The endless gardens maintained by the denizens of Wu Yuan, under the direction of the master healer called Great Mother Blue. Here the world exists in colors that are unnatural to the Ether Plane... violet foliage that is not limited to flowers and such. It is cool year round, and a lovely place for a stroll.

---

Wu Yuan
Yuan Orchards
Korliss's Keep
Other Side of the World
The Wretching Dragon

---

Felina comes here partly consciously, and partly not. But she does know, however vaguely, where she's going. She finally leans against a house's wall, just outside the gardens. Directly across from her is the statue of her father she's visited more than once.

A bit of time passes, not long, before Kaishen makes his presence known in those gardens.

"You look awfully upset, Felina. What is the matter?"

"Mara had a rough day." She looks over to the wraith. "You missed all the excitement."

Kaishen looks surprised at this. "Is everyone all right? I was off gathering information on our wizard's activities..." his face falls. "What of Mara?"

Felina surprises herself with a moment's mistrust. That she writes off as getting paranoid. She looks back to the statue. "Rei-ono was lying, no surprise. He hadn't changed. The Mara we ran across was the same golem Ludolf created. The real Mara was pinned to her father's wall with a number of blades. She's okay, physically. Too out of it to tell otherwise. She's with Saea, back at the inn."

The wraith's face falls at that. "Mara..." He shakes his head, clearing it of the surge of guilt that assaults his mind. "I found out some things, Felina. About his plans. While he was away, he spoke often of his children having suffered from a lack of a mother figure. How he would rectify that. His studies were apparently directed further into homonculi and golem arts than ever." The wraith glances up at the statue, pondering. "I believe that he might be trying to create a new construct out of your information and Mara's."

"A mother figure?" Felina looks over to Kaishen. "I figured a new construct was in the works, but what in earth sky and sea would he do with a 'mother figure' at this stage of the game?"

Kaishen just shrugs. "I try not to analyze the notions of a madman. Perhaps he truly has become lonely in his ancient years?"

Felina whistles just a little and looks back up to the statue of her father. "It's possible. That's part of the reason my father created Saea in the first place. Some out of necessity...but lonliness was part of it." Felina lets out her breath, claws between her tightly-shut eyes. "So. Do you know of any big ambitions he might have? I'd really love if I have some reason to think Mara will be safe awhile...."

"Based on what I discovered, his attentions were almost solely based upon this task. Down to what this construct will look like, he knows every detail. Rumors suggested that over a dozen women were used in his employ as models, so that he could map out every last hair and curve of the construct. Some of them didn't come back." Kaishen sounds awfully bored with all of this as he speaks, though it's possible that concern for Mara is diverting his attention. "It is difficult for me to wonder about his ambitions. What does one do when there are none greater?"

"Boredly jot down everything you know and resign to the fact that nothing ever truly changes no matter how powerful you are?" Felina looks up at the statue and frowns a little. "I really don't know, it's a good point. Thanks for the info...and Mara's in room fourteen if you'd like to go see her."

Kaishen nods. "Thank you. I have a friend from the ether plane who has agreed to aid us in our dilemma, should we decide to challenge the wizard. He will be here today at some point." The wraith closes his eyes, thinking. "He is hard to miss. You will know him for his white hair and girlish face." The wraith vanishes then, heading off to see to Mara-kuru.

Felina stiffens severely at that. Please...please please please tell me that I'm just exceedingly paranoid of that particular bastard and that you don't mean Radivishe Moorn. 'Kay? Thanks. She sighs, looks up at the statue once more, bows to it respectfully, and then simply...walks. No destination in mind.

"Lady Felina?" A voice of sub-human qualities, nurturing in its honey-sweetness, calls from one edge of the gardens as the Serinian starts to step off of the area. Mother Blue floats at a quick clip towards her, tendrils waving. "Is it you?"

"It is." Felina stops. "Hi, Great Mother Blue. Is everything faring well for you?"

The healer stops in front of Felina, floating peacefully enough.

"Aside from the loss of master Metsaf, I suppose everything goes well. It was a sore blow to all of us. But you look so sad, child... were you truly so close?"

"It's been a long day..." Felina smiles wryly. She's really almost forgotten that that's part of the reason she's so down. "But...yeah. We were. I accept that his death was his choice and, in a way, I'm almost happy for him. But I do miss him."

Blue reaches out with a tendril, soothing Felina's shoulder in a most maternal fashion.

"I was there when he passed. He asked me very nicely not to try and save him... as if he was finished with his work. But that is depressing talk. What is it that ails you now, child?"

Felina smiles just a little at the tendril, appreciating it, but that fades after a moment. "If you don't already know, I probably shouldn't say. I needn't burden you further, Great Mother."

"Mine is the duty of burden, little Felina. You understand, I know." About this time, a commotion just short of an uproar sounds a few streets down. Blue looks off in that direction. "Now... what do you suppose that is?"

"Hopefully an interesting distraction." Hopefully someone who needs a small beating. But that's another story. Felina vanishes and appears on a rooftop near the noise on a knee, scanning for the source of the disturbance.

"... not a terribly patient man, beast. Why have you been shadowing me?"

Lashrael kicks and struggles against restraints that glow in soft green, her answers taking the form of swear words in four different languages. The girlish man with white hair, much to Felina's certain disgust, is the source of the glittering tendrils.

Felina's face takes several shades of white, but...she doesn't move either to hide or intervene. It's strangely satisfying to see Lashrael in such a tough spot. God knows she feels some degree of empathy. Not enough to help.

The sorcerer drags the mer down to eye level, glaring at her through ebony spheres that hardly seem to pass for eyes. "You can struggle all you like. Amuse me if you must, but I have better things to do than slap you around."

"Distrust..." the mer finally croaks, "... any large power source that appears is to be investigated..."

"Ah, an interview then." The tendrils fade into glitter and dust, allowing Lashrael to drop to the street, choking for air. "Get out of here. Tell your fool master that his curiosity may cost him his life."

The mer is quick to agree. Powerful she might be, but she's also smart enough to run the hell away when it's needed.

Felina sighs inwardly. Damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit. She sits on the side of the roof, one leg hanging off. "Unless you took a wrong turn on your way back to hell, I'm guessing you're the 'friend' Kaishen enlisted to help," she calls finally. The ears are fairly flat.

"I hear a twitter," Moorn says, mostly to himself, before glancing up to the source of the voice. His scowl weakens. The corner of his lips twitches. A chuckle. Outright laughter. And so on.

"This is entirely too good. How is it that my path continues to cross yours? Surely I cannot be here to aid you."

"If there's a god, I think it's just further evidence that he hates me. And Ahmin Rei-ono is my father's double and all." She couldn't be more irked with the laughter. Though he no doubt finds that still more amusing.

"Despite what your miniscule little brain has envisioned, I am here in a facility that will benefit you, then." He glances around, at the streets that are more or less returning to normal. "This plane is much more intriguing than the other. Where is your shadow? That muscle-head should be here to witness our beautiful reunion."

"If you mean Kaies, he died a few days ago." She's pondering what the results will be if she tries to kick his ass for heckling her.

His face actually falls a little bit. "Ah. Forgive me, then. It is never my intention to offend by accident. I would enjoy it if you would bring me up to speed on this... darling busines. If it is at all possible, I would love to be through with you by supper."

Well. Maybe this will be at least liveable. Felina jumps off of the roof. "We should take it off the streets...I know a house that will do fine. Most don't know he's back, and having people running around in circles isn't going to help anyone do anything."

Moorn's expression reveals nothing but morbid curiosity for these proceedings. "No frontal assault, I take it?" He heads along with her, though, having decided that anything capable of humbling the creatures here deserves a bit of care in the approach.

Felina's quiet on the way to Mara-kuru's Estate, hardly looking up from the ground a bit ahead. Today sucks.

---

Saea smiles, glances back at them. "Yes...it's actually an interesting physiological adjustment to my shoulder blades that allows them to." It's all he can do to keep from launching into the detailed, long-winded explanation. He raises one of them partly in demonstration. "My father was a very clever man in making anatomical adjustments."

Amilei gives a glance downwards. "Really?" she asks, catty and bemused in the same breath. "What other sort of surprises have you, Saea?"

Saea tilts his head a little. "What sort of surprises did you mean, Miss Amilei?" He doesn't understand.

Amilei giggles brightly at this. "Oh, you are so sweet." She leans over, and whispers exactly what she means in his ear, just as they enter the Orchard major.

Thus, the orchard sees Saea at a loss for words and very, very red when they enter.

Amilei, on the other hand, is practically strutting at his side, quite proud that she still has the ability to turn a man into a mute. "These gardens," she begins, changing the subject for his sake, "are maintained by Ochen'hime, who we call Mother Blue. I think you've met her, actually, a while back." She leads Saea to a place where green petaled roses with blue stems grow in high rows, apart from a stand of pink-trunked cherry trees.

"I remember her. She is the kind creature who has helped my sister on several occasions." He smiles a little, and touches one of th roses with a gentle finger, thoroughly fascinated with them. "I wonder if these could live on the ether plane."

"I'm not sure," Amilei admits, "I know little about plants. Making things grow is another story." She tilts her head, smiling at the white hair that now spills over her shoulder. "Mother Blue feeds the whole garden with fresh water, and the behemoths provide fertilizer." She grins. "Don't think about that too much. They have supremely ineffective stomachs."

Saea wrinkles his nose lightly. "Oh, dear." He laughs softly.

Amilei chuckles lightly, too. "Which is your favorite flower, Saea?"

"I like...many of them." He thinks. "I am especially fond of cherry blossoms, and calla lilies." He looks to Amilei. "What about yours, Miss?" That's one thing about Saea...he certainly isn't faking interest, and it shows.

Amilei bites her lip, fangs showing quite clearly, in thought for a moment. "A very special flower. I mean... I adore these roses... but..." she looks to the northern end of the orchards. "Would you like to see it?"

Saea smiles. "I would love to."

"Come this way, then," she tells him. Up the path they walk, past willows whose leaves drip continuously, truly weeping.  A staircase lined with violet ferns shows the end of the path, leading to a tight copse of fat-leafed lobelia trees. "It's just inside here," she lets him know, looking into the shade. "Are you comfortable going into the dark with me?"

"Of course." He blinks. "Why would I note be?"

The vampiress shakes her head. "That is what I hoped to hear, Saea." He arm slides down his, and her fingers thread between his. "It's in here," she says, sort of needlessly.

The inside of the copse is like a large chamber, dotted with short coniferous vegetation in blue and white leaves. At the center of the 'chamber' growing up from a clear, mirror-smooth pond, a plant stands about seven feet in height. Its dark red stems are lined with furry whisps, and its branches open at three different levels with pearly white lotus blossoms that literally glow against the darkness. It looks, in a way, like a bansai tree. The plant itself seems the only light in the copse.

Saea's crimson eyes lose much of their color in this light, but shine nonetheless with quiet wonder. "It is gorgeous, Miss Amilei...I have never seen a plant quite like this before."

She nods, spellbound as always. "Those blossoms, so white..." she looks at Saea, "... just like your hair. My hair, now, thanks to you. It is my favorite thing..." she squeezes his hand. "You reminded me of this flower."

Saea smiles a little, blushes. "I am...glad that you like it, Miss Amilei. Your hair, I mean," he adds quickly.

She returns his smile, warmly, blushing a little herself. "I love it. But..." she steps back a bit from him. "What do you think of it? It is... me?"

"I think that your hair should be whatever you most want it to be, Miss Amilei." He tilts his head. "I think that it looks attractive, but that is not the most important consideration."

"Oh?" Ameili ponders this. "I..." she blinks. "You've confounded me, Saea. But I'd like to hear what you mean." Still holding onto his hand, she sits down upon the cool earth about ten feet in front of the lotus. "Sit with me, and tell me what you mean?"

Saea looks down at her, smiles just a little, and sits down. It's a nice place, anyway. "I am...not quite sure how to explain, Miss Amilei." He ponders this for a few moments. "You said that these flowers are dear to you, yes?" He glances to the bush, very appreciative of its beauty.

The vampiress gives a little nod, turning her eyes away a bit. "So very dear, yes. My..." she closes her eyes. " My birth mother was a caretaker here. She used to take care of it, when it was a sapling."

Saea smiles, eyes softening. He can associate with that far more directly than she could know. "It is very much a part of you, then."

"I used to play right there," Amilei points to a spot just offside of the bush, "asking her when it would become a baby." She chuckles then, nostalgia bringing something other than pain to her for once. "But... how is my hair related to this?" She looks at him, eyes shining with tears that didn't quite have enough reason to form.

Saea's eyes take on concern at her tears. "These flowers are very much a part of you, then. And you took your hair color from. So...your hair is far more...'you'...than anything else could ever have been, now that it embodies your flowers."

"That is true..." she smiles at him, blinking away those half-formed tears. "You're a sensitive boy, too, aren't you? I imagine that Felina must be overjoyed to have you as her brother." It isn't that she's making small talk, but the fact is that she's beginning to feel a little more floaty than the sight of this bush would suggest, and it is a sensation that is best ebbed slightly for the moment. She likes Saea, or what she knows of him, quite a bit. "Are you the younger? It is so hard to tell with powerful beings."

Saea had blushed a little at the first part, but then shakes his head. "No...I will reach thirteen centuries in a few years. My sister is approaching her first."

"Wow..." the vampiress smiles up at him, a bright, interested smile. "It would certainly explain your wisdom... I suppose I shouldn't refer to you as 'such a handsome boy' any more, eh?" She shifts her position a bit then, and gives his cheek a pat again. "Saea, how do you keep your skin so smooth at your age?"

He laughs a little, blushing though a little more comfortable than he has been. "Being immortal is a fine first step, Miss Amilei."

"Then I have nothing to worry about." She smiles again, but more subtlely, and gazes upon the lotus. "You're so very polite. It is sweet of you, I think, but... I would like it very much if you only called me Amilei." She leans against his side, looking at him through the best kitty-cat expression that her cloudy eyes can manage. "Please?"

Saea's surprised, but smiles a little, curling a wing around her a bit. It's nearly automatic...his sister sits with him like this, sometimes. "If you like Mi...Amilei, I will certainly do that."

She starts a little at the wing, but then relaxes. "I feel so comfortable with you. I've only known you for a few minutes, but... you are so much like my father, that I can't help but feel right near you." A pause. "He is quiet at home, but I always get the idea that he knows everything that goes on, everywhere. Nothing ever distresses him."

Saea smiles and looks to the water. "I imagine we live similarly, in a way. Your father sounds...very much like Tel-tiono. Very much."

Amilei turns again, lightly snuggling her head against the embossed material of his vest-thing. She feels almost as if she could fall asleep, though simply due to comfort and not tiredness. "Would you... tell me about him? This Tel-tiono?"

Saea glances down to her, surprised, then smiles, almost brightly, and looks to the flowers, eyes quieting. "My father was...a very powerful man, but even more, a very noble man. He was very wise, brilliant even...there seemed nothing he did not know. And yet he was always willing to listen to my sister or me whenever either of us needed it...and sought us out himself if we needed it and would not admit such." He runs his hands over the grass, thinking. "He was a noble man, honorable and compassionate above all else. Not long before my creation, he was released from an entire century's imprisonment...the charge was treason by way of refusing to destroy many billions of people to ensure the safety of a greater number." He pauses at that. A slight smile threads across his momentarily somber face again. "He did it. He saved them all, as he knew he could, even though it meant such awful things for him. Because he felt that a universe in which one life did not matter was not something he would have part in creating. And then he created me, and later, my sister, and was a dear father to both of us. Never a master or a creator...simply our father. " He looks down at the water again, a tear sliding down the cheek opposite Amilei. He's both happy and sad.

The vampiress glances up at his face, though she's been looking at him more or less throughout the speech. She reaches up, and strokes the tear away with the edge of her thumb. "Now I know where Felina gets her sense of duty... he sounds like a fantastic person, Saea." She smiles at him, the light flickering in her eyes. "I think I know from where you acquired that trait now, too."

Saea smiles at her, a mixture of grateful and sheepish, and looks back to the flowers. "My sister...is a very brave girl. Tel-tiono told me on more than one occasion that she is very much like him at a more comparable age. I..." he doesn't know how to respond to her compliment. "I am the weak one. Though I appreciate your compliment, it is quite kind."

Amilei thinks this over for a moment. "She is exceptional. I've never seen a person to match her... type." The vampiress sits up a bit, not breaking physical contact just yet. "That flower," she smiles again at the lotus, "the way it grew was so interesting to me. It started as one lonely bud, white, but stained with gray... until a second bud grew. Then it became pure white, and grew tall, and proud." She looks up at him again. "Saea. I hope I do not offend, if I ask whether you are... attached?"

Saea looks to the flower in question, intrigued, as he thinks over Amilei's query. He would have no idea what she meant if he didn't sense the word's connotation. He shakes head, pause, then nods, then just blinks. "Ehm...I am 'attached' to my sister, and I associate with the other Guardians. But since our father died, she is really all."

Amilei, who is actually a pretty popular person in Wu Yuan and a few of the surrounding territories, can't help but feel a little sad to hear this. "You have no friends, allies of your own?" The question is posed, not out of any attempt to change the subject, but out of simple curiosity, and a willingness to help resolve that shortage if he's willing.

He thinks about that, shakes his head just a little. "Well...some of my sister's and father's friends are mine as well. But I have none of... 'my own.' I think." He blinks.

Amilei sits up then, leaning on one hand, but still pretty close to him. "As of today, you do." She smiles at him.

He smiles in return, quite genuinely. "Thank you, Mi...Amilei. You do as well."

Her eyes lower a little. "I think it is starting to get a little too warm in here," she admits with a sly smile. "Where would you like to go now? I'm afraid if I stay cuddled up with you all that much longer, I may be inclined to say things... that I'm not sure need said yet."

Saea smiles. "If you wish, Amilei." He's completely oblivious to what sort of things she might mean--doesn't have even a guess--but she had said that she doesn't want to say them, so he won't press. He straightens his wing to stand up, re-folding it and offering her a hand up.

Amilei accepts it gladly, getting to her feet and patting herself down for dirt. "Such a gentleman. So... shall we visit the rest of the orchard? Are you hungry? Tired? There is much to do and see here."

"I am fine, Amilei. Curious to see the rest of the gardens, perhaps, but it is cold." He doesn't think to mention that he's protected from it, himself. That's not his concern.

"There are ways to keep warm, you know." She grins that sly grin again, and heads for the stairs. "I believe there is a heather field with our names it."

Saea smiles and follows. "It sounds lovely." He loves plants.

Amilei takes his arm again and leads him out, towards the far west of the gardens, past the few inhabitants of the city brave enough to step out into the winter chill. An elderly couple of lycanthropes stands near the entrance of the heather field, whose flowers are colored overall in a way that gives the field a striped pattern of violet and white. A succubus passing by, who is dressed quite warmly despite her species, gives Saea a suggestive wink. The snow that's falling lends a surreal atmosphere to the place, even more so than usual, and Amilei can't help but feel a little lost in time.

"This plane really can be lovely," Saea notes after awhile, nodding in aggreance with himself. He usually just pops in during some calamity for a well-pulvarized sister, so this is something entirely new.

She glances at him. "It certainly can. But... I imagine your realm is quite beautiful too..."

"I don't know, Amilei. I have been there, and it isn't all that impressive." 

Amilei sighs. So much for moments. "Kaishen, you shouldn't just appear like that!"

The wraith stands just offside of them, arms crossed, expression somewhat bemused. "Amilei, are you courting already?"

Saea blinks. "We were simply walking. Amilei was showing me the orchards." He remembers Kaishen, of course...has always been intimidated by him, too, though his sister seems to like him.

"Yes, I can see that." He grins his spectral grin at Amilei, who looks away. She isn't terribly pleased with this... interruption. "I came to see about my friend, Moorn. Is he still about?"

Saea bites his lip, shakes his head. "He helped to defeat my father's double, and then things were...as per usual. He tried to kill my sister and then left with no trace."

The wraith cringes. "I was afraid he might. It's impossible to read how he will react to a situation. I must apologize that I was gone, I had business elsewhere." 

Amilei still doesn't look at him.

"My sister is at her double's home, but asleep now," Saea notes. He wonders at Amilei's discomfiture.

"Saea," she softly says to the winged man, "please take me home. I do not feel so well, suddenly."

Kaishen tilts his head. He's a bit perplexed at the way she's reacting, too.

Saea blinks, a little surprised but more concerned. "Certainly, Miss Amilei...you mean to the inn?"

The vampiress nods, not trusting her voice. Her mind, though, is flooded with warnings about Kaishen, though she's not sure whether Saea can hear them.

Saea blinks, confused, worried, and maybe a little fearful, too. He glances up to Kaishen. "We...should go back to the inn." He's awful at hiding discomfiture. Truly.

Kaishen's expression sours a bit, though he nods. "Tell your sister that I should speak with her before she leaves this plane. I have a few more things she should know."

Saea nods, though feeling guilty both for distrusting Kaishen without knowing why and also for thinking that maybe he shouldn't distrust Amilei either. "She may be asleep awhile...she is very tired."

"These are not pressing matters, not terribly. You can find me here, when she's awake." That said Kaishen vanishes in the smokey translucence that is characteristic of him. Amilei looks at Saea again.

"Please, let's go. I am cold..."

Saea nods. Though confused and conflicted, he cups a wing over her head against the snow that's beginning to fall, and starts back towards towards the wretching dragon, quiet.

---

After the morning's faded into afternoon, ad then nighttide, Felina appears in the gardens beside a certain albino, putting a hand on his shoulder as he watches the people go by.

Saea looks up at her and smiles. "Good evening, Nightshadow. Did you sleep well?"

She smiles at his apparently talkative mood. "I did, Saea, thank you. Did you have a nice day?"

He smiles and nods, indicating this and that telepathically.

"Ah...that was very nice of you." She's not sure how she feels about the blood thing. But oh well. She won't hold it against either of them. And Saea seems happy about it.

It's a little while before anything of note occurs. It's night, it's cold, and most folks are snuggled in at home. Monrovia shows up about the time the snow starts falling again, dressed in soft rose that complements her dark skin and hair nicely, and obviously looking for them.

"H-hello," she begins, "I was looking for the other Saea."

Felina smiles at her. "Well, you certainly found him. It's good to see you, I'd been worried."

Monrovia manages a tight little smile. "Thank you, I was alright." She glances at Saea, regarding him thoroughly. "Saea the ether, yes? I came to ask you, since Amilei has not returned home, if you had seen where she is. I am staying at the house of Korliss, and he worries."

Saea shakes his head. "She asked some of my blood, and I allowed her to take it. After that, she wished to rest in her room at the inn. As far as I know, she is still there." He searches that way, then blinks. "...she is not still there."

Felina's brow creases.

"It is strange that she would stay gone so long," Monrovia murmurs. "Especially when so much has happened wrong."

"Wrong, Saea?" Felina looks to the nether version. "Something new, or the last week in general?"

"Oh, she has had a very bad week. She has lost Metsaf, her legs were broken, she was tortured, she had a fight with Kaishen, she had her wrists cut open, she... well... you see." Monrovia sighs lightly. "She has been staying home because she is afraid."

Felina closes her eyes and nods. "Yeah. It tends to add up." Opens them again. "We'll help you look, if Saea's not too tired."

"Not at all." He stands up, face worried.

Felina's a little surprised that he says that aloud, and nods. She looks back to his double. "Have you checked with Kaishen?"

Monrovia shakes her head. "I am sorry, Felina, but I have not seen Kaishen recently. He has been gone so much. Mara said she was worried because Amilei's... energy?... was not there suddenly."

Felina narrows her eyes a little. "That's...never a good sign." She looks to her brother, whose eyes are far away, pupils darting just a little. They focus after a few moments. He looks legitiamtely worried now, and shakes his head.

"Saea can't find her either." Felina looks back to the elemental. "He's a sharper telepath than me, that's not a good sign. We may have to do this the old fashioned way...let's head over to the inn and see what we can see."

Monrovia nods. "I should go and get Mara-Kuru. She will meet you there." She smiles, then, a slightly creepy version of Saea's shy smile, and heads back towards the keep. When she moves, she doesn't walk... it is almost as if her body melts into a dozen skittering shadows and creeps at great speed down the road... which is, in fact, even more creepy.

Felina looks to her brother. "I'm sure she's fine, Saea. And if she's not, we'll make it that..." at that point he's gone. Felina blinks, and follows, bound for Amilei's room.

---

Felina's quite serious when she appears in the orchards. This is not a person to be taken lightly.

Moorn is there, just walking along the gardens a few rows down, hands clasped behind his back. His face is oddly serene, especially for him. If he notices Felina, there's no indication of it, not really.

Felina takes a slow breath. This is one of the most stupid things she's ever done, really. She falls into step beside him quietly, waiting for acknowledgement.

For a while, he simply observes the plants and flowers, paying her no mind. At least, until they pass a patch of tiger lillies, at which point he seems to become bored.

"So, are you going to take the first swing, or should I?"

"Is that going to be necessary, then?"

The sorcerer shrugs. "I though we might skip the small talk this time. That is why you've come, is it not?"

"Actually, I came to see if you're really planning anything that would deserve it. You know I don't attack out of the blue." He does know. Damnit.

He glances at her, a bemused smile settling upon his girlish face. "You know that I know. But do I look like an evil scheme calendar to you, Felina? Or a bulletin board? Let me check my schedule."

"You don't usually have a problem talking in exhaustion," she points out. Of course, that's because he's always finished the execution by that point. "I know you're still planning to take Senowin someone, and I know that you set Kaishen up. I know that you took a great deal of information about the Derrias and made a show of almost blowing me up with it. And I know that the Derrias has cut off its support of you."

"I should hope so. I did blast their library into a crater." He walks along, gazing half-attentively at the flowers. "I didn't know that you would be there when it went up, but I can't complain. As for Senowin... of course I'm going to take her. I think I deserve her."

"She's just another person, not a body I can sell up the river. Why can't you just take a runic cyclograph of her?"

"That was the idea, before Kaishen decided that it would be prudent to attack a non-combatant." He glances at her again, bored with the prettiness of flowers. "Come on, Felina. You know full well if I showed up asking to see her so that I could duplicate her, you would assume that I was up to something naughty and try to punish me."

"That's because things have a funny habit of blowing up when you're around."

"Yes, well, that is their business. So you see, I would've ended up threatening someone, and then we would fight, and I would probably let her go for then. I thought I would think it through a bit more this time." Moorn holds up one hand, glancing at the palm of it. "I have your sword, by the way."

Felina's expression changes just a little for a few moments before she rights it again. "I don't suppose you intend to just give it back no strings attached, huh?"

"Are you really as gullible as you sound right now?"

Felina scowls. "Do you have it, or not?"

"Of course I have it. I'll give it back to you, if you deliver Senowin to me." He scowls right back. "You are so ugly when you do that. Nobody likes a frowning Puss."

"And I suppose I'm pretty otherwise this particular hour? As much as I care about that sword, it's not worth another person's safety. Taking a reading of her physiology isn't great, but I can't do that if you're simply going to take her away."

"You are, normally. So if you know what I'm going to do, and you know what you are going to do about it, then why are you here?"

"Because I dont' know that just yet. Won't you just settle for a cyclograph like you'd originally intended?"

"I changed my mind. I think I'd rather have Senowin. She is such a little darling, don't you think? All curves and innocence."

"Now you're just being an ass," the Guardian observes.

"It makes you squirm, so I enjoy it." He turns, facing her fully. "It may be for the best, actually. I'm fairly sure that Kaishen will try to achieve some half-assed form of revenge against me, so I should not hang around this plane for too long. I'll return your worthless little pointy in exchange for her cyclograph, and be on my way."

Felina pauses just a moment at that. "We'll take it," she states finally. "I'll encode a sensadia spell so that it's impossible for us to alter or remove anything and prove we didn't. But we'll take the cyclograph."

"Aww... what's wrong, Felina? Don't trust me to trust you?" He smirks dutifully at her. "Have her ready, somewhere that I can find her easily. And remember, if you or any of your idiot nether comrades try to pull something against me, I'll be forced to respond in kind."

"Duly noted. But we'll have a cyclograph. Not Senowin."

"Then we have no deal." The sorcerer sets to walking again, purposelessly, his hand idly lighting upon a daisy and setting its petals aflame.

Felina stays where she is. "Why? You'll have what you're after."

"Can you perform the runes you need to do this, Felina?" He stops, but doesn't look back.

"Yes. And my brother certainly can, he'll be able to correct any potential errors."

"Fine. Deliver it, and if the information that I need is all present, then I will give back your sword. I'm finished quibbling with you."

"Fine. I'll get back to you when that's finished." She turns and walks the other way, letting out a slow breath. She's still trying to wrap her head around their not decking it out right now.

The sorcerer, for his part, doesn't watch her leave. He's still trying to figure out why she had come to him instead of preparing for an attack. It doesn't strike him as very 'Guardian' like. She certainly isn't called 'Diplomat Topaz'.  Of course he will still drop in on Senowin. Nothing in their deal suggested that he couldn't. But that is for later.