"Lord Booth, I don't think what's to be withheld is your decision to make," she reminded him in her soft voice. She agreed with Gemini (who was proving to be very surprising in this meeting), they needed to work as a unit to get this figured out. She looked out across the court and was struck by how young they all were, as rulers compared to her- a lot of these faces she'd seen maybe once before, and some were achingly new and strange to her. "We don't have the experience among us to try and find a solution that would benefit us all. If we are to get anything done, we must work together." Then, she nodded at his sword. "I also don't think that's very necessary," she added, her voice cooling.

She turned her attention as her ears picked up on Ruslareyn and Naphtali's conversation. She curiously peered at the object from where she was; her enhanced vision did wonders. "A cylinder?" she asked, before looking to Ruslareyn. "Lord Forgus, have you ever seen such a material?" His name was hard for her tongue to wrap around, so she refferred to him by his title instead.

[[I like the idea of the key, Shadow.]]

Raven started after the other rulers towards the meeting hall when a girl curtsied towards him, telling him she was his adviser. He cast his eyes up to the heavens, Mother would do that wouldn't she? Sending a complete stranger to come advise me. And worse it looks as though she could be one of mother's chittering ladies in waiting. It couldn't be helped. He put on a fake gentlemanly smile.

"Really? How...thoughtful of her. May inquire your name?" He took her arm and they started walking towards the meeting hall.

>>What's her age btw?<<<

"...Cylinder?" Yoona's attention changed from bored to intrigued faster than you could say witch. She moved herself so that she could see the item Naphtali and Ruslareyn were conversing about clearly. In the Lady of Aradria's belt was a dark sword strapped next to a more normal-looking sword. The necromancer squinted. She wasn't sure if she was seeing it clearly, but she was pretty sure she knew what it was.

As she got a better view of the sword, her brow furrowed. "...This day just proves itself to be more and more surprising..." By now a few of the Lords and Ladies were staring at her, wondering what was going on in her mind. Yoona was familiar with such things as the cylinder.

A while back, a wizard living in South Mithrigal--the darker part of the land of magic--had been experimenting with such things to rid the Magic Vault of Mithrigal of its many defenses to get important substances needed to create a substance that would make him nearly immortal. He'd been banished to the Void as a Fallen Wizard after a court case, and Yoona wouldn't be surprised if this cylinder had been created by him. Yoona cleared her throat. "It is a key. To rid a building of all defenses. That would certainly explain why the meeting hall was surprisingly, well...unguarded."

[[I used the idea of the Key; if it's not okay I can change it.]]

"Yes, one of her maids is a childhood friend of mine--she introduced me to your Mother when I came to visit her. We had a long talk and Elizabeth spoke to her about my line of work--I myself come from a high line of Knights and Nobility. Many pardons--I'm Elise Ferguson--you don't have to pretend to be thrilled about this--I'm well at reading the signs of the body," Elise commented as the two of them headed onwards to the meeting hall. "Eventually, you will find I'm rather likable and rather useful."

((She's Twenty-two.))

((Well, I think that the realms aren't supposed to know about the void. :\ Clair said that in the OOC. I don't mind other than that little point. :)))

Originally Posted by Clairefirestar9mm

Only the oldest members of the realms would really know the void was a real, solid place, if anyone knew.

[[Actually, despite her looks, Yoona is quite old. ^^; So, a few Lords/Ladies might not know about the Void being real, but older ones would. ]]

((You said that the wizard went was banished to the void after a court case, see? Maybe you could tweak that part? :)))

Fidgeting at all the attention, Naphtali clenched her hands at her waist. This social interaction was driving her nuts! She was still interested in Yoona's explanation, but that didn't really cover why the powerful object would've been left behind. Maybe they thought that they hadn't needed it? It was a surprisingly arrogant way to think.

She couldn't help but feel that the key had been entrusted to her though. It had stuck to her for a moment. Maybe that was a part of the bonding or something? If she focused, she could definitely feel a thrum of energy buzzing from within. Was that what magic felt like? She had always wondered, if only occasionally.

Suddenly, she desired to test it. In a flash, the sword was in her hand, glittering darkly in the light of the hall. She could tell just from holding it that the balance was perfect, yet she swung it anyway, amazed at how easy it was to control. Usually a new sword took her a week to get used to, but this seemed to be an extension of her being already. Her superior strength made her a worthy swordsman compared to the others anyway, but the sword's perfection increased that by a sizable margin.

Slipping the blade back into her belt, she felt more confident and alert, almost as if the sword was actually imbuing her with strength. Just because she was more confident didn't mean that she had lost reason however. She knew she was still just a rookie, and that the other rulers were better fit to rule than she. It was a fact she had accepted before arriving. But maybe, she could become as good as them. Inspired, she turned to the others for the rest of the conversation, standing straighter than she had been just a moment before.

"The book contains the thoughts of the oldest creator. What i read so far was a rise in the void." Booth looked around the room, most were young but only a few were old enofe to know the true history of the void. (void history in ooc) Booth like all his fellow elves looked like young adults but most were old very old. Elves didnt treat the void like a children’s story, they know it is real.

"It talks about a uproar in the void. A few creators of old were sent to the void and now have the creatures rising up." Blade still in hand Booth stood up. "I dont know about you guys but i want to be ready for a war. The creators are kidnaped no other reason why they are gone. We must rise up fight this war, take out the creators of old and free our creators." Booth didnt wait for anyone to react to all this. "The book is filled with a lot of info that could help us. I have it in Espheria i only require a few to help me figure the rest out." Booth looked at the older members at the group and pointed to them. "The rest of you guys should go back to your realms and warn your kin. When we figure the book out we will call another meeting."

Booth waited for the others to join him on the other side of the room. The book should contain a time-line of the next few future events. He hoped it had a date for this pending war but he knew it would be an estimate.

[[ooc before you post]]

Annais strummed her fingers along her lips, watching the others crowd around Naphtali and the strange object. The Lady, herself, looked rather uncomfortable, but as she fiddled with the object-turned-sword, she seemed to gain a new confidence. Interesting.

"Who would do this, though," Annais asked Yoona, humming softly. "Moreover, who would have the means to?" She glanced at Booth; maybe he'd been on to something. It was suddenly very possible that it was an inside job.

There is always the Void, ever present. Annais paused as her Grandmother's voice rang in her head. The Void is where all things fallen go. She'd always dismissed it as a fairytale; she'd just acquired her position, and in her rush to grow up she'd stopped listening to the old stories. But now, she wondered how much of it all had really been a story. She knew that behind every myth there is truth.

Annais snapped back to reality as Booth began to speak. She quirked an eyebrow at his words- war? The word had her heart racing slightly, and she wanted to believe it was impossible. But he was right, they had to be ready for anything. "I agree with you, Lord Booth," she acknowledged, with a bob of her head. "The people of my realm are always ready for war," she added calmly. They were, after all, a warrior nation. "However, I don't believe this realm should be left unattended." She looked around suddenly, wondering just where her advisor was. If anyone agreed with her, she'd volunteer to stay behind, and send him back home to warn the others.

After her surprising bit of insight, Gemini had lapsed back into silence, observing the others as they reacted and interacted.when she heard the word war spoken, she stood and placed a hand on her ever present katana."I am, personally, always prepared for war.my people would be ready at a moments notice, should they learn of this.they will not, however.it would be unwise to alert our citizens to this danger.panic can cause trouble in the streets.not to mention the possibility of spies.I am loath to leave my realm unprotected, but if we are to search for the creators, we should all go together, despite our age.it is our duty, as lords and ladies, to handle such situations." She said, her voice emotionless as usual.it was impossible for the others to tell, but the mention of the void had stirred an uneasiness in her.she had heard tales of it as a child, but of course she had dismissed them as stories.because of that, she knew next to nothing about the void.

"...Hm, war." Yoona glanced at the others. "You know I am always prepared for war. Shouldn't we all be?" Yoona drummed her fingers on the table, thinking.

"If we did start a war, it would entail the usual, I assume," Yoona ticked her fingers off one by one. "Signing up for service, food service, bases, assorted weapons and powers...you get what I'm saying." However, if this really was going to be a war against the creatures in the void, the realms would have to watch out. Who know what types of creepy crawly wiggly jiggly things were in there.

Yoona took in what Gemini had said. "And yes, there's always spies...we do have to alert the citizens too. When the creators are gone, we are responsible for what occurs."

Shaking her head at the idea of war so soon, Naphtali spoke up, not really understanding why she would do so. "My people are already reaching for each others' throats. A war would just push them closer together," she protested. "Surely tensions have been rising among the peoples of your realms too. I'm all for getting the Creator's back, but I think we need to... uh, fortify our realms?" The war talk had never been something that she was good at, simply due to a lack of knowledge when it came to terminology, but the sword seemed to quiver with agreement.

Waiting for a response, she put her hand back on the black blade, feeling it pulse under her hands, almost like a living thing. It really was a strange object, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It had, after all, left the meeting place empty of all traps and defenses.

Materializing from the air suddenly, Mpourini, or Haru as he preferred to be called, turned to Yoona, frowning slightly. "Why'd you leave me behind again?" he asked, the air swirling around his lean frame as always. Dust was picked up and sent spiraling, obviously showing how long the hall had gone uncleaned. "I can't really advise you if I'm not around, now can I?" Shaking his head, he shook his hands, blowing the dust to the edges of the room.

He eyed the other rulers with a critical eye, seeing that a few were new. Not good for the condition they were currently in. Older, more experienced rulers would be better to have with them. But they had to make due with what they had. "There was a raid on the north before we left. The south wasn't too happy about some new laws or something," he said, looking back to Yoona for a reaction.

"All this talking isn’t going to do anything." Booth walked to the window "I can be found in my Realm. I shall read the whole book and see what else it hides." His pixie Dew flashed in front of him and they both vanished.

When he returned to his realm he called for a meeting with his fellow High Elves.

Being late wasn't something that the Vampire made a habit of but the duties of his Realm kept him a while longer than expected. Whenever the Lady of the Realm wasn't around, the burden of giving orders fell into his lap. Not that he scorned or shunned his duties, it was quite the opposite in fact. Nonetheless, there were things that he handled so that his Lady didn't need to worry about them. Both of them being quite young for their powerful positions, Mitrik made an effort to lighten the stresses of being the Lady of Lunada.

His tall muscular figure seemed to glide as his long platinum blonde hair flowed behind him, as he came to join his Lady at her side. Piercing, bright gold eyes looked over the room as he sized up the rulers of the other Realms. It was rare to see them all in the same place at once and it seemed they were all being civil as well. Quite unexpected. He was hoping things had gotten a little heated by the time he arrived but from the air of things he hadn't missed much.

"My Lady, what's going on?"

The question was simply to confirm the situation and nothing more. The slender vampire's voice was deep and had a rough edge to it and yet it still managed to sound regal. Although his eyes were on Annais, his focus was elsewhere, particularly the subject of war. His hearing was phenomenal and Mitrik had heard the whispers of a war brewing. If that was to be the case, the things he had been doing behind the scenes were going to prove useful after all.

Annais glanced over as Mitrik finally arrived; she turned to face him, wondering just where her advisor has been.

"The creators are missing, Mitrik," she informed him. Mitrik wasn't much older then she was, but she trusted him well enough; he'd help her blunder through her first few years as Ruler, and now they were both extremely adept at their jobs. "The Faerie lord believes there might be some kind of rebellion going on, and Naphtali- that's the Lady of Aradria- found an item that could be used as a key to lower the castle's defenses." She shrugged her shoulders, trying to relieve the tension there. "Everyone speaks of war."

She gave him a wry look then. "Of course, you might find that very pleasing." She pushed her hair out of her eyes, a thoughtful look on her face. "We have to warn everyone, but I'm not much inclined to do that. Not that I don't want us to be prepared to defend ourselves, but that's all I want for now- defense," she confessed. She knew he'd probably disagree with her- warrior blood pounded through Mitrik as strongly as it did through any of her people- but she knew he'd listen to what she had to say, at the very least.

"The creators missing? How is that even possible?" The thought was more infuriating than confusing. "You mean to tell me that they left? Or can they not adequately defend themselves from whatever threats they may face?" Not bothering to wait for an answer he quickly spat out, "Don't answer that, but I do want to know what happened to them?" Cuffing his chin between his index finger and thumb, Mitrik processed the situation carefully. Of course he couldn't contain his crooked grin when she mentioned the idea of war.

"You know me all too well Lady Annais. Now tell me, what real use is that key to us, I'm not sure I understand its benefits?" Running his hand backwards through his hair the male's eyes narrowed slightly when Annais said she didn't want to alert their people. "If you don't plan to alert the people then we should at least have a meeting with the generals. I don't think it'd wise to make a last minute announcement if it came to that. We can keep it on a need to know basis, my Lady." This was his idea of a compromise, and Mitrik would feel better if the military's leaders knew at least.

"Is there anything that you need me to do?"

Gemini sighed."I should probably go and ready my people as well.I will be in touch when I am ready to begin our search for the creators." She said, and bowed to everyone, one hand over her eyes as was custom in her realm.when she straightened, she dissolved into shadows and flew away.

Yoona turned around to look at her advisor, trying not to get a blast of air in the face at the same time.

"There you are, Haru!" Yoona let out a sigh of relief. "I was afraid you'd been eaten or something. You never know. And besides, I didn't want to be late to the meeting, if you know what I mean."

As she listened to what he had to say, she grew concerned. "...A raid on the north, huh?" Yoona fidgeted uneasily in her seat. The north wasn't very good at defending themselves, although many of them were skilled in magic. They were too kind to the south, even though the south constantly berated them, calling them cutesy-witches and wizards.

The new law on the south was completely of Yoona's doing, and it was for a good cause. Lately, the wizards in witches in the south had been abusing the so-called black market that sold many forbidden items. It wasn't unusual for wizards and witches to use the black market to get what they needed, but some of the wizards in the south were going too far, revealing Mithrigal's secrets to inhabitants of other realms.

Yoona nodded her head in respect as Gemini dissolved away, and looked up at Haru. "The north needs more defenses, don't you think? Candy forests and chocolate defense walls aren't exactly going to do anything to help them."

She only sighed softly at Mitrik's barrage of questions about the creators. She shrugged her shoulders gently when he asked about the key. "Well, the key has no benefits for us. But we believe that that's how the Creators were taken, the defenses were taken down with that, allowing the perpetrators to slip in and do... something."

She quirked an eyebrow at his change in voice, tilting her chin up. "Well, of course we're going to tell our generals," she replied, resisting the urge to put her hands on her hips. It would be childish, and she didn't want Mitrik to get think she was mad or anything. She was just impatient. "We must tell our generals, they'll have to prep the armies and have them ready to move when and if they need to be. I just don't want it to be public knowledge just yet." She paused, thinking about all that had happened in the kingdom as of late.

"The people have been restless, you know," she said, her voice softening. "I don't know why, but it feels like there's suddenly going to be a huge fight, at any second. I don't want the people to panic, or for a fight to really break out and for innocent people to get hurt." She inhaled deeply, pushing a hand through her thick mass of curls. "Anyways, we should probably get back," she said, looking around. "We'll have to call that meeting immediately, and it looks like everyone is getting out of here anyways." She called out farewells to the others before turning to Mitrik, waiting for him before they went back out to her carriage.

Mitrik knew that his curiosity was sometimes annoying so he tried his best not to pester the woman with his questions but this whole thing left so many unknowns. Nodding to signal that he understood her response referring to the key, he now wondered how the perpetrator even got it but obviously no one here would know the answer to that. All of this was likely inside work and if someone could get inside the creators and fool them, then the Realms were in trouble.

The necromancer knew when he had rubbed the Lady wrong and bowed his head slightly in apology as she raised her chin giving her response. The height difference was remarkable. Where Annais was short, Mitrik was quite tall peaking somewhere around 6 feet or so. His golden eyes met with hers as they always did when she spoke and he nodded feeling a little ashamed to think that she wouldn't even tell the generals. She more intelligent than that, and she had come a long way from when they first obtained their positions.

There was a sort of admiration from one assassin to the next in his eyes. She was both beautiful and skilled, earning her title through blood and sweat. He himself had killed a few on his rise but chose to use his cunning more than his blade. It's so much more entertaining to make your enemies kill each other than to have to do it yourself.

As the subject shifted to their Realm, the blonde male had to make a conscious effort to conceal his grin. He may have had a small hand in the restless nature of their people. He figured they would be calling for blood sooner or later. Keeping his voice low and calm in hopes to soothe the woman, he replied, "I agree milady, the atmosphere of Lunada has grown rather. . . tense, of late. But I don't think you should worry. Your people are warriors by birth and a resilient bunch. Everything will work out as is should."

There was going to be war, one way or another. And it seemed the people were ready to embrace that, though their Lady was of a different mind. Arriving late had left him at a disadvantage as far as getting to know the other Rulers and advisors but he gave a curt farewell to them all and followed Annais out to her carriage, opening the door for her then shutting it behind himself.

"Milady, is there anyone particularly close to you that you fully trust?" His suspicions were at play here and whomever she trusted the most would need to be watched most carefully. Aside from the seeds he had sown personally, something about this situation wasn't right.

Ruslareyn sat there listening to the conversations and conemplated his next move. As he noticed the new advisors popping up and Gemini leave he noticed something. The rulers wern't working together, they were only working with the people of their own realms. He got up and moved to the edge of the room. He then motioned to Raven and Naphtali to come over to him. While waiting for them to come over he contemplated what needed to be said.

Annais considered his question as she settled into her seat, looking across the space at Mitrik. It was a pretty roomy carriage, so she wasn't squished uncomfortably against a wall in attempts to give them both space. She hated small spaces; claustrophobia had haunted her from a young age.

"Well, my father of course," she said, smoothing pale, graceful hands over her heavy skirt. Her father had acted as one of her lower advisors from day one, always there with advice but never pushing her. He had acted more behind the scenes, only giving counsel when she asked. Much unlike Mitrik, who had always been there, showing her different ways. "We should inform him," she added as an afterthough. Her father was no general- he'd hung up his soldier's garb a long time ago- but she wanted him there.

"There's also Yoona, I trust her a great deal. Although, I haven't been able to keep in touch with her lately..." Lunada and Mithrigal had been allies for a good while now. But aside from their alliance, Annais liked Yoona; the woman seemed smart and resourceful, the kind of girl Anna would be friends with if she wasn't so busy being ruler.

"Oh, speaking of Yoona, I was thinking- we should invite some of the lords and ladies to the realm, after we talk to the generals," Annais began, as the carriage began along the way back to Lunada. "If there really is going to be a war against some unknown force, I think it would be a good idea to discuss strategy with the others." She began ticking off the list of names she had gathered from the meeting they had just left. "Yoona, of course, and Naphtali, the Spider-queen. She seems like a very nice person." Anna had liked Naphtali, too; she was shy and quiet and nervous, but she seemed sweet, and the way she held the key-sword... it made Annais think she would be a good ally. "And Terta as well, the Lord of the Water realm. What do you think?" There were the others, of course, but she wasn't quite sure it would be best to talk to everyone at once- Yoona and Booth would just argue, and of course there was the Human Lord. There really was no easy way to talk to him. But she had a start, at least.

Maiara hated the idea of arriving late, but it couldn’t be help as there were duties that she had to attend to in her realm. Being one of the younger rulers she was concerned about what kind of impression her tardiness would live. There was little time for her to think of that now. Quietly her slender figure appeared from the shadows, walking towards the other rulers. She was a little nervous, but didn’t let it show on her face. As she walked her sapphire eyes scanned the room, in hopes that maybe she wasn’t the only one late. From the look of things she was the last one to arrive and some of the others were already leaving.

She recognized some of the others in the room from dealings in either trades or signing of treaties. At least things seemed to be going better then what she was expecting. After finishing her initial scan of the room she moved towards Lord Ruslareyn, surely he or Naphtali wouldn’t mind catching her up on what is going on. Of course to not seem impolite she stopped before reaching the Lord of Forgus. Out of courtesy she bowed her head, “I apologize for being rather late, but there was a matter in my realm that required my attention before I could come here.” Once finished with her apology she raised her head and finished approaching Lord Ruslareyn.

(Yay rose!!!)
Ruslareyn watched as Maiara approached. When she bowed Ruslareyn bowed back. "Welcome Maiara. It seems all the others have been having problems in their realms also. Some also arrived later due to this and I am sorry to hear it has happened to you," he said sincerely. "All you have missed is the fact that we have discovered that the creators are gone. We believe them to have been captured by creatures of the Void. We also believe this to be thinking that this is causing all of the chaos in the realms. Most are thinking of war but instead of working together to defend the realms, they are only seeming to worry about themselves. I am trying to get the Aradrian and Terran leaders over here to discuss the possibility of us working together to defend our realms."

Feeling a bit agitated that she had been ignored, Naphtali almost missed Ruslayern's motion. She obeyed, walking to him with her head slightly cocked off to one side. What on earth could he want? The key-sword swinging from her hip was starting to fray the silk belt that she wore, which was surprising considering the fact that her other sword couldn't cut it unless she was swinging it.

As she walked, she pulled the blade from her belt, not wanting to fall, but wary of other seeing the movement as hostile. Honestly, she felt like smiling at the thought of Booth and Gemini being gone. Neither one of them had been people she was real fond of. "What is it, Lord of Fergus?" she asked, finally stopping in front of him.

She was aware of another girl coming up, and so moved out of the way, slipping further into obscurity. Social situations still made her feel awful, so she was going to avoid them if at all possible.

Eaten? What on earth was she talking about? Shaking his head, Haru floated up onto the table next to her, listening as she spoke. Obviously she was worried, as she should be. He was worried too, though his cheery and carefree demeanor led people to assume the opposite.

"Unless you count a stomachache or cavities as sufficient defense, you're right. They really are a bunch of pushovers, generally at least," he said, sighing. "Shall we head back? I'm thinking you might want to do damage control on this one. And you can tell me what's going on too." Hopping off of the table, he held his hand out to help his advisee up, smiling jokingly as he did so.