Fantasy The feuding kingdoms.....

Aeryn chuckled, "I'd watch yourself Annette, the other might take your remarks as more than a sarcastic joke." Just a gentle reminder of the fact that while she was find with the bantering and sometimes snide remarks that came from the younger woman's mouth, she had to be careful around pretty much everyone else. "But I suppose, I shouldn't be complaining to much." Laying back in the water, everybody floated unnaturally close to the surface, but not high enough to expose her entire front. "To your mother?" She questioned, "I hope everything is well with the two of you." After which, she stood in the bath and took the towel from Annette. "Thank you."

Drying her arms, and legs, she then wrapped the towel around her body as Viana entered. "Goodmorning," She replied, running a hand through her wet hair a few times, each time gently pulling water out of it with each stroke until her hair was nearly dry. "I'd like some help styling my hair today. I might as well look somewhat presentable," she said, taking her undergarments from Viana, motiining for the two girls to follow her out of the bathroom section of her bedroom.

"Of course you can Annette, you've always had a wonderful taste. But, if you will, I'd like to wear one of my dresses a bit duller in color. For now, Aeryn chose to ignore Viana's odd behaviour, and would question her later. But by now, breakfast should be almost ready and she had a feeling that to console the kids, their mother would have asked for thier favorites to be made.

Anyway, dropping the towel on the chair to her vanity, Aeryn began to pull on her undergarments, before picking the towel up again and sitting down where it was after removing the bit of damp it left behind. Looking into the mirror, she sighed, before looking away. "What do the two of you think about these arranged marriages?"

As she made her trek back to the service wing, Myrrh slowed down her pace, beginning to ponder on the announcement given the day before. 'It's rather unfortunate that they won't have a choice in who they marry for themselves.' She thought to herself, as she munched down on the last few mouthfuls of the unfinished she geng from earlier. She shuddered at it's unique taste. The dish was sweet and somewhat spicy thanks to the various herbs and spices put into it, not to mention the characterized toughness of the meat, but it was a nice, thick, and flavorful broth, nonetheless. 'I suppose it's just an acquired taste of mine.' The chef mused with a nostalgic smile, starting to reminisce about her years as a child, when she and her father, along with her reluctant mother, traveled across the map, cooking whatever edibles they could find.

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! She paused in her steps. 'Crunch?' She thought in confusion upon hearing the odd sound in place of the usual scraping of her leather boots against the pavement. Turning her head, her aquamarine eyes soon fell upon the trail of grass and flowers she had left in her wake. She then turned her gaze towards her hands, which were enveloped in a soft, emerald green aura, along with, as it would appear, the rest of her body.

"... Whoops." It seems she lost control of her powers yet again. She should probably do something about that. For now, though, it seems a tactical retreat was in order. 'Yes, definitely in order.' With that in mind, and with a firm hold on her abilities this time, Myrrh hurried into the servants' quarters and disappeared into her room. She had a lot of packing to do if she was going to be joining the royals on their journey to the Middle Kingdom.

Growing antsy Espen decided to see what Myrrh was up to and headed off to the kitchen to see if she was there. seeing her absence, she grew more curious "hmmm odd for once Myrrh isn't in the kitchen experimenting..." she mumbled as she walked off to her quarters to gather her things since her room was near the service wing, she stumbled upon myrrh on her way back "why hello myrrh" she greeted with a cheerful smile and bowed her head once "packing I assume?" she asked

a look of suprise crossed the princesses face "wed..." she said under her breath to herself, she nodded "i understand, it's my duty as the heir of this kingdom, i will met him with an open mind" she said with a small smile, franky she was terrified but she put on a positive front, maybe he won't be so bad... "I'm...going to go pack" she said quietly heading off to her room, collecting her thoughts 'wed?! someone should have atleast told me! and to who?" she thought as she silently packed her bag takeing a deep breath 'i will meet him with an open mind and heart, i will not let this news color my impression of the man in the least' she though with determination as she finnished packing

"Well, that's good to hear." Myrrh said with a bit of uncertainty in her tone. Even she could see the turmoil swirling in her princess's eyes as she spoke those words. "If you need anything, feel free to drop by again, Milady!" She called out to her from her door, watching as Espen's figure disappeared from the service wing and out of sight.

Closing the door behind her with a click, the chef allowed herself a breath of relief. That was plenty more intense than she thought it would be. 'But,' She contemplated, giving a worried glance at the door behind her. 'I'm more concerned about how well Milady Espen is taking the news.' She thought back to their exchange mere minutes ago, having seen through her positive facade and saw the terrified princess quivering underneath. She knew, however, that she was going to try, no, be brave for the sake of bringing peace to her kingdom. Truly, she was a wonderful leader.

It was with those thoughts that a fire had been lit in Myrrh's heart. A determined gleam flashed in her aquamarine eyes. If Milady Espen would be doing her best, then she shouldn't lag behind on her work either! Pulling out her notepad, as well as a stick of graphite, the chef began scribbling rapidly onto the pages, no doubt revising old recipes and making new ones. And in the process of doing so, it seems she had neglected finishing up on packing.

she looked in her closet her eyes catching a silk dress, it was not to fancy yet not to dull and it was about ankle length and it was a beautiful light pink that faded into a white as it got toward the bottom of the dress she smiled and packed it, she decided that was what she would wear when she met her Spouse-to-be. she had come to peace with the fact of her arranged marrage though naturally it was kind of frightening. she knew she had to be brave and she tried to keep positive thoughts as she finnished packing

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[div class="textHere"]She gave a smile to herself at the princess' laughter, pleased at the response. She was always wary of how far she ought to push, but Aeryn, at least, had a sense of humor and the wit to understand. There would be no problems coming from a few jokes between friends in private, even if the friend was royal.

"I am sure I have no idea what you are talking about." She blinked innocently and gave her best impression of a bland, guiltless smile. It didn't come naturally to her. "I always proceed with utmost caution."

Her attention wavered when the personal maid of Aeryn entered the room. Viana, was it? She gave the maid a languid tilt of her head as greetings, but was otherwise indifferent to the presence of the other girl. They’d seen each other frequently, but Annette rarely found excuse to talk, nor did she particularly want to. At the very least, she was polite, if a tad quiet.

"Oh, we're perfectly fine, you highness." She replied distractedly as she followed the princess out of the bathroom. “Absolute friends, the two of us.”

Well, it was close enough to the truth. She loved her mother more as a mentor than a parent, nor did Marquessa Diveras encourage displays of emotion. It was up to her to determine their relationship now that she was independent, but she wanted time to think. Right now, they were very good friends. Friends who were free to backstab each other, although given their current positions and mutual interests, it would not be a good idea for either of them.

“I’m touched that you trust my knowledge.” She replied slyly to the princess’ confirmation. “Truly, you are spoiling me. I might even blush.”

The seamstresses of the royal palace had recently completed a grey-blue dress for the colder days, she knew, although it was a little to heavy for today. Perhaps the heavily embroidered ink green dress, then. But then again, it had been a while since she had last managed the princess’ wardrobe.

The task was not going to be a particularly mentally exhausting one, however, just as grooming Lady Aeryn’s hair would not be. Her mind was going to dull if she only paid attention to a few simple things like this. Fortunately, there was the tradition of trading gossip while they worked.

“I am likely to be biased.” She noted softly, “Both my sisters’ husbands were picked by my parents.” They were even most happy, or at least neutral, about the lives they were leading. Of course, the princess’ marriage was a magnitude more important than her sisters.

“It may be cruel, but you cannot deny it is quite fair to all parties involved.”

[/div]
[div class=footerContent]lady anette diveras • app • FireMaiden Daniel Reaving [/div][/div]

Location: The Palace's Meeting Room
Interaction: Vance_Meridian (mentioned)

The drink was undoubtedly powerful, in each drop the chemical bonds made between each carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms made such vibrant reactions that even a drop could null a man's tongue, it raised his self confidence to a great deal but more importantly the images haunting him each time his eyes are shut stopped appearing, it's as if the movie projector playing the horrible scenes was broken. Still stumbling in his moves he walked past the main hall heading towards the meeting room where they're all supposed to discuss the plans. He could feel the many eyes set on him as he walked, but most of them only stood by and watch, some might wonder "What's a drunk business in such a respectable castle of the west?" some might even wonder "He's a dangerous man! I need to stay away from him, but those who witnessed the days of war could see that horrible truth. His gait, his behaviour, the awful stench of alcohol were not of his choosing, it's just a mistake that could easily be prevented, there are eyes that looked down on him, but most saw a shell hiding the tortured soul of a man bathed in invisble blood that can't be washed even by the flow of time. Noticing him in this state a Sentry decided to approach Theo.

"Sire are you sure you're going in.. this state?"

He turned to look at the questioning man, eyes half closed, breath stinks of heavy dose of alcohol and a posture that looked as if he could be knocked down in one blow. Theo puts his hand around his shoulder chuckling as he speak.

"It's a diplomatic meeting, I mean drunk or not their words aren't going to make much sense to me.. just fancy buzzwords and all that, besides I'm still pretty sober.."

Believable.. he looked as if he's going to crash to the women's restroom if he made any more moves. The Sentry watching him was unconvinced, then again what could he do? Forcibly remove him from the palace ground? Well he technically lived there, he couldn't really do much. Knowing he's probably going to be in a lot of trouble if he's found with a drunk royal and didnt' do anything to stop him, he only nodded and walked away like he's running from trouble. After putting his maximum effort to walk in a straight line, a massive door stands between him and a meeting with the traveling party. The doors opened once his hands pushed them and right there and then he's greeted with the faces of high ranking kingdom officials and quite a loud voice speaking in a way to ridicule him.

"Took you long enough, o great and mighty warhero"

The young male lowered himself and bent one of his knees until it touches the ground while resting his hands on his other.

"Forgive me, I was dealing with.. cart thieves and.. flying forest tigers.. hero business"

A response suitable for that question he reckoned, Theo's been quite a joke to most of the higher ups, sure he fought in the war, heck perhaps he even served the longest out of his siblings and yes he received honors, but with his lies, drunken behaviour, lack of seriousness and many more, not a whole lot take him seriously. As he raised up and stood back up, he could see his brother already looking like he's the director in this main show. Choosing not to get noticed he picked a secluded chair protected from view, just the right place to fall asleep hidden.

"Well, of course. I know what's at stake, it's a our very kingdom, and I am willing to give my life for the people who inhabit it, but I never thought I'd be sent away so soon," Aeryn stated. However, she had to sigh, "I suppose my anger from early came from how sudden our engaments were. There was no negotiations, no talk at all, not even a whisper of Queen Jade's plans, and her by tomorrow me and my siblings will be travelling to the middle kingdom." The importance of the situation, her being married off to a Prince of a neighboring kingdom, the future king of which ever one she was married to, Queen Jade was hopefully smart enough to pair the royalty with those who were at least the same age group. Aeryn now finally got to answering Viana, "I would like my hair to be up today," Aeryn told Viana.

Looking back into the mirror, Aeryn frowned, "I do not want to be wed, but if it's going to happen, I would like to know that I have both of you to count on. Whoever I am to marry, I will most likely be living in his kingdom. Which of course, means hostile territory. Not everyone will be willing to just accept what the Queen has done. Are two willing to come with me?" She paused, "You will have a choice, and if you decide you do not, I will not hold it against you." And once again, she paused before looking to Annette and Viana, "And ladies, I would like to hurry and dress. I feel my siblings will leave me out of something."

Mina felt comforted by his words, of course she could always count on Basket to cheer her up, she was glad to hear he would be going with her. Suddenly she got up from her bed and began to chase the workers out of her room. It was time she told her faithful friend the truth about why she was so upset about this marriage, she quickly shut the door when everyone left and then looked towards him. "I have to tell you something-- but you have to swear you keep it a secret and take it to your grave...." She looked away, heading over towards one of the big windows in her room and she looked over at him. "I- I am in love with Mykel.... I have been for so long, he is the only one who understands me or gets me aside from you....."

She remained silent for a while, thinking about Mykel always made her giddy and happy often making it hard to concentrate on anything else. Even though she felt sad, being apart from him and knowing that he would be marrying someone else just as she would, Mina did not cry. "I know it was stupid to fall in love, especially knowing that this was probably something that was going to happen-- I just never thought she would want us to marry the people we consider enemies! It doesn't make any sense...."

Suddenly Mina turned towards Basket and smiled, trying to lighten the mood a little bit as she had kind of put a sadness in the air. "Have you ever been in love?"

Interactions: Vacuum
Mentions: RANGYOKU

(Sorry lame post! =/)

she thought for a moment and got on the dress that was light pink at the top and slowly faded to white as it got toward the bottom of the dress and she walked over to myrrh's room and knocked gently "myrrh, do you mind if i come in, i would like your opinion on this dress" she admitted sheepishly generally she didn't ask. but if she was going to meet her spouse-to-be soon, she atleast want's to make a good first impression

Basket
Basket's raised an eyebrow as Mina shut the door and walked over to the window. Basket snapped to a military salute "Right you are my lady. I'll take your secret and whisper it into death's dreary skull." then relaxed and gave an encouraging smile. The secret took Basket off guard. He felt sadness for Mina, and began to actually worry a bit about the arranged marraiges that were coming up. The veil of the fool had slipped somewhat and when the question of Basket's own experiences came up he seriously considered it. Basket stood there for a moment tapping Sammy on his chin. "Well then. I suppose if we are sharing secrets I will tell you one of my own.

"As I've mentioned before I grew up in a nunnery. Well, our nunnery was in a peticularily poor area of a large town, so when we were given the privilage to house an anchoress in our convent we were all extatic." Basket went over beside Mina to look out the window himself, eyes somewhat distant. "The anchoress was housed in a small room near the top of our small tower so she could meditate and ponder the mysteries of god in solitude." Sammy cut in leaning close to Mina and whispering "It was more of a prison really, no doors or window, only an opening in the stone to slide food trays in and out." Basket glanced over at Sammy giving him a look and Sammy shut it. "Well I begged Abbess Parsley to be the one to deliver the food to her, as I had never been so close to anything so holy. I was rather religous back then you see, being raised in a nunnery and all. She finally gave in one day, and I was given instructions like all the rest. Do not talk to the Anchoress, do not look at the Anchoress, and do not even talk around the Anchoress."

"Now when the bloody Anchoress started talking to me, that gave me a right scare that nearly sprang a leak." Basket looked over to Mina and flung Sammy into the air twirling like mad "Well I suppose I don't want to bore you too much with my story of love" he snatched Sammy out of the air without pause "Would my lady like the rest told straight or as a simple poem?"

Reiia silver

Vance was busy looking over a map that was on top of the large table in front of him, discussing routes that they should take, gesturing towards the map and pacing back and forth as he spoke to the officials.

“If we take this route..” he said as he pointed to the map, then traced a line with his finger across it. “..it will be longer, though we did just finish land negotiations so there shouldn't be any trouble.”

It was then that he noticed Theo walk into the room and it didn't take long for one of the officials to start running his mouth.

"Took you long enough, o great and mighty warhero"

Vance's eyes went from Theo to the mouthy official. “That's enough!” Vance said in a bit of a harsh tone. “You will speak to this family with deserved respect at all times, is that understood?”He said, and even though Vance was known as gentle and a healer, he knew his position and he could put people in their place when he needed to, especially someone who was disrespecting his family. The words from the man didn't seem to bother Theo which made Vance a bit more at ease, though it still bothered him.

Looking over to Theo as he went into a secluded part of the room, he reluctantly got back to the planning of the trip, talking about the marshlands and the conditions of wagons and horses. People in the room and Vance were talking back and forth about the number of servants that needed to go to tend to the princess's clothes for the ceremony, as well as both princes. Vance closed his eyes, lowering his head and wondering if they would be prepared in time, not to mention what would happen when they got there. He had to sadly admit that with the commotion, he hadn't given much thought to his own situation, or who he was going to marry. His ability to think in the long-term was clouded by his diplomatic missions and the preparations for travel.


Flecker

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[div class="textHere"]Seeing that Viana was to take care of the princess' hair, Annette focused her attention on the princess wardrobe, eventually selecting a dark green cotton skirt with a greyer green bodice, comfortable enough for casual wear. She gave the dress a critical once-over, then tugged them off their previous resting places and brought them into the main room, laying them gently on the bed.

"We will be as fast as we can." She told the princess smoothly, briskly picking up the first item of clothing. "Hair first as usual."

She knew the importance of Aeryn's presence at whatever it was, especially for herself. She has thrown her lot in with the princess thus far, and didn't intend to see her plans disrupted so soon. To a certsin extent, it meant she was willing to travel to a foreign country with her. She could always continue stretching her area of influence there, but there were limited numbers of royals she had befriended.

She glanced towards Viana to check on the maid's progress, perhaps more impatient to get on with the princess' morning preparations than the princess herself was. Annette did no possess the delusion that they were particularly close, but surely' the girl was particularly quiet today? Limp, she thought, would be the correct word to use, if she was particularly vicious.

"Duty is doing what you don't want to, Milady." She murmured vaguely. "For you and I and everyone. I'll play with whatever hand I get dealt."

It wasnt' for her to decide whether to kove to another country permanently yet, she knew. Too many lives would be affect, for while Annette was still merely a pawn, she was an important pawn. The thing about sending a courier to mother this late, she realised, was that she would not be able to consult her formidable font of knowledge. Or, for the matter, be able to control when and how she pitches a fit.

Right now, though, there were more immediate worries.

"Will this dress suit you, milady?" [/div]
[div class=footerContent]lady anette diveras • app • FireMaiden Daniel Reaving [/div][/div]

"It's gorgeous Viana, thank you," Aeryn said with a soft smile, before opening her jewelry box and removing two of her earrings. They were not the pair she normally wore, which were rather simple silver studs with sapphires adorning them, but the ones she chose went with the dress that Annette had picked out. A pair of dark green emerald stones set on a gold base. They weren't very large, but they suited Aeryn. Turning on the chair she was sitting in, she took a good look at the dress, and nodded. "Yes Annette, that works." Once more, Aeryn turned back to her jewelry box, and pulled out her favorite necklace, and set it aside to put on after the dress. Standing up, she smiled at both of the girls, "And thank you. Both of you, I know it's not an ideal situation to be in."

she took in the information and nodded "no no! it actually helped a lot, if I am to meet my spouse-to be soon... I at least want to look nice, and knowing your mother's aesthetic sense, I figured you would be the best person to ask and now that I consider it, I have a dress that has a bit of a dusty lavender color and it may be actually quite fitting " she said mainly to herself "if you wish, I will allow you to choose a dress you think will look nice...I'm afraid I don't have the best taste in color combinations" she admitted, she then took notice of the paper and such on the desk "oh my! did I disturb you?" she asked feeling guilty