Frozen Flame

Chapter 16: The Plan... Slightly

Ice Kingdom

As Eliza finished speaking, she glanced at Jared and Bob, a slight eyebrow raised. "We'd need to work out the logistics, but what do you think so far?"

Jared nodded, a wide smile on his face. "It's brilliant! Genius, I love it so much! It's perfect!"

Bob bit his lip and frowned. "It's a good start, but it'll need some reworking." A pause. "For example, how can we ensure The Fire Lord will actually agree to this? There's no way he'll bring both Thorn and your children with him. We don't even know why he took them in the first place." He moved his hand to the side and sat back. "And what could we possibly offer him that he'd agree to swap both Thorn and your children for? If he went to all this effort to take him, it'd have to be something quite large. Even more than that, he's the Fire Lord. He'd never go anywhere without his guards."

Jared nodded. "He's a reasonable guy though."

A blink. Bob turned to him. "There's a reason you stopped meeting with him. He's a lot less reasonable now, isn't he?"

A sigh. Jared placed a hand on his chin. "Yeah... But he's still a pretty great guy, I'm sure there's something we can work out."

"You're far too optimistic."

"Well..." Eliza crossed her arms and sat back. "I can tell you right now that Svorn doesn't trust any of his guards. He's not the trusting type - especially with the number of spies from different States on him. If we ask to meet him one on one, he'll come one on one no problem."

"He might not have a chance." Bob grimaced. "If he's consistently watched, the only way he'd be able to get out of the Fire temple is through secret passages, and we don't know anything about the layout of the castle."

Shaking her head, Eliza cut in. "Don't worry about that - Svorn's been finding secret ways out the Temple since he was little. If he wants to come, he'll find a way to come. We just have to make sure it doesn't coincide with a Council meeting, and I doubt even Svorn knows when they're on - they always contact the Fire Lord last since he's closest to the meeting place."

Bob raised a hand. "Woah, woah, stop." He glanced at Jared. "Are you not surprised by this?"

A shrug. "What would I be surprised about?"

A pause. "Do you already know or are you that oblivious?"

Jared blinked. "Know what?"

"That she's from Fire." He looked back at Eliza with a smile like a child figuring out how their toy could be put back together. "It's so obvious now! That's why I've never seen you or Thorn use your abilities, that's why you know so much about Fire - you obviously know the Fire Lord on a personal level." His grin widened. "It's why your family was targeted!" A pause. His face dropped slightly. "Sorry, that was probably a bit insensitive."

"A bit." From Jared's direction.

"Wait..." Bob frowned as his voice became more of a mumble. "You knew the Fire Lord when he was 'little' - so, you grew up with him. From what I know about Fire, you'd have to be relatively high up to even fraternize with the family of the Fire Lord, especially the children..." He tilted his head to the side slightly. "Actually, I've heard Thorn talking about the Fire Lord in quite a personal manner before... 

"Could he be repeating what he'd heard from you? No... It was too heartfelt and internal for it to be something he didn't know from his own life and experiences... But Jared told me the current Fire Lord didn't grow up with many friends around him, and no male friends. No male, apart from his older brother who was supposed to be the king and then ran away with this girl who..." He looked up. A pause. He covered his mouth. Then uncovered it - his mouth was open. Then covered it again. "No... Wait, seriously?" A big smile. "Is Thorn the missing crown prince of Fire!?"