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Chapter 7
When Aideen came to she found herself in a bed over hung with curtains so
that it was dark. When she took the time to reorient herself she remembered
where she was supposed to be that that she had shut down her own mind to
keep her untrained talents from transporting her someplace else. In
remembering all of that she called out for White Blaze and was reassured
that it was not all a dream yet when she saw his head poke through the
curtains. When he saw that she was awake and fully aware, he pulled back
the curtains and she saw that she was in a castle room and that there was a
servant there as well as a guard at the door.
The servant girl walked up to the bed upon seeing that the girl was now
awake and bowed slightly. "Lady Aideen, I am Tria, I was told to inform the
Lady Kayura when you have awakened. If that is alright with you I shall do
so now."
"Well Tria, I think that I had better not keep the Hostess waiting on me.
Please inform her that I am awake and in full control of my facilities."
She smiled as the serious faced young lady walked briskly out of the room
and she found herself wondering if there were still many of the Dark spirits
here in the Dynasty as she felt in the memory circle.
She found that she did not have long to wait as the door opened again with
Tria, Sekmet, and Cale. Tria addressed her as Cale and Sekmet took up guard
positions on each side of her. Blaze was behind her and Tria took the front
as she spoke. "The Lady Kayura will see you now."
As Aideen walked towards their destination she looked up at Cale and Sekmet
and could not help but ask. "Beggin' your pardons, but why is it that you
are escorting me and not one of the regular guards that there seem to be so
many of??"
Sekmet looked over at Cale and as he nodded he looked at Aideen he
explained. "The Lady Kayura has not been in charge of the Dynasty for to
long yet, and she is still rooting out the traitors in her guard retinue.
It is at Dais' suggestion that for your general safety, even though we know
that you and the Tiger can take car of yourselves in a fight, that we
accompany you until you become used to the Dynasty and it's ways before we
let you wander around unguarded." Sekmet returned to his watch as he
thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye and Tria added in.
"If it makes you feel any better about this, the Lady Mia is able to be
traced anywhere she may go, but she is still escorted to where ever she may
need to go in the castle and is guarded at all times by the guards that she
knows and that she and Lady Kayura trust."
Aideen felt better about the precautions taken for her safety when she heard
Cale chuckle. "We are also to escort you for the other reason being that
Mia would turn us into roast Seasonal on toast if anything were to happen to
you while you were under our protection and none of the Ronin's were here to
take over in a fight." She had to grin at that because Mia did not look
like some one who could take on much of any one. But apparently these two
had learned the hard way to never underestimate any one in a potentially
violent situation with guardianship under question.
She noticed that there were some things about the castle that had changed
from the one in her memories and could only assume that with the new Dynasty
there would be quite a few changes in the winds as the bad chaff was sorted
out and the infrastructure was rebuilt. When they reached Kayura's chambers
Dais was there with her and she stood up to welcome Aideen. "Welcome, You
had us worried there when you passed out in the middle of the Teleport until
Dais was able to tell us that you are only partially trained in your many
abilities. I am certainly glad that you know when to shut down for safety
reasons but next time you have to do that please warn us?"
Kayura smiled and nodded to Tria, dismissing her and invited her to sit at
the table. "You must be hungry since you slept for the better portion of
the day recovering."
Aideen just looked at her in surprise at the mention of time and then looked
at the food on the table. It smelled delicious and sat down. As she
started eating she noted that the taste of the food was slightly off, when
she inquired of it, Kayura looked at Sekmet for the answer.
"The Ronin's as well as Mia and Yulie mentioned that too the first time they
ate here. But that is only because I have laced their first meals with an
anti-venom that will render you immune to most of the poisons that can be
found here in the dynasty. Consider it a gift and a precaution in your
favor."
Aideen nodded and continued to eat although she was still a little wary of
things in this strange place, she knew that the possible friendship forged
here as well as the threat of roast Seasonal on toast would keep the
Warlords on the up and up with her.
"I have found it a little unusual that I have not seen this Yulie person yet
that you have mentioned. Is he the boy that held that odd jewel in the last
battle with Talpa??"
Cale winced in memory of the annoying little brat that was now turning into
a responsible young man in his training in the martial arts with the
warlords. He had mastered most of the staff Kata's that Kayura had to teach
him, but he still had problems with his blade Kata's. It was in this that
it surprised everyone that Sekmet had the most patience with the boy,
walking him through each stance and correcting it as necessary until he did
it right.
"He is in the arena currently practicing his staff Kata's until one of us
can go down and monitor him on his sword Kata's and then his sparring." Was
the short answer from the short-tempered Seasonal of Corruption. Aideen had
to smile to herself as she remembered that she had to practice a Kata of her
own if she were to keep her Dirk skills up to snuff for competition.
"If you do not mind, I would like to spar with him after I have a chance to
run through my Kata with my dirks." Dais, Sekmet and Cale all smiled as
Kayura agreed to the arrangement and scheduled it for that very day. The
guys thought that she would probably be a beginner with the Katas even
though she was good with the blade when she was a Wildling.
With that out of the way they settled down to the business of setting the
tracer spell into their guest With her permission they all agreed that
with her Wildling heritage the only way a Tracer spell was going to be able
to be set with her shifting auras was to set it into a branding. Now all
that remained was to decide on the design of the brand for it was something
that she was going to have to live with for the rest of her life where as
with Mia all they had to do was give her a tracer element and the spell
activated over her and she no longer needed the element. Should the time
come the spell could be removed and Mia would have no mark for it.
As they took her to the room where the branding would be done and the
Casting would follow, Aideen started to get nervous about things. White
Blaze had been asked to stay behind just incase something happened and he
went defensive and interrupted the spell for some reason. Kayura was in
front of her and Cale and Sekmet were in their former positions on either
side of her so neither of the three could really see her get nervous.
However Dais was behind her and as she started tensing up from the thoughts
of what branding entailed he reached out with his unarmored hand and placed
it on her shoulder hoping to reassure her and keep her from getting so
worked up that she turned Wildling.
He had only seen one Wildling in action in his time in the dynasty and all
he really remembered about the event was that there were very few guards
that would go around the man any more afterwards because most of the ones
that did look after him were dead in the struggle to get him restrained
until he could calm down.
Aideen felt the hand and understood its purpose even though she knew that
Dais was still in the process of changing from what he once was. She
appreciated the gesture and reached up and touched his hand in thanks and
was surprised. The first time they had contact she did not notice anything
because she was on sensory overload at the time. Now she had time to think
about things and was surprised to feel that his hand was smooth and not
rough or calloused from wearing armor or wielding weapons for the several
hundred years that he had been a Warlord.
Dais was also surprised as he never expected to be acknowledged in his
efforts, but he could feel through the contact that she was starting the
calm down again and so left her alone with her thoughts as they entered the
chamber. As they had already explained the process of branding to her she
knew what to do, but it did not ease her fears as she made her way to the
table where she would be strapped down for their safety during the Branding
process.
It was supposed to be quick since Kayura would be heating the Brand with a
spell so there would be no waiting for the brand to heat. However she was
still shaking as Cale and Sekmet and Dais all worked to strap her arms and
feet down to the table so that she was face down. It was agreed that the
design would be placed on her left shoulder blade area.
As she looked from Kayura, who was focused on the spells of heating the
branding iron and the Tracer energies, to Cale and Sekmet, who were at the
door one guarding from with in and the other guarding from without. She
finally looked at Dais, who had completely armored down to his usual attire
and was looking at her watching carefully for the signs of her turning
Wildling in her nervousness. As her hand spasmodically opened and closed,
he took her hand in his and the warmth of his grip reassured her again that
all would be well.