Tales of the Betrothed (closed)

[SheIsCursedTea]

Elya || Meister
|| Royal Guard to the Princes of Dradecυѕ ||

__________________________________

Elya sighed as she watched Cin leave. Of course she had to go and fetch the other Prince, even though he was much less predictable to her than his brother is. Then, she turned on her heel and marched out of the dinning room and turned left ... then stopped and looked at the right direction, then sighed and walked to the right instead. She ended up wandering around aimlessly for ten minutes thinking. She had considered checking his bedroom, but she had the unlucky skill in only checking his bedroom when he was else where, and it was quite a trek away from her current position. However, a servant rushing past caught her attention and she stopped him, asking if he knew of the Prince's where-abouts, to which she was informed that he was indeed in his room with a lady friend and then he continued on his way.

With a sigh, she returned the way she had come from earlier, arriving back at the dinning hall, taking the earlier left turn choice. She continued to walk for an extra fifteen minutes before she arrived at the door of the Prince's room, just in time to see several servants running out of the door and Reriic's angry shouting voice. Then, she caught what seemed to be the end of a rather heated argument between the Prince and his guest, though she caught none of what was actually said, as the wooden doors muffled the words. Then, all went quiet and she paused for a moment, wondering if she should knock or not, then Reriic's voice came again, softer this time. She didn't want to know what was going on, but she had an order to follow, so she knocked on the door and waited for an invitation to enter the room.

__________________________________

"To serve the Princes of Dradecus
Is the highest of honours
I shall do my bed to serve them well
Or die trying."

[PhantasmicRose]

♡ ♠ ♢ ♣ ♡ ♠ ♢ ♣ ♡ ♠ ♢ ♣ ♡ ♠ ♢ ♣ ♡ ♠ ♢ ♣ ♡ ♠ ♢ ♣ ♡ ♠ ♢ ♣ ♡ ♠ ♢ ♣ ♡ ♠ ♢ ♣ ♡ ♠ ♢ ♣ ♡ ♠ ♢ ♣ ♡ ♠ ♢ ♣ ♡ ♠ ♢ ♣ ♡ ♠ ♢ ♣ ♡

Sonya’s slim fingers traced up and down the front of her shirt to check for any missed buttons. The material she was wrapped in felt rough and weather-proof, probably something sturdy and brown meant to protect the rider from the elements while traveling. The inside was soft and warm, hugging her skin close to keep from snagging. Thick leather hide boots were strapped to her feet, covering up to her knees over tight but stretching pants. The merchant had sold pieces of similar outfits before, but certainly never anything of such quality. Adorned in such fine clothes, she could almost imagine she was worth something more than coins. Too busy admiring herself, Sonya paid little attention to the prince as he burst through the door in all his temperamental glory.

“I suppose I could spare a moment for something to eat,” she purred coolly, following the sound of the servants setting down the fine tray of food. She paused until she caught the scrape of wood as a chair was being pushed aside, then reached for the source and breathed a small sigh of relief as her fingers found the back of the furniture. Hiding her blindness was an exhausting task, but it was one she’d done for years and grown rather skilled in.

Without any sign of a struggle, Sonya settled into the chair and scooted up to the table, nodding across from her for Reriic to take his place. The smell of meats and cheeses wafted up to her nose, teasing her senses and making her empty stomach growl. The elf made something of an embarrassed face but let her still-damp hair fall over her eyes to cover it and her near-vacant stare. As if awakened now by the presence of food, Sonya’s constant hunger made itself known further and her hands began to tremble. Only her strict control and reluctance to grab blindly at the plate kept her sitting still.

“When I asked what you would give, this isn’t what I had in mind,” the elf went on, her face tilted away from her prince. “A meal and some clothing isn’t worth a thing to a man like you. You lose little giving it to me, but I lose everything if I share my own secrets. ”

Sonya let the scent of the cooked meat rise to her nose. For a moment she closed her eyes, concentrating on one sense at a time. The smell was close, almost just under her nose. The sound of Reriic’s movements came from only a few feet away. The table must have been small, little bigger than the tray itself. She could smell something moist and fruity like watermelon, but that would be separated from the meat by the cheese. When the elf opened her eyes again it was only a second later and her hand reached straight for a long piece of cooked ham. She plucked it into her mouth as if it were as simple of a task for her as anyone else. She tried not to eat quickly, tried to look as calm and cool as ever, but hunger was a hard thing to ignore.

"I think the woman might want something from me,” Sonya finally admitted without warning, a strawberry poised between her fingers just before her mouth. “I just don’t know what that is, yet. Perhaps if you’ll keep me around a bit longer we’ll both find out.”

It was unclear if the elf would disclose any more information, but Reriic wouldn’t have the chance to find out. A knock at the door greeted them and Sonya’s rigid guard shot back up. She stood immediately, combing her hand through her hair a few times in a sad attempt to look a little more presentable than the servants had already made her. She placed her other hand at her side, finding a bit of comfort in the pulsing knife resting openly there.

“Our talk will have to wait for a more private moment, it seems. We should join the others.”

❝ I'll ¢υт your little нєαят out 'cause уσυ made мє ¢яу ❞

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xx

[turkoizdog]

ząąяą zą∂∂ągн

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O-of course, come on in.
Zaara agreed with what Kora said. "My thoughts exactly" she said. It was good to know they were on the same thought process. Hearing her sister say this aloud, however, reminded her that all the other royals would probably be realizing the same thing, meaning they would likely all join the journey as well. Aside from the Darkness princes, that is, but the fact that their group had save the kingdom of Darkness meant that if the two princes didn't want to do, Zaara suspected their father would make them go.

She nodded when Kora said that they shouldn't delay. "They should be out by the stables." she said, uncertain as to who would be awake and whether much of a group would have formed by this point in the morning. As Kora stood, Zaara made her way to the door, holding it open for her sister. Once she passed into the hallway, they'd make their way down the twists and turns of hallways, and hopefully not get lost on their way to the stables. Zaara thought she had seen it when walking around the grounds the previous night, now if only she could remember exactly how to get there...



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Location: heading through halls out to stables
OOC: Short post

[Rada Han]

a t r i p i n t i m e

↘ all is lost again



Departure: Part Two




Eventually, a whole group came together to guide the royals to the next city. One would have been astounded at the amount of diversity in that group. Until the Unity Pact, Yardis had never seen such a varied bunch working together. Although, it couldn't be seen whether they'd wind up fighting each other instead.

Whether it was a good thing or not, the Zuleidan Jean-Baptiste was at the head of the troupe as long as someone else didn't volunteer to do so. Aside from the usual setbacks, he was a charismatic leader, no matter the situation, which some found humorous, but most found very annoying. Guided by the faeries themselves, Anna and Sylphira, they found their heading and set off to the far East.

It would take them a full five days of daytime traveling to reach the forest. During that time, personalities clashed dangerously, but quietly, with sideways glares and flashes of blades. With arrows trained to one's head in private, and passive-aggressive stabs in every direction. It wasn't much different than before. Some people hit it off quite well, which was unusual.

The land was serene. There was not a hint of rain. The weather was cool, but comfortable, and the landscape impeccable. There was a point in their travels where one could still see a pillar of smoke rising from Bhegin, and ash littered the ground, but with a northbound wind, they were not covered in it.

Once the wood was breeched, it would take another day to reach Shizuka, the quiet village guarding Laelie's gates. The faeries of the group immediately found a major problem in the tiny village. There was nobody there. Usually, the Shizuka faeries were there to guard the gate and open it for those who needed to pass, but they were nowhere to be found. One of their huts had been smashed to pieces. If one searched through the rubble, they would find a dead Laelian soldier inside, pierced through the heart with a weapon that was not left behind.

The gate stood before them, immovable unless they knew how the code to open it. Somewhere, the violet tome they'd acquired from Dradecus was glowing brightly.

[[NEW MAP UP!]]

[V I V L I O N]

█████████████████████████

ADELE MARIE VANADIS

█████████████████████████

xxxxxAs she felt a hand on her shoulder, Adele looked back at the familiar face of Chandar. She quickly opened her mouth, about to tell him about the idea that she had just proposed. However, what little of a smile that she had been able to muster quickly faded when the blonde realized that the Gradian wasn't acting the same way as he had the night before. For a moment her brows furrowed in a questioning manner but instead of complicating matters, she let out a small sigh and gave in to indifference. "Please, do not worry, I will take my leave now anyways. I would hate to impose upon you both any further." The guard quickly gave another bow towards the royals before her gaze shifted back to Chandar. Though, when there was still no further recognition of a previous connection, she gave a simple nod of her head before crossing back over to the horse that she would be using for the journey. Her eyes immediately began to scan the leather work of the saddle, thankful for something to focus on. Even as trivial a detail as the thread work...

If the travel in between the two kingdoms held any promise of the social interaction that would be taking place from then on, surely whatever twisted mission fate had sent them on was destined to fail. There always seemed to be bickering or at least some sort of dispute going on amongst the volunteers. It was enough to put the blonde on edge. For a large portion of the journey, she offered to ride ahead of the group to scout out the land. It was simply just a good opportunity to get away from the hustle and bustle of the large traveling party and use the time to focus on relaxing and collecting her thoughts. The tactic definitely did miracles to remedy her head ache! And, despite the disasters that had been promised to them in the near future, there had been nothing out of the ordinary to report as a scout. In fact, in its entirety, it was nearly the ideal ride. The weather was pristine. No ambushes. Plenty of natural resources. It was eerily perfect. She knew that their good fortune wouldn't last forever.

Eventually, they came upon what looked like a small village. She had not been sent out that morning, as the faeries had instructed that they were close to the entrance of Laelie. There really didn't seem any point of an advance guard so, it was decided that they were to continue forward together. However, out of habit, Adele still road in the front alongside Jean. So, as they began to ride in between the small dwellings, she was one of the first (if not the first) to realize that the village was vacant. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end as her blue eyes traveled over their surroundings. She bit her lip nervously, her hands anxiously tightening around the reigns, before her eyes caught sight of rubble ahead. But it wasn't the stone that caught her attention but a small piece of fabric just peeking out beneath a piece of rock.

Instinctively, she spurred her horse forward before hastily jumping off and kneeling down on the ground, her knees immediately
cracking in protest after having been strained from riding for the past five days. Her fingers deftly began pushing rubble to the side,
slowly exposing what lay beneath. When she uncovered a hand, her movements became more desperate. It took only a minute
or two before the body became exposed. A strained expression set onto her face as she looked upon the wound. There was no
point checking for a heart rate or a pulse. The faery would have passed away almost instantly. In a moment of stunned silence,
she just looked down upon the face of the deceased. However, catching herself, she slowly lowered her pointer and middle
finger and closed the faery's eyes. Bowing her head in respect, she then looked back over her shoulder to her companions.
"There is one dead over here. A direct injury to the heart. I can not name the weapon, though."

Lifting the strap of her satchel over her head, she flipped open the cover, only to pause in surprise once more. One of her brows
raised, unsure of how she should react or what she should do. Perhaps she had finally gone crazy. Yep. She was going to go with
that. Sliding her hands amongst the items, her fingers hesitantly wrapped around the tome that they had received in Dradecus. And,
despite the fact that the book was wrapped in several layers of cloth, a bright light was emanating from the package. "Chandar,
could you please come take this from me. I don't want to deal with this at the moment." Unraveling the scarf from the tome,
she held the book at arms length away, daring only to look at it from the corner of her eyes. "And it's kind of freaking me out right
now, to be honest."

Though the two of them had not talked for the duration of the trip, something told her that he wouldn't mind doing as she asked
considering it would guarantee him to be apart of whatever was going. All the more opportunity to look like the prime example of a
true Gradian for his precious Bashirah and Kunal. God. She swore he followed them around like a lost puppy waiting to be praised.
With as gentle fingers as she could manage, she wrapped the cloth around the chest of the dead faery in an attempt to cover the
wound. It was a pathetic attempt, but as they did not have time for a proper funeral (whatever that may be in Laelie), Adele figured
this would be the most appropriate thing.

When she was done, she focused her attention on the gate in front of them. No one had made a move towards it and the blonde
couldn't understand why. "Anna can you open the gates? The sooner we get within Laelie, the better." It, of course, never
crossed her mind that danger could be lurking behind the closed gates. Her mind was only focusing on the possible dangers
outside. Pushing off of her knee and back into a standing position, she unsheathed her sword. "I am going to take a look around
and see if I can find anything." Though, from what she saw, the guard was doubtful that there would be any obvious clues,
let alone survivors, that would be able to tell them what had occurred. "Everyone stay on your toes and be careful." Adele
called out sternly. The last thing they needed was to have to deal with injuries. As she passed by Jean, she couldn't help but
add a protective, "That goes for you too." Though the two of them hadn't talked much along the journey, that didn't mean that
she forgot her duty, especially in a situation such as this.

I want to go back.
To when I knew who I was.
To when I knew who you were.
And where we stood amongst this wreck.

[Rada Han]

ImPeRfEcTiOn is в є α υ т у,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxⓂⒶⒹⓃⒺⓈⓈ is gєníus,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxand it is better to be absolutely ɾïḋïсυløυṡ than absolutely ๒◊ЯⅰиG.
.........




Throughout their journey, Jean-Baptiste was incorrigible. He bickered along with the rest of them with his unique brand of mildly insulting humor. For everyone knew that Gradians could never take anything mildly. The Prince convinced that they did not know anything in-between extremes, nor the definition of 'mildly'. So everything he said to them, no matter what, was met with a deadly scowl. Especially from the men of Gradius, who protected their Princess with the uptmost seriousness.

It was funny to him, how they would be at her side even if she didn't need any help from them. Actually, he was sure that they even accompanied her if she ever needed to cop a squat somewhere... and wiped her backside, too. All the while, whenever they started to argue again, Adele would ride ahead to scout the area for dangers, conveniently. This caused Jean to be a little more careful, which he thought was incredibly clever of her. However, Adele hadn't been herself for the past few days since they'd left Dradecus. He'd been hoping that once she saw the sun again that she'd bounce right back to her regular self, but she didn't. He'd wanted to speak her about it, but ultimately didn't.

Through the journey, since Adele wasn't around, he'd taken to speaking to the Salorite, Dalena. It didn't matter whether she wanted to speak to him or not, she had no choice. He didn't care about what she had to say, anyway. All she had to do was listen to him ramble on about things.

"That Sparky--" Kunal. "He's always giving me the stink eye. I think that it's because I threw mashed potatoes at his sister. It was meant for him, I assure you."

"She isn't so bad," 'Catalina'. "I had a dream last night that she was standing over me with a knife. Isn't that absurd? Her friend seems a little.. crazy, though. Don't you think?"

"She hasn't been speaking to me," Adele. "I don't know why. Maybe it's.. you know. That time."

He never apologized for breaking the poor girl's glasses. In fact, he probably didn't even remember doing it, but whether she liked it or not, Dalena was to be his go-to girl from then on.
When they all reached Shizuka, the Zuleidan couldn't wait to get off of his horse. As soon as his feet hit the ground, his hands went to rubbing his sore rear, which was not used to sitting on a horse for days at a time. He stretched his arms and placed them on his head, watching Adele go about with her scouting. His eyes scanned the forest and especially the gate in front of them. It was yet another instance of amazement and another setting that was completely unfamiliar to him. He'd seen forests, but none quite like this one.

As soon as Adele uttered the word, 'dead', the Prince made an odd expression. He was remembering back in Dradecus before he was swallowed by the beast. That feeling he got that said '******** it, I'm going home' came back again... At the same time, he knew that if he fled, something terrible would happen to him again. As always. He rolled his eyes at Adele when she spoke at him, and strayed off anyway.

"This must be it," Duh. There was no mighty castle or city that he could see. "Let's see what's plaguing this Kingdom.. A murderer, at least." Jean walked along the path and looked up at the staircase and the rumbling waterfalls that surrounded it.



xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx《The Trickster Prince》
.........

[Angst Werewolf]

xxxxxx ♨ Chαndαr Hαrí
{{ The Gradian Smith Mercenary }}
"I am a superstar and I don't care who you are!"

►xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx◄

Location: Laelie- The Gates

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Chandar had spent most of the trip in sullen silence. For one, he wasn't a fan of horses and being stuck riding one for several days was not working well for him. And he was trying his best to come across as the perfect, stoic Gradian to win the favor of Kunal and Bashirah. But what was aggravating him the most was Adele. He hadn't missed the look she'd given him back in the stables and for whatever reason he was feeling guilty about it. It was enough to make him want to bang his head on a wall until he bled.

And then there was the fact that they were in Laelie, the land on the Faeries. Why were they even here? Nobody cared about the Faeries; whatever disaster they were dealing with was their problem, not his. But the Mahapatras had gone along, and so here he was. Honestly, he half-hoped that the disaster had already struck, so they could move on and get out of the forest.

When the group reached the trashed village of Shizuka, Chandar swallowed heavily and wondered if there was going to be some sort of divine retribution for his wishes. The smith pulled his horse to a stop with a bit of a struggle; the Gradian had no skill whatsoever with animals and the journey had been practically a non-stop struggle for power between the two. Chandar found it nothing short of miraculous that he hadn't been trampled to death by the beast.

Up ahead, Adele had dismounted and wandered over to the nearest pile of rubble. Chandar swung out of the saddle, grateful for an excuse to stand on solid ground again. He shot his horse a nasty glare, and she, in turn, tried to bite his arm. He cursed to himself and swatted her nose away, taking several steps to the side. The action put him closer to Adele, who he'd been avoiding the entire trip. He didn't want her to bring up their shenanigans with the rocks, especially not with the Mahapatras present. There had been others that had witnesses it, yes, but he was banking on Cin being too drunk to remember and Elya to just keep her mouth shut. And there had been that wolf creature; Chandar looked over his shoulder to see if he could spot the beast. Gods knew he didn't want the thing sneaking up on him.

At Adele's announcement of a dead Faerie, Chandar hurried over to her side. Part of him was deathly curious to see what a dead Faerie looked like, and he stared at the carnage with a sick sort of fascination as Adele dug through her bags. Whatever had killed the guard had certainly done a good job, he thought as he glanced down at the wound. "That must have been a nasty weapon," he muttered out loud, wondering if it would be possible for him to get his hands on such a thing.

He didn't get the chance to fantasize about what the instrument of death could have been; Adele held a book out and, despite the fact that the thing was glowing, Chandar took it. He'd never seen it before and, overcome by curiosity, started flipping through its pages. He didn't understand any of it, but the flowing script still caught his attention. The Gradian leaned forward, eyes narrowed as he tried to read a particular phrase. Why he was so attracted to it, he wasn't sure, but he felt the overwhelming urge to speak the sentence.

"...Varden stenr-," Chandar scowled at the letters as he tried to work his tongue around the pronunciation. He was so enraptured by the writing that he hadn't even noticed Adele wander off or the others dismounting. Chandar spent a good minute mumbling each word to himself, before stringing them together. "Varden stenr, vrangr eka kausta ganga fram!" he declared, finally getting the pronunciation right.

Chandar smirked and snapped the book shut, pleased as punch that he'd managed the feat. What it had accomplished, he had no idea, and didn't really care. He made to go stuff the tome back in Adele's bags (he suddenly didn't care at all for the thing) when a low rumble echoed throughout the clearing, followed by a tremor through the ground. He froze. Had he caused that? How? Was it the words? Gods above, I cast a spell! he realized with dread. Chandar clutched the book to his chest, eyes darting about, half-expecting a monstrous beast to come tearing out of the ground and eat them all.

OoC/ Rough translation is "Guardian stone, allow me to go forward!" Used the ancient language from the Inheritance Cycle.

[XSenkoX]

"Yes, it will." Reriic agreed, inclining his head to a servant that had been at the door to allow entry to the one standing outside. The opening of the door revealed his and his brother's guard, suggesting that it was indeed time to leave. Noticing Elya's suspicious gaze primarily fell on Sonya as she examined the pair, the young prince touched his fingers to the feverish woman's back and encouraged her subtly to walk towards the hallway with him. "Elya, I trust that you will have your hands full having to watch over Cin and I during this... escapade... so I have decided to bring this woman to help. She ought to give you more time to focus on my brother or even sleep, should the fancy strike you." Without further explanation, he and Sonya brushed past the guard and headed to the stables. In reality, he would probably need Elya more now that he had brought Sonya along. But there was nothing to be done about it now...

Unlike so many of the royals and their companions, Reriic was familiar with horses to the point of having his own and it snickering affectionately every time he drew near. A beautiful black beast with a stark white mane and tail; a gift from his mother ages ago when she had entertained the idea of her son not becoming a recluse. Unfortunately, even getting to ride a beast that could read every tiny motion did little to make the trip enjoyable for Reriic or any of the others. Like most people from outside Dradecus, they thought that the sun was a fantastic thing and insisted on not just being awake while it was up, but furthering their travels during the elfin prince's sleeping hours and sleeping during his waking hours. End result: the prince that was known for having a temper to match any Gradian was on a very, very short fuse. Every jab shot his way by Jean-Baptiste or errant stare from Chandar was met with a hateful gaze that implied nothing but death wishes. After two days of only sleeping for a few hours a day on horseback, Reriic had even stopped keeping an eye on Sonya, leaving the feverish elf to do whatever she wanted. And no small part of him hoped that she would just kill them all.

By the time the group reached the faeries' home, Reriic could have celebrated. When they realized that the gatekeepers had been murdered, he nearly cried. Not even a moment to pause and sleep, he thought bitterly as he slid off his horse and gave it a pat of thanks. His knees protested being used so suddenly, but he ignored that in favour of watching everyone else rush about trying to figure out what they were going to do next. At the very least, Adele appeared to have it together and was trying to get the mess of royals to their next destination if someone could manage to open the damnable gate.

Reriic's being impressed with the Zuleidan guard faded suddenly as she told them all to be careful, then wandered off on her own, like an idiot. There was nothing safe about travelling alone in a potentially hostile land, even a prince knew that much (not that it seemed to bother Jean). Mumbling terrible things about incompetence under his breath, the elf stalked after Adele. He did have an ulterior motive to be honest, since his caring about the guard's life was minimal at best, and that was the distinct hope that she would stumble upon something that needed to be killed. He could only muster maybe half of his power in the burning daylight, but it was either kill something potentially small and furry or one of the members of their group. While it would be more satisfying to kill one of the other royals, a woodland creature would probably be better for public relations.

"You know," he spoke suddenly once they were away from the group, voice low and tired, "after telling us to be careful, wandering off by yourself probably isn't the best idea in the world. Gods only know what might leap out in this place."

As if to prove his point, the ground shook and a rumble filled the clearing. Eyes widening, Reriic stared at Adele, then back towards the group. What were the odds of that, exactly?

[SheIsCursedTea]

Elya || Meister
|| Royal Guard to the Princes of Dradecυѕ ||

Life without a little mischief ...

__________________________________

Upon invitation, Elya entered the room. She bowed to Reriic, opening her mouth to speak before she spotted the Prince's guest. She closed her mouth and examined her for a moment, distrust clogging up her entire being. Her eyes flicked between the woman and the Prince, then before she could speak, the Prince excused himself and took the woman and left. Once she was alone in the room she sighed. "Why do I get the feeling that I'm actually going to have to do more work now?" She shook her head then headed towards the stables.

---------------------------

The ride was long, and it seemed to bring most of the party down. Elya however, quite enjoyed herself. At first it had been difficult to get used to the sunlight. It stung her eyes and blinded her vision. Once she adjusted, however, she quite enjoyed herself. She loved annoying some of the people on the trip. Others she flirted quite a bit. She was nearly always laughing about one thing or another, or marvelling over some of the wild life which could not be found in Dradecus. She had rarely left the borders. and as such had never seen most of the creatures before. Once they fell under the cover of tree branches and leaves, her mood increased even more, as the sun, the only thing she was seen to complain about, was hindered significantly. This only increased her loud chatter and teasing.

It was during one of her rare moments of quite in which they arrived at Shizuka. Her expression of contentment changed immediately to one of concern. She moved her horse closer to both of the Prince's under her protection, only to have Reriic get off his horse and follow Adele who had quite foolishly, in Elya's opinion, wandered off alone right after telling everyone to be careful. "Heh, and she thinks I'm foolish ..." she muttered to herself. After checking Cin was close by, she dismounted and wandered towards where the dead body was, lifting up the cloth Adele had used to cover his wound. "How curious ..." she said, re-covering it up and stepping away. "At least it was a quick death. It's all one could ask for."

Then, some sort of Earthquake or ... she didn't know what ... caused the ground to shake and she froze for a moment, before quickly running towards her own horse that had gotten frightened and reared up. She grabbed it's reign and pulled it towards her. "Shhh, it's alright boy. Calm yourself." She soothed it gently, resting a hand on it's nose. When it had calmed down substantially, she turned to look around, wondering what could have made such a thing happen.

__________________________________

... Is hardly a life at all.

[V I V L I O N]

█████████████████████████

ADELE MARIE VANADIS

█████████████████████████

xxxxxAs she moved away from the group, her eyes anxiously searched the ground for prints of any kind. However, what had her most worried were what could be hiding in the small dwellings. The wound to the faery hadn't been that old. Maybe a day old, at best. There was a large possibility that whatever had attacked had remained close to the scene. They had obviously wanted something, it was now a question if they had found it or still waiting. That was why a sweep of the premises was necessary. A safety status had to be established. Any half decent guard would know that. And honestly, she didn't think much of going off by herself. It was a small enough village that even by walking the outside perimeter, people would be able to hear her if she called out. Not to mention, from where she stood, she still had visual contact. But she didn't believe it would come to that. Adele was more than confident in her own abilities to fend off a direct attack. Wasn't that why she found herself in this mess anyways?

Approaching the door of one of the small huts, her fingers lifted and readjusted on the handle of her sword. She inwardly began a small countdown in her head, 'Three, two-' Immediately, the guard spun on her heel and held her sword at the ready when a voice sounded behind her. Adele cursed as she recognized Reriic, however, she did not lower her sword, "Do you have a death wish?!" She hissed. Quickly turning back around, she slammed her heel into the middle of the door, the piece of wood immediately swinging open. Rushing in, her blue eyes searched the small room. But there was nothing. Exiting the structure, she returned her attention back to Grimm as he lectured her about the safety hazard of leaving the group. As if in response, the guard looked at him with a skeptical expression. "Thanks for your feigned concern but I believe I can handle my-"

She was cut off as the Earth itself let out tremor and a low rumble sounded. Her muscles tensed as met Reriic's gaze before looking back towards the group. One thing caught her attention. When she had handed the tome to Chandar, it had still been glowing. But now, there was no sign of the light. Her brows furrowed slowly. The Gradian had seemingly been trying to pronounce a passage from the book when she had left. Slowly, her brain began to piece the puzzle together. Bending her knees and picking up a small stone, she rolled it between her fingers before taking aim and-

When the rock found its target, a satisfied smirk came across her face. Man, she had been wanting to do that since the Gradian guard had started with the 'holier than thou' routine. And she had to admit, she felt a bit of her stress ebb away seeing the other in pain. Though, despite how much pleasure she had derived from the act, it had been done for a reason. Adele called out, "What
the hell did you just do?!" She moved over to the next hut, and continued on with her reprimand. However, there was almost a note
of humour in her voice. "You were supposed to make it stop glowing, not cause an earth quake!" With a roll of her eyes, she
pushed the next door slowly open with the toe of her boot.

I want to go back.
To when I knew who I was.
To when I knew who you were.
And where we stood amongst this wreck.

[Watervoir]

xx

■ □ ■ - - Jing


Five, he counted. Five. Five days in which in which the water prince and the fire princess could see another sunrise. Five days in which enemy hearts could have stilled, but did not. Five days too many. At each sundown, his blood would boil and another winner's score to the royals' side would be carved violently, but in the shadows, on the hard oak of his wheeled transport. A tally, in proportion to his boredom. The only pause to the monotony was his perusing of the slaver's papers, the contents of which were now locked in memory and physical counterparts of which only required swift eradication. His behaviour clashed in symptoms with travel fever, conveniently. No soul would have understood his people's torment. Their horrors. Their rage, that which sent him. Him. And his hunger. His insatiable appetite. The ants were blind to the spider that lurked amongst them, their innocent minds consumed by their hatred for one another. As such, they crowded around his prey, filthy and unknowing shields of pink meat and ivory bone. They held the hunter back, denied him the chance to feast silently. At daybreak, the ants intermingled with one another. At nightfall, they raised fires and retired to supervised safe zones to slumber. Their guards slaved in the darkness, not to deter invaders, but to protect their nobility from one another. How drear. If only the heads of state could work together, Jing might have had an easier time slaughtering them all. How ironic.

Laelie. He grasped at the growing magic in his veins as hope for the curb of his listlessness. The magic core was just as he remembered. Beautiful. Serene. Perfect. Boring, but capable of temporarily lulling the serpent's thoughts away from the delight of sinking down razor sharp fangs into the taut muscles of the crown fish's attractive female guard. No one knew about the Renai, but the world was well aware of the Shizuka faeries. Jing emerged from his wagon upon their arrival to greet them, and instead he greeted confusion. And tension. Neither of them unfamiliar atmospheres for the assassin, but completely out of place for the Laelian village. He blinked, taking in the destruction, and then lowered a dispassionate gaze to spare a quiet second for mourning. Surrounding him was all shambles and rubble. He grabbed at a nearby tree for support when the floor began shaking and opened his eyes to the sight of blocks of granite unearthing themselves and piling neatly on top of one other by invisible hands before the assumed faerie gateway. It was a customary defence mechanism of the Kingdom of the Wind, to apply trickery to their lands themselves to confuse outsiders. In this case, the ornate, ominous and looming jade gateway would have been anyone's first guess as the portal to the inside, but the true entrance to the land beyond was this simple yet elegant stone archway formed from the garden stones of the sentinel village. “Well, look at this.” Jing's eyes fell into slits, his mouth, a tight line. “The gate's opened.” Someone had activated the gate without faerie authorization. Naughty, naughty.

xx

[Musical Stereo]

xxdαlєиα ѕиoωxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxRιte oƒ Faιtн ☼

He stumbled INTO faith and thought,
❝God, this is all there is?❞
The PICTURES in his mind arose,
And began to B R E A T H E.

─» Dalena smiled at both Chris and Aleksi as everyone had started preparing to leave. She was excited to go on another journey to a new place, perhaps a place where she wouldn't have to illuminate everything to see- somewhere with sun was preferred the most though. She offered an arm to both Alek and Christopher, as a joke, and said with a grin, "Shall we be off, boys? Let's grab ourselves a horse."


*****

This had been the worst five days of Dalena's life. Well, that could have been an exaggeration but the first day had gone downhill quickly. Jean-Baptiste (She finally learned his stupid name) had decided that she would now be his comfort rock, or his to go girl when he needed to complain about something. He mused on about things that didn't even concern her, although Dalena listened along to humour the bumbling idiot. He went on about Kunel, Catalina and Adele, to which Dalena would usually reply in a passive way, although she had a lot of malice under her tone.

"Perhaps you should have decided that throwing food at him wouldn't have solved any problems, in fact you made everything worse. You are so childish."

"Maybe you ate something bad last night. Although, I can imagine her doing something of that calibur, don't bother sleeping with someone to protect you though. She probably won't do it."

"Perhaps she's just ignoring you, like I should be."

Finally, once they reached the gates of Laelie, Dalena hopped off her horse so she could walk and chat with her fellowRite of Sailors. She rubbed her head and took out the usual braid in her hair. She sighed as she ran a hand through her now wavy hair, as she looked up at both Chris and Alek, giving them an annoyed look. She wasn't annoyed with them, oh no, she was annoyed that Jean-Baptiste chose her to complain to- of all people!

"Someone needs to shut him up, I cannot take it anymore." She complained to her other friends. She heard other people hopping off their horses and heading over to the apparent unlocked gates of Laelie, and Dalena heard the word "dead" several times. This wasn't sounding good, in fact, there was some sort of bad feeling that was pooling in the blonde's stomach. Something had happened here, but what exactly? She turned around only to see Chandar yelling out some mystical words in a language she did not understand.

And then the idiot caused an earthquake. Well, it was either that or he had summoned a beast. Either or, Dalena didn't like those two options. She rushed over to calm down her horse, which was on it's back legs. "Calm down..." She mused to the horse, which seemed to work. The horse was quickly back on all fours and had calmed down. She glanced at Chandar again, her golden eyes glared at the other's head with annoyance. This day would certainly be interested.


[ ooc: i tried to a make good post and this happened, forgive me ]

[Ariiadne]

xxxxxxx▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Initially surprised by Adele’s approach, the Gradian twins took in her recommendations with an invisible gratitude. Ever since the untimely death of their previous guard, Navid, in Bhegin, they had shared a muted disturbance. Though confident in their own abilities to defend themselves, having someone there as yet another set of eyes – a pair specifically tasked with securing their safety – was always a comfort. Kunal’s hardy gaze swept up and down both Chandar and the newly-appeared Rohan with a touch of suspicion. Chandar he remembered from fighting the great sand beast, and surely he had made his contribution, but his light skin caused him to lift an eyebrow. And Rohan, well… he was just a stranger. But if he truly was a hunter, a revered and noble position in Gradian society, then perhaps his trust would be more easily distributed.

When it was apparent Kunal would not be the one to speak, probably because of his violent performance hours earlier, Bashirah attempted to prepare herself to do the talking. Of course, paranoia nibbled at her, eyes bouncing back and forth from person to person, wondering if they were looking at her. Thankfully many of them had not been present at the disaster in the ballroom, and looking about, Bashirah could not locate Kora. This is the simplest it would get.

Even when Chandar interjected, the Gradian princess gestured first that those same bay stallions Adele had suggested be brought to them. Reins falling into her hands, as well as her brother’s, Bashirah took a moment to observe the creature now beside her. A dark, silky chestnut, the horse stood calmly, not even pawing at the dirt.

Curtness would be key. “Thank you. While we recognize the need for guards, it would be unwise to simply hand out the position. We invite you,” she said in reference to Chandar, “and Rohan to travel with us a bit before making any final and lasting decisions. I hope you understand.” Even Bashirah could tell that she was being uncharacteristically passive. Nevertheless, she stood behind her words; Kunal’s silence was an affirming one.


------------------------


Five days. It took five days to even see any substantial clusters of trees. It would have been more frustrating had Bashirah and Kunal’s steeds not been so tempered. Bashirah personally delighted in feeling the horse move steadily beneath her, never complaining, always beautiful. It was the people, however, that made the trip irritating at times. There was always the backwards comment, the judging glare, the whispering and the giggling. Bashirah did her best to swallow her insecurities. She continuously told herself that it would be impossible for all of those mutterings and chortles to be a result of her shame… but it was another thing entirely to believe it.

Kunal kept his distance. These were no good circumstances for him. Just after nearly killing a faerie, they were now en route to Laelie. And as their horses trotted parallel to one another’s, he could still feel a darkness radiate from his sister. Sullenness he had created. While he would never openly express his regret, he hoped that maybe his detached demeanor and reticence would convey some sort of subtle message of that kind. But being naturally detached and reticent probably didn’t help that much.

Finally, the group reached a set of impressive stone gates the color of newly sprouted saplings. But the village surrounding it, though quaint and humble, was abandoned, and in some parts, destroyed. This eerie aura was the first and only thing on the journey to even remotely trouble her horse, which whinnied uneasily, stepping unsurely back and forth. Bashirah gently patted its muscular neck. It was then Adele discovered the dead in the rubble.

Dismounting, Bashirah cradled the large jaw of her stallion quietly, taking in the scene rather than contributing to it. Kunal did similarly. Besides, with no civilization in sight and only dense forestation before them, riding a horse any further would be unwise and impractical.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kunal uninterestedly noticed something glowing in Chandar’s grasp, followed by some unintelligent babble from the pale Gradian. Rolling his eyes, the Gradian prince wondered how such an unrefined Gradian could possibly exist, until the ground began to quake. Spooked, the two horses reared up in fear; acting swiftly, Kunal grabbed both sets of reins and brought them down, all the while trying to keep his balance.

“You fool!” he snapped, but caught himself hastily. He wanted to scold Chandar for handling something so haphazardly, but he kept his mouth shut. He still did not feel like the wound he’d created had healed enough to allow him to speak so freely. Meanwhile, Bashirah, perturbed and startled, focused on her horse rather than the chaos she could feel would inevitably erupt – as it always did.

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❂ Whether a fℓσωєя in my hand or a gυи in my hand _____
_____ I’d gινє ιт xαℓℓx υρ for your нαи∂ ιи му нαи∂ ▶ ▷

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XXXXX

[Angst Werewolf]

xxxxxx ♨ Chαndαr Hαrí
{{ The Gradian Smith Mercenary }}
"I am a superstar and I don't care who you are!"

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Location: Laelie- The Gates

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━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The mini-earthquake had startled most, if not all, of the group, but not a one was more surprised than Chandar. The Gradian clutched the book to his chest and looked around frantically, trying his best to look like he wasn't about to panic. Needless to say, he was not doing a very good job of it.

Several of the horses began rearing and bucking, but the smith ignored it and opened the book again. Maybe there was some sort of explanation, a translation or even a counterspell for... whatever it was he had done. Chandar flipped through the pages, but he could not, for the life of him, find the phrase from earlier. But the strangest thing was that he couldn't remember anything about the spell- not the words, the location on the page, not even the letter the spell had started with.

Crack.

Chandar cursed and dropped the book, one hand flying to his face. Adele's rock had nailed him right in the eye, and the smith hissed in pain at the contact. Despite the fact that the two of them were quite a distance from each other, he could hear Adele screaming at him quite well. "Shut up!" he barked back, unable to retaliate much better than that. Gods above, that had hurt. "I hope you know that this is your fault! Why were carrying around such a thing anyway?!"

He finally dropped his hand and blinked slowly, trying to determine how much damage had been done. He could still see (which was a plus) and feel all parts of his face (which was not a plus at the moment), but he had no doubt that he'd be left with quite a nasty black eye for the next couple of days. Chandar muttered to himself, ignoring the glares and shouts directed at him. Yes, he'd just done something pretty stupid, but that didn't mean that they all had to get on his back about it.

The smith snatched up the book again and stalked over to Adele's horse. The creature was prancing about nervously, and Chandar was just not in the mood to deal with the animal at the moment. He grabbed the reins and jerked them roughly with one hand while he stuffed the book back into the bags with the other. The horse was most displeased with the treatment and managed to step on his foot before he could finish ditching the tome. Chandar bit down on a curse, aware that both the Mahapatra siblings were now watching him.

With as much dignity as he could muster, he dropped the reins and stepped away, but was unable to hide his slight limp as he tried to keep weight off his bruised toes. For a moment, he made to go after Adele, but caught himself and stopped. Going back to the Mahapatras seemed like a bad idea too, so he settled for wandered towards the edge of the group, one hand on his sword and pointedly not looking at anyone.

It wasn't his fault. It wasn't.

[jadeshaw88]

۪D۫۰۪a۫۰۪n۫۰۪i۫۰۪k۫۰۪a۫۰ "۪D۫۰۪a۫۰۪n۫۰۪i۫۰" M۫۰۪a۫۰۪r۫۰۪t۫۰۪i۫۰۪z۫۰xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mischief Makerxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"It’s too late to change your mind
xxxxxxxxxxxxEven though this fragile world is tearing apart at the seams
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxWe can’t wash these sins away"



xxxxxxxxxxx
It had been several years since Danika had last been out of Dradecus but she was more than certain that she adjusted to the sunlight better than most of her fellow Dradicans. Which, in her opinion, was just silly since they had only been in darkness for one night thanks to the fantastic curse. Maybe it was just because men were such big babies. After all, Elya seemed to have adjusted faster than the others as well. Whatever the reason, she didn't dwell on those thoughts long. Honestly, she didn't care.

During their five day journey, she had spent her time glued to Jean's hip. She set up his camp at night, took care of the mounts, cooked...which was not one of her strong suits though the food wasn't awful...and spent her nights snuggling up to the Zuleidan prince. It wasn't as bad as she would have thought it would be. Never in her life would she have thought she was a snuggler but it wasn't so bad. She was warmer than she would have been alone and he was a prince so he had a better sleeping arrangement than she would have had. As Cat anyway. Sure, she couldn't sneak around camp or anything but it decreased that chance that she would be found out. So long as she was the dutiful servant. She also had to listen to Kiya complain about the arrangements but, if things played out the way she hoped, Kiya might not even be an issue for much longer.

Beyond all of that, she had enjoyed the journey. The bickering needed very little to fuel and she loved all of the tension in the air. On the second day, she had pointed out a long stemmed weed to Jean and he figured out all on his own that it was and excellent tool for bothering Reriic. Every time the elf fell asleep in his saddle, Jean would tickle his ear or his neck with the weed...the rest is history. The tension between the two Gradians, one of the Gradian guards and the Zuleidan guard, the Laelian princess and her guard, the Laelian guard and Kunal and finally one of the Rites and Jean...though Jean was oblivious...was almost laughable. Danika simply loved it. If she pulled the right strings at the right time, she could throw the world into war.

The only problem she faced was that she didn't know who she wanted to ally herself with. Obviously the best option was taking control of the world by herself but she didn't have the power necessary for such a feat. Jean would be the easiest alliance to set up. She was already "sleeping" with him and he didn't come off as overly bright so he could be fairly easy to control. He was also a dream for anyone who enjoyed chaos. However, this was also what made him a risky candidate. He was unpredictable despite the fact that he was repetitive in his actions and he was bound to push the wrong person the wrong way at the wrong time and get himself and everyone associated with him killed. Hell, she might even kill him herself and save everyone the trouble...when she was done with him, of course. Though she was growing rather fond of the man. Who knew.

Reriic and Kunal probably wouldn't work either. Although she liked the grouchy introverted jerks and loved the idea that a big strong muscular man might throw her around a little bit during sexual activities, neither man seemed like the right fit. Reriic was a second son to...Cin. Yes, Cin would be fairly easy to eliminate but she liked him and she wasn't entirely sure that she wanted to side with a kingdom full of drunks. Then Kunal was also an unlikely candidate because he was too stiff to have sex period let alone rough sex and he had his head so far up his sister's a** that it was doubtful that he could be counted on for anything beyond telling her what Bashira's insides looked like before she killed them both. Cin was an obvious no. Gods love him, he seemed like a fun guy but he was not leadership material. Perhaps she could keep him for a pet or something.

She supposed that she could align herself with one of the princesses but they didn't look very promising either. She had caught the Laelian princess and her guard trading looks that were filled with more than just friendship on multiple occasions and, although that meant the princess was game for a little girl on girl, it seemed like they were pretty stuck on each other. The Shastas were out. They seemed too emotional for her liking and Danika really didn't want anything to do with the Earth Kingdom. She cut all ties to her human side if it was possible. Finally there was Bashira...She couldn't quite put her finger on it but both of the Gradians seemed unstable emotionally. Emotions were foolish and could get you killed. The Gradians had the right idea about that...unfortunately, their heirs didn't seem to grasp the concept.

All and all, she would just have to wait a little longer before she made any tough decisions. Only a fool would have made an alliance after only five days. She would simply have to stir the pot a little and see who came out on top. She even had a few ideas on how to do just that, though she was unsure which plan to set off first. The right string at the right time...

When they made it to Laelie, Danika had stayed toward the back of the group. If they were attacked or something, she wanted the enemy to break themselves on the royals first. She let them think that she was staying in the back because she was less important but the real reason was that she didn't want to be on the front lines just yet. Plus it was easier to watch all of the drama from the back.

She chose to stay on her horse when most of the others dismounted for the same reasons...easier to run away, better view. It was easy enough to make herself look too frightened to get down. Playing Cat had seriously improved her acting skills when it came to fear and nervousness. Stupid girl. Anyway, because of her sight advantage, she was the first to notice a man she had never seen before exit one of the wagons as if he had been there the whole time. His facial features suggested that he was Laelian so that could explain why they hadn't seen him stow away. In his tiny form, he could have hidden anywhere. Still it was curious and she wondered if she should mention it to anybody or just see how this all played out. The second option was certainly more intriguing.

She didn't have long to think on it though because only moments later the ground started shaking violently and she was tossed from her horse when it reared. Definitely an unforeseen problem that she hadn't thought of. Who would? She was grateful once again that her sister had been a dancer so that it didn't seem strange when turned her fall into a graceful roll that landed her on her feet again. She would still have bruises but at least her tailbone wasn't broken and she didn't have to risk being trampled by the stupid animal. "Easy, easy." She whispered to the beast as she grabbed the reigns and patted it's nose. You big worthless sack of...

Interesting shouts stopped her before she could say what she thinking out loud and she quickly mounted up again to see what was going on. The new gate that had appeared out of nowhere interested her very little. It was the anger and where it was directed that amused and excited her. This could work in her favor. And look, the big oaf was coming right to her. That was so sweet of him.

After about the third day, Danika had dropped the stuttering act...mostly. As long as she wasn't getting yelled at, she spoke fairly normal. Still, she hadn't talked much to the brooding Gradian so this could be a little more tricky than she would of liked. "Hey...um...sir?...Are you alright?" She dismounted again, ignoring the fact that she would probably be sorry for it later. "That wasn't very fair of them, was it? It's not like you knew what would happen when you read the book. For all we know, it could have been spelled or something so that you had to read it." She made her voice sound as nice and sympathetic as she could make it without puking. "I have some bruise balm in my things. You would be surprised at how often dancers bruise themselves." She gave him a brilliant smile and half hoped he would tell her to piss off. Of course, it would be a lot more fun if he used her as someone to rant at. Making "friends" was one of the easiest ways to get plots in motion.