Tales of the Betrothed (closed)

[Overlord Gizmo]

The atmosphere filling the entirety of Shazgard’s royal compound was tense and still. When the queen was angry, even if she chose to remain silent, it was almost impossible for anyone on the grounds not to be affected by it. The fact that it was in the middle of the festival week was the only reason any form of cheer could even begin to surface. The royal children of Shazgard and Zuleidi wore tight, careful expressions; minding their manners for the first time that anyone could remember. The day before, their ‘play’ (if that was what one could truly call it) had gotten a bit out of hand, landing them in Queen Dinora’s private garden. It was well known that cultivating a garden in the intense heat of the Red Fields was an incredibly difficult task. If one was to go about the effort required, it was usually for vegetables, herbs, or other things of use. Flower gardens were a luxury known to very few, and the queen was one of them.

Children being children, the garden had been trampled. The discovery of the destruction had so enraged Dinora, that there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that, had the culprits not been the royal children, they would have lost their heads. Instead, she had to settle for reprimanding them in a more traditional manner. But she did so personally. There were rumors floating around that said even grown men would break down into tears after a verbal lashing from that woman.

Jean-Baptiste was one such male figure that was intimidated by the queen of Shazgard. He’d been so rigid and silent during the scolding that it seemed that her gaze was practically turning him to stone from the inside-out. To him, she was simply terrifying, something that no other woman in the world could ever hope to be in his eyes. The young man could barely bring himself to eat that night in front of her, the King, and his own parents. He was the quietest anyone had ever seen him. Gerard was pleased.

Sitting beside Jean, Zaara watched the kitchen door out of the corner of her eye. She felt the smallest measure of relief when she saw Kora enter the dining room and take one of the empty seats. The two shared a look for a moment, trying hard not to grin. It had been Jean’s fault they had ended up in her mother’s garden, so the older Shasta had come up with an idea of getting back at him. Early that morning, she had gone down to the kitchens, and taken a tiny vial of the strongest spice they had. Traditional food in Zuleidi wasn’t nearly as spicy as some of the dishes in Shazgard. Come festival season, they usually had to substitute certain ingredients to accommodate their guests delicate palettes.

When no one was watching, she had given the vial to Kora with very specific instructions: put the spice into Jean’s food just before dinner. The brat prince was so scared of Zaara’s mother, that he was terrified to breathe too loudly in her presence. She had been waiting all day for this, and now that Kora was at the dinner table, she knew that the task was complete. All they had to do was wait.

For a while, the young prince simply stared down at the plate of food in front of him with a slightly worried expression on his face. It was a sort of Shasta bird or pig. Something stewed, with some grainy stuff covered in sauce, and some tropical fruits he couldn’t pronounce. It looked good, but all he did was stare down at it because after the scolding, his appetite had fought its way out of his belly and flown far, far away.

“Jean, darling,” The gentle voice of Zuleidi’s queen tried to muster him. More often than not, she could always tell if there was something wrong with him. The boy looked up at her from his plate and shook his head quickly. He was nearly the spitting image of his mother, except that she had waves in her hair, and his was straight as his father’s. “You haven’t eaten since breakfast. At least put something in your stomach before you go to bed.”

Making much effort to not make any eye contact with the Shasta queen, who was sitting right beside his mother, he put his attention back to his plate of food and even went so far as to pick up his fork and push things around. With hesitance, the prince picked up a good portion of the sauced rice and roast bird and stuffed it in his mouth. Chewing slowly, an intense heat began to develop on his tongue. He continued to chew, expecting it to go away, for he knew that Shasta food was sometimes a bit spicy. When it didn’t, he grabbed his goblet, which was filled with some kind of fruit juice and gulped some of it down. It didn’t help.

Knowing not what the girls had done, he mistakenly caught sight of his mother’s stare, and took another bite of the food without even realizing it. He began to sweat and cleared his throat, trying not to draw any more attention to himself.

“You’re turning red, are you sure you’re alright?” Jeannette was right; his cheeks were flushing intensely, and even his eyes were beginning to redden and water. The boy began tugging on the cuffs of his sleeves.

“Its just a little hot, is all,” He replied with a shaky voice. “May I-- water... please!”

Both of the girls sitting at the table were biting the insides of their cheeks in an attempt to retain their composure. With the Shasta queen sitting at the table, as well as the rest of their parents and other authority figures, they couldn’t let on that anything was amiss. Dinora was already in a mood foul enough to curdle fresh milk. Zaara watched Jean out of the corner of her eye from her seat, her jaw beginning to ache from trying not to laugh.

Jeannette looked to her husband, who had a souring expression on his face as he watched the young prince guzzle down as much water as he could, paying no attention as it dripped down his chin and onto his fine clothing. He could practically feel the Shasta queen’s glare on him, so he calmly set the water down and tried to regain his composure. Still, his entire mouth, throat, and anything else that had come in contact with the food felt like it was on fire. Jean’s face looked to be a mess. He couldn’t stop sniffling, and tears welled up in his eyes beyond his control. He tried his best to look normal, to no avail.

Jean was making himself look ridiculous. Kora came very close to exploding with laughter. The only thing that stopped her, was when Zaara had reached under the table to pinch some of the exposed skin on her arm. It stung and made the younger princess flinch slightly, but it helped to keep her from laughing. The queen was just as mad at them as she was at Jean. They couldn’t afford to make spectacles of themselves any more than he could.

“They must have accidentally given him something spicy.”

“Quit babying him,” Gerard snapped back at his wife, then glared at his son once more. “Quit messing around.”

With a whimper, the young zuleidan brought his hands up to wipe the tears from his eyes, not realizing that he’d gotten some of the sauce on his fingers. Soon, the burning hit his eyes even worse than it hit his throat. He could barely open them now. Without enough water to stop the burning, the boy let out a shriek of a cry and bolted from the table, out of the dining hall’s curtains until he found the nearest vessel of water to dunk his head in. It happened to be a bird bath, complete with birds, who were barely startled by him, as shown by a swallowtail, who perched itself on his blonde head as he soaked his face.

Gerard and Jeannette were left in shock as their son ran from the table and promptly embarrassed himself in front of the rest of the staff. The woman ran after her son, and his father gave an apprehensive look towards Dinora and Basilio before leaning over the table to take Jean’s plate and taste a spoonful of it.

The princesses were almost incapable of containing their laughter. The sisters pinched each other under the table, and tried their hardest to retain solemn expressions. Expressions that soon became very real. Horror reflected in their eyes and their faces paled, when they saw the king of Zuleidi reaching to take a bit of Jean’s food. Zaara almost spoke up to stop Gerard, but bit her tongue. She couldn’t say anything without revealing what she and her sister had done. So... the two both looked on with silent mortification when the king brought the spoon of food to his mouth.

Suffice to say that the King of Zuleidi was the next person running outside for relief.

[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.
.........



Zaara’s funeral pyre wasn’t nearly the best it could’ve been for Shazgard’s royal daughter, but it had been made with care, albeit in haste, by people who wouldn’t have been allowed to dirty their hands for such a feat back home. They were unskilled in their craftsmanship. Jean-Baptiste, who sat on the ground cross-legged watching as the flames flickered, couldn’t see the point in building something fine when it was going to burn anyway.

The flames burned hot against the cool wind of the forest. As the smoke rose over the trees, the previous day’s events went with it. In that time of tranquility, it was unbelievable how much had happened since the morning before. He could remember how optimistic they’d been when they’d set off from Dradecus. Their group was whole and undamaged. Though their bonds weren’t strong, they were still whole. Now, there was a gaping wound in their numbers that would surely bleed for ages, slowing them down and making it harder for them to persevere. Zaara was not the only one to die that day, but her absence would resonate much further than that of one of seven councilmen. Jean felt a tinge of guilt at that truth.

It was hard to believe that beneath all of that fire, there was a woman. A woman who had once been a young girl, who had once been a child, somebody’s baby, and someone he thought was invincible. He’d seen only some of her smiles and all of her sour glares. Of all other things that had happened between them, he’d been avoiding the image of them standing in the garden of Dradecus’ palace. He’d said some particularly nasty things to Zaara then that he’d have given anything to take back at that moment in time.

“I was terrible to her,” He muttered, just loud enough for Kora to hear. He wasn’t sure if she was up to listening to anything he had to say. She’d been so frozen in place that after she lit the pyre, she’d been standing there clutching the torch with white knuckles, even while the wood was quickly burning into ash in her hands. He had to pry it from her fingers and douse it in the creek for her. “Do you think she hated me?”





xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx《The Trickster Prince》
.........

[Overlord Gizmo]

x x x x x x x x x ✗ K o r a x Z h a d d a g h

The Shasta’s red eyes were illuminated by the dancing light of the flames as she stared into the funeral pyre. Once everything had been said and done, all that had been left was to actually light the pyre. Kora had done so without hesitation. However, as soon as the flames flickered to life, she had found herself staring into them, holding tight to the still burning torch in her hand. She had not even noticed when Jean had approached her, until he had taken the torch from her hand, and thrown it into the creek. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she at least pretend to be strong, when she was trying so hard to do just that? Zaara was the strong one. The invincible one. And yet if that were true, why was it she, and not Kora, bathed in the flames of the funeral pyre? When Jean spoke up, she heard him, although she did not look away from the fire.

It was only when he asked her if she thought Zaara had hated him, that she turned her head in his direction. Without responding at first, she sat down beside him, and turned once more to watch the fire. “Every fall and summer, you were the bane of our existence,” she said finally. “The festival seasons always brought the promise of your pranks, your teasing, and cruel jokes. You were the biggest brat either of us had ever met." Kora spoke honestly, she only paused for a moment, wondering if this was what he had expected her to say. "The two of us would sneak away in the night before your arrival, and stay up until the early hours of dawn, just trying to think of ways to get back at you. Some plans were more realistic than others, while others were more outlandish.” A half smile appeared on her features, as she gave a light laugh at the memory, and continued, “I remember on one occasion, where we thought we could hang you by your feet over the side of the plateau, and tickle you with feather dusters. For obvious reasons, that one never came to fruition. Another time, one of us came up with the grand idea of switching your soaps with green fabric dye.”

The crackling of the flames filled a small silence. Without thinking, her hand had gone to clutch the jade funeral stone of her mother. The thin gold chain disappeared into her hand, where the smooth stone was hidden. “As we grew older, the festival seasons became the only time that we were free to spend with each other. Your antics brought us together, and gave us something to look forward to. No Shastan children would have dared to play so rough with us, as you did. The two of us had more fun going back and forth with you during the festival seasons, than we did during the rest of the year.” Looking away from the flames to look at Jean, it was hard to believe how much time had passed. They had both been small children the first time they had met. In her mind, he had always been the mean little boy that was always pulling pranks. Now, at this moment in time, was the first time she had ever looked at him, and saw a grown man in place of the thin mean little boy.

“She didn’t hate you. She never hated you. I can promise you that,” she said after a moment. Since he looked like he needed it, she took his hand in hers and gave it a light squeeze. “And neither did I.”







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[Cherzooka]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx εstonxxxуates ▬▬▬
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Smoke and ashes drifted slowly into the sky, easily visible above the treetops against the blue morning sky. Eston watched the funeral from a distance, remaining on the fringes of the denser forest near the clearing. He felt he had little place at this funeral. This was an event to mourn and accept the lose of someone these people knew, someone that he didn't. The idea of watching a body also was somewhat unpleasant to him.

He did a double check of all his belongings, he didn't have much. The dagger he stole earlier, that currently lacked any sort of sheath to contain the blade in. He'd have to be careful with it in his pack to keep it from accidentally poking a hole in the fabric. He also had a couple books. Two on various plants and animals of the world, with various makeshift bookmarks marking important pages. Another book being a journal for writing things down. (Though that never stopped him from just writing in his other books.) He made note on the lack of writing utensils. He must have lost them somewhere, he'd have to find another. There was also a loose piece of cloth, one he had been using as a rag slash handkerchief. It'd probably serve as a half way decent covering for the dagger. Well, better than nothing at least. And... That was the extent of his belongings. The small amount of food he had brought with him when he originally left was gone, likely taken by the faeries when he was captured. But these and the clothes were the only things he had for now.

He let out a yawn as he half-threw the pack back onto the ground. He was tired. When was the last time he actually slept? Actually sleep, not just pass out for however long he had passed out earlier. He shed his shirt, throwing it onto the bag to cushion his pillow as he laid down to get some sleep.



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[jadeshaw88]

۪D۫۰۪a۫۰۪n۫۰۪i۫۰۪k۫۰۪a۫۰ "۪D۫۰۪a۫۰۪n۫۰۪i۫۰" M۫۰۪a۫۰۪r۫۰۪t۫۰۪i۫۰۪z۫۰xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mischief Makerxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Beware she's schemin'xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
she'll make you think you're dreamin' xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
You'll fall in love and you'll be screamin' dreamin'"xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Danika raised her eyebrows at the disturbance that the younger Dradican prince was stirring up. He really was quite dramatic. Sonya was a whore. Was he really so surprised that she had strayed from his side. She was not bound to him...from what she could tell, he wasn't even paying her. Perhaps the Gradian had more to offer. He was certainly more blessed in the muscle department and he had that strong and violent thing going on. Hell, Danika would have chosen him if she had to pick between the two.

Then the heartbroken prince turned his frustrations out on Kora. It was as if he wanted to be the most hated person in the group. He had a point though. Danika didn't see the point in building a funeral pyre either. Zaara was dead and she was going to stay dead whether they burned her or buried her. Sylphira wasn't complaining and neither were the Rites. All of this was just a waste of time and resources. They needed to focus on healing the injured and getting the hell out of there. She wasn't stupid enough to say that out loud though. Grieving people were easier to play with but they were also easier to piss off. Only humans with their foolish compassion would side with someone irrational with grief over someone speaking logically.

Cin left her then and she sighed as she watched his retreating form. As much as she would like to blame this lost opportunity on Reriic and his lack of tact, she couldn't. The truth was that she was simply below the prince's radar. With everything that had happened that day, cheering up a stuttering imbecile was probably right up there along with sunbathing with alcohol withdrawal on the list of things he wanted to do. Perhaps he would have been more interested in the real her but Cat was too annoying and prude for his taste. Still, it stung.

She shook her head as he disappeared into the trees then turned to enter the woods in the opposite direction. If anyone cared enough to ask where she was going, she would simply tell them that she was going to gather wood. She doubted anyone would though and that suited her just fine. It made spying easier when people didn't give a s**t what you did. Even that annoying Kiya girl had to care about her. Good.

She found a nice spot, a small nook between two large roots of a tree, and settled in. It was dark there and comfortable, perfect for what she had in mind. Being near plants always improved her power as well. She supposed it was because the disgusting Shasta blood she had flowing in her veins. That was unimportant though.

With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and cleared her thoughts. When she opened them again, the darkness was alight with images. She waved her hand impatiently, grabbed at the air, pulled and twisted until she had a string of images before her. The first scene was uninteresting. Pretty much everyone walking off in different directions. If she hadn't known that it was old already, she would have known by the dimness of the light. The second one followed Reriic as he stormed off. She wasn't surprised at all when he wound up with Adele. The two of them seemed to be quite friendly as of late.

It didn't take long for her to grow bored. Tying knots was a weird Zuleidan thing and she didn't care to watch the fish girl teach an elf how. The only way that would have been interesting is if they were tying each other up and even then...She was about to pull up another image when the prince stood and dropped trou. Well wasn't that interesting. She wondered if she could use that later. Probably, although it held less weight than it would if he had lost all of his bottoms. She watched for a while longer to see what happened and then moved on. There was obviously something wrong with the fish girl. She could have had Reriic there but whatever she had said, she had ruined it.

Danika pulled at another image and frowned. Another fish girl had joined the ranks or she would be. Chandar was being his normal charming self but she was sure that the girl would be joining them. This group seemed to have trouble telling people no. Not that she was complaining since that is exactly how she had ended up in this happy party.

She moved on again and saw the Rites burying their own dead. Well, they might as well. It wasn't like they were going anywhere until Zaara was cremated.

She flipped through several more scenes and found little of note. She didn't really expect much, she supposed. It had been a long day. Everyone was just trying to show everyone else how much they cared or didn't. Everyone was offering fake condolences, whatever they could to make it seem like they gave a s**t what happened to everyone else. In reality is was just a hollow act to make them feel less uncomfortable.

When she got to the scene with Jean and Sonya she frowned then smirked. It was...annoying that he would go to a whore for something he could have gotten for free but whatever. Perhaps he hadn't tried anything with her because he was trying to be a gentleman. The idea was laughable but beyond a little subconscious groping, he hadn't tried anything with her. Sonya was a whore though. She didn't see much of a difference between them other than that. Sonya was attractive and she imagined that she was one of the higher paid whores in her trade. She couldn't blame Jean, she supposed. She would have gone for it if she was in his position.

She fidgeted for a moment as she tried to figure out her emotions then suppressed them altogether and moved on. She saw Chandar and Adele flirting in the next scene but she had no desire to watch more sex. It seemed that the Zuleidans were having a good night...well, beyond the fact that Jean had lost his fiance and his best friend.

When had seen enough to have a pretty good feeling where this was going, she pushed the rest of the images away and stood. It was unlikely that she would find anything else of interest that night and she was tired. Jean was probably still rolling about with Sonya, so she didn't think there was any cuddling to look forward to in her future, but she was sure that she would sleep well enough without him.

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Danika didn't wake until she felt the heat of the funeral pyre against her skin. She could barely remember stumbling back to camp with an arm load of twigs and branches. After that, she had decided that she had contributed enough and curled up at the edge of camp.

Now everyone was standing around the pyre. She watched everyone's reactions but chose not to do anything. There was nothing that she could say or do to make things better. Even if there was, she wouldn't. Sure, she needed more people to trust her but right now she was just annoyed to have been woken up. It didn't escape her attention that Jean and Kora were sitting together bonding but she didn't care about that either. She seriously needed to reevaluate her game plan.




~*~ That girl is poison ~*~xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Angst Werewolf]

The pyre had started. Chandar could see it from the gaps in the trees; he and Reriic weren't all that far from the main area. Part of him was surprised that the rest of the group hadn't wandered over at the smell of cooking meat. But that meant more for him, so he wasn't complaining.

He'd wandered closer at the start of Zaara's cremation, if only for lack of anything better to do with himself. And Reriic was starting to snore in his sleep, something Chandar didn't care to sit there and listen to. After a while of silently watching the flames, he'd slunk back to his horse and grabbed his bags. They were mostly empty, which meant he had plenty of room for loot.

The smith wandered back over to the wolf carcass and sat down again. The claws and teeth, which he'd pulled off before giving Reriic the skin, were dumped into the bag, along with some of the bones that looked thick and strong enough to reforge as a blade. Bone blades could be strong if reinforced properly, and some people just wanted them for their looks. It didn't matter to him- either option meant good pay for him.

Then there was the meat. There was no telling when they would have a decent meal again, and Chandar intended to take as much of it as he could with him. As it was, he could only feet half a dozen slabs of meat in his bags. It was enough for a couple of days, though. He frowned at the large pile of meat left sitting on the leaves. It was a shame to just leave it all behind.

Chandar glanced over to the group around the fire. As far as he knew, none of them had eaten and if they were going on the road again, there would undoubtedly be someone complaining of hunger. The smith rolled his eyes. Sharing was better than letting it go to waste.

With a sigh, Chandar closed his bags, checked to make sure he had all his weapons, and stood up again. One by one, he dragged the leaves into the clearing until all the meat was out in sight of the group. The message was clear- "Come and eat it."

[XSenkoX]

α נαυит тняσυgн тнє
¢ιту σf ∂αякиєѕѕ

It was night-time in Dradecus. Well, it was always night in Dradecus, but now it was really night: the tolling of the bells had confirmed it. As was the way in the city of perpetual darkness, crowds seemed to turn out in even greater numbers at this point and the truly interesting aspects of elfin life began to show their colours. Or, that was the case in the streets... back in the royal palace, the two young princes had been banished to their rooms for the night and the guards had been posted. Not that such a thing had ever stopped them before.

Reriic was a bundle of excited energy. He had been specifically instructed by his brother to join in tonight's adventure, and he could hardly contain himself now that the hour was drawing near. The young elf had long-since dressed and was bounding around his room while he waited for the guard change. Impatiently. Why did these things have to take so long? He was so wrapped up in waiting that he nearly missed the quiet shuffling and muted voices that meant the guards were headed down the hall to meet their replacements. He had only lost a few moments, luckily, and was still in the clear as he slipped out of his room and raced down the hall to where Cin had arranged that they meet.

"Cin?" Reriic did his best to peer into the darkness that concealed the meeting place, but was ultimately stymied. As it should have been, else they would quickly be discovered by servants or guards, but that did little to settle the youngster's fears that he had missed Cin, or that the plans had changed and he hadn't seen some sort of sign to that effect. Collecting his fears, Reriic took a deep breath and stepped into the shadows. "C'mon, Cin, where are you?"

The younger prince waited for only a moment before quiet footsteps announced the arrival of his older brother. In a very low whisper he called out to Reriic, who was only a few feet from him. "Ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah," he heard Reriic reply. Even though his voice was quiet, Cin could hear his little brother's excitement. This wasn't this first time Cin sneaked out of the castle to go and explore Dradecus without the nagging eyes of a chaperone or parent, but it was the first time he invited Reriic.

Cin fumbled through the darkness, trying to feel for his brother's shoulder and when he finally found it, he dragged him off in the opposite direction than they had come.

The princes stuck to the natural shadows in the recesses of the castle hallways and came upon a secret hallway hidden behind one of the many tapestries that hung from the ceiling.

"This way Reriic," he whispered as he lifted the tapestry. On the other side, the brothers were in complete darkness once more, but there was a dim light farther down the hallway. As the princes approached, they were met with a stunning view of the kingdom of Dradecus.

"Reriic, if you ever need a way to get out of the castle without anyone noticing, this is the way. All you have to do is head down the stairs over there. Now, pick a place, any place in the city and we'll go!"

"Got it," the younger elf nodded with no small amount of wonder in his voice. Cin's offer to let him choose the place, though, caught him off-guard. Reriic had no idea where they should go, the only places he had ever really been were when their mother had taken him out to practice healing the sick and injured. While he might not have been the worldliest elf, he was astute enough to assume that Cin would not wish to visit any one of the local poor-houses in the middle of the night.

"Uhh..." he stammered, looking about the secret passageway for some sort of inspiration before resigning himself to being without a clue, "I... don't know. Mum never takes me any place that would be fun... sorry..."

Reriic willed himself to melt into the shadows, trying to avoid what he was sure would be the disappointed gaze of his older and significantly more exciting brother. When that didn't work, he peered meekly up from behind his bangs and waited for Cin's inevitable decision to leave the tag-along behind and continue with his night out.

Cin folded his arms and stared back at his brother, his eyes narrow and barely visible in the glow of the city. After a minute of silence he laughed.

"What am I to do with you, little brother?" he chuckled, more of a rhetorical question. Cin looked out over his kingdom, kindly ignoring the embarrassed blush that had coloured Reriic's cheeks, and found the spot he wanted. "You see that building there, with all the lights?" Cin asked as he pointed to a particularly bright spot. "That's Aelfric's Respite, the best bar and casino we have. I've never been there, but that's about to change. C'mon."

Cin jerked his head toward the staircase and began walking down it, back into the darkness. Reriic followed barely three paces behind, not wholly eager to be left alone should the elder prince change his mind. At the bottom of the stairwell Cin pushed on a stone and the wall gave way, revealing the secret exit built so long ago.

It was fairly easy for the princes to make their way to the bar once they had escaped the castle. While Reriic was not too familiar with these areas of the kingdom, Cin was right at home, knowing which alleys to take and which ways to avoid any people that could ruin his night out before he got to his destination.

After weaving through the streets for nearly half an hour the brothers finally reached the bar. Cin, who, at sixteen years old, was used to walking into any place he'd like, was startled when the bouncer at the front placed a hand on his chest and told him to get lost. Momentarily defeated, Cin backed away.

"That... that's never happened before," Cin said to Reriic, staring at the entrance from across the street. "We'll figure something out, I promise."

Reriic glared daggers at the bouncer from alongside his brother, feeling emboldened now that he was outside without a chaperone. Sure, he was only three years younger than Cin, but the second son led a much more sheltered life under the almost perpetually watchful eye of their mother and had only a handful of experiences that didn't involve her in some way.

"Could we, I dunno, sneak in the back door or a window or something? Do people really do that?" Again, Reriic was at a total loss of ways to be useful and felt the colour burning on his cheeks as his lack of knowledge materialized yet again. If Cin had needed someone to mend wounds, he would certainly have brought the right elf for the job...

"I wouldn't recommend sneaking in there if I were you," came a voice from a few feet away. Cin looked over and saw an elf about three years older than him, leaning against a lamppost. In the glow of the light Cin could easily make out that the elf's eyes were trained on himself and his brother.

"Excuse me?" Cin asked, turning to face the stranger. Reriic turned as well and was obviously startled at having been snuck up upon. He tried to collect himself and appear as cool as Cin, but was only marginally successful if the stranger’s light smile was anything to go by.

"There's bouncers at every entrance and exit, those windows don't open either." The stranger took a few steps closer to the princes and looked at them quizzically for a moment. "What's a couple kids want to go in there for anyway?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business," Cin said, getting on the defensive.

"Easy kid," the stranger said with a laugh. He was now close enough to get a good look at the brothers. His eyes narrowed as he first stared Cin up and down, and then Reriic. "You two look familiar for some reason. Have we met?"

"Definitely not," Cin said as he turned away; hand on Reriic’s shoulder, ready to leave.

"Wait a minute... You're the Igalios brothers... the princes!" Cin didn't move, just hung his head as he was sure they were about to be shipped back to the castle. "You mean to tell me you told that bouncer who you were and he didn't let you in?"

"I... I didn't tell him who I was." Cin mumbled, confused and turned back towards the older elf. The stranger looked as though he was hit with something in the back of the head and stared at the pair for a moment in unabashed, open-mouthed, surprise.

"Cin, I'm assuming you are, that has to be one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. Come with me, I've got a lot to teach you..." The stranger flung his arm around Cin and Reriic's shoulders and walked them towards the entrance to the bar. Once again, the bouncer stopped them.

"I already told you kids you can't get in here," he growled, unamused.

"You're really going to deny the princes of Dradecus entry to your club? That could be bad for business..." the stranger said in a sing-song manner. The bouncer glanced down at the elves and the look of realization that suddenly washed over his face almost caused Cin to burst out laughing.

"M-my apologies," he stammered, and continued apologizing as he stepped out of the way. The stranger dragged the princes into bar, and into the glorious nightlife of Dradecus.

"Wow, we actually made it. Thank you...?"

"Aerandir," the stranger said, extending his hand and shaking both Cin and Reriic's. "You two have a lot to learn about what your status in life can bring you. You guys stick with me, and I'll show you a good time."

Reriic took Aerandir's hand cautiously in his own and looked nervously between the stranger and Cin, only managing to summon some courage when he noticed that his brother wasn't looking quite so flustered any more. And this guy had gotten them into the place, after all... something seemed to be going right now. Turning his smile back up to 'daybreak' levels, the princeling nodded eagerly, "You mean that we can do that anywhere? I always thought people just did stuff like that for mum and dad..."

"Of course you can do that anywhere Prince Reriic," Aerandir said with a large grin. "The two of you are the future of this kingdom and everyone knows it. Enjoy yourselves. Let's go grab some drinks!"

Aerandir led the princes through the crowds of people to the bar. Behind the bar were several shelves full of various bottles of different colours and sizes. The bartenders moved quickly, grabbing different bottles and pouring them into different glasses, some mixing them together to provide an entirely different drink. It was unlike anything the princes had ever seen.

Aerandir knocked on the bar a few times and one of the bartenders meandered over to the trio.

"What can I get you?" he half-shouted over the noise.

"Three Raging Infernos," Aerandir shouted back with a slapdash grin. The bartender nodded and went to the wall of bottles. He pulled six different bottles from different places on the wall and began mixing them together in three large glasses. Finally, he pulled a glowing orange vial from the centre of the wall and placed a drop in each glass. Within a few seconds each glass was glowing bright orange. The bartender then placed the glasses on the bar in front of the group.

"Bottoms up, boys," Aerandir cheered, lifting a glass into the air.

Cin grabbed the glass and took a swig. As the liquid slid down his throat it warmed his entire body. It felt like a sizzling bolt of electricity to every point of his body, and just as quickly as it came, it disappeared.

"Good, eh?" Aerandir asked.

"...Delicious," Cin replied.

Reriic's reaction to the drink was less pleasant than Cin's. While the elder prince was warmed, the younger could only taste the bite of alcohol and feel the sickening way that it turned his stomach over. Pushing the glass aside after only a small sip, he offered a weak smile in response to Aerandir's query before sliding his hands surreptitiously over his stomach and trying to calm the queasiness with his magic. While Cin might notice what he was doing, Reriic was certain that their new guide would be oblivious enough not to embarrass him in front of all these people.

While he tried his little trick, he watched Cin seem to thoroughly enjoy himself. What was the difference? They were brothers, shouldn't he have been able to enjoy the same things? Maybe Reriic was doing it wrong... or something. Well, if that was the case, he would just have to try harder and make sure that he had fun!

Determined to enjoy himself (or else!), Reriic collected his glass of 'raging inferno' and took a significantly larger gulp, exerting all of his willpower to suppress the grimace that followed immediately after swallowing the stuff. He sorely hoped that this new elf would stop fobbing drinks off on them before he became terribly ill.

Cin quickly downed the rest of his drink and slammed the glass down on the counter. Aerandir nodded at the bartender who quickly made the two elves a new drink.

For Cin and Reriic, the rest of the night was pretty much a blur as drink after drink was consumed. It was nearly "morning" before either of the princes noticed and while the bar never closed, it came time for them to leave. Aerandir stumbled out of the front doors first, followed by Cin, both of whom were both laughing a bit too loudly. Reriic followed shortly behind, sharing jokes that he didn't quite understand with an elfin woman that had joined them at some point. Four or five years older than even Aerandir, she was dressed to the hilt and no one had bothered to ask for her name.

"Whoa," Aerandir slurred, stopping suddenly at the bottom of the steps. In front of the bar was the chief of the palace guards, accompanied by five soldiers.

"Masters Cin and Reriic," the chief said, plainly less than enthusiastic over his charges’ choice of locale.

"Oi, Bertol!" Cin called happily as he walked over towards him. "Fancy seeing you at a place like this!"

"I'm at a place like this because you two, who I am sworn to protect, are at a place like this." Bertol was a very stern man, and spoke in an even, serious tone. He had been in charge of taking care of the princes since they were born and wore the years plainly upon his features. Usually when giving Cin a talking-to he stood with his arms folded behind his back, spine rigid, and now was no exception.

"Oh, c'mon. Have a drink, live a little!" Cin said, flinging his arm around Bertol's shoulder.

Bertol looked at Cin's arm, and back to the prince, never breaking his stance. "I'll live once you and your brother are safely within the walls of the palace, Cin. Get moving."

Reriic watched Cin banter with Bertol in silence until the guard suggested that the pair wasn't safe outside the castle walls, at which point the young elf stepped forward a little unsteadily to add his contribution to Cin's argument.

"We're safe, Bertol, we've got Aerandir and... uh, her," he pointed to the female elf and she grinned brilliantly at Bertol, "to make sure we don't get mugged. Or stabbed. Or whatever it is you think that the people out here are going to do to us."

The lack of stabbing had actually taken Reriic slightly by surprise. To hear some of the guardsmen talk about the city itself, the brothers would have been safer walking into a cage of pit vipers. This evening had certainly shown what they knew, the young elf thought indignantly.

"Ah yes," Cin said thoughtfully, as if he had finally found what he was looking for after quite some time looking. He walked over to the elfin woman and flung his arm around her shoulder as was his new custom, apparently. "Yes, the lovely and beautiful... uh... her..." he trailed off at the end and looked towards the sky, his eyes moving around, which basically screamed he had no clue who she was.

"Be that as it may, young masters, it's still time to leave," Bertol intoned flatly. He turned around and began walking away, his arms still behind his back. The other soldiers he brought with him were looking expectantly at the princes.

"Er, right. Well darling, we'll always have tonight. Do not weep for me or the loss of our time together, just remember the good! No, stop, it hurts too much!" Cin turned and began to walk away, but stopped and turned back to look at the elfin woman. She was standing there with a blank look on her face, entirely unsure what to think of the elder prince. Cin, who had since walked near Reriic, patted him on the shoulder. "Easy with that one, she's got a fiery temper. But I think she likes you," he said with a wink.

Reriic blinked in confusion before looking over to the elf, who now shared his expression. She smiled at the young prince and waved her farewell before sauntering over to slide her arm through the crook in Aerandir’s.

Finally, Cin walked up to his new friend and extended a hand. "I'll be seeing you around, won't I?" he asked.

Aerandir grabbed Cin's hand and said, "Of course. You know where to find me."

Reriic moved to Aerandir next, extending his hand as Cin had done, only to have his hair ruffled instead of the handshake he had been expecting. The older elf laughed good-naturedly and thumped Reriic next on the back, “Loosen up, kid, you’re only young once.”

With that, the two princes were swept away by the guardsmen, leaving Aerandir and Whatshername standing on the steps of the club they had so recently vacated. Without any dawn to interrupt the party, the two quickly melted back into the crowd of revellers and vanished from sight. It wasn’t long before the castle loomed in the distance and the princes felt the drudgery of the day-to-day bearing down upon them.

[Ariiadne]

▐░ℬasℎiraℎ░▌
『 ℘rincess oƒ GRADIUS 』

Bashirah woke with a start, skin brushing against cool grass in comparison to the warm blades nestled beneath her. It took a moment for her brain to catch up. Blinking a few quick times, the Gradian princess recalled having made the decision to lay down for just a few minutes after her ‘bath.’ Apparently that had escalated to full-on slumber without any conscious decision from her. Luckily the faerie child had slept along with her, for it lay essentially motionless against her skin.

Bashirah sat up slowly. A little bit more light had flooded the grotto, and she could finally see everything around them. Trees grew in such abundance here that barely a space between them did not contain another trunk. A breeze played lightly in the branches. Other than that and the babbling of water, however, and the area was silent. With her skin free of blood, sweat, and dirt, Bashirah felt as if the air around her was somehow different, better. It was calming, refreshing, soothing. She feigned moving for a few long moments just to soak it all in.

Beyond this secluded paradise, though, there was something unpleasant – something Bashirah needed to attend. Glancing once to the child, then once again out to the little patch of peace she’d discovered, the princess mustered the will to get to her feet, dress not only herself and the infant, and march from whence she came.

Safia didn’t take very kindly to being awoken, and as she started to fuss and complain, Bashirah happened across a patch of honeysuckles. Plucking a few from the vine, she smeared as much of the sweet nectar as she could onto her fingers. Safia suckled happily and eagerly. At least that was one less thing to worry about.

Coming to the clearly where they had originally materialized, Bashirah swiftly spotted Zaara’s funeral pyre. Logs, branches, sticks, and leaves crisscrossed themselves into an earthy, makeshift altar. Lying beneath those, Bashirah could barely see hair, an elbow, a foot. Her jaw tightened. Bashirah had managed to weather through the loss of her guard – his spearhead somehow miraculously secure at her belt – and had buried another Gradian as well. But this… she only had to imagine Kunal at the heart of that enkindled tomb to realize Kora’s predicament. Safia still licking at her fingertips, Bashirah inched closer to the scene.

The flames contrasted the blue of the sky. The heat generated a small, vicious wind. While others made their way to positions similar to her own, Bashirah focused on those flames intensely. The first sight of a singed limb made her eyes dart to the ground. It was hard for her to look back. Funny, how she, the princess of a nation of fire, would be so affected by this. Of all the death she saw, even brought, she couldn’t handle a simple cremation. Clearing her throat, she forced herself to look once again. No weakness. She would let this moment fill her. She would let it wound her, so that those wounds may heal over with even stronger scars.

[Shuttershy]

❀ ѕуℓρнιяα тuulí chrístαllє

xxxxxxxxxxx---- »» princess of lαєlíє

Heat. Orange and red. The flames of Zaara's funeral pyre licked upwards like the tongues of hundreds of beasts, hungry. Sylphir sat farther back than the others, against a tree. She watched in silence, the light of the fire dancing before her eyes, reflected in them. For a moment, she felt fear, terror. The fire burned and raged, feeding on the dried fuel she herself had helped to gather.Dark eyes lulled over to Kora and to Jean, standing so close together. Of them all, those two were most affected by Zaara's death. Despite how little this misguided collection of royals knew about each other, that much was clear. They were hurting, and turning to each other for support. Even as others looked on with respect or grief, theirs stood out like the most beautiful rose in a bramble of thorns.

Slowly, Sylphira forced herself to her feet, ignoring the pain of exhaustion that tore at her muscles. Quietly, she moved through the makeshift camp until she stood only a few feet behind the grieving pair. As Jean and Kora said their goodbyes and reminisced, Sylphira closed her eyes. At this distance, the heat was almost too much for her, but she forced another step forward. She had no memories of Zaara to soothe her heart. She had no one else to help ease her guilty mind. But hat guilt, that regret, she did have, and though it was not soothing, it was something she could hold on to. Something she could aspire to atone for. Something she hoped could be forgiven. As the heat of the fire assailed the faerie's face, she lowered her head and brought her hands together. Would Zaara have blamed her? Did Kora blame her? Would it change anything if they did? Just as words would be hollow and empty, so would blame. It did not matter, perhaps. Perhaps what did was that they were all here now, standing in the shadows of a woman's passing, reflecting. Death was a natural part of life, necessary, and though it was often a time for sorrow, it was also a time for celebrating the life of loved ones.

Eyes still closed, Sylphira opened her mouth slightly and exhaled. Though she still said nothing, as the breath left her lips, the winds of the forest came to life, whislting softly, solemnly. Gentle breezes blew through the trees, rustled branches and leaves, adding a sort of cadence to the quiet melody. All the while, the fire remained unaffected, seemingly protected from the blowing air, yet still fed enough to continue to burn. It rose ever higher as it consumed more fuel, bright ashes falling to the forest floor around the onlookers.Sylphira could never rightly express her sorrow for Zaara, but at that moment, with the fire feeding off of the land, fueled by the air, and sending a soul to wherever she belonged now, the faerie felt more connected to her companions than ever. Silently, she said her own farewell, and asked for forgiveness.

[Rada Han]

a t r i p i n t i m e

↘ all is lost again



Gradius

The fire burned on for hours. The camp soon grew quiet and many fell asleep to the sound of the crackling flames.

It was late afternoon when they awoke to find that the air had grown colder. There was a cool wind blowing in from the southeast. Unusual, considering how close the lava fields were from there.

Their belongings were soon packed and the horses were ready to travel once more. The weariness of the betrothed and their companions had to be dashed from their bodies, for their journey was far from over. To some of them, surviving Laelie’s trials meant that they could survive anything. To others, it was only a matter of time before they were struck down like Alexi, Rohan, and Zaara had been. For a few concerned souls, they had no choice but to go, regardless of the consequences.

Gradius was the closest kingdom to Laelie. Despite the threats made so long ago, the two kingdoms had somehow managed to remain civil. It was one of the reasons why Laelie had lived in seclusion, because they couldn’t stand a chance against the Supreme and their flames. The Mahapatras, however, had never spoken of the Faeries in a malicious way, nor did they ever say anything nice about them.

“Hell would freeze over,” The letter read. It didn’t take an alchemist to see where it was going, especially since that prophecy had come true everywhere they’d gone thus far. When they left the forest and the canopy of the trees shrunk away, their fears stared them right in the face. As the grass began to turn into sand beneath their feet, the black mountains of Gradius loomed overhead. They weren’t black anymore, but were covered in a thick sheet of white snow. The smoke that had once risen from the top of the volcano had ceased. The image in the distance would haunt them for nearly a whole day.

That night, they did not stop traveling. It was a very cold night. The ones who could stand each other huddled together two or three at a time on their horses, for many of them were largely unprepared for the weather. As the sun rose, flecks of snow began to fall from the sky, something that many of them had never seen in their lifetimes, almost like they were in the vicinity of Salorite and not Gradius.

The skies grew cloudy, darkening the skies even when it was not nighttime. Instead of the usual warm tones of the sand and rocks, and the deep black of the mountains and the crackling orange of the lava fields, the scenery had dulled to a gray. Though stunning in its transformation into the icy land that it currently was, Gradius had lost its warmth.

Before they could reach the entrance to the city, a small settlement came into view, not unlike the huts of Shizuka. There was a series of tents and animals tied to makeshift stables. Everything was covered in a thick blanket of snow, even the betrothed and their companions, at that point.

Their flags posted high above their camp had frozen solid in the breeze. Any Gradians who ventured outside or traveling merchants would recognize their sigil. This encampment belonged to the Asaph, a tribe of hunters, gatherers, and merchants who acted as the ambassadors from the outside to Gradius. They were all pure Gradian, but lived on the outside of the city. As the horses ventured closer, the betrothed and their companions saw that there were many more people than there usually was. Many were huddled inside of the tents in front of their fires, wrapped in animal skins from head to toe, looking more like freezing Salorites than the hot-blooded Gradians they were.

By this time, the snow was falling steadily and only getting worse. When the Asaph caught sight of the horses, they shouted out and waved their arms. One man with a torch came running toward them. As he came closer and stopped in front of them, they’d see that he was a very handsome guy, with a young face, who seemed to be trying the best he could not to seem threatening.

“Hey there!” He stuttered. He was freezing, despite the mountain of furs he wore. “You can’t get into the city. It’s completely blocked off. You can melt the ice, but the doors won’t budge. Plus, there’s some crazy guy hanging around out there protecting it. It isn’t safe.”

“By the way,” He said, as his flame lifted to light the faces of those in front. The flame lifted right off of the torch unnaturally, like a flickering tendril with a mind of its own. “You people don’t look like you’re from around here…”

He went around looking at all of their faces. “Chandar? What are you doing here?” Before Chandar could even muster up an answer, the Gradian caught sight of Kunal and Bashirah, and gave out a long, surprised, ‘Ohhhh!’ before getting down on his knees and bowing deeply. His flame shrunk back into its original form. “Forgive me, my lord and lady! My name is Asif, and I am a lowly Asaph. Please, let me bring you and the others someplace warm. We’ll fit you in the finest furs we can! Follow me!”

Just as he came, Asif went running back into the camp to tell everyone else of their arrival.

[Cherzooka]

tab The group was finally setting off for Gradius. Finding their horses outside of the kingdom had been an unexpected act of providence, by whatever powers existed. Kora had been unable to fall asleep for a long while, until she found an unexpected companion in the dog that followed Estong around the majority of the time. The animal had curled up beside her without warning. Before she knew it, she was clutching the animal in the same manner a small child holds onto a beloved doll while they sleep. Having finally managed to get some sleep, thanks in no small part to her new found furry friend, and having washed and changed into some spare clothes she’d taken with her from Dradecus, Kora almost looked like her old self. The Shasta saved two things for last when she sorted out her saddle bags. Zaara’s jade funeral stone, and a pouch containing her sister’s ashes. Kora intended to give the stone to the queen when she returned to Shazgard. Even if they did not see eye to eye, by rights it was hers. The ashes however, would be scattered in the desert of Shazgard; following with the traditions of her people. She took special care to ensure their safety, before finally fastening the last of the buckles.

tab The horses the Dradecans had given them were loyal and smart. A fact she had taken note of during the week long ride to Laelie. Her own horse, a sand colored mare with lighter spots speckled across her hide, took playful nips at her shirt sleeve, as she gently stroked the soft snout of a different, dusky horse. The one that had carried Zaara. Having lost two members of their group however, there were two riderless horses. It was an odd coincidence, considering the fact that they had been joined by two newcomers. Her gaze drifted across what remained of the camp, as this thought crossed her mind. She could see Eston and his faithful companion. Remembering their previous conversation, Kora felt mildly embarrassed over how weak she had allowed herself to be in front of a stranger. He had done her a kindness however, and she owed him for that.

tab With a set of reins in each hand, she led the two horses in his direction. The young man was still asleep, amazingly enough. His dog, (whom she still didn’t know the name of), had apparently not been ready to wake up by the time Kora had woken up, and was now curled up beside Eston, her head resting across the man’s stomach. She stopped short of him for a moment, to make sure the horses would stay where they were, before she approached him. Personally, she was surprised that no one else had tried to wake him up before his point. Especially when they were all beginning to leave. Crouching down beside him, she waited only a moment before nudging his shoulder to try and rouse him. “Eston?”

tab Surely he was dreaming. He kept telling himself. But it all felt so real. Had escaping been the dream? A wishful thought for a prisoner perhaps? The more this went on the more he became convinced that this was reality and what had been escape was the dream. But that had all felt so real at the same time. The running away, and the collapsing, and all those people, and assaulting those faeries. (Oh Gods, had he really done that one?) But this right now felt real too. The beatings and the whippings and these monster beings trying to get information he didn't have out of him. He wanted so badly for this right now to be the dream; some sort of post-trauma nightmare or something. Not knowing, not being sure, was almost as bad as the torture. Almost.

tab And suddenly he had his answer. Escaping wasn't some dream. Some hopeful wishing. It had actually happened. Waking up hadn't felt nice though, being startled awake; complete with practically flinging himself into a sitting position while loudly, almost-yelling [********] and also probably almost whacking whoever woke him up in the face. He also woke Theia in the process, the dog disturbed from being awoken from her beauty sleep. She stood up and repositioned herself a bit away from her owner, laying down with a slight ‘hrumph’. (Okay, maybe a big hrumph.)

tab On instinct, Kora jerked away from the man, as he practically catapulted himself into a seated position. The sudden manner in which he’d awoken was unexpected, as she blinked in surprise for a moment. “Um... Eston? Are you alright?” she asked, one brow arched slightly with the question. It’s twin soon joined the other. Since he had been sleeping without a shirt, she could see a multitude of lacerations covering his torso. Even after Reriic’s healing, they still looked angry and sore. Remembering what he had said before about being taken prisoner by the faeries, she wondered if they had been the ones to do this to him. She looked away in order to give him some measure of privacy, saying nothing about the soon to be scars.

tab "Uh. Hello," He wasn’t sure if he should be thanking her for waking him up, or upset because he was still tired and wanted more sleep despite the horrible dreams. Bad sleep was still sleep after all. "No no, Everything," He cleared his throat, in some sort of attempt to make himself sound more okay than he probably was. "Everything’s fine," He rubbed the back of his head with one of his hands, messing up his already messy hair along with choosing to look at the pouting dog instead of the girl talking to him.

tab “Everyone is just about ready to leave,” she said, still looking away from him. She reached out to scratch the dog behind the ears, who seemed to enjoy the attention. “I didn’t think you would want to be left behind,” she added, her hand shifting to scratch the dog beneath its chin.

tab "Right. Of course. Everyone," All the other people here. He wiped his brow with the back of his hand before looking around for his shirt. Which also made him realize he had been talking to a princess while half naked. That was probably considered rude, wasn't it? It seemed like something that would be kinda rude. Finally finding the shirt on top his pack, being used as a makeshift pillow. "Uh, sorry," He said as he stood up and slipped the shirt on.

tab “It’s alright,” she said simply, returning to standing herself. Kora walked a few steps over to the horses, impressed with their training that they hadn’t been spooked by Eston’s outburst, and took the reins of the dusky mare. Stroking the animal’s strong neck, she said, “Zaara won’t be needing her anymore, and it’s a long walk to Gradius.” A moment passed, before she turned and offered the reins to Eston.

tab She was giving him a horse. A whole horse. Apparently, her sisters old horse. "Are... you sure...?" As in, are you sure you want to give a random guy a horse. As in, are you sure you want to give a random guy your recently deceased sister's horse to a stranger. He grabbed his bag, pulling out a hair band from one of the pockets and tieing up part of his hair into a loose ponytail, not bothering with the usual braided bits in his hair. Far to lazy to do those today.

tab With a swift nod, she replied, “I’m sure. They were gifts from the elves of Dradecus anyway, and not truly ours. Also... I wanted to thank you...” Her hold on the reins tightened slightly. “In the woods... you were very kind. I feel as though I should do the same.”

tab He let out a breath, as he walked over the horse, "A whole horse," He'd probably have to ride it at some point. That's what people tended to do with horses. That would be... interesting. To say the least. "I mean, I expected maybe. A leg. or a horse-hair wig or something. But a whole horse," He turned to her, "Thank you,"

tab “Horse-hair wig?” she repeated, with a slight laugh. She was more amused at how bad the attempt at humor was, than anything else. “You have an odd sense of humor,” she said with a smile, as she placed the reins in his hand. Returning to her own horse, she pulled herself up into the saddle with little effort. There was still the ache of the injury in her side, although ignoring it had become much easier at this point. It would be slow to heal as long as she refused to go to Reriic for assistance, but she preferred it to owing the elf anything. Even her gratitude.

tab "I've been told that before," He answered while taking the reins. And awkwardly holding them unsure of what to do. Was he suppose to just get up and ride the thing as well? She had said they were all leaving so if he wanted to stay with this group he'd have to get on the horse and follow them. He looked at the horse. It mildly frightened him. For now, he secured his bag on the horse, procrastinating the actually riding thing for some. He wasn't sure if he liked horses a whole lot. It look like it would eat him or something. Knowing that horses were generally herbivores didn't ease the fear much.

tab Kora waited patiently in her saddle, as Eston tried to situate himself. It occurred to her, that he was taking a bit longer than usual to actually get on the horse. After a little while had passed, she said, “You... don’t have a lot of experience with horses, do you?”

tab "No!" He said. Too quickly. Definitely too quickly. "I have. Plenty. Of experience with. Horses," He paused as if that would make his (Probably blatant) lie more believable.

tab An amused smile pulling on the right corner of her mouth, she knew he was lying. But instead of calling him out on it, she got an idea. “Alright, you shouldn’t have any trouble then,” she said, before urging her horse onward, as though leaving him behind. She kept the pace at a leisurely walk, so that she wouldn’t get too far ahead of Eston. She would help him out if he really needed it.

tab He paced at the side of the horse, trying to figure out how to get actually on the darn thing. He should have been paying more attention earlier. "Right. Of course," He mumbled to himself as Kora had trotted ahead. He cleared his throat again. Why does horse riding have to be so damned unneedingly complex. And stupid, mostly stupid. He looked to Theia, as if she would have some magical answer for him. She was instead just sitting next to him, waiting. Looking... hungry? He had to remember to find some food for her, she was probably starved. He didn't know when she had last ate, nor when he last ate for that matter. But that was something to worry about at another time.

tab Well, he probably shouldn't put it off any longer, and actually make some sort of attempt to get onto the back of this beast of an animal. And hopefully not look like a complete fool in the process. He grabbed onto the top of the saddle, and used the ... what was it called? The foot thing. He used that to help leverage himself up onto the saddle. It only half worked. He was half flopped onto the back of the horse. Yep. This went great. He also couldn't get his foot out of the whatever it was called. Horses are stupid.

tab Kora had stopped her horse’s trot just a little ways ahead, so she could wait for Eston to catch up with her. However, it looked as though that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon. It was with no small amount of amusement, that she watched the Gradian try to get onto the horse. She was impressed that the horse had remained as still as she had during the whole process. Once Eston was half slumped over the saddle, the animal took the weight as a sign to move forward, and began walking at a slow pace. The Shasta princess had to bite down on the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing, not wishing to embarrass the man. “Forgive my doubts,” she said after a moment, unable to contain herself. “You are a true and talented equestrian.”

tab And then it moved. (That's right, it was a living thing wasn't it?) Sure it wasn't moving very fast at all. But given his current position it wasn't at all comfortable for him, "Nono. Horse. Stop. Stop. I command you to stop," He pleaded with the beast, while trying to get his foot unstuck. The horse neither stopped nor did the saddle release its hold on his foot. He turned to Kora after a brief moment of trying to get his foot free. "Don't you know? This... This is how we ride horses. Where I'm from," This was a disaster.

“In a volcano?”

tab "Yes." He struggled again trying to free his foot, slightly more violently this time.

tab “I suppose if you wanted to use the horse as a boat, that would work.” The way Eston was laying across the horse’s back, stomach in the saddle, his inexperience was more than evident, despite his protests otherwise. “You’re going to fall off if you don’t relax, and straighten up.”

tab "A horse boat. Or boat horse. Whatever. Of course," More attempts to free his foot, this one ending with getting his foot free, but also ending with him losing whatever grip he had on the horse and plummeting to the ground with a slight scream and multitude of curses. His scars were not happy with the fall, choosing to punish him by hurting even more than they had before. He wouldn't have been surprised if some of the weaker ones had opened up.

tab Kora stopped laughing when he actually hit the ground, although some of her amusement remained. Sliding down from her horse, she walked over to him, and offered her hand so as to help him back to his feet. In a good humored tone, she said, “I’m sorry for making fun. Let me help.”

tab He choose to... ignore politely decline the helping hand to stand up. He was a big boy. He could stand up on his own, regardless of his back telling him to not to. He coughed a little, like that would somehow help him feel better. "I think the horse might be defective," He said, trying to mask any sort of pain he felt. He doubt it worked. ********, it was a fairly short fall, should it have hurt this much?

tab With a sympathetic grin, she approached her horse once more. Whether he liked it or not, she was going to show him how to do this correctly. If she didn’t, they would never make it Gradius. Grasping the protrusion near the front of the saddle, she looked over her shoulder at Eston, and said, “This is called the ‘horn’. You hold onto it as you pull yourself up.” She slid one of her feet into the stirrup, and continued, “Put one foot in the stirrup, and use the leverage to swing your other leg over to the other side.” Kora went through with the instructions as she spoke. When she was once again seated in the saddle of the horse, she added, “Whenever you feel a bit off balance, you can steady yourself by hanging onto the horn.” Kora paused in her instruction, waiting to see if he could at least get himself up into the saddle this time around.

tab This is stupid. Horses are stupid. He wasn't pouting. Men don't pout. He should probably be paying more attention. Instead of standing around in pain and thinking of how stupid horses are. Stupid ******** horses. Oh, she was done showing how to do the horse ride thing. Yeah, should have been paying way more attention. He was likely to attempt to get on this stupid thing, with only his knowledge that his horse was still stupid and he is terrible at listening to people explaining things to him when he's not-pouting.

tab He cleared his throat for the third time, before stepped up to the stupid beast again. To make another stupid attempt to get on this stupid thing again. Stupid.

tab “Go ahead, and give it a try,” she said, trying to encourage him.

tab He had watched. Somewhat at least. So he could just repeat what he saw her do. He grabbed the sticky out bit of the saddle. It was kinda like the cod piece of the saddle. ... This train of thought is stupid. Anyways he grabbed it, and used it along with the foot grabbing bit to make some sort of attempt to get onto the horse.

tab Once he was actually in the saddle, Kora waited a moment to see if he would fall off or not. When he didn’t, she smiled, and continued with her instructions, “Hang on, but don’t let yourself get too stiff. Just relax, and let your weight move with the horse. When you ride, keep your back straight and look forward. And don’t put your whole foot in the stirrup, so it won’t get stuck if you fall. Only a third of your foot really needs to be there.” The Shastan princess gestured to the positioning of her own feet to demonstrate, before continuing, “The horse is well-trained, so you only need to squeeze your calves to make her move forward. To halt, sit deep in the saddle and apply a little pressure with the reins. Pull either sides of the reins to turn while applying pressure with the corresponding leg.”

tab He was very upset at this horse. He didn't want to be on it, he didn't want to ride it, he wanted nothing to do with the blasted thing. But he had little choice in this situation. He nodded once or twice, to show he was paying more attention to the lecture he was getting right now than he was actually giving it. "... kay," He said, likely sounding way more upset about everything than he actually was. (Which was not at all. He was not upset in the slightest about things.)

tab Kora noticed that he seemed more concerned with pouting, than paying attention to what she was trying to show him. It didn’t really bother her however, since if he didn’t get it, he’d probably end up falling off. In the case of that happening, it would be entirely his fault and not hers. “You’ll get the hang of it after a couple miles,” she said, as she began to ride after some of the others.

tab The horse, being the smart horse it was trotted after Kora. Which was probably a small blessing in and of itself. Had they had to rely on Eston's ability to guide the thing they'd be stuck here for hours. In part because of the mild pain he was experiencing just riding the thing. He was going to be in so much pain after this ride, he could tell already. Only in his early twenties and he could complain extensively about back pains.

tab Never too far away, Kora could see Eston’s dog traveling along with them. Keeping her distance so as not to be stepped on by the larger animals, but close enough to keep tabs on her master. Most of the time she was within sight, although there were still times when she disappeared; weaving in and out between the trees of the forest. “You have a good friend,” Kora said, remembering how the dog had curled up beside her the night before. “What’s her name?”

tab Riding was uncomfortable, Eston as not looking forward to riding this darned horse the entire way to Gradius. He was doing his best to not think about the pain, and to keep any visual signs that he was in said pain off his face. He liked to think he was doing a good job of it. Thankfully the Princess spoke, providing him a nice distraction. "Mm, She's my baby girl." He smiled. That dog was essentially his family now. She made good family too. Listened, regardless of what he was talking about. Smart, Loyal. Didn't get mad at him for not being good enough. "Theia," Theia barked at the mention of her name. Such a smart doggy.

tab “Theia,” Kora repeated. “That’s not a name you’d expect to hear for a dog. It’s oddly fitting.”

tab "I've had her since she was a pup," Was that two or three years ago? Why was remember how long ago things were so difficult? "She's real smart,"

tab “She’s very friendly. She kept me company last night,” Kora said, remembering how the dog had curled up beside her in the middle of the night when sleep would not find her. She had not been sure what to do at first, but eventually the Shasta had fallen asleep, her fingers entangled in the dog’s warm fur.

tab "Ahh, I see. So she's cheating on me, eh?" So that's where she had disappeared last night, leaving him to sleep in the cold all alone.

tab Kora laughed a bit, and then replied, “Perhaps she grew tired of having no female friends.” The smile slipped from her features, when she took note of the way Eston sat in his saddle. His shoulders were tense with pain, and she could see it. She turned her gaze ahead of her, her hand resting in the horse’s mane while she held onto the reins. “Did the faeries do that to you?” she asked, a bit of hesitation in her voice, as she referred to the injuries she had seen when he had first woken up. Reriic had already worked on him once. She didn’t want to think about what they must have looked like before.

tab "The scars you mean?" That's right, she had seen those earlier. He felt as if he should start making more effort to hide the unsightly things. "Some of them, I had a lot before as well," He guessed around half were from before. He hadn't really had much time to fully figure out which ones were new and which were old.

tab “Does your work put you in a lot of dangerous situations?” she asked. The princess had no idea what he did for a living. He had no goods, so he did not strike her as a traveling merchant. She might have taken him for a sellsword, had it not been for the fact that he was unarmed. His manner did not much such an individual anyway. She wasn’t sure what else would have brought him close enough to the borders of Laelie to be arrested for trespassing.

tab "Uhh. No. Not really," The job he would have had originally would have though. "I'm a scholar," He paused a moment. "Well, I suppose I'm at high risk for paper cuts, but that's really about it,"

tab “A scholar?” Her eyebrows rose slightly at the new information. This was the last answer she had expected. “What was a scholar doing near the borders of Laelie? If you don’t mind my asking.”

tab "Research of course," What else would he have been doing?

tab “It’s just that... when I think of a scholar, I think of someone locked up in some library, pouring over old tomes or translating scrolls.” She frowned slightly at his tone.

tab "Oh, I do that a lot too," Including the locking himself up in his house to work bit. "I do a lot of trying to learn new things as well though, Pursuit of knowledge and all that," His stomach growled softly, reminding him that he did in fact need to consume food regularly to not starve to death.

tab “I see,” replied. Even so, it was still strange to see such an individual in the wilderness. Although then again, they had also stumbled upon a priestess. There would be monks and school teachers soon at this rate. “So you get to travel a lot?” she asked after a moment. If his research had taken even into the forests of the faeries, that could mean that it took him other places as well. She herself, had only seen artworks or heard stories of the other kingdoms, save for Zuleidi. “Before the Unity Pact, the only other kingdom I visited was Zuleidi.”

tab "Mm, I traveled a lot," Almost too much in his opinion. He still had issues with staying in one place, almost constantly feeling the itch to just go somewhere when he was at home in Shazgard. "It's been awhile since I've been to Zuleidi myself,"

tab “I would go once a year for as long as I can remember, for the summer festival.”

tab "I've never been in the summer," Only in the autumn, and usually not for long. Him and a few of the others in the group he once traveled with that couldn't stand the cold usually separated briefly and went somewhere else. Usually somewhere nice and warm. "Are the festivals nice there?"

tab Kora nodded, and said, “The summer is the best time to go to Zuleidi, since it’s by the ocean. My sister and I used to have a lot of fun getting into trouble with Jean and Adele...” The princess looked straight ahead of her, her hands tightening on the reins of the horse.

tab She continued to talk all about Zuleidi, which soon turned to talk about the Shazgard festivals as well. (Which Eston did have some experience with himself.) A short while into the conversation, they acquired some food to eat as breakfast. Leftover meat from Chandar’s experiment. Kora had accepted the offer gratefully, regaining her appetite for the first time in a long while.

tab While some sadness remained, it felt good to talk about her memories of the fall and summer festivals between Shazgard and Zuleidi. The princess continued to talk for a long time as the pair of them rode onward. Answering questions, and clarifying information where it was due. As the two of them exchanged their various festival adventures, a bit of her old self returned to her demeanor. Aside from the chill bite in the air as they drew closer to Gradius, she was able to set aside where they were and what they were doing.

[Angst Werewolf]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It had been bothering him for some time, but everything else that had been happening had effectively distracted Chandar from the entire reason of his abduction. The Monarchs had assumed him to be original guard to the Mahapatras and that he had stolen something from Bhegin. And on top of that, the faeries had been ordered to kill his predecessor on sight. He remembered that Liuyan had mentioned that whatever had been taken had been “rescued” during the fire, which meant that the guard hadn’t taken until then...

Though what that actually implied was beyond him. He just really wanted to know what had been so damned important that someone had braved a burning building for it and then had an entire pack of angry faeries hunting it down.

But then there was the who behind the whole thing. Chandar had no problem remembering Joonyi sobbing as he half-strangled her for answers. Zhaddagh. Not some disgruntled distant relative with a grudge, but the king and queen themselves. He had no idea why the royals of Shasta would work with faerie outcasts or why they would go after a Gradian guardsman. Blast it all, what in the world had Navid taken from Bhegin?

His eyes traveled towards Kora, who was standing by her horse. She had royal blood. Did she know? Had Zaara known? But if the Monarchs were working for the Zhaddaghs, they wouldn’t have gone after the family’s heir. Chandar scowled and shook his head. Politics were a mess, no matter where you went. And now that it was crossing countries, it was getting even worse.

He had to get some answers. The smith grabbed his horse’s reins and made his way over to the princess. The sooner he figured this out, the better. “Princess Kora,” he said stiffly as he approached her. He had no real problems with the Shasta people; he had made quite a bit of money as a mercenary there and the area had plenty of ores and gems for him to get his hands on. And from what he’d seen, Kora wasn’t anywhere near as crazy as the other royals. “If I could have a moment of your time?”

Kora had been adjusting some of the saddlebags on her horse. She looked up over her shoulder when the pale Gradian approached her. His formal tone, and the fact that he was speaking to her at all was cause for surprise. The two of them had not truly spoken since he had first joined their group in Dradecus to follow the Maphatras. While she could not think of any reason he would want to speak to her, she nodded slightly, and replied, “You can.” The Shastan was curious as to what Chandar wanted to talk to her about.It didn’t seem as though the rest of the group would be moving on without them, so they would have time.

She followed the man as the two of them walked beyond hearing range of the rest of the group; their visage veiled by a thin line of trees. The forest became less dense the farther they traveled from Laelie, and the closer they got to Gradius. Here, the branches no longer blocked out the sky, and the sun brightened everything around them. “What was it you needed to speak to me about?” she asked cautiously, once they were away from the others. She knew that whatever it was, it had to be serious. Unless he too wanted to offer some condolences over the loss of her sister. Although for some reason, she highly doubted that was the case.

Chandar crossed his arms over his chest. He hadn’t thought out exactly how to ask about this; the whole thing had been rather impulsive on his part. Best to just get it all out, he supposed.

“The Monarchs abducted me because they thought I was the original Gradian guard, Navid.” He paused for a moment, glancing over his shoulder. “Turns out he stole something from Bhegin and they wanted it back.” The Gradian dragged his gaze back to the Shasta princess. This part was not going to go over well, he knew. “They were also ordered to kill him. By the Zhaddaghs.” As he said the last part, his hand traveled down to his sword. If Kora knew, there would be a fight, and he was not going to be caught off-guard.

Kora’s brow furrowed at the mention of Navid. Her first thought was to respond that what he said was impossible, since Navid had died in Bhegin. However, recent evidence, including the spearhead found near the monarch infant seemed to suggest otherwise. However, before she could say anything, Chandar said something that struck her silent. Her red eyes shot wide as she froze in place. “What did you just say?” she managed to say after a moment, shocked by the very idea the Gradian suggested. “You cannot possibly be serious,” she said, just before she noticed the placement of the man’s hand on the hilt of his sword. He was serious. The Shastan’s shock was suddenly eclipsed by anger. “Where did you hear these lies?” she hissed, trying to keep her head.

“Lies?!” Chandar’s attempt at being civil fell apart in a snap. “I can assure you that that was what the faerie said.” His eyes narrowed and he leaned in towards Kora’s face. “She told me everything she knew. Unfortunately the birds ate the one with what I really needed to know.”

“I have no idea what your family is up to, making deals with those faeries. Nor do I know what Navid took that pissed so many people off.”

Kora shook her head. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “My family has not been making deals with anyone. Especially those monarchs in Laelie,” she said, her voice rising in pitch. “I don’t care what that faerie did or didn’t tell you. They were lying. That much is obvious.” Crossing both arms across her chest, she glared up at the man without flinching.

His voice dropped and took on an icy tone. “You cannot expect me to believe that you’ve lived with these people your entire life and know nothing about any of this.”

“And that’s why I’m telling you it’s a lie,” she spat back, a bit of venom finding its way into the tone of her voice. She did not like the direction this conversation was taking. “Are you accusing me?” she asked, her tone low. “I want you to think carefully about what you say next Gradian.”

Chandar had expected denial, but nothing this vicious from the girl. “I’m not accusing you. I just want to know why the faeries thought it would be a good idea to strangle and electrocute me for some item that someone else stole,” he growled, meeting her tone. “And why they would drop your family’s name as a ‘lie’.” Chandar was unable to hold back his sarcasm; he even went so far as to use air quotes on the last word.

“And I’m not lying about this,” the smith added, eyes narrowing. “Adele was there, she heard it, too.”

Kora was silent as she glared at him. “I don’t believe for a second that my family would be involved in anything like that,” she nearly shouted. Realizing that she had let her anger get the best of her, she tried to force herself to calm down. She closed her eyes, and rubbed her temples, before she said in a strained, but much calmer tone, “I’m sorry for losing my temper. Even if the feeling isn’t mutual, my family is important to me. I’m sure you can understand why I would be upset about hearing something like this.” The Shastan opened her eyes, and looked up at him once more. “But the monarchs must have been lying to you. My father would never have allowed for my s-- …. for any of us to be put in danger...”

Yes, there was the whole deal with the Monarchs killing Zaara. If the royal family was involved, Chandar doubted that they’d asked for the heir the throne to be killed off. Chandar frowned, but took a step back and released the grip on his sword. It seemed Kora really didn’t know, or was doing a very good job of acting like she didn’t.

But why did the Monarchs go after her sister if they were working for Zhaddaghs? This whole situation was a mess, but he needed to get at least some of the story straight. “The faeries purposely went after her?” A part of Chandar felt like an a** for bringing this all up again so soon, but the Gradian had to know who exactly was trying to kill him (well, technically Navid). “It was intentional?”

“How dare you,” she seethed, her small hands balling into fists at her sides. No matter how Kora looked at it, she could not see any possible way that what Chandar said was true. Some of the rocks surrounding them began to tremble slightly, but otherwise did not move. Once they settled down, Kora said, “What do you want me to say? That my father is in league with murderers?” Under her breath, she added, “And as... difficult... as the queen can be, she is not a murderer.” Watching Chandar intently, brow furrowed into a knot, Kora waited for his answer.

Chandar eyed the rocks warily, even after they had settled back into the ground. It seemed that stones had a way of finding his face, as the giant bruise around his eye proved. “I can’t pretend to know anything about your family. The only thing I did in Shazgard was business.” He paused for a moment, unsure of just how he wanted to word this. Even he didn’t know what he was looking for- he just needed to find out something. “Is there reason your family would seek outside help like the Monarchs? Is there something they want, or some enemy of the country that needs to be taken care of?” he asked, waving a hand as if he could swat the answer of the air.

Kora’s jaw tightened. While her first instinct had been to retort in a similar manner as before, she stopped herself. As calmly and honestly as she could in her present state of mind, she tried to think of any possible enemies her family could have. As peaceful as their kingdom was, all royal families had enemies. It was the nature of the game. However, she could think of none serious or dangerous enough that her father or stepmother couldn’t handle on their own. Especially to the degree that Chandar was suggesting. “Shazgard’s military is the greatest in the world...” she said slowly, coming out of her thoughts. “There’s no threat that they would need the monarchs help in dealing with. Even if they intended war...” she paused, hating the taste of the word in her mouth. Her expression hardened as she added, “But Shazgard has been at peace with the other kingdoms for a long time. If my father and stepmother wanted anything else, they wouldn’t have sold my sister and I into the Unity Pact.”

Kora’s last line made Chandar raise an eyebrow. He knew that most of the royal children weren’t exactly thrilled over this whole arranged-marriage bullshit, but he’d yet to see a reaction quite like this. There was certainly venom in those words. But it was also clear that the princess didn’t know anything. Even so, Chandar couldn’t let go of the belief that the faerie hadn’t been lying about the royal family’s involvement.

Damn it all, he hadn’t gotten anywhere with this.

Taking a deep breath, the Shastan said, “You can’t have been the only one to question the monarchs.” She hated entertaining the idea that her family could even remotely be involved with a group endangering the other kingdoms. The group that had killed her sister. However, if they were going to find out what really happened, they would need all of the information that they could get. “The others might have differing information. That would be proof that your faerie was lying. And we could learn more if we draw what truth we can from the combined stories.”

“More information would be good to have,” he admitted slowly, giving the princess a slight nod. A thought popped into his head, but the smith clenched his jaw before he could voice it. What if the faeries and the Zhaddaghs had been working together, and Zaara had been taken as a means of protection? A way to keep her out of the fighting that had broken out all over Laelie? And then Kora’s group had shown up to “rescue”, attacked, and turned it into a battle...

Chandar wasn’t stupid enough to actually voice that idea. Kora had taken her sister’s death hard and he wasn’t about to go and suggest that maybe she had been more involved with Zaara’s killing than originally thought. Instead, he went along with her suggestion. “We should see what the others know. I don’t know who went where, since I was otherwise occupied, but this is something to look into, to be sure.”

Satisfied that they had seemed to come to some kind of uneasy agreement, Kora nodded, and added, “And it’ll have to be soon.” Even though she was absolutely positive that her family had nothing to do with the monarchs, the smallest beginnings of doubt had begun to sink its teeth into the back of her mind. She was restless, and wouldn’t be able to feel calm until those doubt had been laid to rest. The Shastan princess wondered if there would be time before they all reached Gradius. Given the state of affairs in the other kingdoms, she doubted they would receive a warm welcome. Although even if Gradius was perfectly fine, a visit there would not exactly be what she considered a holiday.

Chandar worked his jaw for a moment. “The next time the group has the time, we should discuss it,” he finally said, leveling his gaze at the princess. “And it should be you that brings it up. You were the most affected by the Monarchs, and the others would be more inclined to listen to you over me.” He couldn’t hide the bitterness from his voice at the last part and glowered at a rock by his foot.

“We should get back to the group before they leave without us.” Well, the group was more likely to leave without him than Kora, but that wasn’t really the point.

Kora nodded her agreement, although the statement of them taking her words over his drew a small frown. The Shastan let the matter lie, choosing not to say anything about it. She was more than eager to learn the truth behind what he had told her. Even though the rumors upset her, she was grateful that they had been brought to her attention and not hidden from her. “Despite my initial reaction, I’m glad you told me. Thank you,” she said. With that, she began to make her way back to where they had left the rest of the group, Chandar following a step behind. It probably would not be long until they all started off again, on the road to Gradius.

[Angst Werewolf]

The young boy followed the sound of ringing metal. The mercenary group had stopped in a small village on the outskirts of Shazgard and had commandeered most of the buildings. The inn was filled with drunken warriors, the butcher shop had been raided by the group's cook, and the smith had made for the town's forge. In fact, the boy had never even seen this Flint that he'd been told to go see.

He climbed the steps to the forge and nudged the wooden door open to peek inside. There was a man banging a dent out of a breastplate, and the boy assumed that this was Flint. The smith was of average height, wiry build, and had shaggy blond hair that had been pulled back into a short ponytail. Despite the heat, the smith had on a shirt and heavy leather gloves. As the boy watched, Flint gave the metal plate another look, then tossed the hammer onto a table as if weighed nothing more than a small knife.

It seemed a good time as any to introduce himself. But no names, Boulder had already explained that to him. In the Stone Hammers, you didn't get your "stone" name until after your first successful mission. Until then, you were usually referred to as "boy" or "recruit". "Excuse me, I'm looking for-"

"Flint? You found him." The man turned to stare down at the young recruit. His eyes narrowed and he shook his head. "Hell, how old are you, boy? We're not this desperate for new blood," he growled.

The boy frowned. He wasn't that young- fifteen- and Flint looked like he couldn't be much older than twenty. And he really didn't look like what he'd been expecting. "Boulder said Flint was Gradian-"

He didn't get much further. Flint pulled a poker from the fire and whirled it at the boy's face so fast that he tripped over his own feet and fell to ground in an attempt to avoid the attack. "I am Gradian!" Flint screeched, grabbing the boy by the front of the shirt and hoisting him up. "And don't you forget it, boy."

The boy eyed the poker warily and nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Flint certainly had the Gradian temperament. With a growl, the smith released him and stalked over to a workbench. The young boy picked himself up off the floor, carefully dusting off his clothes. He half expected Flint to come at him again for making too much noise.

For a moment, the two of them stood in silence, the Gradian sulking over at his bench while the young Shasta tried to melt into the shadows. Finally, Flint turned around. He still looked cross, but at least he didn't have his poker anymore. "What d'you fight with? Daggers? Maybe a short axe? You're too scrawny for anything bigger than a longsword."

The boy shuffled on the spot, suddenly finding his boots very interesting. "I...I've never actually fought before," he admitted, feeling his cheeks flush.

Flint swore in what the boy assumed to be Gradian. ”I can’t believe Boulder even picked you up in the first place!” he exclaimed. He leaned against the wall, arms folded over his chest as he glowered at the recruit. “Well, what’d you do before this? You must have some useful skill that I can pair with a weapon. ”

Well, at least he wasn’t throwing things, which was the reaction the boy had been expecting. “I worked in a mine. It was mostly for stone for the artists to carve-”

“So you can use a pickax?” Flint cut in. When the boy nodded, he went back to the bench and began to shuffle through the assorted weapons. A minute later, he held up an old, battered pickax. It was chipped in places, but it would certainly take someone's eye out. "Here," Flint said, tossing the weapon at him. The recruit fumbled with it, but managed to catch it without getting himself stabbed. "Get your name and I'll get you a better one."

The boy nodded, but Flint had already turned back to his work. "I- Thank you," he managed to say. Flint glanced over his shoulder, grunted, and waved his hand in dismissal. With the pickax in hand, the recruit shuffled out of the forge and back towards the inn, the ringing of metal echoing down the street.


---------


Chandar had dozed off at some point after packing his bags and woke to a quick gust of cold air blowing through the trees. As the group set off, Chandar hoped that it was just some weird twist of nature, and that it wasn't actually going to get colder, but the further they traveled, the smaller that hope became. But after half a day's ride, he almost totally forgot about it due to the fact that his horse had resumed its quest to kill him and he spent most of his time wrestling for control with the beast.

And they still had that baby, for some reason. Chandar really couldn't understand why the thing was so damned important.

For most of the trip, he flanked either Kunal or Bashirah, though he followed the princess more often. She, at least, had the decency to not accidentally burn him or the house he was standing in. The ride itself, excluding the war with his horse, was uneventful and the smith occupied himself with checking over his bags. One was stuffed with wolf meat, another with the teeth, claws, and bones of said wolf, and the last housed the dozen or so gems he'd picked up before running into the betrothed and the group.

But even that wasn't enough to keep him occupied. And the occasional gusts of freezing wind, on top of his talk with Kora, was enough to set his nerves on end. The horse didn't seem pleased either. So, with nothing better to do, Chandar took it upon himself to do perimeter checks. Every hour or so, the smith broke off from the Mahapatras to circle around the group and make sure nothing was sulking in the bushes. It got his blood flowing, kept him warm, and it showed off the horsemanship skills he'd picked up as a mercenary. Yes, look, the pale Gradian is actually good at something, you assholes, he screamed mentally, glowering at the group as he galloped by, sword in one hand and reins in the other.

His pacing (because that was what it was, just on a horse) got even worse at the sight of the frozen volcano and the snow. Despite what had happened in Dradecus and Laelie, he had clung to the hope that nothing would be wrong with Gradius, because Gradius was perfect and you couldn't ruin perfection.

But it appeared that you could do that quite easily with a thick layer of ice. His agitation got so bad that his arm heated up and stayed that way through the night. The light of the heated metal plating on his arm made him the unofficial lantern of the group, but at least it was warm. Warm enough that Adele attempted to double up with him on the horse during the night, which had resulted in a good bit of cursing and kicking from all parties involved. Then the toucan that had rescued him from the vines had suddenly dropped from the sky and settled in his lap and no amount of jostling would get it to move.

And so Chandar relented to the unwanted snuggling and spent the night sulking as his horse to plodded onward.

Soon enough they were at the base of the volcano, and Chandar pulled his horse to an abrupt halt. The motion jostled both Adele and the toucan awake, but Chandar really didn't care. He recognized the camp- the Asaph, who he had spent a lot of his teenage years with. But he did not remember there being this many of them, and most certainly not covered in snow.

"What the hell is this?!" Chandar hissed in frustration. The falling snow that had been unfortunate enough to land on his left arm had been sizzling and evaporating all night, and it had been keeping him awake. Now he just really wanted to hit something. He kicked his horse roughly and barreled through the group to the front, a scowl plastered on his face. Someone from the camp came running towards them and Chandar reined his horse to a stop. Maybe this person had some sort of explanation for whatever was going on.

"Asif...?" Chandar could hardly believe it. He hadn't seen the other Gradian since he'd broken off from his family and joined up with the Stone Hammers. Save for the handful of times he'd returned to the volcano and passed through the Asaph camp to deliver his finds, the two of them hadn't spoken since.

Asif turned back into the camp and Chandar didn't waste any time. He nudged his horse forward, eyes darting from one tent to another as they passed. It was clear that it wasn't just the Asaph huddled inside- these were Gradians, exiled from their very home. For the life of him, Chandar couldn't think of anything that would be enough to drive the Gradians out like this. But then there were the events in Dradecus and Laelie had been enough to royally screw over the population there. His eyes went to the volcano and Chandar finally felt the cold.

[Cherzooka]

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The night had been cold, significantly colder than Eston would have liked. With only the clothes on his back to keep him warm, the only thing keeping him freezing over was the hope that when daylight broke again it would be warm again. But as the sun rose it brought no warmth with it, only more cold. Even as they drew closer to the land of his birth, it only seemed to grow colder with each step.

And when they finally arrived. His home city was bathed in what he could only describe as sorrow. The once almost glowing volcano stood cold and blanketed in snow like some ordinary mountain in the tundra. Even though this was no longer home for him, even though this was a place he wanted nothing to do with, It pained him. To see it so look as this. But, if it were so bad our here, what of inside? Was it even more of a frozen wasteland in there than out here? And if it were, would anyone even be still alive in there? Would his parents, his only family, still be alive in there? Should he still even care about them?

Were his muscles not half-frozen he'd have gotten off the horse and ran and searched for his parents in the camp. Hoping, praying they would be okay, that they would be out here and not inside the city potentially dead. But he didn't. He remained on the horse, shivering relentlessly. And even if he had gone to find them, and if he had found them. It would have likely hurt just as much as their deaths. To him, they were his parents. But to them, he wasn't their son anymore.

He couldn't bear to look the city nor the camp any longer, casting his gaze instead to the snow covered ground. Several long minutes passed, snow slowly collecting atop his head and shoulders all the while. He wouldn't go searching for them, he couldn't. He shouldn't push himself in this cold, and it didn't look like their were many people here to begin with the chances of them being among them was slim and. And.

He had to at least look for them.

He dismounted from the horse. (An act the consisted of half-falling from the darned beast.) All his muscles yelling at him to stop moving and just accept the cold. (As well as some from the long hours upon hours of riding that stupid horse.) He half-stumbled into the camp, looking into each of the tents along the way as he walked through. He saw plenty of Gradian faces as he searched, none of them familiar to him.

He slowed after a short while. Before finally stopping. His entire body cold and in mild pain and berating him for even moving at all. They weren't here. Nor was anyone else he recognized. (For a brief moment he felt a pang of loneliness.) He prayed they were okay, even if they likely would not want his prayers. He made the slow walk back to the horse, where he had left his things and Theia.



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[Overlord Gizmo]

x x x x x x x x x ✗ K o r a x Z h a d d a g h

Kora had never felt so cold in her life. Even winters were warm in the Red Fields, and snow was only something she had seen depicted in art work, or read about in books. When the first of the tiny white flakes had begun falling from the sky, she had stared up in amazement. It decorated the land around them in a thin layer of clean dusted white. But then the snow kept on falling; and the air only grew colder. The stone grey sky blocked out any possible warmth that may have been offered by the sun. The Shasta had reached into one of her saddle bags for a second shirt, and later a third; bundling up to try and fight off the chill. Eventually, all she could do was shiver in her saddle, as the snow capped mountain that was supposed to be Gradius drew ever closer to them.

The snow no longer appeared beautiful to her, as it settled on her cheeks and eyelashes. She wished that they had packed warmer clothes when they had departed from Dradecus, but it seemed as though they would have to make do. Traveling the entirety of the last night on their way to the mountain was hard, and her legs and rear were sore from riding the horse for so long, but in the end she didn’t mind. At this point, with the mountain of Gradius within their sights, she didn’t want to spend another day with it looming ominously in the distance. Kora wanted to get there as quickly as possible, no matter the outcome. Also, she feared that as ill prepared as they were for this kind of weather, stopping to sleep could result in a lost toe or worse.

It was hard not to think about the letter they had received upon fleeing Bhegin. Everything the letter had said was coming to pass. The moon's embraced shall be conquered by the scorching sun. That part of the prophecy had come to pass when Dradecus, the city of night, had been turned into a scorching desert. She supposed that ‘mother nature’s retaliation’, could be nothing other than the tragedy they had all witnessed in the kingdom of Laelie, which had been lost to them. And now they were in Gradius. Hell would freeze over... It would seem that the prophecy was quite literal this time around. One impossible thing after another. The next part of the prophecy made a heavy pit form in her stomach. The stones would capture their masters... That part was about Shazgard. It was painfully obvious. What in the names of all the Gods was happening in her homeland? She tried to shake away the mental image of the entire plateau being swallowed up by a massive earthquake, but it proved a difficult task.

But when she wasn’t thinking about the prophecy, she could only think about the conversation she had with Chandar. It unsettled her more than anything else. There was absolutely no way it was true. Her father was a kind man, even if he wasn’t perfect. And even if he didn’t always show it, she knew that he cared about her just as much as he did for Zaara. There was no way he would have been involved with the monarchs. King Basilio was a man of peace. Queen Dinora was the only one Kora could think of as being ambitious enough to consider war. However, that could also have been her own biased opinion. The princess did not exactly like the queen as it was, and she needed to not let that cloud her judgement. After all, Dinora would only want what was best for the kingdom. She was no murderer. The faery had lied to Chandar. She had lied. Kora would accept no other explanation.

When they finally reached the base of the mountain, there was a settlement just outside the gates. From her reading, she recognized the settlement as belonging to the ‘Asaph’. She knew that they were Gradians who lived outside of the mountain, but little else. Zaara’s education had been much more intensive, and had she been there with her, she might have had something else to say. The people of the camp were bundled up in warm furs, which she immediately envied, as she shivered in her layers of Dradecan clothes. The camp was crowded, but it was obvious that the majority of the population of Gradius was still inside the mountain. What was happening on the inside? A young man with a torch came running toward them. What he said about the gates was hardly surprising. Had anything been easy for them so far on this journey? The idea of some insane individual guarding the gates was hardly a welcome thought either.

Almost immediately, the man recognized Chandar and the Maphatra twins. He groveled before them in the snow, and promised warm accommodations. The promise of warmer clothes raised her spirits slightly, and she was more than a little eager to get out of the freezing snow, even if it was just for a little while. When the man asked them to follow him, she slid down from her horse, immediately feeling the ache from the long ride, and led the animal by the reins.

It wasn’t hard to imagine how all of the Gradians felt... seeing the volcano frozen over as it was. Although she was sure that Kunal and Bashirah would be too proud to show any outward sign of what they felt. Chandar was already showing signs of anger and frustration. They were led into the camp, and those who recognized the Maphatra siblings quickly elbowed and whispered to those who didn’t. Quick and polite bows to the Gradian twins came from all directions, as whispered conversations flared in the background. Upon entering the camp, a man took her horse from her, and assured her that it would be well looked after. After the long ride, she was sure the animal deserved it. She unhooked her saddle bag, before allowing the horse to be led away, and followed after the others.There were fires everywhere, and each one was ringed by cold Gradians, huddling for warmth. She imagined that they were just as unused to the cold as she was.

Kora was eventually led into one of the tents, and told that she could choose what she wished from a chest full of winter furs. She began pulling off the lighter Dradecan garments, but as soon as she felt the bite of the cold air on her bare skin, she quickly pulled them back on, hugging herself and rubbing her arms against the cold. Cold was nothing like she thought it would be. Her whole body felt tight, as though she were already freezing solid. It did not take her very long to decide to pull the furs on over what she was already wearing. When she stepped out of the tent, she was substantially warmer, and the cold was not nearly as painful. It still bit at her exposed cheeks, and filled her lungs when she breathed, but it was much more bearable now.

She saw Eston returning to their group. Kora hadn’t even known that he had left. He had insisted before that Gradius wasn’t his home, but she would not be surprised if this was still hard for him. “Are you alright?” she asked, watching him carefully. Thinking about her talk with Chandar again as she stared up at the ice capped mountain, she did not want to wait too long to gather the others who had interrogated monarchs to figure out the truth. But was now a good time? When they had been riding all day and night? Probably not. But it would have to be soon.








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