[OPEN]

[dracobin]

Characters: Temeraire and YOU!
Date: April 26
Location: Outside the Palace of Landed Sky
Situation: Following the attacks, Temeraire calls the nascent Keeliai Aerial Corps to investigate the palace.
Warnings/Rating: Probably injuries as a result of encountering the barrier? Other exciting developments? WE SHALL SEE.

It was at once obvious something was wrong with the palace; in hindsight, he ought to have looked to it sooner. It was only that there were so many other things to occupy one's attention, when one's friends had been injured, and one's apartment had been converted into a makeshift shelter for one's kedan neighbors, and one's console flickered alarmingly, at the edge of one's vision, so one was never entirely certain if one was seeing it or not--

But now he kept the monstrous, spiky form of the palace firmly in view as he flew, with as many of his crew as he could carry clipped onto his harness. If there was anything that could be done, he resolved to find it; it was the least he could do, after his lapse in attention.

Comments

[fearlessherosheart]

"Since this morning. It is quite a curious change, and I am nearly certain the sorcerous barrier is new. I had not occasion to enter the palace before."

After all, it seemed a normal precaution that could have been triggered. Or it could be cast by the enemy. Either way, Tazendra wanted to take it down and find out what was going on.

[dracobin]

"A barrier?" Temeraire looked up, pupils widening as he took in the sight. "No, that was certainly not there before: I must have entered the palace half a dozen times, and never gone through anything of the sort--but then, of course, the palace was not under attack, at the time."

It was not as if it would be unusual--and perhaps it had been a sort of failsafe, to protect the palace, should Malicant come again. But it clearly had not worked, and now Temeraire was not sure if it was now meant to keep everyone else out, or seal something in.

"Can it be broken, do you think?" he offered. "Or ought it?"

[fearlessherosheart]

"Any barrier can be broken," Tazendra said. "However, there are two methods, strength and cunning. It does seem to be stronger than my first attempts."

At least after a couple of faints she's stopped trying to physically probe the barrier. And the guards presumably have decided it's more interesting to annoy Tazendra by refusing to respond to her attempts to pick a fight than to haul her off.

[dracobin]

"And which have you been trying?" Temeraire asked, with a slightly worried glance at her bruises. "Does it hurt you, if you touch it?"

Knowing their luck, the source of the barrier's power was likely located within the barrier itself, and thus temporarily out of reach. Brute force would have been his instinctive approach, as well.

[fearlessherosheart]

"The second time, I did faint," Tazendra said cheerfully. "The first time, my hand was marked in a curious fashion." She held up a gloved hand; her wrist between hand and sleeve was a rather bright yellow.

"So, I am trying to be cunning for the future and keeping my distance. It is a fascinating spell."

[dracobin]

Temeraire blinked at her for a moment. Then he lowered his head, his tongue flicking out as he nosed gently at her hand. "Does it hurt, at all? What happens if you try to throw something at the barrier, instead?"

[fearlessherosheart]

"It does not, truly." Tazendra said, to try to distinguish between 'scratch' and 'no, really, I'm actually fine'. "But I shall attempt to throw something."

She happened to have a small stone in her pocket and threw it. Unfortunately, it was one she had been enchanting, so it hit the barrier with a loud bang. "Ah, that was my flashstone, not the unenchanted ones," she shouted.

[dracobin]

Temeraire twitched in surprise at the bang, but he recovered quickly, leaning forward to inspect what he could see of the barrier. It seemed entirely unaffected, which was a great pity, although not entirely unexpected.

Glancing down, he selected what he thought was a small stone--very nearly the size of a fist to anyone else--and tossed it carefully, in turn. There was no explosion, this time, but it bounced harmlessly back at Temeraire, landing on the ground almost exactly halfway between him and the barrier.

"Well," he said slowly. "It will not kill us if we fling something at it, at the very least."

[fearlessherosheart]

"It would be unfortunate to die in such a matter, before the enemy has even appeared outside its walls," Tazendra agreed. "Do you think it would, had we more to throw?"

[dracobin]

"We could certainly try something larger," said Temeraire, momentarily caught up in the spirit of scientific pursuit. "It does not seem like our enemy, to build such a simple barrier, which does not do anything at all."

[fearlessherosheart]

"Just so. Surely it knows that some of us are gifted in sorcery. Or other arts," Tazendra said, magnanimously including everyone else with special abilities. "So, it would build a barrier that takes that into consideration."

[dracobin]

Temeraire took the comment in stride: of course he was gifted, after all, and it was very kind of Tazendra to notice.

"A spell, perhaps, or a larger rock," he offered, eyeing a boulder some two feet across. "I do not doubt our enemy is cunning, but it cannot hurt to test the barrier's limits, all the same."

[fearlessherosheart]

"I quite agree. If you do the honor, I will make observations."

[dracobin]

Temeraire bobbed his head once and pulled the boulder upright with a little effort. It was not terribly heavy, to his mind, but it was bulkier than he had thought it would be, and he wobbled a little and put out a wing for balance as he hefted it in his claws.

The boulder described an impressive parabola through the air when he threw it, grunting slightly with the effort, but in the end, it, too, only struck the invisible wall and rolled back toward him, sending up a brief cloud of dirt and grass as it landed.

"I do not suppose there is very much to observe," he said sourly, "only that a larger rock has much the same effect. Do you know any spells of note?"

[fearlessherosheart]

"Certainly!" Tazendra said. "If you will stand back. If the spell reflects, I would not wish to hit you."

She considered. "It would not be cowardice if I were to take cover as well."