Welcome to Gaia! ::

The place stood, clapping for the new king and queen of the elves. Kit was crying as well but began to laugh as she watched Joker. The man was adorable, truly he was. Alice grinned wide and winked at her brother, gesturing as though to ask him why it was that she wasn’t getting this from him and Ziggy simply rolled his eyes, gesturing back in a ‘neither are you’. She couldn’t argue with that. With how adorable everything was, though, she clapped along with everyone else as Dusk kissed him again, laughing loudly at Joker’s little scene. They parted the second time, the woman keeping her arms around him. “Come on… the reception is nonexistent… We give a speech and then it’s off to Joker’s.” That one they could deal with. They wouldn’t care if Dusk just stayed on Kyoshi’s lap the whole time or if she stole him away.

Tugging him along, they soon were leaving the place as the guests either could go to a dining hall type setting or could go home. Some would go home, and good riddance to them. Dusk didn’t like all of these people but as they passed the Fae, she nodded in respect to the King and Monty’s sister, Nova, but looked a bit confused as her eyes went to one of the guards. Normally Dusk would look past them but… No, she was just seeing things. She didn’t think much more about it as they continued on, unable to stop smiling.

Kalore soon was beside Monty, silent in his appearance as he leaned against him. “Monty… Is your sister staying for the reception?” He didn’t really care if Nova stayed or not, though he did get along with the woman. She was intelligent, funny, and pretty awesome to get him and Monty back together. His concern, however, was the other woman in their little group. “Rave wants to have a count of whom all is staying and who isn’t… A lot of people are leaving.” Thank Goddess. This had gone over well enough so Kalore simply hoped that it continued to go in the right direction. So far so good… “And do you want to stay or just go straight to Joker’s?”

Kalore nodded, watching the woman though as he spoke. “Alright…” He still hadn’t thought of a way to keep Gambler there, but soon he sighed. Maybe it just wasn’t met to be? He did want to talk to her and find out why she did some of the stuff that she did, but now wasn’t the time. Maybe there never would be a time. However, as he began to walk away, muttering something about wanting to go to joker’s after all of this was done, he frowned as a guard stopped him. Whispering in the elf’s ear, the blonde’s eyes widened as he nearly sprinted to Rave, making sure to get there before any of the guests left. The groom and bride were already gone, the wedding procession coming as well, but the moment they left, the main hall doors were shut.

Rave frowned, listening to Kalore as the guests began to mill out of the area, only to find that they couldn’t leave the castle. He sighed and soon was standing to where he could be heard. The attention was given to him as he gave a bow, a smile appearing on his face but it wasn’t a real one, simply a calm smile to calm anyone that saw him. It had been perfected years ago. “My apologies, from our humble castle to you all… but it seems that there has been a problem that must be resolved before we can allow anyone to leave.” He straightened, gesturing to the side halls. “Our men have already made a meal for those who wish to eat, and we have rooms for those who must rest at this moment. Any facilities that must be ordered, please come to myself or one of the other guards and we will assist you in any manner.”

The calm presence of the man couldn’t be beat. He continued to smile softly, as though speaking personally even with such simple things. No one argued with him yet. Soon he continued. “This will take no longer than an hour. We apologize for the inconvenience.” He bowed again and soon moved out of sight, walking to Kalore and hissing softly, “Find it, damnitt. Get the guards to interview those that are here. Start with the bodyguards. Keep to those that are in here but make sure that it is all done without bothering them too much. I will not have a war start because of this.” He went off soon enough, moving to the front of the castle to start the search. Kalore soon found himself beside Monty, grabbing his arm.

“We have things missing… Can you help us check for it?” It seemed like he’d be able to talk to Gambler after all… “All that’s missing is a few knickknacks and stuff, but still… We’re taking bodyguards first. The Northern fae are annoying as hell… take them?” Kalore could take Nova’s bodyguards. Even now, the guards were being taken out, some royals complaining but they were compensated with at least something to shut them up. Kalore knew this wouldn’t take long so he needed to talk to Gambler… fast.

Kalore nodded before turning to Nova, giving her an apologetic smile. “I’m really sorry about all of this… We do need to interview all of the guards, though, so you and the King won’t mind us quickly interviewing your guards, will you?” He knew that they didn’t do it. Monty was with them the most but he still knew that the ones who stole the items were probably the Fae of the northern lands, near the ice areas… or the fae from the plains… Just the item fit. However, they did need to keep appearances and all needed to be interrogated. “May I interview your two guards, please?” May as well get the interrogation over with and then send the man away and see if this really was Gambler…

He still smiled at them, “I will have to keep them separated, I’m afraid… It’s our procedure.” The blonde bowed to the king, seeing his irritation, “I will be back with them as soon as possible, sir. I’m sure that this won’t take long.” It wasn’t so much that they were profiling against the Fae. There were plenty of different kinds around and such at that moment, but that didn’t really matter so much. They knew who did it, but they had to interview everyone to not cause even larger problems with the issues that had to do with national prejudices and such. Dusk had done well in keeping them without much prejudice but… alas, there were issues that they would have to work on but that was neither here nor now.

Sighing softly, he shook his head before he looked at the two glaring guards, glowering for just a moment. “I need you two to please follow me. This won’t take long, as I said, and then you can go back to your job.’ He nodded a bit and soon walked off. Should he really confront Gambler? Maybe it wasn’t such a good thing… but soon he was in one of the side rooms, gesturing for the taller one to go in first. “When you go in, I need you to remove your mask please. We will keep the door closed so that no one will see you but me when I go in, but I do need to see your face when we speak, sir.” He then looked to the shorter guard. “And I need you to just stay by the door please. A few questions and that’s all that this is going to be.” He ushered the tall guard in before following soon enough. Gambler could wait.

The annoyed look didn’t go unnoticed by the other, but as Kalore closed the door, he turned for just a second, looking over his shoulder. “Thank you, Gambler.” His eyes were sharp as he walked in, closing the door and not giving her anything else. It shouldn’t have been said, but his soft voice refused to not be ignored at this moment. Sighing softly, he closed the door, making sure there was no chance of anyone else seeing the man’s face. Gesturing for him to sit down, Kalore was pleasant when he did all of this, knowing that these weren’t the causes of all of this. Getting his name, what all he’s done, reports of such, and anything that he had seen, the interview of sorts was over within minutes.

Standing, the other opened the door for the man after his mask was placed on his face. “You may stay guard if you wish, or just go to your king and queen.” Kalore had a feeling that he’d go back to his job. It would be good, but that almost meant that he couldn’t take too long with Gambler. First Kalore would make sure that she hadn’t seen anything either way about who stole the trinkets, but he did have a handful of questions about all of this. He probably would have to make it damn quick, though. Facing her, he kept the door open, “Like him, enter and remove your mask, please. I only have a few questions and this won’t take long.” He’d even close the door for her to make sure no one ever saw her face. At least he was being polite about all of this.

Kalore didn’t really want to come into the room. He knew that this was what had to be done and he knew that he was right, but there was something about all of this that made it just too real. He wasn’t sure really on what it was that he was going to do about all of this, but soon enough he found himself inside of the room and resting against the door, watching her. Seeing her face should have done something to him, the scar especially, but it seemed like it just wasn’t… right. Sighing some, he shook his head, smiling just the slightest. “We already know who did this… but we have to keep appearances. Everyone is to be interrogated and no one is to know who it is that holds our item.” He walked a bit towards the center of the room, offering her the chair. “Elves and Fae are horrible with grudges and feuds… we’re trying to avoid them.”

He was silent for a moment, once again not too sure on what to think about all of this. He would just go with the rest of the questions, however. “But… though we assume that we know, I’d like to know if you had seen anyone that lingered where they shouldn’t…” He told her what was missing, told her where it was and all that. So far he hadn’t questioned her on anything that had to do with the woman’s presence, but they both knew that that would come in due time. As for now, he had to at least do his job. “I don’t mean you or your… people… any insult. We are trying to be fair about this… even if it doesn’t seem like it.”

Kalore wasn’t stupid. He knew that the woman had to assume that he was doing this just to get her, but the blonde wasn’t willing to go that far. Hell, he had been ready to just ignore it all and move on but that hadn’t worked either, now, had it?

Ah, so Gambler truly was still there. Smiling just a bit, he nodded, “That does make sense, but I have to admit that we didn’t have much choice in who we had over… None of us really did, but eh, the life of royals…” Kalore could joke a bit now so it was strange to think, especially with this woman… of all people, he was surprised that he really didn’t feel any anger towards her. Before he had been surprised, insulted even that she would show up, but now? Now he didn’t feel anything, truly. Sighing softly, he listened as the woman called him out, watching him with the cold gaze. The confrontation’s climactic time had apparently arrived.

“Honestly, you only got called in because of the theft, Gambler… but if we’re being honest with one another, why don’t we continue?” He raised a brow before he walked just a bit closer, comfortable and surprisingly calm. “I don’t care how you’re still alive… though I’m curious, but it doesn’t honestly matter. What I do care about is why it is that you’re here, Gambler.” He frowned some. “Seeing Kyoshi, I assume, but… why not just show up? Why hide?” Then again, did she honestly hide? She was in plain sight, right there for anyone to be able to see. Kalore knew that hiding wasn’t the right word, but he wasn’t sure that he could think of anything else. Hell, he was lying in saying that it didn’t matter how she was alive because it did! But he couldn’t think about that at this moment.

“I don’t think that we really have time to stall, Gambler, so as long as you’re frank with me as you’ve been, then this shouldn’t take long.” Then again, what was going to stop her if she walked away? Kalore wasn’t going to… but there were so many things that had to be discussed however he still didn’t want to let her go. Kalore was never the favored one, however, and he wasn’t going to pretend that he had any power. He would even be a bit nice, though… if Rave saw this woman, who knew what would happen? It surprised him that the shadow master hadn’t yet.