The man before Houren looked older than he really was, but his gruff tone and intense eyes suggested that he was not really as mature as his demeanor suggested. He was the prince of this little town that most people seemed to know as Nanuq, and he had just heard a disturbing tale that he wished for Houren to investigate. Apparently, there was a necromancer among the people of Nanuq, who were famous for their affinity with the elements of Water and Frost. Necromancy, of course, was a way of magic that seemed to be frowned upon by the people of Fiore, dismissed by many as practically being of the dark arts. After all, was it not unnatural for someone to be using the corpses of people as a means of fighting? Death is permanent in this world, and as such, those who would try and defy that maxim are wrong, and also, in some way, they must be evil. Houren knew too many people in this world with that sort of mindset and because he did not really have an opinion of his own on the art of necromancy, he merely stayed quiet when confronted by such people. "They say that the figure summoning these skeletons belongs to a child. Or a dwarf perhaps, an evil man who's growth has been stunted by the wickedness in his heart," the prince grinned, pouring a cup of tea for Houren and asking him whether he would accept the request or not.

The Fairy Tail mage bit his bottom lip and thought about it for a while, before saying. "I'll see what I can do," and draining the contents of his tea cup in one single go, he stood and headed towards the edge of the Nanuq seas, eventually reaching a point where he was faced with three things; a giant wall of glacier, a small path that looked just about appropriate for walking, and of course, the great sea itself. Houren considered the scene before him for a second, but it looked like this wasn't a riddle set for him by someone, as in the distance, he could see a small figure casting what seemed to be magic with his hands. Noticing this and thinking that it was probably the necromancer that the prince had mentioned earlier, the Fairy Tail mage headed over to that area. Prince Muhin Nataqin's talk of dwarfs had actually gotten Houren excited and he was almost half expecting to see some sinister looking short man with a dastardly grin on his face, raising skeletons with nothing but a click of his fingers. Instead, he was greeted by something that he hadn't expected at all, but perhaps it was something that he had known at a subconscious level; that is, he saw that it was a young boy, a mere child that had been responsible for the ghastly sightings.

It wasn't even like the boy, perhaps nine years old at most, was using these skeletons to commit heinous crimes or training them to be great warriors of the undead; instead, they were carrying him, playing with him by throwing him up in the air again and catching him again, and all the other kind of things you might see a father do for his young son. Due to the fact that this was a human child, and a skeleton, a dead person who's corpse had become so decomposed that one could no longer distinguish its identity in life, be it a great hero from times gone by or a simple crone, made the sight all that more haunting and actually somewhat creepy. Still, Houren didn't have any time to comment on it as the boy almost immediately noticed his presence, got scared and began to run away, breaking the spell and causing the skeletons to drop to the ground, no longer animated. His attempt to run away didn't do much good either, as his short legs could not really carry him all that far in the deep snow, and Houren caught up pretty quickly. However, before he could fully catch the boy, he seemed to fall, forcing Houren to sprint and somehow, fortunately, he managed to stop the boy from hurting himself. He did not need to be asked, and immediately answered the question that he knew Houren wanted answered.

"I'm not good when it comes to elemental magic, like the rest of the town. I know people don't like the magic that I have, that's why I do it in secret. But it's not that bad, honest! People just have the wrong idea because it can be used for evil as well as good," the boy was pleading with Houren to believe him, which only made the Fairy Tail mage all the more confused because he genuinely didn't think this kid was a bad person at all. He decided that this was not under his jurisdiction, and as such, brought the child back to the town where he lived to discuss the matter to his parents. On the way back, after talking with the kid some more, he began to sympathize and was fully willing to argue with the boy's mother and father if they were less than accepting of their child's talents, but much to Houren's pleasure, it seemed like that would not be the case as they accepted their son as he was, regardless of the ability that he possessed talent in. Satisfied with this conclusion, he returned to Muhin Nataqin to tell him that he had been wrong.

''... so you're telling me that it was actually a misunderstood child the whole time? It seems like I was wrong about that family, about those outsiders..." he seemed somewhat wistful but there was some relief present in his voice too, likely he was happy also that the problem he though the town was experiencing turned out to be nothing after all. Strange, it was almost as though he was an actual ruler. "Never mind! Orchidia is not one to turn away a mage, regardless of affinity. Yes, let me drink a toast to this boy, the newest mage of this fine city!" he picked up his glass and began to fill it with a grin on his features.

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