Foreign Diplomacy
Dinner had finally arrived at last, with a large assortment of choices to pick from. The Citadel still had a collection of guests present, along with it’s regular staffing, it would be difficult to have there be too much food for a meal with this kind of crowd.
Thanrie was noting just how much demand there was for the Crystalline Blossom’s dinner pie, to at least try a slice. She had herself been eager to try the results of her own effort. Lwyn was right, some of the plants involved in this were really interesting, building even further upon her interest in a vast selection of plants. Pretty plants were one thing, but so many plants were just so interesting because of how useful they were. The plants that had produced this cheesy quality, she learned they were Elniri in origin. Clearly it was stupid for the Wyxiri and Qiciri to ignore the Elniri, if they were going to stock such wonders as this.
In no time at all, Thanrie noticed her own portion had disappeared. She had a feeling it was entirely of her own fault, but that didn’t make things any easier. Looking around, she noticed that the case of the disappearing pie wasn’t only reclusive to her own plate. Lwyn went around collecting plates as everyone had already finished up. Thanrie was hard-pressed to ask for seconds, but knew that there was already too much demand for pie, it wouldn’t be fair. If she was still hungry, she would have to enjoy something else.
While Lwyn was gone, suddenly the hall was filled with a commotion. Thanrie looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. “We have a bunch of new guests… Oh! The rebellion!” Mhyl, with her sharp senses, was able to figure things out way faster than Thanrie could have. Somehow, the Rebellion had taken this fine opportunity to arrive, which was causing a bit of a commotion. She looked around, noticing that both Rhyde and Zyuixqs were absent. She stood at the exact same time as Qheria, leaving Mhyl the only one still seated.
“Mhyl, make sure that Lwyn hears about what is going on. Considering her position here, it’s going to be important for her to be aware of everything.” Qheria then set off with Thanrie to step into the scene and calm everything down. They quickly found Zyuixqs and Rhyde being confronted by Zyuixqs’ father, his presence also dominating against either of their efforts. “Welcome to the Citadel, I’m glad it appears everything on your side has panned out well enough. Might I compel you to come share a seat, so that we can talk about the events each of us have missed, and not cause such a ruckus of the Citadel’s floor?” Qheria was taking over introductions, taking complete authority over the situation, her own stature stubbornly commanding respect of everyone present. Thanrie was impressed, clearly all of these noble formalities was actually sinking into Qheria, she was actually doing really well.
Lwyn returned with Mhyl in time for her to witness the resolution to the chaos. “That does indeed sound like an epic adventure. To have handled all four fronts with such a magnificent display, no wonder everyone here holds you four in such high regards. Thanrie, I must apologize for not taking full account for your own political disposition around here, like a warrior princess. Zyuixqs, my boy, you had best hurry if you wish to curry any favour, a war-maiden like this is certainly going to be the eye of every man the world across. Rhyde too, you can’t hide it from me, I know your own heroic eye has been fixated on like qualities. I’ve known you for far too long to miss on things like this.” The Rebellion leader himself was still very loud as he chuckled, even if he was still collected peacefully at a table.
Thanrie was starting to catch on how Zyuixqs had developed some of his worst influence. His father didn’t even seem aware of his own company, his own hosting. Still, Thanrie was liking that his words were putting her own ability in high regards. She wasn’t just some pretty face, she was a pretty deadly too when it was required. Zyuixqs himself just looked rightfully embarrassed at all this outburst from his father. Both Qheria and Rhyde were visibly looking for a way out of this mess, having regretted throwing themselves into it.
At this point, Lwyn approached the table carrying offers of dinner, including some of the quiche they had made. “I should let you know that the dinner pie we have today is actually a work of the four of us. Due to our upbringing, we’ve had some experience with the matter, and so have taken it upon us to make our own attempt at an entree.” Lwyn indicated the Quiche in this, something the Rebellion Leader instantly set his interest in. “Oh, now this is divine. I’m serious boys, this is like the best of two worlds.” The Rebellion Leader paused as Thanrie slammed her fist into the table. Thanrie was being reserved, both in her choice of targets and the degree of her strength, the table didn’t even crack much.
Thanrie stormed off at this point, not wanting to be a part of the conversation further. She was convinced that hearing more of this would put her fist in a very undiplomatic location. As she wandered off, she passed by a cloaked figure who had in all intents arrived with the rest of the Rebellion. She paused as she passed by the strange individual, feeling like this person was somehow familiar, but turned to find they had disappeared, whoever they were. Shrugging, Thanrie kept going along to the guest area. Meanwhile, Mhyl had rushed off after Thanrie, eager to attempt to deescalate the situation.
“Ah, uh, I’m mighty sorry about the mess that followed in the wake of our arrival, lady Lwynitsse. It’s been quite a trip ourselves, things might have left us a bit too exhausted to keep up with proper etiquette. We’d been left to try and hammer the enemy along the way, and had decided the most useful thing we could do was to slow down that monster of a giant, that it might pay you some time to deal with it separately. By the divine, that thing really was quite a monster, there was little we could do but to play at it as if we were naught but bugs. I’m glad it seems like our efforts had paid off in the end, that you had managed to by some miracle actually taken that thing out somehow.” The Rebellion Leader paused, seriously impressed at what it would have taken to deal with that impossible threat, especially right after the previous wave of enemies.
Qheria pondered the story, realizing that this was why the Colossal had arrived late. She realized that she had to be very thankful for the Rebellion’s hard work, dealing with both threats together would have been far more than they could have endured. Lwyn was even considering the same, impressed at what everything would have taken to have execute even a minor distraction. Clearly, the Rebellion Leader was not without his own measure of battlefield talent, no wonder he was the one in charge.
“After they slipped ahead, we took to our own efforts in finding a good way past them. We found a nice small pass through, but it seems the whole thing was cut off. You had a few enemies who had also been disappointed by the same fact, doubling back to find another way. They actually didn’t make it back, was some pretty good practice for those armors you provided for us. All three of them had been performing well enough. It was actually the same three that had discovered a nice tunnel through the mountain, like a perfect path for a few forces like us. I mean, not like it was harmless, we found a few bandits hiding inside like they owned the place, but they were a pushover compared to everything else we’d been working with.” The Rebellion Leader was actually reflecting upon the same tunnel the four of them had taken to flee the Citadel originally, a story that felt so far into the past with consideration to everything that happened after it.
“So that’s how you made it here. Wait, the cliffs there are crazy, how in the world did you bring three armors up and down the cliffs?” “Oh, those things. Yeah, the three girls were complaining about it too, saying it wasn’t reasonable and nonsense like that. Giving up like that never gets things done, so I never let them give up. It might not have been the easiest task I’ve ever given them, but I don’t tend to do the easy way. You would be happy to know that the three of them are at your Facility making sure that their suits got some proper repairs done as we speak.” Qheria was stunned, still not sure how this answered her question. After the details the Rebellion Leader provided, considering how Thanrie felt about the three girls, it was a blessing that she hadn’t been present to hear that tale.
“So overall, it seems like it’s good news for everyone all around.” “Ah, if you want bad news, I’ve got that too. Around when we were clearing out the blocked pass, we got the most insane reports from our scouts. It seems somehow we’d lost complete track of the Fortress. I know what you’re thinking, it’s a pretty long distance from there, would be a feat to see something like that so far away. But we had scouts that said they had been close enough to see the hole left behind by the Fortress. Somehow, the whole thing is just gone…” Lwyn’s optimism broke with this news, hearing from the Rebellion Leader about the disappearance of the Fortress. Clearly, her father was still up to some kind of mischief, they had to be ready for anything.
Lwyn personally rushed off to ensure that word got around about this new development, so that there were enough eyes watching for anything unusual. Misplacing the entire Fortress was a pretty big deal, it was a serious problem. Thankfully though, being so huge, having scouts deployed would make such a huge target found eventually. Lwyn was just more worried why it had suddenly vanished, to what end.
Qheria discovered in this moment that she was the only one left present to entertain Lwyn’s guests. She knew there had been space provided for the Circle Elves, space that was now vacated as they had gone home. Some of the Rebellion would probably just be staying at the Facility, where they were very easily a lot of spare room, but maybe Lwyn would accept letting the Rebellion leader get at least one night’s rest in the citadel, after all his hard work. She guided him towards the guest suite in question, leaving him there at least aware that this wasn’t being offered in any official capacity. The Rebellion Leader did not seem to mind in the least, understanding the chaos of the situation.
Qheria then returned on her own back to the dining hall, realizing that everyone had abandoned that as well. Sure, the regular staff would attend to everything as normal, but having involved herself, by her own choice and verdict, into a portion of the effort, she felt at least responsible for cleaning up after the Quiche they had worked on. She knew to leave the rest to the staff, but made sure at least there was not extra work left as a result.
Thanrie eventually found herself having wandered back to the facility, a choice spot with which to take her mind off things. She slipped into their old training room, thus finding herself quietly alone. She had again left her weapon in her room, but there was still a lot else she could do in that room. Her sparring match with Lwyn was still a concern that sat deeply in her mind, a point she had no real solution for. All things considered, she decided she would then do some practice using her gift. In that moment, she realized a complication, she didn’t actually have any ideas on using her gift effectively without her weapon around. The only thing she had done without it was boost things, she was really at a loss for anything otherwise.
While pondering what form of practice she should give for her gift in this situation, Thanrie got a shoulder tap from behind. Spinning around, she found her three spy friends had gathered to meet her. This got her surprised, she had been searching around the room just in those moments, and yet they had shown up anyway just behind her. Thanrie could swear they were all not just spies, but full fledged ninja. After taking a moment to hear what they were doing, she was even more convinced of this. Repairing armor after climbing the mountain in the stuff, they didn’t even have a way to climb, the armor didn’t even have qualities like hands. How was that even possible? Ninja, it was the only possible explanation, all three of them were Celesi ninja.
Leaving her training for later, Thanrie turned to give the three of them a hand, having done a lot of work on those same three armor. When she arrived, she had found they had done some pretty good work on tending to the mechanical damage.. but the structural damage left didn’t even make sense. How exactly does one slice the internal gyro like that, there isn’t even anything that would slice it. Climbing something impossible, she could understand it getting bent or something, but not this. The smith who was also present had been quite at loss for all the damage as well, but the two of them set to fixing the things. At least there wasn’t much work to be done, most of it had already been handled.
Mhyl paused, having had lost sight of Thanrie as she had tried to follow. She was actually still in the market square, not even at the facility yet. Mhyl took a seat near the fountain, pondering over her own thoughts as she had been left unable to tend to anyone else’s. Maybe Qheria had a point, trying to be everywhere at once was just leaving her with nowhere. She dipped her finger into the water, finding it cool in the autumn chill. The water rippled out from her contact and withdrawal. She still needed to figure things out for herself, really. Everyone expected her to be some kind of Saviour, but gave little on what that would include. Sure, it came with stopping Lwyn’s father from his destructive goals, but it wouldn’t end there. Saving the world, that’s all it was named after, that’s why it was a Saviour.
Basically, she was an elven hero, like Qheria. She was still in the middle of her heroics, not having done that yet, but just like Qheria.. her success would put her into a position of elven society that was completely her own to shape. It even seemed like they would both share a noble position in society, just the same as each other. Qheria however seemed to have an idea on how that worked, considering her mother was a hero. Actually, did she really? It’s not like her family was nobles, and knew where they would be going with everything. They would be given a place in the Qiciri’s society filled with influence and responsibility, and yet.. what exactly was those responsibilities?
Mhyl knew that human and elven society was slightly different, she shouldn’t be comparing herself too much to a human, but her experiences had shown her that there should still be some kind of common ground at least. Even compared to Earth, and all of it’s cultures, those in upper society had a lot in common cross-culturally. As she pondered and stressed over the matter, she realized she couldn’t actually find any answer. She paused in this moment of insight, suddenly thinking about how Qheria was handling everything here. Qheria wasn’t stressed about her own noble position, not beyond learning noble etiquette at least. Mhyl started to wonder if maybe she was over thinking everything, that maybe all of her stress was caused because she was too worried about things she shouldn’t be worried about.
She took a deep breath and tried to relax, realizing that even sitting here stressing about such thoughts was proving exhausting. That thought alone struck an insight profound beyond measure, as Mhyl went wide-eyed at her own innovation. Was that it? Lwyn really was good at staying collected, even when she wasn’t actually doing so well, she just hid everything under a calm composure. Meanwhile, Mhyl was really good at over complicating and stressing the small stuff. She didn’t waste her own physical movements, but she wasted her thoughts repeatedly. The gift was tied to her mental state, a mental representation of her physical state, including her physical stamina. She thought back to the sparring Thanrie and Lwyn had done, with Thanrie visibly stressing over her mental speed, and Lwyn just seeming so relaxed. Just as Mhyl wasted no physical movement, Lwyn wasted no mental movement, just as she was also mentally fast.
It was almost ridiculous, considering how Lwyn could also feel so hyper and excited sometimes, but even in that it just either felt like a face or an honest exposure. It was a routine, to reduce stress in every situation, to just resolve to facts as they came up. Lwyn had found weakness in simply accepting things without refute, but that was because she was that unconstrained. Mhyl was almost the opposite, being always too critical. Actually, was it always? She remembered exceptions, when she invested herself into the arts. Dancing, singing, drawing, those sorts of things set her mind at peace, and she was lost in the moment. Maybe such pursuits would have an even greater advantage, if she could practice to call upon those feelings on demand. Thus resolved, she returned to her room, intent on practicing some of her drawing.. and whatever else came after that.. would just come after that.
Evening had came, and dusk was quickly approaching just behind it. The four girls were each left with little but to sort out their own thoughts, to keep moving forwards towards their ambitious goals.
Luminaeris 