"Oh, thank you," the girl said, bowing out of respect. Oh dear. She had done it again. She groaned inwardly at her own imprudence. But she just couldn't help being considerate, especially toward someone who had helped her, and especially considering the dire situation she had just been helped out of. Being rude to people felt so...wrong.

Taking a deep breath, she sidled next to Faide, wondering what business, exactly, she had with the king--wait, had she mentioned Akidzuki? Mental klaxons rang through every fibre of the girl's being. Akidzuki was, in her book, taboo. She felt uncomfortable every time the name was even mentioned in passing. And now she was accompanying someone who came with business from the king, who was probably a resident of the area, who might even know--no, no, no. She purged the dread thought from her consciousness. Obviously, this Faide character hadn't recognized her already, and so obviously her concealment was effective. She wondered if it would remain so in the presence of the king as she looked up at the irritatingly familiar palace. She had thought she'd never have to step foot in it again.

Faide didn't respond to the girl's thank you, but waved it away with her hand- she didn't like 'thank yous'- as they implied good deeds, and that wasn't something she wanted to be known for. Instead she looked at the girl, then at Kagashi and heaved an over exasperated sigh, "Brilliant, I'm traveling with a demon and an aristocrat!" She exclaimed, more to herself than to anyone else, "They'll think us traveling performers- not messengers!" She fell silent as a guard approached and bowed before turning abruptly and leading them into the castle. If Faide had thought the outside was gaudy, the inside of the castle was far more overdone; intricate murals covered the walls, and where they weren't, a stained glass window was. The floors were all marble, and thus echoed loudly despite any efforts of quiet walking- the widely arched ceiling only made the noise worse. The acoustics of the place were great, but the design was terrible; obviously whoever lived here was rich, powerful, and wanted to prove it.
"Lady Faide of Akidzuki and her entourage here to see you, Lord Ranmaru." The guard suddenly said, peeking into a room they'd stopped outside of; the door was large, bulky, and brightly colored- clearly leading to the throne room.
"Ah yes!" An over eager voice replied, "Do let them in, I've been dreadfully bored all day!"
The guard blinked, clearly embarrassed by his king's antics, but obviously not willing to argue with his superior; he bowed deeply to Faide as she and the others entered the room.

The girl winced--the term "aristocrat" struck a little too close to home for her liking. For a moment, she panicked, wondering if Faide already knew. But there was no time for that now, for they were being escorted into the presence of the king, and the girl was crossing her fingers under her cloak, hoping like crazy she wouldn't be recognized. She looked quickly over to the "demon" man, curious as to his reaction to all of this pomp and grandeur. As for herself--well, she secretly thought it was quite lovely. But Faida didn't seem to care for it, and she had always been taught to respect the opinions of one's company, and to not make hers known unless absolutely necessary. Besides, her dislike of the palace stemmed more from past experience than from aesthetics.

Kagashi looked around the throne room, it wasn't much different from what they had just seen, he wasn't amused at all. He kept his hand on the pommel of his sword like he always did. His eyes took quick glances from the girl to the two girls he was with, waiting for something to go wrong, of course his human side was begging for everything to go smoothly.

{erm.... well, i must warn you all that the king of ranmaru.....is a little.... insane ^^;;;;; it'll be explained later, but for now, just go with it}

The moment they walked into the room, Faide wished they hadn't; it wasn't because both members of her company were acting strangely- one looking ready for battle and the other ready to faint, (she knew she didn't look much better), but because of the king's reaction to their arrival. The man jumped to his feet, clad in all his brightly colored robes and grandeur; his over enthusiasm, while annoying, wasn't what threw Faide off, it was the fact that he was on stilts. The man was tall enough already, but stilts made him look as if he could touch the ceiling- which didn't really add to the intimidating factor so much as the incredulous one. Why in the world would a king- especially when his country was on the brink of war- be dancing about on stilts?
"Well look who it is!" He exclaimed, as if speaking to old friends, "It's you!" The king clapped his hands delightedly and spun around on his elongated legs, "And just in time to see me on stilts! We should celebrate!" His hand went to his chin and he looked thoughtful for only a moment before, "WITH CHEESE! Everyone loves cheese..... except for those who don't- those people don't tend to like cheese so much...." He pulled out an old piece of candy from under his cloak and held it out towards the group, "Care for a lollipop?"
"Uh.....no." Faide placed a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow at the king; of course, since the man was so tall, there was no way any of them could possibly reach his offering, but Faide would've said no anyway- the amount of dust the lollipop was covered in made her wonder just how old it was. She shook her head, "Listen lord nutball, you do realize that your country isn't getting along too well with Akidzuki right? That you're on the brink of war?" She spoke as if to a child, hoping that'd be enough to get the point across- there was clearly something strange about king Ranmaru.
Yet the king merely blinked, "War? Oh yes, I'm well aware of that!" He smiled, popping the disgusting lollipop into his mouth before adding, "But there's no need to worry! War is such a bore! Ah- I rhymed!" This seemed to delight him even more than any of the preceding events, and did a little dance. "Perhaps I shall have all of my troops on stilts!"
Faide slapped her forehead- this was clearly not going well; whatever she'd expected the king to act like, it wasn't this. "Listen!" She said, a little more forcefully than she had spoken before. "It isn't just Akidzuki and Ranmaru that are preparing for war with each other- all of Aviaella is! But it's a dark force that's causing all the tension, and if war does break out, he'll become unstoppable! This isn't rocket science lord nutball-" She was steadily becoming more blunt as she realized how fruitless negotiating was, "-well, maybe for you it is- all you have to do is keep your country out of war and I.... erm we-" it would sound suspicious if she didn't include the two people with her in the equation, "-Will take care of that dark energy...."

((Haha...he's hilarious. Great job.))

The girl couldn't help but chortle at the king's antics. Crazy as he was, he was quite entertaining, especially when he didn't know the company he was entertaining--at least, she hoped he didn't. As she listened to Faide explain the situation, though, she began to feel sick. War. Such a terrible thing. She had tried to forget about it, but it was looming ever closer and encroaching upon everyone's lives, so that everywhere she went she heard about it in conversations and saw worsening signs of the tensions between the countries. And now to hear that some sort of dark force was behind it...she didn't want to admit it to herself, but it was a frightening prospect. First demons, and now this? What had the world come to, anyway? And who was this "he" that Faide was referring to? From her tone, "he" certainly didn't seem to be a pleasant fellow.

However, Faide's closing words gave her hope. Here was someone who was fighting that darkness and trying to keep the countries out of war. And Faide had insinuated that she could help. She bowed her head and gripped her staff tightly, silently vowing to help fight this unknown evil...so long as she could remain anonymous.

Kagashi raised an eyebrow and looked at Faide,"Who is this 'he' person?"

Kagashi had started to get his hopes up that he may have finally found his father.

((Hey Xastra, can you change where my character is, I didn't know you guys were in Ranmura! I thought you were in Akidzuki! ^-^; And when are you guys gonna leave the castle after your meeting with the crazy king so our charas can meet up?))

Mae walked along the streets with her hands in her pocket, whistling and passed vendors selling fruits, exotic cloth, and daggers. Stopping, she peered down at the small bag hanging on her belt that held the remainder of her food and wondered if she should by some dried fruit for the road since she was almost out. Probably shouldn't, I need money for rent at that dang, broken down tavern I've been in for the last month. What. A. Pigsty. She sighed, and began walking again when a man bumped into her nearly throwing her off balance. "Hey, watch it!" she grumbled in annoyance as the man walked off without even apologizing. God, damn those obnoxious humans and their dumb obnoxious ways, she huffed to herself. She stretched her arms behind her and then placed her hands on her hips. Her eyes opened wide in horror. "Oh, no." She looked down and patted her belt and skirt in agony. "That damn human! He stole my money pouch!" Without a second thought her eyes scanned the marketplace like a hawk until she finally found her mark. "Gotcha." With inhuman speed spanning less than a second, she grabbed her bow and a single, blunt arrow from her quiver, aimed, and fired with master precision.

He was there. She could see him in the throng of people as he playfully tossed her bag in the air carelessly as he jostled with his friends. He hadn't even seen the arrow coming, the poor fellow. One minute he was laughing, the next he was pinned up against the wall by his vest dangling a few feet in the air. Mae's arrow hung there almost innocently as he screamed at his friends to get the arrow out of his shirt. Mae grinned. She walked towards him, her hands behind her back in a mocking manner. The men tried yanking the arrow out, some even using the wall as leverage. She laughed as she approached them and was within their range in seconds. She glared at the man as his eyes filled with terror. "O-oh p-please don't hurt me M-miss, I meant n-nothing by i-it." She laughed menacingly at his stutters, glaring him and his friends in the eyes. A few stepped back, leaving only her and the thief alone. "Never, I repeat, NEVER, shall you steal from anyone again." She reached out a hand that made the man flinch and pulled the arrow out smoothly. "And tell your friends too." With that she made her way back to the tavern to spend the rest of the day hungry.

((OMG, Sorry for the long intro! I got so into it and couldn't stop! >w<;))

{it's no problem- we like long posters here! ^^ and i think i can get you into the castle if worst comes to worst.... the king's a nut after all- but i quite like him.}

King Ranmaru blinked, "Dark energy...." He said slowly, as if it rang a bell- but then his face returned to the same clueless grin from before, "Like the smell of rotting cheese- that has the energy to keep anyone away!"
By this point Faide had given up trying to talk with the king at all, instead she looked at the others- deciding that since they'd come this far, they might as well know what was going on.... y'know, so they could all risk their lives together. "I never understood that 'risk everything' hero theme." She thought with a shrug, "But if one of my 'comrades' dies before me, I can't complain."
"'He' is a being made up entirely of dark energy." Faide finally stated, "Not exactly demon, and definitely not human.... there really isn't an 'exact' word for what he is.... but he thrives off of negative energy, like that created from war and strife.... Haven't you ever heard of Shiranai?"
She would have continued, but a sudden jerk of the king on his stilts distracted her; the man looked as if he was in pain, doubled over as beads of sweat appeared on his brow. The eyes that had been dull and ignorant only moments ago were now filled with panic- confusion, but far more sanity than before. "Shiranai...." He hissed, obviously struggling between the state of sanity and insanity even as he recognized the name, "He's been traveling to each country... spreading his dark influence-" He jerked again, now struggling to regain balance on his stilts on top of the rest. "-he came here.... put me under a spell- the darkness of it has worn away at my sanity...", but that was all the true king of Ranmaru managed to say, for quite as suddenly as it had happened, the man rose back up with the same clueless beaming smile as before. "Goodness gracious me!" He exclaimed, "I must have dozed off for a second! It was that horrid dark energy- cheese can do that to a man, you know."
Faide looked at him- he clearly didn't remember a thing of what had happened, but she could see that if Shiranai had gotten here before she did, then there wasn't much she could do; the necromancer's magic was too powerful to dispel- there was no way to save what was left of Ranmaru's king. "I take my leave now, sir." She murmured softly, but she said nothing more as she turned tail and left the room- she remained silent as she walked through the castle halls and off the castle grounds, but her mind was racing. If what the king said was true, then Shiranai was trying to create the war which she was trying to prevent- it'd make him stronger- unstoppable if all of Aviaella joined in, and if that happened, the world was doomed...

The girl cringed--she hadn't known that there was a far more ominous reason for the king's madness than she would have ever suspected. This Shiranai being was certainly a force to be reckoned with, and she began to feel quite timorous towards her hastily-accepted "quest"--which, she realized, she had partly been forced into. But, she reminded herself, it was her idea to follow the girl and the demon in the first place, and thus she would have to take the blame for this most precarious predicament. Besides, to simply run off at this crucial moment would be incredibly rude. And so, she withheld every bit of adrenaline and simply followed Faide, gathering her wits after they had been so scattered by the king's revelation.

"Is...is there nothing we can do?" she finally said, after ruminating for some time on the events that had transpired. "Is there no way to help him?" She was still half lost in thought about all of the talk of war. The rulers of the land would never be so foolish as to actually go to war against each other...right? But she had seen what Shiranai was capable of. If he could drive one king to nonsensical madness, what could he do to the rest of the countries' administrators?

(Anybody in the RP alive?)

((I'm still here.))

((Kool, I was afraid this chat had died off o.o Oh, and hey, I read the profile for a character of your's from another rp and it said she lived in Northern Cali, with redwoods. I was just curious, do you live in a place with redwoods? Cause I live in this place completely surrounded called Santa Cruz))

((Lol, oh yeah, you're in the Lemuria RP. Thought you looked familiar. I'm actually from Los Angeles, but I have family who lives up north, so I've been there a few times and I just like the area. I've been through Santa Cruz, it's nice. :3))

((Lol, small world. I'm a valley kid. Although I shouldn't use that term since you don't live up here. ^-^; San Lorenzo Valley, a small community in the vicinity of SC County. SC is pretty awesome and I fit in a little too well sometimes, lol))

((Ah, I see. That's cool. Yeah, when you said "valley" I was like "...San Fernando?" Hehe.))

((Lol! I love living up here, it's so beautiful. I'm not a huge fan of LA, too much smog. Ick. No offense.))

((Yeah...it's way too dry for me here. I much rather like it up north, where it rains almost every day. Lovely.

...Maybe we should take this to PMs so we don't clutter up the RP topic.))

((Good idea.))