"It's…," she shakes her head and blinks away the wetness in her eyes. "He's been avenged, and laid to rest in the roots of Laurelocraobh. His cloak was a ruin, but I was able to bury him whole. Unlike my mother, whose killers I may never know for certain. I refuse to believe sh eco"
I'm not sure what this should be. Maybe it was intended to note a cut off 'she could', i.e. "refuse to believe she co-"?
"They probably like horses more than they like humans," you respond drily before seeing on of the more especially pack-laden members of the group. "There we go."
one
"Right, keep an eye on Natasha, I'm headed over to the tree."
Immediately, Karl turns about to call up other Greatswords, but you shake your head.
"No. I want them her at all times."
"here"? or "by her"?
"I heard you order 'them' to guard Lady Natasha. At no point was the phrase 'Karl Thorpes, do not escort me in case I come under attack from bloody assassins from who knows where or spirits or what have you come jumping up out of the ground or out of the air to come gut me, you know, like has happened before."
Karl starts quoting in-character, with the ' appearing, but then it does not appear again to close the quote. I
think he would probably end the quoting at either "come gut me" or end it at the very end of the sentence itself too. Probably the latter actually, I think.
"…oh for goodness sake," you groan again before looking him up and down. "Account your flasks, sir."
"One Bugman's Best, two ostka, one Thunderwater."
"Ale or shine?"
"Shine, sir, Stromdorf doesn't export too much this far north."
Clearly running low, but not too bad.
"Fine, come on."
Ha!
"Or perhaps you would have gutted me from behind," you admit, which clearly satisfies that little bit of pride while immediately bringing her shame at having it in the first place. "More importantly, I apparently got her before it could come of much."
"to", maybe?
"Pretty much all of my greatest 'victories' are shared credit," you interrupt. "Against Zacharias, I'm sure they would have brought him down without me. The Bloodthirster at Nuln, I required magical protections from Teclis to survive the backlash, against Gruber and Slugtongue I needed aid from Shallya herself, Naraiel, and Ortrud. Gazul and King Ungrim and others against Skulltaker, and on and on."
The Bloodthirster also needed Rommel to help fight him, and to help save Frederick's life at the end. Poor Rommel.
"Regardless, it was Everqueen Camidys, daughter of Caradyel, who was ritually married to Tethlis, not Princess Finsoina.
Missing an R. Caradryel.
"You know, when I told you to tell the Gods to piss-,"
"I remember," she repeats a little bit louder this time, the words strangled. "I remember," she repeats a third time.
"…did you actually say what I told you to or something? Is that why you're acting all-,"
"So what is this one," she interrupts, holding up the other flask. "Thunder-water, I think you said? Shine?"
"Look," you say gently, "You're young. A bit of blasphemy at your age isn't anything to be ashamed-,"
Eldyra uncorks the thunder-water and takes a quick pull of it before the burn of it makes her cough.
Ha!
Not even the eagle yes of a Wood Elf could see past him.
eyes
It is created by smoking the flower of a specific variety of plant, the petals and stems crushed and pressed into…hmm…Ismurettes?"
Haha, a word for cigarettes. xD
"And an 'ismurette' is an…?"
"I don't know if it's right, I just came up with it. The word is based on another, Ismuir," Sunweaver responds while Naraiel gazes off somewhere into the middle distance. "It…hmm. Depending on context, inflection, the one speaking, and much more, it can mean many things. One of the root meanings, however, is 'Cloud'."
Getting lost in the clouds, huh.
"Ah," you nod. "Wait, one of?"
"Another root is mists," she adds, "The third is 'the secret paths'."
"Hold on," you squint at her. "What? It can mean cloud, or mists, or the secret paths? How could…how does that even…,"
Languages, heh.
"Apparently its sourced from Lustria, back when their explorers first reached it, I've never made a study of entomology," you shrug.
Entomology is the study of insects.
Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their meanings.
At a distance, one could mistake them for tattoos, but close up on can tell
one
In fact, you can spy similar markings across dozens of other of Mena's wolves
prrrrobably should be "others"? ... Or is that "other's" I don't know if an apostrophe is needed... (... I guess you can just remove it entirely and go with "across dozens of Mena's wolves". Grammar, how does it work anyway.)
"I doubt it would be well received by the rest of your Empire if I were to have a part in something reserved for three Elector Counts," she drawls slowly. "Humans often have…opinions on non-humans achieving positions of note within your nation."
Oh dear. Yes, that would be a bit... brash.
You can see, absolutely, why Mena's husband was selected to be one with skill and experience at court and in the art of diplomacy. The absolute arrogance of those words, and how they were delivered, staggers you. Naraiel realizes it as well, going by the surprised look on her face, with just a scant bit of dawning horror as she realizes that Mena is entirely serious.
Yeah.
"It would make things faster," she muses before shaking her head. "But the diplomatic consequences could be a bit more…interesting than I suspect would be preferable."
"What, you coming to the Trident Meeting to talk to me and Stephan in person?"
Yeah.
"We shall see," she shrugs again. "If he deigns to respond, tell him that we shall have some ready to receive his response by the beginning of summer, here at Oldenlitz," she sets her shoulders and gives you a firm nod. "But for now, our time is at an end," she nods to you and begin to trot her horse back towards where her guards and Sunweaver await.
some, or someone? (Or somebody?)
[] A Quieter Approach: Let her send her messengers, speak with Stephan, and the two of you can review her proposals at the Trident Meeting with Ortrud. Simply reviewing paperwork and messages is nothing new there. Far less likely to alarm anyone else. This doesn't have to be as quick as possible, after all, elven lives are long, are they not? It would give you time to get Ortud and possibly others more used to the idea.
Let's not spring this onto our fellow Electors as a fait accompli, please. Please let's not just rush immediately into it. Let's give them time to think about it and talk about it.
Don't... Just, yeah. Let's talk with them first.
In fact, this is the sort of thing the Trident Meeting is probably meant for, among other things (like acclimating heirs, and keeping up with each other and familiarizing heirs and such). First bringing the events and new things up,
then the Electors talk, and
then they decide how to proceed and whether to invite a Glade Lord to their next meeting or what.
EDIT: Moratorium wasn't there when I first typed this, and even refreshed a few times. Edited out the X.
