mogget_cat | To the Old Kingdom

(From here.)

The door he gallantly opened for her opened out into gently lapping waters, lit from overhead by a multitude of stars uncountable. So many together, they give off a glow stronger than the light of the full moon, singing softly of promised rest for those below. The insubstantial spirits of the dead rise from the waters, some quickly, eager for their eternal rest, and some slowly, fighting the pull even as they rise, foot by foot.

The two of them step down slightly into the water that only rises to their ankles, and Yrael closes the door behind them.

"As you can see," Yrael smiles. "I have been practicing even when not at the Milliways lake."

Despite the fact that the waters of Death aren't exactly the same as other water.

Current Mood: amused

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"Well, Highness, a broken arm and leg don't really constitute a "safer" recourse..." she teased, following.

Oh...my...the shiny...

"It's going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack" she noted simply.

"How was I to know the grand visier couldn't hold his liquor?" He says, defensively.

He wanders through, skirting the large piles of gold coins and the occasional trinket. There are some small piles of only necklaces, or only rings, or only a certain kind of coin. "Or a specific kind of needle in a needle stack. It looks like they have just started on organizing and recording the contents of this room. All the better for us."

"Study, highness. It was written down for you" ah, the trials of royalty. So many quirky couriers to know...

Then she grinned and started to drift away from his side, the better for them both to cover as much territory as possible! "There's a whole pile of little carved animals.." she noted from a corner "Weird..."

His highness sticks out his tongue at his loyal guard. "I thought that is what I kept you around for, when not saving me from assassins. You saw more of the royal court than I did."

Probably because the prince was off gallivanting around the capital city.

"That is strange," Yrael says, making his way between two large piles of coins and strange, ornate jewelry. "...this probably is here because everyone was too afraid they'd blind someone if they wore it." He holds up a necklace so ostentatious that the actual shape of it is lost in all the shine. Facets glint everywhere.

Bling bling.

"I am not your social stand in" she sniffed, planting her fists on her hips. "And for the record, if I have to be? I'm denouncing you when we get our country back and stepping in as Princess so i get payed more for the trouble"

"Oh...gods...hide it!" she whimpered, shielding her eyes comically. "It's a weapon of state..." then she groaned "Jeweled...chamber pots."

He blinks, eyebrows raised. "...and who are you, my loyal guard's social stand-in?"

...Yrael looks contemplatively at the bejeweled chamber pots. "If I had ever shown the royal family respect before? This would be when I stopped."

But he's never respected them, so he doesn't need to bother with stopping.

"Think one of them would make a good Christmas present or something?" He grins. "I can just see the surprised delight spreading over someone's face as they open their gift to find..." He points at the one citrine-bedecked silver one, "...that."

Clearly, whoever chose yellow gems to go on a royal chamberpot had no respect for the royal family, either.

"I am your Loyal Guard, Sworn to be at your side, even when you go running off around the city. Do you have any idea how many stripes I've taken because I let you skip out on functions? As if I should have any control over you..." yes, it was all his fault.

Then she poked a chamber pot thoughtfully..."I guess someone could plant a tree in one or something? I mean...no other real use..."

Or they could give one to bar for a punch bowl!

"Clearly you had not had enough practice keeping up with me, as you got lost on that glacier while we were coming here."

The fact(?) that she was the one who knew where they were is irrelevant.

Perfect punchbowl. In fact,

"I think I know what I am getting Tom and Door for Christmas, now." Yrael blows sharply into the ~~chamberpot~~ punchbowl, sending a small cloud of dust into the air.

"It's easy to follow you, highness, after all, it's not as if you've ever contemplated camouflage..." she noted blandly. White when running? Not the greatest.

"Well, I hope they appreciate it" she chuckled, looking around for a discarded bag for ease of carrying...

And finding...broken bits!

Those were interesting...

"You stood out more on the glacier than I, sirrah" he says, aloof and princely.

Yrael makes a great flag of truce, in a pinch.

"I still need to get something for Svava and for Archie, and for Jason and Khemrys and Elizabeth and Moiraine and..."

Everyone. Silly Bright Shiner, waiting until last minute.

"We crossed the glacier mostly at night and I didn't relish the thought of FREEZING" she pointed out. "Blame your family for clothing the guard in red."

She was busy sifting through the broken bits, some of the ages past lost pieces falling to dust in her hands as she did so "Hmmm...there was a boat kind of thing near the animals? Archie and Svava like boats..." she noted.

"Actually, we did that for a reason. It made the guard easier targets than us. Distant glaciers were not taken into account." The Not'Cat Formerly Known as ~~Prince~~ Yrael leans over to pull a sack from where it was half-covered by a pile of silver coins.

"They do. I got Archie a model of a Belisaerian merchant ship, a year or so ago. What one is this?" He picks up the scale model of a ship and peers at it.

"Ha!" He grins. "I'm surprised it hasn't rotted. It's been over two hundred years since the Old Kingdom had a seagoing military force. Little need for one, when the primary threat can't cross running water."

"I love you too Highness. Really." she stated blandly. "I'd die for you and all, but you don't have to keep rubbing my nose in the fact..."

Rachel poked a finger at the ship a moment, quite lost as to types, then went back to her digging...then...paused.

It was a feeling, warmth and care against the fingertips as Rachel sifted through broken pieces...

Cherished. Loved.

She almost cried when the piece that held such associated emotion...fell to dust in her hands, leaving only a small, blood red stone that she couldn't help but cradle in the palm of her hand.

"Oh Yrael..." she breathed. "I found it..."

"But it is so much fun," he states, wistfully.

At her tone of voice when she holds the stone, though, he comes over. Seeing the stone, he smiles slightly. "Ah."

It seems that more research would have to be done on the effects of ownership has on objects. The act of owning something does seem to imbue purpose and meaning, or at least connotation, to an object.

Rachel? Really wasn't joking about the dying for him if she ever had to, living and non-living aside. That's what one did for friends and family. She did poke her tongue out at him though. "You, highness, are a spoiled brat."

And yes...connotation. Taint one could call it, despite it's warm nature. When things were cherished, not of themselves, but for other causes, and worn often...they gathered their own life about them.

Though the opposite was also true, for harsher, darker things.

"Well, that's me taken care of" she chuckled, threading the bead carefully onto a few strands of hair and knotting it. That way? She wouldn't lose it. "We still need things for you though. Hmmm..." her eyes drifted around the room "Hey, bottles!" she noted, and indeed, they were. Of a sort. Whole jewels carved into phials...she was dissapointed to find them empty.

He's still learning about what one does or does not do for friends and family. The whole issue of dying for someone never really crosses his mind in day-to-day matters. Especially since he's not part of Life to begin with.

He tugs lightly on the beaded lock of hair, grinning as he looks over the bottles. "We could head to the marketplace and see what there is to find there. A couple of handfuls of these gold derniers would be enough to buy out any merchant there."

Eight of the gemstone bottles are tucked into the bag, neatly nestled in some of the coins. He knows exactly who should get them.

"Mmm. These look interesting," Yrael says, wandering over to a pile of tangled jewelry that looks like the organizers cast aside as hopelessly entangled. He takes hold of one chain and lifts the... entire pile. He moves to shift his grip, turning it and passing it to his left hand, when his hand twitches back. "Hm? What's this?" He's looking at a rather small, clear stone hanging from a fluid-looking silver chain. With closer inspection, miniscule Charter marks could be seen flowing up and down the chain in a never-ceasing stream. "What's something like this doing down here, I wonder. It could be very useful to someone of the royal family, should some guard fall asleep at their post and make the castle suddenly vulnerable to attack from assassins."

Rachel? Was outside the Charter..but she could see energy and flow. Not the symbols...but she could see something like water laughing and trickling along the entire length that was threaded through the Gordian knot of jewelry.

"What is it?" she asked simply, reaching out a finger to poke it enough to set the gem swaying. It was pretty, she'd give it that...but she wasn't a fan of necklaces, so her judgment kinda stopped there...

While waiting for him to explain, she began to gather the deniers he'd pointed out, rescuing another abandoned bag for them.

"It is concealment. If one were wearing this, they could be in a swamp, wearing a white shirt with Here I am, come and get me! written on it, and they would still go unnoticed by those who meant them ill."

It's definitely going into the bag.

"That would have been handy to have" she admitted, poking it again for good measure before it disappeared into the depths of Yrael's bag. "As you still wore white in the swamps, sire"

Then she grinned, imagining no few people in Bar it could be gifted to who would put it to...good...use.

"We were both covered in enough mud that that did not even matter, loyal guard."

Thank goodness for that dry-cleaners at the next village, though. They worked wonders.

Rachel has plenty of time to poke the necklace, as it takes Yrael some while to untangle all the necklaces enough to slip that particular one free and put it in the bag.

Yrael looks around, thoughtfully. "We probably shouldn't linger here too long. I do not recall when they change the guards."

"Well, didn't matter except that your royal self did insist on attempting to bathe at every bit of clear water...you ended up grey." she sniffed delicately. "Better by far to stick with full mud."

Then she laughed and tied her own denier sack to a belt loop and nodded to the door "Guards still out cold of course, and there's no mind in..." her eyes unfocused slightly "About a hundred yards."

Yep, time to go!

"You know me, loyal guard, I cannot help abhorring having any speck of dirt on me for too long. And besides, the water was so fresh and cool," even Yrael can't keep from making a face at the thought.

"Let's go." He shoves a handful of the derniers into a smaller sack and puts that into the larger sack. Heading quickly through the doorway into the first treasure room, they quietly open the door (the fact that it hit the sleeping guard was a complete accident) and move down the hall.

They turn the corner into another hall at the very moment a shout goes up from behind them.

"Cleanliness, sometimes, is NOT in one's best interest." she chuckled.

And go they did, the sleeping guard being soundly chewed out by whom ever had arrived behind them. By the sounds of it, it was someone of higher rank, and there was a quieter voice trying to cut in, vainly, as if to get past the arguing guards and back to work.

It had Rachel laughing mentally, bright and merry, as she knew that the worst punishment the sleeping guard would receive would be clenaing detail.

Yrael's grinning as they head down the hall, listening to the harangue fade into the background.

"We'll have to circle back around to get to the garden. These levels of the castle are warded against anyone going into or coming out of Death. When we get back to the garden, we can walk along the edge of Death until we get down to the rest of the city."

"Well, that makes sense" Rachel admitted easily, loping through the hallways behind Yrael easily. "Wouldn't want immoral death walkers to slip right into the heart of the castle without having to see the gardens..." she teased.

"It'd be rude."