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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 12:41 pm
At that question, Mari hesitated, then glanced at Chesnet. The man nodded slightly and Mari turned back to Lin.
"When Dae'er was young - not yet an adult, even - she was very beautiful, acclaimed by most to be the most beautiful woman in the city," she began quietly. "When she was fifteen, the General had her brought to the palace to become his mistress. When she refused, he threw her in prison. Arphenion was her guard, and if not for him, she would have died in there. As it was, she nearly did. After five years, she had wasted away to nothing and lost her will to live. Arphenion asked the General for permission to marry her - the only way he could think of to get her out of the dungeon and not have to become the General's mistress. The General assumed that Arphenion had defiled her, married the two, and threw them out into the street."
She glanced back towards the house as if watching for the two. "For a long time, they lived in the city, and they believed that they were safe from the General. There didn't seem to be any retribution for their actions. Dae'er slowly regained her health. They were happy. And though it took over sixty years, they were eventually blessed with a child - a son. Tsara and Gaelin, Dae'er's parents, were staying with them to help out, and the very next day, the General came with his men. He stole their son and murdered Dae'er's father right in front of her eyes."
She shook her head. "Most people would consider that more than enough punishment for refusing to be the General's mistress, but he has pursued them even out here. Any time soldiers come, the children are hidden away. I believe Dae'er fears they will also be taken if they are discovered. As to why the General is so determined to torment them ..."
She hesitated again, then shrugged. "I can only guess."
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 6:28 pm
There something that seemed off by it, then again the General was crazy so maybe it all made perfect sense. Still, as a logical person, Lin thought the whole thing was just off... the General was so much into power it seemed weird to let the two marry even if he took their first born.
"Hmm... it doesn't make sense, but he is crazy so I can't really say much on that," Lin admitted.
Miyuki decided a change in subject would be good.
"So, since we're waiting for Kyrie, why not set up a tent and show our friends what this tent business is about, we have to set it up to even use anyways, might as well do it now," Miyuki suggested.
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 6:34 pm
"Let's do it," Chesnet agreed. He pushed back his sleeves - a figurative motion, since of course setting up a tent didn't mean getting one's hands dirty - and helped Miyuki to set up one of the tents.
By the time they finished, Arphenion, Dae'er, Ruaven, Hamir, Janos and Iadrim had finished their packing and had come outside. They joined the group just as the tent was finished being put up.
"Are we staying in there?" Iadrim asked, looking around at the others. She was confused, and the dried tears on her cheeks showed her emotional state.
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 6:39 pm
The tent was the one Senka had been hidden in and Miyuki went in just to check on the Fluffy Cat. It was sad the two didn't spend as much time together as they use to, but Senka wasn't really a people person unless it was for certain people.
Upon hearing Iadrim, Miyuki poked her head back out of the tent.
"Yup, or at least until we all get into the city. Come on in, there's plenty of room, I promise," she had a mischievous look on her face.
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 6:49 pm
Iadrim blinked and looked up at her parents. Dae'er looked very confused, but Arphenion smiled encouragingly at her and nodded for her to go with Miyuki.
Iadrim set down the small bag she was carrying and pulled open the flap of the tent. She hesitated a moment before going inside.
Outside, Arphenion and Dae'er look to the others. "What's going on now?" Dae'er asked quietly. "Arphenion said we're going to stay with my mother but how are we going to get there? And what are the rest of you going to do?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 6:56 pm
The inside was very spacious, perhaps the size of a very large living room. Which was made even more spacious by the fact there was no furniture. It had to be since at most every tent had to hold three people. In addition, Shiro and Andarien had to be able to set up their respective work stations, while Miyuki knew her tails created a need for enough room for her and whoever was rooming with her.
"Take a seat anywhere," Miyuki motioned, "It's good thing these had to be big enough to fit small work stations, otherwise I don't think all of us would be able to fit into one tent."
Though they could just set up another, there were at least three with them.
Lin explained quietly, "Kyrie has gone to see a contact that might room the rest of us, as for how we're going to get there. Kyrie said to use the dragons to make it look like the homes were attacked, this way no one will question the soldiers' disappearances, and hopefully allow you and your husband back into the city without question. As for how the rest of us will get in there..."
She nodded to the tent that the girls were in.
"We're going to use a bit of magic, we use these tents for traveling, but they're much bigger on the inside than the outside and folding them up and closing them won't affect those inside the tents."
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 7:02 pm
Iadrim's eyes grew wide as she looked around the tent. She had never seen anything like it before, never dreamed that something like that would be possible.
"But from outside it looks so small," she breathed in awe, taking a seat in a corner. "How did you do it?"
Dae'er looked confused. "Contact?" she repeated.
"Tsara," Arphenion smiled at her, putting one arm around her shoulders and pulling her close.
"Ah." Dae'er nodded. "Yes, Mother would have room for us all, at least for a while. We would have to be careful, though ..."
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 7:11 pm
"Runes, it's a type of magic," Miyuki explained taking a seat beside Iadrim, "My grandmother and grandfather are very good at it, and I decided to take it up too after seeing my grandmother rune a bag for my brother where he could put whatever he wanted inside."
It was the start, and Miyuki did have more of an interest in magic than anything else she had learned growing up. Despite not being fond of the sciences as the Gaians called it, she liked the logic problem solving that runes gave her.
Lin agreed with this, "Very, but at this point there aren't many opinions it seems..."
She wished there were more choices, but with Earendil captured and the General searching for them, what else could they do?
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 7:17 pm
Iadrim had never heard of runes before, and she was fascinated by the idea. "So with runes you can make things bigger than they really look?" she asked. "Big enough to put anything in them?"
That was what she was getting anyways.
Dae'er sighed and lowered her gaze. "How much longer does this have to go on?" she murmured hopelessly.
Mari smiled and put one hand on the woman's shoulder. "Cheer up, Dae'er," she said quietly. "We're going to the city, closer to the General, it's true. But we will also be closer to your son. You may finally get to see him. And if we can pull this off, remember that he is looking forward to meeting you and Arphenion."
"Besides," added Hamir, the second son, "he's going to be better off than the rest of us, remember. He's never had to hide before, or worry about food. I bet the General's even given him a good education!"
"And we know that his brainwashing attempts have been a massive failure," Janos added quietly and seriously.
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 7:26 pm
Miyuki mused as she was trying to think of the best way to explain.
"In this case... I used the runes to... create a bubble so to speak, a space that exists here but not quite here. I know, that sounds confusing and the first time I read on it, I was very confused."
She pointed to the entrance of the tent, to the tiny runes that lined the door.
"See those writings, those are runes. In this case when you went through the tent door, you went into this space, which is connected but not really to that entrance. So if someone on the outside were to take down this tent with us inside of it, we wouldn't notice anything except we can get out until the tent is pitched again. This is because when someone takes down the tent, they are closing the tent entrance, the entrance to this space."
It was always a head trip considering making these runes didn't take a huge amount of energy compared to teleporting someone from one side of the world to another. Shiro thought it had something to do with quantum mechanics but that was a theory that even left Anderian's head reeling afterwards.
"Besides," Lin murmured quietly, "I don't think this is going to go on for much longer, it just can't."
By searching for them, the General had forced their hand, even though them coming to this country had forced his first.
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 7:30 pm
Iadrim took her time in examining the runes around the doorway, tracing her finger along some of them and simply looking at the rest. Finally, she looked back at Miyuki.
"So really ... all you need is the doorway of the tent?" she asked hesitantly. "But ... what is in the rest of the tent? I mean, what if someone lifted up the back and went in that way? What's in it?"
"Don't forget the prophecy," Mathias added quietly, his eyes on the sky.
Dae'er's brow furrowed slightly, and she nodded slowly. "Yes ... I know," she murmured. "But prophecies do not always come true in the way you imagine."
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 7:36 pm
Miyuki paused and then thought about it, she knew a lot about these types of runes because they were her first. Then she smiled, a wide sort of smiled and the laughed because she imagined someone trying to sneak in that way.
"It would just be a small tent with no one inside, a very small tent," she grinned, "Really, all we need is the entrance."
She supposed if she cut out the front of the tent and placed it on the ground she could fall into this space too. Though that would look really weird to people, making it a tent would be less brain breaking.
Lin tilted her head, "What prophecy?"
She wondered what they had meant by that, Lin wasn't one for prophecies, but being Gaian, you would be a fool for not paying a bit of attention to them.
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 7:44 pm
That was enough to really break Iadrim's brain, and she fell silent as she thought about it.
The native Garnelians all exchanged glances, and it was Mari who too it upon herself to answer.
"The prophecy that seems to indicate that we have been wasting the last two hundred years and all the work we've been doing," she said dryly. "Though if the attack today is any indication, it's probably right." She sighed. "According to the prophecy, Dae'er and Arphenion's eldest son, Caelamondorion, will be the one to ... how did it go? 'End the rebellions.' Supposedly we still play a part, but he will be the one to end them."
"When we heard that, we wondered why the General left Cael alive and chose to raise him rather than simply kill him," Arphenion said quietly. "It seems that the sage who saw the vision gave the General the impression that Cael will end the rebellions by stopping the rebellions themselves, but our information is that he will end the rebellions by eliminating the reason for them - the General himself."
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 7:54 pm
"I know.. it's kind of confusing," Miyuki chuckled, "I don't really have a good way to explain it even though I've been studying them for a long while now."
There was a lot she still didn't know, but she kept on working, because she liked to puzzle things out and make things that could be helpful. Even though she doubted this is exactly what she would do for a living.
"Which still leaves a lot open to interpretation," Lin admitted, "I mean, he doesn't even have to kill the General himself, the fact the brain washing from my understanding didn't work at all, just could also mean that Cael could just provide an opening to those who want the General gone."
LIn shrugged and admitted this was the reason why Yukito had always told her to take visions with a grain of salt.
"Though this is a chicken and the egg sort of scenario, after all if the General had not taken in Cael at all, this probably would have never set him up to be the one to 'end the rebellions'."
She hated prophecies like that, they were generally annoying because they came about as the result of someone trying to turn the prophecy to their favour.
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 7:59 pm
Iadrim nodded. "I guess it's something that would take a long time to learn how to do it," she murmured, almost wistfully. "I wish I could learn something. I mean, something interesting. I know how to hide and how to keep quiet and a little bit of reading and numbers and some history ... but ... that's it."
She sighed, and for such a little girl it was a big sigh, one that spoke volumes about the despair she felt, even as young as she was. "I wish the General didn't do the things that he does. Then we wouldn't always have to be afraid of everything."
"When Kyrie comes back, you should ask her about the details," Mari suggested. "It was she who spoke to the sage, she would know best. When she returned here to tell us about it, she was ... how shall I put it?"
"Completely incoherent," Chesnet supplied with an amused smile. "I had never seen her like that before, nor since." He chuckled. "She couldn't get out two words together."
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