The carbunclo butler was waiting, partly submerged into the decorative door, for the group to advance towards her. She offered both hands to the automatons; they were each grabbing one of the siblings walking hand in hand towards the jewelled stone lady. Bianca was enchanted looking at her hands, covered with neatly cut emeralds growing out of her mineral hands where others would have fingernails and knuckles. Such a stunning beauty, not only the hands but the whole carbunclo appeared as a beggar's dream, a being consisting completely and in a whole out of more money than Bianca could have ever earned with her secretive healing jobs in the slums. Bianca shook her head, trying to get rid of her envy and greed poisoning her mind, trying to see the butler as a sapient being and not glorified cash. She felt disgusted by her very own thoughts and lowered her head, letting Lanstein drag her to the butler in her half-complete tux, which was missing gloves as well as shoes. Even the shoulders got ripped open to grant the massive gems growing out of her shoulders free roam. Bianca knew out of the anatomy books moulding back in their former home that these gems were in fact a carbunclo's sensory central ... a fact that added to her disgust at herself an icing of disappointment even thinking one moment to get her paws at one of those gems selling it for a fortune; they were part of that butler's body. She just let her head hang and let the others do their thing until Bianca's path and that of the stone lady will deviate again.
Denton's mind was wandering as well, thinking about what the carbunclo said just now. About him better not exchanging words with the Ivory Jack at all. He couldn't find any satisfactory answer regarding why Master Au'piere would even hate him or his sister. As far as he was aware was the current Jack a drake and therefore would outclass him in every way shape or performance regardless of the question. Or was it because of that in particular? The albino let out a sigh, which caught the attention of Thilarie, who put in response an extra portion of compassionate care in their handholding, softly massaging his soft paws with internal waves of her water body. No words were needed to get exchanged. Denton saw it following her glance backwards that she was aware of his thoughts regarding what could happen. To deviate his thoughts to something more cheerfully, he focussed his thoughts on the newcomer, the carbunclo awaiting them to guide the group through the silver wing. Such a beautiful figure! A work of art cast into a living and breathing being with a refreshingly cold attitude. He was currently checking out her face and the combed hair of hers, which looked like a whitish fire erupting out of her head, having gotten tamed and combed to perfection laying smoothly against her silver-laced neck. He knew from his fireplace talks with new arrivals into the slums that this hair was the representation of a carbunclo's soul; their lifestream having taken form as the hair on her head. When Thilarie grabbed the butler's offered hand, touching the emerald knuckles of her, was the kobold able to make out a faint repressed gasp of her nearly breaking the face of a trained professional. These gems were indeed as sensitive as the bonfire stories described them to be, he noticed with a grin only happening in his mind.
When both automatons finally held hands with the carbunclo, was she about to immediately walk backwards into the silver wall once more, but stopped briefly speaking out a warning to the kobolds:
"If you hang on your life, kobolds, hold onto the Spearheads hands firmly. If you even lose contact with me for a mere fraction of a second, you will turn tangible in the midst of a massive block of silver. And I heard from my predecessors that this could result in instant death. So please do us all a favour and hold tight and hold your breath.", she started walking into the metal and parts of her got sucked up by the mineral without a single sound but a satisfactory slurping, "Name is Ganya, it is my pleasure to serve you."
Denton was suddenly feeling a sensation of vibration coursing through his entire body, energizing his very essence. The same thing, he noticed, happened to the other three as well. They started vibrating at a low frequency, and suddenly he was able to look past them. Right through their bodies at the scenery behind them. A view, that would have otherwise gotten blocked by their solid bodies. He was amazed, being able to feel such an interesting state of his body first-hand, he felt light, and the ground felt light. Denton looked down and saw parts of his feet slowly getting swallowed by the solid ground; he was no longer walking on it. Excitement ran through him, and he wanted to share these feelings with his sister looking over to her. Then Denton finally noticed the unhappy aura of hers, how she refused to look at anything else but her scaled chest, and his good mood dissipated. He never saw her in such a state before, eyes glowing like amber but dull at the same time.
<You don't remember that face of hers? I mean ... how could you? You never saw it before ... but I did.>
Khôra was clinking herself into his thought streams, intending to enlighten him with what she knew from talking with Galen in absence of them both.
<Galen told me that he witnessed her in such a state in a situation one year ago when she happened to come across a fairly rich-looking drake losing a small bundle of coins. He told me she was considering keeping it but felt disgusted by her greed. She picked up the bag and called the drake giving him back his belongings. She got rewarded with a few coins for her civil courage, but Galen suffered the remaining day from her questioning herself if she had done the right thing. Waves of greed and envy were troubling him the entire night.>
Galen was astounded hearing of a side of his sister he never heard before. After looking, however, one more time towards Ganya, he knew what was up.
<Guess she felt unable to handle the sight of this gemmed beauty. I mean ... I wouldn't blame her even if Bia would not be my sister. That all here is hard to take in, even for me. Heck, we are about to take a dive into massive silver. Probably enough to buy food for the entire slums. No, probably even enough to maintain our failed sewage system, repairing it once and for all. But I guess her greed was directed at the carbunclo especially ... and then sis' morales kicked in. We should talk with her after this is over, Khôra. Comforting her in acclimating to our current surroundings.>
Khôra gave her gentle partner a mental hug agreeing with every word spoken. But then her and his attention got taken in by a sensation even stranger than the vibrating. First, he lost the feeling in his hand holding Thilarie, and then one eye of his briefly went blank. Fear flammed up when he realized he was about to step into the wall, and he took a hasty last breath before getting pulled into the silver by the automaton's unreal power. The pace of Thilarie quickened with her following their guide. While an utterly senseless kobold tried his best to stumble behind her, partly getting dragged forcefully through the void of silver. The sensation was so weird and alien that Denton felt unable to think of anything at all. The only thoughts that crossed his mind were to remain in contact with the freezer, as well as keep his mouth shut.
Moments that felt like lifetimes, passed and Denton felt as if he would never see anything anymore, his eyes were blind, his ears dead, and his lungs screaming for the life-giving air to replace the spent breath. Unable to feel the comforting touch of Thilarie, as his whole nervous system was currently absent, he concentrated his all on trying to keep his hand closed despite knowing it didn't do much. Then suddenly a sensation; he felt his hand again and Thilarie's metallic hands and its soft pads caressing his paw with a firm grab. Then everything else returned when his pale head felt the embrace of free space once more. He looked back, watching how the rest of his emerged slowly out of the silver. When he saw his tail leaving the door as well, he turned to the carbunclo waiting for her ok to disconnect from her getting tangible once more:
"I see we haven't lost anybody. Splendid! Now, if you may. Mr and Mrs Kobold, please try to jump in the air, so I will be able to stop my burrowing effect on them. Then it is safe to stop holding hands. Unless you want to keep doing it, that's for you to decide."
Denton watched Bianca and the Automatons jumping up, and he followed their lead. But when he thought about asking Thilarie to remove the soft ice around their hands, his and her eyes met. A moment of him getting lost in her grinning half-moons, and both started blushing, deciding to keep it that way for now. He looked over to Bianca once more, who divided herself from lanstein's embrace, placing her paws under her armpits, still looking to the ground and angry with herself. Lanstein tried to comfort her, asking silently about her well-being. After a short exchange of words and a quick look at Ganya, she understood as well and kept her arm on the kobold's shoulder, directing her through the silver wing.
