Return of the Emblem Chapter Six: Enemies Abound

[Phoenix]

Learning

"She will learn that in spite of my position and power, no harm will come to her or her clan ... not even for their blatant betrayal." Steinn answered. Knowing that too would only breed more questions, Steinn decided to specify before Bert, Gabbie, or anyone else could ask the next question. "The Finnians were originally allied with me ... a part of my faction, not Valdimarr's. They left my side to join his like many clans do when they feel there is a guaranteed emperor. Any other prince in my position would make a harsh example of Siv. I know Valdimarr would if they ever turned on him ..." he explained, not a hint of casualness left in his voice.

Heheh, 'Steinn's bitches'. Gabbie thought to herself giggling while chewing.

Steinn gave Gabbie a glance and then shrugged lightly. Whatever she wanted to call it ....

The waitress nodded at Shadrak's order. "No problem, Sir. I'll be back shortly~" she said before taking any finished dishes back with her on the way to the kitchen.

[Mercakete]

Norbert visably calmed down, though he was still focussed and angry. He wasn't about to erupt anymore, however. "What are you planning on using her for, then?" he asked before beginning to eat his chicken. It was actually really good. So good, in fact, that he had to remind himself not to eat too quickly.

[Snike]

Enter a Neviskotian woman - a swordfighter, maybe- to interject in the conversation. The now three-way discussion continued to seem genial, but Mr Pegasus Knight began to scowl, much like he had when Blake had met him initially. Wonderful.

Along came a shaman, who was rather downcast for some reason. He summoned a waitress and was preoccupied. The swordsman paid him no mind, for now.

"Just what will she be learning?!," Bert shouted, though at a lower volume than the newcomer's previous experiences with his yelling. The avian was the target of his outburst, but what was he talking about? The Fallen? Had he formed a friendship with his precious cargo? Or was he actually blind to the real purpose of the girl? Was she captured for explicit purposes, and that would be what she would learn? This was really getting confusing. The avian said a few words back, and He of the perpetual frown relaxed a bit, so the disagreement was beginning to smooth over, perhaps.

[Phoenix]

Dining Hall

"She's merely bait." Steinn said taking a drink.

Raquel

Eventually she woke up, but didn't know what time it was until she looked at the clock. "Only half an hour? Uuuuuuu-" she trailed off falling back down onto the bed. Her sleep had likely been light and dreamless. "Just a little longer ..." she muttered as she dozed off again.

[Mercakete]

"Bait for--?" Norbert began to ask, but cut himself off. Wait... No, it can't be that. There's probably someone else involved I don't know about. So, he decided to continue his question, "Who're you baiting?"

[Phoenix]

Steinn

"Every last detail, hm? Norn. My little sister. She'll have tracked you here by now, I'm certain." he replied, taking another drink. "She won't be expecting me to be here to greet her, however."

[Mercakete]

After he swallowed what was currently in his mouth, Bert went on to ask, "For what purpose?" The only reason I have to ask so many questions is because you don't answer very directly.

[Phoenix]

Steinn

"I'm aiming to kill my oldest and most powerful brother. What do you think I'm baiting his 'favorite', most 'beloved', little 'sister' for? It would have gone faster had you brought me Svanhildr instead, but I can wait for word to reach him of Norn's fate." he explained.

[Snowy_One]

As Shadrak turned to leave, Robin looked at him odd. It was clear the shaman was heading back to the mansion, but it wasn't clear why. Why would he want to return when a festival was going on? Were they not his thing?

"Excuse me, Shade Drake, but are you returning now?" she asked, only to receive an exhausted 'affirmative'-type sound. He was heading back, but Robin wasn't quite sure if she should follow or not. She quickly turned around, trying to see if there was anything in the fair that she could see, only to turn back and see that he was gone. He was tired and, though Robin was estatic to see the fair, if Shadrak was tired, soon the other members would probably turning in as well. Indeed, her own weariness over the fight, though it had been lifted a bit by the fair, was starting to set in. She looked down at her bear, almost swearing it was subtly urging her to return to the estate to see others, before deciding to follow in suit.

Not being as familiar and having a harder time in the streets, it took her a while to return to the estate. She quietly closed the door behind her as she entered through a side door. She could hear a conversation happening not too far away, but was sure it didn't involve her. Quietly, she tried to slip back up to the guest quarters to drop her new bear off.

OOC: This post happened in the past. Zsword gave me permission for minor CC in this post. No, Robin isn't actually in her quarters yet, but heading up to the guestrooms unless talked to. Doesn't really matter though I assume.

[Zsword]

Shadrak blinked at the conversation. "So, what did I miss?" He asked the group, still waiting for his sugary bread to arrive. It'd best be warm then... this is taking a little while...

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

"Is this 'Norn' someone we have to worry about? I assume if she's tracking us down it's either to get revenge or retake Siv. That would lead her directly to us at the moment," Veronika asked of Steinn, ignoring the talk of fratricide for the moment. She found it rather distressing how he spoke of it so candidly, Tatiana and Maks could both be rather annoying at times but she'd never think of turning her blade on them.

[Mercakete]

Again, Norbert's anger began to flare, but he was able to calm it enough. He had his own fights with his sisters, after all, though they'd never aimed to kill each other. Not really, anyway. Maybe. They're royal Fallen. It's part of their disgusting race. Even so, it struck a bit of a nerve. Veronika was asking the prince a question he hadn't immediately thought of, too. It would be good to hear the answer before asking one of his own. Actually, I don't care. If he kills his sister, whatever. It can only help us. Again, he went through what the prince had said about the humans' role in helping achive his plan. He thought about different ways to somehow win out against them. Doing nothing would gte them all killed or enslaved. Fighting was playing right into their hands. Is there no way to win this?! I have to be able to oppose them somehow! Darn it! Then he remembered the prince's mention of "their god" Obelisk. Wrath didn't kill them all off because of Obelisk. Wrath can't be happy about that. I'm not really religious, but if I can find a Wrathite and tell him or her about this, maybe he or she will know some way to kill off these demons.

As he thought about this, he continued to eat, listening to the conversation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And then Amon, Gytha and Ranyin finally made it back to the mannor. "So... Where d'ye think we should go now?"

[Snowy_One]

As Robin slowly walked down the hallways, she started to realize something. She had appearently walked down the same hallway twice in a row now. Though she could still hear the discussion off in the distance, she was no longer sure of what floor she was even on. Slowly she walked through the hallways until, at last, she had lost all sense of orientation within the building. She wasn't even sure it was a large building, but she was lost within it none the less.

At last, she spotted a library. She almost walked right by it, paying it no mind, but as she walked past the door, she saw someone within. A man from their group, she couldn't remember well, sitting down and reading. Slowly and quietly she entered inside. "Excuse me." she asked, trying to keep her voice low. "I am sorry, but we have not met yet and I am lost. Forgive my intrusion. My name is Robin. May I have your name?"

[Phoenix]

Steinn

"Your arrival is certainly timely. I'm not certain all of you would have survived an encounter with her, especially if you aimed to hold onto Siv at all cost. She's a very skilled assassin which is why I can trust no one but myself to deal with her when she arrives. You're all 'relatively' safe in the estate. When she arrives, I will deal with her personally ... along with anyone she brought with her."

"Can I watch?" Gabbie asked genuinely.

Steinn shrugged. The waitress quickly arrived with the sweet bread Shadrak had requested. "Here you are, Sir~" she said with a smile. After setting the plate down, she checked for any finished dishes and then bowed out.

Amon

"I guess we should just head on inside. See who else is there." Amon suggested.

Edited October 23, 2011 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"Oh hello," he said, looking up from his reading. "Oh yeah, you're the archer who likes the stone arrowheads right? I'm Connor Weyland, uh this is my uncle's house so I can probably help you get unlost if you like," he said to Robin. I thought everyone in this group knew about me so that they could upgrade their equipment. Maybe I need better publicity...

Veronika

Veronika merely nodded at the response, satisfied. She had her own problems to deal with, no reason to muck around in all this Fallen business.

Edited October 23, 2011 by -Cynthia-

[Zsword]

Shadrak began to munch on his bread, giving the waitress a thankful glance as he did so, hoping that the sugar would help start him up, and the grains would keep it going. The discussion seemed to be getting rather dire. "You say, relatively safe, I take it that means that the 2 of us that are attacked first are right proper hosed until you can arrive." He said between bites, edging closer to the people so that he wasn't so far off.

Edited October 23, 2011 by Zsword

[Phoenix]

Steinn

"You're at the estate now. She's not going to waste time hunting you people down when she can just locate Siv and escape. I'm sure she doesn't know about the runes littering the mansion yet, though." he commented taking another drink. "As I said ... it's almost sad how little effort this will require on my part."

[Mercakete]

"Well, aye, but I don't know about any particular destination. Anythin' in mind?" Gytha asked Amon as she and the others stood around in the room directly inside the mansion by the front doors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's already been little effort. Norbert thought in frustration as he swallowed his last bit of chicken and slid his empty plate away a little. "So, your sister's coming to try to take the other Fallen girl back, and you're just going to kill her friends and capture her to lure your brother here so you can kill him?" Norbert asked, obviously displeased with this idea. If his brother's as brash, violent and brazen as he says, a lot of people are going to die. Darn it... This phase of this guy's plan is too far along already! Why did Raquel ever take this stupid job?! We should be helping--! ... Wait... We really should be helping whoever Norn is. If they're in the area, it shouldn't be hard to find them. They're following us, not Steinn, especially if they don't know he's here. That's why she wasn't allowed to leave this place! Okay, I just have to find Norn. Then, I can warn her and try to find some way to help the kid out of here with her.

"Enough of this," Norbert mumbled before standing up and turning to leave, trying to make it look like he was going to calm down from the outrageous news.

Edited October 23, 2011 by Mercakete

[Phoenix]

Steinn

When Bert got up to leave Steinn tilted his head at the pegasus rider ever so slightly. Mmmm ... no need. I don't want to startle everyone here. Let's just see how this plays out, shall we? "Truth be told, I don't need to kill anyone but Valdimarr. If Norn survives my rise to the throne, those who support her could be rallied to my side in time. She herself would be a useful asset as well if she can get over the loss. I suppose we'll see."

"Oh, what about the Finnians? You said other princes would punish'em or whatever. Are you just going to take'em back?" Gabbie asked finishing off her sandwich.

"I'll take Svanhildr back, certainly. I don't really care about the rest, especially not the head matriarch. They'll receive protection since that is all I can do to sate Svan, but that's already far beyond what most others would do."

"D'aww, that's sweet~" Gabbie said nudging Steinn's arm a bit.

"If you find someone of true value, don't throw them away over something as silly and temporary as lust. She'll be back once my brothers are dead. That's how this always works." Steinn replied nonchalantly.

Amon

"It'll be dinner time soon ... so ... dining hall? The others might show up there eventually so we've got a better chance of getting notice about the meeting." said Amon, still holding the music box close.

[Zsword]

Shadrak looked up at Steinn. "In what way do you value her?" He asked simply, finishing off his piece of bread, already feeling the sugars kick in and ease away his fatigue... didn't stop the pounding headache, but he was getting used to that as it was already.

[Mercakete]

"Sounds like a good plan, though... Ye want t' put that box in yer room first?" Gytha asked, having just thought of that option.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As he was leaving, Norbert heard both what Steinn mentioned and Shadrak's question. Not like that's important, bigmouth. If he ever needed the information, at least, he could probably ask one of the people who were present to hear the answer if one was given. For now, he was off to the stables -- which he was directed to after asking the first maid he saw -- and was soon reunited with Rizen...kind of.

When he entered the stable and approached the pegasus,s he at first seemed about to bash har small horn against his skull but settled for a long, dubious look at her human. He'd managed not to get himself killed in all that time. He still would've been better off with her, but at least he was showing he could maybe sometimes watch out for himself so long as a lot of other humans were around. So, she forgave him...for now.

Norbert was a little surprised that Rizen was letting him lead her out of her pen without much difficulty, but that just made his leaving that much easier. It wasn't long before he was flying away from the mansion down the way the group had come as to his best guess, hoping to find some "avians" along his route.

[Rothene]

Back at the mansion, Ranyin felt his legs sore from all that walking. He desperately wanted to rest before the meeting at least. Even a bath would be appreciated. "If you two do not mind, now that we're safely in the mansion, I'll be leaving to get a bath before the meeting." said Ranyin heading off to look for a servant to ask for directions.

***

Mireille looked to the sky and thanked Zel, "Right, we should get going. Thank you for reminding me sir Zel. Would be terrible to be late for my first important meeting."

Getting onto her mount, Mireille led the way back to the mansion.

[Phoenix]

Value

"I value her in many ways. Could you be more specific?" Steinn asked, about to listen for Shadrak's thoughts when Gabbie's hand gesture caught his attention. She was taking a finger and repeatedly putting it through a ring she made with her other hand, waiting for a response. " ... occasionally."

"Damn ..." Gabbie said, letting her head rest on her palms with her elbows on the table.

"Something, wrong?" he asked.

"Nnnooope~, I'm quoite dandy, how're you?" All the good ones are taken ... daaaaammiiiit.

Heheh. She'd make an amusing kestrelii.

Amon

"Yeah, there's no point in bringing it to the dining room." Amon said, ready to head to the guest rooms. He could only wave at Ranyin as he left.

'Avians' Along His Route

<"Next lesson! Threatening people! I think you'll need it in the future."> said Runa in Corvian to Norn as they walked down the road ... next to a ... large mass under a large blanket. There were no tall buildings around to hide in as they reached the outskirts of the city. Twilight was the only advantage they were given. Loki and Gunnar could only navigate using their ears to stay relatively close to Norn and Runa.

<"I don't want to learn common. We never even come here."> Norn shot back.

<"Common is a useful language!">

<"A damn complicated language if you ask me, just like Kigenese but even more so.">

<"Now say> 'Tell me where you are keeping the girl.' <, but say it like you're going to stab the human if they don't answer.">

<"No. I'm trying to make sure this is the right direction. There only seems to be one big building left. Over there ..."> Norn said, switching the rabbit to one hand while pointing at the estate far in the distance with the other. <"That may very well be the place. The scent only gets stronger from here.">

<"All I smell are animals and humans ..."> commented Gunnar.

<"Be quiet in there!">

<"So we wait til nightfall, then find Siv?"> asked Runa.

<"... I'm not comfortable out on this road. We should find a shadier spot to wait in.">

Runa stood there looking around but only saw the occasional tree, not quite enough to hide them but, maybe it would be enough. Picking out a tree not too far from the road, she said <"How about over there?">

<"... fine.">

[Zsword]

Shadrak nodded in understanding... what little he needed, though, if he knew anything about Fallen Culture, it was that they were close to Dark Avian culture for, actually cultural things. If he was remember anything about THAT right, it was that that THAT, said a lot more for them than it did for humans, how much, he wasn't sure, and whether it even counted for the Fallen, again, he wasn't sure... what intrigued him more was Gabbie's response... and found it funny how inable she was to hide it "You know Zel is available right?" He asked her with a half mocking smile, sitting straighter and stretching incase he needed to run really fast suddenly...

Zel nodded and followed after Mire, but not before letting out a hefty sneeze. With a shake he turned to Mire as he trotted beside her. "Don't they have a saying about sneezes, how someone's talking about you or some such?" He asked idly. I just hope it doesn't take us to terribly long to sift through the crowd...

Edited October 23, 2011 by Zsword

[Mercakete]

"A'right" Gytha replied as she followed along after Amon. Ranyin was gone before she had the chanse to farewell him, after all, so it wasn't like she could say she didn't mind him leaving.

~~~~~~~~~~~

As he flew -- not too high in the air and not too close to the ground -- Norbert scanned the ground, looking for wings. Oddly enough, he didn't have to travel long beforehe saw something moving under one of the trees along the road to Weyland's. Figuring hie might as well check it out, he landed Rizen and sure enough, there were what seemed to be a couple of Avians with some sort of giant pillow. Was it rude to stare? Yes. This was a very unusual sight, though, and was likely just who he was looking for, especially since one of them had a similar haircolor to Steinn. If they really were Avians, then that was some coincidence, especially since they were heading towards the prince's trap. The only explanation that could've worked for these two were that maybe they were Avian saleswomen. That was pretty far-fetched, though.

"Uh, hello," Norbert greeted, uncertainly. The one he suspected of being Steinn's sister was holding a rabbit. That would be confusing if she really was a Fallen, as he suspected. Might as well put it this way. "I'm looking for someone called 'Norn,'" Bert went on, looking directly at the one with the rabbit, "She's one of you, I think." If they were Avians, they would just think there was an Avian named "Norn" somewhere around there. If they were Fallen, though, they would probably know exactly what he was getting at.