New friends and old pets|Aegestrom, Maelstrom

[Northen Light36]

Flame held Secret tightly as she followed Luminious out of the palace. She knew the princess had been told to look after her, which was nice of Shadow but still made Flame feel awkward and uncomfortable. Particularly when she was playing tag along while Luminous visited her friends.

Pas was waiting by the gate of Melissan Manor with Bas and Aries, keeping an eye out for Luminous. He was glad Acqua had finally given them permission to play with the princess again. "Lumi!" he called, spotting her and running to greet her with a flower he'd picked from the garden. "Hi!" He glanced at Flame. "I didn't know you were bringing a friend."

[Kender Bard]

Luminous accepted the flower with a smile, giving him a brief hug in return. Aries had gotten a similar notion and had a flower in hand as well and was irritated that Pas had beaten him to the move.

His eyes flicked away from Luminous to Flame and he smiled suddenly, offering her the bloom. "You didn't tell us you had a pretty lady staying with you."

Luminous smirked at him. "This is Flame," she said. "Master Thelon's daughter. She's staying with my family while her brother secures his position in Sensatia. She doesn't talk, by the way."

[Northen Light36]

Flame smiled and accepted Aries' flower, sniffing it and admiring it's scent. Through her lashes she watched the two boys, trying to judge their reaction to her silence.

"That's okay," Bas remarked, walking over. She kept her arms crossed over her chest, hiding the growing breasts she was uncomfortable with. "The boys babble enough for an extra person each anyway. I'm Bas and the flower fools are my twin, Pas and our brother, Aries."

Smudge, trotting along at Bas' feet, glanced at Flame and froze, looking as surprised as a cat could manage. ~Aerith?!~

Secret purred loudly and jumped out of Flame's arms, rubbing her sister by way of greeting. ~Secret now. Hello Smudge.~

"Oh wow," Bas murmured and grinned at Flame.

[Kender Bard]

Luminous glanced down at the cats. "Huh," she said. "They're really everywhere aren't they?"

"Yeah," Aries chuckled. "Pretty soon mind cats are gonna outnumber the real ones, huh?"

"So what are we going to do today?" Luminous asked.

[Northen Light36]

"Muma gave us some copper," Bas remarked. "Why don't we go buy some cakes at the baker and then have a picnic somewhere? Maybe by that little river just outside the city? Or are you and Flame not allowed to leave the city, Lumi?"

Sometimes she forgot that Luminous was a good deal more restricted in where she could go then Bas and her brothers.

[Kender Bard]

"I don't remember if my parents said no or not," she said. "But they probably wouldn't like it. And I don't have my guard."

She didn't talk to her new guard all that much. He was Vortai's replacement and that rankled at her.

[Northen Light36]

Bas pulled a face at that. "Well, we don't want to get you in trouble," she murmured. "Well, what would you like to do? We've got to be home by dinnertime, but other then that we're free all day, so we can do anything you want." She looked at Flame and added, "Is there anything you want to do?" It was good manners to ask the guest what they wanted after all.

Flame shrugged. She didn't know Maelstrom well enough to have a preference.

"We could go browse the market until we decide what else to do," Pas suggested.

[Kender Bard]

"I still want something from the bakery," Luminous giggled. "Maybe we could have a picnic in the park."

"That sounds good!" Aries enthused.

"Do you like cake?" Luminous asked Flame. She assumed she did--who DIDN'T?--but she also wasn't sure if people in the desert ate cake much. Then she recalled that Flame probably had spent a lot of time in Sensatia too. She doesn't look it, Luminous thought. Desert-dark. It was easy to forget she was part Sensatian.

[Northen Light36]

Flame grinned and nodded, then nudged Secret and silently asked her companion to speak for her.

~Cake's a rare treat in Narurorod, but Flame loves it. She says you're lucky to have things like cake and fresh fruit whenever you want.~

"You can't?" Bas asked and gave Flame a look of shocked sympathy.

[Kender Bard]

"Ann loves certain fruits that my father sends her," Luminous recalled. Perhaps she didn't spend so much time in Sensatia after all... "Well, we'll have cake and some fruit from the stands as well. Then we'll picnic in the park."

After they'd acquired their goods and found a peaceful spot in the park to settle down with their treats, Aries moved away from the group and began to run around, his wings stretched out, luxuriating in the space and opportunity. But he didn't fly.

Luminous watched him as she popped a grape into her mouth. "How's your training?" she asked Bas and Pas.

[Northen Light36]

The twins grinned and Bas unsheathed the dagger at her hip, revealing a real dagger had taken the place of her blunt training dagger. "Pas and I got these for our birthday," she told Luminous proudly, showing off the ruby set in the pommel of the otherwise plain dagger.

"Mine has an emerald," Pas added. "Muma's starting to think about letting us come on easier jobs with her soon, but she wants us to have some lessons with uncle Amaro first." To Flame he explained, "Our mother and uncle are mercenaries."

[Kender Bard]

"That's marvelous news," Luminous told them, but not with a great deal of feeling behind it. "I'll miss you terribly though." THAT was sincere. "I wish my parents would entrust me more... Not that I can fault them for not letting me do more than sit in audience and study. But I would love to travel to other lands on their behalf."

[Northen Light36]

"We'll miss you too," Pas told Luminous honestly.

"Maybe your parents will let you do that sort of thing when you're a bit older," Bas suggested. "I mean, you're only thirteen and you're the crown princess. Muma's only letting Pas and me go on jobs with her. She would never let us travel alone."

Secret spoke for Flame again. ~Flame says that she understands how you feel. She was only recently allowed to take messages to the other half of Fira and the other clans.~

[Kender Bard]

Luminous was a little surprised at that but she offered Flame a small smile. Perhaps they had more in common than she realized.

Aries returned to them, huffing and red-faced but glad for the exertion. He grabbed at some food and ate hungrilly. "What are we talking about?" he asked, mouth muffled by the food.

"Aries," Luminous scolded. "Don't talk with your mouth full." Aries shrugged. "About responsibilities and what our parents do and do not let us do. Although I think we've exhausted the topic... How about some gossip instead?"

Aries nodded.

"Well... I overheard my mother and I think she's planning on patroning a school for learning weapons," Luminous confided.

[Northen Light36]

Bas, Pas and even Flame looked a little interrested at that gossip. "What sort of lessons?" Bas asked eagerly, then blushed slightly as she realised that sounded a little disloyal to her mother. "I mean, no one's better with daggers then Muma - except maybe uncle Talon, but Muma doesn't use much else. She said we'd probably have to get lessons with uncle Amaro if we wanted to learn swordwork or something." She grimaced in disgust and added, "Cause almost no one 'round here's willing to teach 'ladies' to fight. As though I'm a lady."

She scowled. Things that were 'lady-like' were a sore spot for her, particularly since the Efilian priestess who taught most of the noble Maelstrom girls lady-like manners and behaviours had actually expelled Bas for what the priestess had referred to as Bas' 'wild ways and foolish behaviour'. Bas didn't care about the loss of the lessons - since she'd only attended to keep Lumi company and the story had made her mother laugh - but the humiliation of being scolded and sent home still stung.

Flame raised an eyebrow at Bas' complaint and nudged Secret.

~Flame says that's stupid and she could probably teach you the basics of using a bow if you wanted. But you'd probably need a real teacher to be very good at it,~ Secret told the group.