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Post by Vanora on Apr 20, 2008 7:48:23 GMT -5
Vanora was sitting on a bench outside listening to the small babbling brook that passed through the garden's here. Some birds nested here and as spring stuck, the sound of hungry chirping babies could often be heard. While Vanora sat, her fingers played with the intricate carvings on one of the darts she used. It was a metal fashion and it had a butterfly formed at it's non pointed base. It was a trademark of hers, if you will. She was humming herself a tune as she leaned back on the bench, closing her eyes. She sure was bored.
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Post by Kai on Apr 20, 2008 8:18:18 GMT -5
(Mind if I join in?) Kai was back from Rome and he had a surprise for Vanora, unfortunately it was not a surprise she would enjoy. He had brought back a new bride. He needed her to like this woman, before Vanora had systematically driven away any suitable candidate and he had to make this marriage work, the safety of his nation depended on it. As he checked her chambers and then the traing ground he knew she had to be in the gardens, as he wound his way through the lush gardens he wondered how she react to the news, hopefully not violently, she had acquired a hobby which was frowned upon in most socities and at the very least unlady like, but he had never been able to discipline her. He just hoped she would love him enough to not make a big deal out of it. He soon saw her sitting on a bench lost in thought, he coughed and said "Vanora I'm back and I need to talk to you about something, something important."
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Post by Vanora on Apr 20, 2008 8:47:34 GMT -5
"How long do you guess she'll last? I don't get it father, why can you not pick a woman of our kind? All these women you bring back from foreign lands, they are scared of our kind," she pointed out to her father, flicking the dart and it landed in a post. "Are you so desperate to get over my mother that you seek companionship from a woman that is not of our kind?" She asked her father, her dark eyes turning their gaze to her. She was not angry just confused by him. She almost wondered if he viewed the women here as weak.
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Post by Kai on Apr 20, 2008 9:04:48 GMT -5
Slightly stunned that she knew what this was about and her evident anger at it, he soon replied, "This is no companion I bring back girl, Felicita is more than just that, she is our nations only safety net. Did you know we are now part of Roman Republic? Felicita is kin to the man who is king in all but name in Rome, I took her from the second most powerful man in Rome and he still loves hence the 100,000 troops appearing in our capital. I cannot treat her like a common hostage I must show them honor and marry her. I'm not going to make this a forced thing my daughter. At any one time we are a single word from a war, a war I can not possibly win on my own, your lucky they did not demand hostages as you are the only kin I have. Felicita is a kind and sensible woman she is not like the other stuck up princesses and statesman's daughters who have been here, she wishes to meet you and she wishes to get to know you. You will let this one work Vanora or I will have to marry you off, It is well due after all, you are 18, I should have given you away almost four years ago." As Kai made his rant he added in his usual threat when Vanora overstepped her limit, she knew he could never give her away as she was his only blood and he would let her choose the time and the person.
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Post by Vanora on Apr 20, 2008 9:19:32 GMT -5
"Well then we could die with honor instead of bowing to the conquering brats who use swords instead of brains," she growled, "But fine whatever you find fit," she said and turned her head away. She let out a sigh and closed her eyes. He immediately knew she was thinking of her mother and how she missed her. Vanora had been changed ever since her mother's death. She became cold and closed. She didn't smile as much as she had, if it hit one of them harder, he knew it was her.
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Post by Kai on Apr 20, 2008 9:36:36 GMT -5
He saw that she was thinking of her mother, she had loved her mother and she was identical to her. The same pale looks and dark hair, Kai and her mother had been sepertated for a few years before she died. Kai had never told Vanora but he thought she probably knew, Kai and her mother had become cold to one another and on more than one occasion it had bubbled over the surface. When she had died Vanora had retreated into herself, trusting no one after her mother had broken the biggest bond of trust, the promise to stay with her. Kai sighed sitting next to her saying "Yes we could die with honor, but how would my people be treated? Enslaved and mistreated. I may have done terrible things to get here but I know that what I did was necessary. The Romans believe they are a super-race, they would kill us all if they had it their way, in this way I give us time, time to figure a way out of the darkness. The gods watch us always but they mock us by making the path so difficult. I understand that you still miss your mother, I have lost all my family and have only you left. You must not live in the past Vanora as that is the undoing of us all. If I lived in the past I would not be a very good king would I? You must think to the future Vanora, for I will not be with you for ever. Your mother would agree with me, you must understand to let go." He sat there quietly next to her waiting for her to speak.
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Post by Vanora on Apr 20, 2008 20:10:31 GMT -5
Vanora moved to rest her head against his chest and some tears fell silently. I don't want to lose anyone else, and the Roman's can take away everything," she said frightfully. "They can kill us, rape us, burn and pillage us, and we can only take it like pigs to the slaughter," she said burying her face in his chest. "I feel so weak like this, why can't we be great, be strong-like we were when I was little?" She asked him. Whether they were actually that much stronger, she didn't know but considering when she was littler, things seemed alot bigger, alot stronger, and that could easily mix up or twist her memories. She did know though, that she didn't want to be a part of Rome. Even if he married this woman, the Roman's could still ask her father to give up his daughter, to "show the truce" between them. Roman's were the real pigs, not her-not her people but because they were not a rich people and not a massive people they were weaker in numbers despite their strength. "I don't want to leave here, and what if, despite your marriage, they ask for you to hand me off? What then papa? Will you hand me off and say then that I too am a safety net for our people?" She asked him, her dark eyes looking up at him, the light from the sun made them glitter and he say his own eyes looking up at him. She had her mother's looks, her skin and hair but Vanora had his eyes, his will to fight, to not succumb to dangers and to always stand strong and fight for what she deemed right. She was rarely broken and only he ever brought out joy or sadness in her. She was closed to him but she was greatly more open to him than to any other person they had come too.
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Post by Kai on Apr 22, 2008 7:29:59 GMT -5
He could only nod sadly at the truth of her words knowing that there was not much he could do in the event of a war but fight back. "When you were small? We were a fledgling nation of bickering nobles and starving paesants. We seemed strong because you were in the only place in the country with any semblance of order. Nothing is as it seems, I have seen a peaceful village village bathed in sunlight become the site of a horrible ambush soon bathed in blood." He looked down at her and said "And not ever shall I let the Romans take you, the 100,000 Romans in our country seal the deal between us and them. I got away not only with my life but also with my country. And I shall get away with you too, the Romans cannot take that away from us. Nobody wants to make a deal like this yet we must but I shall look for a way out of this, somehow." He sat and thought for a while wondering what to do. With vanora leaning against him he could sit there for a very long time thinking about what to do.
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Post by Vanora on Apr 22, 2008 16:13:19 GMT -5
"I miss her papa, I know you two were fighting and I know you two were not kind towars one another but I miss how it was. It seemed everything was fine but the ages since have only grown dark and foreboding and despite our strengths, we are weak in the eyes of the enemy," she sighed and then looked up at him, "Do you really believe we can pull free? Do you really think we will become our own country in time? Or do you say that to easy my mind and your own?"
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Post by Kai on Apr 22, 2008 16:32:15 GMT -5
"I know you miss her, I know. And one day we will be free again, I swear it, I swear it on your mothers grave. On my dead family and on the lives of my subjects. I will do something, I just don't know what so for now, maybe many years we will wait my daughter, we will wait. Do you want to know what my fathers motto was?It was 'get them in the long grass' and that is what we shall do. We will lick our wounds in the darkness and wait until the time is right. And then we will strike. When there is some semblance of organization among Rome's enemies who knows what will happen." He looked down at her, so like her mother , an Illyrian through and through, he knew even if he died some one would carry on his oath to the bitter end.
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Post by Vanora on Apr 22, 2008 16:41:29 GMT -5
She nodded, "And if this woman were to bear children perhaps a son what of me then? Will you still remember me?" She asked him. Before, she had his unwavering attention but with each new possible bride, there was the chance that he would see her as his ex's daughter, his love wavering for her, this thought did indeed frighten her.
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Post by Kai on Apr 23, 2008 1:19:13 GMT -5
Kai smiled at that comment, not a single person who had meet Vanora would forget her, she was far too much of a character for that. "If she would bear a son than yes he would become my heir but you are my first born, my eldest. You will always be special to me, and nobody has ever forgotten you and nobody ever will." He gave her a reassuring hug and looked into the gardens.
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Post by Vanora on Apr 23, 2008 6:18:27 GMT -5
Vanora smiled and hugged him back and nodded, "I trust you Papa," she told him as he held her. She was a strange girl. She was a closed child but when she opened up, she gave everything. They sat for a moment in peace in the gardens and then after some time, she sat up straight and she asked her father curiously, "She all we get some lunch?" She offered him.
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Post by Kai on Apr 23, 2008 8:02:47 GMT -5
He was glad she was responding positively as she had been known to go into sulks for days at a time he soon turned to her and said "Of course, lets go and get some. What do you have in mind?" As he stood and looked around he picked up her dart, he threw it up and down in the air catching it in mid-air, he still had it after years he could still remember his training. He smiled and took her hand, waiting for her.
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Post by Vanora on Apr 23, 2008 10:30:36 GMT -5
She smiled amd took his hand and followed him into the castle, "I dunno, I'm just hungry," she old him simply, "but, can we no have HER join us? I just want it to be us, before she steals you from me," she said to him.
(Sorry for the bad post >_<)
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