The elves all nodded at his words. The comfortable temperature of the stone room lured Danika into a yawn. When she yawned again a few moments later, Ais.h.i.+n said, "Just go to sleep. The captain said that we won't arrive for at least a day."

"That's what I suggested, but she says we don't know if she'll reappear on the s.h.i.+p or in the sea," Shrubbery explained.

Ais.h.i.+n smiled and replied, "You always reappear wherever the vessel or creature you were riding stopped, usually that's its destination, but sometimes an event will have interrupted it. I've logged off mid journey many times. However I've been playing with it some, and I'm pretty sure that you'll simply reappear in this s.p.a.ce regardless of where the s.h.i.+p is."

"What if someone steals it while we're in here?" MatchlessMinion questioned.

"That's possible," Ais.h.i.+n agreed, "but I asked one of my guild members to try to move it while I was inside the other morning, and he could move it, but he couldn't put it into his inventory. So if anyone steals it, we can just step out of the stone and deal with them." He touched the hilt of his sword suggestively.

MatchlessMinion gave Ais.h.i.+n a fierce grin and then turned and instructed, "Go sleep ZipZing. I can stay up all night if it looks like there's any reason to, and we'll make sure the stone is somewhere safe before the last person logs out."

Danika hesitated and asked, "If you're all sure?"

Ais.h.i.+n, Shrubbery, and MatchlessMinion all nodded immediately and Sea Song Tione spoke up, "Rest without worry, I'm certain that all will be well."

Danika looked at the optimistic dolphin wrapped in an elven blanket and lying upon a waterless floor doubtfully. "Will you be alright out of water for so long?" she asked.

"Of course!" The dolphin a.s.sured her. "I am usually not very comfortable out of water," it admitted, "but this blanket is surprisingly comfortable even though I can't move around well."

One of the elves said something, and Ais.h.i.+n told ZipZing, "The elf says the blanket is enchanted, don't worry and go sleep."

"Ok," Danika agreed, and logged off.

--

She checked her "Living Jade Empire" messages before starting her s.h.i.+ft. She had one from each of them. Ais.h.i.+n's read: "The elves actually reached the Nadia city that night, so only a few hours after you logged off, Shrubbery and MatchlessMinion told me when your s.h.i.+ft is supposed to end, and I'll arrange to be able to play for a few hours then tonight. You know, I kind of suspected you of being a NEET because you play so much, congrats on the regular job if that's a new thing?"

Danika sent him an indignant reply: "I've never been a NEET! Ever since I finished school I've always worked enough to support myself, even if it's not always with a regular job."

MatchlessMinion's message read: "You have got to see the Nadia city! Apparently it freezes like this every winter, so inns and things are still open. We got rooms for both us and the elven crew who volunteered to wait a week and return us to the continent if we want. I guess that explains how they could modify their s.h.i.+p to run on the ice so easily."

Danika replied: "Cool, looking forward to it."

Shrubbery's message read: "We're returning to the hospital this morning, don't wait for me if I'm late."

Danika grimaced. After a long moment she replied: "Ok, wis.h.i.+ng you luck. Don't worry about the game."

She checked her messages again at each break, but there were only two short replies, a " ;) Sorry" from Ais.h.i.+n, and a "Thanks" from Shrubbery.

--

Danika felt weirdly enervated by her s.h.i.+ft, and at the same time invigorated by the antic.i.p.ation of meeting the black turtle that might be the G.o.d of War. When she pulled herself into the VR-medi pod as soon as her s.h.i.+ft ended and logged in, Ais.h.i.+n and MatchlessMinion were waiting in the stone room with the dolphin.

MatchlessMinion's fluffy rotund figure was bouncing with impatience, and even his whiskers quivered. Danika grinned with the sudden realization that it wasn't just her own wings that reflected her emotions all the time. The little chinchillamin's ears, whiskers, and tail showed his just as much.

Ais.h.i.+n grinned at her and beckoned before touching the center stone and leaving the room, while MatchlessMinion exclaimed, "Finally! Come on, you've got to see this place!"

Danika zipped over to touch the center stone and repeated Ais.h.i.+n's, "Exit." MatchlessMinion appeared beside her a moment later, and Ais.h.i.+n bent and lifted the stone from its place on the floor in the center of the cozy room. Danika looked around with puzzlement.

Ais.h.i.+n explained, "He meant the city outside of the inn."

MatchlessMinion already had the door open and was beckoning a moment later. Danika followed him and he scurried up a long spiral staircase dotted with doors to a tiny conical room at the top with small round windows and a single door that led out onto the ice. Ais.h.i.+n was right behind her as she exited through what turned out to be the peak of the inn.

MatchlessMinion conscientiously closed the door behind them, trapping the warmer air inside the inn, while Danika looked around. The Nadia city was amazing, and she suspected impossible in the real world. It was mostly submerged in a wide bay, and the ice beneath their feet was as clear as gla.s.s. Only the tops of the sh.e.l.l-like structures poked above the surface, but most of them had entrances built into them at this level. Looking into the ice was like looking down into a sparkling city of sh.e.l.ly skysc.r.a.pers.

Tiny semi-translucent blue people skated comfortably about the ice. Some of them wore outfits of glittering sh.e.l.ls and puffy white fur, others streaked about naked except for their jewelry, showing that they were all strangely androgynous. Corridors had been cut through the ice here and there beneath the surface and more Nadias traveled through the tunnels.

MatchlessMinion pointed to a taller spire at the edge of the bay, looking out across the ocean, and said, "That's the Turtle's temple."

Ais.h.i.+n and MatchlessMinion traveled across the ice less gracefully than the tiny citizens, who occasionally paused to watch their progress, but without much difficulty. Danika simply zipped along beside them. The air here was still freezing cold, but without the deadly bite that the last day of their voyage had held.

There was no complicated ritual, or payment, or any of the grand adventure that Danika would have expected to be required to visit a G.o.d. There weren't even any guards, and they simply walked into the upper entrance to the turtle's temple. The walls of the human proportioned spiraling corridor appeared to be carved from white sh.e.l.l or bone, and decorated with motifs of black snakes and sea turtles in various poses, together and apart.

The corridor ended with an open archway leading into a vast dome shaped s.p.a.ce, with deep skylights carved into the upper arches. Danika wondered if they'd really traveled far enough through the spiraling corridor for the room to physically match the outer structure, or if they were in another s.p.a.ce. The black turtle waited in the center of the room in a deep circular pool of ice. A large ice covered opening, beside the archway they had entered through, looked out into the ice bound Nadia city.

Ais.h.i.+n and MatchlessMinion were both looking at her expectantly, so after a moment Danika flew toward the enormous turtle and said brilliantly, "Um, h.e.l.lo?" As she drew closer she realized that the turtle's reptilian head had eyes that were lidless like a snake.

MatchlessMinion rolled his eyes and made faces at her, but jumped when the black turtle replied in a thunderous voice, "Greetings little mortals. Bring out the rest of your companions from the s.p.a.ce that the a.s.sa.s.sin hides."

Danika spun and sent Ais.h.i.+n a questioning look. Ais.h.i.+n blinked and carefully set down the stone room, he vanished and reappeared a moment later with Sea Song Tione and Shrubbery. Shrubbery gave her a shy wave.

Danika turned back and looked at the black Turtle expectantly. The turtle huffed a breath which made her s.h.i.+ver and blew her backward a little, but she zipped back to the spot she'd stopped at, and asked forthrightly, "Why are you freezing the north out of season?"

The turtle narrowed his dark eyes at her, and fixed her in his unblinking gaze which seemed to paralyze everything but the flutter of her wings before replying, "The balance must be restored. I have determined that since such a large imbalance has been created within the goblin tribes, the most efficient method is to flood the plains before the season turns, leaving time for the affected populations to recover before winter."

Danika thought of how the event had announced rumors that the Goblins were being aided by the G.o.d of War versus the dolphin's story about his anger that someone was aiding the goblins. After a long moment she asked hesitantly, "Are you the G.o.d of War or the G.o.d of Balance?"

The black turtle with snake-like eyes opened his mouth and showed his fangs as he laughed. His laughter blew her backward, but Ais.h.i.+n stepped forward into the brief gale of laughter and caught her this time. The turtle informed them, "I am both. I am the great leveler of the sublime balance within the Empire and the dealer of just retribution. I a.s.sist all races that are in danger of extinction, and cull those who become dangerously numerous. It is my duty."

Danika stood on Ais.h.i.+n's hands and asked, "But won't the Karma bonus that the Jade Emperor has offered for the defeat of the goblins balance the population without a flood?"

The turtle replied darkly, "That meddler cannot be trusted, he is always changing the rules and borrowing the powers of others."

Danika switched tactics by asking, "Don't the storms that have been sweeping south need the power of the Dragon G.o.d of the east?"

A soft chime rang, and Sea Song Tione shouted, "I heard it! I heard the ring of your great luck!"