Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[Toogee]

"Oh, I guess I'll just leave the magic in my room then," Jam replied to Alphy, not wanting to get him in trouble. "Looks like I'll just have to dance my way out of trouble." With a simple twirl, Jam was back to walking the streets, looking for more stores to explore.

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"A flight suit?!" Eli replied to Aneda. "Those baggy one piece things? I may not be a fashion mogul, but I have enough self respect to not be caught in one of those." Evidently, he was not a fan of the one piece suit and continued looking around for a decent pair of pants.

[Phoenix]

[spoiler=Blueprints of a Successor]Oddly enough, Anna ended up doing most of the initial work, compiling a list of suggested components for the new transport they were going to be building. It still fell to Weyland to create the final design while somehow incorporating all of those components. The work took hours, and once they were finished getting everything they both wanted on the new transport, Weyland focused his full attention on just one thing, making a retrograded version of the dampener system present on the Dauntless' true successor.

"Well that's it then," Anna said, wiping her brow and setting down a large parchment that had detailed illustrations of the transport their engineers would be building. "Once you fix our dampener problem, we'll be ready to build this thing."

"Have them get started on it now. The dampener system is just to lighten the vehicle, and it's a mere add-on. There's no reason to stall the project due to that alone. Given their luck, they might have to leave unexpectedly. In the worst case scenario, we can use the deflector system again, and get the dampener version sent out to them later."

"Makes sense. Okay, so one last check here. We've got the new tongue system which is a wee bit heavy but has enough coverage to protect the horses and can still go along with their movements. The new steering section which is attached to the tongue, so the thing can make sharper turns. The new driver's section; it has an obvious weakpoint, but they can figure something out there. The armor plating's been reduced from the Dauntless design significantly, and the overall size is down a tad to account for the kind of terrain they'll be facing out east. Since light magic's the only real threat to plate armor of this type, we've got a few runes strewn about to disrupt light spells. They can still cause serious damage, but precision and deep penetration are no longer a factor. At best, they can blow a big hole in the side, but they won't cut through the entire transport like the aureola did. Lastly, the most notable of notable components, the archer system. I like the name, but all we really did was chuck a custom ballista on top of the transport. It's nothing to write home about, but it's got good range and hopefully they can take down any siege casters before they ever target them."

"Sounds about right."

"Not sure Connor or Raquel are going to like this, though. There's only about two thirds the space the Dauntless had. You can't have a bunch of people in there at one time if they carry the same amount of cargo as they usually do," Anna explained.

"We'll bring them both in to offer some more input, but we'll do it tomorrow," Weyland decided.

[spoiler=Shopping for Isis]As much as Haythem wanted to bring Isis along so she could pick out her food, he was concerned about two things; one, being accosted by the guards with or without a good reason, two, causing a mild panic, as Isis was just big enough to be mistaken for a teenage dragon, and three, while she was trained to not pick at food just because it was right in front of her, she would get awfully close in order to inspect it, and that might cause the merchants to hassle them or even force them to buy. So, he decided to have her stay on the estate grounds for the time being. Hopefully Luca wouldn't mind carrying most of the load.

It took a little while to get back into town, and even longer to get to an actual market, but once they did, things seemed to be looking up ... save for one minor detail. Haythem was having trouble being social right now. He was excited about going on a shopping trip with Nadya, but now that he was actually out in the big city with her, he just couldn't find the right words to start up any sort of meaningful conversation. Maybe it was because Isis wasn't with him? Despite seeming unimportant outside of travel or battle, the mountain wyvern seemed to have at least some impact on his confidence.

When they actually arrived in the marketplace, Haythem was extremely thankful he hadn't made the mistake of bringing along Isis. She was too big to make it through the area without causing a huge ruckus, and her saddlebags would be easy prey for pickpockets. It would have been a disaster for the young Sancturan at the very least. "Meat sellers ... so far it's just fruits and vegetables," Haythem mused aloud to himself.

"Fruits and vegetables are less valuable than meat, so those stands tend to come up first. The more expensive stuff is deeper in the marketplace because there ain't as many buyers for all that," Nadya responded to Haythem's musings. "So how does Isis like her grub? We could buy livestock and bring it back alive, we could find livestock's that's been recently slaughtered, or we can find stuff that's been salted. The latter's the cheapest," she added thoughtfully at the end.

"Oh?" From the sound of things, they had a bit more walking to do. Unfortunately for Haythem, the sellers weren't all passive observers. Various parts of his armor looked 'fancy' and therefore 'expensive' to some of them, and Nadya's necklace and earrings had a couple outright convinced. Haythem still managed to answer her question before they were approached by any of them. "I'm sure most wyverns like their meat alive, but even back home she has to settle for big cuts instead. Goat meat is supposed to be a part of a mountain wyvern's natural diet, but I'm still not familiar with Ursium. Do they even sell go-"

"Ah! You two there," called out one of the shopkeepers. He stepped away from his shop for moment to try and lure them back over. "Here for a bit of grocery shopping, I take it. Why don't you have a look at my produce. I guarantee you won't be disappointed. It's all fresh, straight from the gardens and fields."

"I uh ..." Haythem leaned to the side a bit to glance over the man's shoulder so he could get a look at the man's produce for himself. He wasn't selling just one thing; he had both several different vegetables available, potatoes, cucumbers, leeks, onions, and tomatoes, but of course, no meat.

I think Ursium has goats, I remember seein' goat cheese for sale once...never ate it though, heard it's kinda gamey. Nadya briefly looked over the man's produce. It does look fresh at least. "Not exactly what we were plannin' to buy, but I could be persuaded. How much ya chargin' here?" she asked, gesturing in the general direction of the vegetables.

"Oh, you'll definitely be getting a good price on these," the man said before leading them back toward the stand.

Luca looked over the fruit from a safe distance--safe for the vegetables--and eyed them all critically. There weren't any apples, but he wasn't expecting them over here, anyway.

Haythem looked at all the produce and then his stomach began to quietly howl at him. "Heheheh ... don't mind me."

"Hah. Here, try this, boy," the man said, producing an apple for Haythem. Luca's eyes widened as Haythem took the apple.

"Are you sure about this?" Haythem asked.

"'course! I don't sell apples here, hahahah! A little generosity never hurt anyone. Now then, about my pricing here ..."

Luca stealthily moved his head closer, hoping to take Haythem's apple at some point. Haythem meanwhile listened to the man's price listing with Nadya. From the sound of things, this region had a good spring harvest and prices were getting competitive.

Nadya noticed Luca moving forward and pulled back on the reins. I just gave him an apple not thirty minutes ago...when did he become such a pig? she thought to herself, smiling and shaking her head. The merchant was giving Haythem free food, which Nadya interpreted as a sign of some desperation.

"Very generous of ya, but like I said, we ain't exactly lookin' for produce. But I suppose I could be persuaded to take some off your hands... for the right price," she said nonchalantly.

Feeling thwarted, Luca snorted and went back to passively observing their surroundings. With Nadya busy getting food, he did have a responsibility to keep an eye out for anything strange. It would be much easier without the enormous wagon creating a variably large blind spot, too, so there was no excuse for being taken by surprise.

Haythem meanwhile eyed one of the potatoes and leaned a bit closer. Looking at the listed prices, he smiled. They weren't too expensive, but they weren't so cheap as to give him the impression that they weren't fresh or of good quality. He considered buying one himself, but first turned to Nadya. "I've always wanted to try a baked potato. In Sanctuary, we tend to chop them to bits and mix them into things. Do you know how to make them? If so, maybe we could buy a pair and eat them for dinner later. I'll buy them of course. I should still have enough for the meat as long as we're not buy live, heheh."

Did that boy just say 'sanctuary'? Hmm ... must have been glorifying his house, heheh. I know that feeling, the seller mused. He was tempted to cut in and start listing the prices for each of the vegetables now, but he didn't want to interrupt and Haythem was already looking at them, himself.

"Potatoes are cheap, so I worked with 'em a fair amount. A baked potato ain't hard to make at all, but if you're buyin' I'll cook 'em," she answered Haythem. The potatoes were pretty inexpensive for their size, so she supposed buying them at face value couldn't hurt too much.

"Alright, great. I can't wait to see what you can do with these," Haythem replied as he began fishing for a few silver. Luca was interested to see the Sancturan bringing out money right up until he saw what it actually looked like. As it turned out, Luca was quickly developing an eye for not just coins but the details on them, and he didn't recognize these. He considered ignoring the rest of Haythem's exchange. That was when the seller accepted them Haythem picked out two potatoes. He then put into a saddlebag he'd brought along for the trip. Luca figured those coins were yet another form of shiny exchangeable stuff that Nadya could use to trade off things of real value, like apples. If ever he came across a body with such coins on them, he'd be sure to take them for Nadya to trade with.

"Thank ya for the business good sir," Nadya said to the vegetable seller before walking off. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure Ursium has goats, although if there's a good deal on sheep or something we might wanna take that. Is Isis terribly picky about what she eats?" she asked Haythem.

"Have a good one, you two," the shop keeper waved farewell.

Answering Nadya's question after putting a bit of thought into it, Haythem said, "Picky? Nooo, not since I got into the habit of splitting my meals with her to tide her over during our rough bouts. A sheep's close enough for now, but I'd like to give her what she's supposed to be eating whenever I can." He took a bite out of the apple the shopkeeper had given him and smiled. "Not bad."

Luca glared as only a horse could, flattening his ears against his head and swishing his tail a single time. Of course, he had no nefarious intentions beyond that, and simply kept pace with the two of them.

"Y'all had rough bouts? I thought Sanctuary was pretty easy livin', especially since I thought ya were part of the army or whatever," Nadya asked Haythem, rather surprised.

"Are you kidding me? The army has it the worst," Haythem replied, taking another bite of the apple and eating it before continuing. "We have to defend the trade convoys and investigate rebel activities. Basically, we're the only ones that ever get killed when a fight breaks out ... fortunately Lady Aisha supports us in our efforts and makes some fights a little easier. We don't lose people too often. Still ... it happens from time to time ... especially when we're unfortunate enough to find a stronghold or something like that. Those nutjobs always want to fight to the last man ..."

"The rebels seemed pretty tough when we ran into 'em outside of Port Temptress," Nadya agreed. "What is their deal with the Sanctuarans anyway? Is it because they don't wanna convert to Aisha or is there more to it than that?" she asked out of curiosity.

"It's remarkably simple for an ongoing conflict, yet still complicated. I guess I could try to explain it from both sides. It's not like they're completely insane, just ... hateful at this point," Haythem began his explanation. "See, the rebels ... I don't want to say they're overly entitled, but they are. Lady Aisha isn't just a goddess, she's the queen and rightful ruler of Rex-Avaz. In countries like Kigen and Ursium, people who break the law are put to death sometimes. Lady Aisha just stopped holding back the fury of the desert so they could see how tough life is without her help. Most of them believe that as a ruler, she should look after all her people, and not just the Sancturans, but things have gotten so bad over the ages that now Sanctuary's the only place left where Lady Aisha's followers can live in safety. She isn't willing to sacrifice that last remaining refuge, especially now that a real war could break out at any time. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the people fighting alongside the rebels don't even understand why they're fighting. This is an age old conflict, and Lady Aisha's the only one who was alive back when it started. That's how long they've been fighting her .... I get some of their reasoning, but at the end of the day, Lady Aisha's the one in charge. If they want to live in her country, they'd better reform themselves or they're just going to have a terrible time of it."

"Hmm," Nadya responded vaguely as they walked along. "Have Aisha ever tried makin' peace or grantin' some kinda amnesty to these rebels? We have a problem that ain't that different with the Kigenese government, though significantly less violent. They see us as problem causin' outsiders, even though we've been in Kigen for a few centuries now. Granted what I've done and what some other nomads have done has earned that label, but they never even tried negotiatin' with us so they had it comin'," Nadya said somewhat defensively.

"Nothing official or large scale," Haythem admitted. "What we have tried is various types of outreach expeditions. The maidens usually led these groups. They would go out to remote villages and try to find some common ground. They brought food, water, tools, gold for the poor if it would do any good. They hoped that over time this would change the people's views of Lady Aisha and the Sancturans, but they had to stop doing it in the end. The rebels just saw these expeditions as an opportunity to strike at Lady Aisha more directly. The maidens' escorts and helpers were usually killed and the maidens were held hostage, tortured for information ... eventually killed. The military's so bitter about things like this that they suspect anyone and everyone of being a rebel sympathizer these days, even though there hasn't been a single expedition like that in over a hundred years. The military's advised to give aid whenever and wherever they can, but the rebels keep hitting us every chance they get. The only chance we have for peace now is if the common folk rise up against them and chase them out somehow so Lady Aisha won't have to guard us Sancturans so closely anymore. As long as the rebels are around, innocent people and even maidens are going to be targets."

"I don't think the common people risin' up for Lady Aisha is gonna happen any time soon. Seems to me like the rebels are made up of these 'common people' and Sanctuary's a place to envy after and aim their anger at. The closed door policy makes things nice inside Sanctuary, but it's not earnin' Aisha any love outside," Nadya said frankly.

"Yeah I know," Haythem gloomily replied as his gaze fell to the ground like brick. He even hunched over a little. "If there was just some way to keep the Sancturans safe, I'm sure Lady Aisha would consider some alternatives to what we're currently stuck doing. That's why this fire emblem thing is so important. If Lady Aisha's interested in it, then there may be a solution somewhere in finding one for her. I just hope we don't end up taking too long."

"If ya believe Lilith, there's a time limit of sorts when Wrath will come back. Not sure about all that myself, but I do know that messin' with this emblem business is dangerous. Sanctuary's been around a long time without any emblem so it should be fine without it. It's no excuse for you or Amon doin' somethin' stupid or gettin' yourself killed," she warned.

"If it meant peace for Rex-Avaz ... a real, lasting peace, I'd gladly lay down my life for it. It'd just be a shame if I couldn't have a family and all of that, first, heheh," Haythem explained, starting off strong but becoming nervous at the end. "I know Amon feels the same way," he quickly added, hoping to steer any lingering attention from his comment about family.

"You or Amon dyin' won't do anyone any good. It sounds all good and noble to say ya sacrificed yourself for the good of everyone, but in the end ya just made a dumb choice and left everyone that was dependin' on ya alone. Real heroes are the ones who keep themselves alive," she responded.

Haythem frowned. "You think so? What if I have to do something like that or end up watching people I care about die instead? It's not like I plan on something like that happening but ... I feel that ... as a soldier ... no, that's not right. I feel that ... as a man, it's something I've got to be ready and willing to face."

"Situations where ya have to die to save other people don't actually happen," Nadya countered. "There might be some risk involved, but the only way ya can help anyone is by staying alive. Goin' into anythin' expectin' to die just makes that come true."

Haythem looked even more depressed now, but he was actually just thinking a little deeper about what Nadya was telling him. It seemed a little defiant in nature, but perhaps that was the sort of approach that had seen her through so many battles, most of which completely unharmed. Looking at it that way, it was no wonder she saw things this way. Haythem still didn't think he or other people were that 'lucky', though. "Maybe ... but is expecting to survive even the worst situations enough to actually pull it off? It sure doesn't seem like ...."

"Your attitude is goin' in is only part of it- ya also have to know when it's time to retreat. Try to keep in mind that savin' yourself in the moment means ya can help more people and accomplish your goals later. Some might call ya a coward, but a dead hero's still dead," Nadya said.

Haythem listened intently but was a little amused by Nadya's last statement. "Well, now might be a good time to mention that my people believe strongly in resurrection from the dead." He knew she likely wouldn't see that as any excuse to go and get himself killed for a good cause, but felt almost compelled to mention it. "That aside, I like to think my goals are Lady Aisha's goals." Well ... for the most part.

"Not to be judgin' your religious beliefs or anythin', but have ya ever seen any Aisha devotees come back from the dead? I'd be a little skeptical on the truth of that without seein' any evidence," Nadya said.

"I know, and it's a valid concern. It's also something Lady Aisha's detractors and even the rebels themselves never let up about. But if you ask me, there's really no point in bringing back everyone we've lost just yet, not while our country is still so divided. It will only lead to chaos and more innocent people getting killed. I'm ... also beginning to suspect that the fire emblem has something to do with Lady Aisha's promise. She might actually need it in order to fulfill that promise. If that's the case, then the mission she sent Amon, Malik and I on may be the most important one to date."

Not caring about any of this incomprehensible human speech, Luca kept his eye on his surroundings, and before long he picked up one of those strong prevalent scents that he just loathed. Snorting disgustedly a few times, Luca notified them that they were getting close to the meat market ... the place where most herd folk went to die, apparently.

Havin' an emblem piece might be good for Aisha and the rest of the people that live in Sanctuary...but what about everybody else? I can't really give my support without knowin' what she plans to do with it, Nadya pondered to herself before the approaching meat market gave a convenient distraction. "We're probably gonna want a big stand here- we're buyin' in bulk here, not orderin' fancy steaks for ourselves. How much does Isis eat per day anyway?" Nadya asked Haythem.

"Heh, she doesn't eat every day or I might not be having such a hard time of it. I do try to get her something every day, but wyverns are sturdy. They can go quite a stretch if they have to. I'd say let's get her however much we can carry back with us, because I can guarantee you Isis would put all of these people out of business in a couple of hours if she got to eat however much she wanted," Haythem half seriously explained.

"All right, Luca ain't exactly a pack horse but he can carry a decent amount and ya can too I bet. Maybe we should ask around- I don't think I can tell goat from beef on sight. We didn't eat that many herd animals," Nadya explained.

"Oh, alright," Haythem agreed. He put the depressing topic and it's finer points out of mind for the moment and tried to focus on the environment in front of them. He was surprised to only just now begin noticing the smell of meat everywhere. Some of it smelt better than others ... frankly. He was beginning to worry that not all these people were selling fresh or at least well preserved meat and so became a bit suspicious of shadier looking butchers as they went along.

"Hmm," Haythem put a hand on his chin as his gaze leaped from right to left, eyeing sellers on both sides of the road. "Maybe that one? The butcher looks like a nomad almost ... though it might just be too much time spent in the sun." He glanced around spotting another. "Oooor maybe that one. The carcasses look to be about the size of goats ... or pigs ... no no no, pigs are much wider than that. Hm, they might even be lambs, like you mentioned before ..."

Endure, Luca .. endure.

"All right, let's go ask then," Nadya said, walking up to the most recently mentioned seller.

"Howdy, what kinda meat ya sellin' today?" she asked him bluntly.

"Oh ... lamb'chops' mostly," the butcher teased. "What are ya in the market for, folks? There's more in stock than just what's on display out here.

"Do you sell goat meat by any chance?" Haythem humbly and worriedly asked the man.

"Yup, though they don't sell too well around here. It's all about the pork these days, ya know? Anyway, like I said, we've got goat meat, one's still kickin' actually. How do you want it? Live? Sorted? Preserved ...?"

"As much as Isis would appreciate being able to hunt a live goat, I don't think Mister Weyland or his people would appreciate us turning his field into her bloody playground," Haythem mused aloud.

"Did you just say, Weyland? Whew! That's some good fortune ya got there."

To be perfectly honest, I haven't met the man myself just yet. Is it really that big a deal ... knowing him I mean ...?

Wonder if he thinks we're rich now since we know Weyland. "We could always butcher the goat ourselves, Isis would probably like fresher over preserved. You probably know best though," Nadya chimed in.

"Would that be cheaper?" Haythem asked the butcher.

"Yeah. Less work I've got to do myself, less I need to ask for. The goat back there ain't too bad either. At least the fella won't chew your fingers off," the man answered. "It'll be ten silver if ya want'em live."

"Ah ... well that's not so bad," Haythem replied with some surprise. He could afford that, though he was originally hoping to purchase more than a single goat's worth of meat. They might have to stop by another shop if they were going to go for that much.

"Can we see the goat first?" Nadya asked. She wasn't about to let Haythem spend ten silver for some scraggly sad excuse for a goat.

"Wait right there. I'll bring'em around for ya," the butcher said before heading back behind his stand. Haythem wondered if there was an animal pin back there. That seemed to be the case, as the butcher returned with a live goat. It was young, but not so young that it was smaller than a full priced 'adult'.

Luca looked at the goat, wondering where he'd come from and what he was doing here. The goat, likewise, wondered what Luca was doing here.

"So whaddya think? This fella worth ten silver, or are ya thinkin' ya can talk me down?" the butcher asked with a smirk.

Haythem, not being the haggling type, simply shrugged.

"Looks a little scrawny for ten silver," Nadya said, eyeing the creature critically. "I've seen goats that size for five silver."

"Ya think so? I bet ya none'a the others'll sell ya a meal ticket this size for less than nine," the butcher countered.

Haythem and Luca just watched, their eyes darting between Nadya and the butcher. Luca's gaze also fell on the goat from time to time.

"That goat could only make a couple of steaks tops- and I could buy a few steaks for less than nine without all the messy work involved," Nadya responded rather nonchalantly.

"Hah, gotta learn to get the most out of your meat. Not goin' any lower than eight silver. Think you can find one cheaper? I'll see you back here shortly, but don't forget to bring the the money with ya, heheh ..."

"Oh no," Haythem interjected. "If we leave and come back empty-handed, you'll up the price back to ten, possibly even highter. This is one trick I have seen before," he stated firmly.

"All right, eight good with you Haythem?" Nadya asked. She'd have tried to find something cheaper, but it wasn't her purchase and at least she saved a few silver.

"Hmm ... I suppose so," Haythem replied. I hope he's wrong about other shops, though. Isis could probably swallow this goat whole if she was really hungry. I'd feel comfortable buying two of these instead of just one ... or maybe this one and some fresh cuts? Urgh, I'll worry about it once we're done he-wait ... no I should figure this out right now. "One more thing, before we settle up on this. Would you be willing to give us a discount on some extra meat? We don't need it preserved, just fresh. It's going straight into someone's stomach, I assure you."

"Hahah ... you're a nice pair, but you're gonna have to convince me."

"Well, we're taking a live animal off your hands that I doubt you would have sold otherwise. This goat's a male so all you could have gotten from it was meat or fur. If it was female, you could at least add milk to the list, but no such luck. It's not a big one I admit, but I think we're doing you a favor, here," Haythem carefully reasoned while putting on a confident smile.

"Also we're good friends of Professor Seth Weyland- we might mention your stand here around him if ya have good prices," Nadya said. Good friends is definitely a stretch, but a little lyin' is part of the game.

Nadya backed him up without missing a beat and the butcher was successfully swayed. "Alright, I like where this is goin', but you better be sure to let the big man Weyland know about my shop. I'm sure his chefs need a steady supply of fresh meat, after all. I'll cut a quarter off of anything else ya buy from me today. Best damn deal in this market."

"Great! That's just the incentive I needed to buy a few more cuts from here. Let's see ... hmm, four ought to do, right? I think that should tide her over for a while ... at least until we can start hunting again," he mused to himself for a moment. The butcher took this time to lead the goat out from behind the stand over to Nadya. He'd hand over the reins once they handed over the eight silver. Hopefully, Haythem would remember to do so.

All right I suppose I throw in a word to somebody...maybe not Weyland himself we don't really talk. "What do ya call yourself?" she asked the meat seller while waiting for Haythem to pay.

"Name's Joy ... they just call me Joe, and you'd better too. That's what the sign says, after all- ... hm?" Joe turned around to see if his sign was there and while it was, the words had been smeared over in blood. "Ah-a-awwwww ..."

"Hm?" Haythem, who hadn't been paying attention, retrieved what he needed to pay the butcher only to see him frowning at something overhead.

"Ahhh goddess, it's already dry too. I should have seen that one coming ..." Looking a little irritably in Haythem's direction, he held out his palm to receive the silver. Once he had that, he handed him the reins that kept the goat from saving himself, and went back behind the stand. "Just glad I've got a backup. Anyway, how many cuts of goat meat ya want? I don't have any fresh ones right now, 'less ya want me to chop him up for ya real quick," he explained, pointing at the goat momentarily.

"Hahah, no thanks. Uh, salted's fine ... a-and four cuts, please!"

"Alright, be right back. Don't go anywhere." With that, he disappeared into the back again.

"Salted's fine, right?" he asked Nadya.

Nadya shrugged. "I ain't the wyvern feedin' expert around here. Meat in the wild ain't salted, but she's probably gotten used to preserved stuff by now."

"She's had to endure old army rations by the cartload before," Haythem pitifully recalled, seeming horribly guilt ridden by the account.

Joe soon returned with four preserved cuts of goat meat and carefully laid them out atop a large cleaned cloth for Haythem to inspect.

"Oh nice ... no way you got all this from just one goat. I think Isis will really like these, once they're properly prepared. She'll probably like the live goat more though, heheh. So how much?"

"Already paid for the goat, so ya just owe me fifteen for these. That includes your discount by the way."

"You weren't kidding about the prices difference for work involved ... well I don't have fifteen more on me. Do you have change for gold coins?"

"Heh, of course. Don't go buyin' in gold too much if ya don't have to. Gives people the wrong impression." He handed Haythem back the eight silver in addition to seven more in exchange for one gold coin and the transaction was complete. "Anything else?"

Prepared? I just thought you just kinda threw hunks of meat at wyverns and they ate 'em. "I don't plan on spendin' anythin'. Good luck on your business Joe," Nadya said politely before beginning to walk off.

"Have a good one," Joe said, waving goodbye. Now he had to get to swapping out his sign.

As they walked along, Haythem held onto the meat and let Nadya hold the goat's leash and lead it along. "Well it's not much, but it should get her through the next couple of days ... though for me that would be like surviving off of breakfast alone everyday. Should we look for one more shop or head back with what we have for now?" Oh, wait a second, Luca should be carrying these cuts ... at least until we make it back. Oh but if I bring it up now I'll just look lazy ....

"Well livin' off of breakfast alone doesn't sound good at all- a hungry wyvern's not gonna be the best partner. Let's get some more goat," Nadya responded.

"Alright, now let's see ... who else looks like they're selling goats or at least goat meat ..." Haythem looked around as they walked, but was unable to find anything he was sure about. Then, he got a great idea, or at least what he thought was a great idea. "ANYONE SELLING GOAT MEAT HERE?!" he called out. The response was ... overwhelming. Butchers calling to them from every direction. He could almost swear someone was calling down to them from overhead as well, but that seemed ludicrous. Amid all the hollering advertising quality meat, there were also a lot of price mentions that he was trying to catch.

Luca flinched when Haythem began yelling, and then became nervous when they got so much feedback. Luca literally put his hoof down in protest. Now these herd slayers were up to something, and he didn't like it. He kept his eyes on both sides of the road and kept his hind legs ready. He wouldn't be taken alive, though he began to wonder if that was more or less the point with these murderers.

The goat seemed rather indifferent about the whole thing and simply followed Nadya, not testing his leash even once.

Interestin' strategy that... Nadya thought to herself. "I heard three silver a steak over at eight o'clock," Nadya said to Haythem, trying to catch all the sales pitches and comparing them quickly.

"Oh? Right then. Let's head that way," Haythem decided, quickly beginning the walk toward the left side of the road.

"Ahaaah, you two know a good deal when you hear one, I see," the shopkeeper said, rewarding their choice with some flattery.

"Three silver a steak, was that right?" Haythem asked, getting right down to business. He didn't mind the flattery, but it wasn't coming from Nadya, so he wasn't exactly moved by it.

"That's right."

"Two for five silver! That's a better deal," another butcher called out from across the street.

"Oh brother," Haythem groaned. Had he acted too soon, or were they getting close to the point that the lower prices were also indicative of a drop in quality? He couldn't tell just yet, but much of the shouting had stopped. "We'll make a decision after getting a look at what you've got, I guess ..." This might be a good time to load these cuts from Joe onto Luca ... I can't very well inspect anything with these in my arms.

"Two for five silver is a better deal," Nadya agreed, demonstrating her mastery of simple mathematics. "It's your money so ya can decide how the meat quality stacks up to that," she said to Haythem. I'll point out if somethin' seems off though.

"May need your help with that since I sort of have my hands full here," Haythem said, noting the wrapped meat in his arms. He then glanced over at Luca, who looked back at him with a glare.

The butcher came back with his best cuts of steak and carefully presented them to Haythem. "Pretty nice, ey?"

Well yeah, but I probably should have mentioned these are for my wyvern, not Nadya and me. I forgot how small steaks are ... relatively speaking. Maybe we should just get another live goat and let Isis sort out the rest. After all, I can spare another eight silver, no problem.

Nadya took the hint, taking the wrapped steaks from Haythem's arms and placing them into Luca's saddlebags. "Looks decent enough," Nadya commented on the steaks the butcher presented.

"True ... it's definitely worth three silver, but ... do you have anything larger, Mr.? We're trying to feed my wyvern. These aren't really for us."

"What? Oh ... well then ... ... hmm ... I guess that would explain the goat. It'll cost more than three silver for more, but I trust you already know that."

Haythem nodded dejectedly.

"How big is this wyvern of yours?"

"... pretty big." Realizing this wasn't the best description, he added, "Let me put it this way, good sir, she was too big for me to bring through the meat market. She would have caused a lot of damage just walking around in a place like this."

"Well shucks ... ya might as well buy a few more goats if that's the case. I'll sell ya a pair of'em for twenty-four silver."

Haythem did some quick mental math and noted that he was basically paying twelve silver per goat, which was two up from what Joe first offered, but four up from what they actually ended up paying. "Hold on," Haythem said. "I ... think it's haggling time again," he quietly said to Nadya. "Two more goats is a bit of a hassle to head back with but it should more than satisfy Isis for a few days."

"I doubt ya get a lot of buyers for live goats around here. They're just costin' more and more money the longer ya don't sell or decide to butcher em. Twelve silver for both of the goats," Nadya offered to the man.

"You won't be getting me to sell them at two for one when you've already got one yourselves," the butcher commented. "I don't mind letting them both go for ... twenty-two, though. How much did you pay for that little guy there, though? Curious."

Twenty-two? He's trying to make eleven off of each of them, huh? I guess I can't blame him, but ... oh crap he wants to know how much we paid for this one? If we tell him, Nadya won't be able to get him below that price. Sixteen isn't too brutal on my coin purse, but I'd still like to pay as little as possible, here. "Oh ... he wasn't too expensive, heheh," Haythem tried to evade the question.

"Six silver," Nadya responded quickly. "He ain't that little either- if your goats are significantly bigger they might be worth a little more, but we'd have to see the goods to judge that."

"Six silver? For that one? ... guess the guy knew you folks were his only chance of getting the thing off his hands. You wait right there, I'll go bring you back a real pair of goats and then you'll see why twenty-two's a good deal," the butcher said before heading for the pen to get his goats.

"Well ... here we go again," Haythem remarked. "I think we're doing well so far," he quietly added.

"We'll get him outta double digits at least...how quickly is Isis gonna go through all this goat?" Nadya asked Haythem quietly.

"That's entirely up to me, I think. She'll eat as much as she can, while she can, so unless I ration these out to her, she'll be finished with every last bit of goat meat within a couple of hours," he explained embarrassingly. "Her instincts haven't really gone anywhere, so she'll eat until she's ready to burst." The biggest downside to caring for bull wyverns in a foreign country seemed to be triple the food expenses.

Seems like a wyvern's awfully expensive. "Might wanna ration it out then- if ya don't know where you're gonna be goin' it could be quite some time before ya can buy meat again," Nadya advised.

"Very true. I may even need to consider finding some part time work until we find a lead on this emblem hunt. There's not much reason to leave the city until we do, at least not if this Weyland man is willing to put up with us for awhile. Hey, there's an idea; maybe he'd hire us on for a bit."

The butcher soon returned with two of his own goats. They were a bit chubby, but given their purpose, this was likely a good thing. They were each tied to a separate leash, both of which the butcher held in his hand. "See these two here? Nice and plump for your wyvern. Now I don't want to hear anything about six per, these two are bigger and better than the one you've already got there. Twenty-two."

"Fourteen," Haythem countered, a bit reflexively.

"... twenty."

"They're all right...but we're takin' two goats off your hands. Sixteen," Nadya counter offered.

"... eighteen. No lower. You may be taking them off my hands, but I've got to make a living, here."

Nine for each ...? It's one more than what we paid for this guy but they are bigger, so I guess we're still coming out ahead, Haythem mused.

"Your decision Haythem," Nadya said, shrugging. The butcher seemed to have dug in and it wasn't her wyvern to feed. At least it ain't twelve each...

"Hmm ... alright, we'll take them for eighteen. That's nine each, and though I hate to be paying more, I understand your position, here." The butcher nodded while Haythem fetched his money. "Umm ... do you have change for gold? I sort of ran into this problem before, heheh ..."

"Yeah I'll give you twelve silver and the goats in exchange for a gold coin."

"Alright then." Haythem handed over the coin and took the leashes for the goats but waited for the change. Meanwhile, the butcher turned around so as not to be seen while checking the gold coin. He bit down on it to make sure it was a real one. Once he was satisfied, he got the twelve silver and handed that over to Haythem as well. "Thank you."

"It's been a pleasure. Stop by again sometime if you need more meat for your wyvern."

Luca wasn't sure what to make of these three new traveling companions. What were they here for? They certainly weren't mounts since they were too small for humans to ride them ... without looking silly, at least. While Luca tried to figure out the purpose of these three new herdlings, Haythem led the group out the way they came. "This should do for now, I think. This was fun. A little intimidating, but fun."

"Yeah, gettin' your money's worth is always fun. Hope Isis likes the goats after all this work though," Nadya said, pausing for a bit to readjust her goat handling. "So...anythin' ya wanted to ask me about?" she asked innocently.

"Talk about ...? Uhh ..." Haythem quickly began rummaging through his recent memories to try and find a relevant topic, and not just any relevant topic, but one that he'd wanted to bring up at some point but hadn't yet. He was having trouble coming up with anything that wasn't an all too soon proposal, so he began to get nervous. Blast it, I know I'm forgetting something here besides THAT. Uh ... "Come to think of it, there was something, but it must have slipped my mind while we were shopping." I'm not sure if I just bought myself some time or buried myself in a mound, but I've got to think harder.

"All right then, it'll come to mind soon enough I'm sure," she responded neutrally. Maybe Amon misinterpreted or Haythem changed his mind...I wasn't real keen on some fancy ball anyway.

Edited September 19, 2013 by Phoenix

[Phoenix]

[spoiler=The Status Quo]Once again, the dark masked figure appeared in the city of Europa. They rode a pegasus whose coat was so dark, it seemed to naturally resist the light. The figure dismounted at the gates of Weyland's estate and approached the guards there. Oddly enough, they recognized the person.

One guard waved to get the other's attention. "Eyes peeled, it's this clown again."

"Who are you calling a clown?" the masked figure asked. "I'm here to see Mr. Weyland. Will you let me pass, or will you send for him instead?" they asked as they came to a stop a few feet from the gate.

"Tch, yeah we'll see if he wants to see you this time," the guard irritably replied. Before long they'd sent a messenger to the main building to track down Weyland and relay the news of a visitor.

The masked figure waited patiently for the moment, choosing to do so over by their steed. Meanwhile, inside the manse, Weyland and Anna's design work was interrupted by one of the employees looking for Weyland. "Sir, you've got another visitor at the gate. It's some creepy pegasus rider with a hood and a mask."

"Please don't tell me it's Ryder," Weyland muttered, partly to himself and partly to the informant. Deciding to find out for himself, he took a break from his work and said, "Bring them to ... bring them to the patio out back. I'll be there shortly."

"You got it."

Eventually, back at the front gate, someone from the main building approached and called out. "Let'em in! I'll take it from here!"

"I hope the boss knows what he's doing ..." one of the guards said. The gates were open, and the masked figure took a hold of the pegasus' reins and began to lead the mount in, following closely behind the escort.

"So, tell me," the escort began, about a third of the way to the mansion. "... what brings you here today?"

"I'm delivering a message. That's all," the masked figure said simply.

"Really? From who?"

"You may be better off not knowing. Your employer has involved himself in some very dangerous business."

"Spooky ... really," the escort replied with something of a blank expression. "What's with the mask, anyway? Hiding something? Scars maybe?"

"Buzz off," the masked figure retorted.

"Relax, it's just some harmless questions."

Soon, they had arrived at the patio after going around the main building and Weyland was waiting for them there and had even already taken a seat and lit up his pipe. "Thank you for bringing them here. You can wait over there," Weyland said, pointing into the distance. The escort knew Weyland just wanted him out of earshot and nodded before walking off.

"Weyland ..." There was no response. In fact, Weyland ended up taking a puff from his pipe instead. "That isn't good for your health."

"Yes, well neither are you, but at least one helps with stress. Now what do you want, Ryder? Or more specifically, what does she want?" Weyland angrily asked.

"She knows what you're up to, and she's not pleased. You're skirting the bounds again, Weyland."

"Oh gods ..." Weyland said, rolling his eyes and leaning back in his seat.

"The gods can't help you," Ryder said, shaking their head a few times. "She isn't angry ... not yet, but this needs to stop. Your 'dampener system' is a part of Project Providence. You just repurposed it for use on a ground vehicle. That's clever, very clever ... but she knows you and your schemes. You were told to stop working on that project in its entirety."

"The bloody hell ... do I have a spy now?" Weyland sighed heavily and then added, "Tell her that I have no intention of continuing with that project, but she never said anything about its components."

"She accepts part of the blame for not being completely clear on the particulars, but you know why she does this. We're too close to the edge now, the point between stability and continental war. She needs you to crush Hammer's ambitions and rein in your own people to keep that from happening. If you fail to do so, she will destroy you all in one fell swoop, just like all of the others in the past. She's been flexible up to this point, and even allowed you to spearhead her efforts in keeping technological developments in Ursium in line with her expectations, but should she come to regret that decision, Weyland Enterprises and Hammer Industries ... are going down."

Weyland took a moment to reflect on Ryder's warning and then took another puff from his pipe before looking Ryder in the mask and saying, "You know I've been hearing some interesting things of late. One of the most interesting actually does concern one of the gods. Apparently one of them is coming here. Does that factor into any of her plans?"

"... ... I don't know. Frankly, I don't wish to know."

"It just seems odd that we're holding back now of all times, that's all. I've received your message loud and clear. You can go, now," Weyland waved Ryder off.

"One more thing, Weyland. She knows how difficult this is for you, but continue the work. You won't have to do things like this for the rest of your days. Just keep that in mind ... that's also why you should watch your health. You want to be around long enough to do things your own way, don't you?"

"I rather doubt we'll reach a point where she's fine letting humans run around unchecked," Weyland disinterestedly retorted.

"You have to live if you want to see it, and there's no telling what the future holds. That's it then, I'll see myself out now. I've got places to be."

A little later on, Weyland sent for Connor and Gabbie. The two were instructed to meet him at the entrance to the 'shelter', a part of the main building that was more like an underground bunker. It housed dozens of Weyland's top innovations. Each project had its own room and resources dedicated to it, but most weren't finished, as Weyland's efforts were focused on specific technology. Some had been sitting dormant for years. Weyland eventually led them down into the shelter and began explaining himself once they were inside. The door leading to the staircase was shut behind them, making it a private conversation.

"Gabbie, you're going to have to just listen for the most part. I don't want to hear any of your wise cracks. This is a serious issue."

"Why am I even here, then?" Gabbie immediately asked.

"You spend the most time with Connor and so I'm hoping that instead of running your mouth to the world, you'll be a support to him. I'll rarely be available for such things," Weyland explained. "Now come along. I need to show you something so that I can properly explain the situation."

Curiosity ate away at Connor after he was sent for. I doubt this is about any new vehicle transport- Raquel or someone would have been invited as well. Uncle Seth's words to Gabbie also brought some concern. Some kind of serious situation- maybe there was a theft of a prototype weapon or something..."I'm ready," he answered his uncle simply, trusting that matters would be illuminated soon enough.

"Alright then ..." Weyland led the two to a particularly large door down the hall of doors. One oddity in all of this is that they had gone quite a long way already. By the time they had reached their destination in the shelter, Gabbie could tell they weren't even under the main building anymore. They were somewhere further back, likely under the testing grounds the tanks used. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't something he wanted kept right under the main building.

"Help me out here, Gabbie," he said as they reached the end off the hall. He began trying to open a rather big door. Gabbie took one end, and he took the other. Once it was open, there was still a bit of mystery, as the inside of the room was pitch black. The air was also a bit stagnant. "Well then ... time to introduce you two to my most important, and now least favorite project. This ... is Project Providence." He then walked into the seemingly large dark room and the sound of his footsteps changed. He had begun stepping onto a wooden walkway which meant this room had multiple floors to it. Weyland then, after making a left at the entrance and approaching a wall, began trying to move a distinct section of it. Gabbie kept staring into the utter blackness until Weyland finished.

FInally, once the section moved, it completed the markings of a rune that sent light magic coursing tracks in the walls. The room was illuminated in seconds, revealing an underground garage with not one but three floors. They were on the third floor, and below them, in the center of the garage, was a large, strange looking construction. It was aerodynamic in shape and even had wings. There were numerous holes carved out of the fuselage, likely places where various types of runes would be fitted, but Gabbie couldn't be sure. All she knew for certain, was that Weyland was further ahead of his time than she first suspected.

That's an airship ... an actual airship in Sardius ... she thought to herself while looking at the thing. Now she was nervous about what Weyland was about to speak with them about.

Connor looked up at the large construction, temporarily speechless. Could it be...? No wonder Uncle wanted to keep this secret. "Is this...an airship?" he asked to try and confirm his suspicions. "It certainly looks like it's designed for flight- how in the world could Project Providence be your least favorite project?" he asked his uncle, finding that statement incredibly baffling after the reveal. This project could revolutionize travel all over Sardius- trade, warfare, everything could become faster and easier if we could get this design to be fully operational...

Gabbie stayed quiet for the moment, just like she was asked, though her motivations had nothing to do with that. In truth, she was simply in shock to see something like this right on Weyland's property. I think I'm gonna be sick ... how did I miss this thing ...?

"Well, Connor, it's my least favorite project now, because it's the very one that got me introduced to something a lot bigger than just myself or my company. Have you noticed that it's only been in the last hundred years or so that we've begun to really make strides in both normal and rune technology? Well it's that way by design, and Providence is a victim of that design."

A victim? There's no way the government could be behind something like that. They'd welcome this sort of thing with open arms. There must be a vasilus involved here, Gabbie deduced.

"For as long as Ursium has existed, there has been at least one vasilus, working from the shadows, hindering the pace of technological development or guiding it down certain paths. For generations she's done away with any foolhardy enough to challenge her plans. Her name, is Nyx."

Damn, Gabbie cursed to herself. This had been a bit closer to home than she thought.

Connor raised an eyebrow at his uncle's reply. "I've heard of Nyx guiding humanity's pursuit of knowledge, but I always assumed that she would be helping somehow, not getting in the way. Why would the gods create a vasilus that would stop us from making everybody's lives better? That doesn't make any Wrathdamn sense," he said, scowling.

"I dont completely understand her intentions, Connor, but what I do know is that she is intent on preventing certain technologies from seeing the light of day. She apparently isn't opposed to them on principle, only 'for the time being' as Ryder puts it. Still, she's been doing this for ages. There's no telling how many aspiring inventors she's dispatched in order to keep to her design and maintain whatever counts as stability in this world."

"So, why hasn't she 'dispatched' you yet, and what does that even mean? If she killed them, why don't you just say that?" Gabbie chimed in.

"Nyx doesn't kill physical bodies ... she kills minds. I don't know why, but if someone like me were to openly go against her wishes, she could take away their memories, alter them entirely, put them in everlasting comas, or drive them to complete and utter insanity. Instead of being harsh with me when I came close to completing this project, she instead extended an offer ... one I ... obviously couldn't refuse. Of course, as part of it, I had to agree to help her in any way I could. This doesn't prevent me from 'presenting wonderful innovations to the world' but it does put me in a bind when something truly revolutionary comes to mind. She explained some dark history to me, and so I understand her a little, but only a little, and it's not the best position to be in. I'm also afraid that this may be a problem you'll be inheriting someday, Connor."

"You can build tanks, but not airships?" Gabbie asked, sounding a little peeved and skeptical.

"The woman's grip isn't so tight that nothing new will emerge. The Recusants were designed to impact morale, but not the outcome of the war. If you haven't noticed, they haven't revolutionized the way we fight in the slightest. That is why I was able to get away with such inventions. That's not to say the woman enjoys my workarounds, but I wouldn't be standing here if I'd crossed some red line."

"So... Nyx doesn't want technology to advance too far too quickly and if it does she'll make the creator comatose or insane or something?" Connor asked incredulously. "We can't just give up on Project Providence though, we could..." he paused for a little while, this was not an easy problem to solve. "Maybe we could talk to Lilith about it the next time we see her? Aren't vasili supposed to keep each other in line?" Not an ideal solution, but we can't exactly shoot a cannon at a vasilus and hope the problem goes away.

"I doubt Lilith cares about any of this, what with Wrath ready to rain himself down upon us and what have you," Gabbie muttered.

"It's not so simple," Weyland began. "I don't disagree entirely with what Nyx is doing, in fact I agreed to help her with this to an extent, as I said, but I do believe she's being paranoid and overly cautious. After all, one thing I can't seem to reconcile with her is exactly what this 'stability' of hers is. On the one hand, it would be wise to withhold certain technologies until humanity is ready to handle the responsibilities of such power. We've barely earned the right to wield alchemy and magic in general, but it's in use all over Sardius and that's just one example. Of course, on the other hand, it's unclear if humanity is meant to fight or not. If peace and total pacifism are so ideal to these beings, why don't they, the vasili, or even the gods, do more in order to obtain it? It seems that so long as we exist, the overall situation is either inherently stable or unstable ... but obviously she believes otherwise."

"I suppose advancing too quickly before we understand what we're doing could have disastrous impacts," Connor conceded. "Still though- what do you mean by helping her? Wouldn't stopping or impeding scientific progress be against everything Weyland Enterprises stands for?" he asked.

"That's true; it is the appalling irony of my work. Fortunately, Weyland Enterprises is not the only company at work here. With Hammer Industries around, I'm able to focus less on sabotaging total progress and our own work, and more on subverting their dangerous projects. If not for patent laws and our resources, it just wouldn't be possible without a direct confrontation. Still, whether that company is dissolved or bought out by Weyland Enterprises, it likely won't be enough to put an end to all of this stability nonsense," Weyland explained.

"No wonder you drink and smoke all the toime. This is some stressful stuff you've gotten yourself into," Gabbie commented.

"Is Hammer Industries even in danger of attracting Nyx's attention? Given what they've come out with so far, I really don't think they're close to anything like this any time soon," Connor said, gesturing towards the airship.

"I mentioned feeling that she was paranoid, didn't I?" Weyland replied. "However, to be fair, they're likely keeping some of their own secret projects hidden that she knows about. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if she was pitting us against each other. With both companies going after each other toward her own purpose, the threat of speedy progression in this region through these companies goes away for a time."

Gabbie sighed at that. She hated the idea of the whole company being a pawn ... worse, being a pawn set against another pawn controlled by the same person. To her, these were the worst kinds of wars.

"It doesn't truly benefit her to destroy our two companies outright, since we tend to absorb a lot of creative minds. Without Weyland Enterprises and Hammer Industries around, we'd likely see a rapid increase in independent researchers on the scene, seeking funding from the government or the nobility in order to pursue their own ambitions. With our companies reining in and funding these people while guiding their research toward our goals, she can easily keep us all under watch and under control. That's my theory on this, at least."

"Seems like a flawed idea to me- competition often encourages technological innovation and consolidating resources into big companies is more effective overall. Dozens of independent researchers wouldn't be able to accomplish what Weyland Enterprises has," Connor argued. "At least she's not trying to destroy your mind or break up the company- although I guess every big project we make will get shut down," he added, sighing. Of all the issues a new invention could have, a nosy vasilus stopping it was unexpected and seemed impossible to stop.

"It's true, her approach shouldn't be working quite so well, and for a human, it couldn't possibly pan out like this, but our hands are tied the moment we consider what she could do to us at a moment's notice. It isn't all bad news, though. We can and we should use this stagnation to our advantage. Technology isn't going to race on ahead of us so we should try and find an alternative to what Nyx is currently doing. In this way, we can solve both our problems in the end. I didn't bring you down here to discourage you, Connor, but you are old enough to know about such things, and I don't want all of this to suddenly fall into your lap later on should something happen to me."

"Nothing's going to happen to you Uncle," Connor protested, pushing all thoughts on that matter out of his mind. "Thank you for telling me about all of this- we'll find some way to get around Nyx, I'm sure of it," he tried to say with confidence.

Weyland was glad to see that Connor wasn't taking this too hard, nor was he planning a suicidal rebellion against Nyx, but he still felt the need to warn his nephew. "Age likely isn't a factor for that woman, so promise me you won't do anything to upset her. Neither Gabbie nor Anna can protect you from her ..."

Tempting as it is to antagonize a vasilus ... this ... might not be the right one for me ... Gabbie mused.

"I'm...not sure I can make that promise Uncle. I don't know if what I do will make Nyx want to intervene or not and I don't plan to stop inventing all together," he answered truthfully.

"You should be fine for the time being. I'm the one in the spotlight at the moment ... but don't antagonize the woman," Weyland suggested.

"This has apparently been going on for awhoile already, but what made you decoide to tell us about it today of all days? We've got enough to worry about," Gabbie asked.

Weyland crossed his arms and legs and began leaning against the inside of the door frame. "I got an unexpected visit by Nyx's messenger. The dampener system, a lightening device I designed to make the Providence light enough for sustained flight, is being retrograded to avoid suspicion and scaled down to fit onto the transport we'll be building for Connor and Raquel. Nyx already knows about it, however, and sent Ryder to deliver her reprimand."

"Must be pretty awesome ..."

"There's truly no end to the applications of an array of disks that can lower the weight of anything they're attached to, but they were meant for this project and so they're associated with it as far as she's concerned, but admittedly the tech could change the world of and by itself. The deflectors have far too many limitations by comparison."

"So, we're not allowed to use these dampeners to lighten the new Dauntless either?" Connor clarified. "That's going to make design significantly more difficult."

"I'm still trying to create a less 'offending version that will only function properly with the new transport, but it's going to take some time, and there are no guarantees. I don't often have to work backwards so much as work forwards very carefully," Weyland explained. "I didn't hear anything from her when the deflectors were created, nor when they were put to use, so something between that and the dampener system, the successor to the deflector system, should be adequate for us, and fine for her as well."

"Almost sounds loike a woife keeping her husband's schemes in check. You sure can pick'em, Weyland," Gabbie teased, though she had a sympathetic look on her face, almost like she pitied him for what was happening here.

"I don't want to think about a pairing that absurd, Gabbie, I really don't," Weyland replied as he pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.

Connor frowned at Gabbie's comment, finding it in poor taste given the circumstances. "At least she's giving us some room- we'll just have to do our best under her guidelines for now I suppose," he said, sighing.

[spoiler=Into Darkness] When all was said and done, Shadrak had only managed to recruit Veronika, Amon, and Reign for the investigation. It was just as well, since a large group might be suspicious or even start something unintended, but it was also a bit odd to him. One thing that had him concerned was Reign. When he'd asked the nomad why he was going too, all he got was some barely believable crap about being an extra pair of eyes and ears for Raquel. He ended up concluding that he was just bored.

It was obvious why Amon was tagging along. He was likely hoping they had a vault full of 'fake' emblem pieces and that he might be able to convince them to part with at least one of the things. Made sense to Shadrak. Veronika on the other hand, he wasn't so sure about. Maybe she felt there had to be at least one group leader present for something like this. Or maybe she just didn't trust him to handle it since he himself was a disciple of the order, even if not officially. Fortunately she at least trusted him to 'translate'. Maybe she was just curious? He would have asked, but it invited questions he didn't want to have to deal with.

When they arrived at the Grand Cathedral, it was surprisingly ... crowded. It wasn't time for any of the four order's services, and it wasn't even the right day for any of those activities. There were no holy days coming up that he knew about ... so what was going on? As they ascended the steps and approached the main entrance to the Grand Cathedral, Shadrak and Reign began picking up bits and pieces about what was going on. Sounds like people are just talking about the ball for the most part.

Reign's eyes darted every which way as they went up the steps. Some people seem to like the idea of the princess being engaged to this Lord Terrel guy ... some don't. Figures. Not sure why they're all talking about it here of all places. Is the Archbishop making a public announcement today or what?

Certainly a busy day... Veronika thought to herself, making her way through the crowd. She could gather that the news of the city was the ball and the princess's engagement. Not surprising, weddings between nobility are often of public interest...but why cluster here?

She turned to Reign, thinking he'd have best knowledge of this situation, and got close to him, speaking in a low voice. "Is it common in Ursium for people to congregate at this hour? I thought services mainly met in the mornings," she said.

"It's a little odd, yeah. The ball talk isn't surprising, but I'd expect them to be off somewhere else right about now," Reign replied. Musing a bit, he continued, "Maybe someone from one of the four orders is about to make some public address."

Shadrak didn't comment for the time being and instead kept his eyes forward until they reached the entrance to the Grand Cathedral. Here they were ... and Shadrak didn't have a plan. They had to handle this intelligently or they might get turned away immediately. He kept going through it in his mind over and over again, trying to figure out who they had to speak to and how to inquire about the fake emblem sightings. I can't think of anything that's sure to work, but I guess that's just the way it usually goes. Though ... no that won't work. That priestess from before is probably the one we should be talking to about this, but she's probably in Ursentius since that's where we met her last time. Maybe we can ask about her and find someone closely related to her who'd be willing to explain the situation to us. After we talk with them, maybe we can get them to show us the records ... doubtful, but we've got to try something.

"Hmm, hopefully the people's attention will be on whatever's causing this commotion and not us. Our business should be kept as secret as possible," she cautioned. "What are our plans after we get inside anyway- is there someone specific we plan to talk to?" she asked, turning to Shadrak who seemed to be leading the way for the moment.

"Uhh, first thing's first. We ask about that priestess from that one fight we got into, back in Ursentius," Shadrak quietly explained as they stepped into the building. "I forgot her name, by the way. Do either of you remember?"

Amon was silent for a moment, trying to recall it himself. He couldn't, unfortunately, though, he did figure that people around here remembered who she was. If they ran into Joanna or Remiel, people they did know, that might be enough to start.

"I do not remember her name either- there was a lot going on that day," Veronika remarked, trying to recall the church in Ursentius. "We may have to ask around to see anyone knows someone with her description- or if anyone else has the information we're looking for. The latter may raise some suspicion however," she noted.

"Yeah let's stick to finding out what her name was first, then seeing if she's here, then asking her ourselves. If that doesn't work, we might have to try to find some more willing people to talk to," Shadrak explained the plan that was coming together.

"Just remember, we can't push too hard here. We'll have to give up on this if they don't want to share what they know," Reign noted. The last thing he wanted to do was snoop around and risk getting attacked inside the cathedral. It was a holy place, but that didn't mean they weren't willing to spill blood inside the place to protect its secrets.

"What do you think is going to happen?" Shadrak angrily inquired, looking over his shoulder back at Reign.

"Something stupid," Reign irritably answered, keeping eye contact with Shadrak until he looked away again.

That was when Shadrak was forced to stop in his tracks or risk bumping into one of the clergy. "Oh, I'm sorry," he immediately said, raising his arms somewhat defensively.

"Hello there. What brings you here today? Are you here to make a donation, pray, set up an appointment with one of the ministry, or for a special service? I'd like to help if I may," the man in white replied. He seemed to be in a good mood despite how many dozens of people he must have said this to already. That was when Shadrak started trying to recall what he could remember the priestess' appearance. Amon on the other hand was trying to decide whether to ask for someone else first, like Remiel or Joanna, or try and describe the priestess instead. Reign, with nothing better to do, waited quietly.

Veronika nodded in agreement at Reign's response, before Shadrak bumped into the man in white. Since none of the gentlemen seemed inclined to answer, she decided to speak up. "We're here for an appointment with a priestess of Truth, but we can't recall her name. Looks to be about my age, dark purple hair, very pretty?" she asked, hoping her recollection of her appearance was sufficient.

"Ah, you must be talking about Priestess Io," the man replied almost immediately.

Well that was easy, Reign thought to himself. Now to see if she's actually here or back in Ursentius.

Amon couldn't help but smile embarrassingly to himself. It was such a tiny name, he was surprised he'd forgotten at all. Shadrak didn't miss a step and followed up with, "Is she in town? We really need to have a word with her if it's possible."

"Now that, I'm not quite sure of. Some of the orders' members make frequent trips between Europa and the capital, Priestess Io included. You'll have to check with her peers within the Order of Truth to find out. I'd be happy to escort you to their quarter of the building," the man offered.

"We appreciate this. Thanks. ... lead the way."

And so the robed man led the way to the main hall of the Order of Truth. It was considerably less well lit than most other areas, creating a darker and more unsafe atmosphere. As if that wasn't suspicious enough, of all the places, this one seemed nearly abandoned. Shadrak was expecting to see more than just a handful of acolytes chatting off in the corners of the main hall. "Here we are," said the man in white robes. "Now let's see ... mostly acolytes here. We should be looking for an actual priest."

Are they trying to make some kind of point with this poor lighting? Reign mused while scanning around for more important looking people.

"Can I help you?" said one of the acolytes as they approached.

"Why yes, we're hoping to find out whether Priestess Io is currently staying here," the man answered. It couldn't hurt to ask a mere acolyte if no one else was around.

The acolyte nodded. "Yes, she is."

Good! I wanted to speak with the woman herself ... though I guess I should be careful. If we tell her the emblem piece is real, there's no telling what she'll do in response, Shadrak told himself. Stepping forward, he said, "We'd like to see her as soon as possible."

Reign glanced away irritably. A bit forceful ey, Shadrak?

The acolyte slowly looked them all over, taking about ten seconds to do so before finally responding. "Alright, you'll have to follow closely. These halls can become quite dark further in."

And whose fault is that, I wonder?

"Well it seems my work here is done. I truly hope all goes well for you," the man in white robes said before beginning to bow out.

Well that was fortuitous. "Thank you for your assistance," she said to the man in white, before following behind the acolyte. Why isn't there lighting in this part of the cathedral...and what am I going to ask Priestess Io? she thought to herself.

After the man left and they began following the young acolyte, he led them into a dark hallway. He hadn't been joking about how dark it was. The distance between candles was just enough to create an even more foreboding atmosphere than that of the main hall. Shadrak found it somewhat reminiscent of a dungeon, but not so rundown. In fact it was surprisingly well kept from what he could see ... at least there were no spider webs, puddles, dirt, fractures in the walls, rats, or other telltale signs of a death pit.

"What do you want to speak with Priestess Io about?" the acolyte asked them without glancing back at them.

Damn. This hallway must be long enough for this kid to have time to interrogate us, Reign concluded.

Shadrak, hoping to try and withhold their greater purpose here until they were at least in front of the woman herself, spoke first, answering, "She tried to explain something to us during our first meeting. We didn't fully grasp what she was trying to tell us, so now we're trying to find her again so we can have a deeper discussion about it. It's a private matter ..." Hopefully he buys that and doesn't try to pry again. It's too hard to think up a solid lie on the spot, so the best thing to do is to be extremely vague.

Nice touch there at the end, Shadrak. I thought for sure you were going to screw that up.

"I see. The priestess often does offer invaluable advice to those who would listen. We aren't far off, now."

Amon, who was trailing at the back of the group, looked back down the way they came. He noticed that they weren't being followed, though he wouldn't be completely sure with all of the shadows around them. Still, it looked like the coast was clear behind them. He began thinking about what they might say to Io. She wasn't necessarily an ally, but not necessarily an enemy either, so he wasn't sure just how much they could risk telling her. If too much or too little information was given, she might not be sympathetic enough to oblige them and show them their records. I just wish we knew one way or another if there were any emblem pieces here. If there aren't any, then I can focus on those records and those alone and hopefully find some leads. Wait!

Having just remembered the trinket he carried, he reached for it only to stop halfway. He kept in pace with the others, but now his arms were awkwardly frozen as he walked. I can't check just yet. This place is so dark, I won't be able to check it without being noticed. Amon let his arms hang loosely again as he walked and put his head down for the moment. Not yet. I'll check soon ... but not just yet.

Are all of the religious orders so odd or is this just a Truth thing? Maybe it's something philosophical, like you can see more in the darkness or somesuch, Veronika mused as she walked along, looking around cautiously. She wasn't expecting an ambush, but poor visibility always made her nervous.

Finally, after some time walking, they reached the end of the hallway, having passed a few other passages to get this far. "Wait here a moment," the acolyte said before disappearing down the right hallway. It wasn't quite the dead end it appeared to be. They had come to a 'T' in the hallway. Shadrak began wondering what was down either hall as they waited there.

Once Reign felt the acolyte was out of sight, he quietly spoke up. "Do we have an approach here? What's your impression of Io from the last time around?" he asked the group in general.

"She was...vague and rather enigmatic. I would be careful about what information we divulge as we don't know what side she's on," Veronika cautioned. She elected not to mention that she wasn't even sure who all the sides were at this point.

"I guess I could try reminding her of the incident at the church and then lead into things by asking her how she knew the emblem was fake," Shadrak chimed in. "If it looks natural to her, we might get somewhere with this. We don't need to mention that it isn't actually a fake, since that might get us way off track here. We'll just focus on her, her reasoning, and try to find out anything we can about these supposed 'fake emblems'."

"Sounds alright. I'll leave it to you two, then. Amon, what are you going to be doing? Just listening?" Reign asked.

"Well," Amon glanced down at the belt pouch he was keeping his trinket in. "I was thinking of testing for emblem pieces, but we're in a really dark area and-" "That's perfect," Shadrak interrupted. "Well yeah ... but ..."

"See, we can't really tell if they have any emblem pieces here or not just by deducing things and testing theories. We need a guaranteed way to find out for sure, and your little beacon can do that for us. Look, the acolyte's not back yet, so carefully peek at it and see if you've got a response. If there is one, then we know that regardless of what Io says, this place has an emblem piece."

"Wait a minute, Shadrak. Amon, are we far enough away from Raquel for it to not pick her up?" Reign interjected.

"Yes and no. It should still be shining a little bit with Raquel being only some miles from here, but if there's an emblem piece somewhere in this building, it should be noticeably brighter. It'll get like that the closer we get to one."

"Perfect," Shadrak repeated with smirk.

Where the hell is that acolyte anyway? Why leave us stranded in a hall like this? I can't help but feel like someone's spying on us, Reign thought.

"Did your trinket pick up any readings on your travels here Amon?" Veronika asked. She was curious as to whether Amon's device only reacted to Raquel's emblem piece or if it reacted to 'fake emblems'...if there even were such a thing as fake emblems.

"Figures I didn't remember to check it until a minute ago, but there haven't been any valid detections since we ran into you guys again," Amon explained with a grimace. "That's one of the downsides to this thing. It's supposed to respond to any emblem piece nearby, even if it's just Raquel's piece or ... Raquel herself. I haven't checked it since we were at the estate, so the fact that it was shining brightly there is no surprise."

"Okay, the suspense is not welcome right now; just pull it out really quick," Shadrak urged Amon.

Amon scowled at Shadrak for a moment and then reached into the pouch. He didn't even have to remove the trinket to confirm their suspicions. The rays of light escaped the pouch as soon as he opened it. Noticing this, he immediately closed it and looked at the group in surprise. "... there's an emblem piece somewhere in this building ... no doubt about it."

Shadrak crossed his arms and began eyeing his surroundings with distrust. "So no matter what she says, we at least know there is a piece somewhere in the Grand Cathedral."

"Let's just hope they have it and not the Wrathites," Reign noted.

"So either Raquel's clone is here...which is unlikely, or there's a totally separate piece located somewhere around here. I suggest we keep this knowledge to ourselves for the time being. I doubt whoever has this emblem piece wants us to be finding it and this is not a good time or place to have an armed conflict," she warned in a hushed tone.

"Agreed," Shadrak and Reign said in unison. That prompted them to look at each other quizzically.

Amon took this time to make sure his pouch was shut securely so that none of the light would escape. With that finished, they only had to wait for the acolyte or Io to show up for the investigation to begin proper. He wondered what would happen next though. Shadrak wasn't likely to back down if turned away at this point, and frankly, Amon wasn't sure he could just walk away from this, either. There was definitely an emblem piece nearby, and with no other information available, he felt compelled to learn more at the very least.

They didn't have to wait long, as the acolyte returned with a sleepy Io at his side. "Priestess Io," he introduced the group to her. "If there's nothing else, I'll be going now." He didn't seem to wait for a reply and began heading back the way he came.

Io stood there for a moment and then covered her mouth as she yawned. The gazes of the three men in the group darted back and forth between each other, Veronika, and Io. It was a somewhat awkward situation with her looking too tired for a conversation. "It's like waking up at three in the morning ..." she groaned. "Can I help you?"

"It's after three in the afternoon; what kind of schedule are you on?" Shadrak asked, though his tone was a little insensitive.

"I'm nocturnal for the time being," she lazily answered.

"Sorry to interrupt your nap, but we were wondering if you remembered our group from back in Ursentius? We were attacked in the church and you said that our companion's piece of the Fire Emblem was a 'fake' of sorts?" Veronika asked, trying to jog Io's memory. I'd offer to come back later, but we may not have another opportunity like this.

"Hmm? Are you the same people that Alastor went after? That was ... unfortunate." It seemed she did remember. Wiping her eyes with one of her hands, she continued. "Yes, I remember that emblem piece your pink haired friend had with her. Did you not like my analysis?"

Of course not, because your 'analysis' was WRONG. What we need to find out is WHY it was wrong, and whether or not you just don't know what you're doing or are hiding something from us, Shadrak silently ranted. "What makes you say it's a fake exactly? Do you have any evidence? Do you actually know for certain?"

You don't have to be so rude, Shadrak. We need to be careful, here, Amon thought to himself.

"I vaguely recall mentioning this before, but we keep records of alleged emblem pieces we come across. I suppose the only requirement for one being considered a 'real' part of the fire emblem is that it be able to perform various technically impossible tasks ... though 'impossible tasks' is always within a certain context." After that bit of musing, she asked them directly, "Was I wrong? Has that girl's 'emblem piece' performed any miracles lately? Is that why you're here?"

"N-no ..." Shadrak clumsily replied. Crap, does she know?! I can't read this girl!

The way she talks ... she's either onto us and screwing around or she's just figuring this out quickly. It's starting to feel like both sides are trying to get the other to come out first, Reign thought while analyzing the situation.

"Certain parties have asserted that the emblem is indeed real and we are seeking out the truth of the matter," Veronika said, trying not to reveal either too much or too little. "We were hoping that the records of these alleged emblem pieces may help to illuminate matters."

Careful, Veronika, Shadrak thought.

"Oh no, you want to poke around through our records, don't you ...?" Io asked, seeming depressed about the idea. "Hmm ..."

Well that doesn't sound good. I'm not sure if we can bribe this priestess ... or if anyone even brought any money to do so. I know I didn't, Reign mused.

That was an unreceptive response... "Well, if you prefer we could discuss the decision you made regarding our pink-haired friend's emblem. What about it made you declare it was a fake rather than real?" Veronika continued to prod.

Rather unexpectedly, Io grinned mischievously at the group. "I deemed it a fake, because your friend said it herself."

"... wait, what?" Shadrak was at a loss on several levels thanks to Io's cryptic and surprising response.

It's a fake because RAQUEL said it was? Amon repeated in his head. It sounded completely absurd to him.

And here we go ... something really stupid is about to happen, Reign thought to himself, scowling at Io.

"'I've got a medallion that I keep with me. They think it's the fire emblem and tried to kill us for it. It's important to what we're trying to do, but it's not going to end any wars. Nonetheless I can't part with it.' ... I believe those were her exact words. The unfortunate truth about the 'fire emblem' ... as I have come to understand it, is that it is utterly powerless in the hands of a person so full of doubt. An emblem piece should be quite powerful, but in the hands of the pink haired woman that I met, it is little more than a shining husk. In that woman's hands, that 'emblem piece' is indeed a fake. I'm curious though. What about now? Has she changed since then? Can she do the seemingly impossible from time to time?"

"We don't have to answer that," Shadrak quickly and angrily spoke up, trying to make sure nobody answered her. "After all, you're not being completely straight forward with us either, now are you?"

She sighed at that. "Why is it that people only come to us to seek knowledge, but never to offer it? Why do you expect the order to know so much about the obscure and the mysterious, when neither you yourselves nor anyone else will share such things with us? From where is our knowledge of these things supposed to come ... if not from you yourselves?"

Io one, Shadrak zero, Reign updated his mental scoreboard.

Hmm she wants information from us as well...but we're trying to keep our emblem knowledge relatively secret. "There have been some...odd events, like her being able to warp allies a short distance accompanied by golden light. Would that be a result of the emblem?" Veronika asked, deciding to throw a little information Io's way.

"Perhaps?" Io answered Veronika's question with one of her own. Then, as she raised up her hand, she stuck out a single finger and held it in place for a moment. her fingertip began to give off a faint white light and then the glow shifted to a golden hue as the intensity of the glow increased. Though still visible, her finger was surrounded by golden light strong enough to illuminate the walls nearest them. "Did it look something like this?"

"It does look familiar. How were you able to do that?" Veronika asked bluntly. So is she the one with the emblem piece or just doing some sort of magic trick? She did seem to know exactly what I meant though.

Simple filtration from the looks of things ... buuut it still reminds me of Raquel's emblem piece. Reign studied Io's light carefully, trying to make sure there was nothing special about it. Like Shadrak and Amon, he suspected that, while this might be a simple trick of the light, she might also have an emblem piece on her.

Shadrak glanced at Amon, trying to silently tell him to find some way to gauge his trinket. If an emblem piece was this close, that thing might be able to confirm it. At this point, he didn't really care if Amon just whipped the thing out since Io was already messing with them and even putting on a light show of her own.

Amon however, did no such thing, choosing instead to just watch the proceedings for the time being.

"It takes some practice, but if you know what you're doing, you can change light to a color of your preference," Io explained before dismissing the tiny spell and lowering her hand. "That's really all that was. I suppose that thing could be a real piece of the fire emblem now, especially if she no longer has any doubts about it. I wonder what you're all going to do about it, though."

Shadrak remained silent. The conversation was close to ending, he could tell, but they still hadn't found the location of the emblem piece they were looking for. He was beginning to rely more and more on Veronika to steer things while he ran through possibilities in his head, but how much longer could this drag on before they ran out of momentum, and then what, he wondered?

So she doesn't have the emblem piece...maybe. "So you're trying to say that the emblem piece became real once Raquel started believing that it was real? Does its power depend on how the wielder perceives it or something?" Veronika asked. Seems like a bunch of wishy-washy philosophy to me, but Io would probably know better than I would...

"Most magic works that way, doesn't it? Without some measure of faith on your part, in both yourself and your 'power', the results are usually pitiful. As for that emblem piece. If your friend believes in it, and it's working in the way you described, then I suppose it's real. We have little else to go on, it seems."

"Except for the records the order's keeps on the fake ones," Shadrak impatiently pointed out. And possibly some 'fake' samples of their own. Yeah, I'm sure of it now. Amon's trinket's pointing to their record room or a vault or something. We need to get in there and see it for ourselves.

"You're going to have to go deeper into the building to reach the archives ... and I wouldn't advise that," Io warned, though as vague as she was, Shadrak was hard pressed to care. A long walk wasn't going to bother him now that they were so close.

I suppose I need to believe in myself to use my sword- but that doesn't give us any information we didn't know already, Veronika thought to herself. "Why shouldn't we go into the archives? Is it dangerous somehow?" Veronika asked.

"It can be. Let's just forget the fact that your friends the wrathites have their main offices within a hundred meters of here and you're looking for information about the fire emblem fragments," Io replied.

Right, this is Wrathite HQ too, but we've come this far, Reign concluded.

"Well, you might as well follow me. You'll see just what I'm talking about shortly," Io said, motioning for them to follower her. She immediately made a left turn and went down that hallway. Their next stop was an opening into a large chamber. The walls of the chamber curved overhead to create an oppressive dome shape overhead. At the center of this large dome was another dome that had a single entrance to it. That dome had a short but thick cylindrical structure connecting it to the ceiling of larger dome. It was likely meant to allow sunlight to reach the inner dome at around noon for whatever reason. The door to the smaller dome was guarded by two heavily armored knights, each carrying a long sword, and each donning long black and violet capes. Io stopped just at the entrance to the larger dome and said, "The archives are in that chamber up ahead. Those two might let you in, but they might not. It's up to you to decide just how important that information is to you, and act accordingly."

Reign raised an eyebrow at this. Fun challenge but I'd rather not throw the first punch if that's how far we have to go to get in there. "You can't let us in? Or is it that you won't?"

"Yeah, what the hell is this, Io? Do you want us to sweet talk these guards? Fight them? What?" Shadrak spoke up as well.

"I can't guarantee anything you do will or won't work. Even if I went in first, they still might try to stop you. Do whatever you feel you have to." Io answered. "... and don't worry, nothing that happens in here will be used against you in any legal action."

"Well legal impunity's nice but those guys are armed. What if they cut us down?" Shadrak asked, pointing accusingly at the two figures by the archive door.

"We die. That's obvious, Shadrak. Let's figure out what we're going to do about this," Reign impatiently cut in. Asking Io for particulars seemed entirely useless at this point, so he didn't feel like letting that continue.

Veronika raised an eyebrow at Io's statements. "I fail to see how cutting down guardsmen in an Ursian church would have no repercussions. In any case, perhaps we should start with asking the guards whether we can enter or not," she suggested.

Shadrak begrudgingly agreed. "Better to start with diplomacy rather than resort directly to violence," he said, rationalizing things before taking a few steps forward. "Excuse me. These are the archives of the Order of Truth, right? We'd like to be let inside if that's alright."

The two knights didn't move a muscle or react at all. They simply stood there holding their swords to the ground like canes. When Shadrak glanced back at Io, wondering why they weren't even acknowledging his presence, she shrugged at him a little apathetically, considering her role in this little venture over.

Amon, becoming curious again, looked into his pouch to see the trinket shining barely, but still noticeably brighter than before. "We're close ... I don't know if it's in that room or not, but we're definitely close," he quietly muttered.

"Grrrr," Shadrak growled. "Hey, are you two awake? Can you hear me?!" This must be a trick. Those are probably just empty suits propped up to trick us. Maybe it's just a test to see if we can figure that out or not ... kind of clever if it's true, but also kind of ridiculous. "What are these guys, mannequins?" he muttered.

Reign meanwhile, had a completely different theory coming to mind. They haven't moved an inch. If they're really guarding that door and that's their only purpose here, they probably won't react to us at all until we get close or try to go inside. I've never seen such dutiful guards before, though. They're making things even more tense just standing there like that.

"I'm thinking the lack of response means 'no'," Veronika said after Shadrak attempted talking to the guards. I've never seen guards stand so still... "Perhaps we should just leave," Leaving without obtaining much information was disheartening, but better not to cause an incident.

"We can't leave without even trying anything else," Shadrak insisted. "There's no guarantee they're stronger than we are, either. If we have to, I think we can beat them."

"That's really pushing our luck," Reign interjected. "There's only four of us."

"They're in heavy armor, right?" Shadrak asked before motioning for everyone to come closer. He didn't want his strategy overheard in its entirety. "We've got two mages with us, and two blade wielders. If we split into two, we can isolate them. While the blade wielders keep their attention, you and I will blast them into submission. Once they yield, we go into the archives and find the emblem."

"So what, we're just going to take the emblem if it's in there? Are you thinking?" Reign quietly snapped.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, once we're inside, I'll copy down as much of their information on the emblem into my notes as I can, then we'll decide what to do about the emblem piece."

"This seems risky. If we strike first, they might come after us and never let up," Amon noted. "I wouldn't be so worried if we knew how strong they are. Since we don't know, this whole thing is one big gamble."

"No matter what that priestess says, attacking random guards in the middle of a church is grounds to get us arrested. I'm not taking that risk when we're just about to get the Wrathites off our back. We can come back later if need be," Veronika insisted. If those really are empty suits of armor, I'm going to look like an idiot. Their stillness is...uncanny.

"Alright then how about this? We won't 'attack' them," Shadrak compromised. "How about we test out a few things? See if they respond to non-aggressive contact."

"Good luck, Shadrak ... and try not to die," Reign quickly volunteered the shaman.

Shadrak held back his frustration and said, "Yeah, I get it, my idea, my butt on the line, but stop clowning around. This is serious." Shadrak then looked over at the two knights guarding the chamber door and crossed his arms at them.

"Shadrak ..." Amon began reaching out to Shadrak to try and stop him from going near them, but he stopped short in both action and words, because he wasn't sure what was the right course of action, and he wasn't sure what to say to Shadrak that hadn't already been said.

"I'm not going to attack you guys. You've got nothing to fear from me, alright? Also, I'm not planning on going into that chamber ... I just want to get a better look at you two, that's all," Shadrak stated loudly and clearly as he approached, keeping his hands plainly visible, even though one held his tome and notebook, still.

Veronika sighed and kept her hand on her sword. I don't know what he's trying to accomplish here...

Amon, rather than reaching for his knife, got into a ready stance, intending to rush in and get Shadrak out if the knights made a move against him, though he doubted his chances of reaching Shadrak before something happened to him. At least his chances of survival were better with someone backing him up.

Reign took his tome out. He knew it might aggravate the knights in some way, possibly by making Shadrak look like a decoy for an attack, but if he just stood there and let them cut Shadrak down without doing anything about it, he wasn't sure how he was going to justify it to the others.

Shadrak finally came within arm's reach of the knight standing to the right of the door from his perspective. The knight was at least six and a half feet tall, which made Shadrak question his chances of actually defeating one of these guys if it came to blows. He was feeling confident at first ... but now ... up close and personal, he was just one swing from getting lopped in half by either of them. "See ...? I don't mean you any harm." What the hell? Something's really off about these guys. I couldn't sense it before but they feel like dark mages ... really powerful ones too. "Uh ..."

Io yawned amid the silence.

Raising his hand and waving it in front of the knight's visor, he said, "Hello?" The knight didn't budge. Finally, he took a big risk and touched the knight's armor, tapping the chest plate with his finger. He then gulped and took a step back. "I-Io ... are you sure these guys aren't just decoration? I touched him and he still won't say anything."

"Their only purpose is to guard that door. Why would they need to say anything?" Io answered the question with yet another question. It actually made some sense to Shadrak, but he found it no less annoying of an answer.

Deciding to take one more risk, he stepped to the side of the knight, toward the door, and slowly began to approach it. What he hadn't noticed before was that the chamber door didn't have any visible handles. It almost looked like a wall in and of itself. He was now even more annoyed that the knights played a big enough distraction to cause this to happen. Without knowing how to open the door, the best he could do was press on it and hope that worked.

That blasted idiot! He said he wasn't going to go into the chamber, Reign fumed.

The second Shadrak's breath touched the chamber door, both knights moved to intervene, raising their swords and swinging down at him. They aimed to pin him with a cross strike, but Shadrak was so on edge that he actually managed to avoid it on reflex, though he lost a few strands of hair for his slow reaction time. As he fell back onto his rear, the knights slowly pulled their swords from the chamber entrance and went right back to their guarding positions, as if Shadrak didn't exist anymore.

"... holy shit ..." Shadrak barely managed to get out.

Amon had frozen the instant they attacked, instead of rushing in to save Shadrak, something he was feeling terrible about in that moment, but playing it back in his mind, he didn't have the time he needed to help. If Shadrak hadn't dodged the attack himself, Amon would have only arrived in time to be showered in the shaman's blood.

They're fast for all that armor, Veronika thought to herself, moving forward to intervene. The knights did not seem to be pursuing the shaman, so she grabbed Shadrak by the hood and yanked him to his feet.

"We're leaving. Thank you for your assistance Priestess Io," Veronika said tersely, moving away from the door with Shadrak's hood in hand.

"Urgh, that was too close ..." Reign muttered. We almost lost Shadrak for nothing there .... I know Raquel needs a new emblem piece and Amon does too, but just the four of us can't handle this. We need help.

"H-hey, not so rough! Veronika, augh," Shadrak protested as she dragged him from the scene. He wasn't struggling, at least not to do anything more than keep his balance, but he really didn't want to leave matters like this. For all they knew, everything they wanted to know about the emblem, as well as at least one emblem piece, was beyond that chamber door.

Amon didn't say a word and turned to leave once Veronika got a hold of Shadrak and made off with him.

Io smiled, but there was a little bit of pity to be found in her expression as well. "That certainly was a close call, but the archives aren't going anywhere. You're welcome to come back and try again anytime."

Edited September 20, 2013 by Phoenix

[Phoenix]

[spoiler=The Nest]Shadrak was a mix of distraught and hopeful upon the return to Weyland's home. On the one hand, he had been a little humiliated by those knights, and another mistake like that could cost him his life. On the other, that emblem piece clearly wasn't going anywhere. It seemed to be theirs as long as they stayed the course and came back with a better plan next time. He planned to work out some strategies based on his personal experience with the knights once he got back to his room, but he was distracted from that entirely as soon as he opened the door.

"... what the ...?" The first thing Shadrak saw was a new nest Siv had made for the egg. It took up the entirety of his bed and she was in the nest, a big bowl mound shape made ouf of sheets and blankets, as well. Siv's maid getup was also sitting in a chair and she herself was curled up around the egg wearing only her shirt from the maid outfit. The next thing Shadrak noticed was that the room was warmer than he left it, at least ninety degrees.

He slowly and quietly stepped inside hoping not to wake or startled Siv. Taking a closer look, it was the first time in a long while that he'd seen her tail out, which was a strange sight for him. It was as tall as she was, so it was able to curl around the outer edges of the nest, and the egg, and have its tip over the back of her head. Thinking back on it, he was amazed she was able to conceal it within a simple dress.

"Hmm ..." What now? I'm not sure what to do here. She's taking up the whole bed and the outfit's sitting on the chair. Where am I supposed to relax?

"Shadrak," came a voice from behind.

"Whoa! Wha ...?" Dammit! Shadrak cursed himself for reacting too loudly, and for leaving the door wide open for just anyone passing by to see this. It turned out to just be Chie. "Y-yes, teacher?"

"I want you to attend the ball. The more eyes I have on this event, the better. I don't care who you attend with, just make sure that you do ... and do something about your hair. This rough style won't suffice," she explained, brushing her hand over his head afterward and ruining his hairdo.

"Urgh ... okay, sure. I took care of what I needed to anyway, and ... well ... as you can plainly see, Siv's taking care of the egg for me," he replied, gesturing at Siv.

"Are you still going to resign yourself to being that girl's pet when this is all over?"

Whoa, where did that come from?! "Uh ... I know she'd see it that way, but-" "She comes from nobility among her people. You won't get a say in such matters," Chie interrupted. "Urgh ... I'm trying to convince her that fallen and humans are equals or at least should be treated that way."

"I suppose starting a relationship with her would get the point across .... I don't approve, however, it's your choice. If you get yourself killed, I will simply have to find someone else to train in your place."

"That was ... pretty cold, Teacher. I did almost die today, so that makes it even worse," he noted. "We found an emblem piece but we can't get to it just yet."

"Oh, good. I'm glad to hear that, and to know that you made it out of the ordeal with your life. Still, with no new information, there's little to be done about it for the moment. Let me know if anything changes ... and as for her ... I don't know how far you plan to take this ... but be careful. Her interest is in a much stronger man, and he might not have any tolerance for someone like you."

That's why just being a mere 'pet' isn't so bad. They'll just overlook me until I'm powerful enough to ... to ... He stopped that train of thought and glanced over at Siv again. I don't know. Maybe I'm getting my hopes up too high, here. Even if she didn't just see me as a pet or whatever, how would this work out?

[spoiler=Unrest]Once Cecelia went to carry out her orders, the colonel approached Desmond. The mounted escort took Rosa Blanca's reins and led her off while the two Langley's spoke. "Good afternoon, Desmond. I see you're taking this all rather seriously."

"Probably because I know more about what is going on here than you," he said. "Uncle is having us and some other relatives meet here to discuss some of the recent developments, particularly this engagement between Lord Terrel and Princess Athena."

"The engagement? That's what this is about?" Sapphire was a little disappointed, but her expression only hinted at this a little while her tone expressed it more fully.

"No more needs to be said out here. We'll be eating in an area for special guests only. It will be private for the most part. Let's go inside now."

Fifteen minutes later, after those attending the meeting had placed there orders, gotten their drinks, and for the most part, had settled in, Sapphire's father, Lord Bernard Langley, began the discussion in earnest. "I'm sure you're wondering why I've chosen here of all places to hold such an important meeting. It's because here, a randomly chosen restaurant in the middle of the city is far less likely to have spy in place. Nonetheless, you must all be cautious from here on out."

"What's going on, Bernard? Is someone plotting against us?" one of the other family members attending asked, almost standing up from the table.

"Calm yourself, it's quite the opposite for now. I trust you're all aware of the real reason for the engagement between the Princess and that pup from House Reuter. With that in mind, I want each and every one of you to consider what I have to say on the matter." Taking his own drink from the waitress and then motioning for her to leave the area, he looked over those attending. Once she was gone, he set down his drink and stood from the table, eventually pushing his chair in and positioning himself behind it. "This engagement is the king's way of stalling for time. At any other period, we would have mobilized our forces to squash this menace before it could do any real harm, but the neviskotians' offensive has us preoccupied, and because they pose no threat to the western half of the kingdom, they feel themselves not only safe, but free to put pressure on the royal family as a result. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have no intention of just sitting back and letting these fools go unchallenged."

"There's nothing we can do about this, Bernard," one of the others quickly spoke up.

"That is the attitude of a coward. It is our duty as a noble house to safeguard our people and our nation by any means available to us. These fools have forgotten their place, and have chosen the most sickening time to take advantage of their power. We are at war with the empire, and they threaten to doom us all, all in the pursuit of greater power. We must put a stop to this madness before it compromises the war effort."

"How will starting a war with the western houses not harm the war effort in and of itself? Either way, armies and resources must be secured for the campaign, and our chances of defeating them are slim at best. House Langley cannot do this alone."

"This doesn't need to escalate into a war, but it very well could. Assuming it does, we won't be alone in our fight for very long, I assure you. Once the eastern houses understand the situation, we will be able to convince some of them to join us in the defense of the crown. As soon as the army breaks the skotian advance, we will be able to gather more allies for the fight. In the meantime, I have other plans in mind."

"Father, you aren't planning to do something to Lord Terrel, are you?" Sapphire asked with concern in her voice.

"No, that would be too much at the outset and would justify anything they did to us in response. That's not to say that we won't be striking the first blow, and against House Reuter at that, but that little pup is too big a target, and would garner too much attention from the public. When we strike, we will do so in the name of the king. With that in mind, the first deaths ... must be a message to House Reuter and their allies alone. They must be deaths that they will initially cover up pending an investigation." Next, he focused on Desmond, who had been silently observing up to that point. "House Langley will need the support of the Wrathites as well, my nephew."

"I figured as much, but I am the Avatar of our Lord Wrath first, and a Langley second. You would do well to remember that, Uncle. If the conflict you bring to our doorstep is not a righteous one, you'll receive no support from the Order, or Lord Wrath himself," Desmond said plainly.

"I know the rules of war as Lord Wrath decreed them, you needn't remind me, but your support in this is crucial. Without the backing of at least one of the Four Orders, we will not have the spirit to openly oppose so many houses. Sapphire ..." It was her turn, it seemed. "I'll be needing you for this, as well. Your battalion is well suited to special operations, and your people are extraordinary survivalists. I can get approval from the generals to allow your unit to be temporarily placed under my command, and you can supplement House Langley's forces when we begin our armed reprisal."

"This seems like little more than senseless violence. Have we already exhausted our diplomatic abilities?"

"Of course ... this insulting excuse for an engagment is the final result. Sapphire ... listen well. We are at war ... and that is the only reason the king has withheld his fury. He is being forced to give up his own daughter to these insane baffoons in order to ensure that Ursium is not divided in the middle of a full scale invasion. If this had happened before the war began, the army would be marching to the west to put these fools back in their place, but as it stands, the king is unable to act, which means we must do this for him and summon up whatever strength we have left to put an end to this sham before it consumes the entire country. This is your duty as a noble, child."

"Hmm." Langley looked down at her glass and thought the matter over. She then recalled something she said to General Capaberra some time ago. "Yes, well, being born in a noble house has its consequences. I'm merely grateful to be part of the Ursian military at all. It isn't very glamorous I'll admit, but I do take pride in putting down that which plagues our country from within. I'll trust you, General Capaberra to see to that which threatens us from abroad, as I always have." She sighed heavily and looked her father in the eye. "My people and I will aid you, father ..."

Bernard understood the difficulty in having to make a decision like that so quickly and made his way around the table until he was standing behind Sapphire, then he put his hands on her shoulders and said a silent prayer over her. Desmond watched closely, taking note of the sad expression on Sapphire's face.

"May you never need to harm your countrymen for their own stupidity again after this," Bernard said after his prayer.

[spoiler=Well Rested]

Raquel managed to get some sleep, but she wasn't sure how it happened. In truth, Hypnos helped her without her realizing it, and she was very well rested by the time she needed to wake up again. There were several knocks at her door, and like before, she got up and put on the large pair of pants she'd been using to answer it previously. This time, rather than a party member, it was just a servant checking on her. Apparently there was only about an hour and a half left to get ready for the ball. She had all sorts of preparations to get to, it seemed, but first she wanted to freshen up.

Hypnos, remember, no watching. Just go off and do whatever you would normally be doing, She told him.

There isn't much I can do without consuming any of your power, Discovery, so I think I'll just turn away for the time being.

That's ... fine I guess. It sounds lonely though ... err-yeah, just do that for now. I won't be long, I promise. She and the woman escorting her came across Reign on the way to the baths, which was the perfect opportunity for her friend to inform her about the results of their first investigation.

"Hey, I was waiting for you to wake up. Listen ..." He motioned for them to keep walking so as not to waste any time and then continued. "A few of us went down to the church earlier today and Amon picked up wiff of another emblem piece. It's somewhere in the Grand Cathedral. Given how well the Truthian archives are guarded, that's probably where the damn thing is, but there's a pair of knights guarding it. They nearly took Shadrak's head off when he tried to go in there."

"Is he okay?!"

"Yeah, he's fine. Not sure he's any smarter for the experience, though. Anyway, I know that you still need a new emblem piece otherwise that friend of yours will probably bite the dust here soon, but it's going to take a really good team to force our way past those two knights."

"Wait, we're going to try and break into their archives? That's nuts!"

"Not so loud. It's not as bad as it sounds," Reign began to go into greater detail. "According to Io, the woman who said your emblem was fake the last time around, we can try to get past them again if we want. Also according to her, we won't come under legal fire for fighting with these guys. I don't know what she's playing at, but according to Amon, there is a fire emblem fragment in that building. We need to go after the organization at some point, but this is something we can handle pretty quickly while we're still in town. Besides ... even if we ignore it, I doubt Amon will."

"Yeah, Amon's still trying to get an emblem piece for Aisha ..." Raquel noted. "We'll talk about it later and see what everyone else thinks. I'm tempted to try it if only for the emblem piece, but at the same time, we already got on the bad side of the Wrathites just by existing, so if the Order of Truth comes after us too, we're probably done for." One thing that worries me is that there's an emblem piece there and Sardis hasn't gone after it already. It's not like he couldn't ... could he? Maybe there's someone guarding it that even he can't defeat. What if it's those knights we're thinking about challenging ...? What if it's someone even stronger than them?

Preparations For The Big Bash

It was almost time for the ball, and after Raquel had finished bathing, she went to try and find a dress. She got all sorts of advice, from what dress to wear, to what to do with her hair, but the more she thought about going to the ball, likely to just be threatened once there, the more upset she became. She thought that occasions like these were supposed to be exciting or at least happy ones, but she couldn't find any reason to be excited or happy about this. Making things even worse, the suggestions that were coming in for her dress and hairstyle weren't to her taste at all. She liked darker shades and mainly those of violet or purple, but the servants were suggesting mostly light blue colored dresses.

In the end, she decided that this was no time to be prettying herself up for a party. This was a meeting with the enemy, pure and simple. There was something of a dress code, and she would follow it despite not wanting to be there. She looked around after politely shooting down all of the maids' suggestions and picked out a pitch black dress the servants hadn't even considered. The dress was dark, impersonal, and would hopefully convey her feelings without her having to say a word.

Gabbie was getting dressed in her own room, had just three maids assisting her, and was actually enjoying herself from the looks of things. She wasn't into lighter shades either, and instead, decided to wear a beautiful blue dress to the event, similar in shade to her tunic, but made of far finer materials.

"Are these stockings really necessary, Wolfy?"

"I have some really naughty plans ... so yes," Gabbie answered while holding still for her fitting. She hadn't been gone long, but the dresses she owned had never been used before. The maids wanted to make sure they would fit her perfectly.

I wonder how tough it's going to be to keep Steinn's attention while he's mingling with these people ...

Shadrak meanwhile was standing in front of a mirror looking at his hair, which a maid had just finished combing. It was now combed back but loosely so as not to be too flat or slick. He wasn't sure what to make of the look, but the maid was pleased with her work. Perhaps a little too pleased, even; the moment, Shadrak reached up to feel his own hair, she smacked his hand away and wagged her finger at him through the mirror.

"Umm ... thanks for the help, I guess ...? But you know you're just going to have to fix it again after I put the rest of my outfit on, right?"

"You only need your coat, now. No need to put anything over your head, dear," the woman explained. "Now, suck on this for a bit to freshen your breath," she said, shoving something into Shadrak's mouth and then going back to checking his hair and face.

What is this, candy?

Before long, she was tying a cravat around his neck and getting ready to put the final touches on the final touches as well as the coat he'd be wearing to the ball. "So, who are you taking to the ball this evening? A girlfriend?"

"I'm single for the moment, but to answer your question, I'm taking Mushirah. I was going to ask Chelsea but when I went to check on her, she was passed out in her room. I'd rather not say anything about that, though. I know how I'd feel if I was someone's second choice for a big event like this. It's just I didn't really want to go in the first place, so I wasn't really thinking about who I should take, you know?"

"Oh I understand completely. Arm out," she instructed. Then, she began to put his coat on him. "Now then, she's your date for the evening, so be sure to treat her like she's the only girl in the room, you hear? That's how you can make it up to her."

"Hmm, that's good advice. Thank you."

Haythem was also getting ready for the ball. He almost missed out on the chance, though. While he put on his borrowed suit, he recalled remembering to ask Nadya about it. She didnt seem interested in going, which seemed like the end right then and there, but he was able to convince her in the end. He was a little surprised that the mention of free food had been the only thing to really get her attention, but rather than think too much about this turn of events, he simply noted it and continued to get ready.

Weyland himself was also being placed into an expensive suit by his own staff. His suit was a daring white outfit with coat tails and frills coming out of the sleeves. He replaced his glasses with a monocle but kept the glasses on his person just in case.
Chie was also preparing for the ball, but she didn't come out looking much different from usual. Like Raquel, she decided on a black dress for the event. Whether she was trying to contrast Weyland that way or merely preferred that color for the event was uncertain.

Steinn wound up wearing a more simple suit, with a white vest and pants and a black coat. He didn't want to draw too much attention during the event, so the last thing he wanted to do was outdress the other men attending. Hopefully the nobles would make this easier by dressing up like peacocks. He was more careful and creative when disguising his tail this time. With the help of a maid, he was able to use his coat and wings as a cover and pivots respectively, to hide his tail.

He soon informed Annelise that she should serve as an escort for the event, that way she wouldn't have to abandon her weapon for the whole event or learn how to mingle with humans by being thrown straight into the deep end.

By the time preparations had begun in earnest, the sun had begun to go down, and it was early evening before preparations were complete, with the sky beginning to give up its last traces of blue. As much as the maids wanted to show off some of the girls they'd had a hand in dressing, Weyland didn't give them much time to do so, and he himself was already out waiting in the lead carriage, one of many, with Chie, and this was by the time most of them were finishing up. Steinn and Shadrak waited for Gabbie and Mushirah to come downstairs and greet them, however.

Edited September 20, 2013 by Phoenix

[Ether]

[spoiler=A Silken Affair]

In the buzz of everything that had been occuring, Faatina had to admit that she was rather confused as to the whole ordeal, but she had recalled mention of a selection of formal wear that they could make use of, and to ask a maid if they needed anything, so those were two decent pieces of information to start with. Finding one of the maidens in their frilly little outfits gave the Rexian paladin a slight remembrance of her date with Reign, where he had said, whether jokingly or not she wasn't certain, that he would enjoy seeing her in a similar outfit, causing her cheeks to flush a slight pink. Well, that aside, it seemed she may as well ask for some help.

"Excuse me, miss? Could you show me to where we're supposed to pick up the ball attire that Raquel's entourage was borrowing... I seem to be a little lost..."

"Why certainly. Please, right this way," the woman replied before taking the lead. Their destination wasn't too far from the guest wing, but like the guest wing, it was on the second floor and on the right side of the main building. Eventually, they reached a rather large wardrobe room with several people already present, mostly servants organizing everything in the inventory and tidying up a bit. More people would be there soon enough, no doubt. "This is it," she said on arrival. "It's not my area of expertise, so if you'd like to be measured for an outfit, I'm afraid one of the others will have to assist you with that."

"Thank you for your help." Faatina replied, as the maid lead her to her destination. As she began to look around, she saw a face that she hadn't been expecting.

"Reign? I thought you weren't going to the ball? What brings you here of all places?" She asked, making her way to the flame user.

"Definitely not stealing clothes to fill up my wardrobe. That would be pretty low for a guest," he joked, though which part was the joke was up for debate. "I've been wandering aimlessly since we got back from that fiasco of an investigation," he added irritably."

"Something tells me you might have problems laying low wearing things like this all the time, even if you were serious." Faatina replied with a chuckle, remembering that a group of them were going to a nearby church for some Emblem business... must have been related to that.

"If you've got nothing else to do, mind helping me pick a dress to wear?" She added.

"Gladly," Reign said, keeping his blank expression and irritated tone for the moment. He took one look at the insane variety of clothes available and began pondering at colors. "Are you thinking of sticking with your usual colors or are you okay with experimenting a little here?" he asked, his irritated tone finally subsiding.

"To be honest... I have no idea... what do you think would look best, Reign?" Faatina asked... the only thing she had seen before that could be considered formalwear of any sort were the Sancturan Maidens at temple... but something told her that in Ursium, that wouldn't pass.

"According to my dear mother, people with our complexions tend to look better in more vibrant colors, so that's a decent place to start," Reign said, before glancing down at his own attire. He grabbed his gray shirt with his left hand and held it out a bit so he could see the dull color more clearly. "Whoops. Sorry, mom." He let go of his shirt and continued. "Gold, emerald, or some shade of red. Try those. Can't really see you in something blue ... juuuust doesn't fit."

"Alright... let's see." Faatina murmured, as she looked around the room, before finding something that caught her eye, and seemed to fall in to what Reign had suggested at the same time. With a little help from one of the maids that had been wandering about, she got the gown to one of the fitting rooms, and to her delight, it wouldn't need any adjustments... thank the heavens too, she would have hated to make that kind of trouble.

After a short while, involving not only getting the dress, as well as all of the other pieces that came with it on, as well as weathering an insistence that she would look absolutely 'darling' with some thick curls in her hair, as well as let down, Faatina emerged from the dressing room, giving a twirl for Reign to show off the vibrant gown of scarlet and golden silk.

"Well... how do I look?" She asked, pursing her lips slightly as she spoke... she was unused to the sensation of the makeup that had also been applied to her by the maids, most notably the lipstick, which matched the dress. They did seem to have been quite into the whole thing.

It was a bit of a wait, but Reign had nothing better to do, so he waited. He tried to focus on the moment instead of what was bothering him but didn't fare so well. After a while, he started to feel a little sick about the whole thing. Fortunately, Faatina reemerged before he could start really getting caught up in his new found turmoil and showcased herself.

Rather than comment right away, Reign became very absorbed in critiquing the dress and knelt down to get a look at the whole thing from the center. He even put a hand on his chin while looking her up and down. That was when he got distracted yet again. Come to think of it ... I'm not going, so I wonder who she's going to go to this thing with. Maybe Shadrak since he cares so damn much? That thought gave him the urge to laugh, but he quickly squashed it and stood back up with a genuine smile, saying, "My mother definitely knows what she's talking about. You look great in that."

"Of course she does," one of the servants called over, defensively.

"Do you really think so?" Faatina asked, when Reign finally made his judgment after a few moments of deliberation. One of the maids quickly snapped at his supposedly lackluster response in her defence, but Faatina knew that was just how Reign was... she had never really seen the man enthused about anything, but he had no reason to lie.

Thankfully, the blush did it's job, masking the Rexian woman's own at her current situation.

"Yep," Reign assured her with a nod. His smile didn't fade before that moment, either. "Of course now, though, I've gotta ask ..." That smile was replaced with a somewhat amused looking smirk. "Who are you going with?" If she said Shadrak, he knew he probably wouldn't be able to fully hold back some laughter and mentally prepared himself to try anyway.

"Zach asked me... I had no reason to refuse him, and it's not like I'll get another shot at this, so... I decided to accept his invitation." Faatina replied, taking note of Reign's smirk. Surely he had been hoping on a preconceived answer of his own choosing, so that he could break out in some sort of laughing fit... though such a thing might get him clobbered by a host of serving girls who wanted anything but to watch a man break down a young woman's hopes and dreams involving the royal ball... luckily even if he did laugh, the Rexian paladin was not so fragile.

Hopefully Reign was also not so fragile, in the event he found his teeth kicked in by overzealous handmaidens...

"Zach, huh?" Well, there was nothing amusing about that as far as Reign was concerned. "... curiosity sated," he added, somewhat underwhelmed by the news.

"You almost sound dissapointed." Faatina replied with a smirk.

"Never mind me; I won't be there," Reign pointed out. "You just focus on making the most of this."

With the ball drawing near, Annelise made her way over to Steinn, who was waiting for his date, it would seem. He had instructed her to join the escorts for the affair, and appeared to be attending with one of the human women.

"Lord Devlinos, would you be willing to brief me on what is expected of your escort, this evening? As I understand the event is an engagement ball, however there are still several holes in my knowledge."

***

Despite all that bravado, it seemed that in the end, Gar's huge plan for them was simply to go together... not a terrible idea by any means, but he wasn't one that she could really meld in her hands like putty. All that remained was waiting for the notorious man to arrive. As much as she had wanted to wear something poofy and showy, with all the potential this thing had to be explosive, it was better to wear something light and generally unobtrusive... she'd just need to let her figure do the showing instead, luckily she was well familiar with the process.

***

Standing at arms near Seth Weyland's personal carriage was Arietta. Such was the place of a bodyguard after all... even had she been asked to attend, that would have been a tad too close to the Nobility for her liking. This was enough, she had already decided, simply waiting for them to either move out, or for Weyland to give her some sort of order.

***

Finding herself near the entrance, Faatina was growing notably more nervous with each passing moment... was it really okay for someone like her to attend an event like this? She could only assume so, as she had not been turned away when choosing her apparel. Still, she had no idea what to expect coming up... hopefully Zach had a somewhat better idea from his studies.

Edited September 19, 2013 by Ether

[ReformBlade]

"Well fine, yeesh, I didn't know you felt so strongly about it!" aneda responded, dialing back her enthusiasm a bit for the moment. She was quite content with her soon-to-be purchased coat, and really that's all that mattered to her. Until she realized that hey maybe they've got some fancier things here and she started looking around. Mmmeh.

Meanwhile, Mushirah was still in a small amount of shock at the fact that she was going to a super duper fancy ball. Circumstances weren't a thing she wanted to dwell on about it but it'd certainly be a story to tell her parents about, later of course. Why'd he ask me to go though? I thought he had other... friends. Ooooh am I even going to enjoy this? I don't know what I'm doing here, I feel out of place but... I guess I won't be alone exactly. Among strangers for the most part but not alone... Who knows? Maybe something super special will happen to me there? Hee hee. Oh, no, I shouldn't get too excited, lest I let myself down. But I want to enjoy this, so I will. Hopefully I won't embarrass anyone. With all that in her mind she barely payed attention to much else around her, only feeling a bit awkward in her dress as she walked down the staircase.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

With the listing complete, the hard part of Gar's preparation was already done. He still had the outfit from the manse raid, and this was the kind of circumstance it was supposed to be used for. He'd really spent too much money on that set of clothes to let it languish unused for so long a period of time! He cleaned himself up efficiently, cut a few stray hairs and slipped into the good old black outfit which he had cleaned of blood at some point and completely forgot about. Really, the most difficult part was finding a hidden enough place to store most of his gear but he did manage that too in the end. Black, shirt, black elbow gloves, black belt, black pants, black boots, black socks. He was the perfect picture of "damn he's suspicious" and he loved that.

Edited September 20, 2013 by Script

[Snike]

Blake eventually made his way to the main hall, pulling on a pair of white gloves as he did so. The Ursian's suit consisted of a grey waistcoat under a dark blue coat with frilled cuffs and a cravat, with black breeches to finish the outfit. With this getup and his freshly cut hair, he was a far cry from the same mercenary who had entered the estate earlier that day. The man didn't see Raquel there, yet, so he decided to stand around and wait, adjusting his cravat every few minutes.

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya had selected a long, bright green ball gown from the choices available and made her way towards the main hall. I hope this material holds- I don't even wanna think about how much this thing costs...

--

Connor decided to spend the remainder of the evening working on the new Dauntless as much as possible. He didn't know when the group would be leaving and there was a lot of work left to do.

--

With their trip to the cathedral largely pointless, Veronika returned to her room intent on solving the issue of their travel to Neviskotia. She fell asleep before reaching much progress however, being far more tired than she had thought previously.

[Snowy_One]

The ball was not on Robin's list. She wasn't cut out for such things and, frankly, she didn't care unless someone invited her along. No one had. So instead she had found herself going to a guest room and lying down on the bed, pulling the covers tight, and finally nodding off too sleep.

[spoiler=Robin's Dream]

A roaring fireplace echoed throughout the mighty hallway, casting light out upon all before Robin as she sat upon a massive sofa made of bear fur, the mighty head of a bear mounted on a plaque looking down over the house before her. Upon the sofa sat the huntress herself, clothed in the heavy coat of some impressive beast that even she didn't quite know the origin of. It shone like gold, yet was made with soft, plush, fur that wrapped around her body and, somehow, was perfectly warm, letting just enough heat out and at just the right rate while keeping her perfectly warm and comfortable. She looked about her, at her sides was two men, Zachary and Shadrak, and both were outright sexy.

Zachary held a open tome in one of his hands and, in the other, was a small platter upon which was a silver cup. He was also near-naked, wearing nothing more than a monocle over his right eye and bear-fur underwear, and had quite the chiseled body with rippling pecs, strong arms, and muscular legs. "Robin, my best friend in the world, I noticed you, and I thought you looked a bit thirsty, so I brought you a cup of water!" he said with a smile as he approached the couch. Then, beside him, came Shadrak, wearing little more than an identical monocle and a cooking smock with a well-cooked meal of chicken, veggies, and apples that had been carefully spiced and smelled wonderful to Robin's nose. "And I thought you might be a bit hungry!" he said with a similar smile before offering up the meal. "So I cooked a fine meal for you, using only the most delicious of birds, the best veggies from the mountainside, and apples fresh from the orchard you yourself planted and that Shadrak and I have used our bountiful magic to maintain. Maid Tia helped. Ever since she decided to take the vow of 'not quite silence but talking nowhere near as much as before' she has been quite helpful. She is outside right now, in fact, using her water to tend to the fruits."

"By the way, Robin, the Queen Raquel has requested an audience with you. She will be arriving shortly." said Zach with a smile. Then, right on que, two small children tore into the room, ripping past Zach and Shadrak, and practically diving into Robin's lap. "Mommy mommy!" cried the two kids, one a boy and one a girl. "Uncle Wilheim was mean to us! He called us 'mean skotians who deserve a spanking!'

"Well, then... He will be punished!" said Robin with a smile as she hugged both kids, pulling them close to her before nuzzling up against their noses. "FOR DARING TO INSULT MY CHILDREN MY BROTHER SHALL BE FORCED TO SING SONGS PRAISING NEVISKOTIA AND IT'S QUEEN WHO ROSE TO DEFEAT THE URSWINE AND MADE SKOTIA THE PARADISE IT IS TODAY! Also, Miss Rauqel is arriving soon, so be sure to be nice to her!"

"Okay mommy!" said the kids, jumping away and rushing to Zach and Shadrak's side as loud trumpets sounded from outside. Then, as the door opened, first came in a woman dressed in a tight dress, posh and regal, with wide, flowing, frills and a tight bodice, an umbrella draped over her arm, a pistol in each hand, two monocles, one over each eye, and a prime top-hat of shining black!

"Gytha! My friend... Who shot me..."

"Indeed. I am ever so sorry for such a hideous transgression. Alas, I was such a fool back then, but that is not why I am here. The lady Raquel approaches. SUMMON THE MAID LEST RAQUEL SULLY HER FEET UPON THE GROUND!"

Right away, a young woman, dressed in a prim and proper maids outfit, rushed forth. Siv. "I am sorry mistress." she said, smiling broadly as she promptly lay down at the door. A moment later, Raquel entered, wearing an almost identical outfit to Gytha's except with two tophats, one stacked upon the other. Together they each took a step forwards and onto Siv, stepping on the girls back. Then, calmly and with a broad smile, Siv crawled forwards, carrying Raquel and Gytha up to Robin.

"Lady Raquel. It is nice to see you again!" said Robin with a smile. "Tell me, how goes the province formally known as Ursium?"

"All goes well. Ever since you conquered us and installed a wise and intelligent leader, all war between our nations has vanished, criminals have been hunted down, including the vile man, Rook, boozing has decreased, and the only complaint comes from the whine and cheese parties the cheesey slime we used to call 'nobles' still hold, though they lack any power anymore. Peace reigns, though... this is not why I came. Up Siv! Carry me to the Queen's Sofa!"

"Yes Mistress!" said Siv, pulling herself up higher and higher. When Siv was finally at the sofa, Raquel and Gytha stepped off with Zach and Shadrak joining her on either side. "Instead, I am interesting in further soothing relations by dropping the royal airs and trying to actually become your friend. I bring to you the friend-offering of a top-hat!"

"Likewise, I have found Siv an ogress and wish to become your friend." said Shadrak.

"And I regret shooting you so much I want to make it up to you with a gift of my old pistols! Let's be friends!" said Gytha.

"And I am so sorry for hurting you. We are already friends but... I'm still sorry." said Zach before all four leaned in to hug Robin, soon joined by the two kids jumping on the pile as they clambered over, putting top-hats on everyone as the group hug lasted.

Outside of her dream, wrapped tightly in the covers and hugging her pillows close to her, Robin smiled happily.

Edited September 20, 2013 by Snowy_One

[scorri]

Erion

Pulling on his boots, Erion stood up and moved in front of the mirror. Tugging at the borrowed suit, he adjusted the cravat and frowned. The bright red stood out nicely against the deep black of the jacket and pants, as did the crisp white of the shirt. Staring at the knives on his bed, he started to pick them up and then sighed. Better not to risk getting caught. Besides, he knew how to fight unarmed. That would have to do in a pinch. Standing up, he sighed. The boots were a bit too stiff, but they would do. They came to a little bit below his knees, just the way he liked. Making his way to the main hall, he hoped that Jam wasn't waiting for too long.

Hoshi

Sighing, the woman pushed back from her desk. The pile of knives sat next to her control surface, all finished. Raising a hand, she muttered a slight spell and a tiny ball of dark magic appeared but quickly dissipated. She was tired, but the project was done. Picking them up, she walked over to the door, and headed down to the main hall. Spying the woman who owned the knives, she walked over. Hesitating slightly, she tapped her on the shoulder. "Uhm, I have your knives for you."

Lumi

She had wandered away from Eli and Aneda, browsing through the store. Finally, she wandered up to the desk, purchased the gloves and walked back. Sliding on the grey gloves, she grinned. They went perfectly with her jacket. The only thing missing was red embroidery like her jacket had. Walking back to her friends, she grinned. "So, find anything else?"

Eric

Standing in the entryway, Eric shifted nervously. There were so many fancily dressed people here and he already felt out of place. All he could hope was that Mirielle would show up soon.

[Ether]

"Oh, thanks Hoshi~" Angelica replied, as the alchemist appeared with her now upgraded knives.

"Though the timing isn't great... we're heading out to the ball pretty soon, so no weapons allowed inside... I'll just bring one to keep in the carriage, think you can hold on to the rest for me?" Angelica continued, her expression dampening for a short moment, before springing back up.

"So, how do I look?~" She concluded with a twirl.

[Rothene]

With access to her more extensive wardrobe in the Weyland estate, Mireille was spoiled for choice as to pick what to wear. She had five particular dresses that she favoured, all of which were far lighter and less elaborate. But, like choosing armour, it was not about which was the most comfortable, but rather the most functional. And a dress to a ball was meant to impress and attract attention.

Putting away those five, the Ursian knight picked out three dresses from the wardrobe and lay them on the bed. those were kept hanging at all times while covered in a large silk cloth to maintain their pristine condition. After much deliberation, the Ursian noblewoman picked one and went to take a bath before fixing her hair for the evening event.

After a few hours of preparation, Mireille made her way to the main hall. The Ursian knight touched her head to make sure the jeweled hair ornament was holding her ponytail in place. It was a compromise between keeping it in a neat bun and letting it be all out and long. Brushing it had been most time consuming, but she liked to think it paid off. Carefully, Mireille lifted the heavy layered skirts of her shiny bright red satin dress. The only jewel on her was the emerald in her hair ornament and the gold necklace with a ruby. This dress was chosen because it had the least frills compared to the other two, which made it considerably less heavy. The cutting around her neck was also not too low so as to barely show the top of her bosoms, which already felt very awkward compared to the chest plates she was used to that covered her chest entirely.

Feeling nervous, Mireille tugged at the silver ballroom gloves that reached past her elbow to make sure they were not slipping off. It felt restrictive to have part of the cloth from the dress connected to the gloves, or perhaps that was the warrior within her thinking. The Ursian knight had been neglecting this side of her life for too long. Satisfied that she was sufficiently presentable, the same mindset she used when judging if she was sufficiently well armoured to take on a foe as a knight, Mireille steeled her thoughts on how was she going to approach eric when she sees him.

Edited September 20, 2013 by Rothene

[Phoenix]

Stuff

When Annelise began inquiring about how an escort was to behave, he said, "Nothing you aren't already capable of handling, but this event is a little different from the norm. If there's an emergency, for example, you'll likely be assimilated into the security forces outside the building. The immediate safety of myself and other attendees would be entrusted to internal security, the royal guardsmen if I recall correctly. Anywhere else, and you would likely be granted clearance to enter, weapons and all."

Gabbie arrived next, wearing her blue dress, gloves, and scarf, and descended the steps alone. She approached Steinn and Annelise with a smirk on her face, and after Steinn made the gesture, she reached out to give him her hand, and he promptly kissed it. Her thoughts are mostly a blur to me ... but I can still see some things quite clearly, her bold and blatant intentions shine through so easily, he mused while smiling. I doubt she'll let me get away. This should make for an entertaining evening.

"So, Steinn, where's your tail?" she asked, cocking her head at him and occasionally glancing down at the prince's trousers.

"Heh," the prince was a little caught off guard by her remark, for not one but two entirely different reasons. He decided to answer before asking a question of his own. "In my suit. What happened to your accent, if you don't mind me asking?"

She delayed in answering him at first and then smiled. "In my dress. We both need to hide a few things if we're going to have a good time, right?"

Haythem finished putting on his attired for the evening and was checked by one of the servants on his way downstairs. Once she was satisfied, she let him go and he came down the steps to wait with everyone else. Fortunately for him, his partner for the evening had gotten there first. He waved to her, unaware of the delayed reaction he was about to experience. Finally, toward the bottom of the steps, he began to blush and his movements slowed, with his waving hand almost freezing beside his head. Had it happened any sooner, he might have tripped. "... hhhh- ... hi there," he recovered mid-greeting. Of course, due to that, the rest came out louder than he intended.

Shadrak nearly flinched at Haythem's sudden greeting and then went back to watching the stairs. Only woman in the room ... only woman in the room ... only woman in the room, he repeated to himself over and over again, literally ignoring any other women who arrived. Eventually the only woman in the room arrived, wearing a lovely shade of blue. Shadrak quickly but carefully made his way to the bottom of the staircase to greet her there. It looked more like a bold intercept, but he was trying to be a gentleman with little actual experience. He'd seen Steinn kiss Gabbie's hand after holding his hand out to receive it, so he begrudgingly copied the Fallen Prince as best he could, extending his hand out for Mushirah once she was relatively close. I really hope I'm getting this right ...

Raquel eventually arrived, trying to hide how angry she was. She was doing a relatively good job of this, but her dress choice alone seemed to hint that at least something was off about her mood. It was relatively fancy, but lacked any outstanding features other than the choker that covered the edge of the undergarment, and that undergarment, itself. As she made her way down the stairs, she spotted Blake, who seemed to be taking this event far more positively, or at least seriously, than she was. I must look so selfish right now. Blake's at least trying to look the part ...

Outside, Weyland checked the time and though they were still on schedule, he began to get bored simply waiting around. He wasn't exactly thrilled to be going to a ball in the middle of several big projects when there likely wouldn't be any real benefit other than seeing a few old acquaintances. Opening the carriage door and leaning out to address Arietta, he said, "Arietta, I want you to go see how they're progressing and report back."

"You could just go see for yourself, Seth," Chie commented.

Weyland scowled, immediately and quickly saying, "I'm not getting back out of this carriage until we're at the bloody party."

She smiled in amusement. "You and your peeves."

Edited September 20, 2013 by Phoenix

[ReformBlade]

"Eh, not much really. They don't got much else I really need right now. I think normally I'd go looking for some dyes but I kinda wanna ween myself off that, though I guess it's not so much weening as it is a hard stop." Aneda admitted before shrugging and repeating her earlier statement. "Nah, I didn't find anything else but this balling coat."

Seeing Shadrak all dressed up and holding his hand out for her made Mushirah blush, the smile on her face being a pretty big tell that she was gonna try and enjoy this. Eagerly accepting his hand in hers, she took in a deep breath and smiled some more. "Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long." was the first thing she said, but really there wasn't much more to talk about aside from the thoughts racing in her head about how i was all going to pan out at the ball. Maybe we can actually hit it off, who knows? He wouldn't have asked me to go with him if he didn't like me, right...?

[scorri]

Eric

Seeing Mirielle walk towards him left the gardener speechless. As she neared, he smiled, mostly in amazement, and bowed deeply. "Milady, you look absolutely stunning. I had been afraid that I would stick out since I am not as accustomed to such gatherings as these, but now I know that it would not matter if I were to act like a fool. With a stunning jewel such as yourself there, no one will be paying me the slightest bit of attention. You shall outshine them all."

Hoshi

"Oh, uhm, right. The ball. I had forgotten about that. Perhaps I can have one of the maids take these to your room instead. That should work. You might need new sheathes for them. Since they're slightly thinner now, they'll likely sit differently in them. If you want, Weyland probably has something that could be adjusted to be suitable. I could ask one of the maids to go looking for something." When the woman abruptly changed the subject to how she looked Hoshi paused, slightly caught off balance before continuing, "Uh... you seem to look fine. I'm not much of one for dressing fancy though, so you'd be better off asking one of the maids. She would be able to tell you better than I."

Lumi

"Hmm, ok. So, after this, what's next? Food? It's getting late and I am starving. Do we know of any good places to eat near here or are we heading back to the rest of the group for food?"

[Ether]

"Sure, having them delivered should be fine, and I'll work out the sheaths later." Angelica replied, noting that this woman seemed to have a penchant for pushing things off onto the maids. Speaking of, when her question was quickly deflected, she couldn't help but give a slight smile.

"Aww, but that's no fun. I'm not asking about some big objective statement or anything... I want to know what you think, Hoshi." Angelica retorted, leaning in a little closer to the alchemist.

***

Well, this human seemed to get along with Lord Devlinos well enough... did he prefer that more laid back approach, the fallen woman couldn't help but wonder.

"Very well. I shall be waiting with the other escorts if you have need of me, Milord."

***

"Of course, Mr. Weyland. Ah'l- I'll be right back..." Arietta replied, catching the drawl before it could escape her lips, and making her way over to the entranceway. Upon arriving, it seemed a decent amount of people were still meeting up with their dates. Deciding she may as well go to the supposed source, Arietta made her way over to Raquel.

"Aye, Raquel. Any idea how many more people aren't 'ere yet? Boss wants to know how things are comin' along."

[Toogee]

Jam was quite excited for the ball. After her excursion into town, she immediately prepared for the evening. The maids helped her choose a sky blue dress, whose flared skirt reached just above the ground. It also happened to be backless, something that would most certainly catch a few eyes. The dancer also had some makeup, enough to accentuate her tan. White slippers rounded out the outfit; they were comfortable enough to endure a long night of dancing. Finally, her hair was wrapped in a large braid, one that draped over her shoulder. At the base of the braid sat a fabric version of a red cactus blossom, a reminder of where she hailed from.

No one seemed more impressed by her looks than Jam herself. She stopped in front of every mirror to admire her attire. "Dang," she thought to herself. Perhaps that was why she was running late. Still, she wanted to share her ballroom gown with someone else, at least before going downstairs. She found that person in her second floor guest room. She knocked gently at Greta's door to show off her looks.

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

Eli eventually settled on a pair of black linen pants to go along with the outfit. He probably could have grabbed a shirt or two, but he would most likely be wearing the jacket over them anyways. He quickly stepped aside to pay for the items and rejoined the girls in dinner conversations.

"There are plenty of street vendors out tonight. A few of them are actually pretty good. Then again, the estate would be the cheaper option." After the money he had spent, Eli was certainly leaning towards the latter.

Edited September 21, 2013 by Toogee

[-Cynthia-]

"Howdy Haythem," Nadya replied to him, waving back. "So ya ever have one of these fancy ball things back in Sanctuary?" she asked him out of curiosity.

[Phoenix]

Main Hall

Now that Mushirah had accepted his offer, he only had to follow through as Steinn had. At least the anxiety that came with waiting on a response was gone now. He slowly and carefully kissed her hand after taking it and then the anxiety came right back as he said, "The wait was definitely worth it. You look beautiful." Oh crap, that just ... came out of nowhere. I mean it ... sounded okay, but I hope I'm not being too forward, or worse, disingenuous. "I uh ... I'll try my best to make this evening a memorable one for you. Err-good and memorable, I mean." Urgh, should have stopped at beautiful and quit while I was still ahead.

Steinn nodded to Annelise when she decided to wait with the other escorts. "We'll be leaving shortly," he said, letting her know to be ready to head out relatively soon.

Meanwhile, Haythem kept his eyes to the floor as he approached Nadya, one, to avoid stunning himself again, and two, to make sure he didn't actually trip, as he hadn't fully recovered from his first bout of shock. Of course, once he was close enough to have a conversation, he took his chances and looked Nadya in the eyes like he usually did. I'm not sure how he managed that before come to think of it. "Our party's are ... different ... that's one way to put it. There's not much point in wearing this kind of clothing since we do a whole lot of wild dancing," Haythem explained. "You'd like them. There's free food there too," he teased.

When Arietta asked Raquel about how many people were still coming, she grimaced and shrugged, realizing once again how out of the loop she still was. If Bert, Gar, and Reign hadn't come along, she wouldn't have had a clue what was going on right now. "I think Gar was keeping track of everyone who was going or escorting, but I don't actually know. If you find him, I'm sure he can fill you in," she offered. It was better than guessing and inevitably being wrong.

Greta's Room

Greta thought she was going to be in for a pretty lonely evening, and though she was probably right, it wasn't yet time; there was a knock on the door. She approached and set her nearly empty glass down on the dresser. As soon as she opened the door, there was Jamilla, dressed to impress and ready for the ball. "Whoaahohhh, how much does that outfit cooost?" she asked.

[Snike]

There Raquel was, talking with Arietta. Blake let a hint of surprise come across his face as he saw the black gown, but quickly shooed that expression away. It was odd, to go to an engagement event wearing black, but given the circumstances he could definitely understand it might be to send a message to Desmond. And, to be honest, the merchant still looked beautiful in black, and the choker's emerald only served accentuate her eyes. Regardless, she was occupied at the moment, so the Ursian decided to bide his time until his employer was free.

[-Cynthia-]

"Yeah, I dunno how anyone dances in these shoes," Nadya said, frowning down at her footwear. "I have no idea how to do a waltz or whatever they do around here anyway," she warned Haythem. "But we're here and not Sanctuary, so might as well make the best of it."

[Ether]

"Of course." Annelise replied with a bow, before making her way outside, eventually stopping at the lead carriage. She hadn't seen much in the way of escort so far, but she recognized the man in said lead carriage from earlier.

"Mr. Weyland, was it? Might I inquire as to where you would like the escort to gather? Lord Devlinos informed me that we should be leaving shortly."

***

"Gar, huh? 'Aight, I'll try to find 'im." Arietta replied, scanning the room for the eccentric knifeman.

[ReformBlade]

"Food is good, yes. I'm up for whatever, though we should probably just keep it cheaper since we're all spending enough here, heh." Aneda chimed in. "Maybe we wanna pick up something to fill us up then go grab some sweet snacks? I could go for some chocolate. Or maybe some marshmallows with chocolate... or just chocolate. I want chocolate." she reiterated for emphasis because she wanted to eat something bittersweet because screw you it's chocolate.

Shadrak being his dorky self helped Mushirah calm herself down a bit, still overwhelmed at the whole thing. Still so weird, I've never been to anything like this... So exciting! "I'm sure we'll both be remembering this, so don't worry. We should just try to enjoy it, yes? I mean, it's not really a party for us so much as a celebration, but..." She was going somewhere with that but forgot where since she was so nervous. Not quite used to such a fancy outfit, she was admittedly a bit embarrassed about it on the whole but she kept telling herself that she didn't look as silly or as weird as she felt. "I've never done something like this before, have you?" Still holding his hand, it reflexively clenched when she realized that he said she was beautiful. Umm... Hopefully he didn't take her silence on it as a misstep on his part.

[Phoenix]

Main Hall

Since Arietta was now looking for Gar, Raquel decided to join Blake and then wait for the others. Once again she was reminded of how much preparation Blake put into this event. She immediately decided to at least stop scowling on the inside until she was face to face with Desmond. There was no reason to believe the entire evening would be a bust, after all.

"Heh, yeah, we'll just have to make do somehow ..." Haythem concurred. "W-wait, what's a 'waltz'?" he worriedly asked her.

Meanwhile, Shadrak's attempt at being a true gentleman continued. Come to think of it, the princess' engagement may actually be something worth celebrating. Sure, it doesn't concern us one bit, but it's good news amid all the bad we typically get, and on top of that, we can even just celebrate finding another emblem piece right here in Europa. "Oh I agree, this is definitely a celebration." Okay, maybe that was a little vague and ... confusing. "What I mean is we ... may be solving Raquel's emblem problem soon, so tonight's a good night for celebrating." He wasn't comfortable with his choice of words once they came out and mentally groaned for letting them out in the first place.

Main Entrance

"Hmm?" was Weyland's initial response to the fallen escort. He quickly took in the question, though, and said, "Anywhere will do, just don't block the road. You can also wait in one of the carriages if you wish, but mind the massive sickle." Chie was practically giggling in the background, amused at Weyland's response.