Khusrau shook his head as the others talked about the injustice. He said kind of quietly, loud enough for a few near him to hear, "If only Muhammad had stayed in the desert. Maybe Persia would still be for Persians, and Ormazd would still protect the land from this unholy blight." His hands shook as he gribbed his staff tightly.

Anousha's eyes shifted to Khusrau, her posture suddenly alert as though she were testing the air. What was this one? That he spoke of...never mind. She shook it off. Through Kamal's talk of the risks of their way of life Rostam's arm almost unconsciously crept around her as though it were a shield. Had the two not been decided before, they were now. Something had to change.

Rostam had no doubt caught Khusrau's curious interjection but he faced Kamal nonetheless, betraying nothing of what he thought. "No, friend, go on," he said, surveying the other man almost unblinkingly. "Ignorance is no path to victory."

"Neither is needless fearmongering," Anousha added sharply, sitting up straight as a board despite Rostam's arm around her. A wry smile curved her lips and disappeared like a fabled genie. "Take care your talk does not become such. We are here for facts, not rumors."

Rostam's discomfort at this was concealed behind the slightest of frowns. Time and again he wondered how Anousha could be so self-possessed. A girl not yet twenty, yet married three years - and she spoke as if holding all the experience of a housewife married five and twenty years. The two were incongruent, but he could not deny that what she said was seldom useless or petty.

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Kamal smiled at Rostam. "No, friend, I have talked enough of what may happen. Your wife is right. We need more than speculation and rumors. If we are all in agreement, we need to talk of what is to be done." He looked around the room again, that slight smile on his face.

<i>Will they all join against the king?</i> He thought. <i>Some of them certainly seem determined.</i>

Anousha half-rose, eyes spinning around the table. Kamal, Ulric, Crukas, Khusrau, Asho...swiftly she named them off, down to Rostam beside her and Carina opposite. "Nay, she's not here." When had she last been? Swiftly recalling, thinking if she'd seen Aleena exit, Anousha's expression unconsciously resolved itself into a perplexed frown. Likely it was nothing, but...

"She's been gone no more than the space of fifteen minutes," put in Rostam, quietly observant. "Enough to...Carina, do you trust this Aleena?" His gaze was not as fiercely accusing as his wife's could be but no less piercing.

"Trust or no - " said Anousha, the beginning of a hotly accusatory sentence, but Rostam shook his head once, a hand moving to bid her seat herself again, and she reluctantly did so without continuing. "Do you trust her?" he repeated, eyes not having moved from Carina's face.

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Crukas's eyes darted back and forth as he listened, but so many people talked that it was like watching a ping-pong match. Crukas sighed inwardly and quietly as he contiuned to listen.

((just to let you know, I know that they didn't have ping-pong back then, but that is the only analogy I could think of.))

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Just became a college freshman; be on sparingly

"Do you know who Aerlinn is, Cru?" Asho asked his friend as he wiggled himself around the chair to get into a more comfortable position.

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<center>

Crukas leaned over to hear what Asho had to say and he shrugged. "I've heard the name." He said. "I am quiet clueless at the mo', to be honest, Asho."

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Just became a college freshman; be on sparingly

Khusrau clicked his staff against the floor and waited, to see if he would be accorded attention.

Crukas turned his attention back to the meeting at hand and then he thought he heard something, but shook his head and tried to pay attention, but at the moment, was failing.

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Just became a college freshman; be on sparingly

Khusrau stiffened up and spoke with his full, strong voice, "It's very good that we've all assembled here, but don't you
think that we should hurry and begin to formulate some kind of general idea of what we're planning, or how we're
going to do it? The Sultan's men have their
way of crashing in on meetings that hold for too long." He took a quick look at the door after he had said this.

Asho turned to Crukas and was about ready to ask, "Do you..." Continuing, he cut himself off, "Ahh nevermind." Asho looked back up at the magi. Listening intently, Asho inwardly agreed. Having the soliders burst in would make this night even worse than it was going. "Agreed," he finally spoke outloud, "We must continue quickly here or plan something to continue somewhere else. Either way, we need to hurry this meeting up."

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<center>

Crukas nodded, looking upwards at the ceiling. "I vote for the second option." He said, still looking at the ceiling.

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Just became a college freshman; be on sparingly

<Yea>

Edit: Who edited my post? Ellie can't can he, so a mod? So, was the answer to my question yes, if so, and it wasn't Ellie, then how do you know what he thinks.
Either way, would you a) say who it was who is changing my posts, and b) leave my original post, because I said EITHER should I have been in the background, and enter the RP now, OR should I wait for a suitable point. Yea what?

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<center><b>Captain Althamus.</B>
<img src="http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/3985/peacecopyir7.jpg"></center>

Crukas cursed loudly and drew a sword that he just recently made almost only two hours ago in the smithy. He looked around, but the men were pouring in from everywhere. "Dang, where do they all come from!" He asked to no one in pacticular.

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Just became a college freshman; be on sparingly

"The doors," Asho told Crukas, "come on Cru, now is not the time to be asking ridiculous quesitons." He sighed and slowly lowered his legs from the table. Appearing more annoyed than afraid, he drew his sword and stood by Crukas, "I was personally hoping for something more dramatic and less predictable, but I guess this will do."

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<center>

Arash Janaveh

Arash Janaveh whistled to himself as he drove down the narrow street towards The Sultan's Robes. He had finally been found by his father, and made to deliver a new wheel to Mr Khalid (which he had done) and come straight back home for another job (which he was not planning on doing).

He was just pulling up outside, and had tied the horse up to the bar outside, when he saw Aleena step out of the front door of the pub. His face broke into a smile. Dear Aleena, a year younger than him, pretty and witty, with more sense than would be expected from an Innkeeper's daughter; he had quite a thing for her.
He saw her look both ways up the road, as if scared, before spot him, and start towards him. She had got two steps forward, before pause. Her mouth opened as if to say something, but her eyes rolled back in her head, and she fell forwards, revealing a hilt of a dagger protruding from her back.

Arash let out a cry, and ran towards her, picking up her unmoving form, roling her over. A droplet of blood rolled down one of her cheeks, and her eyes waivered about, before coming to an uneasy focus on his face. "Arash..." She said, smiling gently. "I told you you would never have my hand..."

Arash's eyes opened a little wider. "Shhh.... don't speak Aleena, you aren't that badly hurt, we can get you to a healer, there is one nearby, hold on Aleena, just for a few...."
But as he looked down again, he saw that life's bright flame had vanished from Aleena's eyes. His love was no more.

Anger took him, and he jumped up, back to the cart. There were two short knives there, each only 10" in length, but he was determined that whoever had killed his love would pay for it in blood. A life for a life. He ran back to the inn door, and kicked it open with a flourish, stepping inside.

<Let me get on with it, I'll come join up with you in a bit.>

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<center><b>Captain Althamus.</B>
<img src="http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/3985/peacecopyir7.jpg"></center>