| Logs |
2004 December 12
| Idlewild |
| Realms |
Retired
| Reality Fault |
General Info
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| Realms: Idlewild Logs |
December 12
"Well, we send Hellebore his food somehow, I guess," suggests Lauren. "And then we see who shows up, right?"
Aiden says, "I don't suppose we actually have any idea who we're expecting, aside from knowing that Clairchiare shouldn't be one of the arrivals. Is there any way we can find out where the message came from?"
Steven frowns thoughtfully. "Not without asking the house staff, I think. They might be amenable to saying who left it,...
Seodil looks thoughtful. "Interrogate the waitress?"
Aiden says, "I can go out, acting on your behalf. Surely Clairchiare is being cautious and a little paranoid about things like this. It shouldn't be entirely out of the ordinary."
Sol eyes Seodil askance, and nods to Lauren. "I arranged that, actually. Hellebore, I mean. They'll send it. How are we going to see who shows up, though-- are they going to come to us, or do we need to ambush them somehow? How will we know who it is?" He looks over at Aiden, relieved. "That might work, if you go as Clairchiare's servant or something. What would you say?"
Aiden ponders for a moment. "My lord wishes to ensure the veracity of this message and to send a short reply to its sender... Any other thoughts?"
Aiden nods and stands up. "Should I just ask at the front desk?" He immediately adds, "IS there a front desk?"
Steven glances to Sol, who had presumably paid there.
Sol shrugs, "Might as well-- yes, yes there is. Go toward the way out and find the scary horse-faced lady with long black hair who looks like she could kick your ass. That's the front desk."
Aiden grins, "Got the note?"
Lauren glares at Sol. She remembers the lady with the long nose at the front desk. Kinda liked her.
"I think Seodil does..." Sol looks over at the silver elf, who shrugs and says "I passed it on." After a brief search, it turns out that Lauren has it, crumpled and forgotten in one hand.
Aiden nods, "Alright. If they do want me to give them a note from your hand, Seodil, what should I say?"
Something sparkles at Lauren where the signature isn't. She can almost see it clearly...
"Oh. Sorry." Lauren uncrumples the note from around her flowers and tries to smooth it back out. She squints. "Give me a minute. Something's on this."
Aiden sits back down to wait. He doesn't want to disturb Lauren if she's on to something.
Seodil tilts his head, thoughtful. "That depends what and how they ask... bring the paper back and we will discuss it? Our handwriting is very similar, his and mine." He looks over at Lauren, tensing.
Aiden nods at Seodil. "I'll just defer back to you, politely, in that case and bring it back here." He half-smiles. "Superficially there's a lot of things about you two that are similar."
As Lauren eyeballs the paper, a sparkly yellow letter signs itself across the paper. It's a capital "I." Kip and Grennit, pressing close to look, do not seem to see it. Kip mutters "What are you looking at?"
"I think I might need glasses," muses Lauren, bringing the paper closer to her face in an attempt to make out what's twinkling like that. Disappearing ink, maybe? "I can't really ma...ooh, there it is. It's just the letter i. What's that for? That's not for Claire or Averet."
Seodil does not smile; he just nods back to Aiden and says quietly, "Perhaps not only superficially."
Aiden says, confidently, "There's some significant differences, too." He looks over at Lauren and says, "Ilirith.."
Steven blinks, then frowns. "Ilirith... why would she want to meet with us?"
Aiden says. "Not us, Steven. Clairchiare."
Kip makes a face. "Ilirith? She wanted to know if dark hair bred true in my family. She's.... odd."
Steven considers, then nods slowly. "If I recal, ilirith was one of the gardeners, who took care of the rosebush, as welll?"
Lauren holds up the paper so Kip and Grennit can get a better look at it, and the invisible letter I. "Dammit," she says emphatically. "We're going to have to deal with the whole Court again. I don't want to."
Aiden looks at Kip and grin. "She asked me the same about my eyes. She's not odd, she's just obsessed with her garden."
"I am not," says Kip with dignity, "a flower." Grennit eyes him for a moment and then clearly decides against speaking. She just smirks.
Aiden nods at Lauren. "Maybe, yeah, but if it's Ilirith, I'd much rather be dealing with her than a lot of the others." He flicks his eyes over to Kip and says, "No. Not a flower. A stud." He shrugs.
Nobody else sees the I but Lauren, still. Kip makes a grumpy noise.
Sol gives Lauren an almost sympathetic look. "Neither do I."
Steven remains quietly thoughtful through this.
Lauren looks between Aiden and Kip with open bewilderment for a few seconds. Did he SAY that? "Anyway," Lauren says with a cough, "yeah. So...not all of us should meet with Ilirith, right?"
Aiden looks oddly okay with all of this, including the idea of having to deal with the Summer Court again. Seems to have come to terms with the circumstances and is just going on with it, rather than fussing about it.
Aiden looks at Steven for opinions and says, "I was thinking that her arrival should probably be into a room with only Seodil or maybe just a couple of us in there, rather than this pack of people."
Steven nods a little back to Aiden. "I agree. It would be confusing to her with so many people and she won't be nearly as talkative.
Seodil taps one finger to his chin. "It should be those she knows... so. Aiden, and Steven. Take Lauren as well, for a female presence, despite her later arrival. I will also join you." He looks around. "For space, the other three should hold our second room secure." Kip, Grennit and Sol look less than overjoyed, but Sol nods curtly.
Aiden nods. "How long would you like to keep the pretense up, or is the game up the moment she sees us?"
"We know Clair too, and we knew he was here. I think we could string it out, Aiden." Lauren scratches her nose. "Let's just see how much we can find out."
Steven says, "She'll know something's up as soon as she ses us, I think. She knows he wasn't going to be travellling with us."
"Besides, when she -does- find out we're stringing her along, if we do that, then she'll be all the more angry and unlikely to help us."
Aiden nods. "Yeah. Well.. let me go see what I can do about this note. Lauren? May I?" He holds his hand out towards her..
Lauren shrugs. "Fine, once she gets here we'll just say 'Sorry, we're looking for him too, what the hell is he doing please?' and go from there. Right?" Somewhat reluctantly, she hands over the note to Aiden.
Seodil frowns. "We can see how much she will say, at the least.. and perhaps bar her escape as soon as she enters, too. Unless we cut my hair, however, she will know immediately that I am not Clairchiare. His comes only to his shoulders, now."
Aiden nods. "I'll be back... I think the silence in the rooms is activated by these doors, so just wait until I get it closed again before you discuss anything." He slips out of the room, shutting the door carefully behind himself, and heads for what passes for a front desk here.
The Pink Velvet's front desk guardian very likely doubles as the bouncer. Her long, aquiline nose has a certain elegance... but Sol was right. She really does convey the idea that she can probably kick Aiden's ass. Her long black hair hangs down in a braid and swishes behind her, not entirely unlike a tail. "How can I be of service?" she smiles at Aiden. Her voice is the prettiest thing about her, soft and fluting.
Aiden smiles faintly at the woman. "My lord wishes to ensure the veracity of this message and to send a reply. He's sent me down to secure those things..." He doesn't actually give her the note, just keeps it folded in his hand.
The tall lady looks down her nose at the message, then back up at Aiden. Her dark eyes are worried as she lowers her voice, drawing smoothly closer. "Does my lord believe the messenger has been compromised by the other side?"
Aiden replies, "He wishes to be cautious."
"She has always been faithful to my lord, and I had the notice from her own hand," protests the tall bouncer softly. "If the violets had caught her, your yellow flower would be dead... not subverted. I am sure of her."
The tall lady adds, "What reply do you send?"
Aiden nods. "I will pass the assurances on to My Lord. I do not know his reply, he wishes to put it in his hand, not mine. He has forgotten to bring some of his things. Might we borrow ink and such for him to pen his reply?"
That request gets Aiden an odd look, but the lady nods and quietly produces paper, ink-bottle and quill for Aiden. It's clear he said something that rang out of true for her.
Aiden takes them and smiles. "Please, forgive me if I have overstepped myself. I am new to the more active side of service to My Lord and I simply wish to ensure that I do not do anything wrong or misinterpret his intentions."
The lady smiles back, a shade too slowly. "Of course. What room shall I send your visitor to when she arrives-- one of the ones rented by your companion just now? The closer to the stairs, or the farther?"
Aiden hesitates for a moment as if considering and then says, "Send them to his usual room? I was under the impression that it would be neither of those two, though if I am mistaken, I do apologise." Shit. Way to go Aiden.
The lady smiles again, much more sincerely. "Of course. His usual room-- and tell him I am amazed he has used up that much paper already. All the girls will suspect him of sending love-notes and mope too much to work, if he continues..." She pats Aiden on the shoulder and moves away, looking more relaxed.
Aiden smiles and says, "I couldn't say." He scoops up the few things and says, "I'm a little turned around. How do I get back there?"
"Stairs are that way," the lady murmurs with a wave of her hand as a client comes through the door and her attention refocuses. "Remember to keep going." And with that cryptic comment, she's moving toward the newcomer-- who is definitely not Ilirith, unless she's become a shirtless grey male lion-man.
Aiden goes back to the room that he left from and sets the writing supplies down on the table. "Clairchiare's got a usual room here. She's going to send our note-sender to that. I didn't know how to ask where it is without raising her suspicions. She claims the note is genuine and the writer on Clairchiare's side to the death if necessary."
Steven says, "And if she doesn't find Clairchiare in his 'usual room?'"
Aiden continues, "She also told me to remember to keep going, and said something about the violets, who seem to be the directly opposite force. I assume that's the Shh family and their allies."
Aiden says, "I'm not sure, Steven. She'll probably assume the worst."
Steven comments, "Which is possibly very bad, considering we don't evenknow what the worst could be, ourselves."
Grennit brightens, and pokes Lauren. "So we should go find that room." Sol looks at Grennit and corrects, "They should go find that room. You're staying here. Clairchiare might poke a hole in you by accident."
Lauren SNICKERS. "That's bad?"
Aiden says, "So. How do we find this room?"
Steven hrms. "What did she say, exactly, about getting to it?"
Grennit smirks back at Lauren. "I did want to know how pink. You find that room first, you tell me, huh?" She grins.
Sol ignores the women and nods at Steven's words, looking intent. So does Seodil. Kip looks vaguely blushy.
Aiden says, "I didn't ask. She was already suspicious about me because of the request for writing supplies. If I'd asked that, she'd have raised red flags. I indicated that I was turned around and she motioned at the stairs and told me to remember to keep going."
Lauren blinks. "Well, did you? Maybe there's a hidden door or somethng."
Aiden says, "No. I came back here first."
Steven thinks for a moment. "Maybe a false wall, at either the top of the stairs, or in front of the stairs at the first landing."
Lauren stands. "Well, let's go keep going. Come on. This is cool. I bet it's at the top of the stairs."
Seodil says quietly "We have less than an hour until noon, now." He squares his shoulders. "I must agree this time with Lauren. Once there, we can send our reply... and if we cannot find the room, our reply can tell her to meet us here instead, for reasons of security. No?"
Aiden nods. "Alright. Well. It should probably be Steven, Lauren and I that go, Seodil. Be rather odd for you to be poking around looking for your own room, right?"
Lauren slides the ricepaper door open. "C'mon, guys," she urges. "No time to lose. Move your butts."
Aiden follows Lauren out.
Seodil frowns, but nods with a sigh. "Go safely." Sol looks horribly antsy and follows Aiden out.
Steven nods, standing and following Lauren out. SOme of the words that have been thrown about lately -- specifically "rose" and "violets" -- stick in his mind for some reaosn, but for the time being he's not quite sure what puzle to put together with these parts.
"Nobody's going to recognize me," Sol pleads. "I'm not even the heir anymore. Let me come."
Lauren remembers the way to the stairs; they're nearby. They do indeed go up another flight or two.
Aiden turns back to Soleil, eyes sympathetic. "Help us find it and then you can run back and get Seodil."
Head abuzz with happy thoughts of secret doors and sofa-forts and spy Barbies, Lauren trots up the stairs and starts feeling around and tugging on things. Might as well have some fun before the serious stuff comes down the pike.
The stairs go up to the last floor in a straight line, broken only by the landing and then a sharp right-angle turn to get into the third floor hallway proper without running into the ornate rose window directly ahead. The window is a lovely piece of work, taller than even Seodil's 6'4" and inlaid with a gorgeous kaleidoscope of stained glass. The street below is not visible through it, only a soft glow of light from the other side, due to the thickness of color. No piece of it is actually transparent enough to look out through.
Sol follows Aiden quietly, eyes grateful.
Steven looks at the window, and nods throughtfully, placing a hand upon it and exploring it cautiously, wondering if there's a secret catch to open it or if it's simply an illusion.
Aha. 'Keep going', the horse-lady said? Obviously what she meant was to go through this window, which is what Lauren attempts to do. With her shoulder, at first, in case this is one of those special-effects doors that's not really there.
Aiden follows Lauren up the stairs. He looks up at that ornate window and says, "Wow. That's gorgeous."
"I know if I were a very screwed-up guy who'd just been done over by his entire family and cut his hair off and gone to live in a whorehouse, I'd want a room with a window like this," Lauren agrees, nudging at the glass.
Steven's hand rests on the cool glass. Lauren's shoulder and arm go right through as if the glass isn't even there.
Lauren stumbles forward through the window with a surprised sound. She was RIGHT! Today is a good day!
Aiden frowns. "That's odd." He takes a couple of steps forward and reaches towards the glass. It shouldn't be there, he shouldn't actually touch anything but more air. Clairchiare's rooms are just beyond, right? He just watched Lauren fall through, afterall.
Steven blinks startledly as Lauren simply falls through. he checks the glass to ensure it's solid, then on a half-whim tries to walk bodilly through it.
It looks pretty weird; Lauren vanishes through solid glass without a sound. She doesn't actually feel anything but a faint coolness and empty air as she waves it around-- and then as she stumbles through, there's a sleeping naked elf on a pallet in what looks like a cluttered attic room, if a cluttered attic room took up an extra-large attic. Moments later, there is a very awake naked elf on his feet, pointing a long sharp sword at her instead. He looks just like Seodil, except that this one only has shoulder-length silver hair... and, well. Lauren doesn't actually know if those bits of Seodil are any less pink than they are on this elf.
Aiden's hand, like Steven's, encounters only smooth cool glass when he checks the window. They hear not a sound from Lauren or anyone on the other side-- including screams or a splatter of hitting the pavement, which can only be good. Right?
Steven frowns. "How in the world did she do it?"
Sol's voice is a little too high-pitched as he too tries and fails to go through. "So. Only mages? That could be a problem."
She can't help but look. She tries not to, honestly she does, but...Lauren looks. No pink fluff, that's for sure. Addressing her eyes back up where they should be, she swallows carefully and essays a finger-wave. "Um. Clairchiare? Don't stab me..."
Aiden says, "I was going to say only girls. He's expecting a female visitor, afterall."
Steven says, "I think he'd be more specific than that, if they're waging some kind of war."
Sol tilts his head. "You think? Ooh." He looks almost cheerful. "I wonder if we could break it, if we'd just fall to our deaths then." Looking at Steven, he frowns and nods, "Maybe he doesn't control it?"
Aiden nods. "Maybe. Let's give Lauren a moment, though. Maybe she can talk him into letting us in?"
The shorter-haired silver elf snorts and points the sword at Lauren still. He is possessed of no hair whatsoever on his body. "Ilirith, if this is an illusion I'm going to be very annoyed with you."
Someone is coming up the stairs behind the small group of males clustered at the window.
Aiden glances quickly to see if he can figure out who it is.
"I'm not Ilirith," Lauren says. "I don't even think she knows me. This is Lauren. Seodil and everybody else is here with me and Ilirith is on her way, though. You should put some clothes on and get ready."
Steven winces, and glances behind, expecting Ilirith.
There's a flash of yellow hair as the approacher sees the clustered group, turns, and runs in the opposite direction.
It looked like Ilirith alright.
Aiden says, "Ilirith! Wait, please.."
"I should put some clothes on?" Clairchiare says incredulously. "You--" He struggles for words for a moment, then shrugs, tossing his sword to the bed. There is no sheath visible; possibly he actually was sleeping with it. "I should, at that. Ilirith still thinks I might keep breeding." Turning his pale back to Lauren, he starts dressing. "Seodil's here, you say?"
Lauren nods. "Yup. What happened to your hair? Did you color your eyes too?"
Ilirith is full out in panicked run, not stopping at her name. Sol growls and dashes after her.
Aiden does as well. He always sort of liked her, and he doesn't want her scared.
"It could be related to cutting my mother's head off," Clairchiare says calmly, not turning around. "It started fading around then. And yes, my eyes went too."
Lauren shuffles her feet. "You look just like him," she notes uneasily. "Sound a little like him too. Are you ready yet?"
Steven winces and is torn. "I'll wait here in case something happens inside," he says to Aiden's back.
Sol is faster, and snatches Ilirith's trailing gown. There is a sharp ripping sound as he slings her around and back towards Aiden.
Aiden steps in close and says, in as relaxing a voice as he can manage, "Ilirith.. we're on your side, please, don't run.."
"Yes," Clairchiare says, dressed now, and turns to throw a tiny dart at Lauren. It hits her in the arm and stings like a stone bitch. "Sorry. You were saying why you're here, when the door doesn't work for anyone it's not keyed to? I don't know who you are, but you're obviously a mage and you want something. Time to be truthful. What do you want and who are you really?"
Ilirith turns wide, frightened daffodil-yellow eyes on Aiden as Sol moves up to propel her higher up the stairs, to rejoin Steven. "Why are you here? Is it really you, Aiden? Steven? Prince Soleil? Oh, you've come at a bad time... I thought you were... someone else."
Steven smiles hopefully reassuringly. "We've gathered its a bad time. It's all right, ilirith."
Aiden says, "Of course it's really us. C'mon, let's get out of sight and we can get onto some common ground here. I'm going to go get Seodil, okay?"
Lauren yipes sharply and stumbles back against the window frame "Goddammit what was that? I'm Lauren and...ow...OW. I'm Lauren and I'm here with Seodil and Soleil and Aiden and Steven and Grennit and Kip and Meli and Zhi and I want to get this stupid dart out of my arm and I want Moopy back you're SUCH a bastard you know and I really REALLY want to go home especially RIGHT now..."
"...and also I want Kip and Meli and Ayali and Zhi and maybe Grennit but I'm not so sure about that and I really REALLY want to stop telling you all this." Lauren claps a hand over her mouth, at that point. She keeps talking even so, it's just more muffled.
"We, we should-- he's here too? Oh dear..." Ilirith looks around fast, fugitive, and says "We'd best get inside before anyone else comes. Hurry, the window. Shut your eyes and go after you start to feel the tingling." And she moves to touch the top of Aiden's head. It does start tingling. She moves on to Steven next, and then Sol.
Aiden says, "Seodil first. I'll go get him." Aiden runs back down to get the silver elf.
Steven blinks, but does, quite simply, as he's told.
Sol says, "Wait, we need to get Seodil--" and then follows Aiden at a run, ignoring Ilirith. She mutters but goes in after Steven. Clairchiare blinks at them, in the process of removing Lauren's hand from her mouth with a very bemused expression.
Seodil looks at Aiden and rises to follow him without a word, face grim.
Lauren mumbles on--"mmf 'n I want to see Nepal some day but it's so expensive, you know? And there's something about being occupied by China or whatever, but that's not important and I know for sure that I want my hair to be black for real because dyeing it is so expensive. And I want somebody to paint a picture of me in a big dress with petticoats and...Ow. I want to take this dart out. Can I?"
Aiden doesn't say anything. His face probably says it all anyway. He leads the way back up to the window.
Clairchiare plucks the dart out himself and eyes the newcomers warily-- Steven, anyway. Recognition dawns, though, and he stops looking like he's going to use the dart on Steven next. "Steven?" he says. "Ilirith? What's going on?" His voice is plaintive. Lauren feels the need to answer this question, too... to the best of her abilities, anyway.
Steven looks mildly surprised at the dart, but onloy nods. "It's a bit of a long story,:" he says, a little uncomfortably. "Aiden's gone to get Seodil, and then we can all talk about this. We arrived somewhat by accident."
Sol looks at Aiden, then goes through the window. Clairchiare nearly stabs him in surprise, before backing off in confusion, away from the magic entrance. Seodil tries to follow Sol and bangs into the window. He glares at it, then looks to Aiden for explanation- not accusatory, though.
Lauren answers readily. "We're really confused and I think we're screwed over hard," she explains in a matter-of-fact tone. "Everybody got zotted here from Fall when we went looking for Frangipani and Hellebore lives right down the street so we figured we'd come here for breakfast and maybe Travel would be here, which would be nice, and then people thought Sol was you so we got a note."
Aiden says, "We need to get Ilirith to do something to let you through. I think that's who Soleil went in to get. Sorry."
"It's Haasha's fault," Lauren continues, "he tried to burn down Frangi's log, so to keep her head from exploding we had to get Hellebore but I didn't know we actually had to get Hellebore with a capital H. He's cute. ANd he has a student named Kabi who's a ninja and she knows you I think."
Steven frowns, looking at Lauren very oddly.
"Uhm... Lauren? Why don't we wait for the others to get here...."
Sol looks frantic, grabs Ilirith and drags her squawking back through the window to deposit her in front of Aiden and Seodil. "Fix it," he says.
Aiden waits, patiently. He's nervous and he sort of wants to be the last one through.
Lauren looks at Steven. "Um. I don't think I can. Because see, there's this dart in my arm? See it here? Well, he threw it at me and ever since then I really really like giving answers and explaining things, and it actually hurts a lot and I don't know where he was hiding it frankly withis is just fine with me."
Clairchiare is looking more and more flustered by Lauren. He says to Steven, apologetically, "It'll wear off in an hour or so... I wasn't expecting new allies. Sorry." Sol and Seodil come through in time to hear Lauren, and Sol gets a certain little gleam in his eyes. Sweetly, he asks Lauren "So.. I was wondering, how do you feel about me?"
Having sent Seodil through, Ilirith looks at Aiden. "Come on," the gardener-mage says. "We need to get off this landing."
Steven thinks, An HOUOR? Well, Clair... this is what you get. Sow the storm, reap the whirlwind. I just hope it doesn't make Seodil kill her.... He nods to Clairchiare, smiling, "That's fine."
Aiden nods and steps through following her earlier instructions.
"I think you're a perverted slut, and even if you are a prince you don't act much like one," Lauren says, enunciating clearly. "I used to hate you a LOT but then I thought you were just kinda stupid, but you've been nicer to me lately which I like so I've been trying to be nicer to you. Even if you're still a perverted slut, which I'm quite sure about but would never say to your face."
Lauren looks around. "I want a glass of water. My throat is dry from talking all the time."
Steven blinks at Lauren, then looks at Clairchiare. "An hour, you say...."
Aiden is treated to the sight of Seodil grabbing Clairchiare for a hug and holding on hard. They're both definitely silver elves now. Lauren's verbal waterfall is, however, somewhat more... center stage.
"An hour or so," Ilirith says in answer to Steven. "I made them for him... we haven't been able to take many things on faith, you understand. She'll be all right, if no one kills her first.. please understand, she really has no control right now. She will answer you or anyone very, very honestly."
Aiden steps through just in time to hear Lauren's little diatribe against Soleil. He scowls at her and resolves to kill her the moment he won't be messing up Clairchiare's nice floors. He watches the reunion of the brothers with a small smile. "Thank you, Lauren, for that fascinating verbal diarrhoea. I shall keep that very much in mind."
Sol stares at Lauren, speechless, then bursts out laughing so hard he starts holding his sides. "No, n-.. oh, gods... no, Aiden, really, it's okay. I asked her. She tells the truth right now. No choice. Drugged her... Oh, gods, this is beautiful..."
Aiden doesn't exactly look mollified. He dismisses his sister, though, and turns to Clairchiare, bowing politely.
Soleil, genuinely giggly, moves to Ilirith's side to murmur something. A moment later she nods, and less than a second after she turns to touch Lauren's forehead Aiden's sister is falling limp to the floor, guided by Sol. Soleil arranges Lauren gently out of the way on Clairchiare's pallet, grinning, then rejoins the little huddle where Seodil and Clairchiare are no longer hugging. Both silver elves do look more relaxed, though. They're even both smiling. It's the exact same smile-- a little eerie. Moving to Aiden, Sol murmurs "Don't be mad, I'm not, honest. She can't help it."
Ilirith, looking recovered from her own scare, beams at Steven. "Sarete's not the same, you know," she confides. "She'll be terribly upset you're in danger."
Aiden just nods. He's bothered by it, obviously more than Soleil. Maybe that's just because he's heard that diatribe before with almost the same sort of disgust, condescension and choice of invectives.
Sol leans gently on Aiden and whispers. "Don't hurt her. She said she was trying... I think she may yet come around. Truly. But you're right, on to more important matters... gods, look at them. Twins. Perfect, but for the cut of their hair."
Steven blinks a little at Iliriths words, and smiles quietly. "I was hoping to see her at some point. At some point soon" His expression fades a bit. "That was before we were told -some- of what was going on.
Aiden's eyes really haven't come off of them since he arrived in the room. He nods at Soleil. "They are.." It's directed at the 'perfect' remark, rather than the 'twins' one. He drops his voice. "They need each other."
Ilirith notes that the other four still-conscious people in the room are already talking in pairs, and says sotto voce to Steven "There's a lot to tell. The Court is split in at least two, and they're trying to make him--" she nods toward Clairchiare-- "either come back and face trial, OR come back and take up his rightful post as Royal Consort. The truth about the baby is out... when his roses and he started fading, so did the child's hair. It's going to be a silver child. Some aren't happy... some just want a fertile royal couple to renew the land and the Court."
The silver pair turn toward Aiden, and Clairchiare smiles brightly now, no longer distracted by his brother's hug (and no longer hooded in his brother's hair). "Aiden. Soleil. Steven... I'm sorry it's such a poor welcome I have to offer you... all of you. Please, forgive me."
Clairchiare adds ruefully, "I'm sorry I darted your sister..."
Aiden smiles. "We weren't expecting you to roll out the red carpet, Clairchiare. I'm just glad to see you, no frills needed. Oh, don't apologise for that. It's sort of poetic justice."
Clairchiare shrugs with one shoulder, "I was asleep and she walked in, wasn't sure who she was... didn't want to just stab her, so after I got some pants on... you know. It'll wear off, maybe before she wakes up. --A lot of people are trying to find me. Not all of them want me dead, but honestly I'd rather neither side reached me. I have things to do, and dying or joining the royal family take second place for now." He looks very earnest, matter-or-fact.
Aiden nods, "You should put your own best interests first. Forget what they want you for, they've had as much generosity out of you as they should be allowed."
Steven nods thoughtfully to Ilirith. "Well. That's an intresting turn of events. I hadn't expected that to happen, though I don't think anyone did." He smiles warmly to Clairchiare.. or is that Seodil? he's finding it hard to telll the difference, "it's all right. I think we all understand that."
Clairchiare smiles dismissively. "Oh, I'm not working for myself.. I still serve the kingdom. The traitors will die." He remains quite matter-of-fact.
Aiden just nods. Time enough for that arguement later, and probably much better if Seodil is the one that speaks with Clairchiare about just leaving this place and these people behind.
Ilirith pats Steven on the shoulder. "Indeed. Well. Sarete will be happy to see you." She hesitates, clearly at a loss for anything much else encouraging to say about the current state of affairs, then peers at Steven's hair, reaching to touch. "By the way... does it grow like that? I was wondering if it's a heritable trait..."
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