The coastline was as much stone as ice, together bearing the violent convergence of two geographical behemoths: sea and shore. Both were bare of life–even the sparse grasses of the western reaches recoiled from the briny spray that erupted there. This was not a place for the living, charged as it was with raw, rampant magicks. The elements danced at their full strength here, the spirits of ancients moved in incomprehensible harmony, and a dead woman walked alone toward the water's edge. She had not tread so far and for so long in these forgotten wastes in order to attune with the primal forces at work there, however. These were a distraction, a whirling haystack through which she sought the proverbial needle. It glinted arcane beneath the candle of her divinity, burning a swathe of necrotic power through the natural energies around her. 

The gate had brought her close, but only auristic senses would lead her where she desired. She wore only as many clothes as would prevent her withered skin from cracking in the freezing air or fraying in the intense wind.  A large pack followed her, floating just above the surface of the jagged slopes. About fifty feet from the tidal zone, where the ice flatted smoothly, it fell in a heap at her side. Beneath the secrecy of her hood and mask, Chae smiled.

As if inspired by her presence, a single large rune sank into the ice at her feet. Between the grooves it glowed a bright beckoning blue, and immediately Chae set to work. She produced ritual components from her bag, white candles and lapis lazuli and horehound and countless other meticulously chosen items, and wove them through the low sound of her primordial chanting. The final ingredient was the hallowed blood magic of the before-folk, which was summoned from beneath Chae's own sleeve by a ceremonial dagger.

The greenish liquid dripped in a viscous heap onto the symbol. It slipped over the ice and traced into the little channels, where it sank and disappeared. Nothing else happened. The unrelenting wind seemed to scream rejoice at her failure.

She tried again. She dove into her bag and found a phial of what could only be more blood. The little glass lid was still rolling on the ground when its contents had seeped into the greedy symbol, still to no effect.

So she found a different phial and tried again. Human blood. Elf blood. Enchanted blood. None would open the gate. And Chae was beginning to realize why.

It was a thing of knowledge, which thirsted for novelty just as she did. Over the years it had drank of every race of lifeblood known to this world and others. And it had opened only once for each. The goddess's frantic, limitless mind searched for another solution. Quickly it occurred to her that there existed a magic of mutation, a loophole to the capricious lock for which there would always be a key.

The Handler.

Chae waved a petulant arm at a spot just beside her own, which was only partially sheltered from the ocean spray by an outcropping of tall rocks. The space there was warped by a haphazard summoning spell, twisted and amplified by the elemental powers around her. "Natsumi!" She declared, and so the experiment was summoned.

Where ever that cursed creature was at that moment, in the next she would appear beside the goddess. Other items, creatures, or magicks might have been randomly transported with her; other parts of her may not have made it through the makeshift portal intact. Chae's supernal intention forbade that the subject be harmed in any crippling way, though she cared little about the details. Ultimately, Natsumi would feel only a brief squeezing sensation, a popping of the ears, and, of course, the penetrating cold of Itjivut Isle. Urgently, Chae pulled down the cloth to reveal her face.

"I require power," she said without pause. It was easy to forget what others knew and did not know, as so many thoughts and details roiled in her own brain. "Unique power. Give it to me."

On the day Natsumi gained the title of Ice Queen, she was actually revisiting the ruins of Tinashe in the Bohar Plains. Finding Kino had been a fluke during her first visit there, and her original team had had to retreat after the recovery. By doing so, they left behind several chambers in the catacombs, many of which were not detailed in White's effects. These undiscovered areas became prime raiding locations, and the entire reason for why Natsumi had returned so soon after her mission to retrieve the Ratchet Wheel.
 
Unfortunately for the druid, each entrance to these chambers was also guarded by unique automatons. The sentinels were composed of stone resembling obsidian, but with the power to grant near invulnerability against physical weapons. Worse, each and every one was powered by an unknown energy source located deeper within the complex. It made the veins in their inorganic arms glow green, and also showed no signs of dissipating despite prolonged activity. Therefore, for all intents and purposes, these constructs were tireless soldiers immune to conventional battle tactics: a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.
 
Then again, Chae's summoning was anything but conventional. When one such golem made a punch toward Natsumi, the divine portal opened, tearing the woman from one reality into another. The borders of the ritual sheered the automaton's arm in half just as it barely missed its target, and took the severed portion to the snowy landscape alongside the exhausted treasure hunter. It wasn't the way she had intended to end the battle, but she could hardly pretend that she wasn't the slightest bit thankful to have been removed from the predicament before it worsened.
 
Sadly, Natsumi didn't quite yet realize that all this summoning had really accomplished was a transition from frying pan to fire. In the frozen wastes of Itjavut, she now stood face to face with a most unwelcome host. Dressed only in boots, gloves, a tunic and pants, she was completely unprepared for the climate. There was no cloak or winter coat to protect her from the elements, and Kino was surprisingly silent despite the harsh transition. Being forced through the magical wards that protected Tinashe from assault had, undoubtedly, temporarily disoriented the artifact, leaving Natsumi to fend for herself in a situation that she needed allies the most.
 
"Chae, I presume?" the queen asked while turning to face the small lich who demanded power. Considering where she had been up until a few moments ago, it wasn't hard for her to discern who this creature was. After all, Tinashe was a fortress that very few individuals could pry another from. "Ripping me from a ruin shielded by ancient, powerful, anti-magical wards is something only a select few individuals in this world would be capable of, and only three of them smell of death as you do - one that is female." She paused, carefully considering how to react. Chae was the first deity she had met in person, and her opinions of divinity, being Parvporan, were hardly stellar to begin with. She expected treachery from the beginning, and, as luck would have it, fate would deliver by the day's end. "I don't know what kind of power you seek, or why you seem so agitated, but I'd rather get back to my dig, if that's alright. Perhaps this arm will be unique enough to satiate your lust for power."
 
The aforementioned golem arm lay collapsed on the ground next to Chae and Natsumi. Its fist alone was larger than the minute deity, and still glowed with the mysterious power of the ruined city. The Black Queen hoped, in vain, that that would be enough to bribe Chae in exchange for a peaceful departure. She had no way of knowing the deity's intent of experimentation, nor of The Handler's grim machinations that slowly turned in the background.

Chae’s gaze had been attracted to the severed arm even before Natsumi mentioned it, her divided attention contemplating its nature and its strange alliance with this woman. Without otherwise acknowledging the druid’s words, Chae frowned as she bent to inspect it. The magic in it still sparked with dying enthusiasm, fingers twitching as if in the throes of a muscle spasm. It shared few similarities with either ancient Zujiuchun automatons or modern Tarishitan mechanisms, but Chae had heard of this technology. Where?

“There are old words in old books, rotted by time…” She mused aloud, focused forward as if seeing something other than that which stood before her. “They speak of perpetual energy machines, complex autotransmutation magic, prolonged artificial intelligence. This… this is what the University seeks. You…”

Awoken from her divinations, Chae turned to her captive and smiled. “This is not yours to give.” She filled a pause with a sigh. “Thank you,” she added reluctantly, and the dead device snapped out of sight with the same abrupt magic which had brought unwittingly it to her. 

If they were in the Library, this would be a worthy offering. Natsumi would be invited to study in one of its many workshops, perhaps in tinkering or anatomy. But the circumstances were different. Chae would not be mollified without a very specific outcome. “I lust for nothing,” the scientist clarified, holding Natsumi’s eye with a knowing glance before gesturing vaguely toward the sigil beside them. “The power of mutation is not written anywhere on this plane—though I have seen it wielded against you. I must know it. This is my burden.”

She could have spilled the mortal’s blood then and there, to test her hypothesis. It wouldn’t have to be much. But her gate was worth the wait, and a treasure as invaluable as a mutable key was enough to attempt to appease the Queen, to spare her of disaffecting pains. A thick fur blanket appeared over Natsumi’s shoulders, resting over her body as soon as she admitted it with a touch.

“Show me how. Or show me one who can.”

Chae's half-acceptance of the arm was one of those outcomes that was expected but not enthusiastically anticipated. Natsumi knew full well that it wasn't hers to give, that she hadn't severed the arm of her own power. Yet the alternative of having nothing to offer was, in her mind, far worse than trying to give away someone else's prize.
 
Sadly, the attempted pacification failed, leaving Natsumi with nothing. Equal parts warmth and anxiety filled the void left behind by the missing artifact, the latter intensifying when mutation was finally mentioned. The deity, apparently, desired something she could not have, and the mere act of asking had caused images of The Handler to quickly flash through the Black Queen's mind. An unsettling grin now hung upon the backdrop of an ethereal void, draining the color from Natsumi's knuckles as they clenched the fur coat Chae had summoned for her.   
 
"That is not within my power to give," she said after a pensive pause. "There was always apprehension itching in the back of my mind when The Handler was so brazen as to possess that dragon whilst it slept. She had always been so subtle before that point – trying to avoid the gaze of the powerful, no doubt. Regardless, The Handler's curse is not within my control. I do not direct the mutations nor can I summon her. I doubt she has even set foot on this plane even once, despite how much she seems to know about it."
 
Walking over to the seal that the goddess had summoned, Natsumi examined its carvings. She had the faintest idea of what her host desired, thinking primarily of keys and blood given Itjavut's history, but knew that she could not sate the lich's want beyond an initial donation. Even worse, she anticipated the next request, and worried she wouldn't be able to get out of this situation as easily as she had the others before it.
 
"I have a feeling I know where you're going to go next. It's always been the logical sequence for those who discover my curse, wish its power, and discover they cannot have it. In keeping with them, you'll probably want to do the same: experiment on me to discover a way to replicate The Handler's power." Sighing, the Black Queen knew this was not the answer the deity was looking for, even if realized it had to be said."I will have to refuse, no matter my feelings toward the creature that has enslaved my soul in exchange for a bit of power. T'was a bargain I never wanted nor asked for: one I have found no way to dispel."
 
That denial stated, Natsumi was not beyond offering Chae a donation of blood to satiate her somewhat. She just refused to be a pet any longer, and would rather die than let someone experiment on her.