A sizable chunk of land, not fit for human settlement, but perfectly suited to a sentient animal the size of a house. This particular section belongs to the Behemoth King Thran, who is as kind and gentle as he is huge and powerful. If one looked hard enough, that one could note that there is a lot of heavy sorcery infused in this place... it is a place where the land blesses only those in its services.

---

Wu Yuan

---

Mara appears upon a gigantic lily pad, floating pleasantly along the bayou in plain view of a particular herd of behemoths, ten or twelve heads. She waves excitedly, and one of them, a particularly mucky Thran, plods in her general direction.

Saea appears after her, just holding one of his arms, watching Thran approach quietly.

"Mara-kuru, such a pleasant surprise. And you have brought that nice sister of Felina's along with you," Thran's voice seems somehow more intense in this place, as if his home bolsters its power. "What has brought you to my marsh, little one?"

Mara grins, scrunching her nose at him. "Saea's a boy, you dopey thing. He just looks like a chick."

Thran grins. 

"Anyway... um... a bad thing happened to Amilei. We need to find her, and we will be doing some astral projection stuff to do that. Would you mind letting us use the old mission?" Mara grins at him. "I'll scratch your back later."

Thran laughs at that. "You make a powerful case, Mara. Of course you may, and please let me and my kind know if we can aid you.

Mara nods, glancing at Saea. "Saea honey, are you sure you're okay? I can pull a double duty if you aren't."

"No, I can do it," he's quick to note. He nods.

"Okee!" Mara takes his arm between both of her hands. "The mission is just on the other side of that ridge. It is an old church, and the healing spells inside it are so powerful that I could cut off my arm and have a new one tomorrow. And it has sensor spells that indicate intruders, since religious wars were common decades ago." She teleports there, awaiting him eagerly... she loves the old mission, despite its dark history. "Just find a spot and lay down. The behemoths will watch us."

He joins her very nearly instantaneously, nods, and, taking a deep breath, finds a decently comfortable place to lie down, laying his arms in a way they don't fall and positioning the wings something between comfortable and out of the way.

Mara curls upon the floor, quite cat-like, and gives Saea one last mental hug, before dropping into her trance and setting out to do her part.

(OOC: Point of interest - Haven of Wen)

Mara shakes Saea's shoulder, smacking his face with a gentle hand. "Saea, sweety, come on. Felina wants us to go see her."

It is, of course, the better part of a minute before any of that has any effect, but his eyelashes finally flutter apart, eyes unfocussed for a few moments, then widening just a little into a profoundly relieved expression. "...she found her." He lets out his breath, closing his eyes again as he sits up.

"Really?!" Mara grins and pounces him before she can think not to. "Erm..." she gets up, giggling, "... that's wonderful. Let's hurry, though! We'll go back to the keep when you are ready."

He nods, and smiles. "After you, Miss Mara-kuru."

Mara grins, and pats his head before vanishing, bound for the keep.

Saea lets out his breath in a relieved sigh, and then follows.

---

Felina appears not in the marsh, but a couple of miles south-ish of it, seeking an unusual signature with an uncomfortably close resemblance to Radivishe Moorn's.

Within the crumbled walls of the old mission, Kaishen can clearly be seen speaking with a woman, who looks to be about thirty years of age by human reckoning. She appears quite calm, despite Kaishen's apparently ruffled feathers, but her face holds no malice. The blue of her hair is only barely visible beneath her wide brimmed, nattily feathered hat, and her chin is covered by a muffler... that she is a secretive person is immediately apparent.

Felina narrows her eyes a little, trying to guess at who, what, and why. She's undecided as to whether to wait and listen--spying on recent friends just doesn't sit well--or interject herself into the conversation.

"It seems like you've made a great many enemies lately, Kaishen, and unintentionally. Sorting out your own problems is the mark of a talented individual, you know." The woman's arms cross over her chest, fingertips tapping upon her arms. "You have went for help twice already. Coming to me doesn't seem all that prudent, if you think about it."

The wraith nods in perfect understanding. "The Derrias haven't deserted me, though. And I am certain that, once all is said and done, I can put aside my differences with the people of Wu Yuan."

"And what is it that you think I can do for you?"

"You are a mage hunter, aren't you? The man who left me to take the fall for our actions is a sorcerer, and so I thought your particular skills might be of use."

Well that's definitely a pleasant turn of events. Felina does wish that she could explain the similarity to Moorn's signature, though. She doesn't make her presence known, exactly, but she doesn't hide it either, just leaning against a tree on a relatively stable tract of land and listening.

The woman tilts her head, her hat covering her eyes. "I don't like getting involved with things like Derrias. They're dead and should stay that way, for the good of all involved." She lifts her eyes then, looking around. "Come on out. I know you're there. You stink like a Guardian."

"Charming." Felina had been very slightly visible anyway. She approaches the two of them, glancing at Kaishen and looking back to the woman. "I don't believe we've met."

Kaishen's guard is certainly up. He hadn't sensed her, but then again, he hadn't really been expecting Felina to show up.

"I believe you're correct. If you're an enemy, go ahead and say so. Save me the trouble of beating it out of you." The woman gazes serenely at Felina, eyes slightly unfocused and dreamy.

"I don't know that yet. But probably not." Felina's somewhat interested in threats being so casually thrown her way. That's fairly rare. "And you are?"

"I'm probably called Chen Mai. But I make no promises. Whey are you spying on us? From where I stand, that makes you an enemy."

"I was looking for Kaishen." Felina folds her arms. "A verbal confrontation with Radivishe Moorn could have gotten out of hand in a hurry. And as pissed off as I am at a certain wraith, I didn't think he needed to get vaporized before I gave him a chance to explain himself."

Mai looks to Kaishen. "Well. Go ahead. If you can convince her, you can probably convince me."

The wraith would normally have reacted to that in anger, but not today. Not when so much is rding on his survival.

"The Derrias needs officers. With no one really left to train new recruits, who have potential but little real power, and no powerful types who didn't have their own agendas, Marshault felt the need to use constructs instead. Specifically, constructs made from Senowin." He gazes at Felina, asking no forgiveness. "I knew that you would not give her up. So I asked Amilei to charm your brother into convincing you. But apparently she has taken to him, as she refused to act upon our agreement. And so I put her to sleep, to prevent her from speaking of the plan to Saea or to you."

"Why bring Moorn into it? Senowin being unharmed by this is one thing, but I shudder to think what he might try to make of her. Senowin isn't anything less than you or me at this point."

"To defeat the wizard, of course. I could not have done it. But I had not expected him to demand her for himself, and that was not in our initial agreement."

"What was the initial agreement, really? It's not like him to just help out of the good of his black little heart."

"Information," Kaishen answers in a grudging tone, "lots of information. Every detail of how the Derrias functioned before their ruin, every last text that he could get his hands on. I have no idea why."

Mai peers at Felina from underneath the brim of her sizable hat. "I take it you know him pretty well. I'd appreciate it if you'd tell me a little about him, since it's my job to kill him now, when you get a chance."

"Mm...that might be good to know." Felina thinks over the "Derrias" bit. Shit...I hope he's not going to try to take down our Derrias. Not good. I hate them. But that wouldn't be good. She looks over to the hunter after a few moments. "A surprising question, coming from someone with an energy signature so similar to his." She's not accusing the woman of anything.

Mai scowls, though it's hard to tell with a muffler over her face. "Please. You are just like that ridiculous Mara-kuru, and yet you are an entirely different beast." She reaches up and tugs at the muffler, unravelling it from around her face and neck to reveal a pale, smooth complexion and perfectly black lips. "Just because we're the same species doesn't make me the same monster."

Felina shrugs. "It's a close similarity. Could have been a blood relation. Not that that would necessarily be a great indicator, either. What do you want to know?"

"Tactics. Power levels. Mindset. I want to know everything, down to the last curl of his fingerprints." Mai wraps the muffler around her chin again, tying it carefully. "Everything."

"Fair enough." Felina jumps up into a tree, sitting down seemingly casually. She looks to the wraith. "So whose side are you on, anyway, Kaishen?"

"What kind of foolish question is that?" Kaishen glares at her, but shakes his head before he continues. "I will deal with the problems I have caused myself. It seems my attempt to better this plane," this sade as his spectre fades, "was as idiotic as my methods turned out to be." With those words, he is gone.

Felina sighs, closes her eyes a moment. She doesn't want to be at ends with him, she really doesn't. Now she knows what people find so annoying about her. Charging out alone without a care for allies isn't going to fix anything. She looks back to Mai. "Well, if it's any indicator of his nature, the first time we met--his idea--he took two sentences before saying that he wanted to murder me, and promptly tried to make good on that."

Mai sits upon a fallen pillar, legs crossing, shoulders relaxed. "Based on what I know of you so far, I'm not so sure I blame him for that. Did he know you at the time, were you in his way somehow, or was it random?"

"I wasn't hiding my energy signature as completely as usual. He picked up on it and essentially beckoned me."

"So I'll mark him down for egotist. What about his tactics, battle strategies?" Mai's leg bounces absently, as if to keep her attention from wandering. "Weaponry?"

"'Egotist' is important, yes. No external weaponry, normally...he used some blunt impact weapon against Ahmin Rei-ono, but I'm fairly sure that wasn't meant to do any real damage. He's a devious, cunning creature when it comes to scheming and orchestrating plans, especially if manipulating someone is involved, but if it finally comes to a fight, his tactics tend to be very straightforward. He's good at thinking on his feet, but still tends to rely on overwhelming power. He's fond of runes and doesn't need a solid surface to write them on, and almost always employs one of several variations of a tentacle-esque energy attack. Has also sent bedrock from under the conflict hurtling upward on more than one occasion." Felina lays back on the branch, though more on-guard than she looks.

"So luring him into a fight would be the least complicated way to challenge him," Mai observes, considering everything that Felina is saying even as she holds a scrap of doubt. This Felina could very well be lying. "So he is a straightforward sorcerer then? No mind tricks, no technological equipment?"

"If there's any way possible to really piss you off, possibly to a detrimental extent, he'll find it." This she's sure of.

"Mm... alright." She rises, smoothing her skirts over the thin pants beneath. "I have a few thoughts. If you want in on the kill, you had better tell me now. Otherwise I won't let you in on the credit."

"You can take all the credit. I don't care about that. But if there's anything I can do to help, let me know."

Mai's eyes smile. "How are you at being bait?"

Felina smirks. "I'm better at annoying him than anyone under the stars."

"Good, very good. Now, then. I am going to ask for your trust, but I can't promise you mine, and I won't demand yours. Suffice to say that his death is priority." Mai reaches into her pocket, drawing out a small leather sack. "Here," she tosses it in Felina's direction, quite a heave since the Serinian is treed, "put some of that powder of your skin. It's diamond dust, and should hold back his indirect magic. We need open ground to fight him, so I can set some traps. Any thoughts?"

"I'll show you a couple possibilities." Felina catches the bag. "Will this affect my power, too?"

"Unless you plan on blasting yourself, no." Mai reaches into another pocket, holding up a chain of glass balls, each with a different colored flame within. "These are absorbers. They will suck up his magic until their capacity is reached... along with the diamond dust, we'll have an effective shield for a while. When they fill, they turn black, and that would be the time to throw them." She shrugs. "Unless you aren't partial to your body."

"Any significance to the different colors?"

"No. But let him think that there is."

"Fair enough. I'll play that up." Felina stands up.

"If you can find a suitable place for this, I don't think we'll have a problem. Though I'm still at something of a loss to explain how the legendary Felina Deyono would play a part in a conspiracy like this." Mai tips her hat just a bit, and leaps to a log a short distance from the mission. "Find the spot, then find me. Then we'll lure him."

Felina nods, eyes clouding a little, and looks off into the distance, thinking. Mai had just his a deep chord, really...preemption is not something that's really in her rights to do. She can only hope Moorn will move first...but she doesn't know about that.

"Hey," Mai calls to her from the log, "don't be getting a bout of conscience on me. It's not in my nature to show mercy to an enemy who won't show mercy to me." That said, she hops away, springing from log to log until she is quite out of sight.

Felina lets out her breath slowly, still scanning the horizon and thinking over possible locations, trying not to wrestle the moral implication just yet. "So what do you think, Memory?" She leaves that open-ended.

"She's cute in a secretive sort of way. I don't think she's your type, though," chirps the little bird.

Felina laughs softly. "Priorities, huh?"

"You must keep your sense of humor. Otherwise, what are you protecting?" The bird chips softly again. "Though I think she liked you. As for all this... I think that you are doing your part to put down a powder keg. If all that you said was true, then the bad that can come from this fellow far far far outweighs the good. Better to leave the good to someone more qualified."

"Hopefully you're right. The logic's as valid as some of the other sets I'm coming up with." She jumps off the tree branch, hanging in the air and thinking. The land west of Ahmin's Citadel may be suitable. There aren't people there for obvious, wizard-related reasons, but there are vast open fields and some limited cover as well. She vanishes that way.