The black Turtle snapped with annoyance, "The Dragon doesn't oversee every little storm personally!"

A misty fog seemed to be filling the room, and Danika shivered as the fog seemed to slither around the room. She regretted the question, but it had sounded like asking what the Jade Emperor had borrowed would have annoyed him too. She wondered if they would live through her having annoyed the black Turtle despite the merchant's caution.

The fog coalesced a moment later into the form of a blue-green oriental dragon, that shivered and reduced itself within the blink of an eye to a tall woman with oriental features who was dressed in the same type of elaborate robes that the Jade Emperor and his celestial servants wore.

The woman looked at the turtle and smiled, before saying, "How fortunate that one of my children graced with great luck spoke of me in your presence. Let us be civil and discuss your use of my storms in your latest war, when they should be grazing freely in the upper atmosphere and storing up energy for storming in the fall."

The black Turtle seemed to tremble before her, and then transformed into a tall man with dark hair and similar oriental features and robes, standing on a dark empty circle of mirror smooth ice, where the enormous turtle had been embedded in the pool. He lifted his chin and declared stubbornly, "It is the most efficient way!"

Danika glanced at Sea Song Tione who was bouncing with glee in his blanket as he watched the gods with open mouthed awe. She squeaked, and then cleared her voice and objected, "But it's not very just?"

Both gods turned to look at her, and Danika would have fallen if Aishin hadn't stood fast before their gazes and continued to support her with his hands. After a moment Danika explained quickly, "This dolphin, and likely many other innocent creatures have been hurt by the sudden unseasonal ice in the northern ocean."

The Dragon gave her a small smile, while the Turtle frowned at her and then turned his gaze upon the dolphin. Danika wished she hadn't spoken, since both expressions seemed ominous to her.

MatchlessMinion suddenly began to shudder and exclaimed, "No!" His avatar flickered beneath everyone's startled eyes and vanished. It reappeared a moment later and SaltySiamese's voice exclaimed, "Oh wow! You weren't lying!"

The Turtle asked, "You are also dual natured little Thief? Your body doesn't represent this."

Danika launched herself from Aishin's hands and zipped between the gods and MatchlessMinion. "Please don't do anything to his body!" she exclaimed. "He's not dual natured, it's his sister stealing his account for a minute!"

"Borrowing," SaltySiamese corrected huffily from her brother's chinchillamin.

The Dragon narrowed her eyes with amusement and said gently, "Siblings do tend to borrow things without asking now and then."

The Turtle grumbled, "It's the most efficient way," he looked at Sea Song Tione and admitted, "although it is good that the little bard was rescued, there will inevitably be some collateral damage."

Danika whispered, "How is the goblin hunting going? Have you guys managed to destroy the fortress yet?"

SaltySiamese answered quietly, "It won't burn, we've broken into it a few times, but only some of the beta players can survive for long inside."

The Turtle said sharply, "Of course it won't burn, it has my ice built into it! Only the Bird's own fire could burn it."

The Dragon laughed toothily and hid her mouth behind her long sleeve as she commented, "It was so careless of you to lose your staff."

Aishin spoke up suddenly, and asked, "Won't the fortress be immune to a flood of your own power then?"

The Dragon chuckled and answered first, "Of course not, water and ice are their own opposites in a way, and the Turtle has always been dual natured."

The Turtle grumbled, "I didn't lose it, I know exactly where it is. But it cannot be held by a mortal, so that knowledge won't help these mortals."

Danika asked, with a wide eyed questioning stare at the god, "Wouldn't it just be simpler if you went and got it then?"

The Dragon smiled and said, "It sounds easy doesn't it?"

The Turtle glared at the Dragon and grumbled, "I cannot take it from where the Emperor has placed it."

Danika frowned again and asked, "But you can wash it away? Was it really the Jade Emperor and not one of the celestial servants?" She felt fairly certain that the Christmas Goblin quest was not an automatically generated quest. But the winter storms generated by the angry Turtle also seemed to be part of it, and trying to figure out the logical boundaries of the quest was making her head ache.

Aishin said thoughtfully, "If you can reclaim it as soon as it's no longer where the Emperor placed it, can't you just give us a way to move it?"

Sea Song Tione exclaimed, "Oh, how clever! I wish I had legs so that I could go to the goblin fortress and watch you steal the dark Turtle's staff from the Jade Emperor!"

Danika winced and said, "When you put it that way, it sounds like a really bad idea."

The Dragon said, "I think my child's question is valid, are you certain it was placed by the Emperor and not one of his servants?"

Danika glanced at the god and thought that her oriental dragon form didn't resemble the dragon the Sandman had shown her. She decided that the dragon must not be speaking literally when she referred to ZipZing as her child.

The Turtle gazed into the distance for a moment and then frowned and shook his head. "I cannot call it, it has been placed with the Emperor's power."

Aishin asked, "Why do you have your power stored in a staff, when you can still use it without it?"

The Dragon covered her mouth and laughed again. "He is lazy," she explained.

"Busy!" the Turtle snapped. "I don't have time to sit here every winter!"

Sea Song Tione piped up, "I have been here hundreds of times with my mother and we have never seen the black Turtle in person before!"

The Turtle looked at the Dragon and offered, "I'll release your storms to their rest if you will arrange to move my staff."

The Dragon narrowed her eyes and murmured, "You will owe me a favor and you will have to slow the sea when you release the ice."

The Turtle nodded and said, "I know."

The Dragon turned suddenly and looked past ZipZing and Aishin to gaze at Shrubbery. All the leaves and flowers in Shrubbery's hair trembled. The Dragon said, "The goblin fortress is built from logs. The staff need only be shifted a human handspan."

Shrubbery gasped and Danika's eyes widened. The Dragon shifted her gaze to ZipZing, and then looked past her, to Sea Song Tione. "The dolphin should be able to sense the the proximity of the Turtle's power, if you can come up with some way to transport him."

MatchlessMinion questioned in SaltySiamese's voice, "But no one has been able to reach the center of the goblin fortress yet?"

The dragon smiled toothily and asked, "Little mortal sibling of the tasty little thief, let your brother and the assassin use their stealth."

Danika clamped her mouth shut. She was not going to ask, 'What should I be doing,' nor, 'What will you be doing that the Turtle will owe you a favor for?' The Dragon looked at her as though she could read those treacherous thoughts, and said, "And you, little dragon, you will call me once to clear the way when your party can go no further."

A tight band of jade shaped like a dragon coalesced around Danika's wrist opposite her storage ring.

SaltySiamese complained, "Fine!" But before she returned the character to her brother she told Danika fiercely, "We will prepare for your entrance! Don't take too long getting here!"

The Dragon replied, "They will travel as fast as my winds will carry them." She turned to the Turtle, who nodded his head and horrific groan rang throughout the entire Nadia city a moment later as he shifted back into his enormous black Turtle form.

"If you are successful, this method will indeed be more just, and you will have my thanks," the black Turtle declared gustily. The ice beneath him shivered and liquefied. He sank into the dark water and then dove quickly out of sight.

The Dragon instructed, "Return to your ship and prepare for the wind as quickly as possible." Her form shivered, and the Dragon dove into the dark water after the Turtle and was gone.

They all turned and looked at the archways behind them as MatchlessMinion disconnected and reconnected. The opening to the city was no longer covered with ice, but some sort of barrier still shimmered against the water, leaving the temple filled with air apart from a shallow pool that provided access to water dwellers.

"Even if we run back up the corridor to the surface, how will we get back to the inn? How far away is the ship?" Danika asked doubtfully.

Aishin turned to Sea Song Tione and asked, "Can you carry the stone room to the inn, and then to where the elven ship is after we've collected the elves?"

The dolphin asked eagerly, "Which inn?"

MatchlessMinion said sourly, "Sheltinn."

"I can do it!" Sea Song Tione declared. He wriggled within his blanket and added, "If you can move me to the entrance first?"

Danika zipped over and cast her featherweight on him, and then Aishin grabbed the blanket and pulled the dolphin over to the entrance and rolled him out of the blanket and into the water. He set down the stone and said, "Everyone back in."

Danika zipped down and tapped the stone and said, "Darkheart." Shrubbery and MatchlessMinion appeared inside the room a moment later, and Aishin followed quickly.

"How will we know when to exit?" Danika asked.

All three of her companions looked at her and Shrubbery asked, "Haven't you sent Sea Song Tione a friend request yet? He accepted mine right away."

Danika covered her face which did nothing to hide her embarrassment as her wings sparkled. A moment later she called up her menus and sent the request to the NPC. It was accepted instantly.

Aishin said, "I should add him to the party too if we have to carry him into the goblin fortress, in case we somehow get separated." A moment later Sea Song Tione appeared in their party list, and they each received a message carried by a small flying fish that read, "Here!"