A nicely decorated room with vases full of ensorcelled flowers that will never wilt, various antique weapons as wall hangings, and an attractive four-poster bed. It is, like most of the tower, primarily white and off-white, but still, it is a very neutral room that will do nicely for a male or a female.

---

Istan Aiga
Helantri Deru

---

"Here we are, Dewei dear," Ai chirps, all but diving into the new room with Dewei's hand firmly clasped in hers.

He blinks. "I hadn't expected anything so nice, Miss Ai. It's a pleasant surprise. Thank you." He smiles and glances around with a good deal of interest, ears perked.

Ai laughs a fairy's laugh, partially at his ears.

"Dewei, I have my father back. I could sing and dance and scream from the rooftops! It makes me feel like doing wonderful things for people, having him back." She turns a bit serious at the end, though. "And I never properly apologized for losing my head before. So this is it."

"That wasn't your fault, Miss Ai. I sensed what was going through your mind...it would have been overwhelming to anyone. I'm just glad that you're all right." He nods.

Ai tilts her head a little bit. "As am I, darling. You know... my father's teeth ground a bit when he found that we had used my body as your reference." She giggles, very unlike the Ai that Dewei has seen thus far. "All this time, and he's still so protective of me. But I explained to him that it was okay, that I trusted you, and that I was partially convinced that you were gay." She nudges him.

Dewei laughs softly. "I never thought that I would be glad to hear that, Miss Ai...but there you are." He grins, and sets his light bag down.

"And here I am!" Ai laughs as well, a light-hearted sound that just seem a thousand years younger than before. "It is so wonderful to have him back... ugh. But I am babbling. I just want a hug, and I am taking the long route towards asking you for one. I already swindled one from your mother, and Ting would be but a matter of asking." She turns some inexperienced, but potent, kitten eyes upon him.

Dewei grins. "I would suggest care in asking my sister for a hug, Miss Ai. She can be...enthusiastic about it." He does lean forward and give her a polite but warm hug.

Ai laughs softly. "I like enthusiastic. Listen, Dewei..." Ai hugs him as well, whispering as she gets close so as not to offend his sensitive ears, "... my father's methods are very harsh. He is going to hurt you, no matter how hard you try. If you need help you can come to me, all right?"

Dewei nods, and hugs her a little tighter. "Thank you, Miss Ai. I think I'll be all right...I'm familiar with pain, I really am. How much, I guess we'll know pretty soon. But I'll remember that, thank you."

"You know," Ai softly laughs now that the serious stuff is out of the way, "you're a talented hugger. Most men I have met hug too hard, or smell unpleasant enough to ruin the experience." She steps back, affording him another soft smile. "He will come calling soon. You should get settled."

"Don't tell your father that. Please." Dewei's grin is quite teasing. "Thank you, Miss Ai. I will see you later, then?"

"Of course! I will be around... probably on my balcony, watching your lessons. I may still get to teach you, but I doubt it will be in the same capacity as before." She smiles. "Officially. Unofficially... we will see."

"I think you make a game of seeing how red you can get me, Miss Ai," Dewei observes. Yup. He's pink now.

She giggles again. "It's been a long time since I have felt like playing a game like this, you know. And you are so cute when you blush!"

"Ai," Radivishe Moorn's voice calls from the foyer, "do not tease the boy out of his wits. He will need at least half of them to be of use here."

Dewei's blush deepens at that. Oh dear. Now he's really glad he's been so polite in his joking. "Ehm...I think I should unpack, then, Miss Ai?" One outfit and a small flower. But hey, it's an excuse.

Ai's smile grows a bit more serious at her father's words. "It's a pity your mom never got to see this side of father, you know. And yes, it's probably a good idea. I will let you to your business." She turns to the door, but pauses, glancing over her shoulder. "My room is just across the hall, should you require something, darling. If I am not there, just... oh, you should be able to find me alright."

Dewei smiles, relaxing the expression again to lighten things. "Probably, Miss Ai. Thank you again, for everything."

Ai blushes deeply, and suddenly. "Aw... you're welcome, of course." Apparently, praise is something of a rarity for her. She steps outside and vanishes into her room, to lie out on the balcony for a little while longer. Her father's pallor had, unfortunately, passed onto her, but she is determined to be the first Dumen in history to achieve a successful sun tan.

Dewei smiles a bit to himself. He really does like Ai, she's really sweet. And very pretty...all the way down. That's for sure...and time to stop thinking that now, face warming of his own accord, lest someone be able to pick up on it. He sticks his one spare outfit and the bag it had been folded in in a drawer, and then sets his own flower in a vase with the enchanted ones. His sister had given it to him. Well...it's actually the second, she's beaten him with the first and a new one was pertinent.

A fair bit of time passes before anything else happens. However...

"Dewei, come downstairs. I am building a fountain and you are going to help me," Moorn's voice calls to him from down below.

"Okay. Coming." He's just been looking out the window, really intrigued at how...new, this all is. And the kind of power that takes. His step is quick as he heads back into the larger part of istan aiga.

---

After a fairly long--but, really, not harsh--day, Dewei heads back to his room, gathers up his other outfit, and then tracks down the shower. It feels good. He cleans up, and then heads back downstairs to see whether he can help with anything.

Ai leans against a counter inside the kitchen, wearing a very carefully designed suit of snug jade fabricthat lets her various sunburned spots get plenty of air. Her shoulders, nose, ears, her knuckles, upper chest... she's burned in several places, but none the worse for the experience. Several pots sit on the boil, stirred by spoons guided from afar. She lights up when Dewei comes down the stairs.

"Feeling refreshed, darling?" she asks, holding out a glass of hibiscus tea for him.

"Yes, thank you." Dewei smiles happily, and takes the tea gratefully. "Thank you, Miss Ai...this smells very good."

"Doesn't it?" Her lips part as if to say something else, but the words barely make it to her tongue. "Dewei, do you feel a fourth energy signature hanging about here?"

Dewei blinks, and quiets, feeling for whatever she's talking about.

The presence is there, but its appearance takes a backseat in a hurry. Ai dives for cover just in time to evade a shower of brick and stone dust as the wall bursts inwards. Soup and tea and stove are wrenched into the air behind the fource of a second concussive blast, the kitchen unit landing squarely on poor Ai's left foot.

In the smoke stands a solitary machine. Dewei may recognize it, actually... a version of a mercenary drone developed by the Yeliuran Derrias, but eventually passed over and sold off as unfit for their purposes. Cannons of all sorts line its massive metal frame.

Ai Orr, Dewei Tiono. Surrender your weapons and die.

Dewei's eyes are wide, but his reaction is quick. His sword is drawn with a truly impressive motion, and a quick, turning step should put him between Ai and the attacker, weapon at the ready and eyes narrowed.

Resistance detected. Diplomacy protocols terminated.

Twin vulcan cannons roar into life, spitting bullets so quickly that the sound is more of a growling hum than the 'chugga chugga chugga' common to machine guns.

A reflective shield springs to life in front of them...Dewei raises a hand, and an energy attack bursts from the center of it towards the machine a moment later with absolutely no consideration for the fact that they're inside. The shield's above them too in case of collapse.

Bullets ricochet in all directions, but the structure of the tower has been reinforced to endure mystical attacks. Radivishe Moorn had not entertained the notion that something as simplistic as gunfire might be employed against the place, but apparently, someone had figured that out. 

The warbot, however, is aptly prepared for his sorcerous enemies. Dewei's energy attack cascades off of its armor without so much as scratching the thick plating, and is answered in turn by a barrage of thin, concentrated laser beams. The bot takes a step inside, its cannons resuming their onslaught as well.

Dewei bares his fangs, just pouring more energy into the shield...starts to feel a crack, and mends it in time. "Ai, can you contact your father?" Thinks. Lasers...he alters the surface of his shield so that it reflects light.

Ai shakes her head. "Something is interfering with my power, Dewei. What about you?"

Just outside the tower, in the darkness of night, a pair of glowing green eyes can be seen emerging behind the warbot. The sensors atop the bot's head spin around as deflected lasers punch tiny holes in its armor, but the bot hasn't the time to react. A thunderous crash nearly coincides with the last word of Ai's sentence. Sparks, metal, and glass spray out and plink harmlessly off Dewei's shield as something smashes into the back of the bot at high speed, shoving its immense form down with such force that it leaves the ground and salls across the foyer to embed into a second wall, its displays going dark.

Ai watches all this, eyes wide. Her gaze lingers upon the object that had made impact with the heavy war machine.

The block of ether.

Dewei's eyes are wide. He's been working with that stuff all day...it's immovable. He finally lets out his breath, and looks back to Ai as his sense of danger begins to quiet. "Ai... Miss Ai, are you all right?"

"Yeah. My foot's caught, though..."

"Ai, Dewei, are you hurt?" Radivishe Moorn's voice lacks genuine compassion, but still, it brings a bright smile to Ai's face. Honestly, he sounds like he's taking attendance in a classroom somewhere.

"I think we're okay." Dewei nods, and gets to freeing her foot...mostly cutting stuff aside with a modified psionic attack extending from his arm that acts as a blade, and quickly scripting a well-practiced rune onto a piece of either to soften it and pull it away that way. "There..." he stands up straight after a few moments, and offers her a hand for balance. "That should do it, Miss Ai."

Ai shakes her foot to get the blood flowing inside again, and accepts Dewei's hand with a grateful smile. "Thank you, Dewei dear. You..." she blinks. "You put yourself in front of me just now."

Radivishe Moorn, at this point, is busily ripping apart the fallen warboat, as if searching for something. A camera, actually. If the unit is still online, he'd like very much to send its owner a message.

Dewei colours a little at this, and sheaths his sword. "Well...you're a good person, Miss Ai." An awkward pause precedes his looking over to Moorn. "What are you looking for?" He's being far too methodical to not be looking for something.

Ai colors as well, and looks at her feet, silently.

"An uplink, or a camera. Whatever these twits were using to guide this robot." Moorn literally rips the plating away from the machine's core, searching for wires. "I detest robots. Such a perversion of god's mistakes."

Dewei's eyes scan over it quietly. "This is a Derrias-designed war robot...I haven't seen them actually use one of these, though, I think the model was scrapped."

"Oh wait. Is this a camera, Dewei?" Moorn points towards a still-glowing unit that is, in fact, a subspace-worthy camera that can transmit data at speeds faster than light.

Dewei nods. "I'm fairly sure, yes." Ting's better with technology than he is.

Moorn nods. "One moment." He looks into the camera, holding it back far enough that the sender of the bot should still be able to see most of him. "Whoever you are, if you threaten either Dewei Tiono or Ai again, I will find you. And what I have done to this bot will seem like foreplay compared to the agony I shove down your throats. I repeat. Continue these efforts only if you appreciate the taste of your own charred tongues." He glances at them. "Do you suppose that makes my point?"

Dewei nods a little. "I'm sure it will serve as fair warning, or fair challenge...do you have any idea who may have done this?"

"Mercenary forces without a doubt. Possessing something like this all but guarantees it," Moorn answers, the camera crushing to dust within his hand. "Though who paid them to assault you two is beyond me. Probably those morons who call rune sorcery forbidden."

"I wish we knew where it had been planning to take us; it did ask for a surrender first. I think. That would answer a lot," Dewei muses. There's a pause. "So, um...dinner, then?" He's his mother's son. Calamities happen every so often.

Ai looks to the tangled mess of stove. "Looks like we get to start over. Dewei, could you run some hot water from that tap for me darling? I will fix this mess." She doesn't wait for a response before her hands begin to move, producing a dozen of those sorcerous tendrils in a pale pink light. Her father beams at her, the pride in his face unmistakable. Gradually things get set back into order.

"Sure." Dewei nods, and gets to letting himself be ordered around wherever necessary. He actually does know his way around a kitchen, but making foods of different ethnicities can always be tricky.

"I will get to reinforcing this place again. Some security." Moorn vanishes, leaving Ai to chop up some vegetables and grind spices for onion soup and break up some bones for beef broth. 

"Anything you would like in particular, dear?" Ai asks over her shoulder, watching the stove put itself back together. "I know you aren't used to eating with us..."

"Nothing in particular, Miss Ai. Whatever you make will be fine. Besides..." here his smile brightens. "This is your first time cooking for your father in a long time, and you know he likes better than I do."

"Father is so basic with his food, though. Bread and water, sometimes soup. Today soup, though, and I am going to make him eat some beef stew. Do you like beef stew, Dewei?"

"I don't believe so, Miss Ai, though I've had beef a few times. It was good. Is there anything that I can do to help?"

"Tell me a story," Ai quickly answers, "and keep me from being bored while I work?" She dumps a handful of carrots, chives, and celery into the water, followed by various spices, one of which clouds in the water and turns it red.

"Hmm...well, what kind of story, Miss Ai?" Dewei sits down on a piece of rubble that used to be part of a wall, and looks over at the war bot thoughtfully.

"Any kind of story involving you. I realized that I know too little about you, Dewei." Ai nods at the stews, and hops up to sit upon the counter, gazing upon him. "You had to learn to be brave like that somewhere."

Dewei turns a little red at this, but his lips twitch towards a smile. "I learned that from my mother and father, Miss Ai. And, for that matter, my sister. She's always been the daring one of us."

"Did you adventure a great deal during your life, Dewei?"

"Some." He smiles, and nods. "Usually looking for something specific, but...yes. Trouble tends to find you if you're sticking your nose where it probably shouldn't be, or just because Felina Deyono is your mother. I was investigating a rune sort on a mostly aquatic world, and some impressive water sorcerors ambushed me. I was only twenty-something, and ended up half-drowned and in a water-walled cell thing. The walls flowed so fast that they'd break an intruding hand, so they were fairly effective."

He certainly has Ai's attention now. "And how did you escape this water?" she enquires, bright-eyed and pleasant, wriggling upon the countertop.

Dewei's smiling pleasantly. "There was a little water dragon in the wall. It was partially ephemeral, so it could move around all right. I talked to it a bit, and helped it find a way out. I could sense one big enough for it though not big enough for me. So it left, and then it was quiet for awhile.

"I'm not sure what the sorcerers were after to this day, since they weren't the dramatic monologue sort, but they certainly weren't very nice about it. They beat me twice, with a whip one of the times." Dewei's smile brightens. "And then the little dragon returned with its much, much bigger mother. Things were all uphill from there." He grins.

Ai giggles a bright giggle. "I like stories that. Happy endings and trounced villains." She glances at the soup. "Boil!"

Oddly enough, at her word, it does.

She smiles. "Almost ready."

Dewei grins. "That's quite impressive, Miss Ai."

Ai grins right back. "Functional magic? Perish the thought, darling."

Dewei laughs. "You should watch the dimensional Guardians clean house sometime. They're all adept psions...it's quite amusing."

Her smile fades just a touch. "Knowing who I am, do you think the dimensional Guardians would let me anywhere near their house?"

Dewei blinks. "Why wouldn't they?" Pauses, thinks. "Well, aside from the fact that they're not big on letting anyone visit." He smiles sheepishly.

She coos softly. "You're sweet. Because of my lineage, Dewei."

"Oh...right. I don't really know that much about your father, Miss Ai. Only that my mother seems extremely tense around him. Ehm...here you go." He holds out a spice container from a broken cabinet that he gets the feeling she's going to need in the next few seconds.

"Thank you!" Ai takes the spice and administers the proper amount into the beef stew, and a bit less into the vegetable soup. "My father said that I should tell you if you asked. He doesn't like secrets... he's very much the dramatic monologue bad guy." She grins. "Your mother is the one who killed him fifteen hundred years ago. That black sword she carries around? They fought so often that she finally had to design a weapon specifically for him. Or at least, that is what I know of it. You would have to ask father for details." She sighs quietly. It feels good to know that she can truly forgive Felina, now, for murdering her dad. "Soup's done."

Dewei bites his lip. "That...would explain it." He's quiet a few moments, considering. "That must be very hard for you, Miss Ai. Knowing that, and interacting with my mother."

"I like your mom," Ai is quick to state, "though I didn't at first. I could see how she and father would have been at odds, and... she was polite enough about it. She didn't judge me for him.  You know?" Presently she ladles out a cupful of each onion soup, vegetable soup, and beef stew, setting the white cups upon a tray with a large hunk of white bread, and handing the tray to Dewei. "For you, mister hero."

He laughs softly. "I'm no hero...but thank you, Miss Ai, it smells wonderful." He sips from his spoon. "And tastes that way, too." He smiles at her.

Ai grins. "When you live alone for such a long time, food is one of those things that makes you look forward to part of a day." She ladles some out for herself. "Um... our table is wrecked. Want to eat outside?"

"Sure. That sounds lovely."

Ai grabs a few glasses, fills them with something festive, and leads the way back to Istan Aiga proper.