Questions with No Answers

"Questions with No Answers" is a [SEASON NUMBER] thread started on [IRL DATE] and finished on [IRL DATE].
==Summary==
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==Full Text==
The portal zipped to a close behind them as its mechanics always did, bringing goat and rabbit nix to Akkey’s cove in Yrus. Milae could see the remnants of darkened ice that exploded upwards and outwards some ways down the beach. It was a familiar sight.
Gravel crunched under her boot as she lead the way to the cottage that used to be her mother’s, while waving a hand towards the elemental structure, “That’s Liam’s. He’s getting the hang of black ice,” there was a hint of satisfaction in her voice.
“Unfortunately, it means that it’s a different kind of cold, so temperature regulation’s a little more complicated,” she offered him a blanket to wrap around his shoulders, and a seat beside her on the front porch of the small abode, the rays of the late sun giving them warmth.
foresight-botgd
Milae did sit, but he only held the blanket in his lap, staring down at it like he wasn’t sure he wanted–or maybe deserved–the extra protection. He looked at his hooves against the woven fabric, chipped, ridged, and dull, as usual, and his ears twitched as he regarded the huge, black spikes of ice that marred the otherwise picturesque cove. 
“I saw the remains of your work during the battle. It was quite impressive.” His words were sincere, but they lacked depth. What he commented on was only a distraction for the weight of several other things building in the back of his mind, water building behind a rapidly-weakening dam. “But…I assume this might not be why you brought me here.”
akkeyagentofhelheim
She huffed somewhat in dissatisfaction at his refusal to keep warm, and threw her own around him and inching a little closer in an effort to share heat. Nobody was going to feel cold around her if she could help it.
“You’re right. It isn’t,” she scrunched up her nose in an attempt to collect her thoughts. She settled on one first, “Did you see what happened last night? Towards the north?”
foresight-botgd
“I did not, but Yun described it to me. An…explosion, correct? A display of energy. He told me that he recognized Juro’s magic, although…” He frowned at the water lapping at the shore, still discomforted over what the young man had stiltedly described to him, both bleary with sleep and anxiety. “I wasn’t aware he could do any such thing.”
He paused, listening to the rustling, rippling sounds of nature around them. Something stung in his belly. A bitter emotion.
“I am…not aware of many things.”
Milae idly pulled the blanket over his shoulders a little further. “Either way, it immensely concerned him. He did not sleep. Was he right?” 
akkeyagentofhelheim
“He was…” she said with regret lacing her voice at the news of Yun lacking rest because of her, “Our portals collided. We were fighting because I had questions for him that he refused to answer.”
“Like his magic. What the Hel! I didn’t know that either! And I work with him!” she flung a hand forward in frustration, “And his stupid agent contract! Library Bookkeepers, neutrality–” Akkey could already feel herself spiraling again as she sped through her thoughts, and she forced herself to slow down.
She exhaled thinly, glancing at the goat half breed out of the corner of her eye, “Milae… what do you think of Juro?” Her conclusion about the Bookkeeper’s affinity for him was fresh in her mind.
foresight-botgd
Milae leaned forward on the staff he had brought, twisting the butt of it into the gravel. The fur across his face always made it difficult to read his expression, but this time, it was not hard to tell that it was strained. He was also surprised that Akkey was pursuing the same route that Yun had attempted, and made his best effort to redirect his thoughts away from Frigga.
He sighed, and it came out with a rasp. “Lately…” he started, “I’ve…” The goat tilted his chin low, messy fur covering his eyes. “He has always been of interest to me. I could feel…an energy that he has. A devotion. Our shared knowledge of timelines made me feel that…he was someone I could truly connect with. For a time, I thought I was right. I…I knew I was right.” The staff slipped as it was pressed too hard into the ground, and pebbles sprayed out across the beach with a chatter. “But it is as if he forever intends to stay out of arm’s reach while keeping a friendly face.” He was shocked at how discontented he was. 
“I just…want to be there for someone that is still within the reach of arms that have lost their seal. And he will not let me.”
akkeyagentofhelheim
An ache pulsed in her chest out of sympathy at the distress Milae displayed. She gripped his knee, wanting to somehow comfort him but unable to, she was in no better position, with no better knowledge to, “I’m sorry…”
She watched the lake water lap the shore in rhythmic waves, dissolving when it crashed against the rocky beach. Much like last night.
“I confronted him about his neutrality,” she said, her voice low, “He saved Yun from the construct, and healed him, and I didn’t understand why. That stupid self appointed law he has, broken so easily by a stranger who’s been in this timeline for barely an hour,” she pressed her lips in a thin line, her tone not unfriendly, but understandably upset, “Then I realized it was because you and Yun are the same soul, the same person. He saved him because he adores him… just as he does you.”
Her foot tapped twice where it rested in slight annoyance at her colleague, “He wants to be friends with you. You’re completely right. I can feel it too. I know it. I’ve worked with him for twenty years. He’s never been like this, ever. Juro truly wants to be close to you…”
“But there’s something stopping him,” she turned to face him, her brows furrowed as she thought, “I said it to his face, his fondness for you, and his whole face… changed. Incredibly sad, and lonely. Hurting for eons, all by himself. Like a lost child,” her chest hurt again at the thought of it.
“Then he buried it all down and then it was just… a plain mask. I didn’t know him again. He attacked me, and we fought, and the entire time I could tell he was keeping himself farther than ever. I couldn’t reach him,” she shivered at the memory, “Whatever the reason he keeps doing this, it could be himself, but I feel like there’s something much bigger, more dangerous that actually is. Otherwise he wouldn’t have reacted so desperately…”
There was a large pause before she spoke again, “And Yun knows what that is, doesn’t he?” Her voice dripped with acid, “And it has something to do with that dumb hidden magic, and his agent contract. That’s why he asked after I broke the news about Hel…”
foresight-botgd
The half-breed was turned completely away from Akkey by the time she reached her conclusion about Yun. He had a fist pushed into his muzzle, and he was completely still, fragments of conversations falling across his awareness like shards of broken glass. His narrow shoulders shook, once.
“He does,” he said, voice weak. “When I tried to ask…it distressed him, and it triggered his powers, to a degree I have never seen before…he was under the impression that me knowing would put Juro in dang–”
Milae stopped. One more piece fell into place.
“Not Juro,” he muttered. “Jin. His Bookkeeper. They…” He pushed a hoof back through his mop of fur, revealing wet tracks on his cheeks. “They are connected…I heard them talking, weeks ago…they thought I was asleep. They were speaking of the source of Yun’s powers. I heard…chains. Links. I couldn’t see them, but Juro threatened to break them, as a hypothetical…it sent Yun into another magic fit, more or less. But he said…if he broke ‘this seal,’ it would hurt his Bookkeeper. And Yun replied that he wouldn’t let them break.”
He rubbed his face, head aching with the speed of his thought. “Something about my approach made Yun think I would have destroyed something and harmed his friend…”
Akkey had taken his hoof into her hand out of concern at the sight of his tears, pulling him towards her to steady him, but her mind matched the speed of his as her green eyes flicked around in thought.
“I heard chains too, during the confrontation. And the fight. The more distressed he got, the closer I got to the conclusion about his attachment to you and Yun… the louder they became,” she added to the revelations, “The Library and the Bookkeepers. Whatever their connection is, to not… hurt, this Jin… it’s all under contract with Hel, I know that much. He refuses to explain it to me any further. But… a seal?”
Her eyes narrowed further as she kept replaying the fight, trying to pick up on any clues, “For his magic? It was very different from Hel’s agents. I can recognize that from a mile away, but his… Juro’s was… a lot, for the lack of a better term. Chaotic. Uncontrolled. Foreign. Like it wasn’t his in the first place. If it’s all sealed up so that it wouldn’t escape, because if it’s broken…”
‘Something about my approach made Yun think I would have destroyed something and harmed his friend…’ “…broken by you?” She squinted in confusion.
foresight-botgd
He rested his chin on a folded arm, letting Akkey squeeze his other hoof in comfort. His odd horizontal pupils were fixed on the beach. 
“I…I hope not.” It made too much sense. He didn’t want to be responsible for that, and the idea was incredibly divisive within him. There had to be another reason.
“And if you’re gone, then what comes after…” 
Milae twitched, like he’d been whipped with a crop. His thoughts scattered like flies. “No, he has to be in control of it,” he said with grim decisiveness. “He pressured Yun with the threat of such constraints breaking…that means…”
…he knows the trigger so well, knows that he is so close to dancing on the edge, that it’s as simple as a snap–
“No.” Milae abruptly got to his feet and stalked away to stand alone in the middle of the gravel, clutching his staff in one hoof. “I…I have to trust that…they know what they are doing.” 
akkeyagentofhelheim
She shut her mouth when he broke away from her, the introspective spiral coming to a stand still as she felt like they unearthed something they shouldn’t have, and would regret doing so. Akkey stared after him, watching his small back against the landscape of the darkening lake as the sun set, dropping temperatures into something more than chilly, the wind blowing from the direction of the ice spike. 
It was a few long minutes before Milae heard the soft crunch of rock behind him as the nix approached slowly, coming to stand with him in silence for another moment. Then she raised a gentle arm, and let it rest over his shoulders. Akkey was uncommonly small, and hugs usually went under people’s arms, so despite the goat being slightly taller than her, his proportions made it so that she was able to wrap around him more comfortingly, more securely than normal.
“I’m sure–” her voice was rough at first, and she cleared it, “I’m sure they do. Juro wouldn’t have come back like this, and he wouldn’t have stayed all this time despite how things are… if they didn’t…” She couldn’t help the crease in her brow, but she swallowed the worry away.
“Believe in that connection you feel. Hold onto it, be there for him, so he knows he’s not alone, just how you aren’t… and have faith that it’ll all work out somehow, in the future…”
foresight-botgd
Milae was still, and then leaned the side of his head against Akkey’s, acknowledging their bond and all they had been through together the past several months. He couldn’t discount that. Juro himself had told Milae several times over that he wouldn’t be alone. He’d done his best to take it to heart. And even if there was something obscure and supernatural between the two of them, he still had to look out for the Bookkeeper in his own way.
“Þetta er hræðilegt,” he muttered to himself. “I miss him and his…annoying face…”
akkeyagentofhelheim
The words were foreign, but the spirit translated itself well enough, and she snorted lightly in laughter, giving him one last squeeze before breaking the hug apart, “It is annoying, isn’t it. The way he leans down and glances at you through his lashes and smirks all wonky, like he knows his own charm that can get away anything–” She was starting to get irritated again, and grumbled under her breath, before shaking her head, “But it’s good to miss him. That means you want to be by his side, and that’s what’s important.”
“He should be back soon,” she assured him, patting the side of his arm, “He had that stupid face on when he told me he might have new information on Frigga, so we can surely rely on a Bookkeeper’s word. He seemed fairly certain of whatever it was that he discovered.”
foresight-botgd
It was like he had practically forgotten why Akkey was here in the first place. The newfound mood wasn’t gone, but it was injected with a new urgency. “He had better come straight to me when he finds it,” Milae grouched, spinning his staff in one hand at his side out of habit. “We need a temporary solution while Yun continues to practice. We must buy as much time as we can.”
akkeyagentofhelheim
“I’ll send him your way when he shows up,” she nodded before become subdued, her arms crossed in thought, “What I’m worried about most is when she decides to attack. With Hel mortal we have no defenses left. But it’s also been almost 24 hours, and she still hasn’t shown up. I don’t know what to expect… maybe someone should stay with Yun all the time, just in case.”
foresight-botgd
“I want him to be able to rest,” he agreed. “That is one of my biggest concerns, that he will not be able to put his guard down…” Milae rubbed a hoof across his forehead. “I may also consult with the Warden, as she is one of our strongest allies as of right now. If you have any insights as an agent, they would be welcome…”
akkeyagentofhelheim
“I can maybe take a couple of shifts if needed,” she said, but they knew she couldn’t stay at the Jaw for too long, “I can offer what I know about how she fights and her abilities, but I’m afraid it might not be much. It has been a couple of decades…” she added apologetically.
A toe tapped onto gravel, “Lila asked to meet with me later tonight for a quick briefing. Would you like to join us?”
foresight-botgd
“Absolutely. I feel I may be needed in that discussion.” The goat half-breed stepped towards the portal that had formed by her foot, waiting a moment longer to add, “Whenever you are ready to come get me, I will be set to leave.”
Then with a hum, he was gone, just like old times.