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 Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 7:19 pm
Ulrich nodded thoughtfully, staring into the fire that was glowing in the fireplace. It was the only light in the room, and he found it interesting that after over three thousand five hundred years he still found comfort in front of an open flame.
"I can't speak for her of course," he said slowly, "but I'm sure that she would be happy to have you take care of those problems for her ... the kingdom's so shaky already, she can't spare any of her men ..."
He sighed and shook his head. "So much strife to get that country going, and so much more to keep it ... and it's crumbling."
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 7:46 pm
Donovan looked over to where Kara was keeping an eye on Miyu before looking back at Ulrich. He supposed the closest thing to what Ulrich was going through was if the clans started to fall apart. Not that they weren't, but it always happened, some new clans rose up, and others died off, but it was a scary thought when it happened.
"As long as I don't get into trouble for going after them, that's all I really care about, but since we're taking about the worse kind of people, I doubt many would notice they're missing," Donovan replied sternly.
It was a good thing to hear anyhow, then he wouldn't have trouble offering, though most wouldn't think good for business, but if he just took what he got off his targets. Everyone was happy, even if Donovan wasn't quite sure yet what to do with those things.
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 7:54 pm
"Well," Ulrich nodded, "I can tell you for a fact that you won't get in trouble for going after them. I wouldn't be surprised if Atalya offered to pay you, she's been searching for a way to get rid of them for years."
He paused thoughtfully, and his eyes flickered towards the fire once more. "She was once good friends with the human king," he murmured. "I don't know what happened between them ... but the humans are no longer tolerant of we elves and our ways." He sighed. "It makes the last war such a waste ... so much was accomplished ... but apparently for naught."
Though his expression didn't change, his eyes seemed to glow with anger in the firelight.
"So much waste," he muttered.
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 8:00 pm
"Is it really the king though? People are much harder to deal with, and in crowds can become animals very quickly," Donovan replied in a way that held no illusions about people.
Donovan you see, even though he had found love, he loved, and he cared for family, he up held ideas, was also the type of man to see the glass half empty.
"Then again, people forget in general pretty quickly," Donovan added as an after thought.
He was sort of glad he didn't have the elven or even an angelic lifespan, he would hate to become more cynical than he already was. It made Donovan wonder, if Kara, after he was long gone, would become cynic, he sure hell hoped not or he might just stick around to haunt whatever idiots caused it.
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 8:18 pm
"I don't know much about people in general," Ulrich replied with a shrug. "I was born here and I've only left a few times. I don't care to see the rest of the land, the rest of the people ... I'm quite content to stay here with Ulani."
He smiled softly, though his eyes never lost their fire. "The first time we left the valley, I nearly lost her ... and I'm not willing to risk that again. And I know that even if she and I were the only ones here ... and we never saw anyone else ever again ... I'd be happy. As long as she was here with me."
After a moment, he returned his attention to the matter at hand. "The king may not be directly to blame, the monarchy rarely is," he said, turning to face Donovan once more. "But he's not helping either. He refuses to take control of his people, refuses to enforce his laws ... and where it concerns the elves he has nothing to say."
He shrugged. "Rather rude, considering he wouldn't be alive if it weren't for Atalya."
Ulani returned from the kitchen just then with a tray of steaming mugs in her hands and Skye on her shoulder. The tiny second was chattering away in the few elvish words that Ulani had been teaching her throughout the evening.
"Tea," Ulani smiled, holding out the tray to Kara. "The kind you drink ... we've grown fond of it. Peppermint tea, I hope you like it ..."
Since this was the first time she would be serving it to guests.
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 8:21 pm
"Maybe he can't," Donovan mused, "Maybe it's so unstable over there that if he did anything like say... stand up for the elves he could have a riot on his hands," he wrinkled his nose at that, "That is why I hate politics, and am grateful I don't have to deal with clan politics at all."
Well that wasn't true, there was a bit of a political problem, he wasn't yet ready to deal with, which he knew he could deal with easily, abid by a method that would get him beaten on by his mother.
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 8:23 pm
Kara blinked, she was surprised because she had been told after the fact of being drugged, that they never had tea like they had. This made it quite new. She picked up the cup savouring the smell, this was a good night drink.
"How did you find out about this?" Kara asked.
Since Ulani knew it was something she would drink, someone must have told her.
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 8:30 pm
Ulani laughed softly. "Gion," she replied, setting the tray on the table so that she could put Skye on the floor. "He said something about one of your sons ... I have no idea what the name was, there's no sign for it apparently ... how he kept these little packets of dried herbs and such, and put them in boiling water and drank it ..."
She shrugged, then picked up the tray once more. "We were curious, so we tried it ... and now we're rather hooked." She giggled, then moved on to offer drinks to Donovan and Ulrich.
Ulrich shook his head. "He can. He should. If not for reasons of stopping these attacks on the elves, then to prevent the attacks on his own people. The humans are targets as frequently as we are - if not, more frequently, for many of them don't learn to defend themselves, especially against such a high level of skill."
He took a drink from the tray Ulani was holding out to him and Donovan, but kept his gaze on the man. "If a king will not even protect his own people from themselves," he said seriously, "then he does not deserve to be king."
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 8:31 pm
As soon as Skye's feet were on the floor, she headed over to the fireplace where Ulrich and Donovan were. She sat on the floor a safe distance away - but still close enough to feel its warmth - then curled up into a little ball, folding her wings peacefully.
After a few moments she started fidgeting, trying to get comfortable. Then she looked up at Donovan (the nearest person she recognized) and asked, "Where Skye vase?"
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 8:37 pm
Donovan frowned, "So either he is indeed," he motioned to Ulrich, "A bad king, or the king has a syndicate he can't get rid of, or both."
He didn't think people here had things like that, but he could always be proven wrong. It only meant that if someone left a void of power, another would replace.
"The first is just a pain, the second makes it a difficult pain," Donovan muttered, "If it is a syndicate then they pop up faster than most rodents, it's hard to track down because for all you know the highest level of government or the richest person is in on it, but on the outside appear to be respectable people, and if he even has guards, police, whatever you call them to keep law in his kingdom some of them are probably bribed.. I do hope it's just the fact he's a bad king, otherwise both sides will have issues for a very long time to come."
He paused long enough to look at Skye, he hoped she wasn't going to be like Celebor and be very fussy later.
"No kiddo, remember? You left your vase at home," he told her.
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 8:38 pm
Kara laughed softly at the thought of it, "Ah... that has to be Yukito, he's about as fond of tea as I am," she murmured taking a sip, "There is no sign for it, and if you translated it, it wouldn't be any better. There is no equaltive translation into English unless you took the literal, which is Snow Rabbit."
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 8:42 pm
Ulani turned it over on her tongue for a few moments, then smiled at Kara. "Yukito," she repeated, nodding. "I like it. Snow rabbit ... it reminds me of the way our people were once named." She held the tray out to Donovan and waited for him to take his mug.
Ulrich shrugged. "I really have no idea what's going on with the whole thing," he told Donovan apologetically. "All I know is, there's no way I'm going traveling anymore. I'm never leaving my family alone - and I'm never letting any of us go anywhere even within the valley without Leif."
He paused. "Unless it's Serenity."
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 8:43 pm
Skye's lips moved along with Donovan's as he spoke, and then she repeated, "Skye vase home?"
She blinked up at him for a moment, then looked around. She wanted her vase ... or something similar. She spotted Kara's bag - the same one she had come here in - and grinned, then made a beeline for it.
It was small and warm and comfortable. Maybe she could sleep in there!
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 8:52 pm
Kara smiled a bit, nodding as she watched Skye make that beeline for her bag, "Is someone sleepy?" she asked.
Skye was like a cat, she liked small places she could curl up into, it made one wonder what she was going to do when she became bigger.
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 8:54 pm
"It's fine," Donovan waved it off, as he took the mug from Ulani, thanking her for it, "It's just some things that always run into my mind, but I would need to find out myself, which is the problem," he frowned a bit drinking, "Because the best way to catch rats is to go to the source, but that means to go across the border to the human side, and it took a very long time to find someone who could understand me the last time I ran into people."
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