[h1]Sikarthis and Tári Númenessë[/h1]


Tári Númenessë was warm and cozy when she awoke in her private bedchambers in the keep of Juvegol, the heavy furs and thick woolen sheets cradling her tiny body as she lay atop the overly large bed that took up close to an entire wall by itself. Yawning long and quietly she remained in the depths of her sheets as she wiggled around on the bed, trying to locate a bottle of wine or whoever it was that she had spent the night tearing down social boundaries with, whichever came first really. At the moment she was partial towards the wine so that she could suppress the first echoing pains of the hangover that was making itself known the more she woke up. Halfway through her strange squirming turn Tári spied the culprit behind her growing head pain, an empty bottle of vintage wine sitting atop a dresser alongside a solitary glass. Both were devoid of even a single drop of fermented headache remedy and Tári let out a tired, anguished mewl at this realization.

"I do believe that we are now under siege." Sikarthis casually remarked from his position at the narrow window set into the southern wall of the room. Still half asleep and with a hangover ready to start kicking at the back of her eyes Tári awkwardly performed a series of rolls and inchworm-esque maneuvers until she could spear him with a look that demanded attention and assistance, preferably in the form of a temple massage and some godsdamned liquor. He was seated at the foot of the windowsill on a cushion and reading what appeared to be one of the books from her own private collection. He was also entirely naked but that was irrelevant considering she was too under all those sheets. Some mornings, after the Glacial Knight had left her bed and was dressing for the day, Tári would catch herself marveling at the way the light played off his frosty skin. Today, with the hangover and his apparent disregard for what the words 'private collection' meant, was not one of those morning.

"Mh bhk" she half mumbled half moaned from within her textile cocoon. Sikarthis stopped turning the page he was reading and turned his head slightly to regard her with a mildly confused look.

"Come again?" his voice was deep and carried with it the chill of Glaces itself. 

"'s mh dmd bhk sd" Tári's second try was about as effective as the first. With a sigh laden with irritation Sikarthis set his book aside and extracted himself from his cushion, his head nearly brushing a hanging candelabra as he rose to his full height. In six steps he was at the bedside and after a few moments of struggling the Glacial Knight managed to pull Tári out from the prison of sheets and furs that she had built around herself. She was wide awake by the time he slid two chilly hands under her and lifted her into the air, suspending her there several feet from the ground.

"Honestly," Sikarthis grunted as he avoided her flailing limbs, "if you're going to make me get up just to hear what you have to say the least you can do is cease this inexplicable wriggling of yours." 

"I said its my [i]fucking[/i] book you glorified [i][b]popsicle[/b][/i]! Now put me down you know full well how cold you aaAARRRRRG QUIT THAT!" He had apparently taken offense to being compared to a frozen treat and had opted to relocating her to his shoulders, her thighs on either side of his neck as she was perched up there  She hated being manhandled this way and he knew it. Unfortunately with her current hangover and disadvantageous position she was in no position to struggle as Sikarthis went about collecting his clothes that were strewn about the floor of the room. She was about to berate him for taking his sweet time of it when his first words to her from earlier finally got through. "[i]Did you say we're under siege?[/i]"

"Seems to be the case." He responded, swatting a hand in the direction of the window before he returned to pulling on a pair of trousers. The fact that he could do so with her on his shoulders was a testament to his balance. "I borrowed your spyglass for a bit and I can't say I recognize the uniforms nor their arms. From what I can gather they want the bridge up and your man Blout down there is refusing them, a wise move but likely to cause some trouble. Ah, one moment." In a single fluid motion he reached up and removed Tári from his shoulders, tossing her onto the bed and back to her warm sheets where she quickly sought shelter once again. She glared at him much like a hissing cat before turning her attention to finding her own clothes.

"Don't expect me to warm your bed anytime soon after that. My thighs feel like I've been sliding down a pole made of ice." She half expected him to take the bait there and make some witty comment about their activities during the night so she could brain him with something but as per usual Sikarthis failed to deliver on that account. Disappointed but warming up once more, Tári shuffled over to one of her wardrobes and began the process of dressing, furs and blankets still draped over her small shoulders. Sikarthis failed to try and steal a glance at her backside even once she noticed and only assisted her in tying up the back of the dress she slipped on after she asked him to. [i]A true gentlemen[/i], she thought to herself sarcastically.

Their relationship was a strange one to be sure, equal parts dislike and respect making up the foundation while manipulation, one-upping, and off-and-on sexual tension were the seasoning. She had been Ambassador to Glaces for only a few months in truth and the two knew little about one another outside of what they had shared in idle conversation or the rare moments of honesty that occurred some nights when Tári lay flush with a burning inner heat alongside his cold, frosty body. He was condescending, blunt and difficult to gauge at the best of times and an absolute headache to deal with at the worst, yet the moment they had to discuss political relations between their two respective nations he was all business, switching off the parts of him that would make negotiating a pointless endeavor. Something about that irritated Tári who had never managed to totally remove certain biases or her emotions from the political games she played. She often wondered if she might one day fully break down the icy shell that Sikarthis presented to others but in the end she knew that was little more than a childish fantasy. 

Once the two of them were dressed they made their way down to the kitchens to steal a basket full of food (and in Tári's case a bottle of wine) and began the long walk that would take them to Blount and this strange army sitting on the opposite side of the river.

The majority of the city was constructed of timber and thatch, both easily acquired or purchased in Haderlock and both well suited to keeping the cold out. Sikarthis had remarked that the city structures looked like muddy huts upon first visiting but Tári had marked that down to his need to point out that everything in Glaces was 'better'. To Tári who had grown up when the city was being erected though, the simple constructions were warm and welcoming. Certainly more so than the stone and timber embassy in Glaces where Tári spent much of her time these days. Even with all the seams tightly packed and walls six feet thick lined with furs there were days where the chill would find the smallest crack and ruin a perfectly good nap.

Most of the people Sikarthis and Tári passed on their way towards the drawbridge were heading in the same direction so by the time the two diplomats arrived they were not surprised to find a growing crowd of bodies pressing against a line of soldiers and guardsmen, all trying to keep as many citizens away from the bridge and the action that was going on there. Tári had no trouble navigating through the crowd on her own, weaving past legs and through bodies with catlike grace until she had slipped past even the soldiers themselves. Sikarthis had slightly more trouble but even here in the capital of Haderlock the sight of a Glacial Knight was enough to make most people move out of the way, if not out of respect then out of healthy caution. He was however stopped by the soldiers until Tári brought to their attention who he was and his diplomatic status inside of the city. Guardsmen aren't paid to think so they didn't bother to argue, moving just enough to allow the frosty warrior to pass. 

When they found Blount they were also greeted with the sight of a rather large Minotaur sitting down before the foot of the bridge doing gods knew what.They paid it little attention.

"Blout," Tári addressed the significantly taller human once she was close enough, her voice laced with enough honey to attract a den of bears, "would you be so kind as to fill me in on why there is an army sitting opposite of us? Or better yet, why I had to find out about their arrival by looking out my own window instead of receiving a report from our watch posts?" In truth Tári was not the Head diplomat for the capital nor was she necessarily in charge of handling any diplomacy with military forces outside of Glaces. She was however one of the few experienced diplomats currently in the city and apparently the first on the scene so in her mind that put her somewhere above the king and right below the gods in terms of the 'need to know' ladder.