((*wonders how a bash over the head can be discreet*))

Silvryn did not look entirely surprised, though her expression changed subtly to what could have been misconstrued at grimness - though had anyone who knew her well been watching, they would have recognized it as apprehension. A strange emotion for a Princess used to such things.

"Rumors," she repeated, rising and striding to the window, where the sun was sinking into a blood-red cradle of cloud. "Rumors may mean nothing. But again, they may mean something important indeed..."

Trailing off, Silvryn turned to face them. "Perhaps we will have to do what we wished could be avoided - the Gifted and Exalted will not be fully trained. Time is short." She herself was the only fully powerful Exalted among them, and she knew it well.

~~~~

"The Desert of Abyth," was Kiarryn's reply. It was impossible to see past her expression, to discover what import the name carried for her. "I know it...quite well."

Hastily she turned to look at him in turn. It seemed impolite to ask for his history when she was so unwilling to face hers. "Forgive me - " for a moment she grappled with how to phrase this " - I fear my past is not a thing I would readily explore. It is best forgotten."

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Alistina leaned against the door frame of the room, and sighed of boredom. The people seemed very... boring to her, or at least for the time being. So she started waving a finger, causing an air current in the room, mostly around her. She smiled when her braid snaked to life in the small air draft...

~~~~

Penfire, through they're mental link, felt Silvryn's apprehension.
Silvryn, have you learned something of importence? You feeling apprehension isn't a very common emotion for you. Do you want me to come to you? he thought to her...

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

No. Silvryn's response was quick and brusque, even for her. No, it's nothing. I've received some news is all - time is very short.

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If you don't want me to come, then at least say what kind of news it is. Can't you explain quickly what it is? there was some suprise in Penfire's thoughts. He had never known her to be so quick to reply in a very urgent tone...

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

There's...trouble. In the northlands. The same as that in Duzakha. The Gifted and Exalted will not be able to complete their training. Her tone was final and as the sentence was completed Silvryn withdrew, her telepathic presense in her counterpart's mind removed.

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Penfire knew then, he couldn't get anymore answers to a few questions. He returned to the room with the exalted and gifted and saw Alistina.
"You finaly decide to come out of hiding?" he asked her. She blushed.
"No, M'lord, I was comanded to comeout of hiding. I had no choice. These people are all going to training?" she asked, refurring to all the people in the room.
"Yes, and the others here..." Alistina nodded in agreement...

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

Yrudit took careful note of the normally stoic Princess's grim expression. He offered the grumbling dwarf another not so discreet thwack over the head.

Khaar came to with a start. "What? Ah..." He cleared his throat for the second time. "As I was saying... what do you know of Duzakha, Your Highness?"

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Silvryn turned abruptly, the last rays of the sun spilling over her shoulders and silhouetting her slender figure against the sky. She leaned on the windowsill, fingers gripping the stone. "What little there is to know, I confess I've perused to some extent. Even the least superstitious quail at the thought of setting foot in that wasteland, and thus our information is relatively limited. What I know..."

Trailing off, the Princess made her way to a tall bookcase, filled with volumes of ancient lore and the occasional record of Elvish monarchs. "Mentions of it frequent many records of exploration, but no explorer seems to have ventured into the wasteland itself. Hints of unease pervade all writings that even briefly stray into Duzakha - which tells us that the rumors must have some truth to them."

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((Ok... I amVERRRRRRY confused!!! Anyone care to explain? *whimpers*

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You may (or may not) know me elsewhere as Elfpen

(Well, as far as I can tell, there's a conversation going on betweem Silvryn, Yrudit, and a dwarf, Kaar, concerning rumors about Duzakha..while everyone else is waiting in the other room.)

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(all 3 of my characters are bored... why don't you come up and start talking to one of them?))

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

That's why you stick with just one character--they're almost never bored.

----

The girl's carefully neutral expression as she said she was familiar with the Desert of Abyth was confirmation enough that her familiarity with it was the reason she did not want to delve back into her past.

Her family's death, maybe? Tal wondered. Or mayhap it was slavery. There were few pleasant things that people would think of the Desert--it was not humid, but it had little water, no farms could be grown, and little shade to shelter in. What it had was more than its fair share of murderers and brigands, and an unhealthy portion of slavers. Whatever had happened to Kiarryn in the Desert most likely had something to do with them.

Still, the girl looked as though she was waiting for some response.

"I understand--there are events in my past that I would rather not remember, too," Tal said, hoping she wouldn't interpret his statement the wrong way. He didn't consider her a criminal or anything, after all.

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((Ok... Who are your characters?))

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You may (or may not) know me elsewhere as Elfpen

(Penfire, Alistina, and Darnel, Penfire's talking to Alistina, and Darnel is sitting in a chair, trying to listen in on the conversations evolving around the room)

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

Kiarryn was unsure how she ought to react to this for a moment, but she smiled tentatively. She remembered well enough - the memories were vivid, far more vivid than she would have liked them to be, and she received an unpleasant reminder every time the scars from the slavers' whips twinged. "Yes," she replied, breaking the brief silence between them. "I am sure there are few who have no memories they would rather forget."

But this subject was making Kiarryn quite uptight, and she hastily changed it by inquiring with a brief grin - "Now you must tell me who you have brought. None of their faces are familiar...besides the Princess's, of course, and her general."

((As soon as Silvryn's finished with Yrudit and Khaar we can move along, seeing as there's nothing much to do with the other characters))

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"I shall accompany the others if you permit, my lady," Yrudit offered with a bow. He sensed the Princess's unease and thought it best to act normally. Silhouetted against the sunset's ardent rays, she cut a lovely figure indeed.

At this, Khaar turned to scowl profusely. He mouthed the words, Bah, you just got back!

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