops of bees are busily bailing out the house, flying around in pairs with buckets and towels.

Good to see you again, the spider calls to Ting. I thought you might not come back.

"Back is good!" Ting observes. She hops up on a footstool to get away from the water. "Ugh. Pruney feet. Yus! Is everyone okay?" She tilts her head.

Yes. I was the only one to sustain any serious injury, Minna, and Sneakers is taking care of me. Are you alright?"

"My name's Ting." She nods, and smiles. "Yup! I had to banish Legion though. Hopefully a century of peace and quiet will mellow him out a bit."

Ting? As in... Ting Deyono? Ikma blinks his various eyes. i wish I had forward-set knees to bow upon! how wonderful!

"Aww...that's sweet! I dunno why, but sweet." Ting titters. "Besides, Dewei's my twin brother...he's coolish too!" She grins at Ikma. "Aww...poor thing..." grudgingly hops off the stool to help sneakers via some restorative magic. No need to hobble on six legs longer than necessary!

Sneakers antennae-sniffs Ting, grateful for her help. Ikma's awfully big, and his tough physical makeup makes healing difficult.

Your Aunt Mara-kuru has made such a fuss about you! Ting this, Ting that, Dewei and Ting, and Ting and Dewei...

Ting grins as she works on Ikma's seventh leg, smiling a moment at Sneakers although he's a little centipede-like for her full and complete comfort. Nice, anyhow. She giggles. "Aunt loves us! And we love aunt. She's cute. And stuff! And makes cookies."

Quite! Phenhine has eaten your aunt's cookies once or twice. Ikma pauses, listening to a rhythmic hissing sound from Sneakers's mouth. What are you laughing about?

Ting bites back a titter. Okay, so Sneakers is okay after all. "Nothing, I'm sure," she giggles, and finishes up with the eighth leg. "There you go!"

Thank you so much, you two. My chin does not like the ground! Ikma rises, wobbling on new legs for a second, as a very agitated bumblebee circles them, buzzing, and obviously looking for Phenhine.

"Where is the dumen lady anyway?" Ting ponders, feeling around psychically.

You sent her away, Ikma reminds her. Into a purple slit in the air.

"Oh yeah!" Ting titters. "I remember. Ether plane, purdy planet too. I'll go get her then. Bye!" And she vanishes for the ether plane world.

When Ting reappears not two minutes later with Phenhine, it's on the footstool again, rocking back and forth on her heels.

"Of course." She looks down again. Stupid. "You can do it. Just sing one long tone, in F. He should snap awake."

"Ooo...fancy!" Ting nods. "Okeedokee! Man, I really should learn this dumen stuff a little more." She jumps off the stool into the water. Wrinkles her nose. "Still wet!"

"You're one of us," she shrugs. "A female. Nobility. You should." Phenhine doesn't care that she's in the water. Ikma steps next to her, and she leans against his thick foreleg. Spidery. But comfortable.

Ting pokes something that probably used to be a book with her toe. "Okee, well...I'll probably come by and try to help clean up a little later? But right now I want to check to see if everyone's okay it's kind of really really chaos and I also think mom's really fighting that poison of yours hard because she can sense that one some level or other so yeah she's either going to wake up or hurt herself and I should really sedate her if everything's okay."

Phenhine doesn't acknowledge her. Just draws her knees to her chest.

Go ahead, Mi... Ting. We can handle this. I promise. Ikma steps around his mistress, sheltering her beneath his enormous bulk, and nodding in a spidery sort of way.

"Okay! Let me know if you need anything, feel better lady!" And Ting wanders off for various things. Dewei freed from Phenhine's enchantment--although it leaves a very distraught mutt behind, when the day's events suddenly slap him in the face--sedating the mother, and then getting slowly to work on the tricky task of healing her father's ears.