[Chr24] Frozen Water

Juno took a deep breath as she looked out across the vast ocean of the ice caps of Clria from atop the boat's deck. Well I suppose that the name is apt, there are icebergs absolutely littering the water. I just hope the crew we convinced to let us on board knows what they’re doing.

She shot a glance behind her to the boat’s crew who seemed to be enthralled by some probably made-up tale Aster was spinning. She rolled her eyes, contemplating stepping in before her childhood friend got himself into trouble. She could only take one step before she heard the skittering of tiny paws heading her way. The newest member of this rag-tag traveling party had decided the most fun thing to do would be to prance around the alpha mix’s feet. 

They had encountered a Frosty Vulpip on their last mission, and Aster had asked- more like nothing short of demanded that they take it in as a pet. Lucine and Isa had relented trying to spare themselves the twenty minutes Aster would have spent begging, and then the weeks after he would have spent hemming and hawing about how they wouldn’t let him take the creature. Juno had tried to put up a fight, but she knew she couldn’t say no to her…endearingly irritating friend. Though she knew that Aster would quickly bore of the creature, so in essence she had a new pet. When she bent down to give the vulpip some scratches it let out a shrill noise and darted away.

“How long do you think this is going to take? We don’t have a lot of time” Isa piped up, previously just leaning against the railing. The weight of what an unfulfilled promise to a Yarujai could mean hung in the air. Previously the group had done odd jobs for whoever would hire, but Aster had friends in high places and they couldn’t turn away a request like this when it came knocking.

“Couldn’t tell ya,” Juno mused. “Sailing isn’t exactly my area of expertise, and I can’t say I have the most confidence in our escorts.” She pointed her thumb back at the crew still enamored with the theatrics of their friend.

Isa rolled her eyes, but a small smile tugged on the edge of her lips. She and Aster had come a long way since they were all forced to journey together. “Well, whatever keeps him out of our hair for a bit.”

Tik-tik-tik-tik-tik the nails of the vulpip sounded once more as it raced back towards them. It bounded in circles around both Isa and Juno, stopping at Juno’s feet to scratch at the wooden floorboards, vocalizing shrilly up at her every once in a while.

Isa glanced at Juno, eyebrows knitted in confusion, “Uhhh what is it…doing?”

“I’m just as lost as you are” she answered, bending down.

Just as the blue alpha mix moved to pick up the vulpip the boat lurched, throwing them and the crew to the floor.

“Urk, what the hell?!” Juno yelled out while trying to break her fall. Just as suddenly as the boat had thrown them it had completely stopped in its tracks, creaking loudly before everything became still.

Juno having been highly trained to handle emergency situations was the first back on her feet. She threw a glance in Isa’s direction to make sure she was alright and getting up before making her way to Aster. She held out steady hands to the smaller buck, guiding him to ensure he was stable on his feet. “Are you alright? …Sir.” She tacked the sir on the end knowing the crew was around and listening, though most hadn’t even gotten themselves up, but better safe than sorry.

“Yes, quite,” Aster replied quickly and withdrew from Juno’s steady grasp. He brushed himself off, “Now what exactly happened?” His voice was haughty as he looked to the ship’s crew for answers.

“Well, if any of you had paid attention to what this little soul was trying to tell you, maybe you would have braced yourselves ahead of time.” Lucine appeared, out of what seemed like thin air- she was always doing that. In her arms she held the vulpip, scratching under its chin causing it to release pleased sounds. 

The other three companions never knew what to make of Lucine, she wasn’t particularly friendly, but she wasn’t rude mostly she just kept to herself. Though she could always serve as a voice of reason when needed, and she had a particular affinity for animals and the arcane. With a look like it was obvious what had happened, she pointed down over the edge of the rails.

Juno, Isa, Aster, and the crew leaned over to see that the entire bottom of the boat had been encased in a block of solid ice.

“This cannot be happening right now, what are we supposed to do if we can't move?” The frustration was palpable in Isa’s voice.

A look of worry crossed Aster’s face, truly a rare sight although the young buck always put on an air of superiority to those around him. He knew that a direct request from a Yarujai was bigger than him, bigger than all of them here combined. “I'm sure you deal with this all the time right?” He whipped around to face the captain of the crew and was simply met with silence.

“Tsk-” Lucine clicked her tongue and began to search around the ship, always the practical type she was not going to wait around for someone else to take action. 

After a few moments of searching, she pulled out two lengths of rope, and silently got to work. She tied one rope to a cleat, securing it tightly before throwing it over the side, the other rope remained on her. “You, you, and you,” she pointed at each of her traveling companions. “We’re repelling down this ship before we waste any more time.”

“Excuse me, we’re going to do what?” Aster chimed in, in shock but his protests fell on deaf ears as Lucine and Isa had already begun their descent.

Juno looked to Aster and simply shrugged her shoulders, “You heard her sir, and you know Lucine can’t be argued with. Come on I’ll help you down”

Once on the solid ice Lucine took the other rope and began to tie it to her own companions' waists. “Juno you’re in front, next Aster, then you Isa, and I will be in the back.” We don’t have time to waste and we’re lucky this happened in an area where the ice shelves are close together. Be careful not to fall, but if one of us does the others can use this rope to pull us back up.” She spoke with unquestionable authority, unless you’re Aster of course.

“What are you saying? We can’t walk the rest of the way there it's going to take forever!” Aster protested.

“I can see the island from here, it's going to be a trek,” Lucine stated. “Here, you can carry the vulpip since you insisted it come with us. Since it's going to take forever like you say at least you have plenty of time to finally come up with a name for it.” The party began to move with one last final groan of protest from Aster, and an excited yip that echoed around them.