>>5910832Izzy’s face scrunches up as if in physical discomfort at being so swiftly seen-through, but before she can deflect or deny (or worse, lie), Costella reaches out and places a hand upon hers. She squeezes it in turn, and then both look back to you.
“I told you what I’m making isn’t an army,” Izzy says, “and that’s TRUE. It's more like... A task-force. My new teacher tells me that there’s a way to resolve this without bloodshed... or at least without much. That there's something in the Silver—Sylvan, rather—The Sylvan Relam, that the Prince Consort wants. SomeONE. That they’ve captured some sort of powerful living weapon... Something that can turn the tide of the coming age.”
“An Era of High Magic,” you whisper, before you can stop yourself... But it doesn’t matter. You can see it in Izzy’s face: she already knows.
“The ‘army’... it’s just an idea right now,” Izzy continues. “More of an elite task force, like Mother's. We haven't... Well, we haven’t really done much with it yet. But the principle is sound: we take people to the Plane of Water and they become fluid, capable of subaquatic infiltration and extraction activities.”
(Or assassins, you realize without her saying so.)
“And those attuned to Earth make for perfect shock troops, or defenders,” she continues.
“Not Air or Fire?” you ask.
Izzy’s eyes widen a little, and she looks away. And is she... yes, she’s blushing.
“I know it’s silly,” she mutters, sounding disgusted with herself even as her voice raises an octave, turning somehow more girlish. “I just... Kind of liked the idea that those could be OURS, somehow.”
(...Oh.)
“But they’re not exactly ideal for this sort of operation anyway,” she concludes.
“And what sort of ‘operation’ IS it that you’re planning?” you ask.
The two girls exchange a meaningful look.
“We weren’t really sure,” Costella says sheepishly.
“It seems plain to me,” Izzy contests this. “Either the Prince Consort is our friend, or our enemy. The latter seems more likely, so we kill him or we destroy or capture whatever this living weapon of his is.”
“That’s an invasion of the elven lands,” you point out, stating the obvious issue. “Or an attempt on the life of some sort of... Dangerous secret dragon-monster with the power of an ‘evil paladin’ and the backing of THE PALADIN KING.”
“The Paladin king is dead,” Izzy retorts, “and the Queen is weak.”
“But, like she’s NICE,’ Izzy interjects. “We’ve met her, Tips, both of us. You remember, right? I seriously don’t buy that she’s, like, an ‘agent of the forces of darkness’ or whatever. We could just TALK to her!”
Izzy frowns deeply at this idea, and shakes her head.
“If we do that, then we should have an escape plan ready,” she asserts.
“Escape plan?” you ask, alarms blaring in your head. “What kind of... Escape?”
