Undine was studying the whole encounter. She was calm and that alone made Cassia take a mental step back with how she would deal with the two of them. The men who charged in were a loss but she would have to accept it. The half-demon hadn’t expected how calm the siren would be during this encounter. She had expected the exact opposite as it were.

It would appear that Cassia had done a misstep and Undine was quick to catch it with those blue eyes. She had driven Sol over the edge, yes, but Undine was the current unknown factor. There was a smirk on Cassia’s outside demeanor towards Sol. “Then you know the value of the woman you brought here all too well and the price of what they would pay for her.” It did appear, however, there was another misstep as Sol transformed and took it out on everything.

“The dumb die and the smart live to fight another day. A battle lost today could be the war won tomorrow. Do not be so stupid to throw away everything to get your way.” Cassia’s gold eyes washed over Sol before Undine called her out.

The siren was quick to wrap herself around Sol as she was caught. Getting out of his arms she helped him back up once his transformation was done. Her eyes were soft on his but sharpened when she glared up at Cassia. “Get your stuff and get out. Leave how I can use you to me and me alone.” She folded her arms into her sleeves and looked at all the damage. A low groan left her lips as she turned her back to them and disappeared. A loss today was a gain tomorrow.

Undine silently nodded and held onto his arm. “Your father probably saw enough to guess this is Jayou… I will do better to block Eldora even if it means swallowing my pride to protect us.” There was a sigh that left her lips as she let his arm leave her grasp.

It wasn’t long until they had packed and boarded the airship. Cassia had paid enough money to make sure it was an empty airship that they were on. Undine was leaning over the edge of the railing looking down at the dark waters that tossed and turned. She couldn’t even hear it. “I don’t like this.” A low hiss left her lips but it followed by a sigh and her arms slid across the railing gripping either side.

“I don’t like airships. I’ve decided that much.” The more she discovered about herself the more dangerous she seemed to become.

Kurayo was something else entirely for her. The land was veiled in darkness and she saw it for herself as the sun disappeared entirely into a nightscape. “Home sweet home… I guess.” The airship landed and she felt her legs become a bit wobbly as they finally got onto some ground. Some of Cassia’s men had followed them to ensure they found their way to the manor they would be calling home. This land felt a bit wrong to her but she let the shiver go down her spine before catching up to Sol who had walked just a bit more ahead of her.

Eyes were on them. So many different races were watching. Some of them were more predator-like where others were terrified. This was a land ruled by power and maybe the two of them would do better here. “This is it. Lady Cassia has asked that you do not break her things or burn the manor down. Other than that… It is yours to do with as you wish.” The men bowed and left them to their devices.

It was a rather huge manor. Undine didn’t know if she had ever stepped foot inside of one aside from the one in Arri that she had once called home. There was a broken fountain near the front of the building. Tilting her head she looked up at it and studied it just a bit. Her hand felt along the stone and marble and before long water burst out of it with force before it calmed down. The sound of running water appeared to comfort the siren. “She said the main bedroom faced out towards the courtyard… with a big window.” Cassia had at least left some instruction. Her hands went into the water and she found it cool and crisp. “Should we go see?”

Perhaps it would have been wise for Cassia to follow her own advice- she let her men and businesses continue to get destroyed by Sol’s onslaught as he was fueled by his waning pride and growing rage. Yet she was lecturing him where he didn’t have anything to lose? Sol was thriving off the gained energy he acquired from the change, but it was a rush that he kept up for too long. That damned slumber took a great deal of strength from him and it would only last for mere minutes at this point. Still, the demon was rather effective in using this precious time while Undine hung about. He had to settle down after a bit of making a point and now they were supposed to be all pals? He would be stupid if he thought he could trust her completely but Undine caught her in a bluff that didn’t seem fake to him. Or maybe she was just a good actress.

But all that mattered was that he was akin to a dog for her to play with- they both were. They were to do her damn bidding and she would toss a few bones their way. Sol wasn’t too fond of this- it was no better than when he had to obey his father, but he just needed to buy his time and wait it out.

“Probably. He’ll know that we will be on the move. Might send the others here to find out from Cassia, if not himself.” If Xunatar was hungry enough to learn where they were, he would certainly pull all the stops in order to do so- he was that type of man after all. “That Eldora seems like a problem. A big problem if she keeps hounding us.”

The two packed up and took their men with them to an undisclosed area where there was an airship waiting for them. Sol hadn’t gotten very used to these contraptions yet, but it was obvious that Undine had it worse. Sol had been sitting on the deck while his eyes flung over to Undine when her voice reached his ear. “Not feeling your connection with the water or something?” It was a random guess but he remembered how she didn’t make as much of a fuss when they were on board a normal boat. Being in the air, in unfamiliar territory was sure to get beneath the skin of the unprepared.

When they finally hit land, Sol was pleased to be off that damn thing and feel the ground beneath him once more. Kurayo was a strange place with even more strange creatures, but he didn’t care about any of them and it showed as he strolled past them without a second glance. To most, he would appear extremely arrogant, but Sol simply wanted to get to the manor Cassia spoke of. He took her men’s warning with a grain of salt before his forces were left to get associated with the place and he followed Undine around the courtyard. This was a lovely little gift, though he remained skeptical about the generosity has given to them. Just what did Cassia want them to do to earn their keep? His attention turned momentarily to the fountain that she breathed life back into before peeking up to the window on the second floor. The one that they could presume was the master bedroom.

“Let’s go”

He led the charge and entered the house, seeing that some of his men were getting used to this new home. When the duo finally made it to the bedroom, he gazing through the window and sure enough, her cousin was right about the view. “Nice place for a city like this. Let’s just hope she isn’t full of any more surprised. The house itself was huge and could only fit different families worth of people here with no problem.

“Do you think we can trust her then?”, Sol asked as he sat at the window sill.

“Doubt Cassia would tell them anything without a price.” Undine rolled her eyes a bit. “We’re more useful to her alive than if she received money… Plus they associate with her mother. That’s enough to make her lips sealed.” Undine clicked her tongue lightly. “Eldora isn’t one to be trifled with that much is for certain. She seems a lot more in control than she used to be. She’s scared of me but that’s because of the past. She’s matured into her powers and I haven’t yet had that wonderful experience.” There was a sigh from her lips as she thought about it more.

On the airship, she had turned her head to him with sad eyes. “I can barely hear its call… I don’t like this at all. This is much worse than being a land dweller.” There was a whine to her voice.

Undine fell onto the bed as soon as they got into the room. She was mumbling something into a pillow but pulled her head up. “You shouldn’t trust Cassia at all… Even if she gives you all the reasons to. She is a snake.” There was a groan from her but before long one of the men opened the door and Undine unnaturally snapped her neck up at him. “GET OUT.” She took a pillow and threw it at the door.

“YES MA’AM,” the man yipped as the door slammed and Undine grumbled more. She was still sore with Sol. It showed from how she wasn’t being as talkative with him. After a few seconds, the man popped his head back in slowly now. Undine’s blue eyes narrowed onto him. “We have your stuff.”

There was a roll of her eyes as she pointed to a corner. “Move it all there… Hurry.” Hurry they did before she flung herself the opposite way on the bed now laying across. She was so small that it worked either way for her as she stretched her arms off the side and let them hang. She hated it here. It was even worse than Jayou. Worse yet? She could feel something near but couldn’t put her fingers on it. Also, the ocean was so far from them. It was putting her in an overall poor mood considering Sol had yet to formally apologize to her in the right way.

“I take it she would choose death over revealing our location then? Don’t think she’d like you or me that much, but you know her better than I.” Sol wouldn’t put it past his father to threaten her life and likely go through with it if she didn’t speak. Then again, the bastard had other methods to find them, perhaps far worse ways. Him having Undine’s sister in his stead didn’t help matters but there was naught they could do about it. Resources weren’t out of his reach and played well into his favor. They would have to remain cautious for the rest of their stay here.

Being far from the sea disturbed her greatly and knowing about how sea demons were like, he would have to rectify the situation so that her feelings would bring ruin to them. As they settled down in their new headquarters, Sol’s eyes lingered onto her as she planted herself onto the bed. “As much as I hate to admit it, I am my father’s son when it comes to trust. I rarely, rarely do.” The only reason why he trusted Undine was that he had made that pact with her father and despite it all, she had yet to flee for good or turn against him. Had she left him? Yes, but that was because she was angry because he wanted her to obey him.

“Must you keep scaring the help?”, he sighed and covered his eyes with a palm. “If it will make you feel better, then I will apologize…again.” He called out to the same man she had just scared to death and whispered to retrieve something for him. The man scurried and he moved away from the window sill and exited himself. When the grunt came back to the house with the sought for items, Sol met him at the front door and moved back to the bedroom. He hastily moved towards her and dumped the bucket full of seawater onto her body and bed. “There, I’ve apologized. We aren’t too far from the sea here. You’ll be back in your element, just like how you are now.” He didn’t do well with threats and in his mind, this would be enough to warrant her to let go of her anger- if it didn’t entice it further that is…

“Probably out of her own pride and not for us.”

Undine didn’t raise her head off the bed when Sol lightly scolded her. “They aren’t dead. They’ll be fine.” She was a brooder and a lazy one at that. It showed from how quiet and still she was being at that moment. His offer to apologize again was met with a look as she tilted her head and lifted slightly to look at him.

She didn’t think much of it as she lowered her face back down and waited to see whatever it was the demon was doing. However, she wasn’t expecting the surprise that Sol had for her. As the water came down she jumped up out of shock. It wasn’t cold against her since she was naturally cold but it was the act itself. For a few moments, she was staring at Sol with her mouth hanging low. “You…” It came out low before she lunged. “SON OF A BITCH.”

The siren was fast as she growled and hissed her way to throwing him. The raw strength and power she had when not restricted was impressive, to say the least. It was unbecoming of how small she was. Her normally blue eyes were a raging vivid red. Her mouth was opened wide with sharp teeth. There were black blood vessels across her skin and face as she pinned him to the bed. There was shriek from her mouth up close to him. It almost looked like her hair was about to stand on the ends of her head if it wasn’t for how long and thick her hair was.

The shriek from her voice broke the few mirrors in the bedroom luckily leaving the windows unbroken. Maybe perhaps they were enchanted against such things. Her nails were now long and pointed as they dug into his flesh. As she went in to rip him apart she stopped and got upset. Her features went back to normal and she just sat straddled on his waist. “Must you have thrown that on me?” It was self-restraint, guess she had some after all. “You could have just shown me.”

Sol was not the sort to apologize flat out; nor was he one to admit his mistakes easily. He had been a rather difficult one to deal with, from his upbringings to this very day. Perhaps it was more to it than that pride of his. But Undine was looking to tear down the mountain that was his ego. Still, it wouldn’t do to have her pissed off at him over something so trivial. So that’s why he brought the sea to her, and yet…it didn’t seem like it was the best move.

It only occurred to him after he was pinned down with a very angry siren.

Sol tried to resist, but she seemed much stronger, fueled by her wrath. He had never seen her in such a state before- even when she was upset, she didn’t look a thing like she was now. “Undine, cease this madness.” It was what he wanted to say if not for the searing pain from her digging nails. Gods, they pierced his skin with ease and it took all his strength to keep from screaming out. His ears felt like they were about to split from her screams but aside from that, he was alive. He weathered the storm and soon Undine was back to normal.

“Didn’t seem like you were going anywhere, not in the funk you were in. So I decided to bring it to you instead.” In Sol’s initial thought of this plan, it seemed foolproof but now, he was starting to see the folly of his ways. He turned his head to the side as to not look at her and scowled. “Fine…next time I’ll show you.” 

At least she had enough courtesy to not kill him. 

"Now, are we done?", he asked, referring to both her being mad and being on top of him. 

For a split second Eldora panicked and ran to Xunatar who was in a meeting with his sons. “I can see them!” She was out of breath as the water mirror formed. They had got to witness most of it. The shrieking. The maiming with her nails. Her shriek, in particular, was enough to make empty wine glasses on their side breath with ease. This was a pissed off siren. This was what she was really like when upset.

But as soon as it was over Undine allowed them to see a bit more. “Showing is much better than surprising me by dumping a bucket on me.” She pulled at her now drenched clothes. “They are itchy now.” Apparently, she was much more bothered by the consequences of the drenching and not the act itself. “YOU, the one who helped him. I can literally smell you with another bucket… Bring it here.” The man came in and tried not to eye her.

Undine hadn’t noticed that her drenched clothes were nearly see-through now. She took the bucket and the man ran out afraid of Sol catching him look at her. She took the bucket and dumped it over him easily. “There. Now we are done.” She swooped in to kiss him and pushed herself off of him. “Now we have to find house help to fix the damn bed.”

The water mirror shattered indicating that Undine was done letting Eldora see anything. “Well… That was relatively useless… We know they are by the sea though but that could be anywhere near the coastlines in Parvpora.”

Undine looked at his hand and spotted the silver ring. “Are you still going to wear it?” Maybe it was a symbol for something more. It was only now that Undine noticed she didn’t have hers. She remembered she chucked it at Sol when they fought the last time in Jayou. Her pride wouldn’t let her bring it up but she did miss the feeling.

“Do you want to see the ocean? Or?” She started to get undressed. It was an offer but also not really. This was Sol’s call now what they would be doing on their first day in Kurayo.

Dante was the first to leap out of his seat when Eldora gave them the news. Compared to this boring and dull meeting, the episodic show that was Undine and Sol was very entertaining. Steele could care less about them, especially his older brother but Xunatar needed to figure out where they were at so he followed along. “Haha, he dumped water on her? Funny, would think she’d appreciate it”, Dante offered as he sat close to the mirror and watched the entertainment continue.

It was clear that Sol hadn’t thought ahead but at least she wasn’t going to bite his head off…literally. Instead, she was in control now which might have been worse, in his mind anyway. The poor fool was summoned back in and like she had suspected, Sol had him get another bucket of seawater just in case the first attempt didn’t work out. “What are you gonna…” His words were beaten to the punch by her abrupt action, drenching him with the water as well. He wasn’t amused, to say the least, unlike his younger brother who was rolling on the floor up until the mirror ceased to exist.

Xunatar grew weary of this game and turned to Steele. “Find him and reveal that Sol is out in the world again. I want him alive, again.”

Steele looked to his father, “You sure?”

“Yes.”

The werewolf got up from his seat and headed off.

“Hey, who’s he getting?”, Dante asked, getting up and dusting himself off.

“The one person that can capture that bastard. Mordecai.”

Meanwhile, Sol glanced over to his hand. “Haven’t taken it off. I didn’t really think to anyway. The ring that she had thrown back at him was also in his possession, in his pocket where it had reminded since he took it back. Rising back up, he sat on the bed, not enjoying the feeling of being wet- he was of the flame, after all. She was of the sea, so it shouldn’t have bothered her like it actually had, in his mind. Seething a little bit, Sol removed his damp shirt and pushed himself off the bed. From there, he moved over to Undine and placed her against the wall as he stood over her. While it was him who was upset, he wasn’t going to hurt her. Instead, it was his turn to plant a kiss, choosing to put all that energy he had into it. The frustration, the tension… all of it was expressed in a more…constructive way, and a little destructive as their room looked like it had been ransacked by the end of it all. The sounds of things breaking various thuds against the walls and bed had scared some of their men, not knowing what the hell was going on.