Not a waste, exactly, but barren nonetheless. Hundreds of miles of architecture exists here, polished blocks of grey stone written with runes and some grafitti. There are mountains here as well, but they are mostly drilled through by whatever created this abysmal, open air temple.

---

Wu Yuan
Yuan Orchards
Korliss's Keep
Mara-Kuru's Estate
The Wretching Dragon

---

Felina's hood is up when she appears somewhat removed the crowd of signatures, inconspicuous as possibly and senses wickedly alert for signs of danger.

The palace itself stands in the middle of a crater. The landscape is fresh and verdant, and very very ether-plain esque. There's a lot of hubbub inside, and lot of smoke rising from the the vents of the castle as well... but no signs of danger, no hint of anything threatening. Korliss's signature is fairly apparent, as is Thran's, but then, she should be able to see Thran from where she stands anyway.

Felina approaches quietly, keeping her head down and trying to keep from getting underfoot...considering her height versus that of many of Wu Yuan's residents. It's Korliss she goes looking for...Thran is also good to ask about what's going on, except the answers would all be boomed and the quiet little joy of not not being bothered by well-intentioned people who know of her will be gone.

Korliss is standing just inside the palace gate, apparently speaking to a vendor of some kind. The innards of the place looks like a bazaar, or a tent festival of some kind. Colored booths with canopies are set up all over the place, and people are selling food, decorations... all sorts of things. No one seems to notice Felina at first.

Her ears area back...but with interest. She looks around quietly...walks up near Korliss, but stays quiet, waiting until he's finished.

The elder vampire is not long in his business, and comes away with an undoubtedly cute kitten plush. The vendor, a lamia girl of about ten years, is more than happy to take his money. He turns to head out, but stops in his tracks when he catches sight of Felina.

"Oh! Hello, Felina. I wasn't expecting to see you here today," he greets her in his kindly old voice.

She smiles at him, a genuinely friendly bit. "I hadn't expected to see me here, either. What exactly is going on? This is quite the impressive crowd...except Mara, I don't sense a soul in town or your keep."

"Oh," Korliss nods in understanding. "This is the Festival of the Summer Rose. Every year at this time, the three cities on this island gather here to mingle a bit." He holds out his arm. "Would you like to walk around it with me? Amilei is... busy elsewhere, so I could use the company."

Felina nods, takes his arm. "It would be my pleasure, thank you." She smiles.

Korliss covers her hand with his, holding the kitten in the crook of his elbow. With not-quite-as-old-as-he-used-to-be steps he leads Felina about the bazaar, where several familiar residents smile and wave at one or both of them.

"Oh." He shows the kitten to her. "For Amilei. She has been rather out of sorts for some time now. Now, what brings you here, lady Felina?"

"It's darling. I'm sure she'll love it." Felina's actually quite interested in the toy. She's never owned one herself. But then she looks to Korliss. "I actually came here trying to track down the double of a dead girl. There's an opportunity to resurrect her with the help of a...'god,' for lack of a better word, of time, so there's little chance of screwing anything up in terms of fate or universal fabric or any such nonsense. I have mixed feelings about it, to be honest, but...it's a favor for her father."

"Always nasty business for you, eh?" Korliss shakes his head. He knows how tough it must be for Felina, to always be on the run from this catastrophe or that evil being, but he also knows how difficult it is for a father to lose his daughter. Even though Amilei had eventually come back to him, Felina's doing also. 

"Felina. Would you like one?" He holds up the toy, gazing at her knowingly with his milky eyes.

Felina grins a little, though her cheeks colour. If she didn't know better, she would swear sometimes that he's telepathic. "That's very kind of you, really...but I wouldn't know what to do with one." She glances here and there as they walk, rather interested. A community fair where she actually has the time to pay attention is also a fairly new thing to her.

"I will get one for you," Korliss nods. "Then you can figure it out. So... tell me about this person you are looking for?"

FElina doesn't know what to say to this, really...finally manages a sheepish though grateful smile, and switches quickly to talking about her goal. "Well...the deceased is a girl named Mi'ehna. She's a telepath, though whether that's fully natural I'm not entirely sure...the one in our world, had one experimental energy infusion early in life that tweaked her power somehow or other, and another later by that oh-so-pleasant Radivishe Moorn character that enabled her to absorb energy from other creatures. I sense her around here somewhere, though I haven't tried hard to track her highly specifically just yet. I wanted to find you and figure out what all this was."

Korliss blinks. "So that is why he's here. That man was asking questions earlier, but no one seemed to know what he was looking for. He may still be about." The elder vampire smiles a wizened old smile. "Pity he did not ask me. I think I know who you are talking about."

Felina's eyes brighten. "That's wonderful. What can you tell me about her, that I know what to expect?"

Korliss stops at a booth, another one selling plushes. This one is slightly smaller than the other, and seems to specialize in exotic animal plushes (including one that looks just like Thran). "Choose one, Felina," Korliss tells her, "I want to get that behemoth for you anyway. And... she was Amilei's friend years ago. Her name is Isis. Complete psychopath."

"The behemoth is darling...thank you so much." Felina smiles. Psychopath...niiice...okay, will work with that.

Korliss smiles at her. "Now you choose one." The tender at the counter is more than happy to rid Korliss of his ample funds, as evinced by the smile on all three of his faces. "Isis is dangerous. Not like your Moorn in that she is unpredictable. She is not the type to harm a friend, but if she doesn't know you, she might well hurt you. And she has violent mood swings."

Felina smiles a little. "The behemoth is very generous itself, Korliss...I would feel awkward." Very true. She ponders the bit about the girl she needs to meet. "Hm...Isis doesn't sound entirely unlike Mi'ehna...though I think Mi'ehna is nice girl somewhere under all the infusions. Turning a blind eye to the fact that she very nearly beat me to death not long after we first met, of course."

"Perhaps. And yet I was always convinced that Isis was born... wrong. Like part of her heart, the figurative one, was missing. And I think the lady would like that panther on the wall, there." Korliss points. "I am not practiced at having hospitalities refused."

A signature not unlike Mi'ehna's has separated from the crowd, just about now, and is wandering around to their north.

Felina glances that way mentally, but grins at Korliss. "You do realize that I'll remind you of this next time you try to dissuade me from giving you one of those foul-tasting life energy things, right?" Only has three left to go, by her count, until she's matched his initial sacrifice. It's been a long time, yes, but they're pretty widely spaced. Very temporary damage done to her, since she's ageless and has a life signature that truly replenishes itself.

"And I was hoping you had forgotten," Korliss chuckles quietly, taking the paid-for panther from the three-headed freak. "A woman should have presents given to her now and again," he says, as if quoting holy writ.

The signature is getting closer, though not in an obvioulsy approaching sort of way. More like, wanderin in that general direction.

Felina smiles, accepts the plushes, and hugs him lightly. "Thank you, Korliss. It's very sweet of you." She's gotten fonder of him in the last few years.

Korliss warms a bit at that, as it truly a lovely feeling. Felina does occupy a special place in his own heart, very much like Mara's, only... Felina is closer to his wavelength than the chaotic Mara. 

The signature stops, but a moment later it is not alone. A certain feminine sorcerer's life force manifests right beside it. It isn't long before people come hurrying away, and the sounds of a fight emenate from that way. 

Korliss sighs, and steps out of Felina's arms. "It never fails."

"Why can't he ever approach things like a sane human being?" Felina queries. Sighs. "Thank you again for the creatures I'll see you later!" Her voice is prattling along quite fast. The stuffed animals vanish just a moment before she does, to somewhere they're less likely to get blown up.

She reappears a little off to the side, hand on the hilt of her sword but not quite ready to leap into the fray until she has a better idea of what's going on.

Radivishe Moorn is standing off to the side of a booth, short one entire arm. If he notices that there's a gaping hole there, he is not displaying a great deal of concern for it. Across from him there stands a woman of about five feet in height, whose hair is a shining platinum blonde, and whose eyes match it perfectly.

"Felina, you're just in time," Moorn calls to her, eyes never leaving the girl. "She isn't going to be all that easy to convince."

The girl, obviously Isis, takes two short, sprinting steps before vanishing, reappearing in front of the sorcerer with the blunt tip of her solid white quarterstaff jamming into his groin. Yup. She fights like Mi'ehna, too, and even a fellow like Moorn cannot help but cross his eyes at that.

It's all Felina can do to keep from bursting into tear-drawing laughter at that, and does snicker before she can contain it. She still looks extremely amused as she takes her hand off her sword and raises a finger questioningly. "Excuse me, Miss Isis? May I have a moment?"

Isis looks at Felina, eyes wide, a bemused sneer on her face. "What do you want and how do you know my name? You're not Mara." She looks at Moorn, who is quite on his knees, and smiles. "Best seven out of twelve, then?" And she kisses him, aggressively.

"I'm Felina Deyono, Mara's ether double. I know your name because I asked Korliss about you. If it's okay, I'd like to explain what my dear old friend here probably didn't take the time to and make a proposal...and besides, I'll buy you a drink to listen over." She has an easy, casual calmness going. She's actually in a fairly good mood after seeing what had just transpired, so she's genuinely not extremely tense.

"Fine," Isis agrees, "just let me bring him. We're tied." This version of Mi'ehna, who is actually quite a bit more made-up and exotic looking than her ether counterpart, reaches down and grabs Moorn by the jacket, pulling him bodily to his feet. "And we have to finish."

Felina grins. "I look forward to that."

Moorn shakes his head, eyes uncrossing. "Damn. And I was so close that time." He smiles his wicked smile, despite the ache in his unmentionables. "She's amusing, Felina. Have you tried diving into her mind yet? Power levels? I cannot read her at all, more's the pity."

Isis giggles. "That's because you are just a little bitch. Don't forget, if I win, you belong to me. So don't go forgetting!" She looks at Felina, her expression perfectly angelic. "Where are we going to drink?"

"I haven't. I'm not familiar with the fair, Miss Isis. Any preferences?" first bit's to Moorn, second to...well, yeah.

Isis shrugs. "I don't like alcohol. Doesn't Amilei have a tavern? Or has she still not gotten over trying to kill herself again?"

Felina blinks. Well. That's certainly interesting news...poor Amilei. She really needs to keep in touch with her nether friends more. An instantaneous query goes out to her double... "Hey, Mara, where's a good place to get a non-alcoholic drink around here?"

"My house," Mara-kuru is quick to respond. "All of the vendors will be at the festival, or if they aren't, then they will have closed up for the holiday. I almost have everything out of place, now! Didja find a boytoy or something?"

"A girl named Isis and Radivishe Moorn, actually."

"Oh gosh, Felina, I didn't know that you were a swinger. I am not sure that I approve of your tastes, though, my love."

"It's business, Mara, and I've kept them waiting probably four seconds for a response. Do you want me to just fine a vendor here?"

"No, you can bring them here if you like."

"Thanks, Mara."

"Hey. Are we going to stand here all day?" Isis tugs on Moorn's coat as she walks towards Felina, dragging him along. For his part, he looks as amused as he does irritated with her dragging him along.

"Sorry. I was making some inquiries of Mara." Felina smiles sheepishly. "She says we're welcome to grab somethign at her house, if that's okay."

"Lovely," Moorn smirks, "I like Mara."

Isis nods cheerfully. "Me too! She is a fantastic kisser. Come on, let's go see her." She trudges off that way with Moorn in tow, not particularly interested if Felina is following.

Felina scratches her head...smirks a little. And Mara should be surprised at the concept of her being a swinger...why?

"Isis, dear, it would be much faster to do it this way," Moorn smirks again, and before she answers the two of them vanish for Mara-Kuru's Estate.

"Felina, when you come here, watch out. I think the front lawn is on fire again."

Felina snickers, and vanishes to follow.