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 Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 8:13 pm
Saji barely saw the hooded figure, but her eyes narrowed. She clenched her fists in anger, her whole body and wings tensing as though to rise and strike what she saw. To anyone looking it would seem as though she were about to deck the Prince.
"I don't want to speak on this any longer. I need time to myself. Please. Go."
Saji turned to him, torn between what she longed to do and what she was asked. Something within her cracked and she turned away, her eyes misting as she realised she had to back away. She turned completely, keeping her poise as she stood slowly and walked toward the others and the crystal light that the princess had made. As she did so, she heard the woman offer her the strange food. She hesitated, not looking back to Niji though her thoughts centered around him. Finally she moved forward to slowly sit before the princess and the paladin.
"Thank you for the kind offer," She reached out slowly and took one, her form almost opaque as she did so, wavering between being solid and almost see through. Though she took the cookie, she held it absently a moment before she finally took a small bite. When she did, she raised a brow, looking at the treat as though seeing it for the first time. Slowly her lips spread into a small half smile.
"These are very good," Her smile faded slightly, but she looked up to the princess. "It is an odd shape for a pastry," She looked down at it. She hadn't seen many flowers before. Not like this. They obviously didn't grow in the sky, and the ash kingdom... well, it got its name honestly to say the least. The only flowers she'd seen on their side of the forest were small and didn't last long in the environment. "You must live among a very creative people my lady."
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Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 3:52 pm
Jashe watched as Saji cautiously bit into the cookie. She smiled at the thunderwalker revealed a grin.
"These are very. It is an odd shape for pastry." she paused then continued, "You must live among a very creative people my lady."
It was nice they were breaking the invisible barrier Jashe had felt earlier between them. Conversation would do that. Jashe looked back into the crystals' light. "Yes I suppose I do Ms. Saji. It's kind of funny how you don't really notice things until you are away from them. You know what I mean?" she paused for a moment and took a small bit from her cookie. The sweet sensation ran though her tongue. If this were a real campfire the sounds of cracking bark from the wood may have been comforting but without it it was an almost awkward silence. Jashe began to speak after swallowing the bite.
"But Ms. Saji I am curious what is life like in the world up so high?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 7:23 pm
Fiala had hardly been firmly upon the ground for more than a few seconds before Jashe called her over. Good... I wasn't missed, she thought with relief. No one would try to pin her with sneaking off and being the "narc".
Curious, she did walk over to the Crystal princess, wondering what this Sun Crumb could be. "Thank you..." she said, delicately taking the small morsel.
She looked at it first, taking notice of it's decoration depicting a flower. It's pretty, she thought, almost hard to eat it. But, her taste buds won out, and she took a nibble of the cookie.
The sweetness of the bread was new to her. Matter of fact, there were few sweetbreads among her people. Mostly it was just what came from the land, and nutritious and hardy. Few delicacies such as this exsisted.
"This Sun Crumb as you call it, is very good," Fiala commented, chewing thoughtfully before popping the rest in her mouth to eat.
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Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:18 pm
"Living among the clouds?" Saji looked up again from the cookie, then squinted slightly, a small smile appearing on her face as she thought of home. "It's wonderful. Sunsets and sunrises are some of the best times of day. Color spills over everything... it's magnificent. The people are just as they are in other kingdoms. Some are nice, some are difficult. Things seem much lighter than here on the ground, and we don't walk very much at all, but we live much as I imagine many of your people live." She shrugged.
"What of your kingdom? We hear that it is never night among your realm. Is it true that you can never see the stars then?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 10:31 pm
(( Anything in italics is something only Niji can hear unless noted otherwise. ))
Looking up as she turned from him, he felt the sudden urge to reset time. But what was said, was said. His only friend now most likely angry with him.
She hates you just as much as the others now, Niji. A cold whisper said, making his spine shiver. All hate you. You may have had somewhat of understanding from Saji but now she dispises you just as she dispises the elves. You're nothing but-
Niji tapped the sheath of his sword as he felt his eyes get particularly warm with the swelling of tears. He continued to do this throughout the night - staying silent and not replying to anyone who tried to stir him.
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 2:03 pm
"It's not entirely impossible for night to come upon the Crystal Kingdom just so very rare. Just about as rare as a solar eclipse really." she took another cookie from the box. Goodness did she loves these so. She examined it, admiring its clever design as she continued, "I remember the first and last time I saw the moon. I think I was four. That night was clear. Tonight is the first time I've ever seen stars. Wonderful tiny crystals of the sky. My home though, it's a nice place considering that fact that we are, or were, at war with the kingdom of the ash folk. The wide green plains of my home is where some of our best steeds are bred. A place I'm sure you'd like to visit Ms. Fiala." she smiled at the elf.
"The market is the best place to meet some interesting characters. I remember disguising myself and sneaking there from the castle when I was younger. Just like your home some people are difficult and few pretty crazy." she supressed a laugh once she thought of an interesting mini-adventure of hers to the market and meeting a crazy old man. "Don't get me wrong though many of our people our quite friendly. As a matter of fact you could call them my brothers and sisters. Citizens of kingdom are considered children of the king himself."
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 5:38 pm
"That's awkward indeed," Saji raised a brow. All were considered sons and daughters of the king? Did that mean there was no true royalty among them? Just a fatherly figure who ruled over them? Her eyes narrowed slightly, but she shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She munched on the cookie, finishing it and eating the few crumbs that had fallen on her sky blue dress.
"Does this mean then," She looked to the Paladin, "That you are not only a warrior among your people but also a prince?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 3:20 pm
Curious about both Kingdoms, Fiala chewed silently while listening to each speak in turn. Both were unique, in their own right. It made her feel sad that she was so isolated from the rest of the world almost. To see the things they were describing, it seemed unreal.
"Horses?!" she blurted, once she heard Jashe speak of wide plains of just horses. She felt silly, like a little kid again speaking of those magnificently made animals.
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Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 3:43 pm
Jashe beamed at the elf. Fiala's neverending fascination of horses ceased to amuse the princess. "The stablemaster may even teach you how to ride one." she said to Fiala, just to get her blood rushing. Jashe's smile reduced to a grin as she looked to Saji then looked at Jag just to see what he would say. Since all were children of the king she supposed it also meant all the men of her kingdom including her paladin were princes, well potential princes anyway. Any man of her kingdom could, or was, allowed to have the king's daughter's hand in marriage. Knights, noblemen, peasants and merchants had a chance if they were proven worthy enough in the king's eyes. Jashe wondered, if her hand was not promised to the ash prince then who would she end with in the future?
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Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 2:10 am
Niji had nodded off later on and had a dream..
He woke up and looked forward at a thickening and moving fog off in the distance - barely seen in the light of the moon. He could sense that there was something different about this fog, a feeling of magic was around it. He slowly rose from his possition against the tree, unsheathing his sword. He watched a figure form in the fog and begin to step forward - towards him. His eyes widened to see what it was.
It was Agathor, His guardian. It rushed forward, cutting trees away that were in its patth and ripping up out of the ground those that tried to impede its path. Niji got ready, sweat beading on his forehead. Then just as Agathor was upon him Niji leapt to one side -
Niji's foot twitched in his sleep
- The guardian unsuspecting of the move slammed into the tree, forcing it over as it rolled into a broken body on the ground atop the smashed tree. Niji knew that wouldn't have stopped the creature who helped him gain the title of Blood Prince and stood at the ready. In an instant the creature lept up and landed, back facing niji. The prince didn't have enough time to react as Agathor turned and sideswiped his ribs. Niji was thrown into a tree on the opposite side of the blow, his sword lay on the ground a few feet from him. He slid down his broken ribs had pierced his organs.
Niji coughed, bit of blood spraying from his mouth. His clothed bloodied on his left side.
He turned to see the gold eyes of his guardian just inched from his face. A hand reached out and grabbed his hed and thrust it into the ground.
Niji's body slid over, like something had pushed him. His nose broken and bleeding.
"Master." Agathor's dark voice shook Niji to the very core, "You are incapable of facing me. Vow to me that you shall be my slave."
Niji's body shivered as a sensation of cold ran up his body.
"Never." Niji spoke, Coughing, "I am no one's slave."
"Ne..r.." Niji coughed, blood covering the grass just infront of his mouth.
"That is untrue master. You are a slave to your country. To your king." Agathor said, standing over Niji's failing body.
Niji could feel his blood running hot with rage, He looked up, seeing that the fog was getting ever closer, "My father is not my master!"
"Father.. Nah..." Niji's hand clenched.
Niji's heart began to tremble with the adrenaline that rushed through his body. Rising up to face the creature. His eyes started to turn gold, his veins starting to make runic shapes all over his body, spines and barbs jutting out of his flesh.
"Angry, master? Angery at how helplessly powerless you are..?" Agathor chuckled.
Niji's eyes opened slightly, the color begining to turn gold.
"I am not weak!!" Niji shouted grabbing his guardian by the throat. The fog was just on his heels. He could hear thunder crack in the background as he bared his teeth.
"I will destroy you..!!"
Niji's veins began to turn black but stopped. He woke and sat up, holding his side. He wiped his mouth and put his sword back in his lap. His eyes slowly faded back to the natural red color.
"I hate dreams.." He said slowly, closing his eyes.
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Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 2:08 pm
Saji heard Niji shuffling behind her. She kept her head turned, pretending not to hear. He had to have been speaking with his guardian. She hated the creature, but Niji refused to allow her to converse with the guardian, let alone face it.
She figured the two of them were talking and knew it would only anger him to have her turn and interupt or, what she really wanted to do, start an argument with the stupid thing. It had given him the title Blood Prince, and it continued to form and shape his opinions of himself. If she could have, she would have decked it, with or without her corra despite the consequences.
As she silently fumed, her expression turned sour.
"...Saji?" Saji kept silent. She thought she'd heard it, but either way was intent on ignoring it. "...Saji, I'm tired of this! Where are you?!"
"I'm right here! Where do you think I am?!" Saji returned, looking up and around. Niji was sitting up, his sword in his lap. He was closing his eyes, and he wouldn't have asked such a foolish question knowing where she was.
"Saji?! Saji!"
"What?!" Saji stood, confused now, her eyes focused on the canopy. "Can't you see the light?!"
"I can't see anything!"
"You must be joking..." Saji grumbled, kneeling down and lifting her wings straight vertically above her. She jumped into the air, flapping her wings downward and sending a gust of wind through the woods where she'd been. The jump with the added force sent her up into the branches which, surprisingly, parted for her. She flapped her wings again, steadily beating them just above where she'd exited the top of the trees, keeping her foot down between the branches. "Over here!" She waved her arm in an arc over her head.
"You have NO idea what I've had to go through! I had to go and explain everything to your father, then to the council, then again to the council, then I had to come back down here where I've been roaming around where I THOUGHT you were, only to find that you weren't anywhere NEAR where you SHOULD have been according to where I'd left! Then I find out now, that where I THOUGHT I'd left you is apparently no where NEAR where I ACTUALLY left you!!" While it spoke to her it turned darker and darker, now a charcoal black color as lighting shot across it.
"Oh hush, you have a lot to tell me. We've left the others below. Lets go back down incase the trees decide to prevent our re-entry. I'm not sure we're liked just yet," While she spoke her corra surrounded her, the cloud floating around her, clinging to her. She lifted her wings vertical again, dropping instantly back down through the limbs the way she'd come. Thankfully, the branches did not try to break her fall or prevent her from going back down to the camp below. She landed lightly on the ground, the only disturbance the slight breeze that followed as it caught up with her.
Her corra seperated from her, reforming into a cloud that had turned a dark grey beside her. The lightning had ceased, though it was still pretty angry.
"Forgive me a moment, but I must converse with my Corra," Saji bowed to them, then turned to Fiala. "Will your trees prevent me from finding this camp again if we move out of the range of the light?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 9:20 am
Frowning slightly at all the commotion from Saji and her ...corra? she looked over towards the duo, blinking slightly at all the fuss.
"Will your trees prevent me from finding this camp again if we move out of the range of the light?"
Fiala thought a moment, then looked up to the trees, who were conversing amongst themselves once again. She soft "shish" and rustle of leaves, creaking twigs and snapping bark made her delicate ears twitch while she listened, trying to decipher their views of Saji.
After a few moments, she sighed, "The best I can gather, I do not believe they would bar you. If you do indeed have trouble, whistle," she told her, nodding.
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Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 6:58 pm
Saji bowed greatfully to the elf. "Thank you," She straightenned and headed out of the light into the trees. When she could no longer see it, she turned to her Corra, which tagged along beside her.
"Now, what did the councils have to say? And my father as well?" Saji relaxed her wings, the tips touching the ground.
The cloud swirled around her, through the gentle breeze it created she could understand its words.
"Your father wished to know everything that had happened. He immediately took me to the council once I had told him everything. He has told me, for your ears only, to keep your eye on Niji. He does not trust Niji and, though he trusts your ability, would advise you to use caution around him, especially..."
"I know the words," Saji waved her hand. "I've heard the warning before, many times."
"And you might do well to heed it once..." Her Corra muttered. Saji glared at it as it swirled around her.
"What happened after you spoke with him?" Saji spoke rather impatiently, wishing to get off the subject. Her Corra hesitated, then continued.
"The council has spoken as well, with direct orders for you. You are to remain here for a while longer, though once the wedding is concluded you are to return to the Sky Kingdom to report to them yourself."
"...What else... There's something else, isn't there?" Saji's eyes narrowed.
"...The council wishes you to allow the Ash Prince to carry out his father's request undaunted..."
Saji tensed, her wings shuddering with her growing anger. She knew what all this was about. It was about lack of control, lack of ability to take a stand. There was nothing she could do in this situation, though if she'd been able, she would have defied the council. Her Corra knew it, but they didn't. Still, this situation so far proved hopeless toward her intervention. Lightning arched around her through her Corra.
"We'll see about that..." Saji spun on her heel, walking briskly back toward the direction by which she'd come. Her Corra, now as dark as the forest shadows, continued to reflect her emotions with small electrical shots as it hurried after her. By the time she'd reached the camp, thankfully without too much trouble, she'd regained her expression again, though she was still tense. Her Corra remained pitch black as it came to float beside her. She calmly went back to stand at her place crystal firelight.
"Thank you," She nodded to Fiala, then, as an after thought, she turned toward the trees she had passed by going out into the wood and coming back in, nodding to them respectfully as well.
By the time she'd reached them again she was tired as well. "I think rest is in order," She looked to each of them. "I will bid you all good night, and I hope to see you rested in the morning." She nodded to them and turned to find a place farther out of the light near the edge of the trees again and lay down, her Corra hovering above her as she closed her eyes to sleep, beding her wings in front of her to cushion her head.
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:28 pm
Jashe watched Saji excuse herself from the others to speak with her cloud. She found it amazing that such things existed, puffs of air with minds of their own. She heard a slight rustle from behind and looked back. It was Niji. His hair looked slightly messed and he looked drowsy. He murmurred something before closing his eyes. He said something about hate. Jashe looked back. Was that all he reflected upon? Hatred? She looked into the light. She hoped to get to know him at least a little before getting married. It was hard to imagine spending her life with a complete stranger.
However, it was a much better choice than what the elders of her kingdom decided what her fate would be earlier. She remembered when she first told of her destiny. She was so very small, too young to fully understand. She stared deeply into the light reminiscing about that day.
"Your highness you were given a great gift. You are the blessing that was given to this kingdom."
"But I don't understand why?"
"Because Little Princess you will become the Crystal Flyer of War."
She remembered how serious the elders were. She wasn't sure what that meant back then not until later anyway. Jashe could remember how miserable she felt when she understood its meaning, how to prepare for this fate and how she hated herself because of it. Yes this marriage arrangement wasn't going to be a happy one but it was a much better choice.
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Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2006 12:11 pm
(( o-o Just everyone tell me when its ok to FF>> to morning. ))
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