In conclusion, the ride had been a success, Avia had most certainly brightened her spirits following the carriage ride. Once they returned home, Aranida gave Avia one of the rooms in her home to rest for the night. Aranida herself had intended to stay up for the rest of the night reviewing the various documents that seemed to always accumulate every second she was not in her office. However Greya found her asleep on her desk, which led to Aranida being scolded soundly and sent to bed.

The first rays of sunlight slipping through the crack of her curtain and onto her face caused her to wake up. The ordeal of last night almost seemed to have not happened until she remembered that they were in fact true. Immediately getting up from bed she began getting ready for the day, finishing by placing both her pistols in their holsters where they belonged.

She arranged for Avia to have her meal served to her in her room once she awoke, while Aranida would have her meal in her office while she once again read over the various reports relating to the city. She dreaded the piles and piles of reports she would probably have to read through once she had returned from her assigned mission, though it would be good not being held slave to the reports for a few weeks, or even months.

"Do you have an appointment with the Lady of the house?" asked the gatekeeper in a condescending manner.

"Morning." Lear yawned out as he passed by Tyr, his arms stretched out far in front of himself. "Where are the others?"

The wind swept by as he sat down on a stone inspecting Tyr, he saw nothing quite interesting about the fellow, he seemed to be in the exact same condition he was in last night.

The gatekeeper wasn't exactly welcoming, and Qalim made a note to never deliver to this Lady Aranida in person ever again.

"I have a delivery," he replied, "A book for a certain Lady Aranida."

He didn't even bother to check the contents for the book before he arrived, but he glanced at the title and remembered what it was about when he finally took it out from somewhere in his robe. "The Book of 20 Rings," was a military treatise hidden in the form of a swordsmanship manual. It was an exotic style involving 4 sabres but most of the style's philosophies and principles could be applied to strategic warfare. An interesting choice no doubt but he wasn't one to judge someone he had never met.

He would meet her soon enough. The book had to be personally delivered in to her hands, the delivery manifest signed and the payment received.

The gatekeeper looked at the man skeptically, peering down at him and eventually shrugged. He stepped aside from the gate and they both opened allowing the man to enter the premises. A young servant ran ahead to the main estate alerting the household of the visitor, though in the young servant had failed to acquire the name of the man before journeying ahead.

This minor mistake led to a quite unpleasant air around Aranida, as she was one who always, always, always knew about the person before they entered her household. She waited in her secondary offices, to which the guest would be led.This office was much larger than her regular one, allowing for her to accommodated guests in two grand armchairs that rested in front of her unnecessarily large desk and her high backed chair. She stood facing the window, looking out to her gardens below.

Qalim was led to an office where a woman was staring out the window. He presumed her to be Lady Aranida. It was a dreadful time in the morning to wake anyone up, especially one that seemed to be of a high standing with a multitude of servants. He lowered his hood as he entered, revealing his visage, as it was customary to conduct honest business without masks or obstructions. Today he was wearing white cloth garments covered by an open black robe which also had his hood. A large metal belt buckle with a crescent moon design and its heavy leather cord from where he hung a mostly empty wallet completed his attire. He was still armed but there was no need to make that apparent. From one of the sleeves, he produced a delivery manifest and approached the woman. He was in a hurry so he'd rather get this over quickly.

"Qalim ibn-Mahmoud al-Sahrani," he introduced himself as cordially as he could, "I am from the Al-Filisteeni book shop and have come to deliver the book which milady has ordered a few days prior and collect the remaining payment."

Turning to face the visitor she sat down in the highchair with her fingers laced in front of her face as she examined the man. Since her servant had failed to notify her of the man before his arrival, she had no intelligence about who he claimed to be. For all she knew he could have been an assassin. Fortunately, she was quite capable of whipping out her pistols quite quickly, and if that didn't work and he got to her, she'd go down fighting. If she didn't leave the room neither would he. However turning her mind from the potential threat the man posed she took him for his face value.

"Ah yes" she lied, for she could not recall this order, but she probably had made the order much earlier. All the various things occurring around her tend to lead to the forgetting of other more trivial things. "A pleasure to meet you. You may leave the book with me, and one of my servants will be more than obliged to give you the amount due." She signed her name on a paper and then sealed it with her family crest, giving the man the paper. "If that is all, you may go."

She seemed wary as she sat down. No doubt a lady of high status like herself had a fair amount of enemies. Qalim had no intention of crossing her as he simply handed over the book once she had signed the manifest. It was a red hard cover tome with golden threads forming the eponymous twenty rings and title. From the materials alone it was rather expensive to produce, let alone having it made as a hard cover. It came to rest rather inelegantly due to its weight but now it was no longer his concern.

"I am sorry that this had to be delivered so early," he said before faring her well, "May we enjoy your patronage in the future, sister Aranida."

With this, he exited the room and asked the nearest servant for the sum that was due.

OOC: Alright, so be glad Ichigo got me off my a** and there is less sand in my v***** than 2 months ago.

Tyr passed Lear back a casual glance and began stretching his arms around and above his head.

"Qalim is off somewhere, I have no clue where Sera is, most likely with him."
He kept his distance, not out of fear but awkwardness in this social situation.

A few minutes later, Sera materialized outside the high gates of the city, wearing a decorated white cloak and the same veil from the day before. It was most likely intended to hide the features, but her clothing betrayed that notion, instead painting her as a wealthy figure.

She entered the vicinity of the gnarled tree and rose the veil as to be polite in their direct company.

"Good morning, Tyr. Lear."
She paused after each name to turn and acknowledge them at that moment.

"I see Qalim is not back from his errand yet," she exclaimed, as if to create some sort of smalltalk.
________________

Aria, dressed for the day (though the cultural standard of "dressing" was different in her case), walked down the stairs from her room to witness Aranida finish her conversation with a strange man in a cloak, whose eyes were the same yellow color as hers. [assumed he has the hood off]

Taken aback by this surprise, she hurried down to her host.
"Why does that man have yellow eyes like mine?" She inquired, quite ferociously. "Where did he come from?"

She, like the other isolated clans, was surprised at the appearance of others with the same traits who were not familiar. Just like it others, it was a mind shattering thing to find out that after a millennium they were not alone.

Lear made for his pocket pulling on a long golden chain. "So, we can trust we'll begin soon."

Eventually as the the chain continued to raise a pocket watch emerged and gently fell into Lear's other hand. The watch itself was bronze with golden engravings, the engravings themselves were a bit odd; characters of some sort surrounded a winged figure on the lid of the watch and beneath one massive character stood alone. Flipping the top open he inspect the inside of the watch, the trees off far in the distance, and the sun.

"We're going to meet up with my companions shortly, they will act as protection for us as we head East, they'll have plenty of food and water for all of you to make the journey and have assured me that along the way we can make a few stops for a short while."

((Yeah his hood was down the whole time he was talking to Aranida.))

Another remnant, Qalim sighed. It was like they were all crawling out from beneath their rocks for some reason or another. God willing he'd find them all when it was required. From her dress, he surmised that she must have been from the north. The reason for that was that he could recall the manner of dress of all recorded clans. None that he remembered were from the north, ergo, this one was from the north. Of course it was just his assumption and he didn't need to tell her anything. Not with Lady Aranida within earshot.

Well he could be discreet about it. She was relatively close by as he was collecting the payment.

"Good morning sister," he said in response to her sudden arrival, "He has blessed me with our auspicious meeting and God willing, it will be a good day to travel."

With that he raised his hood and stepped out, muttering something about being late and having to head east. If she was curious, she would follow of her own accord.

His pace was brisk, weaving through the early morning crowd as fast as he could before he could see the figures waiting for him. He greeted them with a wave as he approached.

"It seems Sera is like a magnet for our kind. Just this morning I met another remnant, most likely from the north."

Aranida shrugged, she had never really taken into account the people within the city with yellow eyes. They had all begun migrating to the city in her grandfather's time when he ran the Dragon Guard. To her, it was just as if she had seen someone with brown eyes or green eyes, nothing all that special. Personally, she found the people with yellow eyes to be nearly invisible, if not shifty, so she didn't pay them any mind. As long as they obeyed the laws that is.

"Your people have migrated, far and wide from what I've heard. A few have even migrated to this city living relatively quiet lives, though the people who live here seem to be a much more diluted branch of your people. Most of them don't seem to carry the...the presence that you have. You know what I mean?" she left it at that.

"Now then, when shall we depart?" she looked at the book she had been handed earlier by the man, she would have to give it to Dhejuti to see what he had to say about the book.

Diverting her attention from the departing man, she checked for her fetish, the necklace from which the carving of God hung, and her bow.

"We can depart whenever you and your men are ready. Take as much time as you need. Even though we must be in a hurry, we also must be adequately prepared for any confrontation along the way. The northern ranges are not a place to embark for unwary."

Avia brushed by Aranida as she walked down the rest of the stairs and out towards the main hallway.
"I expect you all to be ready by tomorrow, so I will walk around the grounds and admire the beauty for the day," She concluded, exiting the room.

In actuality, she wanted to push back the date by one day so she could inquire about the city for the location of the local remnants. As far as she understood from overhearing the conversation earlier, the man delivered some sort of writing, which meant she should check out stores that carried them.
With the planning taken care of, she briskly exited the manor and set off for the city.

OOC: hey ichigo hi

I am waiting for you to bring your npcs into the game and take us eastward

don't log on msn and then log off (lol) and say its my fault you aren't progressing the story

Lear's emerald eyes stayed fixed on the watch for a few moments before standing and flipping the lid closed with a commanding 'CLACK'

"They're here" he moaned out as he brushed off the ends of his coat.

In the distance nine horses emerged, 4 horses were mounted by riders who wore similar garb to Lear. The four pulled behind them 3 unmounted horses and in the far back a carriage being pulled by two horses crept up, the carriage driver taking his sweet time.


After a few moments of riding across the open field the escorts gathered around Lear, upon closer inspection each of the escorts wore the same black tunic and wide trousers as Lear but their tunics bore long sleeves with mail just barely slipping out at their wrists, they also sported hoods which peaked down onto their foreheads. One of the escorts dismounted and removed his hood and the others quickly followed revealing their faces. The first to dismount was a man with short gray and black hair, he was in his mid forties and his face showed it, deep wrinkles ran though his visage and his pale blue eyes showed even more age.

"I am Nadev." He spoke as his voice billowed out, echoing in the near by hills.

"The others here with me are Eris," He paused as he pointed to a girl in her early twenties with short brunette hair and piercing yellow eyes
"Galaonis" like before he pointed to a man in thirties who bore a scar that rose from the side of his neck to just under his ear, his hair was a dirty blonde and his eyes a brown-blue mix.
"And finally, Lucien" Lucien was young, somewhere in his mid twenties, his hair was a deep black and short like the others but his eyes were white, just darker than the whites of his eyes,

As he finished the carriage pulled up, the rider smiled and waved as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. He was young with a shaven head, his eyes a dark brown.

"Oh, and the man on the carriage is Alhashir."

"Now, if you would introduce yourselves to us we can make way." He motioned his hand as the riders moved to bring forth the three horses from the rear.

Tyr was unsettled by the amount of people that arrived. It was overkill, with three people at the most they could easily defend against most, if not all, threats. He exhaled and turned to fully face the group.

"My name is Tyr. My friend and I here are the respective guardians of the messenger," He explained, directing attention to Sera.

She was about to also introduce herself, but Tyr shot back a sharp glance, and she reserved herself.
He wanted to divulge as little information as possible. To be open in a situation where he still held little trust in Lear and his people would only enable them in the future. The more they knew, the more they could use against them. They were on a first name basis, any other information was unnecessary.

"We shall speak for the messenger at all times, and she is never to leave our sight. Understood?"