Lord of Azure Flame Chapter 25: The Road to Jerdon

[Phoenix]

Iso

Iso widened his smile. His heel hurt just bad enough to make him want to favor it while walking, but he wouldn't have it. Neither one of them was worrying or scolding to the degree he was used to and he liked it that way.

Iso: I'm fine, don't worry. I could have landed harder than that.

As he got up, he tuned out the soreness in his shoulder and heel and stood up straight, brushing himself off.

Iso: See?

[Balcerzak]

The prince didn't seem anywhere near seriously hurt; actions spoke louder than words and he was managing to smile and move about without much at all in the way of wincing. While he was likely to have a nasty bruise or two, if anything were broken it would take nerves of steel to cover it up as well as he was doing. His demeanor seemed unexpectedly cheerful as well. Watching this brought a bit of an unexpected grin to Iris's face. So he had this sort of an earnest side to him as well, did he?

In contrast, the nomad almost seemed a little peevish, like Frederikov had intruded on her lesson and wasn't entirely welcome. Ah well, if Kelas had been second on the scene she could have delivered the lecture and Iris would have checked for injuries. It was all really the same to her, so she shrugged it off as unimportant.

"Heh, well, I'll go round up Francis then before he wanders too far off by himself. I'll let you two have a moment to talk over what should have happened and all that then."

Uncrossing her arms the lieutenant gave a light wave, and strode off after the riderless horse, who had slowed to nearly a stop some ways to the side.

Edited November 10, 2011 by Balcerzak

[Inactive Account]

"Ready to get on again?" Kelas asked. "Normally I'd have you try the jump again, but I dunno that we really need to invite any more trouble today." She had more to say on the subject of injuries, but that could wait until Iris was in the air and out of earshot again; for now, she got back on her own horse, ready to head back into the town. "For next time, though-- the main problems you had were going too fast and getting ready for the jump too late. If your horse doesn't have time to jump, it'll try some other method of avoiding the obstacle-- like what just happened."

Francis had only gone far enough to slow down, and was staring back at the humans with the expression that all riding horses seemed to have, a look of "what are you doing down there?" He would never understand why people occasionally dismounted at random, it looked like it was painful. He stood and watched, and sniffed curiously at the one who came over to get him. This wasn't his rider; other than the few minutes before they'd left, he'd never seen her at all. He wondered if she had any treats.

--------------------------------

"You're plenty special," Arrin reassured Tessa helpfully. He'd kept mostly silent while she talked to Midori, unsure of what to say. "I doubt most of us would be here now without you-- she's a really good healer," he added by way of explanation for Midori.

Edited November 10, 2011 by Kiryn

[Phoenix]

Iso

The approach was too fast and his preparation was too late. That made sense; he hadn't been intending to go quite that fast, so naturally his preparations would fall behind. Iso made a mental note of both points. He then headed back toward Francis. His shoulder and foot still hurt, but he wasn't upset with the horse ... it was him or both of them in all likelihood.

Kiev

Kiev opened his eyes to find that Amari was no longer in her stall. A flinch later and he was on all fours peering into the stable curiously. She wasn't there! Panic! He went from stall to stall sniffing at the horses and probably spooking several of them. She wasn't in the stables anymore. Immediately the wyvern assumed she had been taken by some sort of hero horse abducting fiend. How else could she be taken without him knowing? That was it, some kind of fiend. Kiev didn't smell anything particularly fiendish, though, so he began following Amari's trail, keeping his body low to the ground where the scent was. He was out of the stables and away from the embassy before too long, on a mission to rescue Amari.

[Balcerzak]

In the Field

When Iris had reached the horse, it had snuffled a little, and seemed to be staring at her almost expectantly, tail making a single slow swoosh. She realized it probably wasn't necessarily accustomed to her presence, and might need some sort of coaxing. However she halted her hand midway on its journey to the pocket, where she had a few treats for Drake tucked away, realizing that this plant-eating animal probably wouldn't look upon that sort of offering kindly. Changing tactics, Frederikov, raised her hand from below and lightly scratched him under the chin. Hoping that was good enough she collected the reins and turned to walk back to the others.

It seemed that Isotov was already heading her way though, so she decided she'd just stand for the moment and let him come to her.

In the Cafeteria

The tops of Tessa's ears were now positively burning. That wasn't quite what she had been hoping for. Frantically trying to think a way out of this, amid the thunder of the blood rushing to her head, she clapped her hands together quickly.

"R-Right! Ummm, I should p-probably go talk to Sis about this then, huh, and stop b-bothering you during your meal. Y-yeah."

Standing up she gave Midori one last squeeze on the shoulder before beating a strategic retreat to one of the corridors. She'd not been exactly sure how she'd found the cafeteria in the first place, and she wasn't likely to be able to retrace her steps either, but... What was the worst that could happen wandering around the Halton embassy?

[Inactive Account]

Francis decided that the new human was all right, even if she didn't feed him, but wandered over to the one who'd been riding him when he got up and walked over. He didn't seem mad, which was nice; some riders got mad when they jumped off at the wrong time, which was always scary.

Once they were on their way again and Iris was airborne, Kelas had one last comment to add. "I know you don't want me to worry, and neither of us wants to convince her that we're a danger to ourselves and others, but when you take a fall like that, you need to take the possibility of injury seriously," she said. "Particularly when we actually have time and healers if something needs mending. I could tell you were pretty much okay this time, just don't try to get right up without being sure everything's okay if you fall again, all right?"

It wasn't long before they'd arrived back at the embassy. It looked like someone had moved Kiev out of the way, which was helpful; Kelas was able to groom and put away Amari without too much trouble.

---------------------

Arrin watched after Tessa in dismay. "Oops," he mumbled. "I didn't... she usually doesn't react like that... what did I do?" He glanced around, doubting that Midori had an answer but wishing that she did all the same.

Edited November 10, 2011 by Kiryn

[eclipse]

Midori wasn't quite sure how to react to the girl's sudden departure, or the newcomer's presence.

"I don't think it was totally your fault, uh. . ."

[Phoenix]

Iso

Iso accepted the reins from Iris and then carefully mounted up again after giving Francis a pat on the head. He wasn't sure how else to get across the message that he wasn't upset or anything. Taking the reins, he followed after Kelas.

Iso: It's okay, don't worry so much. That was for Iris' sake ... well ... mine really, but you know what I mean. I'm not going to downplay a fracture or anything, I promise ...

He then followed Kelas back to the embassy. He had no idea Kiev had been sleeping in the stables with the horses, so he was oblivious to the wyvern's disappearance.

[-Cynthia-]

"Most people so far seem to regard me as rather troublesome so that should not be an issue. None of the officers in our group have tried to steer the group in a particular direction so far, for better or for worse. I will do what I think is wisest, which may be easier for me than for some as I am bound to no liege or code of conduct," Morgan said to Lev bluntly.

[Phoenix]

Lev

Lev: They probably haven't been trying to run things for several reasons. Do we even know where the demon king is? What's with all these traveling and what are we trying to accomplish right now? The group doesn't have as much purpose as you've implied. National leaders aren't going to look at it the same way Damian or Conrad might have. The crimsons to them are either a solution that needs to be pointed in the right direction or shoved aside and kept out of the way.

Lev didn't usually prefer speaking so bluntly, but it was comfortable enough with Morgan. He never took things too personally and thankfully neither did she ... despite how humorous that sometimes was.

Lev: If you're going to keep leading the group, this summit's going to be pretty damn important, I think.

[-Cynthia-]

"I am surprised that no one has asked me where the lord has been all of this time, given that he is the point of our group forming in the first place. Flemeth knows the location I believe and she passed the information down to me...as cryptically as possible of course. I have good reason to believe that the Lord of Azure Flame is sealed underground somewhere within the great desert of Halton. My original plan was simply to gather the Crimson Weapons, go to the desert, locate where he is sealed, break the seal and end this once and for all. However, once Helenos and his lieutenants began to appear- and nearly kill us all several times- I knew that we were already too late. If we cannot defeat even one powerful demon, our chances at defeating all of his forces are almost zero. That is why we need the nations to send military forces to aid us- as a distraction if nothing else. As much as I would like to simply charge in ourselves it would be tactical suicide," Morgan explained to Lev.

[Phoenix]

Lev

Lev: That reminds me ... and this may come up during the summit and might decide whether or not they even see the crimsons as a solution. We aren't exactly a match for the demon king's lackeys, so it's questionable whether or not we can take him as well. They'll be expecting a one hundred foot tall colossus, not a floating jewelry piece with a monarch crammed inside it or something else even our dysfunctional group can handle. You have any idea how you can convince them that somewhere in the neighborhood of ten thousand soldiers would be better served as bait while the crimsons are sent in to deal with the leader? If you do then there are fewer worries.

He smiled a bit at his last statement. Maybe she did have an answer for that. He wasn't sure but he was looking forward to her input on that particular detail. Convincing the nations to lend soldiers as cannon fodder while they do the important part would be quite a feat.

[Inactive Account]

"Well," Kelas announced as she finished putting Amari away, "I guess we could go eat breakfast now, or we could try and escape Iris for a bit since she's busy with her wyvern now. Up to you." She paused to confirm that Francis had been put away properly. "You feeling any better now than you were earlier?" she asked Isotov.

[Phoenix]

Iso

Iso: Breakfast sounds good about now ... and I'm sure Iris will just hunt me down if I try that, again ...

He considered the second option as well, but frankly he had worked up an appetite and didn't want to go without just to avoid Iris ... who was behaving more bearably than he expected for the moment. The previous attempts to avoid her seemed to just backfire anyway, so he'd lost a lot of confidence in that approach. He then looked to Francis and began recalling how to untack and remove the saddle.

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan

"Hopefully they will be wise enough to realize that only the Crimson Weapons have the power to defeat the Lord of Azure Flame. I had hoped the heroes would help us in this, but they have been far less helpful than I had anticipated up to this point. Conrad will hopefully have enough influence to sway them, but if they insist on charging the lord himself with an ill-equipped force there is little we can do to stop them," she said to Lev in a somewhat resigned tone.

[Phoenix]

Lev

Lev: Heh, the heroes ... I really hope we're only dealing with Jace at the summit. Anyway, you've got to take what you can get. They're either going to cast us aside and try to deal with it themselves, or they'll believe the weapons are the only means of defeating the demon king and put us at the tip of their spear. They would be 'insane' to leave the fate of the known world solely in our hands. Imagine it, a group of 'kids' running around with anti-demon weapons. All you know so far is that things tend to go up in smoke around them, they're constantly pursued by demons, and have had several casualties, already. These group is the only known means of defeating the demon king and compared to your own army, their strength is severely lacking. Are you going to just sit back in your chair and leave it to them to decide your fate along with everyone else's or would you like to have some say in how they approach the most important mission in any of our lifetimes? That's what we're dealing with here at the summit. It's going to take more than personal preference to get around that.

Viv

Viveka and Tobe had gotten their breakfast and were sitting at one of the dining tables in the Elyisimian embassy eating when a rather loud noise caught her attention and nearly made her jump from her seat. It was a wyvern roar not unlike Victor's. She looked toward the source, but it was clearly out of sight, what with the twists and turns leading to the embassy's courtyard. She doubted Ivanko would be here, so it was probably a different wyvern rider. Somehow, the hero Percival entered the dining hall through the archway. Viveka dropped her fork into her food and simply gawked.

Percy: Now then, bring me seven steaks! Seven sounds like a good number, wouldn't you agree, Harold?

Harold stepped into view from around Percy and yawned, stretching his arms up as high as he could. Viveka's jaw was next to drop.

Harold: Seven what?

Percy: STEAKS!

Harold: Errrrrr-certainly ...

Viveka: ... (It's Lust and Gluttony ... dammit.)

[Inactive Account]

OOC: Logically the Tessa/Arrin/Midori conversation would be over by the time the people who went out got back, so dealing with that.

"Arrin," Arrin absentmindedly filled in his name, since Midori seemed to be trying to remember it. He was too busy trying to figure out what he'd done wrong to converse, though. "I should... go study..." he mumbled, and dashed back to his room. "What did I say wrong there?" he asked the cat, casting about helplessly for an answer. The cat didn't know what the boy was making noise about, nor did he care; he left Arrin alone to sit down on his bed and fret.

--------------------------

"Right then, I'll go ahead and get us a table," Kelas replied. On impulse, she used the opportunity of nobody being around to sneak another quick hug before heading inside. That was a bad idea, being around him at all is an increasingly bad idea now, neither of us knows how this is going to end, came the incessant pestering from the more negative side of her mind, but she shoved them away. She was happier now than she'd been in a long time, she wasn't sure how the future could bring anything much worse than various things she'd already been through... unless she got distracted enough to allow Arrin to be endangered in some way, things ought to be fine.

The food had been set out in their absence, so Kelas just grabbed a couple of plates full and found an empty table. She'd seen Arrin and Tessa in here earlier, but they'd apparently left. She'd find them later; she wasn't incredibly worried about Arrin getting into trouble around here. He was a lot better at taking care of himself in towns than in the wilderness.

---------------------------

Tobe had been busily enjoying a solid breakfast for once, courtesy of the lady who seemed to have taken an interest in taking care of him, when the loud noises started up again. Bustle and confusion was one thing, but the loud arrival of a pair of very loud noble-types was quite another, especially when he recognized at least one from a short time ago at the palace. As the shouting began, he abruptly dropped his spoon on the floor with a clatter and hid behind Viveka.

[Ether]

The events of the night had caused the Haltonian pair to sleep a tad later than expected, and after awaking and preparing for the day ahead, and a short parting kiss, Damian and Aiya went their separate ways. Aiya immediately headed down to the dining hall, where she had planned to meet with Irina in the morning, only to find the other girl already in the process of devouring her food.

"You started without me? How could you, Irina~?" Aiya asked with a playful pout, sitting down next to Irina.

************

Damian did not have a set destination in mind at the moment, to be exact. He still had some time to kill before he was needed for anything in particular, and decided to proceed and meander about the hallways for a short time, before spotting the unmistakably vibrant blonde locks of the group's resident Valkyrie.

"Ah, it's been a while since we last spoke, hasn't it, Tessa?" Damian remarked, stopping the girl's wandering, which appeared rather random at the moment, with a light grip on her shoulder.

[Phoenix]

Breakfast In the Halton Embassy

Irina: Aiya?

Irina quickly swallowed the food that was in her mouth having remembered her manners after the fact. As Aiya sat down, Irina leaned forward and began withholding a giggle.

Irina: I overslept myself and still got here before you did. Was I supposed to wait until noon, hahah?

Breakfast In the Elysima Embassy

Harold immediately took a seat opposite Viveka once he spotted her and raised his hand high into the air to summon ... someone.

Harold: I'll have what she's having! So, where are you from, my lovely officer?

Viveka: Chastville, maybe you've heard of it ...?

Harold leaned back in his seat a bit. He quickly figured that she wasn't going to make this easy. Just as well, he appreciated a good challenge every so often. Percy took a seat dangerously close to where Tobe once was and looked down at the boy's plate. In two quick motions, Viv moved Tobe's food to her opposite side and guided Tobe there as well, all while giving Percy a suspicious glare.

Viveka: Be careful, you'll crush him!

Percy: Hah! The boy needs more meat on his bones, and a larger helping at that. So tell me, soldier, what has your commanding officer been up to?

Harold: Hey, I'm busy here.

Viveka's eyes widened and her eyebrows raised up in surprise at the larger of the two heroes. His question was in no way shape or form 'welcome' but she wouldn't mind giving him the run around long enough for Harold to lose interest or spot another target.

Viveka: You're not being very specific.

Percy: We know he's in possession of one of Bethold's demonslayers. What's the man hope to accomplish by running around with the others? That just makes them a really big target, and not in a good way.

Viveka: (There's a good way?) Ohhh who can saaay ... (Harold's not gone yet ...) Maybe you should ask him, yourself.

Harold: (Goaway-goaway-goaway-goaway-goaway-goaway-)

A waitress soon appeared at the table.

Waitress: You called?

She was anything but enthusiastic.

Harold: I'll have what she's having, and Percy wants seventy steaks was it?

Harold gave Viveka a friendly grin, and surprisingly she returned it just before amending his order.

Viveka: Oh and don't forget the jolokia peppers. I just finished mine before you two got here. They're to die for~

Harold: Jolowhat?

Waitress: Right away~

The waitress suddenly seemed in on the scheme and didn't give Harold a chance to change his order. Harold eyed the waitress both suspiciously and ... then admirably as she maid her way to the kitchen snickering and then his eyes went back to Viveka. Before that, however, Viv had whispered to Tobe to finish his food so they could leave that much quicker. He wouldn't want to see what would soon become of one of the heroes.

Harold: (Peppers hm? Challenge accepted.) Hmph, if you can handle them then certainly I can, as well.

Viveka: (Charlotte should be here taking notes. THIS is how you put down a 'hero' ...) I'm a bit of a lightweight, really, so I'm sure you won't feel a thing~

A couple of minutes passed and the waitress returned with both Harold's dish, and Percy's. Harold looked down at his plate and raised an eyebrow ... there certainly were a lot of peppers strewn about it. He took a big gulp and picked on of them up, examining it closely while Percy devoured his seven steaks. Viveka just waited patiently with a sinister grin on her face.

Harold: ....

Viveka: ....

Percy: If you're not going to eat that, I will ...

Harold: Grrrrr I won't be humiliated by turning down a challenge!

Harold grabbed several of the peppers, shoved them into his mouth, and began violently chewing them up right in front of them. Just watching made Viveka's mouth water and her eyes tear up. She put her hand over her mouth as she watched the man commit what could very well be suicide at the breakfast table.

Viveka: (Oh Goddess, what have I done?! I thought he was only going to eat ONE! NO DON'T EAT ANOTHER, THOSE GET HOTTER OVER TIME!!!)

Harold indeed had taken another and put it in his mouth. And another. He wasn't giving the first batch time to begin their torturous work before adding more fuel to the fire.

Harold: You see?! I can ... I can ... I can ... fffff- ... my those certainly are something, heheh. I could use some water, actually ...

Viveka: (Water's not going to help, he's a dead man.) Well would you look at the time, I've got to get ready for the summit. Let's go, Tobe ...

She took the young boys hand and led him out of the dining room as quickly as she could without tripping him or being blatantly obvious. She stopped in the hallway and made sure Tobe stayed out of view while she pressed up against the wall to listen to how things were going. She was worried and wanted to know if she was going to be indirectly responsible for a hero's hospitalization or demise. Meanwhile Percy continued to glance at Harold's struggle to survive every so often while he ate.

Percy: How are you holding up, there?

With Harold's face a fiery red, tears trailing down his face, his lips sealed tight, his fists clinched and occasionally beating on the table, it seemed the answer to that would be obvious. Harold could barely force out his reply.

Harold: I'm ... I think I'm dying, Percy ...

Percy: Oh ... ... ... pity.

Curiosity sated for the moment, Percy took another bite out of his steak.

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan

"You are probably correct. That should lead to a lot of arguing without anything actually being accomplished- which would mean we would be at this summit for a very long time, likely too long. At least the security forces here give us more safety than we have normally, though the demons would certainly have ways around them if they wished to strike at us. I...do not like waiting, but I see no better alternatives at this point."

[Phoenix]

Lev

Lev: Well just focus on the summit for now. The group's independence is going to depend on it. I'll talk to Ixion when I get a chance and remind him to keep an eye out for the demons. Since he's got one doing his bidding, I'm sure it couldn't be that hard.

[Ether]

"Sorry, I vaguely recall a strange, unrestrained yelping in the middle of the night tearing whatever rest I might have gotten beforehand straight out of me...maybe if it had been controlled somehow, I might have been able to wake up on time..." Aiya replied with a light smirk, giving the server her order.

"Such aside, how've you been~?" Aiya asked, huddling up closer to Irina.

Edited November 13, 2011 by Ether

[Phoenix]

Irina

Irina: Weeell ... I'm a princess, now ... apparently. In hindsight it's kind of funny how things turned out. If I had known things were going to turn out the way they did, I would have laughed at my uncle for forcing me to come along.

[Inactive Account]

Tobe couldn't help but start to giggle as the pepper ruse was revealed, though he didn't come out of hiding, and was glad when Viveka got up and brought him out of the room. "You sure got 'im good, Lady," he had to comment once they were out of sight, and immediately clapped a hand over his mouth after the quiet outburst. He went completely silent, still a little afraid of what would happen next.

[Balcerzak]

The corridors were proving frustrating as usual, though Tessa was feeling like she might have seen the one she was in now previously. Armed with a feeling of increased confidence she was paused briefly at a junction, trying to decide which was was best when a light grip and familiar voice stopped her in her tracks. Reflexively stiffening up, she didn't make any move to break away, but simply replied the comments with an awkward, nervous sort of laugh. "Eh heh ha... Yeah, it has been a little bit. You're properly recovered now, yes? Looking forward to the summit or...?"

Just, a little light conversation will be fine. I can do this.