breakfast pt 3 (the last part)
authors: the following few posts are a conglomeration by teri/stana/spiffy/kit/emily
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1999 12:30:01 EDT

Breaking the lull again was Estela's steadying voice. "What about
Seiyo?" she
inquired. "You had mentioned earlier that Tadrin and I be sent there."

Lyr's face clouded for a moment, feeling his duties dividing in too
many
directions at once.  "Your thoughts on the matter, Chosen?"

Estela had stopped blushing from having to be carried in by now, and
from her
Teri could feel a low, angry sorrow in addition to pain and her
feelings for
Tadrin. Estela still held Tadrin's hand, but that at least Teri knew
the
reason for, and she had to admit Estela was awfully pale.

Slowly Estela moved her hand to Tadrin's shoulder, rising to speak, so
that
her currently rather soft voice would be heard. "I think Ambassador
Elainasis
right. The Chosen can't stay here any longer, and if the dark-clad army

thinks we're here, they won't come after us. So leaving secretly sounds
like
a good idea. But finding Finn isn't the only thing that needs doing. We
also
need to find the other Chosen, and the rest of the prophecy book.
Whateer has
the book, I don't know that we're ready for, and the fifth Chosen, I
think we
need to all be together to call, that's how it sounded to me...but
someone
should go after the Air Chosen. We do have some leads
for that, right?" She glanced at Pirande, who nodded. They'd come up
with some
likely places to look. "Then I think one group should go with
Ambassador
Elainas to the Syl and to find Finn. And someone else should go after
the Air
Chosen."

There was clearly something else she wanted to say, but she was dealing
with
this first. "Teri, I think you should go after Finn. Your powers are
'on' all
the time, so you're probably more obvious to magical detection. And
your
Guardian seems to be absent." She saw Teri flush at that and frowned.

*That is not of your concern* Teri thought furiously at Estela, but
said,
instead: "That's an awfully large list of ambitions. I myself do not at
this
time know what I want to do," she said pointedly at Emily.

Then she frowned again, as Estela tightened her hand on Tadrin's
shoulder
rather than sit down. Anger and grief played across the Water Chosen's
face.

"Your majesties, I have another, more personal request, if I may?" At
their
nods she continued. "It has come to my attention that....my Companion
Bubbles... was.... killed.... rather gruesomely....by her mother for
failing
to protect me when I collapsed. I wish her body found and given an
honorable
burial, with her gravestone marked 'loyal friend and Companion to the
Chosen
of Water.' And...if her mother returns..." Teri's head pounded from the
rage
she suddenly felt in the other girl, so grating and wearing on her own
nerves. She wished the girl would just shut up and sit down, that this
meeting would end, and she could just...

Tadrin winced as Emily's nails dug into his shoulder. "I want her
mother told
that the Chosen of Waters would like to speak with her. Personally." No
one
at the table doubted that 'speak' wasn't quite the word.

"We will make sure she is given an honorable burial, and your message
relayed...the
gravestone may have to wait." Lyr offered gravely, glancing to the
royals for
confirmation. They again nodded.

"Take care, Chosen," Elainas spoke up quietly, "The Dragons are not
those you
wish to make enemies of, and not a culture you understand."

Estela had no response except a cool look, and turned towards S'kae's
rulers.

"I humbly thank the General and Your Highnessess," Estela responded.

"Now, General- would you kindly explain to the Chosen the nature of the
other
matter at hand?" The Queen said tactfully, drawing attention away from
the
still-stormy Chosen and back to the reason for the breakfast meeting.

Lyr took to his feet with an eagerness that belied the severity of the

situation. He was still running on too little sleep, and the anxiety of
the
preperations and intrigues of the coming siege had put in him the
desire for
the cleanliness of a fight.
There was so much to be said for the simplicity of battle.

"Right." he said "From what we can gather, the main force seems to be
coming
in obliquely through to the main entrances. The Commander is
fluctuating out
numbers, so the count is never the same. Runners are finding a harder
time
locating this army the closer they get. This indicates that there are
other
forces at work."

"Magic?" Elainas seized upon his words.

"So we think,"  there was a frown on his face and scorn dripping from
the words as he spat them out. Mixed in was a tinge of appreciation for
the
practicality of the move,  but it was largely unnoticed. "Dishonorable
bastards."

Elainas' face darkened slightly at his words, and the King made a
slight motion of caution. Many in the room at the moment, from immortal
to elf
to Chosen, were possessed of at least limited magical powers. That
S'kae's
army adhered to the old code of Steel against Steel did not mean that
in
other countries Magical Battle was looked down upon.  The Army of Steel
had
been known to seek help from the White Mages of Reiki, in ancestral
times.

Lyr continued his tactical discussion, "We've pulled in to the initial
defense lines. Our forces are amassed within the outer walls and on the
parapets.  We have equal distrubution on all fronts save the rock face.
There is a crack contingency there, but little else.  The cliff is
ungainly. I wont say "impossible" for this army has done that with the
initial
breach. But the rock is nigh impractical- by the time they began
efforts- we
could shift troops to pick them off as they straggled down."

"And the State of Siege?" The Queen asked.

"Curfew in effect. Supplies are being rationed for long term siege. The
outer doors were closed last night, runners are showing the army is too
close
now to leave them open. We sent out teams to scour the cities and
forests
for citizens. There were people left out there...but there are more
about
to be trapped in here." The words came out coldly indifferent from an
otherwise regretful countenance.

Pirande's face flushed angrily, more directed to herself and the
impossibility of saving the whole city.

"And what about the defenses?"

He grinned nastily "They're progressing very well. These invaders will
not find S'Kae the easy plum they thought. Chosen or no Chosen."

**

As the chairs were pushed back, and the room made movements to leave, a
young healer and one of her servants burst into the room.

"What is the meaning of this?!" the King rumbled.

"Pardon us, your majesties, and all, only, only, the Water Chosen and
her Guardian, we thought they should know..." began the Healer.

"Sir Wataru woke up-- there was a raven that turned into a phoenix and
then
he woke up-- and then he vanished! We think he's dead. We found his
money
and things and a message in each of your rooms," the servant finished,
holding out a scroll to Estela, who was staring at her in shock. Slowly
she
took the scroll, staring at it mutely.

She knew those words. And as she came to the last verse she understood.

Wataru was gone. Softly she sang the Japanese words these ones
translated, her voice breaking with grief. "mittsu...me no kotoba...wa
hum...mimi...wo suma..shitara...anata no...furueru...." she trailed off
collapsing
sobbing in an equally stunned, though rather confused, Tadrin's arms.
He held her tightly, mumbling soothingly at her, and staring at the
healer and servant in shock. The elegant scroll fluttered silently to
the
ground.

Stana grimaced at the overly dramatic display as servents rushed to and
fro with fans and ammonia to try and revive Emily.
All this fuss from the same person that had not even visited Wataru
while he lay hanging between life and death? Indirectly it was probably
Emily's fault that the man had passed on. The term "dishonorable" could
be laid on more than the attacking army.

Without another word she left from the room, Clip pointedly ignoring
her.  She didn't see Lyr nod to his Aide or the two gaurds that fell in
step behind her as she strode down the corridor. Stana  just thought of
it all as irrelavent. She had some packing to do. And a visit to the
Healer's would be neccessary to restock her supplies. She didnt want to
answer the questions as to why she was going. It was noone else's
buisness. And she was afraid they would think she was gbecoming
unhinged. She wasn't sure that that wasn't the case anyway...