Reading and Learning

=Kinsen sat alone in the great library of icehold, a stack of books before him on the table, many more on a chair beside him. The books were ancient, and it had taken all of his not inconsiderate persuasion to get the loremistress to give him access to these books, after he had woken her from her slumber.

He had not missed the fear in her eyes when she had seen his armor, nor the mark upon his face. She had gathered the books quickly, and left him alone. He did not fail to notice that her shaking was due to more than the cold enveloping his presence.

Now a single pale candle lit his reading, the rest of the library dark. it was the middle of the night, but his thoughts had been plagued by his absence of knowledge of his new position. So he had made his way to the archives, drifting through the halls like a ghost in his pale armor, watching torches grow weak as he passed, leeching their heat.

And for the past few hours he had sat, skimming books quickly for any mention of the Knights of Winter. He had set aside some few books which had made mention, mostly of other tomes. One tattered page had a half-missing rendering of a sword that looked vaguely like the one of ice at his hip. The more he read and understood, the deeper his brow furrowed in concern.=

*Angel had been speaking to Wulfgang a few moment's earlier, and she had not been able to settle since the disturbing conversation. She had to talk with Kinsen, and rather than just summon him to the throne room where there might be plenty of spying ears, she thought it better to seek him out. Tightening the robe around her tiny waist, she began to make her way down the dark and shadowed corridor.

The servants had mentioned that he was in the library, and she frowned. At this hour?! Then, she somewhat shrugged, what would someone do if they could not sleep? Some might question what exactly she was doing wondering about - Jaric would want her to have her rest, she knew that much.

Yet, how could one sit and rest on this kind of knowledge? Did Kinsen even already know? Know about what would happen to him? She shook her head to shake the images from her mind, but it was too late, it was already making her feel sick.

A guard nodded and opened the library door to her and she walked through, blinking through the dim darkness that the room held, the smell of old and dusty books somewhat overpowering to her senses. "Kinsen? Are you here?" she called out - rather untrusting of the shadows that the room held.

There was a sense of relief when she caught sight of his small candle, flickering against the cold that radiated from his armor. "Ah..there you are. Forgive the hour, friend, but I felt that this could not wait." She paused briefly and noted the books. "Is everything alright? What are you doing?"*

=Kinsen felt her enter before he heard her voice, and he looked up with a strained smile.

What he had read had not done much to ease his thoughts.

Gesturing to the books, he cleared a chair for her near him. "Everything is well, My Queen. I have just been reading about the... my, new order." a frown flashes across his face for a moment. "I have not found much that is to my liking, to be sure."

He gestures for her to sit. "What has you up at this hour? And in..." he furrows his brow at her. "..such restless spirits at that."=

Dropping her hands to her sides, Angel walked to the invited seat opposite the table. She could see the expression on his face, and quietly said "You know..don't you?" Her eyes advanced upwards to his from across the table, her hands clasping gently together.

"You know that one day...we'll be put down like wild animals - that our price for surviving this mess is for naught now - now that we will..." she paused briefly, barely wishing to contemplate it. "Lose control. Like the old order. Wulfgang told me, just now. This is why I am upset.."

=Kinsen nods and gestures vaguely at the books. "The old war waged a long time, and cost many lives. Jaric put down the last pockets of the old order a long time ago." he sighed deeply, shrugging his broad shoulders. "We are servants of Winter, of Death in a way... but we oft forget that Winter makes way for the new growth of spring. it culls the old, the weak, the infirm, so that new life may find a place."

He gives a thin, humorless smile. "We, fortunately, must do what we can with what we have. We are the New Order, and we have a duty." he looks down at the book, giving a short cough of a laugh. "Promise made, promise kept. I'm not in the habit of foreswearing my oaths."=

It was Angel's turn to frown, her mind putting together all the pieces. "It does not make sense. If Jaric had to remove the order, then why would he allow it now?" She inhaled deeply. "I suppose we are the exception and not the rule." Athough, knowing Jaric he was nothing more than black and white.

"We are servants for the one thing we fight against - death. A tragedy - but you are right, we have to make the most of what has happened and turn it around for the best." She feigned the smallest of smiles, hardly convinced of it herself.

Shaking her head, it was too much. "No. There has to be another way to this..." she got up from the table and began to pull books, random ones, and put them down on the table, their weight slowing her down briefly. Looking into his eyes, she added with determination "We are not oath breakers if the one we owe our duty to is no longer..present."

=Kinsen shakes his head. "We have always been killers. Nature, even human nature, admires the strength of the killer, and it is only a social conception that ever pities the loser." He looks at her, silver eyes glowing in the faint candle light. "We were sheep. Now she had made us wolves. Wolves lose no sleep over the fears of sheep, but there is an axe over out heads if such should change." He gestures to her.

"You know well the cost, and what would and is asked of us. I did as well, in my own way." he lifts a hand as if to pause any opposition. "Though I am no more pleased with it than you, we all do what we must, when we can. And we did. The bridges you seek to burn, we haven't even come to yet."

As she speaks her last statement, he gives a grim smirk. "Usurp winter, or break her hold? That isn't treason, that is but close to suicide." he lifts a white-gauntleted hand to the snowflake on his face, and he could feel the ice-cold pleasure-pain of Winter's nails down his back, her lips at his throat...

...for a moment he appeared distant, the silver of his eyes almost white now as pain coursed through him, though it didn't show outwardly. She knew his thoughts, and Winter would stand no treason from him.

After a long breathless moment she released him, and he clenched his hand into a fist, fighting back the images in his head. He shook it to clear the webs of the thoughts and promises that had been made, and looks at Angel. "I would be free of this, aye, but I am not so fool as to fight the ministrations of a god, My Queen."=

*Angel had wanted to interrupt several times but something mentally and physically held her back. She was eager to see his response to her suggestion that the Winter Goddess had outlived her usefulness, but she somewhat expected his rebuttal even if she was surprised by it.

"I see...I understand" Was her quiet reply when he had finished. "How silly of me to think that we could betray the one who had returned us from death itself?" She paused very briefly, her footsteps light as she approached him, her hands clasped neatly together at her waist. "A foolish idea - you are right. However..." she paused, leaning up and whispering in his ear "You must be warned - you must know that there others that do not want us here now we work directly for her.." she gave him a look as she stepped back, speaking a little louder. "I only ask that you pray for salvation - and I shall pray that you do not grow corrupted from this madness."*

=Kinsen looks at her, his silver-white eyes shining, his features as cold and blank as ice.

"I find no madness in doing what I did, nor in doing my duty. I will not pray for salvation, for I am neither lost, nor in need of saving."

His blue-tinted lips curve upward in a small smile. "As for my safety, well it is thus: I have fought demons and vampires, died a good death before, and dealt with gods as few can claim. I fear not fighting, nor do I fear death. If they come for me, I say let them come."=

*There was something about Kinsen and his eyes and the way he looked at her, that she knew deep down just how much things had changed. Mother Winter had indeed cast a deep spell, her schemes had created them both, and now they were at mercy for it.

Catching his gaze whilst she was thinking, she shook her head and looked away. "What you did was...Brave - some might say stupid, but not me. How can argue with the man who has repeatedly saved my life? But you must pray for salvation, you must, for who knows what is next for us? What is round the corner? What does this Mistress of ours have planned? For now, we do not know - I suppose only time will tell."

Her hand waved the air, and an ice rose formed. "Any man willing to give up his life so easily, with nothing left to live more must be both lost and in need of saving. When you can see it for yourself, I shall be here." She gently put the rose down onto the library table. "In the meantime, brave knight, we have an order to create." With this, a new kind of smile danced across her lips.*

=Kinsen gives a short chuckle. "The need for prayer is obviated by the need to fulfill my role. You misunderstand my words, and my intentions. She will reveal what she must, in her time. My time, then, is best spent working. Not in prayer." he taps the white breastplate with his hands. "That is not my way, now. I do not need saving from her, anymore so than you do. I need saving from my doubts, but that is an all too human battle."

He takes the rose, crushing it idly in his hands and casting the shards to the floor. "I do not seek death, and your implications bely your lack of understanding. I simply do not fear death. I have dealt death. I have tasted death. I have become unto death. It holds no fear for me now, because I know well what the next life holds." he gives his own sort of smile. "I am not lost, Angel. I am reborn, again. It is not a life I would have chosen, but it is the life I chose, for whatever purpose or end. I will not forswear an oath, or my duties."

"And our two orders shall indeed be entwined in purpose. I have an idea of where to begin, of how I will start."=

*Angel's brow raised as she listened to him speak. His laughter didn't amuse her. He spoke of Angel not understanding, and perhaps he was right. She didn't understand...this. Inhaling deeply as Kinsen spoke of needing saving from his doubts. "If you have doubts, perhaps it is for a reason?"

She didn't wait for his reply, however, Angel just stood there instead and listened to his talk of not fearing death and knowing the true nature of his fate. Her eyes looked down to the crushed rose that lay on the floor, and she did nothing to fix it.

"Whilst I agree, we now serve a greater purpose. More awaits. However, I shall never fail to pray, and especially for you. For we are listened to more carefully now we are in Mother Winter's cold hands. The new order is a gift, and I trust you will do your part well to make it succeed. It is good that you already have plans."*

=Kinsen continues to smile thinly. "My doubts, are only of my ability to perform my duties and fulfill my promises. I do not care much for my new charge, but I will not abandon a difficult duty simply because it is difficult, or weighs on my conscience."

He nods as she speaks of the order. "Aye, and thusly we must speak. The knights of Winter, and Winter's supplicants under your hand, must needs be outside of this castle."=

*Angel appreciated his honesty and returned the small smile. For a split second, to her, she saw the Kinsen that she was familiar with. But in that instant it was gone, and of course, the talk returned back to the buisness at hand. She allowed her hands to drop to her sides and rest behind her back, her eyes peering down at the books.

"Outside of this Castle, you say? Yes, that makes sense. Where might you suggest?" she wondered, curious if he had a place in mind.*