Luce stood watching Razok for a few moments longer. For all her dislike of him, he was at least mildly intriguing. Finally she turned to leave. "Since your time is limited I will leave you to your sketching." She gave a slight nod of her head walked away.

Luce was on her way to speak with Estra when she ran across the ambassador. She looked over her shoulder to see if Razok was watching then said, "I noticed you got a message from the king. Was it of any importance?"

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Razok noded in response, half paying attention to the starlight woman and half to his drawing.

He continued to sketch out the image in his book, adding a few indecipherable writings along with it.

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Ravion turned his head, hearing the voice of the starlight woman. He raised an eyebrow with a mild smile. "I doubt the contents of a king's message to his ambassador would be of any importance to you," he said, quite politely, though his words said everything; he certainly would not divulge what his king had written to her.

"Was there anything else?" he enquired.

Estra looked on from her position at the dais. She could see the ambassador replying to something Luce had asked him. She did not think that this human was quite the type to be interrogated; which actually was quite irritating.

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~~Siggy by Lembas~~

A small smile drifted across Lyvanna's face as she nodded her head in response to Estra's smile. She was rather surprised by this action, as Estra had never really paid much heed to her, and a slight tingling feeling ran down her lily-white arms.

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What did he mean "no importance"? If it concerned her people then it was of every importance to her. Where was Estra? This was more her thing then it was Luce's.

"Nothing else," Luce replied tersely, "just looking at for my people." Luce forwent any nod of the head or anything as she brushed past Ravion.

Luce made her way threw the crowd up to the dais where Estra stood. "I don't like him," she stated when she reached Estra. "I feel like he's hiding something."

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Estra glanced at Luce as she approached the dais.
"He's a human," she said simply. "Of course you don't like him. And secondly, he's the ambassador to Redron - chances are he wants to spy on us."
She flicked her white hair thoughtfully. "I might have a little chat with him later," she said with one of her icy smiles. "Perhaps I might give him a small warning. Nothing too particular - just a reminder. He may act as aloof and proud as he wishes, but this is our home. He's on starlight soil."

She glanced down slightly at Lyvanna. Well, she was the queen's lady in waiting, she was hardly likely to report to anyone what Estra and Luce were talking about. She knew her loyalties.

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~~Siggy by Lembas~~

Luce smirked at Estra's words. She would like to watch that conversation. Estra had a way with humans and a strength that Luce quite admired.

"The explorer seems to remember he is on starlight soil. I have never met a human that was so fascinated with and so unafraid of what he sees here." Luce looked over her shoulder in Razok's direction. "That being said, we should probably make sure he doesn't wander anywhere of importance. I am also not convinced he did not kill the king's messenger himself in order to get into our realm."

Her theory laid out, Luce turned to Lyvanna, the queen's lady in waiting. "You have been sitting up here all night, Lyvanna?" Luce queried. "Have you seen anything of interest?"

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Firen smirked at Lauda's proposal, but shook his head. As fun as it would be, Ravion was slightly favored for a human, as far as he had observed. "He is the ambassador." Firen explained quietly. "For a human he is well tolerated. I dare say it may irk the Starpeople if we antagonize him without reason." Firen quieted, but then spoke again. "No, I am in no mood for mischief today, unless provoked. Some of the Starpeople, as deep as thier dislike for humans runs, are apt to oppose wanton acts of terror towards them. However." He added with a smile. "should those acts in anyway be justified, the Starkind smile upon the Fae."

Lyvanna looked down at her folded hands, trying to make sense of all that was occurring and all that was being said. Her head raised again just as Estra glanced at her. Her eyes flicked back to her snowy-white fingers again, which were nervously lacing and unlacing among each other. She was surprised when addressed by Luce, and her clear, rippling voice had some hesitation in it. "I have been at Her Majesty's side all this night," she affirmed. "I have been watching all that has gone on, and I find much of it puzzling. Two humans in our court... is too many for my comfort." She nodded to emphasize. "The messenger does not disturb me nearly as much as the other... the explorer. He bears strange tidings, and his behavior is just as strange. I..." She stopped, looking around before speaking again, her voice lowered nearly to a whisper. "I cannot find it in me to trust him."

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Estra considered Luce's theory with a smile. "Interesting. Well, I will keep an eye on him also." A potentially murdering human traveller was one to keep track of; to make sure he did not get up to any mischief. She raised an eyebrow as Luce addressed Lyvanna. She listened to the lady in waiting's reply.

"It is wise of you to pay attention to the goings-on of our court," she told her once she had said her piece. "You will find that one needs to be careful with visiting strangers. Keep your ears and your eyes open, has always been one of my mottos."
She patted the intricate silver hilt of her sword. It was sheathed in a beautifully embroidered silver and grey sheath. Seldom were there any fights in the starlight kindgom, but should the event arise, Estra was ever-ready. "Thus far in all the history of our rhealm we have never allowed spies or assassins to enter our court, and I for one wish to continue the tradition."

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~~Siggy by Lembas~~

(Sorry had vehicle trouble and wa stuck away from home since Saturday. )

Razoke finished up his sketch and then began wondering around aimlessly...seemingly with no purpose.

The starlight people whispered, pointed, and glared but he payed them little heed. A city as this he had not seen before, but harsh feelings and ill intentions from others were his constant companions. He had grew numb to them over the years. Sometimes, even enjoying the spite thrown his way from others.

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Ravion looked on with apparently little interest as Razock wandered about the beautiful halls of Starlight. He did not miss the dislike that the Starlight people obviously had for humans; they may have been on peacetime terms with them, but that did not stop their irritation at having humans here.
Estra, the queen's knight, especially, seemed to dislike Arlaith's new guests. But Ravion could interperet nothing from Estra's expression; it gave away nothing, no emotion - just a beautiful mask of ice.

Estra raised a pale eyebrow, looking back at the lady in waiting, Lyvanna, and Luce. She had been following the movements of both the humans without appearing to have done anything except giving the tiniest of turns of her head.
"I suppose they will have to come with us at midnight," she remarked. "Though I don't see why they should - doubtless they don't know how to observe the skies properly. How could they possibly understand our traditions?"

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~~Siggy by Lembas~~

"It is about that time isn't it?" Luce asked at Estra's mention of the midnight tradition. "It must be near to midnight." Luce glanced out the window and the darkness confirmed her thoughts. "Maybe in this area-the stars- we can teach the humans something."

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"Midnight." Estra nodded. She turned her head. Arlaith was rising elegantly from the throne, smoothing down her silver skirts. She darted Estra a smile, sword-grey eyes flickering. It was time.

"Your Majesty." Estra stepped to Arlaith's side. "I shall walk beside you." She flicked her blonde hair over her silver shoulderplates. No one but the queen's knight could walk beside her - this was so that Estra could draw her sword on anybody who threatened Arlaith's person. It seemed a pity to Estra that the Starlight people had a strict rule of not drawing sword on anybody unless they were threatened first, otherwise both the humans would have long since been dead at Estra's hand.

"Thank you, Estra," Arlaith said. She stepped down from the dais. A deadly silence suddenly took hold of the hall. Each member of the star race knew what midnight meant, they knew what it meant when Arlaith rose from her throne.

Arlaith extended an arm towards the window; darkness had taken hold of the land outside. "It is now midnight," she announced in a clear, musical voice. "It is time for us all to depart outside to the palace grounds, where we shall observe the stars, as we do each night, have done for centuries, and will do forevermore, even unto the ending of the world."

She swept ahead from the throne, Estra following. The crowd parted for them then filed up to follow them from the great hall. The doors opened for Arlaith as she led the way out of the hall and down the corridor, the trains of her silken silver skirts dragging behind her.

Ravion, interested, joined the lines of the star-folk, following them down the corridor. The doors of the palace were flung open, leading out into the darkness. Arlaith led them around the palace walls, towards the back, where the gardens were.

The walls of the palace looked like shimmering crystal in the dark; they glowed as luminously as the stars above in the sky.
The gardens were vast and beautiful; encircled by trees, with strange flowers growing everywhere. They were lavishly set for the nightly celebrations; a long table that looked as if it might have been carved from ice was set on the side. Mulled wine and various foods were being served.
There were a few chairs, but most of the star-folk preferred to stand. Arlaith walked to the center of the gardens. She gazed up at the sky, her expression a mixture of happiness and sadness as she turned her grey eyes up to the stars of which she was queen.
Estra, too, felt a pang of love as she looked up at the stars. Yet she felt sadness too, like her queen. Ever would the starpeople be doomed to watch the stars every night, yet never be able to reach them.

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~~Siggy by Lembas~~

The silence was like a wave spreading across the hall. It started near the queen but spread out till it reached the far corners of the grand room. The quiet sent chills threw Luce as she stood watching her queen. This was deep silence. The kind no one dared even to breath for fear of breaking it as though as some sort of enchantment would be broken.

"It is now midnight."

Luce smiled at her queen's voice. Somehow it seemed to fit the deep silence. She stepped aside with a small bow as Arlaith and Estra flowed by her. She soon followed with the rest of her people out into the gardens. Once everyone was out all the lights were covered and darkness filled the grounds. The only light that shown came from the moon and stars.

Luce made her way out from among the throng of people to a lone part of the grounds where no one yet stood. A small fountain with runes and figures carved into it stood in stark contrast with the flowers that surrounded it. The water that babble from the top of the fountain appeared to glow silver as it reflected the moon and star light.

With awe Luce cast her eyes up to the heavens. What would it be like to be among the stars, to fly and dance with them? Sometimes the stars burned bright in her mind. Figures dancing gracefully across her memory they seemed. Soon the moment would be gone, and they began to glow dim again far away in the moon lit sky. So she stood watching the stars from the ground left with only with questions. Things her heart yearns to know.

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Lyvanna mentally drifted farther and farther away from Luce and Estra, flying upwards into the realms of thought and meditation. The movements of the Queen brought her sharply back into reality, and she followed directly after her mistress. Her head was bowed slightly, her hands folded in front of her body, and her skirts made only a quiet "swishing" noise as she walked.

Out in the palace grounds, she gazed solemnly upwards at the stars. They shone like diamonds, like diamonds imbued with their own inner fire. And, like diamonds, they had their own variances in size and color, in majesty and importance. Yet even the least and smallest is beautiful, she thought. All of them have their place, all of them have... have their own beauty, their own importance... even... like me. I am just another person down here... just like one more star is up there... Even still, I have my own place. She looked over at her Queen, a wry little smile on her face. Breathing a quiet sigh, she turned back to her own reflections.

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