“I'm not sure what bothers me more, old chap.” Theanim Mane leaned against a cold set of iron bars. His breath came out in a vaporous sigh, fading across the thin slits of gray light bleeding through Frostknife's stone prison. “The fact that she's so doggedly determined to eliminate all enemies to the Goddess Verlaxion.” He bit his lip. “...or that I recognize in her attitude the pony that I once was.”
“Mrmmfff...” Echo paused in doing upside-down curl-ups from a metal bar hanging off his cell's ceiling. “What do you mean once was?”
Theanim turned and glared over his shoulder. “Oh come now, even you have to admit that I've loosened up a bit.”
“Hrmmff...” Echo resumed his sweaty exercise. Fangs glinted from across the shadows. “If you say so. Grffff... I've been too busy reacquainting myself with the weight of this freaky world.”
“Well, granted, that's quite true.” Theanim brushed his brown bangs back and sighed. “Still, there's something in the Commander's attitude that... alarms me.” He gulped. “And the funny part is that it didn't used to alarm me before.”
“Correct me if I'm wrong, Theams...” Echo curled and breathed. “But destroying all heretical entities under the rule of Verlaxion is more or less the Right Talon's bag, is it not?”
“But to do so with such swiftness that it eliminates all sensibility and contemplation?”
“Isn't that... uhhh... the Council's job?”
“True. But both you and I know that they can only see so much from their lofty, frozen alcove.” Theanim folded his forelimbs and sighed out his nostrils.
Echo's fangs showed beneath a smirk. “I'd be thanking my lucky stars for such short-sightedness, if I were you.”
Theanim glanced aside. “Huh?”
“Well, you're on the other side of the bars, are you not?”
“Hrmmm...” Theanim adjusted his goggles over his mane. “I haven't considered worrying over that.”
“Grnngh... m-maybe you should, Theams.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, if it turns out that the Council and the Right Talon decide to bring the hammer down on Rainbow Dash, then you're likely to go crumbling into gravel along with her.”
“All things considered, my association with Rainbow Dash ended right before she made her way to the Quade.”
“Yes, but... guilt by association, right?” Echo paused, squinting sideways at the stallion. “I mean... sure, you're not in any trouble for having run underwater circles with me. But for all of the horrible shit I've ever done, trashing a holy monastery isn't on the list.”
“That remains to be thoroughly explored, old chap.”
“Is that the scientist talking or the friend to Rainbow Dash?”
“Hmmm?”
Echo resumed his upside-down curl-ups. “We both know you get a huge holy boner for truth, Theams. I think Rainbow Dash has done a lot of awesome stuff for you and me. But I'm also starting to think she's cut you down a notch. Maybe two. You're starting to get a bit... mmmm... biased.”
“Good Goddess...” Theanim winced. “Do you actually believe that's true?”
“Don't get me wrong. Grnnngh... I think it's an improvement... mrmfff...”
Theanim leaned forward, rubbing his chin with his hoof. “I've put into careful consideration the possibility that Rainbow Dash is guilty of all the things the Council suspects of her. Even still...” He shook his head. “I do not believe that sicking the Right Talon of Verlaxion after her is going to accomplish anything—justice wise.”
“Can you think of a better idea?”
“I can think of several.” Theanim gulped. “But... if Seraphimus is managing the extraction operation that gets ahold of Rainbow, then all is lost.” He turned and looked at the sarosian behind bars. “She won't allow our Equestrian friend to get a word in to defend herself. As far as the Council knows, Rainbow Dash is an enemy of the Goddess. That means—as far as Seraphimus is concerned—she's nothing more than heretical filth. And I am terribly... terribly concerned for what this means about the way in which our nation exercises Verlaxion's divine will.”
“Why?” Echo grunted. “You weren't so concerned about it before.”
“Yes, well, times have changed. I've changed.”
“Not sure how it's going to help Rainbow Dash any.”
Theanim leaned back, eyes thin. “Hmmmm...”
“Wuh oh. You're humming contemplatively,” Echo mused. With a flick of his tail, he dropped off the bar, flipped, and landed nimbly on all fours. His slitted eyes peered across the shadows. “What's the epiphany, Theams?”
“I've sworn my fealty to Verlaxion since day one, old chap,” Theanim said. “However, as a scientist, there's one thing I've committed to with even greater dedication... or else my service to the Goddess would null and void.” He stood up, peering through the bars. “Truth. Above all things... truth reigns supreme. And I fear I've been avoiding it for far too long.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“There may come a time when Rainbow Dash is accosted and brought in to the Council,” Theanim said. “I mean... it's the Right Talon of Verlaxion, Echo. It's only a matter of time before they catch up with her.” He gulped. “I need to be prepared for when that happens... so that I may defend her.”
“But... you said it yourself. Seraphimus and her team are on the case.” Echo blinked. “Just what flexibility will the Council even give you?”
“That depends on what kind of a grasp we can get on the situation. And I won't find out by lingering here in Frostknife, waiting for the Council's good graces to run out.” He took a deep breath. “There are ponies now in our midst who can tell me exactly what happened in the Quade. I think it's high time I went and spoke with them myself.”
“Theams...”
“Stay in good health, Echo,” Theanim said, trotting off. “I'll speak with you again shortly—”
“Theanim!” Echo's fuzzy face pressed against the bars.
Theanim turned to glance at him.
Echo's fangs showed. “If you're talking about who I think you are... well...” His leafy ears folded back. “Be careful, okay? It took a lot of questionable characters to get those monks here. And... and I don't think it would do well to step on any of their fetlocks.”
Theanim smiled. “Your concern for me is endearing, Echo.”
“Hrmmmff...” Echo backtrotted, frowning. “Concern for you? Shieeeet... just making sure you don't blow it or else Rainbow Dash's goose is cooked.”
“Uh huh.” And Theanim called the guard to make his exit.
“So what's he doing?” Whony asked.
Quint and several other colts paused in mopping the decks. They stared... squinted up at a cluster of dark clouds hovering just north of Red Barge.
“It's like he's just sitting there!” another colt remarked, sweating in the hot sun. “Doing... bird things.”
“I swear...” Whony grunted, mopping up more of the bulkheads. “If he messes up the northern struts...”
“He's not all bird.”
“Still. Seems like just the kind of thing a mainlander would do.”
“What I want to know is how can he sit on a cloud?”
“Don't be stupid. All griffons and pegasi can interact with clouds.”
“None of our pegasi do!”
“Because Top Dredger Skagra would have Saxon and the others spear 'em in a blink!”
“Ha! True that! Hahaha!”
“Hrmmm...” Quint's jaw clenched. “He's a big problem. That's what.”
“In what way?”
“Isn't it obvious?” Quint grumbled as he mopped. “He's here for the Rainbow Rogue. If the Right Talon snatches the monster up, then Top Dredger Skagra loses his chance at profit.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So, dipshit...” Quint frowned at the colts beside him. “...our dredge coal harvest has been sucking as of late. Skagra already gave the trinkets from the dead drifts to Monket... who still isn't back yet. Even if the slaver of waves hasn't robbed us blind, we're still in the red. Which means...
“...Skagra's gonna start sending some of us into the machine pits to make up for our losses,” Whony grumbled. “Or start selling us to Mudtop. Whichever strikes his fancy first.”
“But... we're seafoam!” Another colt stammered. “What would Mudtop want with us?”
“Whatever our flesh can offer,” Quint grunted. “At least here, in Red Barge, we can get our nibbles.”
“I-I don't like this at all,” a colt whimpered.
“Hush!” Quint hissed. “Skagra's not going to let it come to that.”
“For our sake?”
“Don't be stupid.” Quint stared skyward. “The first opportunity he gets, the top dredger will off the griffon.”
“But... b-but he's a guardian!” a colt stammered. “From the continent!”
“Skagra will find a way,” Quint said. “The griffon just has to make the first stupid move, and then we'll be one problem short of putting Red Barge back on track. Even higher.”
“Wow, Quint...” Whony smirked. “You really believe in Skagra, don't you?”
Quint clenched his jaw shut.
“So... uh...” Another colt fidgeted where he stood. “What can we do to help?”
“Nothing,” Quint said.
“Well, that's useful,” Whony rolled his eyes.
Quint slapped him upside the head. “I mean it.” He turned to glare at the others. “We mustn't speak a word of the Rainbow Rogue to this feathery joker. The first moment he so much as hears that we've got the monster in our hold, then all is lost!” Quint pointed. “So you better not let me catch any of you shitbags talking within earshot of the griffon! Do I make myself clear?
“Yes, Quint.”
“Yes, Quint...”
“S-sure thing, boss.”
Quint sighed. “Just... play it cool. Do your labor. Get your nibbles. And everything will be... f-fine.”
Whony stared off across the struts. A tiny, one-eared figure shuffled across the welded decks and made his way towards the southern end of the Barge. “Maybe it's not us you should be concerned about, Quint...”
Quint squinted. As he spotted Swab's figure, a frown crossed his muzzle.
The little brown speck of a colt scampered across the lattices and pipework. Ultimately, he disappeared inside a small stairwell located in the heart of the Barge's southern strut.
All of this was observed by a pair of hawkeyes from afar.
Keris blinked. He craned his neck to the side, staring across the lengths of the Southern Strut.
A smoggy wind blew at his feathers. Perched atop the cluster of dark clouds, he exhaled, rubbing his chin in contemplation.
Something glinted in his peripheral.
“... … …?” Twirling around, the Lieutenant glanced due north.
He caught sight of one... two... three tiny skiffs sailing south across the waves, powered by steam. Their hulls had a noticeably pale quality to the metal.
Keris blinked, folding his arms as a curious smile lingered beneath his beak. “Hmmm...”