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Ice Queen

"Fox, are you alright? Fox!"

Fox didn't answer. He barely even looked at her. Instead, he was clutching his forehead, as if in pain.

"Fox!"

No...not as if, in pain. He was in pain.

The aparoids...some kind of biological weapon!

It had seemed like a good idea to Krystal at the time. Return to Lylat, land on Corneria, and find a place to eat and discuss everything from Star Wolf to certain...issues raised while on Sauria. And there was a certain thrill to be had by simply eating out in a cafe that hadn't been overrun by bio-mechanical insects, considering that Fox hadn't done such a thing in years and Krystal hadn't done such a thing in her life. So when Fox had moved on to what he called desert, she was intrigued. At least until he started clutching his forehead as if his head was on fire.

There were no words emanating from her comrade's mouth. His tail was straight, his left fist clenched and his right grasping his glass of water and shoving it down his throat as if his life was at stake. Heck, maybe it was. Krystal had no idea what he'd eaten, or whether it was down to this "desert." All she was familiar with was re-sequenced protein.

"Fox...hold on! I'm...I'm going in."

In battle, that would mean taking her Arwing and getting ready to "rock and roll" as Falco would put it. Not here though. Rather, the fox began using her telepathy to probe the pilot's mind. It was an invasion of privacy she would never do without another being's consent, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Cold...cold...cold...

Fox, can you hear me? Fox!

Cold...cold...cold...

No response. It was as if his entire mind was awash with icy fire...however that worked. And no-one around the cafe seemed willing to lift a foot or lend a paw.

It looked like the end.

But gradually, Fox's swigging of water stopped. Surely but slowly, his patterns of thought became more rational. And eventually, after what felt like an eternity for Krystal, he stopped altogether, smiled sheepishly and pointed at the round, cold things he'd been shovelling into his mouth.

"Brain freeze," he said simply.