Return of the Emblem Chapter Seven: Reunion

[Phoenix]

Raquel

"Just make sure you don't startle him!" Raquel quickly advised before Veronika was out of earshot. Gods forbid she didn't warn her friend about Chip's gut reactions to being startled. From there it was time to eat, but without her cloak, she felt a little exposed. She hated to admit it, but she was too hungry to care about a bath just then. She quickly grabbed her cloak and quickly jogged toward the dining room. From there she would try to find someone to place an order to.

Chip

Chip continued running through the halls, going who knows where. He would shriek as he ran passed the occasional guard if they tried to intercept him. He had just about reached the entrance to the guest quarters.

Amina

Amina leaned back nervously when Gytha began speaking to her. She could feel it in her gut that Gytha didn't know Rexian, and so interaction would force her to try her hand at Common. She couldn't help but wince and let out a tiny moan at the prospect. Fortunately one of the guards still present immediately translated for her. <"She would like to know if there is a bath one can see the sunset from.">

<"... oh. Um.> ... yes. Palace has baths for sunset." she tried to answer herself, despite the embarrassment attached.

"W-wait. Did you say food?"

<"Hmm?">

Amina was confused, but the guard had just caught something that he'd missed before. Instead of burdening himself with being the middleman, he got straight to his own point. "It would be very improper to eat in while bathing." Though he was trying to be polite, he was clearly offended by the very notion.

"Eat?" Amina echoed. Just then, Chip came rushing by leaping by any wandering feet to avoid an accidental tramping. Instead of continuing down the walkway, the capuchin made his way straight for the steam rising from the distant outdoor hotsprings. <"A monkey!"> Amina exclaimed.

<"Where did ..."> the guard paused. It must have belonged to one of their 'guests'.

After the Last Three Segments

Completely ignoring the new face rushing off toward the woman 'only' hotspring, Haythem briefed Amon on his plans. <"So here's my game plan. I'm going to go get my secret weapon, and then I'm going to show Nadya a beautiful sunset. Then I'll show her around the city before it gets too dark and explain all of the wonders and joys of being a Sancturan. You and Amina can look after your friends, I guess. Sound like a plan?">

<"You'll never convince her to stay here."> Amon quietly commented.

<"Eh, you had your chance. As long as you don't try to get in the way or anything, I'm sure I can.~"> Haythem replied, giving Amon a very rough and painful pat no the back. The friend had been warned.

<"We ... kind of need her, Haythem."> Amon replied shyly while wincing at the pain in his back.

<"What do you mean 'we'?"> Haythem asked, somewhat confused.

<"As in the group. She's one of our more reliable healers. If she stays here we might actually start having more casualties in the future.">

<"That's not your problem, man. You're done with those people, right?">

<"What do you mean?">

<"What do you mean 'what do you mean?'? Didn't Lady Aisha send you to retrieve the emblem? You couldn't find it, right? And sticking with them isn't going to get you any closer so ...">

<"It is ... but it isn't. The emblem is in a bunch of pieces and this group has one of them.">

<"... oh damn.">

<"What?">

<"So that's why they got let in so easily ... err ... Maybe I'm just worrying for nothing. I'm going to go. You should probably find Lulu and get a debriefing or something.">

Neither realized it but Lilith had carefully and subtly maneuvered around as people funneled into the guest quarters and was out of both Amon and Haythem's sight while they were conversing. They didn't realize she was standing very closely behind them until she finally spoke up. "I'd like a meeting with Aisha sometime soon. This palace is interesting, but it's amenities mean nothing to me. I want to get on with things."

"Please understand, miss Lilith, people don't just get meetings with the queen. People are lucky to even get an audience with Lulu, let alone your average maiden." Haythem explained.

"I'm certain she'll make an exception this once."

"... you should ... go see High Priestess Lulu, then. She can arrange it, I guess."

"Fine." Lilith immediately walked off, heading back down the walkway they had come from. She headed back into the palace's main building and was out of sight.

Haythem looked to Amon with a concerned look on his face. <"Well ... I guess I'm off. Try not to worry too much, Amon. It'll all work out. I think."> He gave his friend a lighter pat on the back before jogging off as well. I doubt it. Amon thought, hanging his head.

Weyland

"Believe me, Major General, I was skeptical myself until she used her power. Eight crates of supplies all effortlessly lifted and hauled off without so much as a gesture. If she's not a living legend, she's a senior avian from Aquila and we now have more to fear from them. Either way, it's troublesome." Weyland replied to Selene.

Edited January 20, 2012 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

"Aye, food," Gytha answered the guard, "A lot o' us 'r hungry -- meself included. We could just eat by th' water. After all, gettin' food in th' bathwater's not very cleanly, aye? Aye." Gytha wasn't phased by Chip's passing. She hardly paid him any mind. To her, her present dealings were much more important. "N' could we use some soap n' towels fer th' bath, too? N' some clean clothes if ye have any extra ones layin' around," she happily half-sang.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And there he was. "Oh good," Norbert was apparently relieved enough to voice it. "Hey, Valter. Do you have a roommate yet? I know you have a room. Hope you don't mind that I left my things in there -- I wanted to make sure you weren't just wandering around alone," Norbert mentioned, striking up a conversation with the horseman who'd grown to be the pegasus rider's friend.

[Acacia Sgt]

<Ah, so they were going to the baths as well.> John noted. But before anything else, he felt something crossing near his feet. <Huh?> He looked down and barely got a glimpse of black dashing through the floor. He moved his head to follow it before it got out of sight. <Was that the monkey?>

He shook his head. <Well anyway, so there are baths at the palace huh. I wonder...> Since the present conversation proved it, he decided to approach the guard. ''Excuse me but, does the Guest Quarters have baths as well?''

[Snowy_One]

"Considering how long we have been without a bath, there very well may be one trying to ambush us now." said Robin, trying to make a joke. "Maybe we should find one and talk a bit more then? I have not had much time to get to know... anyone... really well. A few conversations does not companionship make."

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

Veronika turned the corner to see Gytha talking with some Rexians...and Chip leaping over their feet. "Excuse me, pardon me, coming through!" she said quickly, pushing Gytha slightly out of the way so that she could move forward. She made a mental effort not to sprint- that might cause unnecessary alarm as well as being rather impolite, but she still made an effort to move quickly towards the monkey. He was surprisingly quick, though she did have the advantage of much longer legs. He looked about ready to enter the guest quarters when she grabbed him by the tail, preventing his escape. Gotcha she thought to herself.

Selene

"Encountering an avian from Aquila also seems unlikely as well, but it seems we live in strange times. She returned to Rex-Avaz with the mercenaries then? To travel so quickly in such a short amount of time seems impossible...but if she truly is Lilith perhaps not. While this news concerns me, at least Miss Valcyn and her company are unharmed for the moment. Hopefully they can return to Ursium safely...I'd sent an escort but finding them would be very difficult," she responded to Weyland. So the emblem piece remains safe...for now.

Nadya

"Well I need a bath...but I also could use some grub. Oh and I wanna see that sunset too...guess I better start movin'," Nadya said to Robin, heading towards the dining hall, unable to resist the lure of free food.

Edited January 20, 2012 by -Cynthia-

[Phoenix]

Amina and Guard

"Why not simply ask for what you would like to eat, and then clean yourselves before eating? It is not so far from the dining area that one would need to have food near the bathes." the guard replied with a glare at the two women.

Amina was trying to figure out what was going on. First a monkey ran by, then a woman, then that winged woman left, and Haythem shortly after. Things were a bit too active for her tastes. To John the guard replied with a simple nod at first, then clarified saying "The bathes are in the guest quarter's lower level, below the main one. We ... can show you, when you are ready."

Chip

The second Chip felt his tail get grabbed, he shrieked loudly. He couldn't get any further. He had to take action, so he rolled over and pulled out his new pistol from its holster on his back. He quickly pulled the trigger, but the gun didn't fire. He shrieked even louder realizing that it wasn't loaded. Instead of panicking, the little capuchin suddenly became almost casual as he forgot all about the woman holding his tail, and began trying to load shots into the gun's three barrels. After he finished correcting his mistake, he could shoot his pursuer.

Raquel

Raquel entered the dining room in a fatigued fashion and began looking around for the most likely doorway to the kitchen. She didn't find it before a well dressed Rexian man approached her. <"Welcome.> Are you hungry, Miss?"

"... what's the word for 'starving' in Rexian?" she asked, half seriously.

<"Starving."> he answered with a smile. "So then, what can I have our cooks make for you?" As he asked this, several more waiters appeared, ready to take other orders, apparently.

Amon

Amon had his own room, so there wasn't much to be done around there. Perhaps speaking with Lulu while he had the chance was for the best. But Lilith was already on her way to accost her. Just great. His uncertainty had led the vasilus get hundreds of feet ahead of him. He quickly ran off in the direction she'd left in, hoping to catch up, if not outright pass her up and reach Lulu first. He had to talk with her about something he didn't want Lilith walking in or listening in on.

Haythem

Haythem's secret weapon turned out to be his wyvern, Isis. The guards didn't like it, but it wasn't expressly against the rules for whatever reason, and he flew the massive mountain wyvern over the palace courtyard. From there, he flew over the guest quarters. The shadow Isis cast over the area as she passed startled Amina. She quickly realized it was just Haythem's wyvern though and breathed a sigh of relief. A bit more timid than the average maiden it seemed. Haythem landed Isis near the entrance after coming back around. He then hopped off and gleefully marched into the guest quarters in search of the party's nomad.

Weyland

"I thought of sending some people to rendezvous with them as well, but as you said, tracking them would be difficult ... and that Lilith woman was just barely cooperative." Weyland replied, shaking his head at the mention of Lilith. "Well, then. Thank you for coming by, Major General. I was uncertain what had happened to your unit as well and I'm glad you made it out alright. My estate still is still in need of repairs, so I'll be dealing with that over the next week or so."

Edited January 20, 2012 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

Veronika pushed past her and suddenly there was shrieking...but tjhat was probably irrelivant, so the mariner ignored it. "A'right," Gytha agreed cheerily to the guard. With that, she turned on her heel the little ways to face Amina again, "Could ye show us t' th' baths please?" It'd be good to be clean again.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

<"Shit!"> Should have heeded Raquel's warning more...I forgot he got rearmed. she thought to herself, before wrestling the gun away from Chip. "Bad monkey...no shoot," she instructed him as she attempted to scoop him up and return to Raquel.

Nadya

On her way to the dining hall, Nadya bumped into Haythem. <"Oh hey there. I was just about to get some grub- what do y'all eat here in Sanctuary anyway?" she asked him out of curiosity, figuring he'd know Rexian cuisine.

Selene

"There were losses, but there always are. If you need additional security, do not hesitate to ask- we can't afford to lose you. You might want to get some rest soon, Ursentius wasn't rebuilt in a day you know," she advised him, noting that he looked rather weary. "Good day and good luck," she said to him with a small bow before exiting with Erica.

[Snowy_One]

Robin nodded as Nadya left. It was okay for the other girl to be hungry, though Robin herself was not. Instead, she felt far more concerned with getting a proper cleaning. She needed to know where they were though. She quickly looked about for the nearest person wearing a guards uniform. "Excuse me, where are the baths?" she asked.

[Acacia Sgt]

''Well, I'm basically ready.'' John answered. <YEah, I think other than taking the bath, I'll be staying in the room. I can just eat there and be done with it.>

[Phoenix]

Amina and Guard

Oh, I'm completely useless here. I was put in charge of managing this group, but there's too many of them and none of them speak Rexian and now the guards are doing all of the work. I should be at a music class right now, not embarrassing myself in front of the foreigners. Amina mentally anguished. The guard quickly tapped her shoulder, wordlessly requesting that she come along. He was going to take them to the bath entrance, but he didn't plan on going any farther. Things were eventually going to fall back into Amina's lap whether she wanted them to or not. "Follow us." the guard instructed Gytha, Synthia, and John.

Nearest Guard

"The baths?" the guard replied disinterestedly. "Follow me."

Chip

Chip was defeated in a decisive battle against the Neviskotian noble and was subsequently carried off, likely to be imprisoned or something. Despite this, he didn't make much of a fuss. He had been disarmed and carried off by Jethro plenty of times in the past, and by Raquel herself once or twice. Hopefully the noble was doing the right thing and taking him to some water. A drink was what the little capuchin really wanted, after all, steamy did not matter one bit.

Raquel

What did Raquel want to eat? She didn't know really. "What do you have?" That was ... too vague a question, and to Raquel's dismay, the man did not try to have her narrow it down, and instead went down an extremely long list of dishes that Raquel had never even heard of and all from memory. She quickly got frustrated and exclaimed "Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoawait! I ... um ... something filling ... and not sweet. I don't want anything sweet right now. Do you have anything like that?"

"Perhaps putting some meat back on your bones would be best. You could also do with some vegetables, I think. I would also advise eating some fruit as well, but you seem to be against anything sweet at the moment."

"Yeah, okay ... and some water." she tagged on after his recommendation.

Haythem

"Ah, just the lady I wanted to see. Hmm, foods? Well there's lots to choose from, but I'd recommend something you don't have to eat off of a plate. After all, we don't want to miss the sunset~ Do you like bagels or things like that?"

Intersecting Bathers

The Rexian soon returned with Gabbie's towels and she then had him leader her toward the baths. Like the others heading there, they all came to the same place, the top of a large staircase that led down below the courtyard's main level. A pair of guards was standing there and gave the approaching groups raised eyebrows. They bowed at Amina, though.

<"I think ... they're all going to the baths. They don't speak Rexian, so could you please help me out, here?"> she pleaded. The other guards were already on their way back to their posts.

<"It would be our pleasure."> one of them said. The other guard nodded affirming the first.

<"Thank you so much."> she gratefully replied. The groups then followed the two guards down to the lower level. The decorations down there were fewer, but still present. The humidity rose exponentially as they entered the lower area, and the lighting was substantially less in some places. It seemed to be a main hall with a low ceiling with various other sections connecting to it. There were plenty of benches strewn about, and there were all sorts of shelves with various bathing supplies on them. Gabbie was the first to comment.

With over puckered lips she said "Ooooooooooo ...."

"There are several bathing areas. Some for men, some for women." the guard explained.

"No coed baths?" Gabbie asked.

The guard immediately glared at her. "That would not be appropriate for ... guests."

"... I'm not hearing a 'nooooo~'." Gabbie verbally poked and prodded.

Amon

Amon sprinted down the halls of the palace at break neck speed trying to make up for lost time and hopefully pass up Lilith, but he hadn't even spotted her yet. That all changed when he made it back to the main hall decked with gold and gemstones. He saw her white winged ebon and gold clad form walking at a normal pace toward the office Lulu used. He quickly rushed by her and the other people making their way through the area. She eyed him with all the suspicion she usually gave the young Rexian, but didn't increase her pace. Amon came almost falling into the office, much to the surprise of the guards.

<"Amon?"> Lulu uttered, standing from her chair as he flew through the doors.

<"Lulu! I've got to talk to you, right now! In private!">

<"Amon, I'm having a meeting, here."> she replied, grimacing. She was frankly a bit disturbed by his frantic behavior.

<"Lulu, please. It's important, and I don't have much time."> he shot back, beginning to pant as his fatigue caught up to him.

<"... very well. Asad, all of you. Could you wait here for a few minutes?">

Asad humbly nodded. <"Take your time, High Priestess. My companions and I have some things we should probably discuss, as well.">

<"Alright, Amon. Let's go."> she said to the tired Rexian, coming from around the desk and approaching him. They left out the office door, and he then took her by the hand and began running with her. <"Gah! What's wrong?!">

<"We've got to get some distance from Lilith. She probably senses where you are.">

<"What's this have to do with her?">

<"Grrrr, no time. Okay I'll just explain while we try to keep ahead of her. Look, I found the fire emblem like Lady Aisha instructed, but I couldn't steal it from Raquel. Lilith saved us, but she took half of Raquel's piece for herself. That's why I told you I failed my mission. I found the pieces, but you'll never get them away from the two of them. We've already killed over fifty people who tried.">

<"Oh goodness. The fire emblem is here? And ... it can be broken down? Hold on, Amon."> Lulu replied, urging him both verbally and physically to at least slow down.

<"What is it?">

<"Lady Aisha could never have tasked one man with returning every piece of the fire emblem to her. I know her well enough to be certain of that. She has a different purpose in mind here. We should arrange a meeting. That is what Lilith wants, right?">

<"Yes.">

<"I want you to do me a favor. Go find Raquel. Since hers is the piece you originally found, she should be at the meeting as well. She can eat and freshen up first. I would recommend it, but sometime tonight, I want her and Lilith to speak with Lady Aisha. Can you do this?">

<"Of course."> Amon nodded, barely beginning to come down from his panic attack.

<"Don't worry. We'll be able to avert any sort of violence. Lady Aisha has no intention of getting into a confrontation with these people.">

Urgent News

From out of one of the hallways, a man sprinting as if he had lost his balance approached Lulu and Amon. <"High Priestess! High Priestess! I'm so glad you weren't in a meeting or in your quarters!">

<"What's wrong?">

<"We just got word back from one of our operatives!"> He then came closer and whispered the rest in her ear. <"One of our spies in the Tide group sent back a disturbing report.">

<"How disturbing ...?">

<"The Tide organization has approximated Sanctuary's location. They are within fifty miles of the city now. We fear that Lady Aisha's storms haven't been providing enough coverage of the region in the past several days. They have apparently found a route leading through the mountains that mounts can use, and they even avoided the dragons. According to the agent, they are preparing to send the information to other groups throughout Rex-Avaz. They still need a few days to pinpoint the city. We don't have much time to stop them.">

Lulu's expression became pained and she began to tear up. <"No ... the only way to keep them from spreading our location is to kill them all ... that's not ... that's not what we wanted.">

<"They're our enemies, and they have an encampment in the mountains. Whether they are using it to stage an attack or not does not matter. The message barely made it back in time, and we must act immediately, High Priestess. We have to kill them. All of them ... to ensure Sanctuary's continued safety.">

<"No ... forget what I just said. There has to be another way we can deal with this."> Lulu protested.

<"Unless you can steal all of their information, the only way to silence them permanently is to kill them.">

He said Lady Aisha's storms haven't been covering the area well in the last several days. Could this have something to do with us, and Lilith? Amon worried.

Edited January 20, 2012 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

"Could ye r' she" Gytha indicated Amina "show Synthia n' me where th' women's bath o'erlookin' th' sunset is?" Gytha asked. She didn't want to miss her first sunset from Sanctuary. She wondered if it was as beautiful as a sunset over the ocean.

[ReformBlade]

With a sigh and a smile, Aneda somehow managed to go on with her life despite its best attempts at trying to bring her down into despair. Nuh uh, you can't bring this woman down, life. She's simply too cool of a cat for that kind of crap! A slight spring in her step, she made off towards a room, any room that she could sleep in, and dropped her belongings down on the ground not caring about anything else for the moment. All she knew was that taking her armor off felt so good as she plopped onto the bed. It was then that she realized there was another person in 'her' room. "Oh hey, izzat you... Onion?"

[Rothene]

Ranyin cringed and turned around to see...non-rainbow coloured hair. For which he was eternally grateful. "No, I'm not called 'onion'. I have a proper name and it's Ranyin!"

[ReformBlade]

She let out a hearty laugh at Ranyin's reaction. "Oh come on, calm down a little! I'm not trying to be mean I forgot your name and went with the best I could think of at the moment, alright? Chill out!" Absentmindedly playing with her hair, she cocked her head. "How you doing right now? This place wow you like it did me? I'm still not quite sure it's all real... you know? So much luxury condensed into one location just makes my head spin aaaaaagh!" Falling flat on the bed, she took a deep breath. "Just my opinion here, but I think there's such a thing as too much, you know?" The hypocrisy of her statement seemed to evade her as she stared at the ceiling.

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

Veronika led Chip back to Raquel's room, the monkey seemed to go quietly and without incident thankfully. Raquel was off eating, leaving Veronika alone with the unfamiliar creature. She dropped it unceremoniously near the bag the monkey seemed to prefer. "I don't think I'm going to give your gun back until we're out of Sanctuary at least," she informed him. Why am I talking to a monkey? The heat must be getting to me...

Nadya

"I'm not picky and I'm used to eatin' on the run. Though I was expectin' somethin' a little more exotic than bagels, they have those in Kigen and Ursium too," Nadya replied jokingly.

[Snowy_One]

Robin followed the guard faithfully as she milled over her upcoming confrontation with Raquel in her mind. "<Raquel has been really nice to me to be sure, but she's the only one in the group who I'm even loyal too. Gabbie, Veronika, Ogre, Bert, all of them are clearly disliking me...>" She sighed as her hand came down, running against the wall idly. "<Synthia, Nadia, Krystal, and those few who tolerate me I'm not even all that close too. Even Raquel I've only talked to a time or two. I'm not even the muscle of the group. I'm the annoying archer with outdated weapons who acts weird and distant.>" Her hands struck a small pillar. "<And I'm not even willing to kill people while they->"

As her fingers struck the small pillar, a small plant that had been on top, most likely as decoration, suddenly wobbled about before coming crashing down hard onto the ground below, shattering and spreading soil and plant everywhere on the ground.

"<Oh ****.>" This probably would not end well. She quickly dropped down, trying to scoop the dirt back up, if not into the shattered planter, then to at least clean up the mess.

[Acacia Sgt]

And so they were led towards the baths. <So this is the place huh.> John thought. Then Gabbie spoke. <What is it with her?> He shook his head, but decided to ignore it. ''Which are the men's?'' He asked the guard.

[Rothene]

"Yes, indeed there's such a thing as too much," Like your preferred hair colour, "now don't mind closing the door when you get out with all your gear. It's almost as if you're sharing this room with me which would be silly," said Ranyin as he started ruffling through his bag half thinking if he should be heading to the bath first or make a quick painting of the view he had.

Edited January 21, 2012 by Rothene

[ReformBlade]

"Aaaaww..." Way to dampen the mood you jerk... "Now why would it be silly, us rooming together? We could get to know each other so well! Likes, dislikes, favorite food, stories, all sorts of things! And besides..." She frowned as she nudged her armor with her leg absentmindedly, "Any idea how heavy that stuff is to just carry around? You wouldn't make a poor little girl like me pack up and leave now, would you?" Rolling on her side, Aneda put on her best mock pout, quivering lip and all. After a few moments of that she let out a loud laugh, "Come on, I'm tired as all get out, and this bed is pretty damn comfy... And besides, you're like one of the only people I even know about in this hodgepodge of a group, and look!" Playing with her hair as she sat up, "It's not even vomit worthy anymore, so can I staaaaay? Pleeeeeeaaase?"

[Rothene]

Sighing, Ranyin rolled his eyes, it's not proper for men and women to share rooms in Kigen...but we're not in Kigen, "Fine, you can stay. But when I insist you get out when I change, you get out and I shall do the same when you need to change your attire."

[ReformBlade]

"Yes!" flopping back on the bed rather sloppily, she was quite happy to let herself try and fall asleep before changing, but then necessity hit her. I should really bathe myself and then get changed... the water and then that god awful heeeaaat... Eugh. Now that she had her mind on it her clothes felt disgusting to her, and for teh first time she could smell the hint of seawater and the lingering odor of sweat all around her. "Well no need to worry about me changing here, I'm heading off to take a bath... Sounds so good right now, doesn't it? Maaaaaaaaaaybe we could take one together, hmmmmm?" She couldn't help but poke at Ranyin now, giggling to herself as she gathered a change of clothes.

[Rothene]

Bath...memories of not too long ago sprang up in the mind of the short Kigenese mage involving a rather unpleasant explosion in a relatively well built place. Surely what can go wrong? Besides, the desert was hot dry work to travel through, a bath should be very refreshing.

"I...I suppose we should. My skin's too dry from the desert anyway," said Ranyin picking out his old blue robes in preparation to head to the baths.

[Phoenix]

Chip

Chip seemed to have understood Veronika when she told him he wouldn't get his gun back, that or he snapped out of his calm purely by coincidence. He began hopping up and down on the bed shrieking in protest. He definitely wanted the gun back, but after a few short shrieks, he quieted down. Thirst was setting back in and he was running low on energy.

Haythem

"Heh, well 'fancy' is all fine and good, but in Sanctuary, we prefer what actually tastes good. Our chefs can pretty the food up if they want to, but they usually let the taste do the talking. So want to try one of Sanctuary's delicious bagels? Or would you prefer something fancier?" Haythem inquired, keeping a cute smile on his face the entire time.

Bathing Party

Amina could barely understand what Gytha said. An educated guess let her save face, and she quickly pointed toward the right side of the room up at some rectangular wooden signs. They were written in Rexian but the little symbols on them were dead giveaways; one was the 'universal' symbol for male, and the other for female. What had been an issue at first was the low level of lighting coupled with the dark writing and deep brown wood. One of the guards had to trigger a device to light up the area. After that, the signs were clear as day. There was even one further in the back with both symbols on the sign. Gabbie smirked upon spotting it.

The guard answered John in a similar way, pointing toward a men's sign. "That is the men's ba-" He was cut off by the sound of a falling pot and turned around to go investigate. He found the young archer, Robin, back at the top of the staircase trying to clean up the plant and dirt. "Leave it. Someone else will clean it up later. Avoid the plants in the future, please." he advised in a near monotone fashion.

Something I Can't Think of A Proper Title For Right Now

Amon had to make his way back toward the guest quarters and while he did this, Lilith caught up to Lulu. The High Priestess was distracted by the impending threat in the mountains, but she kept herself composed and walked with the vasilus back toward the offices.

"So you want a meeting with Lady Aisha ...."

"If it's not too much trouble." Lilith replied sarcastically. It was pretty obvious by now that Lilith would disintegrate any doors between her and the Rexian Queen if she had to.

"Very well, but I would ask that we postpone it just a little while longer. An urgent matter has come up that we need to give most of our attention to. Also I'd like Raquel Valcyn to be in the meeting, as well. This involves her just as much as it does you, after all."

"Quick to name terms. That's fine, as long as you people aren't just stalling for petty reasons."

"I assure you, this is not petty."

Meanwhile, Amon came racing past Nadya and Haythem and ran right into the guest quarters. His first stop was the dining room and fortunately that was where Raquel was. Good, he wouldn't have to disturb a slumbering Raquel or a bathing one, though disturbing a starving one didn't seem so good either. "Um, Raquel? High Priestess Lulu wants you to come to a meeting."

"Whaaat? A meeting? But ... I haven't even settled in or anything ..." Raquel whined.

"Err-not now! She specifically said you should eat and wash up first, but after that we should have a meeting. Lilith is going to be there too ...."

"Well ... okay, I guess."

[Acacia Sgt]

<Huh, what was that?> John thought at the sudden sound. The guard stopped mid-sentence to investigate, but his pointing plus the sign being visible thank to the better lighting did the rest. <Alright then, it's time.> With that, he walked over.