[center][color=ff66bb][h2][i]Nadia Parnel[/i][/h2][sup]Bride of [color=000000][UNKNOWN] [@][/color] and Sister-Bride of [color=000000][UNKNOWN] [@][/color]
Interacting with: [color=000000][NO ONE YET] [@][/color][/sup][/color][/center]
One second Nadia was with her father, and in the next there was chaos. People were rushing off the street, and soon a large hand grabbed her shoulder. As she turned to face the hand's owner, she realized that one of her fears had suddenly come true. It was a Drakkan warrior, here to take girls for the reaping. In his other hand he held the arm of a girl Nadia recognized as the librarian's daughter. He started pulling the both of them towards a carriage, where another Drakkan told them that they both had just an hour to pack a single small chest with whatever they deemed necessary to bring.

[color=ff66bb]"B-but, wait I-"[/color]

“Shut up girlie.” The first Drakkan interrupted her, shaking her in his grip. “Now, where do you live?” 

[color=9e0039]"About 20 minutes outside of town by horse.”[/color] Her father spoke up from behind Nadia, standing where she couldn't see him. [color=9e0039]"I am her father, and while I will not attempt to keep her from you, if you will allow it I will go and pack a few things for her and meet you back here before you leave. Please."[/color] As he finished speaking, it seemed as if the Drakkan was actually considering the proposal. 

After a moment the Drakkan nodded, sneering as he replied. “Alright. But we are leaving in exactly an hour, whether you're back here or not.” The grip he had on her arm tightened at the last few words, and Nadia desperately tried to turn around and look at her father, tears already starting to form in the corners of her eyes. 

[color=9e0039]"If I'm not back by then, I'll just follow you all the way to Shadow Worth."[/color] The way he said it almost made her want to laugh- it was as if he were simply talking to a customer, with how calm his voice sounded. She heard him leave then, and didn't see him again before the hour was up. The two Drakken forced her and Onyx into the carriage to begin the days-long trip to the border, the Drakken not allowing her to wait even a minute longer for her father.

After the first few hours, and nothing but tears from Nadia, Onyx started reading one of her books out loud. The story alone was enough to distract Nadia from their circumstances, helping her to get through the trip. Whenever Onyx's voice started to give out, She asked Nadia if she would take over, and so they spent the next days taking turns reading the books out loud. Over the course of the trip the two managed to read two whole books, and Onyx was about half-way through a third when the carriage suddenly lurched to a stop.

The Drakken ordered them out of the carriage, and Nadia couldn't help the choked sound of sadness she made at the order as she climbed down to the cold stone ground of the mountain pass. Before she could start crying again, Onyx spoke to her one last time before one of the Drakken started dragging the Earth Gem away. [color=808000]"Don't worry. You'll be ok."[/color]

[color=ff66bb]"Thank you."[/color] Nadia said softly, wiping her eyes. After a moment, she glanced at the other Drakkan still standing by her at the carriage, wondering why she wasn't being dragged around yet. Seeming to guess what she was thinking, he motioned down the path towards Gemmenia and muttered something about someone following them.

She started to hear the familiar sound of her father's horse’s hoofbeats at about the same time she turned around to see him riding up the pass, towards them. Within seconds he was there in front of her, holding her tightly in his arms. She couldn't speak, even though she tried, her voice was choked with tears. It took her a moment, but once she caught her breath, she suddenly couldn't think of anything to say. Her father was listing things he'd packed for her. A sewing kit, a few outfits, and a few “presents” in his own words. The Drakkan took the chest from her father and told them to hurry up. Nadia hugged him tightly as every word she'd never get to say to him again began pouring from her lips. [color=ff66bb]"I love you, dad. So, so much. Tell mom that I love her too. And I'll miss you both. Dad, dad I-"[/color]

"Alright, that's enough." She was cut off by the Drakkan pulling the two gems apart, practically picking her up off the ground as she struggled, though she went limp after a moment, allowing herself to be carried into the fortress as her Father waved goodbye and then mounted his horse, watching her disappear into the shadows of Shadow Worth before leaving. “You know, you're lucky. That's almost never allowed to happen.” The Drakkan said as he put her back on her feet in front of a courtyard. “Now go join the others, girlie." 

Nadia managed not to cry during the speech. That's about it though. As she was shoved into her cold room in the west wing of the worth, the tears began to flow once again. She barely remembers lighting a fire in the hearth in the corner before collapsing into the bed, a pile of shivering tears. 

When she woke up, she felt numb- like her heart had decided to stop beating in the night but her mind hadn't followed suit. She changed into the grey pants and tunic that'd been given to her, and once she noticed she was cold she went to tend the slowly dying fire in the hearth. After a minute, she accidentally put her face in the flames- jumping back now she was fully awake and aware of her surroundings as she used her powers to put out the fire completely. She knelt by the hearth and put her face in her hands, sobbing loudly. She wasn't hurt, thankfully, but... [color=ff66bb]"Oh, Pyrus! What is [i]wrong[/i] with me?!"[/color]

After a minute, thundering fists began knocking on the doors to all the Gem's rooms, and Nadia had to compose herself quickly. She glanced at the chest her father had packed for her before leaving the room, and remembered at the last second her idol of her patron god. Pyrus' image, carved into a piece of volcanic rock small enough to fit in her pockets unnoticed. She pulled the trinket out of the pocket of the dress she'd been wearing the last few days, and put it carefully in the left-hand pocket of her pants before another series of knocks made her realize that it really was time to go, [i]now[/i].

She followed the Guard's directions to the banquet hall, where everyone was eating breakfast. Nadia's heart soared as she saw the Gemmenite dishes on the table. They didn't have to eat drakken food! She sat at an empty table and began piling a plate with fruits and sweet-rolls. She was going to enjoy this while she still could, because she knew there was no telling what lay in her future now. 

[hr][center][color=808000][h2][i]Onyx Briyll[/i][/h2][sup]Bride of [color=000000][UNKNOWN] [@][/color] and Sister-Bride of [color=000000][UNKNOWN] [@][/color]
Interacting with: [color=000000][NO ONE YET] [@][/color][/sup][/color][/center]

[color=808000]"...and with one final swing of our Hero’s sword the great beast fell. As it stole one last breath, it spoke a curse on the Hero’s soul, that for every beast they would slay from that point forward, the hero would lose something much dearer-"[/color] The sudden lurch of the carriage as it stopped caused Onyx to lose her place on the page. She'd been reading to those riding with her, another Gem named Nadia and two Drakken, to pass the time during the trip, and to help calm herself and her fellow Gem. [color=808000]"Oh, Are we here already?"[/color] She closed the book and smiled at everyone in the carriage. She wasn't sure how much the Drakken had liked the story, if at all, but judging by the looks on their faces they had actually been interested, at least.

One of them sighed and opened the door, both guards getting out of the carriage before the second one spoke. “Alright. Out, both of you. Don't forget your things.” Onyx nodded and put her book back into the small chest she'd been allowed to bring. The chest held five other books, a handful of seeds for a special kind of plant, and a small stone carved into an image of Vivari herself, hidden under a dress that used to belong to Onyx's mother. Onyx got out of the carriage after Nadia, smiling at her as she did- one final reminder to the timid Fire Gem to stay calm. [color=808000]"Don't worry. You'll be ok."[/color] She didn't like the fact that she couldn't prove the words true, but, from what she'd gotten to know about the small girl during their time together so far, something in her made her think that she would, in fact, be fine.

As the two girls were led to a rather large courtyard, Onyx fond herself wishing she could be so confident about her own chances for survival. The apparent leader of the Worth's Drakken gave a speech, and then suddenly they were all being shuffled off to bed for the night. Onyx Didn't cry, like many of the girls there, but she had furrowed her brows in worry. As she lay down for the night, her mind was racing with vivid imaginings of just what was in store for them now.

In the morning, she woke up shivering. The Worth was high in the mountains of the spine, and so it was ridiculously cold, even compared to the winters of her hometown. She dressed quickly, only deciding to put on the ugly Grey tunic and loose-fitting trousers that the drakken had left in her room for her because it was warmer, and cleaner, than the dress she'd been wearing on the trip. Just before leaving the room she'd been assigned, she took another one of her books from her chest, figuring that she could read as she waited for whatever "lesson" was in store for them all today. She walked into the room the guards motioned her to, and as soon as she was there, she sat at a table and started reading. 

None of the foods on the table interested her but, every few pages or so, she forced herself to pick up a small fruit or roll and eat, because she knew she'd likely starve if she didn't force herself to eat [i]something[/i] now. Of course the guards weren't going to just let that stand, and a couple of them walked over to her. After a well placed glare and a few big words they didn't quite understand, neither of the Drakken guards who had tried to take the book from her bothered her again, and she noticed a few other guards laughing at how she sent them off. She wasn’t meek, just soft spoken, and she wasn't about to give up anything left she had of who she is.

[hr][center][color=9999ff][h2][i]Kendra Riu Bell[/i][/h2][sup]Bride of [color=000000][UNKNOWN] [@][/color] and Sister-Bride of [color=000000][UNKNOWN] [@][/color]
Interacting with: [color=000000][NO ONE YET] [@][/color][/sup][/color][/center]
Kendra was already in the Banquet hall before most of the other Gems. It felt like she hadn't slept at all, so she just rushed to the Banquet hall as soon as she was let out of her room, hoping that some food might fix the problem. She was eating a little bit of everything, because she didn't really recognize any of the foods on the table. She was an odd one, apparently, because everyone else seemed to know what was going on and she- well, she simply had no clue. She'd never heard of the Drakken race before a little while ago when their reapers came to her small, Island village, and dragged her away to this cold mountain keep. 

She watched the other Gems as they all entered the room, unconsciously categorizing them all in her mind. [color=9999ff][i]That one's been crying, that one just needs a hug... She should probably just eat something, and the one reading a book should too...[/i][/color] She couldn't understand why they were all so devastated- certainly, they'd all been taken from their homes and that was bad, and Kendra did miss her family and her village, but it really seemed like all these girls thought they were suddenly charged with a death sentence. Perhaps, when someone came in who wasn't a total mess, Kendra could reach out and ask for some explanations. She herself wasn't scared- she just had no idea what there was to be afraid of yet.

[hider=Summary]
TL;DR:
[color=ff66bb] [b] Nadia: [/b] [/color] Shared a carriage with Onyx on the way to the Worth, and was allowed one last goodbye with her Father once they arrived there. In the morning she nearly burns herself, yelling loud enough for anyone in a room right next to her's to probably hear her anguish, and then she goes to breakfast to try and drown her worries with sweet-rolls.

[color=808000] [b] Onyx: [/b] [/color] Rode to Shadow Worth in a carriage with Nadia, and has some optimism for the shy Fire Gem, but not for herself. In the morning, she sits at a table and reads, barely eating. 

[color=9999ff] [b] Kendra: [/b] [/color] Didn't sleep, at all, and is now just waiting for everyone to be awake enough to talk to and ask questions because she has [i]no idea[/i] what is even going on anymore.
[/hider]