Snippet #2705648

Stationed in front of one of Frostheim's personnel gates, two guards briefly exchanged nervous glances before turning attention back to the blue trail that was glittering its way through the bars. The one on the left was a younger recruit with a few strands of gray hairs poking out from underneath his helmet, subconsciously tightening the grip on his spear. There was a moment of shared silence between them, only the sound of the howling wind filling their numb ears. The older man on the right occasionally looked back at his partner as if waiting for him to speak.

At length, he finally did.

"S-Should. . . should we report this?" he blurted out, keeping his gaze forward on the snowed path. He'd been on the job for about a week now, but he wasn't expecting something peculiar to be happening so soon. Sure, there was a troll on the loose and hordes of goblins were attacking their trade routes, but at least Frostheim itself seemed to be safe from hostiles.

"We're not supposed to leave our station, remember?" the guard opposite to him replied quietly, the slightest hint of uncertainty in his voice. "Besides, I'm sure they've noticed by now."

"What do you reckon this is?" he asked, though he wasn't expecting a legitimate answer. The other man scratched his chin, looking thoughtfully up and down the trail before turning to him with ice blue eyes.

"Well, if I had to take a guess. . ."

---

". . . this looks like fae magic to me," Juniper said with her hands on her hips, walking back and forth as she observed the trail of blue dust. She waved her hand through the path as a test, but nothing happened. Squinting through the fog, she looked down both ends of the path. "Hey, Tsu. Isn't that way. . . ?"

"It's the way we came through," the therian wolf confirmed without looking back, arms folded over his chest.

"Thought so."

Behind the pair, the sound of boots crunching in the snow grew near. As they turned around, the owner of said boots gave a formal salute to the noblewoman and her guard with a stoic face.

"Your request has been accepted, ma'am. We have eight men on standby, officer Hail will be your section leader. Are these terms satisfactory?" As the woman concluded her message, Juniper clasped her hands together and gave a slight smile.

"I'm the section leader," Juniper said. "Tell Hail that while he is working with me, I have authority over his men."

"With all due respect, ma'am, I don't think the city council will agree to that. With the citizens of Frostheim involved, I believe they will not offer you more support unless you hand over the jurisdiction of the matter to the council."

"Then I don't want their help," Juniper replied bluntly. "I won't relinquish field command to someone that I don't know."

"Please reconsider," she said hastily, trying to find the right words before the older woman cut her off. "I assure you that officer Hail is very capable-" Instead, it would appear that cut herself off. After a few confused blinks, she stared up from the blue trail that was glittering behind them. ". . . what is that?"

"Well, that I wish I knew." With a stretch and a yawn, Juniper rubbed her gloved hands together and drew the woman's attention back to her again. Okay, let's see here. . . we do need those men, at least for the purpose of being trusted eye witnesses. That way, if anything goes south they can't just pin all the blame on me. Even better if I can get some of those plucky adventurers to sign up with me. With some reluctance, she sighed and closed her eyes for a moment.

When she opened them again, Juniper said, "Alright, alright. Tell them I agree to the terms."

With an expression of relief washing over her face, she saluted once more before promptly striding off.

"Not like you to give up the higher ground," Tsudao commented with a wry grin, playfully hitting her shoulder. "You aren't getting 'cold feet,' now are you?"

"Oooh boy, I am about this close to being so done with you," Juniper snapped back in mock anger, holding up her thumb and index finger with roughly a millimeter of space between them. "Come on, let's get moving. We must've moved all of sixty feet during the half hour we've spent here."