Medieval, Kingdoms of Ardania and Derangia - Repowered

"We're back!" said Lily, cheerfully. "Valery and I just needed to have a little heart to heart!"

Lily jumped on her horse, and gave Alice a wink. The message of said wink was, in her mind, quite obviously: "I'm doing something clever and expect you to play along!"

--

This time, as Marlene wrapped her arms around her; Polly only blushed a little. Perhapse she was growing used to Marlene's...hands on approach. She thanked whatever god was looking out for her that the girl hadn't snuck into her tent last night.

"I don't know if the maid actually kidnapped the princess," said Polly. "In the case that we do have to fight them, however, we should take out the jester as quickly a possible...she can throw knives very quickly,"

Leeta was on Whitesong's back while they went across the field to the farm where Leeta and Shadow grew up. "I hope she is there". When they got to the farm Leeta got off of Whitesong's back and walked up to the door. Before she started knocking to see if anyone was home she looked through the window, "I guess she might not be here". She only saw a dark room with no one inside.

Leeta climbed up onto Whitesong's back when she noticed the smoke comig from the burning tree. "Who would be burning something this early"?
They started going in the direction of the smoke if only for a clue as to where Shadow is.

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Shadow started walking in the direction she came into the forest from. She began to think once again if she would ever see Leeta again even if it was only for a moment. Shadow said to herself at this moment "Maybe I should just go to Ardania and drink myself to death". When she got out of the forest she spotted her burning tree and something else…

When she was finally calm again, Lyra headed back towards Alice just as the Jester and dwarf returned. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked around at the group, "So who am I going to be riding with this time?"

She almost already knew the answer, but it was worth a shot asking. There was at least a bit of hope that she wouldn't get stuck with the dwarf again and whatever strange sickness that had came over her wouldn't be coming back.

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"Dragon frog and chameleon sight, I command the shrouded sea. I blend the mist, I mix the light. Refract around behind me," Claude mumbled a simple spell under his breathe, working his magic and putting all his concentration into it. He was well aware of how important this would would be. If they could remain hidden with his illusion spells, then maybe they'd get through the forest with no confrontations. He wondered why he did not think to do this before. Maybe he should have spent less time flirting with the girls.... naaaaah.

Lance was taken aback for a moment. Where did he hail from? What should he tell her? Well it was obvious that he shouldn't mention Derengia. He had to come up with something else, something that would fool the princess. Though, he had a feeling it wouldn't be too hard to trick someone as trusting as her, "I do not remember. My sister and I were very young when we left our home and had been traveling across the land ever since. Only recently had my sister settled down and sought out work."

Hopefully that lie would be enough to sate the Princess' curiosity. Lying was not his strong suit, but he would do it if he had to.

What Tand (Shadow) spotted made her heart sink. She saw some of the hunters that had be chasing her for the past 27 years. She began to think to herself "Damnit how'd they get here so quickly? Perhaps they haven't seen me yet" at that final thought she began to slowly back up trying to make as little noise as possible. Tand was not in the condition to fight and she knew it. But before she could get very far one of the hunters turned their head and saw her. "Look at this we found it" the hunter said, "It" Tand thought to herself "It? I am not an it and I am not like the others that they hunt".

The hunters pointed their weapons at her, about one third had bows, one third had pikes and the remaining had axes and swords. One of the hunters said "So now that we found it should play a game of cat and mouse or kill her on the spot"? Tand had another thought "I just need a distraction to escape or better something to help me kill them". Just then a loud noise was heard coming from the tree when a branch snapped off, almost all the hunters turned their heads at the noise. At this moment, Tand took off running into the forest.

She had never run so fast in her life before, but she had only one goal and that was too survive. The game has changed now, the hunters were now going to be very close behind her now in her attempts to escape. Tand was sure she was going to die soon now… "Derangia!" she thought, "Perhaps there I'll be able to get a real meal and finally be done with these hunters."
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Leeta saw the comotion down by the tree then said to Whitesong and herself "It doesn't look like it's our business". Just as she said that one of the hunters yelled "She ran into the forest, go after her you oafs"! The other hunters went into the forest with haste. Leeta shrugged and stood up then climbed onto Whitesong's back "Well I guess we should continue searching for Tand." with that they took off in the direction of Derangia.

Feeling a bit bad about the way she had treated the elf before, she reached you to her, deciding to be merciful for once. "You can ride with me now, La-.. Lyra. At the very least, it'd be safer."

For her own sanity's sake, she tried to ignore the wink the Jester gave her. It would probably some new trick she was pulling.. or one of the strange plans she liked to come up with. It was better not to ask. If Lily tried to get her in on this.. she'd just smile and nod.

"Either that, or you can right with miss Valery again. Or even Lily. Whichever you prefer." She had a feeling that, despite their somewhat shaky relationship, that the elf would probably pick her.. if only due to lack of trust in the Jester and the strange sexual tension she had with the dwarf.

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"That really would've come in handy when we were almost killed by bandits. Really.. just before then would've been nice. Just sayin'." Sofi smirked at Claude, before letting out a laugh. It was clear she didn't blame him. hindsight was always 20-20, after all.

Candy nodded, not really having any reason to assume he was lying, or at least she figured this was casual enough of a conversation that she just assumed he was nervous speaking to the princess or something, rather than showing some sign of lying, "I see. That's interesting, I bet life on the road is never boring, huh?" She didn't know the circumstances that would cause them to always be travelling, but it sounded sort of exciting. She looked forward, checking to make sure the horse wasn't going to walk into anything, and also to give her something else to look at so she wasn't staring at him, "I'm always stuck in the castle. This is actually my first time leaving the city!" Candy giggled, "Aside from the one incident, it's been pretty fun in its own way," she gave that thought a couple moments, before speaking up again.

"Then what do you do for a living? Or do you not have a job, just surviving out here?" She asked, turning back to his face, her big eyes clearly expecting an answer. It could be seen that she wasn't likely to be upset with any answer, almost like she was looking up to him for a moment. Or perhaps it was some vague sense of jealousy? It could be something else, but Candy was just waiting for her answer.

--

Valery hopped on her horse and said nothing, just gave a light 'hmph'. She didn't intend on shouting about how she refused to let the Elf ride with her again, as it would perhaps end badly for her. Besides, the maid was taking care of things now anyway. The elf would surely pick anyone over a dwarf, right? They hated each other after all. She looked off to the side.

Lily resisted the urge to giggle with maniacal glee as she observed the elf and the dwarf. Soon, her evil plans would be coming to fruition. Oh yes, she would ship those two yet.

It would only be a matter of time before the dwarf forced her to "carry out" her "threat". She briefly wondered whether or not she could ask the queen to actually give her the ability to marry people against their wills. Seems like something the queen would find amusing.

Then again, she doubted the queen would grant the request. Attempting to forcibly marry the nobles to eachother would most likely cause a war. Then again, it would be hilarious.

She rode ahead of the group.

"Come on, slowpokes! Lets get moving before Alice's mystery assassin catches up with us!"

"I'm sorry, mon cherie," Claude said looking down towards Sofi with a slight smirk, "But your gentle touch distracted me far too much to perform such a spell."

----

"I..." How should he answer that. Well since he already told one half truth, he might as well tell another, "I am a Mercenary, Princess. I get paid to fight for different countries.."

----

Lyra looked from the maid and the dwarf biting her lip slightly. No, what was she doing. Of course she should ride with the maid. Her tribe wouldn't exactly take kindly to their heir riding on horseback with a dwarf. Or at the very least, some sort of weird misunderstanding would arise. Yeah, better to ride with the maid. "Alright, I'll ride with you," She answered with a nod towards Alice.

She'd of course need help getting on the horse though.

For a moment, Sofi blushed, then grumbled under her breath. "We'll see how gentle my touch is when I shove you off that horse." She stuck her tongue out at him, childishly, as she hung onto Cerbi, who was snuffling around at the ground.

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The elf seemed oddly reluctant. How cute. She'd make her ride with the dwarf on the way back. As Lyra walked up next to the horse, she grabbed the elf by the arms and easily hoisted her up onto the back of the animal.

Grumbling at the mentions of the assassin, Alice cracked her horse's reins and caught up to Lily, riding next to her. The took out her map again, tracing the route she had planned with her finger. "In about ten minutes, we'll need to take a left through the forest down to the coast. We need to avoid Derengian patrols for now."

Hopefully, getting to the Elven camp would go off without a hitch. the last thing she wanted to do was attract danger near one of Ardania's allies. At this point, keeping Lyra safe was ever-more important.

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After a few minutes of traveling the group had made their way to the coast and was now headed down along it towards the elf camp, and then to Derengia in due time. Marlene had a book open, which she was reading as she kept it rested against Pollinore's back. Every so often she would murmur some kind of incantation, and some small nether-beast would appear then vanish. She was practicing for what she assumed would be a violent confrontation whenever they managed to catch up with the maid and crew.

Looking up from her reading, she grinned mischievously and reached around Polly again, the proceeded to wrap her arms around the front of Polly's breastplate. Truth was, this whole time Marlene wasn't fully sure what gender Polly was. Still, something about them screamed effeminate, despite the fact they were a knight. So, she figured, this would be a good way to test. Sure, she wasn't actually touching her breasts/his chest.. but it might at least make her squeak for flinch. That'd be nice.

Valery was still somewhat struggling with the horse, but she was getting the handle of it. She supposed that it wasn't something all that hard with such a tame horse, but she had trouble with allowing it to go too fast. She wasn't a fan of the idea that it might move out of her control at a higher speed.

"Hah, sneaking around is unbecoming of a dwarf," She lightly huffed at Alice's comment, "But I'll go with it for now. It's not like we're out for a fight,"

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"A mercenary..." Candy thought about that for a second, then smiled, "Does that mean we owe you money for saving us?" The fact she was joking was made clear when she began to laugh.

Polly blushed for a moment and tried to hide her discomfort as Marlene put her arms around her breast plate. She wondered for a moment if Marlene suspected her secret.

However, that couldn't be the caase. Surely she'd done a fine job hiding her gender. Afterall; she'd fooled the other knights. On the other hand; Marlene could have used some kind of gender-determining magic or something.

She shook such thoughts from her mind. She had to focus on the matter at hand, as she was sure they would soon catch up to the maid. Besides, what kind of idiot wizard would come up with something as silly as gender-finding magic?

--

Lily glanced at Valery, and began to wonder if they should have chosen another sellsword for the mission. Perhapse someone with a better grasp of stealth, perhapse? However, it occured to her that a more experienced mercenary would probably be alot harder to bait; and thus, much less fun to tease.

"That explains alot," said Lily. "If dwarves are aren't accustomed to sneaking around; it's no wonder you're so bad at it,"

Once she was on top the horse, Lyra wrapped her arms around Alice. All notions of being embarrassed by this evaporated as her fear of falling off took higher priority. Though, after awhile of travel, she seemed to relax, at the very least she stopped clinging to Alice for dear life. She really needed to learn to get over this fear of horses.

Besides, horses should be the least of her worries now. First she's returning home after being gone for who knows how long and now she's conflicted with odd feelings for a dumb, vulgar dwarf. Definitely not a good day for her.. or week even.

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"Quite fiesty there, mon cherie," Claude remarked with a grin, then he winked at Sofi, "Good thing I find that attractive in a girl."

Yes he was blatantly flirting with the girl. Partially as a way to keep the mood light and easy even after last nights events and mostly because he was just a shameless flirt who went after anyone who he found attractive.

----

For a moment Lance's lips twitched into a smile, but he quickly fixed his expression into something more impassive. No, he can't allow himself to relax or let his guard down. He shouldn't and couldn't become friendly with this princess. Instead he shook his head, "I would never ask for payment from people I help of my own violation."

James squinted, and in the distance, saw a group of people. Ignorant to the flirting of his colleague and their random tag-along mage friend, he said "Up the pace, I think I see them!" He dug is legs in and his horse sped forward towards the targets.

As he got closer he saw Alice, however the princess was nowhere to be seen. This was rather inconvenient. He stopped his horse next to the group, and laid his hand on his sword "You are the famed battle-maid, correct? We are on official business from Her Majesty, the Queen of Ardania. I'm going to have to insist that you co-operate and inform me of where the Princess is," he said in a business-like, but not unfriendly, tone.

Marlene moved her hands to a respectable location as their group collided with that of the 'battle-maid's. She let Polly go, even, when they were close enough, in case they needed to leap into action or some such.

Alice had been lost in her own thoughts as they rode, unwilling to complain about the elf holding onto her tightly for a good while, and reacting quite suddenly when she was called out to. Signaling the others to stop, she turned the horse so she could look at sir James, vaguely recognizing him, and more quickly recognizing Sir Pollinore. She had no idea who that random woman was, but right now she didn't care.

"Tell you where the Princess.. isn't she back at the castle? Under watch by the guard?" She looked shocked and worried at first.. and then furious. "Are you telling me that ALL of the royal guard managed to lose track of the princess?!"

"I'm also on a mission from the Queen, so don't reach for your weapon like I'm a foe! Damn it!" Alice was clearly distraught. They had to keep going to the elf camp but.. the princess was, to her, top priority. Yet these people who were apparently searching for her seemed to think she was the culprit. Ridiculous. "She could be in danger. I don't know where she is, so cease loitering around here and keep looking!"

Marlene merely watched Alice as she ranted. So she didn't know where the princess was.. that was clear enough. Poor dear. She must really love that lady of hers.

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Sofi waved Claude off. She wasn't about to let him keep making her flustered with his stupid flirting. There were more important things to focus on! Like making sure Sir Lance wasn't going to make a move on the princess. Also making sure the princess wouldn't get hurt. She watched the two interact, resting forward on Cerbi's back.

Valery let out a loud snort, before taking her hand back away from her axe after a random man rode up to them and reached for his weapon. With what he was saying, she just couldn't hold back her words. What was wrong with humans when it came to such simple things?

"You humans suck at security. How does a girl of such rank manage to get out of the sight of so many 'trained' guards?" Valery laughed, "You should get your act together, you'd never catch a Dwarven Lord away from his personal guard. Unless he was accepting a challenge, of course. I certainly hope that's not the case for your dainty princess,"

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Candy would continue to flirt with Lance all the way to their destination.

Lily turned her horse around, and rode between Alice and Sir James. If someone was going to have to fight Ardanian royal knights; she'd prefer it to be her instead of Alice. However, her expression remained unchanged as she spoke to James.

"Sir James, do you seriously think we kidnapped the princess, left her in the middle of the woods somewhere, and then rode for Derrangia?" she asked. "Well, I guess knights really aren't chosen for their intelligence,"

Sir Pollinore rode forward. She didn't like the look in the jester's eyes; and knew she would most likely have several knives on her person.

"Stand down jester; we have no wish to fight you," she said. "If you have not kidnapped her; then she may well be attempting to follow you,"

"Well then, where is she?" said Lily, taking her hands away from the knife she'd been reaching for. "I mean, if she's following us, shouldn't you have seen her by now?"

Inwardly, James groaned. This was turning complicated and, although he was pleased at the lack of bloodshed, he couldn't help but think that it would have been much easier to brutally murder them all and take the princess back. Quelling his inner sociopath, he replied, "easy, easy," with his hands up in a placating gesture, sword firmly in its sheath and voice reverting to its regular, calm and oddly content tone. The opposing group seemed rather offended.

"My apologies, the people we questioned mentioned you; the teams are going on every lead they can find," He replied, ignoring several jibes towards his intelligence and competency, or that of his nation. "I was also under the impression that you were more than capable, and in charge, of dealing with the princess's security yourself. You will be put in charge of the investigation into the matter, I should imagine. For now, we need to find the princess. Don't worry, if something had happened, they culprits would have informed us. Which makes me think..."

He turned to Pollinore. "You're probably right," He stated, "The princess is somewhat headstrong, and with close proximity to Maid Alice here, I imagine she would have picked up on the mission and wanted to participate. Judging by the lack of ransom, she did leave of her own accord."

This time, he addressed Marlene as well. "We will ride with these people. If indeed the princess is heading for the same destination, we will meet her there, at which time we will decide what to do. If that's okay with you two, of course."

Lyra twitched slightly in annoyance at the ongoings. Her fear of horses momentarily forgotten. She bit back the snarky remarks to the incompetence of these so called knights. No, the others had said more than enough. She had to, dare she say it, be the mature one in this situation. There was no telling what kind of danger the princess was in and they would need all the help they could get to find her. No it was better that they get to the elf camp immediately instead of dally here pointing fingers at eachother.

"Ahem, Ser Knight," She said trying to get the knights attention. Whether it was directed at Pollinore or James was unclear, nor did it really matter, "I am Lyra Silvertongue, next in line to be the Keeper of the Valish elves. While I am concerned that you did not bother to talk to the Queen before leaving. Had you, she would have told you Alice was escorting me to Derengia, not kidnapping princesses. That is not important now."

Her voice had taken a different air from the finicky elf she usually was. This was the voice of a leader, one working her powerful suggestive magic into her words. This would be the best bet in preventing Alice from running off like an idiot for now, even if she hated having to resort to this manipulative magic, "I advise we make haste to the Valish camps. I will talk to my grandfather and he will send his best men and women to go search for the princess."

Alice was about to give James a peace of her mind for thinking that she, of all people, would purposefully leave the princess unguarded.. before Lyra cut in. Her own reason good and gone due to her fear for her princess's life, the panic seemed to vanish at the elf's words. Everything in her still wanted to go ride off and find the princess herself.. but something else, just strong enough, was dragging her sense of duty back to the Valish elves. Plus.. the elves were good trackers, weren't they? If Lyra got her grandfather to send his best men.. then they'd find her.

For once, she didn't even bother to be embarrassed by the lack of competency shown by knights of her nation. She was too furious at them as individuals to care. James, especially, was on her dislike-list.. and she was surprised that Pollinore had gone along with this notion. She'd assumed the knight and herself were.. at least acquaintances. She glared at the both of them as Lyra spoke.

Marlene seemed perfectly find with the plan, nodding to James and holding onto Pollinore once again. She wasn't upset about the lack of fighting at all. Better to get this done than to worry about fighting with allies.

"Let's get going. You three, keep up and keep a look out." Even if those two were knights.. this was her mission. An important one given to her by the queen, and now that they were joining up.. she wasn't about to let them order her around. Not after what they assumed. She rode up next to Lily and gave her shoulder a quick pat, motioning for her to ride behind the three newcomers and keep an eye on them. It was now that she really appreciated the Jester's friendship. She gave her friend a slight, if not forced, smile, then rode out ahead, moving the horse into a quick trot.

She was clearly unhappy and worried, and this showed in her somewhat slouched posture and how white her knuckles were as she gripped the reins. Lyra would have to do most of the talking when they got to the camp.. else she may lose her temper with Ardania's allies.

Lily quietly nodded to Alice, and rode behind the newcomers. Though she doubted they would try anything; she'd stab them in the back if they did.

Sir Pollinore, meanwhile, had become oddly quiet. Lily supposed the young knight was relieved that "he" didn't have to fight her or Alice. Lily considered asking the young knight "his" chest size; but decided against that. Now was not the time to throw her suspicions about the knight out for everyone to hear.

Though that wouldn't stop her from teasing him or possibly her a bit.

"So, Sir Pollinore; I didn't know you had a lady love!" she said.

"I don't! What are you talking about jester?" said Polly, blushing beat red.

Lily grinned. Sir Pollinore would make for a great teasing target.

Valery's laughter was cut short by Lyra's words. There was something that drew her to listen to it. Wait that made no sense, why did she feel interested in what some dumb elf had to say? Nevertheless, she listened and nodded and made a sound in agreement. Then she shook her head and blinked.

"Wait, what did..." Valery was very confused now. While what Lyra said made sense, Valery couldn't shake the feeling that this didn't agree with her. That's right, a dwarf like herself would change course, turn around, and search through the woods for what may have happened to whoever may have been following them. Valery knew that she'd have disagreed if she had been paying attention, so why wasn't she paying attention?

She grumbled but didn't say anything, seeing as she'd already agreed and she wouldn't go back on what she said, "Probably already went back to the castle anyway..." she muttered, "Prissy princesses don't know how to survive on their own..."

"We had not expected to run into Alice during our search, and therefore did not know of her mission. However, we respect that you are in the midst of an important journey, and will do our utmost not to interfere," James answered, before proceeding on the journey silently.

They were now very close to the elven camp. Lyra could already see the signs of life. Tree stumps here and there, an almost complete absence of game animals. The elf could feel her nervousness rise. It had been so long since she was last here. It became increasingly hard to swallow as the tension caused her throat to close up. How would the other elves react, how would Arielle react? Surely she'd be angry with her. She might even force her to join her for training. If you could call the torture she inflicted training. But there was something more important than that to worry about. Even though she had only known the princess for a short while, her concern for her safety was great.

It was during these personal musings that a group of elves suddenly appeared, bows ready and aimed at the trespassers. "State your business human, or le-" One of the elves had said only to pause once they noticed Lyra, "Heryn?"

"These humans are with me, please take us to my grandfather immediately. There's been a bit of an emergency," Lyra had stated in elven. The group seemed to to look amongst themselves in confusion for a moment before the leader spoke up again.

"As you wish, Heryn," He then turned to the humans, reverting to common rather than elvish, "Follow my lead, humans."

Alice's agitation was growing. It didn't help that when the y finally found the elves, the first thing they did was point their bows at them. Noticing Lyra seemed to stop them in their tracks, though, she she tried to relax.. even with the princess in potential danger. Nope, she couldn't relax. As they began speaking in Elvish, Alice grit her teeth. At least Lyra seemed to be telling them to hurry up.. or something.

Alice simply nodded in response, and motioned to the rest of the group as she followed behind the elves. As she rode, Alice was clearly struggling. As the effects of Lyra's words started to lessen, it was becoming increasingly clear that Alcie wanted nothing more than to turn around and start looking for the princess herself.. though it was too late to run off now. The last thing she wanted to do was insult the elves, whose trackers could find the princess more efficently than she could.. maybe. Hopefully, the princess hadn't run into nay troulbe.. or at least been wise enough to take someone with her to keep her safe..

Marlene was still smiling from the 'lady love' joke, cheerfully hugging Pollinore around the waist.

"Tch," Valery didn't like elves to begin with. Everyone knew that. But now she was not only travelling with an elven royal, but escorting her into her homeland full of elves, and trees. She was not happy about this, and hadn't expected to be so much on edge about it as she ended up being.

When they came out with bows aimed, Valery very nearly pulled out her axe. It took every ounce of restraint she had to deny their challenge, her hand sitting impatiently on the handle of her axe. Once they started moving, however, Valery was also mildly surprised they were letting her in just because she was with Elven royalty. This only put her more on edge, however, especially since she kept wanting to reach for her axe again. These elves... she just didn't trust them, and now she was in elven territory with an entire elven military.

Valery then thought to herself, calming herself down, "Come on Val, you've taken on worse than this. That big dwarf who insulted your father was waaay scarier than these elves. In fact, these prissy elves aren't even scary. Yeah, that's right, they're just elves! They fight with dirty tricks though, so keep cool... and for the love of all the lords in the world DON'T let that damn jester marry you to that elf..."

Lily kept a pleasant smile as the elves appeared from the woods with bows aimed at them; but kept a hand on her daggers throughout the confrontation.

She remained tensed up for battle even after the bows were no longer aimed at them. Though she didn't believe the elves would attack her; she couldn't bring herself to relax when surrounded by people with weapons.

"You're friends sure know how to throw a welcome party, your pointy-earedness," she said, addressing Lyra.

Polly, meanwhile, was trying rather badly to hide her nervousness around the elves. She had never even met an elf before today; and had, unfortunately, heard some rather unpleasant stories about them. Though she refused to believe most of them; she couldn't help but remember them none-the-less.

She had breathed a sigh of relief when the bows were lowered; as she wasn't sure she could protect the sorceress behind her if arrows started flying. Granted, Marlene was a powerful necromancer; and definatley not to be underestimated. Despite this, Polly felt a rather odd urge to protect the girl from any harm that might come here way.

She tried to convince herself that this was only her knightly duty.

It wasn't long before the group had reached the elven camps. As soon as they set foot, many of the elves around the camps paused in their work to stare at the spectacle. Not only was there a group of humans and a dwarf, but their runaway heir was amongst them as well. There was much whispering going on as the group drew closer to the center of the camp. None but the few who knew elven would even know what they were whispering about.

It was when they came to a fairly large tent that the elves leading them stopped, one of them holding up their hand to halt the others. Another stepped into the tent then came back out not to long after, heading over to Lyra to help her off the horse, "Your grandfather is prepared to see you, Heryn."

Lyra nodded wordlessly as she went on ahead inside the tent. However, before the humans and dwarf could follow, the same elf that helped Lyra down, stepped in front of the group once again, "No outsiders are allowed past this point."

His tone was highly rude and demanding and he'd probably have gotten throttled by a certain maid had another, more feminine voice spoke up. "Kalor, I think your duties here are done. Get back to your patrols at once."

"Y-yes, Arielle sir.. er ma'am!" The previously imperious elf seemed to pale as he scrambled away. He definitely didn't want to earn the ire of one their clans best warriors.

As soon as he was gone, the blue haired woman walked up to the group, "My apologies for his rudeness. Many of our young are bull headed and do not know how to treat guests. Though, as much as it may inconvenience you, he is correct," Arielle stated, her speech very curt and matter of fact, "Outsiders are not allowed in the sacred home of our Keeper. You must trust Lyra to speak on your behalf. For now, follow me and I shall show you where you can rest while you wait."

James had gotten his shield ready as the elves appeared with their bows, realising that getting his sword out would be almost entirely useless and may have antagonised the elves. He looked over at Pollinore, whose relief at the lack of a fight was evident. He really shared the sentiment.

He looked around in amazement and the natives reciprocated, making him wonder how many humans or dwarves had ever come here. He followed the party to where they were to rest, however, he was uneasy at leaving the princess's search until later. He voiced his concerns to Alice, saying, "I don't like the sound of having a rest; we need to ask around to see whether she is or has been here."

Marlene, who has felt Pollinore tense up like a bow during the initial 'welcome from the elves' gave the knight a small hug, one not full of clearly lustful feelings for once. If worst came to worst, she could take care of herself just fine.. but it seemed things were going smoothly so far, so no need to worry.

Meanwhile, Alice, who didn't have anyone to comfortingly hug her from behind, sat on her horse looking like she was about to pounce, or at least yell in irritation. The rude elf certainly didn't help matters.. but even she was stupid enough to assault one in their own camp. She did think about it for a moment, though.

When Arielle cut in, Alice tried to take a deep breath to calm herself down before she attempted speaking. "Understood. The last thing we want to do is cause trouble." Dropping down off her horse.. Alice was still tall. Taller than most of her human companions, and taller than most of the elves. It was kind of a funny sight, really. One she would've appreciated more had she not been panicking on the inside while putting up a stony front.

Turning to Lyra, Alice walked up and placed a hand on her shoulder, seemingly ignoring the hundreds of bows that were more than likely trained on her at this instant. She nodded to her, saying nothing, but the look in her eyes was.. pleading. She was putting a lot of trust in this elf she just met.. but despite that, felt she wouldn't let her, or at least her Princess down.

Letting go of Lyra, she turned back to Arielle, bowing her head respectfully. "Lead the way." Despite her fears, she was somewhat glad to sit down, at least for a moment. Every muscle was sore from being tensed for most of the day, and the stress was starting to take its toll on her. Jame's suggestion, though, caused her to mentally slap herself. Of course they should be looking for information. But wasn't she following them.. how would the princess get here first? Hm. Maybe an elven patrol saw her about? That could work. She turned to James to voice this. "Good point."

Walking up next to Arielle, Alice's expression was clearly one of worry. She was too afraid for the princess's life to worry about how incompetent the Ardanian guard would seem for telling them this. She spoke in a low voice, unwilling to let too many stray ears hear. .but this one seemed to be in a postion of leadership, like an elite guard or something, which she could relate to. "Lady.. Arielle? One of the reasons we are is is because the princess of Ardania has.. gone missing. Do you know of any elven patrols that could've come across her? They were following behind us.. so one further out could've seen them, I suppose."

Lily had been on the verge of telling the rude elf exactly where he could shove that condecending attitutde of his; when Arielle showed up. The moment she caused the young elf to run off with his tail between his legs; Lily knew she was going to like this elf.

She seemed to have the whole "super serious warrior" thing that Lily found extremely appealing. She herself wasn't sure why she liked warrior women so much; but she didn't really care to think about it.

She considered whether or not hitting on this elf would jeopardize their mission; and realized there was a good chance Alice would be upset whether it was a danger to the mission or not. The princess was, afterall, missing. And while the princess was missing, Alice was going to be in a bad mood.

She also couldn't really think of a good pick up line for the elf at the moment besides "hey, nice pointy ears, lets have sex!" and she doubted that would get here anywhere.

Still, she decided she was at least going to make an attempt at flirting with the elf. She'd be a fool to waste such a good flirting opportunity.

"Lady Arielle, is that the proper title for you?" she said, smiling at the elf. "Surely a lady as fine as yourself has some kind of title like lady, or perhapse mistress..."

It occured to her that she should probably turn the subject back towards the princess before she got brutally beaten by a maid, so she quickly did so.

"...however I might call out that lovely name of yours, I must ask for your assistance in locating the princess. For you see, as much as my friend would love to tear the woods apart to find her; we are on an important diplomatic mission, and can't stay long..."

--

Sir Pollinore, meanwhile, just stared as the jester began to blatantly flirt with the elf in front of them. Just when they'd gotten out of danger, the jester seemed to be just begging to get those arrows pointed back at them.