It was bitter cold, far colder than anything that Drae had ever experienced, as a mortal or as a God. He knew that Itjivut was naturally cold, but this was ridiculous, especially for the Ignius months. He looked back at Angela who was traveling with him, and behind him, was his still very new Avatar. This was her first expedition outside of Tar Eisalae, and Drae expected that this would be a good chance for his Avatar to use the skills that he had been teaching her. 

Something inside him nagged though. He had a distinct feeling that bringing both of them was a poor decision. Angela was heavy with their twins, and again, Iris was still incredibly fresh to the world. However, with the spread of the cold across Canelux, he and Angela had a duty to investigate at least a little, if not to fully understand what it was that Xunatar was trying to accomplish with all this. The cold wind whipped around them as snow flitted down from the sky, and Drae rolled his eyes. 

"This is ridiculous," he muttered and lifted his hand. Flames filled his hand and he molded it into a ball that floated above the three of them, creating an area of warmth. "You can guarantee that I will not be complaining of Sularia summers after this," he chuckled. "I'll forever relish the heat of the desert," he said looking back at Angela hoping she would appreciate the humor in all this. 

Angela patted her belly as they walked through the winter wasteland that Xunatar had created. She hummed softly to herself as she bobbed her head gently. There was a very heavy cloak on her that was keeping her warm and her face had actually begun to turn pink in certain places but the chill didn’t overly bother her not really. When Drae finally spoke up she grinned at him. “You better not, I have a very, very good memory.”

She kept the cloak tucked around her big belly, and honestly, it was rather huge now that she thought about it. Her red hair was gently braided and put up as she looked around. “With any luck, we can see what our newest conclave member is up to… After all… Xunatar will be part of our extended family soon.” She hadn’t told Drae but Xunatar’s children were courting her nieces… and well Xunatar was also the father of one of her nephews now that she was reminded of it.

“That being said I wouldn’t want to cause trouble with our conclave sibling… After all, we did give a pass to Dalanesca. I am just curious to see what he is up to… Though Xunatar according to Kirika is rather cunning and smart even before his ascension.”

"Frankly, this little escapade of the Fox's is BARELY touching the thing with Dal at this point. It seems more a mild inconvenience than anything," Drae chuckled. The mention of the God of Chaos technically being extended family made him roll his eyes. "Why am I not suprised that Xunatar is going to be family? I mean, I know from my time with Cyprus that Colden was his son, but now his other sons are marrying in to the family? Hah, let's just be glad he's got his heart and mind set on that Genasi Alchemist and not one of your sisters. If that were to happen, I honestly believe the only one not married in to the Rose family in some way is actually Dal. And she almost doesn't count because she is family by way of being Rohan's Godmother…" Drae paused and turned and looked at Angela. "It never dawned on me before… does EVERY DEITY or deity spawn marry into the Rose Family?" he asked, looking rather astonished. Even Naota was related, married to one of the nieces he believed. He threw his hands up in disbelief. "And people wonder why…." he chuckled as he turned and trudged forward again before he cast a glance back at Iris. Up until now she had been very silent and followed several paces behind Angela. 

"Iris, come on, keep up!"

Glaciem was a strange thing for Iris. From what she had learned from Master Adraejen within the comfort and safety of Tar Eisalae, Glaciem was supposed to be the last season of their year, which turned into Terra, Ignius and Venti, which she had become accustomed to for the Jasumin Plains had been locked in an eternal Venti for centuries now. She knew in other parts of the world such as Canelux and the rest of Parvpora outside the Zujiuchu Mountains and the Jasumin Plains were supposed to be cloaked in the green cape of Ignius right now. She could feel the magic of the cold, and certainly didn't need her master to explain to her that it was not a natural cold that had spread over much of the southern region of Canelux, even if he had explained it to her before they had left the sentient tower library she had come to call home.

Her mind was far away from the discussion Master Drae and Lady Angela were having. She had been paying attention for a while, but the intricacies of their family did not hold her attention for long. It was not as important to her as it was trying to understand why her body was shaking and how to make it stop. The bite in the cold was not something she was enjoying and despite the warm cloak she had been given it wasn't doing enough to keep her warm. She looked at Lady Angela and Master Drae and wondered how they managed to not feel the heat. Master Drae had summoned a fireball to keep himself and Lady Angela warmer, but the cold didn't seem to bother Lady Angela near at all. 

She understood that Rosenites did not have the same physiology as other humanoids, and she knew that Master Drae was also protected by the Lycanthrope virus that infected him and gave him the natural warmth of bear, but she was neither of those things. A snowflake landed on her nose and she shivered again, before Master Drae called out to her and told her to keep moving. She did as she was told and moved until she was just a few paces behind Lady Angela. Curious, and wanting to try out a little theory, Iris reached out and lightly touched Angela's shoulder, her body instantly morphing and changing from the peachy skinned, black haired look she usually wore. Now she stood, body bloated slightly, red hair braided up around her head, and creamy skin slightly pink from the cold. The distended belly looked a little absurd in the vest dress and tights she had been wearing, so she toned it back a little bit. She found remarkably, that this did in fact take away the chill in the air substantially. 

"I thought Rosenites were plant people… does that not make them more susceptible to the colder weather, Lady Angela?" Iris asked, clearly confused by all this.

She chuckled just a bit at Drae and shook her head. “I hear he had relations with Eldora, Colden’s sister before Eldora met Steele… Eldora is an odder sort than you can imagine though. She is old and wise but… madness has a way of setting in her blood quite firmly. Steele is Xunatar’s oldest son… and then there is Dante… if there were a bigger man-whore than you my love it is him.” She teased gently. “The embodiment of lust itself… and he dates Cyprus’s daughter Lotus, who is a half-succubi… and Colden… Well, he is dating his cousin Crystaline. That is quite common in royal families after all. I’m just glad he likes her.” She chuckled a bit.

Thinking about the next piece she shook her head. “Naota isn’t related to us. He is married to Echo-Rose, who is practically the archmage of the Yellow Court. Lily does dote on her but she isn’t related to us.” She gave Drae a smile.

She waved her hand at Iris and smiled as Drae yelled at her. “Come on now, hop to it.” She was nothing but encouraging to the poor thing. She turned back and laughed whole heartedly. “Drae you have two Angelas now!” She chuckled a bit and shook her head at Iris. “No child, we often do have problems with the cold but it’s not because of our race. We’re from the desert after all. What you are feeling is probably the effect of the potion I swallowed.”

She took out a vial and held it out to her. “It will warm you right up. I’ll share it with you as I thought Adraejen would have been at least a bit more prepared for the cold weather.” She teased her husband. “I brewed it for the last time I was in Itjivut it won’t make it completely bearable but it will shake the chills from your body. I did it more so for the babies than anything else.”

Drae looked back briefly at Iris who now looked very similar to his very pregnant wife and a look of mock horror crossed his face. "Dear Gods what have I done?" he asked loudly, a smile creasing his features. 

Iris was still trying to understand the concept of sarcasm and joking, and was becoming increasingly aware of her Master's rather cynical nature. She looked back at Angela curiously as the Mother of the Earth clarified the concerns she had from a moment ago. She cocked her head to the side as Angela explained that the fuzzy warmth she was feeling in her form was probably from a potion that the Goddess had ingested earlier. The still fresh Avatar took the offered bottle from Angela and examined its contents through the glass of the vial before she let the disguise drop and once more became the pale skinned, and dark haired features she typically wore. 

"He insisted that I learn about the effects of cold naturally and figure out how to adapt myself to it as I did the hot ignius weather outside the plains," Iris answered. "Though you and he are the only ones I have observed here, so doing so has been difficult. Maybe I will be able to assimilate the effects of this potion and use it for later," she told Angela before she opened the vial and drank down the rather spicy (another sensation she was new to) contents before she looked at Angela with horror, her tongue hanging from her mouth as she felt the strange 'hot' sensation on her tastebuds. 

"Wah ih haat?" she asked before swallowing her tongue again and moving it around her mouth to try and remove the taste. "My tongue… it feels as though it is burning."
She looked around for something that might help ease the discomfort and realized that she was surrounded by snow. She dipped her fine boned fingers into the icy powder and collected enough to put into her mouth and used the stinging cold to wash away the bite of the potion. 

“Pish posh. The next time Adraejen tells you something in a world like this tell him to screw off… and take some of my potion. Honestly Adraejen she isn’t a god and she needs warmth right now. She can learn the cold later.” She took her hand and smacked him upside the back of the head. “I would–” Too late the girl had fully taken the vial and she chuckled a bit.

“I was too busy trying to make fun of Adraejen to tell you only to take a drop of that potion…” Angela had a concerned look on her face for a moment as she waggled her finger and helped soothe the girl’s fiery mouth and belly. “It has peppers in it and some other alchemy ingredients for surviving the cold.” She offered a smile to the girl as she watched her put water on it.

“That might make it worse. The best thing to drink when you have that hot sensation is actually milk, honey, white rice, or even hard alcohol but not ale.” Angela named it all off the top of her head. “You’ll make it worse by doing that.” She had a flash appear in her hands. “Here this will help you. I promise you… It’s just milk Dear.”

There was a glare up at Adraejen. “You could have stopped her at any moment.” Though it as mostly playful as she joked about. “It’s all about learning the world. You’ll find that something that should be the answer sometimes isn’t the answer.”