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 Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 5:17 am
Illusia stared at the Dragon Rider as he finally came down to the pressing, and most interesting and not to mention disturbing, matter of them came clear. This... was rather unsettling. Of course, you shouldn't just hear one source and in these cases you should go to the first witness at least if not to the source. Though the officer didn't know if he really could do that.
What should he do? Tell Jett? ...No, somehow... not now, not immediatelly at least. Neith? Somehow that felt... Well, the woman was closest to their queen-to-be as it was, at least physically. He couldn't say anything about mentally or about their friendship. The biggest problem here was that a lot seemed to like the young lady already and to let something like this become known... No, it wasn't even an option. Neith, in all her reliable honor, was still the Head Maid and even if she knew how important discretion was... she was too close to the maids. Rumors were probably less apt to fly if no one knew what they were looking for. The queen-to-be herself, too, probably wasn't going to talk about it too much if it didn't come up and even less if there now indeed was something going on.
But seriously, it couldn't be so bad that they even had their own Dragon Eyes keeper against them... could it?
Suddenly remembering that Baran still was in the room, and that the silence might be unnerving the poor fighter something awfully, especially since he had, Illusia had noted it in the passing while deep in thought himself, mentioned that their Knight of Water had heard it too. Sighing, the Yellow Officer stroke a hand over his eyes and forehead. This certainly could have been better, whatever the case was.
"I wouldn't want to pressure Celia about this just right now. I already did pressure her with questions during the battle report," he began slowly, turning his eyes, and attention, back onto Baran again. "But I'd like to know the name of the fighter who told you this. What you've told me is... important, to say the least, but I also need to go closer to the source to perhaps be able to discern some additional information. I can't make a decision on what to do yet," he said, but finished the line mentally, and certainly not alone.
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Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:00 pm
"...Reyn." Baran said, uncertain if he was getting his friend into trouble or not. There was no way out of this one, though, and he could see why Illusia would have to know the source. "He said neither of them saw him." Baran fidgeted for a moment, before adding in, "I mentioned this to Officer Aiketh. She was in a hurry, though, and said I should tell you instead."
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Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:18 pm
The Secretary of the State nodded. "It was the right thing to do for this was quite important," he said. And certainly important enough for Aiketh to have stopped and given it an ear perhaps, but she was going out to look at the demons' trail... Though I wouldn't want to tell you just how important it might have been. No need to alarm too many. "If you see the fighter after this, will you send him on up? Otherwise I'll send a maid or someone to fetch him for me soon," Illusia said.
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Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:21 pm
"Right. Okay." Baran stood, nodding. "I think I know where to find him..." He left the room, glancing back curiously at Illusia briefly before the door shut.
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 8:01 pm
It was some weeks later, in the afternoon just about after lunch, that the young queen-to-be had sought out the Head Maid. In the dragon's company there was another fairly young, but definitely older than Micoi, female dragon of one of the noble families, which Micoi had taken to getting to know a bit out of sheer boredom. (Micoi had concluded that there wasn't much fun to do around the castle... other than sparring with the fighters, stalking people and generally get lost in the large castle.)
Tilting her head to the side, Micoi "peeked" (well, not really) into the kitchen around the door frame and spotted the one she was looking for. "Neeeeith," she called out to get the older woman's attention. Not too long ago, she and the other noble, Heiss, had been discussing a thing over lunch and there was now something she was very eager to do. Of course, the other girl had insisted that she notify someone at the very least so that they didn't worry about her.
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 8:33 pm
Neith turned around, still slightly distracted by her work, when she hear Micoi's voice. "What is it, honey?" She smiled, putting aside her tasks in the bustling castle kitchen for the time being. Neith nodded at Heiss in acknowledgment. She had seen the other woman around many times before and was aware that she and Micoi had formed a friendship of sorts.
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 8:42 pm
Micoi gave Neith a quick smile in return. "Well, we just thought you should know that Heiss is going to show me my parents' masnion in the city," she said before stepping more into the doorway and raising the hand that had been hidden by the wall before. From her grasp dangled, on a golden chain, a closed oval locket with some delicate but intricate pattern on it. That was something Micoi hadn't had before.
"Kanak came with it earlier," she explained, although, "earlier" didn't say much in itself. "I had it when he found me. It holds my family name."
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 8:49 pm
Neith smiled warmly at Micoi. "That sounds like a good idea. You've never seen it? I'm sure you'll find it very interesting," she continued after Micoi shook her head no. "Have a nice time, the both of you."
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 9:23 pm
The queen-to-be nodded once before she was gone again on three red*, having dashed off with her hand attached to the poor Heiss's wrist.
That locket was, by the way, the only reason she knew her real family name. They had been nobility who had moved to Arinas in the early stages of the continent's resurrection and subsequent (slow, veeeery slow, actually miniscule) repopulation. After more than a century, still not that much progress had been made on the eastern continent and the villages were few and the small cities fewer still, actually, only one to tell the truth.
Micoi had slowed down some corridors away due to Heiss's plea and was now heading towards the castle's main entrance in a comfortable walking pace with the other noble beside her.
((*as we say in Sweden, it means that you're gone really, really fast.))
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Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:03 pm
(*obligatory semi-aside for Kami and Suji so that they don't go insane* 8D)
Baran looked guilty around him at the shifting masses of people in the capital city, paying close attention to them as they passed him by. "I don't see them... not yet, at least." He looked back over his shoulder at Celia sitting opposite him at the little outdoor table at the small cafe. "I'm sorry about this." He sighed slightly, thinking that his distraction probably was not going to do anything to cheer her up. He had been called aside by the head maid and sent out on a special task for her, however, and it had seemed like a perfect opportunity to spend some time alone with Celia. He had seen very little of her for several weeks now and had not realized that his mission would be so time-consuming.
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Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:44 pm
Hurrying through the city at a walking pace (however you now can hurry at that speed), Micoi and Heiss took a detour here and a side step there... glancing at different monuments as well as some stores. You know, just a bit of general sightseeing kinda? and then passed the cafe that the Knight and Rider was at... but, unfortunately for Celia and Baran, on the OTHER side of the cafe (meaning there's a whole house between them... x-ray vision anyone? =D or they have to catch a glance of them as they leave the two behind XD).
((And now we have a mental image of Heiss and Micoi skipping by, and past, the cafe, singing "la la la" while Celia and Baran sit silently sipping on some little drink from two straws. XD;; ))
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 10:48 am
Celia suddenly snapped back to reality when Baran spoke to her; honestly, she had sort of been off in the middle of nowhere...She had been doing that a lot lately...And sleeping extremely unusual amounts. Some nights more than reasonable, some nights less than was healthy. On a few occasions she'd even been sleep walking, out of her room and into the garden. Last night had been on of those nights.
"Hmm?"she said in reply, hoping he wasn't annoyed that she'd been so far off lately. "Oh...Don't worry about it,"said the knight in reply with a little bit of a smile. She realized she must have been boring to be around in recent days...Even Yoko had been avoiding her, and that was saying something. People just seemed like they had been trying to stay away from her for a while...
Of course, she hadn't been spending much time in the castle lately, so maybe it wasn't that they were avoiding her. Apparently the Librarian had been asking around to find out if Celia had been sent on another mission...It had been quite a while since the Water Knight even set foot in the dusty room of tomes, especially for her.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:32 pm
"It's nice to be out with you." Baran smiled at her, taking a drink from the glass in front of him. "I haven't seen you around lately," he added cautiously, not certain if he was breaching a sensitive subject or not. "You been okay?"
He glanced over her shoulder as he spoke, looking back into the masses. If they didn't spot Micoi soon, they would have to go actually look for her.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:46 pm
"I haven't been here but a friend of mine says this cafe is really quite good," Heiss gave the queen-to-be a tips as the two dragons walked passed the small building and continued on down the street.
"Is it far from here?" Micoi asked, looking around the place, at the fountain in the middle of the small plaza down the road and at the bushes lining the road, effectively creating one bigger, or at least wider, road and two lesser roads on each side of it with holes where you could pass through at even spaces.
"Not at all, Heiss answered. "In fact, it's just beyond the plaza more or less. The house has been standing empty and locked down ever since the noble couple living there left for Arinas. It's locked down with magic but it should disenchant itself for you upon you touching the gates seeing as you are related by blood to them, being their daughter and all. It's a way better way than to lock something down with a key or leave it in a will," the noble woman laughed.
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Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:43 am
Even so short a time after he had captured her attention, Celia had begun to drift off again. Fortunately this time around, it wasn't quite the effort to snap her from it. "...Well..."Honestly, the knight didn't really know herself why she had been so a-social lately...It was strange, really. Whenever she wanted to be with people, she sought them out, and almost immediately found herself wanting to be alone, thus sending her back out under that tree in the garden...even once or twice while it was raining.
Sure, Kahaku appreciated the rain, but Celia had barely noticed it at the time...Lately it just seemed as though she were on autopilot, with nothing at all really seeming of interest...Well, except Baran. Truthfully, he was just about the only person she had been willing to remain around for more than 5 minutes at a time...Dragons and Birds excluded. That was when she realized this train of thought had kept her from answering his question. "Don't worry, I guess I've just been a little preoccupied,"she said, hoping that would be a satisfactory response.
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