[h1]Shadar[/h1]

Shadar couldn't help but chuckle at the queen's surprise, glad to see she wasn't completely unshakeable. It helped him feel more at ease with her presence though the lack of shock and/or disgust was definitely something new. The mandible thing tended to unnerve most people, but the queen seemed to get over the whole thing easily enough. [i]Hmm, Barcea has a very interesting woman leading them. . . maybe this entire country won't get torn apart from the hell that's coming if they have someone like her at the helm.[/i] He was silent as the Queen led her to the garden, and as they took a seat, he listened to what she had to say. At the comment that it wasn't known if the Masked could even have children, Shadar's eyes started to widen as the implications of his existence started to way on him a bit. All his life, he remembered that he never heard of Divineborn of the masked, but he always figured there had to be others, once he found out his birthright. But hearing this from the Queen made him realize that he and Drosil might be a bigger deal than he had initially given them credit for.

[i]No wonder Valeria and Damian kept telling us to never reveal our parentage to anyone. Know how those vultures in Jasi operate, we'd be on a dissection table in no time.[/i] The glowing white of his eyes faded slightly as his thoughts turned to his caretakers, the sorrow he felt after having to leave them having never really abated through his life. [i]I wonder how they're doing. . .[/i] He tuned in and out of the rest of the queen's speech, getting the general gist of her thoughts, but her final question left him stunned for a bit. He looked at the queen with an incredulous look on his face (not that she ould tell), before breaking out in an all-out, gut-busting laugh. He had to hold onto his knees to keep himself from falling over and didn't stop for another 10 seconds. Once he had finally calmed down, Shadar turned to the queen, a slight chuckle still in his voice as he did so.

"Me and Drosil, Heroes? Tyrants? Neither of us have any desire or want to rule over any group of people, me because I find humanity, in general, to be not worth my time and Drosil because he's so enthralled with knowledge that he can sometimes hardly be bothered to eat when he's in the middle of the intense study. Dear Queen, while Drosil may be foolhardy enough to become a hero and dive into any and all danger in defense of another, I simply wish to live out my days in peace. I neither require nor want recognition, there shall be no songs about these Divineborn if I have anything to say about it. No popular or well-known ones at least. You have nothing to fear, and little to hope for, from the two of us." Shadar gave a yawn, starting to feel a little tired from the long trek here on foot. [i]Man I could use a cat-nap, but I'd rather not deprive the queen of further conversation . . .Drosil's going to hate me for this.[/i] Shadar was once again grinning under his mandibles, feeling not a tinge of remorse for what he was about to do.

"Well, Dear Queen, I thank you for promising to keep our secret, and must bid you a fond farewell for a short while. In the meantime, why not speak with my brother for a bit. I'm sure it'll be . . . interesting." And with a slight nod, Shadar suddenly began to glow with a blinding inner brilliance, the outer vestiges of his armor fading away in swirls of dark mist that lasted but milliseconds in the wake of such illumination. Once the light died down, Queen would find herself face to face with a thin man in robes with black and white hair and dazzling eyes that shone with a strange mix of green and golden hazel.

"Huh?"

Drosil blinked, looking around with staff in hand, slightly confused at what was going on and where he was, until the memories from Shadar poured into his mind, filling him in on the situation. [i]~Oh, so I'm just having a friendly chat. . . with the Queen of Bar . .cea . . [/i] For a few minutes, Drosil appeared to be trying to hide behind his staff, looking everywhere but in the general direction of Kori. [i]Come on Drosil, she's a person, just like you and me. Just talk to her, say high, how ya do- nonnonnonono, that's stupid. How about you're very pre-shit, that's stupid too. Fuck, I'm terrible at talking to pretty women with no time to prepare, and she's gorgeous . . and could kill me for that thought. Crap, I'm going to be executed. Wait, no, she can't read minds . . . or can she?[/i] Drosil would continue this inner dialogue with himself for a little while longer, his face turning a deep shade of red once he realized that him not talking was just as embarrassing as saying something stupid. Anything would do right now, he just had to say something.

"So, uh, umm, your Majesty, uh, is exceptionally beautiful. The rumors I've heard really don't do you any justice hehe hehe. Ahem, so, uh. . . how are things, go- no, wait, stupid question. Why would things be good, you're about to go to war, I'm just so stupid, stupid, stupid!" Drosil began to hit bash his head repeatedly against his staff, cursing himself in several different languages as he did so for being such a socially inept idiot. After that started hurting too much to safely continue, he gave a sigh, slumping over in his seat. "Please just kill me now, your Majesty, before my own stupidity does."