Permafrost

31: Glacial

⭐️31: Glacial

Who...who was this person?

Why did they help the Infernos?

They were clearly a Rinkling, as they had the cyan blue ink with ice patterns to prove it. But yet they were also a skyling, as they had wings that were pointed at the ends. They were also wearing armor similar to the Frost Army's, so did that mean they were in there as well? Guess the Infernos couldn't tell her Ryn was a pyroling. The Rinkling remained where she was (flying in the air) as Ryn ran back to her friends. The Infernos weren't quite sure what to do now. Dare they introduce themselves, or ask who this Rinkling was?

"Whatever...state your business" the Rinkling said sternly.

"A-ah, we were just uh...we lost something here and we were trying to find it, but...you saw what happened..." Silvia lied.

"Well. If I help you find it, will you LEAVE?" the Rinkling asked.

"Y-yes, of course!"

"Alright..." she grumbled. "What does it look like?"

"It's a piece of jewelry, not sure if people lose those often here..." Silvia replied.

Ryn was glad Sylvie had her covered, but at the same time, she was worried about what might happen if the Rinkling busted Silvia's cover.

"Well. I've never seen what people do down here, so. Whatever" the Rinkling grumbled.

So the group began "searching" for the jewelry piece. The Rinkling asked what kind of jewelry it was, to which Silvia replied it was golden metal with gems somewhere on it. The longer the Infernos searched the more pressure they felt, as this whole thing was basically a ticking time bomb util the Rinkling found out they had lied. In the meantime though, the group needed to come up with a strategy of sorts, anything. Maybe they could befriend this Rinkling?

Even if they were to befriend her, what would they do with her, anyway? They could try to have her sneak them into the Ice Kingdom or wherever their friends were being held captive, but that was risky. Jack suggested they try and make a promise with her, but Silvia didn't trust her enough. Ryn was merely at a loss of what to do, though the open bobbit worm jaws kept her on her toes. Cosmo then realized that the group hadn't gotten her name, and that they'd probably need that for future recognition of this character.

"Hey, uh...c-can we get your name pretty please?" He asked.

"You'll have to tell me yours" the Rinkling responded.

"Oh yeah, but before that...why is this place called the Bobbit Path?" Jack asked.

"Because those weird things you see sticking out of the ground are bobbit worms, very deadly creatures" the Rinkling said.

"Deadly?" Cosmo asked shakily.

"Yup. Immune to some venoms and poisons, strong grip, all that. You wanna know my name, or?"

"Y-yes, yes, of course!" Cosmo quickly replied.

"My name's Tempest. Yes I'm a Rinkling Skyling hybrid, or "Icewing" as they like to call it. Now you guys have to tell me your names and species" she said.

The Infernos gulped, now realizing what they had gotten themselves into. They couldn't tell this woman that! If they did, she would surely tell the other Rinklings on Frostcap Mountain! Then the Infernos wouldn't be able to sneak in and save their friends! They quickly tried to think of a way out of it while stalling for time.

"Wait, whaaaaat? Why do we have to tell you who weeeeee are?" Jack asked, purposely dragging out some words to make it last longer.

"Because I literally asked you guys to tell me yours in exchange for mine, don't act like you don't know, faker" the Rinkling snapped.

Ryn gulped upon hearing her get angry. If she had a short temper, then this was not going to turn out well for the Infernos. Of course, they could always give fake names, but even then, the Rinkling might have already memorized their appearances. The team needed more time to think! Just then, Ryn noticed a big white figure lumbering by. Perfect distraction.

"H-hey, what's that?!" she exclaimed, pointing right at it.

"Heh, I'm not falling for your tricks" Tempest said. "Names. NOW."

"No, I'm serious! Is that an ice fang or what?" Ryn asked.

Tempest groaned, before slowly turning around, and indeed spotting the ice fang. The group watched as it walked down the path from Frostcap Mountain onto the Bobbit Path. It didn't seem to notice them or care about eating/attacking them right now, though. It looked up and saw them, sure, but it made no move to lunge at them, and continued walking. It neared one of the bobbit worms.

"Ah. Yeah. Ice fang. Common around here. Not a big deal" Tempest sighed, before turning back to the Infernos. "Anywho, your-"

Suddenly, the group heard a loud SNAP echo through the area, and turned to look at what had happen. One of the bobbit worms had snatched the fangtooth with its mandibles, and was starting to pull it underground. The fangtooth tried to struggle and breathe ice at the worm, but that proved ineffective since it wasn't a concentrated blast of ice. The ice fang suddenly froze in place as the bobbit worm tugged it entirely under seconds after. The Infernos stared in horror as Tempest remained looking at teen with a rather grumpy face.

"Yes, bobbit worms are dangerous, they inject venom into their prey to paralyze them, and they're immune to things like frogfish venom and so on! NAMES?!"

The Infernos, now realizing that there really wasn't much else stopping them from having to say their names, exchanged worried glances. There was currently no other way to stall for time, and they'd used up every chance they could think of. They had no choice but to hope Silvia could come up with something, or that one of the others would be able to quickly intervene with something clever and convincing. By the looks of it though, none of them seemed to have anything decent in mind. The Infernos gulped as Silvia turned to Tempest and cleared her throat.

"We're..."

"Yes, yes?"

Tempest has been anxiously waiting for these wackos to say their names so that she could continue looking for the piece of jewelry. Finally, she could just get this over with, and-

"We are uh. Boilink" Silvia responded.

Tempest stared.