|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 10:42 am
"Oh from what I've heard from the girls on the dock, yes he most certainly does. He can still charm a few of the court ladies as well being the bad boy and all. I don't know what I shall do with him. But, for now, I need to speak to your parents and arrange your little vacation with me. Why don't you go talk to Illsaide and get him in on it." The woman released the Prince and stood up to smooth out her dress. She winked mischiviously at her young friend before sauntering out. She knew the way to get the King's attention but getting his mother to part with him would require her own motherly instincts. As for the Nagas, well she has her ways.
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 12:49 pm
Jade watched Calistina leave, waiting a few moments before he himself stood, smoothing out his robes and making sure he looked adequate, before he set off to find Illsaide. He bit his lip, worried as he headed to the other end of the castle, seeking the Naga out, his first stop would be the Naga's room and if he wasn't there. He'd check the gardens, or ask the staff if they had seen him.
"Illsaide??" he asked quietly, moving the curtains aside as he stepped quietly into the other prince's room, silently wondering about Calistina and how she was going to persuade his father to let him go away unattended and with his future husband.
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 6:11 am
Illsaide had been spending the day with friends. He had known them all since childhood as their fathers had all worked closely together and were either nobles of the Kingdom or powerful politicians and advisors to the king. It would only seem right that they should have formed friendships at a young age. For now they were relaxing on the large balcony outside Illsaide's room which overlooked the bountiful gardens and the great city beyond. Thankfully it was not too humid today and the group could sip their milk tea and talk in reasonable comfort surrounded by the delicate silk hangings around the window and exotic plants in hanging baskets. Rochan was son to the Field Marshall of the Naga army, he truly had the makings of a strong warrior. Then there was Bhadrak and Viraj, Illsaide's cousins. And finally Nadareh and her younger sister Priya, the current Chancellor's daughters. "So I hear that congratulations are in order." said Rochan with a none-to-savoury smile. Illsaide frowned, gossip certainly did travel fast in these circles. "Yes they're already planning the wedding." he said, trying to sound enthusiastic but failing. "Oh? You don't like your new bride?" said Nadareh, quiet concern showing on her beautiful face. "If you are not happy then you should tell your father immediately." "Well, it's not that I don't like Jade." Illsaide confessed, finishing the dregs of his tea. "In fact I think he's the most gorgeous creature I've ever met. But the boy's a complete drama queen, he seems convinced that I sleep with a different partner every night." "But most nights you just go out drinking with us and then we all end up back here for more drinks and slurred political debates." Viraj laughed "I'd be flattered if someone thought I got that much action." "Yes well, he made me promise to stop my night time exploits. I think he just meant sex but I stopped drinking just to be on the safe side. But he still didn't believe that I was willing to be manogamous. He even had the audacity to barge into my room in the middle of the night and said he didn't mind if I was unfaithful and that I could have my wicked way with him." he slammed the teacup down on the table none too gentle "I have NEVER felt so insulted in my entire life, I mean does he honestly think that's my only concern in life. Apparently that's how marriage works where he comes from. And then I thought that if he had such a casual attitude to marriage, then maybe he would become the promiscuous one." "Calm down, Saide-jahn, He's not from here. Maybe he simply doesn't understand our attitudes to marriage." said Priya comfortingly. "Maybe so." Illsaide replied unhappily.
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 7:20 am
Jade had inspected the room, peering under the bed to see if Illsaide was even under there, he sighed. Sitting up and looking around, the palace was too large to conquer in just a few hours. He stood, dusting his robes off, set to go find some servants to help when he heard the voices from the balcony, he walked forward quietly, standing just behind the partially open drapes as he listened and watched the group outside.
He had never seen any of the company that Illsaide had with them at the moment and he felt slightly intimidated, wanting to interupt and talk to Illsaide but not finding the courage to just yet. "Ill-" he started quietly, before he heard the Naga start to answer his friend, he didn't sound happy at all. He lowered his gaze, hands gently gripping the ruby red curtains infront of him. Blocking him from the group outside. He bit his lip, feeling a slight stab of pain at Illsaide's words, so he felt badly about him, but then, Jade had been a complete brat towards him and he couldn't blame him, not alot of people who knew Jade from behind balls and polite talk liked how he was, he was just sheltered and had never wanted for anything.
Steeling himself he pulled the curtains apart as the group finished talking, staring at Illsaide calmly, though his eyes reflected deep hurt. "sorry to interupt, but Lady Calistina has offered us a retreat before the wedding...but if you don't want to come with me I can go alone.." he said quietly, eyes fixed on the Naga Prince's chest, avoiding eye contact with anyone. "she has gone to talk to our parents now" he continued, waiting for an answer from the Naga Prince. He couldn't blame him for thinking ill of him, after all Illsaide didn't know anything about his family life, his father put on a great show making sure that everyone thought they were a happy family. When his father entertained a different lover each month.
He left his gaze up to sweep across the group outside before he dropped it again, he was nervous, felt under scrutiny and it felt worse knowing they had just been told about how bratty he had been, he probably looked awful infront of them. Then he felt a tap on his shoulder and he jumped, whirling around to meet the blue gaze of the court Mage, Calentze. "Cal..you scared me.." he said, a hand lifting to grip the fabric over his heart, he thought his father had come to fetch him. Calentze sent him a level stare before he turned to look at Illsaide and then the group at large, finally letting his gaze ret once again on the willowy prince stood before him. "I was sent to tell you that your brother has arrived" he said quietly and Jade's face broke into an excited grin.
"Adein is here??" he asked excitedly. Oh how he had missed his older brother. Calentze nodded and Jade was momentarily, excited and forgetful of the group on the balcony, merely gaze with childlike happiness at the taller man before him.
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 2:49 pm
"Well, it seems something other than a vacation excites you my Lord." Calistina walked up behind the dark pegasus, her sultry voice as confidant as ever. Jade's brother was already in conference with his parents before she could get to them so she was biding her time until her audience with the royal family. Ice blue eyes glanced over at the group of Nagas, unsure as to which one was Jade's betrothed. Then they traveled to the dark pegasus with a curious sparkle. She knew the man would most lilely not approve of her as company for the Prince but luckily she had already won him over with her motherly charm.
"Any luck convincing your fiance to join you on our little trip? I will speak with your parents once they are finished speaking with your sibling." She took out her fan again and began to cool herself off. The dark skinned woman was having a time with the heat and her form fitting dress didn't help. Course only the top was form fitting to reveal her ample bust and curved hips. The dress part flared out to hide the hidden scar on her right leg. As she walked to stand near Jade, her hips moved in a memorized fashion that was meant to draw men to her. Though she wasn't really trying, it was merely common nature to her.
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 4:05 pm
Illsaide seemed to do a little side-step, if that was indeed possible as he was mainly balancing his weight on his rainbow scaled tail. The Naga prince quickly put on a dazzling smile as if the previous conversation hadn't happened. He bowed quickly to the dark pegasus and the elf lady, both of whom he might have met on some occation but he didn't really remember. Who was the woman? Callie? Carly? Something like that. As a prince there were only so many names and faces one could remember. In truth it was part of his job to remember people, and he did when it mattered, he also made a special effort to remember his conversations with the servants, you know to give them some encouragement and let them know they're work was appreciated. "Well my dearest, darlingest, fianceingest, Gingar, that sounds absolutely wonderful." he said flamboyantly "But it's regretful that I am currently indesposed. You see, it is the Naga kingdoms memorial festival all this week, to celebrate those who lost their lives in the dragon wars, and as prince of said kingdom it is my duty to attend. After that I'm afraid I'm playing host for the children of the Prophet of Kerinder, all five hundred of them. And when that's all over and done with father has asked me to organise a feast for the return of one of our embassadors, the envoy to the Drow Elves. Then it's the wedding I'm afraid and unless you'd like to go there for our honeymoon it doesn't seem to favourable."
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 4:24 pm
Jade smiled brightly at Calistina, nodding at the fact she realissed his older brother's presence had cheered up the rather dreary butterfly, only to have that happiness wiped off his face as Illsaide said he couldn't go. Calentze levelled his gaze with the Naga prince before he simply looked away, it wasn't his place to say anything.
"oh, well I guess I'll take my over-dramatic self away from your bother" Jade answered quietly, signifying that he had indeed heard the conversation between the group. Calentze looked to Calistina before he placed a hand on Jade's shoulder, gently. "my lord, maybe you should go and greet your brother..." he suggested and Jade simply stared at Illsaide a little while longer.
"I'll see you on our wedding day then, we can get to know eachother then" he said finally, before turning and leaving. Calentze watched him go, before he bowed to Illsaide and bowed, then turning his attentions to Calistina. "perhaps I could accompany you back to your quarters mi'lady??"
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 4:47 pm
Calistina didn't glare a bit, though on the inside she was. She simply nodded to the pegusas and turned to with him. Her voice rang clear through the air though as she started to walk away. One of her most effective weapons was her words, and feeling overly motherly towards Jade had only arroused the elf's anger. She seemed as if she were speaking to the winged one next to but her words were soley directed at the Naga. While the dark pegusas had to hold his tongue, the woman was not a member of either of the courts and had nothing really to lose by speaking her mind. "I suppose marriage isn't as deep a union as I had heard. If the husband won't even make an effort to know his bride. But, that only shows how little he must care for Jade. Ah well, I imagine this will be a rather bland pairing, how I do fear for their children if they will ever have any that is. So dear Calentze, how do you fair this day?"
Calistina had another reason for being so curt about the Naga, his comment about the Drow. Those she counted among her friends knew of her absolute hatred of the dark skinned elves, though none knew the true reason behind her hate. She doubted very much that she would ever visit Jade if he kept their company, despite how much she cared for him.
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 5:11 pm
Illsaide's eye's narrowed at the woman. The comment was rather obviously aimed in his direction. The woman must've been off sick the day their were teaching diplomacy.
"Well I certainly don't think there's an effort to be made in a relationship where one is not trusted and the other holds no self belief or faith in the sanctity of marriage. Ann, my dear lady if you knew even the first thing about my people, then you would realise that marriage is a deep and magical bond that forbids you from loving any other. But since my beautiful little firework is not of my people the bond will not work with him, he will be free to do as he pleases while I'm stuck in a one sidedbrand of lovesickness and up a creek with no padel. But of course coming from a race that likes to live below ground, you probably wouldn't have known that." he finished, keeping his voice as level and pleasant as any other conversation but the heaviness of his anger still resonated to those who had the sense to see it.
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 7:37 pm
Calistina smirked softly, having gotten the rise she wanted. She knew the boundries she could push, and she knew what she had to do to help Jade. She turned without any hint of being insulted or angry. Infact she looked rather amuzed, as if the Prince had just misqoted something funny. For the moment she ignored her feathery companion and concentrated on the Naga. "Oh really?" She walked right up to the naga and looked him in the face. Her voice was soft but with a very strong hint that she had knowledge the snake didn't. "And what do you know of Jade's kind? Have you ever asked him? Have you ever bothered to understand him, not just his kind as you put it. Or have you been so arrogant that you think everyone should immediately convert to your ways without you every bothering to examine how they have lived. Did you bother to wonder how much he would have to change in order to live up to your expectations. Have you even bothered to tell him your expectations?"
She smiled at him again. Her eyes showed both pity and regret, seemingly at the same time. "You really have no idea what he's been through do you? You don't know how many tears he's seen fall in his family. The pain he's felt and the agony his mind has been put through. How many times he's been the only witness to another's pain yet helpless to stop anything. You really are selfish, Prince Illsaide. You expect him to whip himself clean of anything he's lived through, and to live up to expectations he doesn't even know about. And I'm not talking about the ones set down by your treaty."
With that she turned and walked back to the pegasus, but before she left, she looked over her should at the Naga. "For both your sakes, talk to the man. You might be surprised at what you find." With that, she took her leave with the pegusas. She hoped her words would at least give the Naga something to think about. And not get her head cut off or anything.
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 12:45 am
Calentze simply watched the exchange, wondering if the woman was sane, talking to a prince in such a way usually ended up with a death of some sort. Well, The Underground had always been very traditional. He simply stood, one pale hand holding the tall, intricate staff and the other held at his side.
When the woman left, he sent a worried glance to Illsaide before he took her arm, hoping she hadn't just put a complete stop in his price's happiness, he was one of the few that knew Jade wanted to try for Illsaide. ---- Jade hadn't really gone far from when he had stormed out, he had simply gone up the hall and into his own bedroom, pulling the drape over the door firmly closed before settling down on the large bed, looking a bit fed up.
Then he got up, grabbing the travel trunk he had used to bring his clothes over and started tossing his clothes in it, if he was going to leave on his own, then fine, Illsaide would view him as over dramatic and fickle, then fine again, maybe he just wouldn't come back for the stupid wedding--though he knew he doubted that, he had a magical signature that was easily tracked--and go marry a stupid fat noble who'd only show him off and treat him horrid.
Then he'd end up being someone elses little whore!! Passed around or something, like the black market did. He shuddered in disgust at that thought, okay maybe not but, at least his fear of Illsaide being unfaithful had evaporated, he'd only been with friends..the bubble of happiness inside him popped, friends who thought him dramatic and bitchy.
He slammed the trunk closed and flopped down, half lying over it as he dangled his arms over the white and gold surface with his ;legs tucked beneath him, a thoughtful expression on his face. Maybe they'd divorce and never fall in love, maybe everyone would know that the Naga prince married a wife he did not want. Then everyone would know Jade had failed and he'd be disgraced.
"no..." he whispered, jamming his eyes shut as he felt tears burn at them. no,no,no,no!! He wasn't going to cry over Illsaide!! No!! but...he couldn't stop it, all the thoughts, made him realise how fragile their chances of happiness werre at the moment and if they shattered, Jade would be disgraced and proclaimed unfit to wed. He'd most likely be sent to one of the summer palaces and kept away, not allowed to wed and not allowed to work.
He really should have gone down to greet Adein, but he knew his brother would sense something wrong and argue with his father about the marriage and that just wasn't court-like. He didn't want anyone to fuss over his stupid little insecurities.
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 3:43 am
Illsaide smiled coldly at the woman "I admire your gall, Madam Drow, to insult a Prince and in front of five of my closest advisors as well. Goodness, I'd be surprised if your head is stilll on its shoulders by the end of the day. As much as I'd love to spend time with my...child bride, for want of a better term, royal duty comes above all else. Maybe if his highness had spent more time being pleasant and less time throwing wild accusations about my love-life, biting my head off for reasons not even the gods can fathom, then running away and crying in his room, we might have actually gotten to know one another. I didn't mind so much when I was courting him, I found his petulance rather amusing, but I want a spouse who can behave like and adult." he paused "Obviously if he's confiding in someone like you, then maybe Jade is the one with loose morals. I'm sure we both have plenty of other suitors and plenty of other treaties to make. It's hardly the end of the world if the marriage is called off. Then maybe Jade can find a king or queen as melodramatic as he is, I'm sure you'll be first in line, and then I can actually go about finding a somewhat competant co-ruler."
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 4:26 am
Calistina just looked back at him. She ignored the Drow comment, after all he was wrong. She wasn't a drow, not full blooded anyway. Her voice was slightly exasperated. "Well my Prince someone has to speak more candidly to you. I know you think me rude and unknowledgable of how to speak to royalty, but sometimes royalty needs to hear the honest truth. Not some suger-coated half truth that is only meant to keep your temper. I only want for Jade's happiness and I think you could make him happy. But neither of you actually talk to each other, and I have have imformed him of his own errors which he is going to correct. He's also been very lonely. His most trusted servant having been away and everyone treating him like he's some sort of object to be given and taken as they pleased. Everyone but you."
Her own temper had flared a bit but she calmed down. She had over stepped her bounds but now she knew that Illsaide must not know about Jade's unfaithful father. "Do you want to know what he thinks? He thinks you are handsome and wants to be with you. He does like you Illsaide and has out right told me he'd never been unfaithful to you. It is how his mother raised him. But the Naga custom of marriage is so foreign to him and all he's knows are rumors. No one's bothered to explain it to him. Thats why he's accused you. He isn't a child, he's merely ingnorant. Just as you are of his family life and what he's had to suffer through because of that father of his. Don't judge him by his confused actions, judge him for who he is."
She curtseied polietely and left to go to her room. She hoped Illsaide would at least go talk to Jade, if not for just a few minutes. The two needed to have an actual converstation. If not, the Jade would come to her home and relax without him. But maybe she could still work some magic on his parents and get the Naga to join them.
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 4:34 pm
"I'm sorry but....we need to cancel Jade's marriage to your son Illsaide, Jade has been taken very ill...we are not sure on the outlook of it..." Jade's Father, Mekuhisha, explained to the Naga King. Calentze stood back, leaning slightly against the wall, wondering how his King and Queen could lie like that, so convincingly. He suppressed a scowl at the thought of what they were hiding, why was everything so secretive with them??no wonder Jade refused to talk about himself to Illsaide unless prompted...and now....he'd not have the chance.
Jade had been called back to their homeland of Huyrian and had decided to go alone, even after Adein insisted on accompanying him.. He had taken a carriage back. A few hours after he had left a messenger had been sent to his King, Mekuhisha, saying that the carriage Jade had been travelling in had been found by a Naga couple just on the outskirts of the kingdom. The driver was slain, the carriage beaten, tipped onto it's side and the doors ripped off, insides ransacked for all the wealth it carried and the Butterfly Prince...not a trace of him could be found.
The Queen, Melicantz, was out in the garden in tears over her youngest Son's disappearance, despairing the worst. Mekuhisha was simply trying to cover up any impurities about his family and Adein was trying to figure out if the attack was Oni or Bandit and was plotting revenge. The blood stains found inside the carriage and the trail along the ground told that Jade or one of his Kidnappers was injured. everyone was hoping the latter was the right guess.
"I'm sorry, if he turns out well then we will offer him to you once again...but if not...we fear his end.." Mekuhisha said, bowing, convincingly weaving a tale. He was going to spread around that Jade had died from sickness...not even bother to find his son and do everything to cover up the incident. Calentze left the room, suddenly feelign sick of such contraversy and lies.
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|