The Darkest Price (OT/Open/Accepting)

((PAGECLAIM FTW!))

Liona smirked slightly to herself for a second, as he made his comment. She shook his hand, observing the way he observed her. Hm. He was trying to cover up the way he did so, though she wondered what exactly he was thinking. His face seemed somewhat familiar, for some reason; not as though she'd seen him, but as though she'd heard him described, heard about him, in the very least.

"I am Lieutenant Albus Aleron, son of General Ignatius Aleron."

Ignatius Aleron, Lieutenant Albus Aleron... both legends, even in the Ty'Scian kingdom. The first was sometime portrayed as negative, yet there was an obvious bias in doing so. The few good people of the Kingdom admired this son, the one she spoke to now, as he was "The White Knight of the Lower Quarter". His efforts in the poorer communties of the Terran Royal City were quite well-spread and spoken.

"Well, it is quite the pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant Aleron," she replied, smiling a slight bit back to him.

Now she wondered why he was sent off to Ty'Scia now, far away, with the young Terran royals. Yet that did not matter. It wasn't everyday that one got to meet a person like this.

Bazith appeared as the last royal came out. She looked for Liona and saw she was talking to the Terra knights. She walked over. "Greetings, I'm Bazith another of the children's guards." She had slightly picked up on what Liona had said.

Maija let go of Toan's hand and smiled slightly. He seemed okay, just a little rough around the edges.

Hoshi showed no sign of the insult. "Princess, I have uncharted senses. Nothing's going to be a problem." Albus had been wrong. They had already deemed him weak. There was no hope now, but the other royals hadn't noticed it yet, so maybe he had a chance.

Angelique reached to shake the knight's hand after Albus, a stern look on her face to show this other knight she was not weak. However, she did show hints of jealousy in her expression. With her personality, she did not accept anyone being prettier than she, but she must respect to be respected, and she gave the woman a smile as she also introduced herself. "I am Lieutenant Angelique Remere, daugheter of Lieutenant Herick Remere of the Terran knights. It is also my pleasure to meet you."

Liona nodded and shook the hand of the female knight as well. She was an elf, small, with delicate feminine features, but it was very easy to tell that she was most definitely not weak. The sternness of her expression easily portrayed this. There was a way she presented herself, even for a second, showed a slight twinge of jealousy. But she made no comment.

"It is very good to meet you, Lieutenant Remere," she replied. This day continued getting interesting.

((Could you slow down a bit? my last post was on page 2.))

Rhian followed her brother and sisters to meet the Ty'scian children. She kept quiet most of the time. She didn't like the feel of the dark aura around the children. Kirei felt like she was in an unhappy mood,as felt from Rhian's power of empathy. She let her siblings greet themselves first. Rhian smiled a bit as she watched Enma hug her fiance. She felt they were alright together, and didn't feel like Zane had much darkness in him. She thought he seemed nice.

After everybody introduced themselves, she stepped out from behind and greeted herself. "Greetings, I'm Princess Rhian of Terra."

Rhian looked at Koori, and supposed that he was her fiance, judging by his age. He looked about the same age as her. Rhian gave a timid smile to Koori and looked to the floor a bit.

Zane acknowledged the newer princess as she introduced herself, giving a polite smile, then turned back to Enma. He felt that odd sense that something bad would happen to them, perhaps to all of them. But he shook it off, reassuring himself. If there was anyone he would protect from it, it would be Enma. He ignored the fact that everyone saw him as a non-threat. He liked it that way. But now he knew, now he had a reason to fight, if it ever became a necessity. He wouldn't like it, the same way he didn't now. But this gave him a better perspective: there was someone out there, just the way she looked at him, so happily, joyfully, made him want to do the same, and make sure the smile never left her face. To make sure that nothing ever hurt her.

Rayd smiled at her, and took note of her blush. He had a feeling she wasn't used to being charmed like this, that was a bit of a surprise for him. He debated voicing that. No that was a little too much, too fast... of course too fast shouldn't be a problem, because they were to elope soon. He turned his head and nodded at the recently arrived princess, who was to marry that son of a whore. (I feel like a terrible person for bringing that up so often. XP) "Good to meet you." he said, and then returned his attention to Elisa. "I think we've concluded our introductions, so would you kindly accompany me on a tour of the castle?" he asked his bride to be with a smile, and a wink. He offered his arm to her. He obviously was not expecting no as an answer. He was a little cocky that way, but he had laughed off being turned down before.
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(Will edit to add Albus)

((He's in character, as questionable of a character he is. ^^' I feel bad for the royals, though, with all their stories... D')

Elisia smiled at him, and nodded. "It would be my pleasure," she replied, her voice still a little shy and surprised at his elaborate greeting of her. She smiled a little bit more at him, and accepted his arm, wrapping hers around his as they began to walk toward the entrance of the castle (if that's alright).
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Liona awaited Albus's reply. (will edit)

"I am Hanyer White," Hanyer said. "I may be young, but I am still a good knight. And it is my duty to protect the Terrans." Hanyer looked back at Maija and Toan. "No matter what."
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"Hey Zane, I'm bored. Could you show me around?" Enma was too young to understand most things that her siblings discussed. And it seemed that everyone was paying attention to their respected partner. Besides Enma thought she should know her new home. "Oh and this is Bunne," she said, holding up her sutffed animal bunny.
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"Well that's good. Of course if you were incapable, I'm sure your parents wouldn't have named you heir. Even if you may be the only male in your family." Kirei liked Hoshi. He wasn't going to be easy to mess with and Kirei was looking forward to the challenge. She took quick note of the knights and then turned back to Hoshi.

"I guess since we are to be wed it would be best to get to know one another. Would you like to join me in the Library." Kirei was taught how to act like a lady. How to appease to others. But it was all an act. And she had a feeling that Hoshi would know that.
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Toan sighed, but felt a little better that he didn't have to study right now.

"Princess since you have just arrived and are our guest, what is it that you would like to do now," he asked in a bored tone.

(Oh I have an idea in mind. It deals with Toan and his wish not to be King, some of the Knights and other things I shall not reveal until later.)

Rayd was taken by her smile. She was truly beautiful when she was happy, her nervousness had stolen that from her. He blushed a little when she smiled at him. You don't blush! He screamed in his head. He shook his head and simply smiled back at her. "Shall we go to the gardens first, or would you like to save the best for last?" he asked her, giving a tone that suggested that most of the rest of the castle was samey, and castlelike, nothing beautiful, or extravagant. He continued to smile. "It's really not that bad though." he added, as they walked through the small courtyard that came after the gates. While one would think this was a nice place, and give a nice look before entering the castle you would be sorely wrong. It was bare, simply for the purpose that once the enemy enters they can easily be picked off by the archers positioned around the square. Rayd didn't bring that up, that was a conversation for another day. And then another day would be when he had used this tactic on a bandit.
___

Albus put a hand up to Hayner, he was being a little too outspoken. "Ty'scia wishes best for our Prince and Princesses." he said. It was disrespectful to add a no matter what on the end. And the way he looked back at Maija might reveal his feelings, that information was too precious for use among the knights. The king could have him executed in a day if word reached him. He decided to grab the attention of the knights. "Liona, I would like to see the training rooms if I may. I need to keep in shape while I'm here. And perhaps you could show me some Ty'scian techniques as well?" he asked. He admitted that the last part was a weak excuse to spend more time with Liona, but he tried to excuse himself for that.

[[ ^You stole the gardens from me! I was like, 'Yay! I'm the only one that thought of the gardens!' and then you had to post before me. x3 Also, I just noticed that Toan and Maija always act bored. lol. They're gonna look like a happy couple on wedding day. xD ]]

Maija shrugged. "I suppose I'd like to see what's inside the castle, if you don't mind." She glanced over at the other's quickly. They seemed to be alright, but for some reason she didn't really care for Hoshi's fiance. She'd learn soon enough. The princess started to play with Kirei's mind, making her hear whispers of random gibberish.

[[ I have made the first move. > ]]

Koori stepped forward. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Princess Rhian. May I ask if you'd like a tour of the castle? Or would you rather visit the gardens?"

"As you wish." Hoshi said. Kirei's mood wasn't strong enough for him to pick up, so he was rather cautious and curious, though this did not show on his features. He did feel strong happiness on the end. He safely guessed it was Zane and Enma.

At Albus' request to see the training rooms, Angelique put on a smile, stepping up next to her fellow knight.
"Yes, please do show us. I, too, am curious of your battling style."
She wasn't going to leave her friend alone with a knight from this desolate place. She did not trust this place and did not trust the people in it. "I would also like to meet any other knights that you may work with."

"Hello Prince Koori." Rhian did a shy bow to greeting her fiance. "I would like to have a tour of the castle,well, if you don't mind." Rhian replied.

Zane smiled at Enma's introduction of her stuffed animal. He patted its head kindly, and smiled. "Alright, to the castle, then," he said, taking the hand that was not holding Bunne and headed for the entrance.
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Elisia was surprised she could make her fiance blush like he did, even if he desperately tried to hide it for the second that he did; he didn't seem like the type to do that. He smiled back at her, but it was a tad bit forced, to hide what he'd done earlier. She leaned a little closer to him, smiling back again. "Hmm... The gardens sound nice. But I'd rather save the best for last," she replied. It might not have been that bad. And it seemed like he was hiding something... but that, she assumed, was information she would only learn with time.
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Liona observed the knight Hanyer, taking note of the way he looked at Toan and the Terran's eldest Princess. She would have mentioned something to the Knight about the Prince, but that would have surely been inappropriate. The Terrans, she had to admit, had much more respect in that area.

"I would be honored to show you our techniques. The training room is this way," she said, after Lieutenant Aleron had spoke. There was some other motive to being in that place with her, yet it was quickly dashed as the female knight added her interest.

"Yes, please do show us. I, too, am curious of your battling style. I would also like to meet any other knights that you may work with."

She assumed it was so. The distrust this Knight held for the Ty'Scians had little or no concealing. Regardless, she nodded.

"Alright then."

Liona first led them to Bazith, for she had remained at the entrance while the other knights and the royals interacted.

"This would be Bazith Moor, my fellow knight," she introduced.

((Sorry if I screwed up on this. v.v' I don't know if/what Bazith's title is... v.v'))

Kirei began to heard whispers, but she couldn't understand what they were saying. She had a feeling that someone was performing magic on her and was outraged. She wanted to find the person incase it was someone from town who was trying to gain control of the castle (which had happen some times over the years), but Kirei decided not to worry about it.

"Let us go then." And with a smirk, Kirei proceeded to walk through the closed door.

Enma went eyed wide at that, and let Zane lead her into the castle. Although it appeared kind of dark and dull, the place was interesting too. It reeked of mystery.

Toan wasn't impressed with his sister's display of her power and turned to Maija, nodding.

"Let's go then." He began to walk towards the first floor of the castle. There were some interesting rooms there, or so Toan was told. He didn't find that all that exciting.

Rayd attempted to make his smile a little more genuine, and it sort of helped when she moved a little closer to him. He decided that their best course of action would be to walk aimlessly around the castle, avoiding the knights training area, and the knights in general. He would attempt to keep the tour as romantic as possible, but he also needed to avoid the gardens, and the area around the gardens was obviously the most beautiful place in the Ty'scian castle, let alone capitol... well... maybe. He continued to smile at her. "Well then how about instead of a tour we go get lost in the castle, and see where we end up." he suggested, voicing his plan in a much more casual way.
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(We already met Bazith, so I'll leave this blank for now.)

((Did they? Oops... should I go edit?))

Zane continued leading his young fiance through the castle. It was a little dull, but he could tell she was still mezmerized by it. She seemed easily fascinated and curious about things. He found this slightly refreshing, when his siblings would bore easily or just pay attention to one thing. He was somewhat like her; new things took his interest, stuff like that.
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Elisia continued following him, though his leading didn't seem to have much sense in it. They turned down random halls and other places, seeming to avoid a couple of areas very deliberately. Regardless, she didn't mind. For some reason, she enjoyed his company. And it seemed she would, no matter what was going on, or what they were doing.

"Well then how about instead of a tour we go get lost in the castle, and see where we end up."

Elisia shrugged, and didn't question his intentions, though some part inside of her knew it would have been wiser. She'd like to get lost in the castle with him. She didn't really care where she ended up at, as long as it was with him.

"Sounds like a good plan," she said, smiling up at him again.

(^^' Maybe.)

Rayd smiled nervously back. He liked it when she smiled, but she was smiling so much it made him a little more cautious. It made him think of all of the things that could make this go wrong. "Calm down, calm down." he reassured himself. "She likes you, she's smiling, she's happy. You'll be fine" he continued. He regained his composure and smiled genuinely back. he had to remember, he was Prince Rayd, a legendary heart breaker. Any girl that wouldn't fall for him must be crazy. He looked into her eyes, stared into them. He seemed to forget he was walking at all, or that anything else was going on, there was just him and her, getting lost in the castle. He had a weird feeling about her though. Unlike other girls she didn't seem to want anything from him, other than his company, and her smile was so sincere. It was a little off putting. It was so alien, this feeling. It was so different, but he liked it. "She has really nice eyes." he thought. still unaware of his surroundings. All he knew was that she was close to him, and that he really liked it. Suddenly reality caught up with him. Rayd slammed into a column, and fell backwards into a mop and bucket of water. The bucket sprayed his clothes, and then landed on his head, covering his entire face. He was glad of this, because he was hot with embarrassment, and refused to remove the bucket. This slip up would cost him, he thought. She would begin laughing and leave him calling him a fool, and knave. The mop landed across his stomach, and he pulled himself up to a sitting stance, using his hands for support, and his legs as well, spread apart but firmly planted on the ground. He waited for the laughing to begin.

[[ Ya I should've pointed it out before. She came over and introduced herself, but kind of got ignored. ^^" ]]

Hoshi walked forward unaware of the closed door. He did become cautious though when he heard her footsteps get quieter all of a sudden. He reached his hand out for a wall and cracked his fingers off the door. He silently bit his lip as his fingers throbbed. He then felt for the door handle and opened it.

Maija grimaced as Hoshi ran into the door. She abruptly stopped whispering in Kirei's mind and followed Toan.

"I don't mind at all. It would be my pleasure." He opened the door and waited. "This way."

Kirei was already in the library. She waited for Hoshi wondering if he knew that she had walked through the wall. He would know if he asked how she managed to get here so quickly.
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Toan decided to show Maija his favorite place. It was kind of a chemistry lab.

"I have always loved making potions," he stated, his voice still monotone. "You can see scratch marks and burn places all over the room. Some are from experiments, other are from fights with Kirei. She was going through a serious prankster phrase as a child."
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Hanyer wanted to follow Toan and Maija, but he remained with the other knights. He sighed, bored and uninterested in the conversation.

((Oh, okay. ^^' I'm really sorry...))

Elisia was surprised as the way he stared at her, with such a look in his eyes... so fascinated by her. She'd never been looked at that way before. She'd never felt this way before, never been with a boy this way before. In fact, the only boy she had ever been with frequently had been her twin brother. She didn't go out of the palace much, and the stares of boys in the kingdom often fell onto her eldest sister, not her.

Then all of a sudden, the prince ran into a column, and into a bucket of water. The bucket landed on his head and then the mop into his lap.

"Oh my goodness, are you alright?"

She rushed toward him too fast, slipping on the water and landing awkwardly upon him. Her cheeks reddened profusely.
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Liona led the group of knights inside, heading very directly toward the training rooms. She watched, in the corner of her eye, as the Ty'Scian royals took their respective Terrans through the halls, on their own specfic paths. She made sure that there wasn't anything questionable going on. And that they were getting along, with the ones that they saw on their way.

The training room was not near the paths that any of the Ty'Scian royals had chosen. Within it, there was an exit into a clearing next to the gardens, in which the royals practiced out doors.

"Well, here we are," Liona said, when they arrived at their destination.

((page claim of win.))

Rayd lifted the bucket lightly from his head, only to his eyes. He was surprised to hear Elisia reaction, and not something of scorn, so he wanted to make sure she wasn't being sarcastic. He was greeted instead by her running towards him. He smiled a little at her kindness, even though he should dismiss her, because one such as himself needs no help, but she seemed so genuinely kind. He was too focused on this to notice the water on the floor. She slipped and fell onto him, and the bucket fell off of his head. She was on top of him her cheeks red. Her face was not far from his, but their lips hadn't touched. Rayd leaned in a little closer so they did. He hoped she wouldn't notice and think it was an accident. As he kissed her, his first thought before thoughts of Elisia was that he would in fact not fire the maid who had left her cleaning equipment there.
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Albus followed Liona through the halls close behind her. He watched her from behind, and looked over at the Royals leading their fiances through the halls only when she did, because that's when he noticed that he should be doing do so as well. Albus noted that the royals were avoiding the training area. He had a feeling it wasn't the first thing that the Ty'scian children wanted to show off about the palace. He followed her into the training area, which seemed pretty simple, an open area in the middle, various practice and real weapons lined the walls, and there were some contraptions made for testing strength and stretching as well. What was less basic was an outdoor training area. Albus could see that outside there were also large rocks, which he assumed were to help with real terrain battle training. It was ingenious really. Albus turned to Liona after looking around. "Would you mind training with me outside?" he asked her. "Maybe spar or something?" he continued. Sparring would be a good way to get some one on one time with Liona. He wanted to figure out what Ty'scian knights were like, and that demanded he be alone with one. That way he wouldn't have to act like the team leader. It was also but another weak excuse to be alone with her.

Hanyer looked at the training room and frowned. He wonder what kind of powers and weapons the Ty'Scians were trained in. They all seemed different from eachother, except for the mysterious air that they gave off. So Hanyer doubted that the knights were teaching the same thing over and over to all of them.
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Enma tugged on Zane's shirt and looked at her feet.

"Um...Zane. I have a question. What exactly is a marriage?"

Elisia blushed even harder as her lips and Rayd's touched. It had to have been an accident, but she didn't really mind it... and she'd never been kissed before, even on accident. She didn't know how it felt, but being here with him, even the awkwardness of the entire situation, felt good. She didn't know how to describe it. Though they weren't in the most ideal of circumstances, she still felt this way.

"S-Sorry," she mumbled, after pulling away reluctantly, her voice merely a whisper.
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Liona watched as Albus and the other knights looked around the training area. It seemed like a simple place to her, nothing atypical about it. The training areas she'd used as a child had been just like it. But perhaps it was different than the ones in Terra.

"Would you mind training with me outside? Maybe spar or something?"

She looked at him, trying to see his motives in his questions. Perhaps she should question them; he was merely a curious fellow knight, who wanted to learn of the Ty'Scian knights ways.

"No, I certainly would not mind. Sure," she replied. "The others," Liona said, gesturing the other knights, "could stay here and train amongst each other if they'd like."

The female knight clutched the handle of her sword as she exited to the outdoor training area.
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"What exactly is a marriage?"

Zane stared down at his little fiance. He had pondered this question himself quite a bit. "Well... I guess it's when two people like you and me get together and have a ceremony that says... we'll always be together. And then trying to keep the promise," he replied, still thinking about the answer as he spoke the words. Maybe it wasn't the right definition, especially with his father's past, which he still didn't understand entirely.

(Oh guys I am looking for a Ty'Scia knight to be corrupt. Pm me if you want details. XD)

"Well... I guess it's when two people like you and me get together and have a ceremony that says... we'll always be together. And then trying to keep the promise."

Enma thought about what Zane said. If she was older, she might have been able to reflect upon her own parent's marriage, but she didn't know her mother and so couldn't. But thinking about the way her father talked about her mother helped.

"That sounds hard. Sometimes it's hard to keep a promise. What if we can't keep it?"