[hr][hr][center][img]https://i.postimg.cc/50VBWNfh/63507c917b644ae085a53d695ad43269.png[/img]
[img]https://66.media.tumblr.com/2fa3b68ea7ccb5e241580009fa3f8dfe/tumblr_nrjjdcXvK71uq1wtvo1_500.gif[/img][/center][hr][hr][h3][b][i][center][color=8519A2]Arc I - Terreille in Trouble[/color][/center][/i][/b][/h3]
[hr][hr]
[center]
[h3][color=SlateBlue]In the ruined town of Sharon, Shalador[/color][/h3]
[/center]
[hr]

[color=SlateBlue]"I was woken up."[/color] Noted the Black Widow-Healer as she gave Xandar an exhausted but no less devious smile. A rare thing for the woman who took pride in being called the 'Ice Healer' and 'Razor-tongue' by her own clientele at times. Her dark head leaned against the doorway, a testament of just how exhausted the Black Widow was, and Faeril hated it. While she would never admit it Faeril was very aware of her vice of overdoing things a majority of the time. It was a common flaw among Healers where there was a pressing [i]need[/i]. With Faeril? It was a point of pride. Of being able to do as much as she could from when she was an apprentice working under her aging Aunt. [color=SlateBlue]"You're the one who would have to look into it, being of higher rank than I. She is [i]your[/i] Queen after all, Prince."[/color] It was a play that was common among Courts, before the corruption and distrust that riddled the Blood. The give and take of power to where it was needed. If Faeril had been working officially as the Court's Healer or Black Widow, she would have been well within her rights to report a problem to a higher ranking member within Court. Xandar wearing the Ebon-Grey Jewel out-ranked her and was a Warlord Prince which our ranked her as well. Though it was rare any male would remind a Black Widow of the latter. [color=SlateBlue]"Can I help it if trouble follows our Queen like a herd of puppies?"[/color] The Black Widow prodded the Warlord Prince about the drama below unaware of how close to home on the current issue they were discussing she was talking about.

Thom absolutely refused to meet Jandar's eyes, his mother's friends at the Red Moon house had said things were different once upon a time. He knew that abjectly it couldn't always have been this bad, but it was hard for him to think of a time when he wouldn't need to be worried about those around him. Mikhail's urging that he should consider working with them was hardly a choice and brought him from his thoughts. Nodding meekly, Thom's pale hair bobbed in the darkness. He knew the options they were talking about and any option beside working with the group was essentially death. Wiping somoene's mind was the domain of Black Widows. Dark women who wielded powers that could maim a man. Twisted the Blood's ways as much as the Queen. However there was a private line of thought from Dunny directly to Thom, and only Thom. *[i]They aren't like that.*[/i] The Sceltie stated simply, a slightly hurt tone coming into the dusty fellow's thoughts. *[i]Black Widows aren't monsters. They are a danger to the Queens, so the Queens hunted them and told scary stories about them.*[/i]

[color=CadetBlue]"[i]You don't know that, Dunny.*[/i][/color] The young lad [b]Sent[/b] the thought back to the Sceltie.

[i]*I do.*[/i] There was a firmness there that pulled Thom's panic up short. He had already said something to Dunny that he regretted and he could feel the pain the Sceltie felt about that, yet Thom couldn't bring himself to soothe that hurt. During their conversation, Bellincar had bowed sharply to Fatima moving back towards the camp, seeing himself as not needed. Even an Eyrien warrior such as him would be tired after pulling an all-nighter of extraneous activities. Some food, which would serve as breakfast for the others as well, and then he'd take a rest. So it was that the Tiger-eyed Warlord Prince missed Fatima's little show of tumbling about. Which left Thom and Dunny staring at Fatima in stunned silence. Thom's jaw dropping open slightly. As she finished laying on the ground in grand amusement with herself, Thom was at a loss for words and fleetingly forgot his fear for once. Dunny, however, was no so loss for words and with much aplomb danced about the prone form of Fatima excitedly. *[i]You play! You are a good Queen! You make funny noises and smell nice! Do you tumble around a lot? Do you play fetch? Do you like telling stories?*[/i]

[color=CadetBlue]"Yes?"[/color] Thom squeaked himself in answer to Fatima's question, finding one word. The rest having fled his mind when faced with the whirlwind that was named Fatima Damiana.