Darling of the Winter Court [Orin]

There was a place, within the realms, with waterfalls so grand and powerful, falling from such heights, that they drowned out all noise without ever actually touching any distinguishable ground. These waterfalls held waters so cold it numbed all sense of touch, so pure that you couldn't taste anything when you inhaled, and so expansive that everything was distorted from within. Any scent was quickly washed away in the powerful waters. Somtimes, one just had to get away from everything and everyone, and this was Orin's place. No other sane creature ventured this waters, and the creatures that did were as powerful as the waterfalls they traversed, so they didn't bother one another. As one of the creatures that traversed the Great Pillars of the Plane of Water ever so often, nothing messed with the Winter Knight.

It was here, within this deprevation tank, that Orin Izuki slumbered. Dreams of a life far off played in her mind like shadowy puppets projected onto a screen of light. Adventures that traversed the multiverse on the legs of a chicken, the people and creatures that she had met. The events that had led her down this path in life, and how she got to where she was at this moment. Orin dreamed of fire and warmth, of feeling her toes dig into the fertile earth of a freshly dug farm plot. She dreamed of the salty ocean air, shifting before a storm. She dreamed of the first drop of water falling from the skies above. She dreamed of flying, of falling, of a fiery bird of light never being far from reach. Her dream shifted as a cold chill struck all of her senses, and she stopped. No matter how fast her kinetic winds carried her, no matter how far her stride would take her, every dream would end the same. The fiery bird would fly from view, leaving her senses one by one until, at last, Orin was left in the dark. With the absense of light came darkness. With the absence of warmth came cold. She would slow to a walk, then falter to a crawl. Then, when she couldn't find the drive to move, she would hear the whispers of the creatures that haunted her still, there in the edges of periphreal visions with chattering teeth and claws that could pierce armor and rend souls. They would get closer, hungrier, greedier, nipping at her heels, her hands. But every time her dreams would take her to this point?

"Orin, Darling-" a voice would pierce the cold, the deprivation, the dark- "I need you here." Orin would stop dreaming, and despite the lack of perceptions, she had heard her Lady call to her from realms away. The Lady of Winter would not need call Orin a second time. The Winter Knight willed herself and became lightning, dancing in a direction to get bearing, before tearing into a sky, crackling quickly and wildly as she fell from the Great Pillars. A rift opened up, Orin's will leading her to the side of a frozen fountain in the iddle of a garden of whites and purples and blacks and reds; of snow, royalty, darkness and blood.

The lightning would land with the dextrous precision of practice, and while the energy would shift outward, Orin's physical form would crackle into existence. A nude, muscular woman with stark white hair tied back would be covered in water that quickly seeped up her body, freezing into diferent colors of blues and purples before springing outwards into plates of armor that quickly interlocked and froze over into a form of platemail that looked as if it were formed from glacial permafrost. Within less than ten seconds, Orin was fully physcially within the confines of her Lady's courtyard, head still down in respect as she sat on one knee, not moving, though she did speak.

"Forgive my tardiness, my Lady," a breath would escape as she spoke. While Orin didn't have to breathe, it made it easier on her to center herself and gather her energy. Frozen water would form down her face, lightning would trace through her veins under her pale skin and fire would burn behind her eyes, but she would not offend her Lady or this courtyard with her energy freely about like an untrained child. Five elements of power danced within the kineticist's veins, all reigned in, all under control, and all balanced, and Orin would not be the Winter Knight if she didn't know how to carry herself in the various tasks that was required of her position.

"Seven seconds too many," Orin's response was slowed, only slightly, by the feeling of the Winter Lady's nails running through her hair, twisting against the scalp, with a touch so cold it was almost warm, but coming from the Lady? Any showing of affection was warmth enough for the Knight. She was going to continue, stating that she would continuously strive to be the Winter Knight that she deserved, but the sudden breath-stealing shift from her hair to her neck and chin to lift her head up caught her, and even with the acute, precise movement that broke skin and brought her attention upward, Orin didn't flinch, didn't react other than how the Lady told her to, and even without words, the Maiden of Winter spoke volumes, and over the course of her service, Orin had only picked up on a moderate fraction of the total language. It was enough, however, to understand the generalizations and the gist of what was happening. Her eyes, orange like a night's bonfire on a beach, would fall into the endless abyss behind the Lady's cold, dark gaze. One last pressure, and the raptor like nail was curled back toward her mistress' face, that Orin remained locked onto until she couldn't physically perceive it anymore.

Orin would lower her gaze, but not to the ground, opting to simply shift her neck so it wasn't overextended. She wasn't in trouble, so she allowed herself the small comfort of a normal posture, looking ahead to a pool of black liquid that stretched toward a hedge maze in the vicinity. Statues of wolves- four in total, large and white like marble, facing toward a fixture in the middle that sprouted fresh, icy water that fell into the pool of black below with no noticeable disturbance. The Lady recalled that Orin had served the Winter Court for one hundred years plus one- a distinct, precise difference than just saying one hundred and one years- and even though her mistress started to circle around her, she would not move more than what it took to physically breathe.

The Winter Knight was asked about her service, requested to divulge how she had enjoyed her time. Orin had learned, within the first year alone, that honesty was always expected- required, even- but there were also details within how one spun that honesty. Her time as the Knight of the Winter Court under the Unseelie Queen Who Is To Come had taught her a set of skills, but they were skills she would not employ on her own mistress. "Admittedly, I did not initially enjoy my service here, my Lady," Orin would start, thinking back to the beginning. Thinking back to all of the ways she thought she was being clever. How she thought that she was twisting the rules to her own ends, and how she thought she was coming out ahead.

Oh how wrong she had been. Oh how Orin had paid for it- how so many more people had paid for her mistakes.

"Looking back now, I realize that you were right. I was being a child in how I carried myself, and your punishments only served to forge me into a Knight worthy of both title and your affection." Even now, though, Orin thought back, her eyes refocusing from the fountains to past them, toward the hedge maze positioned further back.

She inhaled, and the scents of ice wine, rose petals, wintergreen and sheer frigid cold would flood her senses. Orin enjoyed those scents more than anything else in recent memories- it meant that the Winter Lady was close. It meant that she had her attention, for better or worse, and even in the punishments, all she wanted was her mistress' affirmations and reinforcements, either negative or positive. It meant that she was learning and the Lady was teaching her to become more fine-tuned, capable, and worthy of the Lady's love. The Lady, as Orin was still kneeling, still obedient, would request escort through her garden, and immediately-

"Of course, Lady Susan," Orin's response would trigger her quietly standing up. and even though Orin was more than a foot taller in height, the kineticist would reflexively dismiss the armor across her left arm, wrist and hand, the ice evaporating into water, then nothing as it seeped back into her physical being. The knight would offer her elbow to Lady Susan in order to escort the Winter Lady around the fountain and toward her garden proper. Once Lady Susan had taken the offered escort, Orin would continue to answer the previous question with a slight smile across her lips.

"There were trials and times that, respectively, I thought everything was daft. I didn't understand the greater schemes behind the things you had me do, but after one hundred years plus one year of service, hindsight allows me to look back with sensibility and understanding of each thing that you taught me. Each mistake you had me correct and each defect you personally corrected only led me to become... well, better, for lack of a better word." The blonde woman spoke the truth, and while she wasn't going to say anything, Orin had been counting every month of this service, more-so as the end of the determined length of her time as the Winter Knight, in a bit of silent anticipation. For Orin, as important as Lady Susan was to her, there was one other person that her heart yearned to reunite with, one person that had been the solid foundation, the reason that Orin pushed forward, and the single person that the Winter Knight loved more-so than the Maiden of Winter herself.

But Orin didn't dare think of her first love right now in anything more than a passing thought. She instead thought of escorting Lady Susan, and the honor of being blessed enough to walk arm-in-arm with her mistress. The Lady had a knack for telling when Orin wasn't completely focused on the task at hand, so she would reserve those thoughts for when she was alone, not in the presence of Lady Susan.

"If I may ask, my Lady," Orin would speak, walking to match the pace of the smaller woman, bent over to not impose any discomfort onto her mistress. "Is there a reason in which my service is brought up? I only ask to inquire that the very service mentioned has been satisfactory for my mistress." Orin was quick to state the purpose of her question. If she had made a dire mistake, she would want it corrected. If Orin had done something offensive to Lady Susan, she would want to atone.

The question that Orin had stated hadn't been answered by the time they had stepped through the never-ending hedge maze and straight into the Heart that waited at the center. It was a large, perfectly circular dias with stairs spiraling upward, and no snow rested upon it. The fact that Orin's question hadn't been answered, coupled with their arrival to this place, made the Winter Knight nervous, though she had already resolved herself, prepared to accept any punishment that may come at the hands of her Lady.

The patio on the north side of the dais held chairs, tea and coffee, along with scones and triangular sandwiches of various simple ingredients. All of it was appetizing, but Orin's blue eyes of frost immediately fell upon the specific tea pot that was nested within the table. She remembered that night in the third room of the third hallway of the Shooting Star- it seemed so long ago- and the events that transpired that night would eventually lead Orin here, into Lady Susan's service, and now, to the Heart.

Orin would lightly nod at Lady Susan's order, and what the Lady of Winter had said was taken into account. This was about her service, though from the implication, it was less of a mistake in need of correcting and more about the end of it, like she had been counting. Of course Lady Susan had been counting as well, and as they sat (after Orin had escorted Susan to her own setting as any proper escort would), Orin's eyes would shift to a boreal vial- a single difference between that first night in the third room of the third hallway and this place setting here. The only thing that broke Orin's concentration on the vial was the tea, at least initially. Within the silence, the Winter Knight would allow herself a sip, quiet and posh, before three words were spoken that would shake her to her core.

"Corrina. Ellethwen. Izuki."

Her true name. There was a quick, small cough, but Orin didn't physically move, despite the tea finding it's way down the wrong hole. There was a flash, and the tea was gone as she quietly pulled it back up into her mouth, then swallowed it properly. Of course, Susan would had seen the flicker of focus and power that the Winter Knight exerted, a quick flare-up like a fire crackling as it set into a fresh piece of wood. Corrina would immediately look into Susan's eyes before instinctively answering the to her true name, a new chill rushing down her spine, then up, into her chest and dispersing through her very being. "Yes, my Lady?" At the weight of her true name, Orin's full, unbridled attention was pouring into Lady Susan now, no other thoughts, even subconscious, would pass as the eyes widened, waiting as Susan spoke of service.

The sharp peal of the teacup being forced onto the table with the precision of a rapier and the weight of a great-axe was uncharacteristic in fashion and caught the Winter Knight off-guard, but her eyes stayed within Lady Susan's as she spoke. Orin knew better than to interrupt her mistress until a question had been posed or an opinion had been offered for her to comment on. She didn't move, even at the presentation of her own private thoughts, but she didn't try to defend herself. She didn't even attempt to try to flatter Lady Susan- it would only make it worse.

For all of her service, Orin was granted three questions before the night was over, much like the first time they had tea. Everything was replaying in a way. Their relationship had started in a conversation over tea, and Citrine had been involved there, too, but this was... different, somehow. Now, at this point, Corrina had reprocessed her thoughts, gathered her resolve and finished her tea before looking away from Lady Susan's gaze, but only to look down at a vial- the only difference in everything that had been presented with tea tonight.

"First question," Orin would declare, grabbing the vial and looking over, studying it before setting it down carefully, but still motioning to it. "This vial. I have never seen anything like it," she would admit. "What is the purpose of the contents held within?" She knew better not to accidentally blow all three questions on this. She knew that it was a vial, and she knew it was holding something- two tricks she had fallen for in her studies at the beginning of her service. If Orin had asked 'what is the vial for?' or 'what's in the vial?', the answer could have easily been something along the lines of 'it's used to hold something for later use" or "a liquid spell component'. She didn't need to know details, but she did want to know what is was, and that question was the easiest, most direct way to learn that information.

Hearing the compliments from Lady Susan on her service, her skill, her power and strength? It made it all worth it. It made the training worth it. It made the corrections worth it. It made the punishments, the hardships, the trials and what could be quickly summarized as "everything" completely worth it. Praise was nice, and such praise coming from her Lady of Winter, the Unseelie Queen Who Is To Come was appreciated, bringing an almost pure smirk to Corrina's pale lips. The vial, as she answered, was to track down the person that had been on her mind- who had always had her heart. While she wasn't foolish enough to even start to believe that Lady Susan was happy with her Winter Knight leaving, it was comforting to hear that she was at least deserving of happiness, even if it did mean her departure from service to the Winter Court.

But... Susan did bring up a valid point- Orin didn't know where in the Realms she was, much less what she looked like after her own service to the Seas. Orin didn't assume that she would be waiting, especially after she had left, despite the promise to always be waiting for her neach-gaoil for when she was done with her own service. Orin would look down to the vial, thinking to herself for a moment as the Unseen Servant refilled her tea cup, though the lips of the Winter Knight didn't reclaim the cup just yet.

"The Winter Court has been nothing but good for me. Having a home with you... It is-" Orin would compose herself for a mere second- "an option I would like to keep open," Orin would speak after a moment of silence under the predatory gaze of her mistress. "But I have to believe, my Lady, that, no matter the appearance or the length of time, that we'll find each other, her and I. We're connected in a way that not very many people are, and I don't want you to consider my leaving abandonment by any means," the Knight clarified. "We're connected as well, my Lady, and I will always be thankful of everything you have provided me."

Orin would go quiet, thoughts running rampant in her head. While thinking of her connection to her beloved, it was hard to not think of the possibility that the very person she had to seek out had moved on without her, angry that she wasn't able to keep her end of the promise. There were always more than one possibility that could play out, and if after all this time apart they both decided it wasn't going to work out? Where else could Orin go in any of the realms? She had position, power and prestige within the Winter Court, and giving that up for anything short of her mo ghraidh would be utterly pointless.

The quiet would be finished with a small sip of her coffee from her tea cup (correction from the previous post), before she spoke again. She only had two more questions, and she knew, at least toward the beginning of her service here, she would have asked the next questions as two separate questions, but now she at least knew to weave it into the same question to get more information. "Because I'm curious, my second question, my Lady. What are the other two gifts you spoke of?" She would turn her attention back to Lady Susan, becoming slightly more nervous as the previous thoughts danced around behind her eyes. She still resolved to push forward, though. What else was there to do at the moment other than move forward?

"...I do know this, Lady Susan," Orin would respond to Lady Susan as she felt the shift in the air, and then felt her Lady's touch, fingers sliding down the scalp as she caught herself leaning back toward Lady Susan's presence. "And we both know about my greed," Orin would smirk happily as the fingers curled behind her ears, "like a child on Winter's Crest." Orin was greedy, but she chalked that up to how she was initially raised- as a pirate, descended from Hurricane King Zuzu who was credited with saving the Shackles from the old Pirate King, a man named Bonefist who was planning on selling the Free Captains of the Shackles to the devils of Cheliax. Growing up, all she heard was stories of grand adventures. It was after she learned to sail, however, that everything went to the Lockers, for lack of a better term. Still, though, through her adventures, Orin Izuki never stopped gathering things. Treasures both coin and magic. Friends turned lovers. Knowledge. Power. It had led her through death, across the seas of the Dimensional Grid and back. It had led her to her beloved. It had led her here, to this service, to Lady Susan. Orin followed her greed where it took her, and usually to great benefit more often than not.

The cold, prickly grip of ice and wind traveled down Orin's neck, seeping under her armor as Orin leaned back against her mistress. The second gift was presented, and the Winter Knight would watch Lady Susan's arms and hands wrap around her and unsheathe her personal sword. The blade of ice and mithril, wrapped and bound with unicorn leather, curved across her hands. "...I don't know what to say," Orin would look at the weapon presented to her. "Thank you, Lady Susan." She had learned to accept the gifts that were given to her. Any kind of rebuttal often meant that the gift was taken away, and while Orin pondered the challenges of using her mistress' blade without the Mantle of Power, she was led to her third gift- a final death by her Lady's hands.

The honeyed words sent a longing through Orin. Her heart skipped a beat in silent elation, and the scar over it would become so cold it felt like fire in her chest. The armor that covered her form evaporated into a mist, moving obediently from the dagger's path. Only a light layer of hoarfrost would cover Orin's skin, though that was more to remain decent in the presence of her Lady. Orin willed the armor away, knowing that it wouldn't be needed here, today of all days. "I don't wish to hurry our last evening together either, my Winter Lady," Even though Orin herself could stave off the coldest temperatures, the chilled presence of Lady Susan was welcome- wanted, even. It was an attention that she pursued- this meant that the Winter Lady was pleased with her, and that Orin was in her good graces. If she hadn't been? Everything would be completely different. There would be no pleasantries like there were here. It would have been very quick, very business-oriented and Orin wouldn't have gotten three questions from the Lady of Air and Darkness.

Orin thought, for a moment, her eyes focusing on the dagger in Lady Susan's hand, hovering above her chest. With one hand on the blade she was gifted, she would close her eyes and take a breath. "I want to just enjoy tonight, mistress. Even after I ask my third question, I'd like to just... be here, with you," she would say, but not as a question. The snowflake scar above her chest ached, but her desire- her greed for wanting to bask in her Lady's presence- would be just a little greater than the desire for death at the hands of her Lady at the moment. "I've always enjoyed your presence. Even back in the Shooting Star during our quest to save Baba Yaga from the former Queen Elvanna. Even during my birthday party, I appreciated you being there, even for a moment," Orin would look upward, looking at Lady Susan, who appeared upside down to her vision, but was still all around her.

Then, a thought. She hadn't had the thought in over one hundred years. A thought of another version of herself. It was a small curiosity, but one that stood out, since she couldn't think of anything else that she needed answered at the moment. "Corrine Elle Tangerine. What ever happened to her? I know that you were interested in both of us, especially with the potency she must have had if she was an alternate version of myself."

Orin would exhale a little bit at the dagger drawing blood out of the side of her chest, breathing deeply, still looking up to her mistress. The thin layer of hoarfrost that covered the form of the Winter Knight stained a rose crimson, warm enough to melt through some of the sheen and stain the glacial blue, forming a faint, deep purple in a stripe that ran over her form. Lady Susan's clawed hands ran across her shoulders, one finding it's way to the throat that Orin bared to her, and even though she didn't need to breathe, breath was still taken from her body. The kinetic knight of Golarion tried to swallow, which only made the vice-grip around her throat more harsh, punishing her for even trying to move in any definition against the frigid grasp around her neck. She felt some of her energy leave her, replaced by the frostbite that seeped into her neck, veins staining blue under the influence of such a potent Fey Queen- Orin's own abundant energy was starting to mimic her lady's. It was the bad part about kineticists- the energies they wielded were impressionable and primal, and could shift like the seasons if left unchecked.

Corrine would be old, by this point, if not deceased, though her mirror match was a druid; they usually had elongated life spans, right? It was a thought made only in passing as more and more of her attention was pulled out of her and locked into Susan. She wouldn't concern herself with Corrine, she wouldn't concern herself with anything outside this moment, here, now, tonight. Even as Lady Susan declared that Orin was no one else's but hers and only hers, finally releasing the grip and allowing Orin to finally breathe, her first breath heavy and labored, Orin was only thinking of her Lady Susan. Even as Lady Susan declared that she would sever everything- her abilities, her Mantle of Winter, even her very memories- and declared a new contract, there was a part of Orin that believed that she would see her phoenix again; that they would find each other, either in this life or the next, and there was a part of her that stood firm on that belief, despite the fact it was buried under the snow and the ice that was channeling through her.

"Three years," Orin would repeat, closing her eyes, trying to commit it to memory the best she could. "In three years, I will either be with my neach-gaoil, or I will be with you, my Queen," the Winter Knight would declare as her mistress reappeared on top of the circular dais before them. This time, though? She would feel the cold in her hands and feet, creeping up toward her core. She would stand, despite the foggy numb of the cold, and as the Winter Lady of Air and Darkness declared that darkness would never overshadow her again, Orin would step forward. Despite her biggest fear lying at the center of that pedestal, despite one of her most harrowing experiences happening at the very hands of the Fey Queen that now offered her this new contract, and despite the fact that she only had this single vial to try and find her neach-gaoil, her beloved firebird, Orin would step forward.

Either way, the Winter Knight would be happy. No matter the result, she wound up in a position that benefited her. As she circled, stepping onto the red carpet that spiraled up to her Lady, she could feel the mad, Cheshire smile, wicked and sharp in the twilight of her service. Orin would come, and despite the cold, the layer of hoarfrost would shed from her and blow away from her figure. Stepping forward, Orin would come to Lady Susan, maintaining eye contact the entire time, holding as proper of a posture as she could, as she had been taught by the very figure she slowly bent her knee to.

"I will join you for a night to surpass all others," Orin would repeat, still looking to her Lady, her Fey Queen of Winter. Despite the fear and every human fiber in her body telling her to figure out a way to get out of here, to escape and never look back, to not accept the contract? Her greed was greater, and the worst that would happen to her would be three years away from someone that she loved and that loved her back. She knew the risk, the reward, and the rules, and now, the grand-daughter of the Hurricane King, a kineticist of five elements, a warrior worth one-thousand had only one more then to say before they sealed the contract with the coming night:

"I accept the contract."