[@Eviledd1984]

"I-I didn't mean to upset you, oh..." Kara didn't ask anything more. She didn't know all the details, but it seemed like Leonore hadn't meant to do any wrong to her son. "T-thanks for letting me look around your home. This really is a beautiful place."

[@bloonewb]

Mazdak had been assigned by Grand Prince Ternoc to prepare a legion of Hekagan troops to meet the kobolds. He was not, however, the general chosen to lead that legion. That honor (or chore, as many would have it) would go to Seleucus, one of Ternoc's younger brothers. He was far more conventional by Hekagan standards, and led his army in the expected fashion. He also shared the same conventional Hekagan attitudes when it came to kobolds and their place in the world. 

"For the last time, Seleucus-"

"-[i]Prince[/i] Seleucus, Mazdak." The brown-skinned male brushed his green-plumed helmet, much like a strutting peacock might preen his lengthy feathers. 

"Prince Seleucus... with all due respect, the city of Xigyll is to be our ally. And don't call them 'the kobolds.' You wouldn't call citizens of Minbenthac 'the dracons', would you?" 

"They are what they have always been and always will be; our inferiors. Details such as their tribe and clan are basically irrelevant unless we choose to play them against one another. Oh. Are we doing that?"

"N-no. NO! Prince, how hard is it for you to understand that they are supposed to be partners? We have to treat them as equals."

Seleucus snorted at that last word. "I will live in no land where the one who shines my armor and polishes my wife's horns is my equal."

"Do you believe in irony, Prince? Because you are treading very close to an almost storybook ending, dead at the hands of kobold, or being saved by one."

"Spare me your fairy tales, Mazdak. I have no need of them. Now, is the legion in order?"

"Yes. All the troops are accounted for and fully armed."

"Then, we march!"

[@SilverPaw]

Aerta clapped her hands together. "I'm glad to see that you're eager to begin. Really. But first, you should get washed up and change into some fresher clothes. I can show you to one of the bathrooms- we have four in this house- and you can get cleaned up. I can leave you a shirt and some other clothing, but if you're going to be staying with us, please don't use the shirt in the house. I'm a bit concerned about keeping dirt off of the furniture and rugs. I'm sure your own mother has similar rules. After you've washed up and had something to eat, we can talk about magic, but then you should go out to the back and meet Adykon."

She raised her hand to get his attention, to make one more thing clear. "Just know that I'm a sorceress, not a wizard. That would be my sister, Tala. I was born with my magic; it isn't learned. I hone it through assiduous practice, not through academic study. I can help you use it, but I don't understand how it works. For me, it just does. Like moving my arms or my tail."