Return of the Emblem Chapter Six: Enemies Abound

[GoD]

"If it concerns you, I shall remove the runes..."- Chelsea began telling Raquel, as she touched a rune. Within seconds, 15 to be exact, the rune disappeared slowly and Chelsea fingertip began to glow. "...like so. There are over 30 of them so I should probably-" Chelsea was cut off by someone, a woman, screaming Raquel's name. It sounded quite angry, and made Chelsea shiver.

"So um... I'll be here cleaning this room, which you won't take too long, while you go meet with the scary lady. After that I'll be in the cafeteria, eating a lot. So um... See you soon."- she told Raquel as the troub. waved at her with a nervous smile.

[Acacia Sgt]

As John made his way back to the guests room, he heard the shout.

<Huh?> He thought. Reaching the actual place, he saw the small group. <Hey, isn't that the professor? So if he's back then that means that shout was...> He stopped. <Oh boy...>

[Zsword]

Krystal nodded... "Okay, I guess it just doesn't make sense to me because of I was raised in Kigen, different religious beliefs and all that..." she said, fluttering her wings a little to stop them from going stiff.

Zel chuckled at the ferocity that Norbert began eating his food. "Just don't choke." he said to the man, brushing his bangs that were starting to fall over his eyes.

Shadrak stood with a stretch. "Well, it was nice all, but I'm going to return to my quarters, I'll see you all later." On that note he made his way out of the cafetaria.

[Phoenix]

Mother Knows Best

With a heavy sigh, Raquel opened up the door and peeked out into the hallway. Her mother was scanning and noticed her immediately. Raquel stepped out hoping to leave Chip in peace but the monkey had already gotten up and ran over to be near the emblem. As she shut the door, he slipped through and ran under her cloak, not reemerging until he had scaled her legs and reached the bag.

"Hi, mom."

"Don't 'hi, mom', me. Are you out of your mind?"

"Me and my friends almost died. On top of that I still haven't managed to get my father back and our business is going to go under soon if I don't start turning a bigger profit. I really don't need this right now."

"The reason you and your so called friends almost died is because you're running errands for this fool." she said pointing a thumb at Weyland. "The reason you haven't managed to rescue your father is because it's beyond your ability to accomplish." she added crossing her arms. "And the reason your father daughter business is doing so poorly is because you don't have enough experience to run it by yourself. Plain and simple."

That and the insane discounts I give these people to justify the lousy payroll ... Raquel mentally added on top of the third remark. "Look, mom, I know what I'm doing is incredibly dangerous, but it's my choice, not yours."

"Why don't you tell me about these people you're chasing to help your father."

"They seem to be all over the place. They attacked us in Sergio and took my father. We've been trying to pick up leads and get stronger ever since." Raquel explained.

"And you really think that you and some mercenaries can get your father back from them?"

"Hey! It's not like we've ever lost a battle to them! There's just too many of them right now ..."

"So let's just say by some miracle you get your father back ... what then? They must have taken him for a reason. Do you think that will be the end of it? You just beat up as many of them as you have to to get him back and then they'll just leave you alone?"

"No, I'm not that stupid. We're going to defeat them once and for all. The whole organization." Raquel shot back.

"Well apparently you are that stupid, dear, because that is even worse than rescuing him and hoping the problem just goes away on its own. You just said there are too many of them, and you aim to take them all out? That is just going to get you and your father killed."

"I don't have much of a choice now. Look the reason they took my father is because I've got something that they're willing to kill us to get their hands on! If I give it to them, and they don't give me back my father then I'll have to fight them anyway. I might as well fight with some leverage instead of chasing down their lower ranks." she explained, finally alluding to the emblem.

"So you think you have to fight them because they won't return Jethro. That's your grand excuse for this insanity?"

"Mom, they want this thing badly enough to kill people."

"What thing?"

"Don't worry about that. The point is that they think they can make use of it, and whatever they're planning is probably bad. How bad I ... I really don't know. I need to stop them though, and the best way I can do that is to have a strong force with me and try to keep them as well equipped as I can."

"None of this is making any sense, girl. You're not even a merchant. You're a merchant's assistant and daughter. Maybe if you hadn't turned into such a fraidy cat, you'd be competent enough to deal with this somehow, but all I'm hearing right now are excuses to go play war with what could very well be a mafia. Do you actually think Jethro would want you to do this? Chase after him blindly with no idea what to do or how?"

"... it's a damnsight better than what you're doing!" she yelled trying to keep any tears at bay. "I'm sure you'd just love for him to be out of the picture. Then you could go back to bossing Reina and me around, but I'm not having any part of it. I love my father, and I'm going to do whatever I can to get him back. If you've got a problem with that then you can take a hike."

Caterena sighed for a moment. "Raquel ... I don't hate your father. I don't want anything bad to happen to him, but you need to face the facts here. There's very little if anything you can do to help him. He might not even still be alive if they're as bad as you say. What I need to do now is make sure that he doesn't lose one of his daughters over this incident."

"I can't. If I don't come for them, they'll come for me. I've got the emblem ..."

"Emblem? Oh that thing they want, was it? You should give it to someone else, possibly the authorities."

"Never."

"Raquel."

"No! No freaking way am I dealing with the authorities after what we've been through! Guess who tried to kill us on the way back here?! An Ursian cavalry unit! We can't trust the authorities anymore than we can trust the real enemy!"

"What did you do?"

"We weren't entirely in the right but once they recognized me they wanted me to hand over the emblem, just like the last Wrathites. I'm not handing it over to them either, so when they threatened us, we fought back and killed them all."

"Oh dear gods ... Weyland has you doing illegal activities that draw the attention of the authorities and you end up getting yourselves into fights ... no no no no no ..." Cat ranted in bewilderment. "So let me get this straight, you're a wanted criminal now?"

"Not quite ... ... but the Wrathites in the military are probably going to start getting serious soon. They just caught us at a bad time yesterday."

"Uuuuugh. Raquel, don't put your mother through this. I'm trying to help you." she said, burring her face in her hand.

"I'm sorry, but ... there's nothing you can say to change my mind, and I mean nothing. No one's getting this emblem and I'm going to rescue my father and bring that shadow group down." she said in as resolute a voice as she could manage. Weyland walked up and put a hand on Caterena's shoulder ... which she eventually swatted off once her face became normal again. She had been holding back some tears as well.

Resolute Daughter

"This is why I'm trying to help her out how I can, Miss Blanco. What she's trying to do is very dangerous--I would know at this point--but I plan to-" "She needs ... she needs fewer mercenaries and more of your people, Weyland. Why don't you do something about that instead of trying to convince me? There's little I can do to turn her from this insanity." she said choking up a second time.

Weyland shrugged. "R-Raquel, are you still short some members?"

She nodded. "We could use all the help we can get ..."

"Alright then. I'l see about that as well. You seem to have had a rough time getting back however so why don't we postpone this a short while? You and your team come to the conference room after the Ascension lift off and I'll go over some things with you then." he explained.

"Did you learn anything else about those people?"

"Yes, actually, but it will have to wait. There's too much miscellaneous information we've gathered to really give you an adequate summary right now. We'll cover it in the meeting."

"Alright well ... I'm not going to be able to get back to sleep like this so I'm going to ... go and take care of some things while it's still day out."

"What things?" Cat asked.

"I need to apply for a few permits."

"What kind?"

"The kind that allow me to buy and sell high grade military weapons. Like killing weapons, light brands, and various firearms. We're eventually going to need that kind of equipment if we're going to take them on in full force."

"What are you, an arms dealer now?!" Cat said raising her voice and putting her hands on her hips.

"Yep. No use trying to pretend I'm a regular old general wares merchant anymore. Over ninety percent of what I sell is for use on the battlefield. Most of it's meant for killing other people. Simple as that." she explained with complete apathy in her voice.

"... ooooigh." Caterena moaned.

"Well, now that that's taken care of ..." Weyland paused to look over at Steinn who'd been waiting rather patiently so far. "... lunch, then?"

"Certainly." Steinn said with a nod.

[Zsword]

Shadrak rounded the corner of the hall to guest rooms with a smile at first hailing Professor Weyland "Aah, good day sir, if you have a moment I'd like to talk to you... after I intoduce myself to Raquel's Mother." he said to the man with a short bow. He then calmly walked up to the mother daughter pair, and politely bowed to Cat. "Good evening M'lady, I'm Ucollas Vellen, though most people know me by the alias of Shadrak, am I to understand it that you are Young Miss Raquel's mother?" He asked curtiously.

[Acacia Sgt]

<Well, that didn't turn out as bad after all.> John thought. <Still, I stand the same, good thing I don't face troubles like this.> He shrugged. <Well, I guess it's just a matter of waiting until it's time for that meeting. Although, there's the festival. Hmm...>

[Phoenix]

People in Hallways

"Good to see you. We're heading over to the dining hall. If you want to talk there, then that's fine. If it's a private matter, best to wait a short while." he said to Shadrak before heading down the hall. Steinn of course followed looking harmless as ever.

Shadrak's introduction to Cat was a bit similar to Steinn's so she wasn't completely caught of guard this time. She was still distraught from the argument though and desperately wanted the warmth in her face to fade so she would know she didn't appear on the verge of tears to others. "*Ahem* I'm Caterena Blanco. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Vellen."

Raquel stood around idly for a moment trying to compose herself, same as her mother.

Edited September 26, 2011 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

"She's just trying to help her father you know. You could stand to be a little more supportive. She can't just give up, we're doing the best we can with the information we have," Which admittedly isn't much...at least Weyland's back now and hopefully knows something. Veronika interjected, barely able to keep herself contained during Raquel's conversation with her mother.

[Zsword]

Shadrak couldn't help but chuckle at Caterena's response. "I understand that the two of you are flustered about each other, but Miss Blanco, I couldn't help but overhear some of the conversation, and I want to assure you, Raquel hasn't found a bunch of random mercs to go about this adventure with, she's found a large group of people of great skill and ability, she's even attracted the eye of a couple noble houses." He explained to the woman, hoping to maybe ease her fear a little.

[Phoenix]

One End Of The Hall

"I suppose you don't have a daughter of your own yet?" she asked Veronika with a humble tone of voice. "It's excruciating to see her like this. I would love to support her in this and I'm trying to do so by making that pinhead Weyland give her all the resources she needs ... but that doesn't make it any easier to let her run off and try to fight people she knows almost nothing about. Don't think for a second that your group is going to get to the bottom of this without a lot of casualties ..." she added.

"I suppose it's ... nice to know that more than just run of the mill sellswords are willing to assist my daughter in this ... 'adventure' ... but that's not going to give me a lot of confidence. This is crazy behavior no matter how you look at it." she said to Shadrak.

The Other

Atsuko had stopped in her tracks when the commotion between Raquel and her mother started up. She didn't have any intention of heading back to see what it was about, but the argument had her thinking about some of her own troubles as a mercenary. It wasn't as if her family approved of her chosen lifestyle either. It wasn't until Weyland and Steinn came walking her way that she turned around and began walking herself. She was trying to keep to a certain distance, but her height wouldn't allow her to do so without looking awkward. It was a long hallway and they eventually caught up to her. Weyland matched her pace and Steinn did as Weyland did, but walked behind the two to not make Atsuko feel trapped or anything.

"Atsuko, I'm sorry about deceiving you mercenary troupe. I know that all the compensation in the world isn't going to be enough to make up for their deaths, but I assure you that they did not die for nothing."

"Do you care to enlighten me then?" she said in a cold voice not looking at him.

"Well ... we're almost to the dining room. You'll see for yourself soon enough, I suppose ..."

She raised an eyebrow and glanced at him as they walked.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"Er, no, I'm not even quite married yet, it's a little soon for children I think," Veronika responded to Catarena, a little flustered by the question. "I...can understand your sentiment though, my mother was not pleased when she found out I left. Er, anyway I agree that Weyland should help us as much as possible, but he'd be more likely to do so if you don't antagonize him. We're all allies in this, turning on each other won't do us much good," she said to Catarena. She decided not to refute Shadrak's statement at the moment, 'great skill and ability' was probably a gross exaggeration, but Catarena didn't need to know that.

[Acacia Sgt]

''Those are good points.'' John noted at the woman's comments. <Although that last one... well, I guess I just find it a little ironic.> ''Well, I suppose I can't say much on the matter, although, I'll admit, it's not hard to see why you have so little faith on us.'' <Looking back, hard to believe we've made it this far. And I still remember that talk back in Urden as well.>

[Phoenix]

Mother/Daughter

"It would probably be easier to voice my true concern here with a simple question. Is anyone in your little group willing and ready to die for my daughter if it should ... come to that? You don't have to answer; it's an awkward question to have to answer. That's my point in and of itself, really." she replied to Veronika and the others.

[Mercakete]

Norbert didn't even notice Zel's comment. When his poridge was almost gone, he used some of the bread to scoop up the rest to clean out his bowl then quickly finished the slices off. All that remained was... Was that a fruit? I...think this sort of fruit gets imported. I don't remember what it's called, but I see fruit merchants selling it sometimes. I think it's from Kigen... How am I supposed to eat this? It's pretty tough... Maybe... He began sliding his thumbnail down the skin along an edge to split it open. Sure enough, inside was another part of the fruit and the outer skin -- like a soft shell -- could be peeled away. It wasn't quite what Norbert had been expecting. He was thinking it was something like a giant peapod, but the fruit's meat was the same shape as the peel had been. This...is the weirdest thing...anyone's ever expected me to eat... Well, it was food, apparently. Passing up free food -- especially something that was supposed to help him to better his fighting performance -- wasn't something he was about to do. So, he just bit it...and discovered it was actually pretty sweet. It wasn't hard and juicy like an apple and its sweetness was different: a unique, easily-recognizable flavor. A couple moments later, Norbert's breakfast was finished and he was wiping his fingers off with a napkin he hadn't noticed by him before. The breakfast hadn't been what he was expecting, but it was good and his hunger was gone. So, for now, he simply leaned back in his chair and relaxed.

[Snowy_One]

Robin had finished her own personal meal. As the steak had been served, she had eagerly dug into it, savoring every bit of the tasty and juicy meat. Cattle required grazing land, and that was not common in her hometown, so such a meal as the one she had been served was very much a delicacy. She had cut into the meat and eagerly devoured it, letting the warm and slightly pink meat fill her mouth with flavor with each and every bite. Now, before her, a single T-bone stood as the only remain of her hungry eating. She was full. Very, very full.

"Mmmmm..." she sighed happily before getting up to return to her room. She wanted privacy after the mean, not for any true or specific reason, but because she had rarely eaten as well as this and felt the need to lie down and rest.

[Rothene]

"So...enjoyed your meal?" asked Ranyin leaning on one hand on the table. He found it amusing to watch Bert approach the banana so...cautiously.

"Hey, are you interested in checking out how people celebrate this...ascension festival in a big city?" asked the kigenese mage.

***

The chase led to a rather uncomfortable mother-daughter encounter. Mireille shook her head at Raquel's remarks, unable to accept that a child would want to disobey her own mother and actually try to speak back against her. Such mentality of going against her own parent's words did not sit well with Mireille. But it was not her duty to comment on her thoughts.

Asking Weyland with a salute, "Master Weyland, would you permit me to have lunch?"

[Zsword]

Shadrak thought for a moment. "While I myself am uncertain if I would die on your daughter's behalf, I think I know of atleast one indavidual, or two, that would be more than happy to jump infront of a ballista bolt for her if it meant she lived." Shadrak said, then glancing at the others he cleared his throat. "Zel, he's a little over zealous... I'm pretty sure the others would agree that he'd atleast take a mortal blow for her."

[-Cynthia-]

"I don't know him well enough to necessarily disagree, but can one really throw their life away so easily? Zel has a family who presumably would not want to see him killed. To talk about dying in such a cavalier fashion...it does a disservice to everyone I think. One should not be so eager to throw their lives away," Veronika responded sternly to Shadrak's quip.

Edited September 26, 2011 by -Cynthia-

[Zsword]

Shadrak nodded. "True, but if his family is anything like he is, then I think they'd be more than happy to know he died doing his duty as a Knight of Ursium, protecting the nation's people. but then again, I've never met the Drakthu'uls, so I wouldn't know."

[Phoenix]

Mother/Daughter

Raquel stood there a little red in the face at what Shadrak had said of Zel. She had been pretty sure she needed to watch her own hide in the party since the others would have things hard enough. Thinking one of them would actually pull a stunt like that made her feel more important than she really wanted to be.

"... sounds like an ... interesting fellow." Caterena said, not sounding too sure how to say it. "Well since I'm here, I may as well have a look at these 'not just random mercenaries' that are helping out my daughter."

Oh noooo. Raquel thought to herself.

[Acacia Sgt]

''I do value my life.'' John said. ''I probably won't be doing something that reckless.'' He shrugged. ''But on the other hand, from what we've learn so far, I for sure wouldn't back off from this cause, as much as a, ahem, run of the mill sellsword I may be.'' <Then again, it's not for the job that I'm mainly here... so yeah...>

[Mercakete]

"I don't see the point," Norbert replied to Ranyin's last question first, "I've been to a couple acension festival further north. Smaller villages up there, but it's all basicly the same from what we saw in Urdan. People write their wishes and buy things and right now, I don't have any money. At all." Next, he answered his friend's first question, "And yeah, it was pretty good. I wasn't expecting it. Especially not that weird, long fruit."

[Zsword]

Shadrak nodded to Cat. "Most of them are in the dining area, if you'd follow me. Though, I ask you not to judge too much by appearance, there is more to them than meets the eye." He said with a slight bow, before starting his 'escort' of the group to the cafeteria.

[Rothene]

Disappointed Ranyin said, "Aww...I see. Well then I'll not trouble you."

As he got off and turned to leave the dinning hall, he noticed Weyland closing in on the entrance...along with Raquel and a very angry seeming woman. Not wanting to walk through that whole crowd of people, yet curious about what they were talking about, Ranyin decided to walk towards them slowly. He had this strange feeling that he had seen the white armoured knight near Weyland somewhere before...

***

Mireille placed herself behind Weyland. Until he got himself seated and ready to eat, she would hold back her hunger as a proper knight would. For now he seemed to have run into yet another female human who seemed to have a bone to pick with him. Is he cursed with having problems with female kind? Maybe that is why he's still single today, mused Mireille.

[-Cynthia-]

Maybe that's the difference between Ursium and Neviskotia. They're willing to die where we are not. My family would never forgive me if I got myself killed... she thought to herself, before Shadrak's talking snapped her out of it. More than meets the eye? Really? I guess he's trying to be reassuring. she thought to herself.

Feeling a bit hungry herself, Veronika headed to the dining hall and found someone who looked like a waitress. Time to test Weyland's chef here, this is bigger than my estate so I suspect they'll be up to the task... "Shashlyk if you have a grill, borscht if you don't. Also some vodka or whatever qualifies as proper alcohol here in Ursium," she said rather curtly. I usually don't drink at lunch...but after all we've been through so far I could certainly use one.