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"We had a minor disagreement and she ran off to join the circus." Epine explained in a bland sort of manner, shaping the tendriols in front of her into what appeared to be a smiley face - it was the only way she could express any form of feeling in the given circumstances (regardless of how strange it might have looked).

"And my name is Epine, not 'Archon'...an Archon is what I am, Lantern Archon to be precise, even if everyone thinks I'm a genie." She mused, her thoughts wandering off down a rabbit trail before she flashed another tendril smiley face towards the pair and buzzed towards the door, upon reaching it however she paused a few inches away and answered his question.

"The Guardian is the ethereal being who guards the Prime Crystal," She said in a serious tone, "The Highlord is the entity that instructs them on their ascent to power." She finished, drawing the tendrils into her tiny body once more as she somehow persuaded the door to open and buzzed outside...

Taking this into account, the archon flashed another tendriled smile in the direction of her companions and then released a delicate smile - she found that she could mmove with sufficient ease through the air regardless of the fact that she might be forced to bob up and down every now and then in order to avoid the hanging signs denoting points of interest to visitors.

"Lantern Archon is what I be," She began at last, dodging another swinging sign as she took to hovering at shoulder length in between the pair of odd bodies, "It's rude to call someone by their species, I mean you would hardly call someone 'human', now would you?" She enquired curiously, releasing a light chuckle as she sought some sign of her bodies existance.

After a few moments of much deliberation however, the applauding from a small circle of people could be heard and she could only denote (that given the random area of the gathering) that it was her - she was not far wrong either as her rather scantilly clad shell appeared to be the assistant in a street magicians act, ah, how she had gone down in the world.

"Erm..." Epee murmured uncomfortably as she sought to observe her rather unlikely form, the black hair askiff and clothes suitably inappropriate, "Perhaps I should make another one." She squeaked meekly, failing to mention that her body might not actually be the one holding the crystal but merely the tool capable of reaching it.

"No, I don't think she is..." Epee murmured uncomfortably, taking into account that the shell of herself looked rather happy as she pranced around - who was she to prevent someone from being happy? Releasing an idle sigh, she bobbed up and down briefly before rotating once and heading off towards the Hall of Mirrors. It was a strange place to head towards but it seemed to hold some sort of significance to the Archon and even without consulting the pair she disappeared inside and became 'lost' in the labyrinth of mirrors.

While inside and under cover of innumerable mirrors, the Lantern Archon herself allowed the whispy tendrils to extend from and to surround her petite form. These tendrils, although otherwise 'random' in their choice of movement and positioning eventually began to form what appeared to be the outward shell of a human, ethereal and with looks that had otherwise not been engraved into the shapeless face.

...Not exactly the most pleasant of things to witness within a hall of mirrors as, considering the light in which she released, the ethereal form glowed and warped with great ease to create rather grotesque images on every mirror - well she never said it was glamerous but she did need a way to see her full body as she carved away at it to insert detail!

The archon continued to sculp at her newly selected form and appeared oblivious to the pair however, after a few moments the hall of mirrors in which they had entered fell from beneath their feet and with little warning they were pulled through a writhing mass of black, ice cold beings - wraiths or that was what one might have assumed in the given circumstances.

Nevertheless, eventually they proceeded to fall once more and the light of the archon vanished into the hapless void, allowing them to plummet towards an unknown destination - should they look down they would find that they were about to be thrown straight into a rather disgusting corridor, one that might have resembled a cobwebbed sewer.

It wasn't a sewer though...rather it was none other than the catacombs in which the Ieldi had entered but seconds ago...

//Proceed to the catacombs to join up with the teams!

From where we left off:



He couldn't help but be faintly amused by her actions, though of course laughter wsa rude and he would never laugh openly at a lady. He supposed the right term of it would be that her actions were very adorable, as he supposed Akiya would say. He had been about to get up to offer his assistance with her seating arrangement, but she seemed to manage on her own and he settled back again, placing his gloved hands at the table, his drink resting between them.

Since he had only wished to know her name, he was quite pleased whent hat was the answer he was given. Nothing more, nothing less. He wasn't one to ask someone more pressing details about their life because it meant they could do the same of him. And he didn't give out information about himself for any reason. He was a private person for a lot of reasons. "Ah, one who can see such things always seem to have many burdens at times. But it must be a calling one must give their everything into. I am Koniryu... as you can see, Starlet's guardian."

"If she was not safe with me, then I would not have been chosen to be her Guardian, I highly doubt." There was a hint of amusement in his voice before he allowed a ghost of a smile to cross his lips. "I'm sure my appearance isn't typical of most you've met. but then again, you may have." He was used to people looking at him all the time when his hood was down so he had taken to pushing it over his features to get them to stop. If one couldn't just come up and ask him something then he didn't wish to be bothered. Unless it was Akiya, who had followed him around like he had no better sense til he spoke to him. It was partly due to his... annoyingly refreshing persistance that they were friends now.

"Aye... I suppose that would be me. She called for me and I came for her... I can only hope I prove to be the right guardian for her... Akiya says I shouldn't worry over small trifles... but I don't like to second guess myself truly... if that makes any sense." Looking down at Starlet, he touched the pouch again before he nodded. "I hope I can continue to keep her safe...."

This rain was getting worse, so it seemed. After making sure Reika was properly placed into her travelling pack and sealed up against the elements as much as possible, he shoved his hood over his head and whistled for Arkli. He hoped he was heard over the roarng wind... it took a fwew tries before the bird did appear and he sighed a bit as he swung up onto the saddle. Being without his abilities did get annoying sometimes. And so off they went to try to find Hayaharu.

She had seemed rather pissy about Reika mentioning the mountain range. It hadn't meant anything against the city, but she didn't really know where she needed to go. Koni was more in the need to find the city, but they needed Hayaharu's help in it. Reika had whimpered some more in misunderstanding, so Koni had to tell her that Geisha focused a lot on the more beautiful aspects of life and apparently the mountain range was a rather dangerous place if she should sneer upon it.

He himself wanted to learn more about the region itself.. but they would have to word things carefully since Hayaharu was rather... touchy at the moment. Sometimes, it was best to let one complete a thought before getting affronted, but who was he to say such a thing? Drenched easily from the rains, he was already irritated by being this way. He didn't like being wet due to his fur.. Wet fur was not overly comfortable...

Now... to find Hayaharu.... Forced to push his hood off his head again, he perked his ears to listen for any other sounds outside of the rain... and he did. Faintly. But he followed after the sounds, hoping that it would take him to the geisha and her maid.

Arkli gave a faint wark as his eyes caught sight of two women who seemed to having a hard time with sometime. Warking again and making Koni snap out of whatever deep thoughts he was having to look at him in bafflement, he went over to where they were. Where the hell was Arkli... oh, nevermind. He saw the two dark figures by then and he stopped his mental grumbling.

From the bag, he could hear Reika and yue chatter about something... and he hoped that they were jostled about in the bag. Reika didn't like looking bad... probably to impress Aversham, his look soured even more at the thought. Bleeeeh! Clucking his tongue and giving Arkli a nudge, they ame up to the women and he cleared his throat a bit. Since it was raining so hard and it wasn't exactly bright, he didn't wish to startle them. "Excuse me.. but could ye two tell me where I can find the one called Hayaharu?" Now that he was close enough to them, he took a good look at them. Oh.. he recognized the maid... wait... His eyes flicked over to the other woman and he studied her carefully. That.. was Hayaharu? "Ye look much better like this, I think... greetings again, Lady Hayaharu. May I be of some assistance to ye?"