A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Katya's anger disappeared and a wide grin took its place. "That's right! It's nice to deal with intelligent people. I have no desire for you to undertake this task under duress. Instead, I'd like you to do so willingly. And perhaps, in the future, we can make more of such deals…"

"Until you finally agree to become my apprentice, anyway. Because I still haven't given up on that," she finished with chuckle.

"Ignoring that last part for now," Erik began as he rolled his eyes. "You basically want me to be your mercenary, correct?" Erik eyes suddenly lost much of their caution, and lit up with interest instead. "I don't mind that. In fact, you might even color me interested. But what exactly are you offering here?"

This was essentially no different from the mercenary work he and Elora had done on Söl, and its not like he disliked Katya. In fact, he liked her. So there was really nothing stopping him from doing a little work for her, so long as the reward was good.

Erik and Elora noticed Katya's eyes shone with subtle relief when he accepted. Clearly, this was important to her, and Elora's knee-jerk reaction was to gouge this woman for all she was worth. Especially regarding information.

A thoughtful frown appeared on Katya's face when she answered Erik's question. "To be honest, I know very little about your intentions, goals, or needs, other than your desire for revenge on some unknown person. That Elora woman seems to be proficient in sigils, so I doubt you want knowledge about them from me.

Still, I'm sure a third-rank Councilor like myself can be of some help to you, so why don't you name your price?"

'Oof,' Erik chuckled inwardly. 'Never say those words in earshot of Elora.'

Still, his outward expression remained unchanged as he discussed the best course of action with his beloved planner. Unfortunately, useful resources were still rare, if not non-existent, on Earth. Those usually took a little longer to appear after the awakening.

Finally, they agreed on a plan that Erik proposed. Although, Elora still wasn't entirely convinced. "Are you sure we shouldn't just ask to get information on all the things we still don't know about?" she wondered, a little unsure.

But Erik chuckled in response. "I know you dislike not knowing things, Elora, but I know you can see the long-term benefit in my proposal. There's no immediate need to know more, right? And we'll find out these things eventually, no matter what."

"Yeah, yeah. I know," Elora sighed. "I just don't like being in the dark… plus, your plan is a little risky."

"It'll be fine, little Ember," he smiled warmly through their bond.

Their mental discussion, while extensive, had taken no more than a few seconds, and Katya was still waiting for his answer.

"Alright," Erik nodded. "But first tell me a little about exactly what you expect of me. Who am I rescuing, and where am I rescuing them from? What resistance can I expect?"

"His name is Dimitri," she quickly answered. "He's my younger brother, and a werebear like me. When I get back into range of the Council cell towers I'll send you a picture of him on the phone I gave you back in London. You won't receive it until you get into range yourself, but you'll have to do that anyway if you want to get to him."

"He's being held in northern England," she continued eagerly, having lost much of the playful arrogance from before. Clearly, this meant a lot to her. "England used to be Aria's turf, until it was handed to the human faction after the council established itself, but her influence in the area still exists. I can send you his exact location via text message as well."

"As for resistance…" she finished a little awkwardly, "technically that place is the home of a human councilor."

Immediately, Erik's eyebrow shot up. "In other words, a third-rank Arcanist?"

While Erik intended to be capable of fighting third-rankers like Frostfang and Sigurd before he left Finnmark, there was a good chance this human councilor was far stronger than them.

"Yes," Katya nodded with a sigh, having known beforehand that this would be an issue. "But it's fine!" she quickly interjected when she noticed Erik was about to protest. "It's fine, because all you need to do is attack on the first of the month. That's when Council meetings are being held in Brussels. Even if news of the attack reaches him there, he won't be back in time to stop you."

Erik frowned thoughtfully. 'This adds complications, but… if what she says is true, and she has no reason to lie about this, then it shouldn't be anything we can't handle.'

He looked up at the powerful, usually so confident woman in front of him, and noticed the slightly vulnerable anxiety behind her eyes. He nearly grinned a little, but barely managed to stop himself.

"Fine," he finally said with a small smile. "As long as you don't mind waiting until I'm finished here in Finnmark, and you're willing to pay my price, I'll free your brother."

Some relief appeared on her face, but it quickly turned into a frown when she realized his words. "Exactly how long will you wait with this?" she asked, a little doubtfully, a little menacingly.

"At most a year," Erik said, his face full of determination, to make it clear he wouldn't budge on this.

He had been planning on going back to England due to Emily's request anyway, so this worked out quite well. But he had been planning on doing that on his way to Africa, not before. He wasn't about to head to England, and than back here again.

"A year, A year…" Katya mumbled doubtfully. She stared into Erik's eyes, looking for any advantage she could use to make him do it sooner, but could find nothing. Presented with the choice of either trying to force him after all, or letting him set the rules and go into this willingly, she finally nodded. "Fine… I can wait a year. But no more!"

"Agreed," Erik smiled softly.

"Now, what is this price you want me to pay?" she finally asked, attempting not to seem to eager and recover some of her confidence and arrogance. Despite her usual casual attitude, her brother's fate had been weighing heavily on her, and there were few things she wouldn't pay to secure his freedom.

"Simple," Erik grinned mysteriously, as Elora's dark green magic started snaking around his left hand. "In exchange for saving your brother, I want to make a little bet with you."

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