Now that Juniper had an actual collar to examine, even if it wasn't her own, she could confirm the assessment made by the Hand of the Inheritor.
The collar was… powerful, and it contained woven enchantments to weaken the will of a fighter at the same time as making them stronger and tougher in other ways. A small way that Irmangaleth could be assured of the greater durability of his fighters, and could protect his investments.
Because it wasn't for anything so altruistic as a concern about their wellbeing. It did function that way, some of the other factors of the enchantments defining what would knock out a gladiator and leave them for retrieval, and as Juniper teased out the decision-making side of things she had to admit that she couldn't really see a way around it.
It would activate if one of them tried to engage in any kind of serious fight, and it had a rigorous definition of what that was, such that attacking the guards wasn't permitted but defending oneself against the guards was… but that had limits as well. And it didn't let the wearer attack other gladiators, or the management… and, of course, it had that fizzing reservoir of power which had a strong risk of blowing the wearer's head off.
"Well, the main thing I've determined is that we're not going to be able to fight or escape without these coming off," she said, eventually. "Unless, that is, I've missed something – but if so, I doubt we're going to be told what it is."
She flicked an ear, and Ulbrig chuckled grimly.
"That tells me you've spotted something anyway," he said. "I recognize that look."
"Quite correct," Juniper agreed. "Because… again, unless I've missed something, the enchantments on these simply wouldn't allow a member of the Nahyndrian League to fight."
Aivu made a curious noise.
"But the whole point is to fight in the arena," she said, then gasped – before lowering her voice.
"That's it, isn't it?" she asked, tail wagging. "That's what you've noticed?"
"It's only a guess," Juniper warned. "We don't want to plan based on only that assumption, or if we do it had better be a good plan… or the best plan we have available, at least."
Ulbrig relaxed a little, sitting back against the wall he and Aivu had claimed earlier, and rolled his neck with a sigh.
"Ah," he muttered. "Well, it's good to know you're on the case, Warchief."
He stretched. "But… this is a damn nest of snakes, and no mistake."
"I can't disagree," Juniper said. "Irmangaleth tricked us, there's no question there – no, he tricked me. That's what really happened there. I lost track of the fact he's a cunning demon, and failed to realize that the lack of a twist in the fight meant one was coming afterwards."
"Don't beat yourself up over it," Ulbrig advised. "What would you have done, if you'd known?"
"I was thinking about just that, in the arena," Juniper admitted. "I'd have left early, regardless of how the demons would have taken it."
Ulbrig paused.
"All right, that would have worked, but still," he said, taking her paw, and his gaze flicked to her muzzle for a moment as if to check for permission. "That's – one of those things about being wise after the fact. It's something you couldn't have known. Only suspected – but if suspecting those you're around of being up to something is a problem, then what are we even doing here?"
Juniper sighed.
"You have a good point," she said. "You're right – we didn't have enough information to know. But what I could have done is ask Zeklex what he planned."
She paused. "Well… assuming that he had an idea Irmangaleth was going to do it. It's possible he didn't, but it's not certain – he certainly could have mentioned the collars before now, since they're apparently standard procedure."
Aivu made a distressed noise.
"I know that you need to think about things that went wrong to make sure they don't go wrong again," she said. "But this is making me feel sad…"
She pressed up against Juniper's other side.
"You don't have to be perfect for us to love you, Juniper," she said, her voice quiet enough that nobody not in their little circle could hear. "It's enough to be you."
"She's got a damn good point," Ulbrig added.
Juniper closed her eyes, thinking about what Aivu had said. What Ulbrig was saying.
This was a setback. A problem. A mistake.
That much was fact.
She had to avoid forgetting it – but she also had to avoid letting it define her.
It had happened. And now she would move on.
"That's fair," she said, opening her eyes again. "And thank you."
"Your allies are correct," the Hand declared.
"Well, of course we are," Ulbrig said. "Don't need to be an angel to work that one out."
Juniper held her free paw up to her muzzle to stifle a chuckle.
"All right, thank you for the vote of confidence…" she said. "Hand – you were watching the battle as a whole, I take it? Did you see how Irmangaleth got those collars on? Where he kept them?"
"I believe it was a mundane trick of sleight of hand," the Hand replied. "Though I was not close enough to see for sure, or I would certainly have interfered – your safety is my charge, Champion, and I have failed you here."
"Don't fall into the same mistake that Ulbrig and Aivu have both just told me off for," Juniper said, glancing up at the Hand. "We were in an arena battle, you had every reason to stay out of the way so none of the combatants would hit you."
She turned her gaze to Ulbrig. "Speaking of which… I didn't get a chance to properly evaluate what happened in that battle. Is there anything about it you think went wrong?"
"I didn't enjoy being stabbed, but that's a hazard of my role," Ulbrig answered, frowning. "It'd be nice to know what we were facing, though."
"Olivie thought she was a Wild Hunt Scout, but I'm not so sure now," Juniper replied. "I've not heard of their being able to do something like that, and of course coming back to life from a fatal blow is… not something they can do, unless they're summoned, but that wasn't the case here."
Ulbrig looked like he wanted to say something, then stopped, and smiled a little.
"We could always ask, if she's around again," he said, instead.
There was something in his tone that sounded like he was hiding something, or maybe that there was something he wanted to say but it wasn't the right time for it, and Juniper looked at him suspiciously before shrugging.
"All right," she said. "So… I suppose I could have done more to tell you what I knew about who we were fighting. Or, Olivie could have done, or however you want to phrase it."
She glanced at Aivu. "And you did very well, Aivu. Not only in noticing where Atselm was when she hid herself, but also in being able to pass it all on to me without alerting her."
Aivu looked proud enough to burst, and Juniper scratched her under the chin. That made Aivu smile, at least until her movement reminded them both of the collar around her neck, and Aivu's expression fell.
"This collar is stupid," she said, with all the gravity of a disgusted six-year-old dragon – which was considerable. "I hate it."
"You're not alone, there," Juniper agreed.
"And it's really awful that you're caught too," Aivu went on. "Because, um… because if you weren't caught then you could come and do a rescue mission!"
"Irmangaleth said that the others have tried to rescue us," Juniper told them. "But he got the guards to stop them by threatening my life – or our lives, it wasn't clear which. And in that situation…"
She exhaled. "I don't know what I'd do. I don't know if I'd be much more help on the outside, except that on the outside I could probably demand that Zeklex help out somehow."
"What about if it was me?" Ulbrig asked, and Juniper looked at him.
The big griffin shifter's voice sounded… brittle, vulnerable almost, and Juniper wasn't really sure quite what to make of it.
"Then I'd try to get you out," she told him. "And – I don't exactly know how I'd try, because I've got more information now than I would have on the outside and I'm still not sure of a plan. But I'd try."
"And you'd try for everyone else, too, I expect," Ulbrig said, then muttered something.
It turned into a kind of chuckle.
"All right, all right," he said. "Sorry. Just… I'm not sure what it was."
Juniper tilted her head a little, thinking, then had an idea about what Ulbrig was getting at.
"Is that about whether I'd see you being in trouble differently than I'd see it for everyone else?" she asked.
"I think that's what I was getting at, though I'm not sure," Ulbrig admitted. "It's some kind of… jealousy, maybe. Insecurity. I don't know what to call it. Maybe it's both of those…"
He sighed. "Don't mind me, Warchief."
"I will if I want to," Juniper said. "Because the way you said it at first, I thought it meant what I'd do. And now it's about what I'd think… and that's a much harder thing to answer."
She rubbed the metal of the collar around her neck, feeling the magic under her paws. "It's no secret that I like to think I'm a friend of everyone in our group of companions, in their own ways. And I can rescue someone because they're a friend. But if you were in trouble, Ulbrig… I think it'd be different."
One of her tails twitched, and she ran a paw through the fur.
"Is that love?" she asked, using the word with care. "I don't know. Like I've said before, you're asking the wrong person if you want a simple answer to it. Can you really describe that, except in hindsight?"
"I don't know, but I've never had that kind of love," Aivu said, shaking her head. "Which is because I'm only little. But I do love you, Juniper, and that's a different kind of love."
"Always with the definitions, with you," Ulbrig laughed. "I don't know why I should have expected anything else!"
Juniper winked.
"Be glad you at least know that part of what you're getting, with me," she advised. "And I know that in some of the stories, love is this overwhelming thing that's impossible to mistake…"
She shrugged. "If that's how it's meant to be, this isn't it. But I…"
A thought made her voice trail off, and Ulbrig looked at her curiously.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I was going to say," Juniper admitted. "If that's how it's meant to be, this isn't it – but I want there to be another answer, if possible."
"Oh," Ulbrig said, as he realized what she meant. The connection that Juniper's mind had made.
She still wasn't sure. But she liked the idea.
Which was why she didn't like something that would close off the possibility.
"Well, if we're hunting your feelings, we'd better not spook them," he suggested, with a laugh. "Give them time!"
"That's not a bad idea," Juniper admitted, with a chuckle. "As for the collars… I was wondering if they'd missed something with the enchantment and if we could slip out of them by changing shape – but there's an easy enough magical solution to that, and they did it. Shame, really."
"Didn't even think of that one, but my neck in griffin form is much bigger than my head is now," Ulbrig agreed. "And you've got a smaller form too… that would have just left Aivu stuck in a collar."
"I wouldn't want to be," Aivu said, thoughtfully. "But it'd mean we could escape, so that would be good! It'd just be annoying to have this collar on."
"Annoying, there's a word for it," Juniper mused, then held up a paw and focused.
Sunset's light shone on her brow for a moment, as Mirala brought her own ideas to bear on the question. Then Sings-Brightly, who hummed a snatch of music as blue butterflies rose up around her.
Falconeyes came next, the energy and the void expressing themselves as she examined the collars in great detail, before giving way to Yannet who examined the whole thing with dispassion.
Caitrin, who was already thinking of a better punchline. Olivie, who simmered with fury about being caged but who knew that testing the collar would just lead to further humiliation.
Then there was a sensation of spread-wings, followed by a tingle running through her mind, and both dissolved a moment later as Juniper returned to the fore.
"Well," she said. "None of me have any solid ideas, but there's one thing that did remind me."
"Oh?" Finnean asked. "I hope we've got something to do rather than just sit here, boss."
"We do," Juniper agreed, tensing, then straightened up. "If I'm now a member of the Nahyndrian League – let's go and meet our co-workers."
