01. (For Strange) Two in the folk who keep the dead down

[choosethepath]

This place stinks of death. Sabriel stands up from the ice, confused but not panicked. She had not crossed the First Gate, which meant that she had likely been pulled back into Life. But where? And why? At first, all she can see is ice, great pillars of it that seem like a king's guard. As she turns, she finally spies the ship- the source of the death, though she senses great life too. But no danger.

She doesn't question how she has her bells back- all in proper shape and well cleaned except for Astarael. She checks the bandolier across her chest, touching each bell gently. Abhorsen's sword at her hip and the bells at her chest, she feels a least somewhat protected. Her surcoat, decorated with a key pattern, is still around her shoulders, though she has lost the majority of her armor. It didn't seem as if she came straight from the battle, but she didn't feel any different. She could even feel the Charter here, around her, like a comforting blanket, so she must still be north of the wall.

Forming the charter marks for warmth, strength, and light, she whistles them out and finds herself with a comforting light at her shoulder that gives her enough warmth to cut through the ice. "Is anyone there?" she calls out softly, not wanting to draw attention to anything dead that might be lurking.

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[choosethepath]

Sabriel's fingers trail across her sword, tempted to draw it, but her instincts are telling her that the danger that had been here has passed. The only thing left are survivors. So she stills her hand, looking up the ramp and placing her hand on the rope to wait. "What is this place?" she calls back out, feeling quite comfortable in the warmth of her light.

[kingsroads]

Strange isn't as magically sensitive as some of the other magicians in his world. So he can't place that familiar feeling in the back of his mind until he moves down the ramp, offers Sabriel the coat, and sees that she's warm and glowing.

All sensible questions about 'where we are' and 'how we got here' are totally ignored for the moment as Strange's one-track mind focuses on the thing that matters most. "You are a magician," he says, with a little laugh. The past few days have been awful and tiring so by God is he going to take advantage of this good news.

"You are a magician! Good God, do you know how tiring it is to be the only one on the ship? I have grown so sick of having to defend my magic to people who believe it should not exist!"

[choosethepath]

Sabriel is a bit taken aback by his enthusiasm, but she does manage a hint of a smile. Maybe she was finally in a place that wouldn't know who she was. He certainly didn't seem to notice the cloak as the Abhorsen's, so that was encouraging. She could actually figure things out without people deferring to her.

She moves closer, watching his face, though she pauses a moment. "You...where's your charter mark?" she asks, automatically moving her fringe from her face. There is an indentation there, likely missed unless pointed out. A circle crossed with lines that wave like water. She forms the charter marks in her mind for defense, preparing for the worst.

[kingsroads]

Strange is bursting with enthusiasm, ready to ask Sabriel about ten billion questions, when she interjects with one first. And it's one that he's got no idea how to even answer in the first place. As she moves back her hair, he notices the indentation in her forehead for the first time.

"I don't have one of those," Strange responds, with a curious little frown. "Is that needed in your time?"

[choosethepath]

"In my time?" That question throws her off balance and she lets her defenses down. Had she been like Touchstone? Frozen in time and space, only to be brought somewhere else? She falls back on her Etiquette lessons. "Perhaps we should start from the beginning?" she suggests. She moves her light closer towards him, letting him have some of the warmth with her. "Where are we?"

[kingsroads]

The warmth is appreciated: Strange takes a few steps towards Sabriel as he sees the light move towards him. He never bothered to drop the spell to lower the temperature around himself which makes the two of them even more comfortable.

"You are on the ramp of the HMS Terror, currently trapped in the ice of the Arctic tundra. I'm afraid I do not know our specific location within the tundra, but there are some on board who are better suited to answer that question."

[choosethepath]

She walks closer, mulling over what he said. The ship was named the Terror, an awful name if she ever heard one, and they are in the Arctic, whatever that means. She assumes that they are by the Clayr's glacier. "How many are aboard?" She concentrates, trying to feel the life within. "Ten, other than ourselves?"

[kingsroads]

There's a pause as Strange quickly counts on his fingers and murmurs under his breath the names of everyone on board. "I think there are more than that. Though some of our members are unwell at the moment."

It would probably be best to build up to the fact that some people might still be dead and Sheehan is...somewhere.

"How were you able to tell so quickly?"

[choosethepath]

Before she answers, she glances to the hatches. "Is it warmer inside? I'm afraid my light might fail. It's been..." A pause. "A long day." If it is the future, or she has been brought to a place where the Charter is not used, then she has a lot to explain. Fortunately, the other magician seems to be an eager audience.

[kingsroads]

"It is," Strange says, with a little nod, "though still colder than one would hope." Thanks tuunbaq for punching multiple holes in the ship. "Feel free to halt your magic. I can keep both of us as warm as you'd like."

There's no glimmer or light or visible sign of the magic happening. Strange simply murmurs a few words, looks up at the sky for a moment, and the slight warmth that surrounds him extends further out, enveloping the young woman as well.

Once the spell has been cast, he gestures for Sabriel to follow him onto the ship.

[choosethepath]

Something was odd. She felt the effects of the magic, but he made no Charter signs. Thankfully, she also did not feel the tang of Free Magic, which would have instantly put her on the defensive again. Instead, she extinguishes her light and follows after him. "What's happened here?" she asks. "There's death here." As she walks, she feels the border between Life and Death and is comforted to know that it's still there.

[kingsroads]

Strange gives Sabriel a wry smile as he answers. "What gave it away? The scent of blood in the air? Or the carnage of the ship itself? We were attacked recently by a creature that haunts the ice. Some of our number were killed. I believe they'll be back soon, though."

As he leads her through the ship, Strange doesn't lead Sabriel to the galley where he knows everyone is. Instead, he leads her to his room: not the cursed Venician apartment still tacked onto the ship, but the room his bedroom on the ship turned into, the one resembling his bedroom at Shropshire.

It's mostly intact and there's a lot of questions to answer. Might as well do it while seated on something comfortable.

[choosethepath]

Normally, Sabriel would balk a bit at sitting alone in a strange man's room with no chaperone, but that's the least of her worries. There was a lot to take in- the creature, the deaths, but one thing he said made her panic. "What do you mean...they will be back soon?" She instinctively reaches for her bandolier, touching the handle of the bell though she doesn't let it ring.

[kingsroads]

"The dead do not stay dead," Strange remarks, with a small sigh. "I am living proof of that fact."

As they reach the door to his room, Strange opens it and then gestures for Sabriel to enter.

[choosethepath]

She steps inside, shaking her head. "You don't feel dead. Not any more than the this ship," she remarks, though she takes a visible step back. She stands for a moment before finding a place to sit. She's clearly unnerved, but not panicked. Not yet.

[kingsroads]

The bedroom doesn't fit with the ship. The floors are a different wood, the walls are wallpapered, the ceiling is a little bit higher than the ceiling of the hallway. Inside is a large, four-poster bed, a divan placed against one of the walls, a desk with a chair in front of it, and a clothes-press sitting against the wall. There is a window with the curtains drawn that oddly, looks out over the English countryside.

Of course, the room has also suffered a bit from the attack. Two of the posts on the bed have snapped and a large beam has fallen from the ceiling, smashing the desk chair and blocking access to most of the desk itself.

"But I am. Or was, I suppose. I remember my death and others found my corpse." As he talks, Strange instinctively reaches up to rub at his neck, a nervous tic he's developed since his stay on the ship. "I do not know for certain why that is possible, but most suspect that it is because we are not in reality. I believe we are in a shared dream."

[choosethepath]

Once she's sitting, she finally takes stock of the room around her. It's odd, to go from the ship to this strange bedroom, but she's honestly just trying to keep up at this point.

Watching him, it's clear that he's been through something, and she decides to soften her approach a touch.

"A shared dream," she repeats, mostly to herself. "Odd. And so you are from...a different reality? I suppose you don't know what Chart Magic is? Or who the Abhorsen is?"

[kingsroads]

Strange shakes his head: two terms unfamiliar to him. He isn't dismayed by the lack of recognition. In fact, he seems interested more than anything else. He's already accepted that different magics may exist, thanks to his experiences here. But that just means there are more things for him to learn about.

"Do you know of the Raven King? Or what about the realms of Faerie?"

[choosethepath]

She actually smiles as she shakes her head. So that explained why he didn't recognize her. And why his magic didn't use the Charter. She had been pulled into a dream. She could feel the realm of Death here, too, opened by the loss of so much life, but perhaps that was something of her own choosing. "I think we have a lot to learn of each other, Mr..." Oh damn. She forgot to introduce herself. Miss Prionte would be livid if she knew.

[kingsroads]

Almost at the same time, Strange thinks oh damn, he forgot to introduce himself. Having spent most of the last five years as a recognizable public figure, Strange occasionally has to remember that new arrivals won't know who he is.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, I should have introduced myself earlier. I am Jonathan Strange." And he offers a hand for Sabriel to shake.

[choosethepath]

Sabriel is tempted to introduce herself as the Abhorsen, but it seemed rather strange to do here when no one would know what that means. "Sabriel," she tells him. "Just...Sabriel." She takes his hand and shakes it formally. "So...tell me about your magic. I've just started learning mine. I mean...I learned it in school, but then I went to the Old Kingdom and realized I just...don't know anything." It felt like such a relief to admit to someone who hopefully wouldn't think badly of her.

[kingsroads]

If anything, Sabriel admitting that she doesn't know much just makes Strange all the more charmed by her. Because that's a feeling he's experienced as well.

"I suppose I'm like you in that way. I learned my magic from my mentor, discovered the king's roads onto Faerie, realized how little I knew compared to the magicians of old, and strived to learn more. But my magic is derived from the world itself. I create alliances with things around me or rely on previously crafted alliances and ask the elements to do what I wish."

As he talks, Strange walks back to his bed. He places a hand on one of the intact bedposts and closes his eyes for a moment. When he opens them, the wood of the bedpost starts to grow outward, like the branches of a tree, some of which start to flower at the ends.

[choosethepath]

Sabriel watches intently, pleased to see the flowers grow. They were beautiful, and she couldn't help but be impressed. "You ask them?" she chuckles. "Do they ever refuse?"

[kingsroads]

"Of course!" Strange laughs. "I've found the Arctic to be more stubborn than England. When I first arrived here, I almost passed out simply by trying to change the weather. I doubt I would have been able to do half the magic I've done recently during my first week here."

[choosethepath]

It was so odd, but it made sense, in a way. What made things stranger was that Sabriel could still feel the Charter, almost like it had been there the whole time. But she could not sense a Charter Stone, or anything resembling it. "I imagine not. You must be polite and form a relationship?" she asks, a little teasing in her voice.

Standing, she walks over to the bedpost he had enchanted and touched the flower gently with her fingertips. "Our magic is somewhat similar. We use the Charter. It flows through everything. It's in the air. I can form the marks in my mind and whistle or use my hands to make them." She formed the marks for growth, for expansion, for life, and made them against the flower. She stepped back as the flower grew to twice its original size.