"I think my father would be quite saddened to learn that he was not your most formidable foe," Isabel observed, and there she was not joking in the slightest.  Though truthfully not quite as stern as some other nobles, he had long ago learned that at least the appearance of ferocity could save a great deal of time and trouble.  Unfortunately that was not the sort of leadership that could be helpful here, where the enemy was hidden and mysterious, unable to be cowed or even studied.<br/><br/>She slowed her pace slightly as he spoke, sensing that he was perhaps on the verge of some revelation that might explain a great deal.  And in a way she was correct, though when that revelation came it was not at all in the form she would have expected -- a startling deed rather than any further bewildering words.<br/><br/>It was not as bright nor far-ranging as the light on his ship -- was it a ship of the air, is that what he had meant by airbound? -- but it illuminated far more than the moonlight, a beam slicing straight and true ahead of them to light the ground.  She strangled a gasp, staring in amazement for a moment... then recovering almost as quickly and hurrying over to the torch.  This prompted a host of questions indeed, but for now she would content herself with the immediately useful.  "You can move the light!  How does it work?  What fuels it?  Tell me," she said, somewhere between a command and a plea.