[Aegle Verdant]

The city of Mistral was a marvel, truly. Aegle had seen as much a few days ago. Pressed restlessly to an airship window high above the clouds, she'd looked down on the fabled mountain city, scarcely believing her eyes. She'd known long before she took flight that the city spanned two mountain peaks, and that had not sounded so impressive, least of all for someone coming from Atlas, where the whole of the Academy was suspended off the ground by hundreds of meters. To know something and to see it had turned out to be very different things, however. What Aegle had imagined was a city that crawled up and down two slopes, tiered the way some highland villages were tiered when they were built astride the mountains. And so it was in Mistral, with buildings of elegant grace or brutal robustness making a stony carpet along all sides of the twin peaks where the city had been built. What she had not imagined, and what she might not have believed before seeing it with her own wide eyes, was the architectural arrogance that was the Great Arm. Stretched between the two peaks, suspended like a bridge for giants, was an arch near as long and wide as the buildings atop it were tall. A colossal weight of stone and timber, so huge and strong that it was able to support as many buildings atop it as were built up and down the twin mountains' slopes. 

How Aegle had marveled at it, though she could not help but wonder at the faith the city's inhabitants must have, for they had built beneath the great arm too. It was the same in Atlas, with the Academy filling half the sky overhead, but that was done with gravity dust and Atlesian technology, and no kingdom had better knowledge of dust or machinery. Here in Mistral, it was only rocks that kept the so called 'Cloud District' from crushing all who lay beneath it. She had expected things to be less impressive, once they actually touched down. At Haven, and wandering the surrounding district, that had almost been true; She couldn't really tell there was hundreds of meters of open air beneath her. Occasionally however, she would happen across a vista and be rewarded with a view between the mansions and halls. A view that stretched on as far as the eye could see, that looked down at the tops of mountains, or else beheld a carpet made of clouds dappled gold and silver by the light of the sun. Then she would remember how the Cloud District had gotten its name, and she would feel awed and humbled all over again, and she would remember that it was only the Great Arm holding her, and everything around her. 

It had become her wont to wander the Cloud District; If not good, it at least felt right to be reminded how small she was, as well as reminded of what mankind could achieve when they put their hearts into it. And she'd found other things throughout the district too which, if they were not quite so majestic and terrifying as the top-of-the-world view, were at least fascinating in their own right. Most of the Cloud District was given over to mansions and palatial estates that would not have been out of place in one of those cheesy cartoons her brother loved so much. Structures that defied common sense in their construction, stretching out on terraces of stone and populated with green gardens and glittery blue pools, and elegant structures of sunbleached white. More than once, she'd been tempted to try and find a way into one of those compounds, but they were always surrounded by thick stone walls, or else guarded by unfriendly looking men. Better were the few stores and restaurants that also called the district home. If not so beautiful as the mansions, nor awesome as the views, they were more welcoming than either. Some sold jewels and some sold rich foods and smelled of unfamiliar spices. Some simply sold paintings and carvings and other artsy things that Aegle could think of no use for. Most of them would let you browse, even when it was clear she'd no intention of buying anything, though a few of the shopkeepers had followed her about their stores with suspicion on their pinched, Mistralian faces. Once, she'd even been asked to leave, but that had been because she'd nearly knocked down a vase so terribly thin it seemed made out of paper. Aegle hadn't minded; There was always somewhere else to go and more to see.

She'd kept her wanderings close to the Academy at first, for fear of getting lost. Then she'd noticed that the Academy could be seen from just about everywhere in the district, and she'd grown bolder in her explorations. This evening, she had ventured even further abroad. One thing she'd noticed was things got fancier, the further from the Academy she got. She wondered why that might be, but could think of no answer. The air felt cool on her face, and served to chill the sweat-damp cloth she wore. It was refreshing, and there were more breezes as she approached the perimeter of the district. For all she liked about Mistral, she had also found it to be entirely too warm, so saved her wanderings for after her afternoon exercises, when she got the hottest. A walk and a bite to eat were just the refreshment she needed, before beginning her evening exercises. Usually, she'd have waited till getting back to the Academy, and eaten at the cafeteria, but tonight Aegle was feeling adventurous. More importantly, she was feeling hungry, and had already wandered further than any time before. It would be getting dark by the time she made it back, she had little doubt, and that was too long to wait for food. Thus, she sought a place to buy some food. She didn't need to go far.

Built onto a terrace overlooking two palatial homes, with doors of fine carved wood and the sound of live music drifting from within, the restaurant smell richly of the herbs and spices the Mistralians liked best. Inside, a few familiar motifs reminded Aegle of the upscale dancehalls and cafes she'd seen in movies; Though the odor was distinctly of Mistral, the atmosphere was all Atlas. A pang of homesickness struck her, and Aegle wandered through the well appointed sitting room that served as the restaurant's entrance. She could hear someone playing the piano, as she approached the threshold of the room beyond, where familiar and unfamiliar scents alike tantalized and beckoned.
"Pardon me," Said a polite voice as she stepped through, belonging to a man sharply dressed in tie and waistcoat. Aegle looked at him, smiling a friendly smile, and answered "What's up?"
He was stood behind what looked like a lectern, with a book open upon it and a scroll beside. He examined her with eyes the color of veined marble, blue and white, and a face so impassive, Aegle expected it to crack when he spoke. He did not speak for several moments, only pursed his lips in silent consideration.
"Was the young lady hoping to dine?" He asked at last. Aegle blinked; She was still getting used to how Mistralians talked, but that seemed an especially odd way to phrase the question. She hadn't been sure she wanted to eat here, having been more curious than invested, and gave a glance around the room. A few isolated booths and prettily appointed tables, most lit by candles rather than dust-glow, and almost all empty. She saw the piano player too, a very handsome woman in a gossamer thin dress of moss green, who did not have eyes for anything beyond the stage upon which she was playing.
"Yeah, y'know what," Aegle said on a whim, grinning back at the polite, impassive man behind his big book, "I reckon I am."
The maitre d pursed his lips again, no other part of his face moving, and turned his cool eyes down to the pages before him, "Name?" He said.
"Y'what?" Aegle replied, taken aback. Why did he need to know that?
"Does the young lady have a name?" 
Aegle's grin grew a bit uncertain. She raised one linen wrapped hand to her scalp and raked at the stubble she was letting grow in along the center of her head.
"M'Aegle." She said finally, her puzzlement plain in her tone.
The maitre D hummed softly, repeating the name in his quiet, considering voice before, "I am so sorry, but I do not see a reservation under Mayglee."
Aegle tugged back the hood of her ratty orange hoody and let her head hang to the side, "No no, S'just Aegle, with an A." She corrected, but wondering. What did he mean about a reservation?
"Oh, I see," Said the polite man, his eyes flicking back down to the page, "With an 'A', is it?" he scrutinized the book for a few moments, then looked back up at her.
"My apologies, miss 'Aegle', but there is no reservation under that name either."
Aegle had known there wouldn't be one of course, she'd not even known this place existed until a few minutes ago, but that didn't stop her from feeling a bit uncertain and confused.
"Do I need a reservation just t'eat here?" She asked, though she felt like she already knew the answer. The knowledge of it had begun to gnaw at the pit of her stomach.
"I am afraid so." The Maitre D said, though he did not sound very afraid. In fact, his manner had scarcely changed from that original tone of gentle politeness, "We're a very exclusive establishment, our service is always in high demand."
Aegle looked past him again, at the beautiful but mostly empty tables. Confusion twisted her smile and furrowed her brow.
"Can I make a reservation then?" She asked, as hopeful as she was confused.
"Yes, certainly." The polite man looked down at his book, flipped a couple of pages, pursed his lips, then flipped a couple more. "I have a booking available in three month's time. Will that suit the young lady?"
Aegle's smile melted off, and she gaped at him. For a moment, she could not even think; It was as though his offer had driven all the sense from her head.
"Three months?" She repeated, sure she could not have heard right. 
"Indeed. Around one o'clock." 
Aegle blinked, closing her eyes and opening them like that might make some sense of all this, "No..." She said feebly, "I've classes until three, and then trainin' until six or so..."
"An evening reservation?" The polite man pursed his lips, and even raised one primly plucked eye brow. It was a wonder flakes of marble didn't come raining down on her when he did it.
He flipped a few more pages, then a few more, then a few more, then stopped, "I have a dinner spot for eight months from now."
Aegle looked at him helplessly. Her eyes flicked from his to the empty restaurant and back, as hot warmth flooded into her pale cheeks. 
"Can't I just have one 'a them?" She asked, pointing to a group of three empty tables, not four strides away.
"I am afraid those are all reserved." Said the Maitre D; He didn't even look at the book this time.
"But they're all empty." A bit of shrillness, crept into her tone, a mate to the bemusement gripping her.
"They are reserved." he repeated, in the exact same polite tone, "It pleases our regular patrons to hold their tables on retainer."
Aegle gaped at him. Her cheeks were burning, and her ears were growing hot too; She regretted throwing her hood back, for how red they most be.
"What about that one?" She pointed out a booth. Only the maitre d's mouth moved.
"Reserved." He said immediately.
"And them?" Aegle asked, pointing out a whole row of empty tables and chairs.
"On retainer until next year."
Her pulse was roaring in her ears, as she pointed her hand to another table, and another, "And there, and there?"
"Unavailable." The polite man assured her. 
Aegle raised one trembling hand and gripped the front of her hoody, clutching the spot over the frantic hammering of her heart, and her watched beeped a quiet warning as its face turned from amber to red.
"Are all of these tables reserved?" She asked, grinning so hard it made her blood-red cheeks ache. 
"All of them." Agreed the maitre d, impassive as a stone wall.
She was trembling, Aegle realized. Her throat was tight and she could scarcely hear for the pounding in her ears. Her chest was on fire. A few of the patrons were turning to look, craning their necks or leaning out of their chairs to see what the commotion was. She should have let it go, should have just turned around and walked out before she did something stupid and made an even bigger fool of herself, but she couldn't let it go. 
"How long y'had y'table reserved for?" She asked the nearest, a man with bushy eyebrows that looked like he was wearing white caterpillars above his thin glasses. Those caterpillars crawled up his forehead, and the older woman he was with said something from the seat beside.
"How 'bout you?" Aegle said, turning her broad smile and trembling finger on a woman with blue eyes and a frown on her face. A man in a closer table was rising to his feet. Aegle had been able to ask him the same question, then she saw expression on his face. Not angry, or even concerned, but sympathetic. Aegle dropped her hand, pierced through by those sad brown eyes, and shook her head, then turned a broad, toothy smile onto the maitre d. 
"Got it. Reserved." She giggled. His impassive face was easier to look at.
He inclined his head slightly, unaffected, "If the young lady would make a reservation, we may find her a table in six months time, when one becomes available."
He'd said eight months before, but Aegle thought she understood the game they were playing now. She wished she had been a little less thick, and figured it out before calling out half the room and disrupting half a dozen dinners. The fingers on her free hand twitched, while the one over her heart tightened its grip. Aegle knew she should stop, that there was nothing to be gained by yelling or carrying on. She giggled again and shook her head, helpless, and raked trembling fingers across her naked scalp. Knowing was one thing, but she couldn't let this go. She wouldn't. Her smile twisted wider, showing off every tooth in her head, slashing her red face in a jagged line from ear to ear.

Time, she thought, to be stupid...

words - 2,496

[Erytheia Hellebore]

The noble warrior stood, and the people looked to her.
For she was a beacon - hope given form, yet still only human.
Within that truth there was great promise.
If one could stand against the night, then so too could anyone - everyone.

In her hand the warrior held a Rose. And her aura burned bright.

❝

Mistral. A city of layers, each one denser and darker the lower you went. A city where you could buy just about anything, a city where even life was cheap, if you had the coin to pay for it.

A city that had been home once, and was again.

Erytheia Caelestis Amaranth Estrella Hellebore was a creature accustomed to comfort and bred in wealth, and it showed, sometimes in quite the obvious fashion. While she never flaunted her money in the same way other, lesser folk with lien did, with gaudy jewelry and overpriced cars, it still shone through in her tastes. Her bed at Haven Academy was adorned with a significantly softer and more comfortable mattress and sheets even though it looked much the same as every other, and her covers were a tasteful black with intricate patterns and lace that would have cost a fortune to make by hand - coincidentally, that was exactly how they were made. Her clothes were cut to a finer degree and thread than the vast majority of her peers, though one could only tell from extremely close inspection. And if she had her eye on buying something, there was little need for her to look at the price tag, so certain would she be that she could afford it.

One of those little luxuries was a place that had been patronized by her mother when she was younger, and in fact was one of the places that her parents had gone on a date at. The founder’s sister, in fact, owed her life and survival to one of their ancestors, which had ensured them being kept a spot on the VIP list for as long as the restaurant would run. In her younger days, Erytheia herself was a fairly common patron, but those visits had steadily decreased as her own schedule became more packed, continuing until her teens, where she had stopped altogether.

Being at Haven was far more liberating than it should have, but that was how it was when one did not have a hawk eyed parent trying to exert control over one’s every move. It hadn’t been long since she’d come back from the hospitals in Atlas, after all - and what better way to re-familiarize one’s self with a city that had changed than with a good meal at a nice place? Purse slung at an angle over her shoulder and hanging from her hip, Erytheia made her way down the street, reveling in the simple pleasure of being able to walk wherever she wanted once more without having to hide behind the facade of being sick or in therapy or what have you. Dressed in a tasteful black and purple dress with a gold-trimmed purple cloak about her shoulders, the youngest of the Hellebore family unhurriedly walked through the cobblestone streets and towards Algol Temeria, the familiar sight of those seats and tables from a distance enough to quicken her step ever so slightly. As she neared, however, the sounds of commotion ahead caused the heiress to frown ever so slightly and slow her pace. She hadn’t heard the beginning, but she had certainly heard the end.

Clearing her throat, she offered up a smile to the both of them as she stepped up to the spot in front of the reception. Her arms were clasped loosely in front of her with her head tilted ever so slightly in question as the well dressed greeter turned to her, seemingly undaunted by the provocation that he had just witnessed from the smaller female.

“Is there a problem?”

“No problem, miss,” came the answer, as she knew it would, the maitre d answering before the young girl could chime in, and turning his attention to her.

“Would the young lady like to dine with us today?”

“That was the plan, Mister Jackdaw,” came the reply, Erytheia raising a prim eyebrow as if to question why the question would be asked in the first place while her gaze flicked once to the nameplate embedded in the man’s greeting desk. Pursing his lips, the man turned his eyes downwards to the book and flipped a page, then looked up at her once more.

“Name?”

“Erytheia.”

She spoke, and waited, watching him blink politely.

“I beg your pardon, but I do not see a reservation for-”

“Erytheia Caelestis Amaranth Estrella Hellebore,” repeated the blonde young woman, her smile not deviating an inch. For the first time, there was a flash of something more then passive politeness in the man’s blue eyes - recognition flared, and he inclined his head.

“My apologies, Lady Hellebore. Of course, your table is on retainer and I will have it prepared for you shortly.”

“Excellent. Thank you, Jackdaw. For two, please.”

There was a pause, broken shortly by Erytheia’s sudden blinking and then turning to the other young woman with a warm smile, hand rising to press against her lips in slight embarrassment before tucking a lock of blonde hair behind her ear.

“Oh, I do apologize, dear; I didn’t mean to speak for you. But if you don’t mind, I’d love to have your company with me today. That is, if you wouldn’t mind having a meal with little old me?”

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MADE BY MIZO

[Aegle Verdant]

Aegle wasn't sure what she meant to do, but the need to do something, anything, was overwhelming. Maybe if she'd had a bit more time to think it over, to cool off, she'd had seen it wasn't really worth her getting riled up. She even half saw that already, and knew that it was her temper and not her brain that was in control. As well know the name of the river sweeping her away, because it did Aegle no good. The worst part was that she couldn't even say why it made her so angry, the way the polite man had treated her, though that polite manner of his definitely played a part; Perhaps, if he had been more brusque and direct, she wouldn't have gotten so keyed up. 

Aegle pulled a fist. She did not think she meant to hit anyone with it, she'd never struck anyone in anger in her whole life, but she couldn't be certain she didn't mean to hit someone either. For the moment, it was just enough to feel her knuckles pop and tendons pull taut. She didn't even raise her hand, but let it hang at her side, while she smiled her painful smile and stared into the maitre d's eyes. Then, as abrupt as life, his cool gaze moved off of her. 

"Is there a problem here?" ask a voice as clear and fine as crystal.
“No problem, miss,” The maitre d answered, “Would the young lady like to dine with us today?”

The voice belonged to the prettiest girl Aegle had ever met, except for maybe that highborn princess from the gym. Though Eva, with her quick smiles and sudden energy, had an unaffected, natural beauty, the girl standing before Aegle had something different. A whole head and a half taller than Aegle, the princess looked up at the maitre d with eyes the color of blood in a face as white as milk, all framed in tresses of soft golden hair. Her beauty was a cultivated one, painstakingly constructed, bit by bit, yet made to look effortless; She looked as though she belonged in this place, with all its finery and soft, relaxing music. 
“That was the plan, Mister Jackdaw,” Her manner was confident, but not presumptuous; In control, without being overbearing. She knew precisely what she was doing, and was not fumbling through things the way Aegle had just done.
Still, the Maitre D looked unimpressed,
“Name?”
He asked, in that polite, lifeless way.
“Erytheia.”
Said the princess, like she was giving him and everyone else in hearing, a gift by sharing even that much.
At first it seemed like she would have no more success than Aegle had, though Mister Jackdaw at least seemed to be looking for her name, almost like he expected to find it, and seeming mildly surprised when he did not. He was just about to deny her, when the princess repeated her name, with a few more beside. Each word was delivered with a gem cutter's precision, as though the final product would be just as valuable. And so it was. The maitre d pursed his thin lips, then nodded, well satisfied.
"My apologies, Lady Hellebore." He soothed, "Of course, your table is on retainer and I will have it prepared for you shortly." He had not even looked at his book to confirm her name was on it.
Aegle watched the spectacle, smile slowly withering, with an feeling she could not identify crawling up from her stomach. She was well familiar with feelings of envy and confusion, and this was neither of those. Rather, it was almost a yearning, though for what she could not say.
Then the girl turned to face her fully, and Aegle felt her wits start to trickle out her ears.
“Oh, I do apologize, dear; I didn’t mean to speak for you. But if you don’t mind, I’d love to have your company with me today. That is, if you wouldn’t mind having a meal with little old me?”
"Oh, I..." Aegle tried to stand up straight, as her smile twitched back into place. She tried to think of something to say in answer that would be half as pretty as the princess' offer, but it was hard to think of anything with Erytheia's eyes upon her, "Yeah, sure, I guess..."

Belatedly, Aegle realized she was still pulling a fist and, hastily, she shoved both hands into the pockets of her ratty hoodie, to the sound of matching mechanical whirs. She kept on trying to stand straight as Jackdaw lead them to their table, but managed only a slightly straighter slouch than usual, and, even that, her back and shoulders begrudged her. 
"M'Aegle." She supplied, smiling her friendliest smile, though perhaps the grin was a bit too wide, "Aegle Epione Verdant. M'from Atlas." Her accent was broad, and her words came out all squashed together, like they'd been in a hurry to get out of her mouth. Aegle had never been especially conscious of the way she talked, but now she was paying it a great deal of attention. She was also very conscious of how crooked her shoulders were, and how hunched her back was, and the way every step whirred and whispered beneath her clothes. All things she didn't often notice about herself, made into things she couldn't help but notice. 
Aegle opened her mouth to say more, but couldn't think of anything that wouldn't sound stupid or inappropriate. That was also different. She didn't usually think before she spoke. 
"Thanks, y'know?" She said finally, deciding that earnestness would have to serve for wit, "M'pretty sure he was 'bout t'throw me out, yeah?"
She nodded at Jackdaw, who either had not heard her, or simply did not care enough to show he had.

words - 969

[Erytheia Hellebore]

The noble warrior stood, and the people looked to her.
For she was a beacon - hope given form, yet still only human.
Within that truth there was great promise.
If one could stand against the night, then so too could anyone - everyone.

In her hand the warrior held a Rose. And her aura burned bright.

❝

“Miss Verdant, is it? My pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Erytheia favored her new dining companion with a warm smile as Jackdaw led them to their seats, with a small laugh as the other girl shot a parting remark the way of the sharply dressed man’s retreating back. Though she covered her mouth with a hanging sleeve, there was still a clear shine of amusement in her crimson eyes at the other’s directness in the situation. The heiress found it quite refreshing, truth be told - a far cry from the polite and measured way that so many of those that had come to her house seeking her family’s attention.

“Well then, Miss Verdant,” she said at length, lowering her raised sleeve to smile at the other again. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Erytheia Caelestis Amaranth Estrella Hellebore, first and only child of the Hellebore family. I understand that it may be too much of a mouthful for casual conversation, though, so feel free to use only my first name if you so wish.”

Jackdaw returned with a pair of menus that looked as expensive as everything else in the place, a cream white paper that felt pleasing to the touch, edged with gold trim and delicate black ink for its entries. She nodded to him and waved him away, and the man bowed and returned to his post at the front of the restaurant, though his attention was clearly divided in their direction - not that she paid it any mind in favor of the girl on the other side of the table. Such an interesting young woman she was.

“And Atlas, you say? What a coincidence. I just returned from Atlas myself not too long ago. A lovely city, if I do say so myself. Always at the forefront of pioneering technology, with the very best in medical care…”

Erytheia trailed off at the end of her sentence, smile fading slowly. Her gaze fell to the gloved hand resting on the table, and as if the black silk were nothing more than thin air, she could all but see the raised white scars running along her arms like a visual siren, screaming out her inability to control her own Semblance for all to see. Unbidden, that hand was withdrawn, and her other rose up to adjust her gloves, pulling the fabric tighter as if it were in danger of falling off.

Realising what was happening, the heiress made a visible effort to push her hands apart and a smile back onto her face, though this one was smaller than the one she’d had and had a tinge of sadness to it. Her voice, however, remained as cultured as ever, though there was a hint of something forced about it that hadn’t been there before.

“Ah, but do pardon me for rambling on, Miss Verdant. Do you have an idea of what you would like to order?”

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MADE BY MIZO

[Aegle Verdant]

"Miss Verdant, is it?" Said the blonde girl, once they were seated, "My pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Yeah, uh, likewise." Aegle answered her, as gracious as a stone. She felt all knees and elbows with this girl and her sharp red eyes and even sharper cut of dress, which were so fine it was a wonder they'd not flown to pieces at the first touch of wind. The table was spacious to an almost ludicrous degree and Aegle hunched over her head of it, feeling every bit the gargoyle as she tried to work her back into something resembling straight. She noticed she was doing it, and tried to stop, just to wind up at it again when her thoughts drifted. They exchanged a few more pleasantries, the Princess providing a proper introduction and a second serving of her mouthful of a name, and Aegle tried to look charmed, or whatever it was she was supposed to look like when interacting with royalty. She tried, but she didn't think she was doing a very good job of it. Part of the problem was the table. It felt so strange to be seated so far back, to have so much empty space between them; Aegle almost felt the need to shout, to bridge the gap that separated them. Not helping matters were the frown's and the curious glances she got from the other patrons. They had heard the whole thing, beginning to end, as Erytheia had not, and some were not pleased that she'd been allowed to stay following such disruptive behavior. She turned her eyes down to the menu before her, but that was no distraction from how out of place she was. Half of the words made no sense to her, and a lot of it swam together before her eyes like running ink. What even was a pomme puree?

'This menu needs pictures.' Aegle thought bleakly, as she searched for even one word she recognized.

"I just returned from Atlas myself, not too long ago." Erytheia was saying.

"Y'what?" Aegle blinked at her, like she hadn't heard her properly. But it was her brain, not her ears, that was to blame.

"A lovely city," Said the blonde, "If I do say so myself. Always pioneering technology, with the very best in medical care..."

Aegle did not much like where this conversation was head, but she couldn't very well say so. She didn't need to though; Eytheia's eyes fell, and her face fell with them and, for a moment, a very different girl seemed to take her place. The confident princess reasserted herself a heartbeat later, spreading her hands across the table as her smile slipped back into place, and looking across at Aegle with polite interest in her scarlet eyes. But Aegle had seen something in Erytheia's eyes, something painfully familiar.

"Ah, but do pardon my rambling on, Miss Verdant," She said, voice fine and clear as crystal, "Do you have an idea of what you would like to order?"

Aegle eyed her for just a moment longer, doubting. Had she really seen something there, on the princess' face, or had she merely imagined it? She was not sure, and this sudden sweetness and apparently earnest interest ran counter to the small, vulnerable girl that had so briefly taken Erytheia's place.

"I dunno really," She made herself smile. It was a smile as crooked as the rest of her, lopsided and far too wide for her narrow head, and she was keenly aware of how it must look. She did it anyway.

Taking up the menu once more, Aegle made a show of reading it, "S'all just a bunch of gibberish, in'it? S'like trying t'read a different language." She was pretty sure some of it was a different language, but was unable to pick out the foreign words from the simply fancy ones.

"Somethin' with a lot of protein in it, I guess. S'usually a safe bet, y'know? S'only so many ways y'can make a steak." Her head tipped to one side, loose on her shoulders, and she sent a quizzical glance up the table.

"Then again," She continued, eyes sliding back down to the menu's arcan contents, "Life's too short for safe bets, I reckon. I ought'a try somethin' new, since I ain't likely t'be let in here a second time."

She grinned massively, showing off every tooth in her head, and read aloud, "Vytal Ensemble, unitin' a thick venison cut, braise au jus, confit fowl, a winterfin cerviche, and a fine romanesco in chimichurri."

Aegle laid the menu down and tipped her head to the other side as she looked across the table, "Pretty sure I know what half 'a that meant." She titter

"What 'bout you?"

words - 792

[Erytheia Hellebore]

The noble warrior stood, and the people looked to her.
For she was a beacon - hope given form, yet still only human.
Within that truth there was great promise.
If one could stand against the night, then so too could anyone - everyone.

In her hand the warrior held a Rose. And her aura burned bright.

❝

“I think… the Tenjikubotan Kaiseki-ryori today, perhaps. It has been a while since I have frequented this place, so a comparison of the quality then and now is in order, I should think.”

Erytheia’s voice picked over the foreign words as easily as the young lady herself might step over an errant pebble in her path - with grace and elegance befitting her station. The heiress looked off to the side, where a server had covertly made her way over to wait while the two of them had been seated and looked over the various items on offer. The blue haired girl started and quickly scurried over, looking very stressed. Clearly, the Hellebore name was enough to put a heavy pressure on anyone who worked here - and knowing her mother’s tendencies, Erytheia was fairly certain that that pressure was well warranted. Putting that aside for the moment, she offered up a smile in an attempt to put said server at ease, but all it seemed to accomplish was to instill a quiet dread behind her green eyes. A little downcast by the reaction, Erytheia nevertheless kept the smile on her face and glanced back to the menu as if to refresh her memory.

“I would like to order the Tenjikubotan Kaiseki-ryori, and this charming young lady here will have the Vytal Ensemble. Yes, Longinus-styled for the Kaiseki-ryori will do nicely. Yes, thank you.”

Turning her attention back to Aegle, the Hellebore heiress nevertheless waited until the server had collected their menus and scurried off towards the kitchens before she spoke again, twirling a few strands of her blonde hair in between the fingers of one hand as she did so. While she hadn’t meant to pry or be rude in any fashion, Erytheia was naturally observant and had deduced a few things about the other, even if she didn’t voice it immediately. The way she moved, along with the subtle noises of mechanical assistance; the way she spoke, with the rural twang of someone raised on the outskirts of Atlesian cities or even in remote villages proper, and the clear irritation she showed at the menu, along with an inclination towards more… solid fare. All of these came together to paint a picture of the other female that Erytheia found herself quite interested by.

“So, Miss Verdant,” she started once again, the smile on her face small and polite and rather more impersonal from the warmth she had shown before, but no longer with the tinge of forced cheer that had been present earlier. It seemed that in the time between ordering the food and returning to conversation had been enough for her to recollect her bearings and put whatever had been bothering her out of her mind.

“If you do not mind my little curiosities, what brings an Atlesian all the way here to Mistral?”

@ ● 475 words ● 1835 total words

MADE BY MIZO

[Aegle Verdant]

"I think," Erytheia said thoughtfully, eyes lowered ever so briefly to the menu before her, "the Tenjikubotan Kaiseki-ryori today, perhaps."
Aegle could not have said what that collection of syllables was, nor did she think she could have repeated them in any order. She guessed they, like the rest of the menu, were in some different language which she did not know, and she wondered briefly which one. In Solitas, there had never been any need for her to learn a second tongue, not even once they had moved to Atlas, so her exposure to different cultures was especially limited, even considering her limited exposure to most things else.
"It has been a while since I have frequented this place," The blonde offered mildly, her face the picture of comfort and elegance, "So a comparison of the quality then and now is in order, I should think."
"Yeah," Aegle agreed stupidly, "Makes sense..." She immediately felt foolish, and wished she'd kept her mouth shut.
'Better to be thought a fool in silence,' Paeon had always told her, 'than to prove it with careless talk.'
She wished Paeon was here right now; He would have known how to deal with Erytheia, and how to avoid making an ass of himself in front of her. Her youngest brother was not so martial as Aaron, nor was he as clever as Vulc, but he'd always had a way with people that Aegle had envied. He could read a room as naturally as a book, and a face was even easier; He always knew what to say and what was expected of him, and nothing had ever seemed to bother him.
Put Aegle was not Paeon, nor was she Vulcan, nor Aaron. She was her own hot mess of a person, and not the sort who had even the first idea how to act around some highborn lady. Aware that she had started to slouch again, Aegle pulled back her shoulders and sat up as straight as she was able. It availed her little, despite the effort; Her shoulders were still lopsided and crooked, and her back remained noticeably bent for all her strain to straighten it.

Without warning, a stranger stepped up to the table, all blue hair and reluctant green eyes. Aegle was so focused on trying to be presentable that it was a moment before she realized this new person must be their server. She had a worried look on her face, like she was standing at the edge of some great drop. Erytheia must have seen it too, because she gave the server a reassuring smile fit even to make Aegle feel better about her shriveled body and crooked bones. It availed the blonde little however. In fact, the server only seemed more stricken by it.
She did not say a word; That was the strangest thing. She opened her mouth as though to speak, but not so much as a squeak came out.
'Like she's too scared to talk.' Aegle thought, wondering. It was utterly and entirely inexplicable.
"I would like to order the Tenjikubotan Kaiseki-ryori," As though sensing the server's intent and her distress, Erytheia smoothly took control of the situation. With a gesture down the table, as light and absent as a queen giving out gifts, she added, "and this charming young lady here will have the Vytal Ensemble."
Aegle blinked, opened her mouth, then shut it again, as the color rose in her pale cheeks. She felt absurdly flattered to have been called charming, no matter how off-handed the gesture was.
Aegle spent the next few moments trying to will the heat out of her face, moments which Erytheia and the server spent hammering out the finer details of the blonde's order. Not until the server turned to leave, did Aegle trust herself sufficiently to open her mouth.
"Uh, can I get some water too?" The server was rushing away from the table, and seemed like she would have run if nobody had been watching. She flinched and was struck suddenly still by the request, then hurried off with only the tiniest, almost imperceptible nod.
'She didn't even ask me any questions 'bout my order.' Aegle thought, watching her go, and wondering after such strange behavior. Someone so terrified of other people as that could not possibly make a good server.

"So, Miss Verdant," Erytheia drew Aegle's attention once more. Aegle looked at her and, for a brief instant, felt her cheeks starting to warm up all over again.
'What has gotten into me?' she wondered, as she forced a grin into place. A grin that did not survive a better look at the blonde's face. Subtly, something was different; There was a coldness on Erytheia's face which had not been present a few moments ago. The vast distance between them, from one end of the capacious table to t'other, seemed to have grown a bit as well. Aegle faltered, doubting her own estimations, and wondered if she had missed something.
'Is she angry? Did the server do something wrong?'
"What'cha?" Aegle allowed, grin twitching back, broadly, into place.
Like ice thawing, the chilliness in Erytheia's expression melted away, and the table seemed to grow the tiniest bit shorter as well. Aegle blinked, puzzled by her own impressions and unable to make any real sense of them.
'I must be half-mad. She's lookin' at me no different than before; I'm just imagining things.'
She was sure it must be true, but her heart remained unconvinced. Something had happened, something that had escaped her notice, but not Erytheia's, and it had upset the highborn girl.
'Some little bit of etiquette that weren't observed?' Aegle wondered, 'but was it me, or the server who did it?'
Her guess was the server; Erytheia had been nothing if not tolerant of Aegle's complete and utter absence of culture.
"If you do not mind my little curiosities," The coldness was all but gone now, like it had never been there at all, "what brings an Atlesian all the way here to Mistral?"
Aegle's grin twitched, and her grin eased slightly. She felt herself growing warm all over again, and tittered away her discomfort.
Rubbing her reddening neck with the scratchy linen that swathed one hand, Aegle affected another difficult shrug.
"M'actually goin' t' Haven." She answered, with a smile to let Erytheia know she was not immune to absurdity of such a statement, "Learnin' t' be a huntress, y'know?"
Even she could scarcely believe it, and she'd never felt so out of place as she had when surrounded by boys and girls, and men and women too, all at the peak of physical fitness, all of them learning to fight for and defend mankind.
"Atlas wouldn't have me," She admitted, "Beacon neither," There had never even been a response from Shade, "So here I am."
Saying it out loud, she realized how insane it was, and felt the need to explain how someone like her could even be accepted into an academy to begin with.
Aegle's crooked grin twitched a bit wider, "I never went t'no prep-school, and a year ago I couldn't even walk on m'own. Who wouldn't wanna teach me how t'fight?" She tittered again, and realized she was slouching.
Straightening back up, Aegle tipped her head to one side, letting it hang loose on her stick of a neck, "Whoever takes care of admissions has got t'be as crazy as I am, don'tcha think?"

words - 1,246

[Erytheia Hellebore]

The noble warrior stood, and the people looked to her.
For she was a beacon - hope given form, yet still only human.
Within that truth there was great promise.
If one could stand against the night, then so too could anyone - everyone.

In her hand the warrior held a Rose. And her aura burned bright.

❝

“Haven? A Huntress? You?”

Perhaps others might have sounded disbelieving, or disparaging, or dismissive - or any number of derogatory sentiments present in their voice, whether those sentiments were intended or not. But Erytheia herself bore none of those things, only a look of astonishment on her face with her crimson eyes wide Her lips parted as if to say something, mouth as a speck of darkness against her pale lips and fair skin - then closed again, the cycle repeating twice before she settled back down into a semblance of decorum. Tilting her head first one way, then the other, the heiress considered her dining companion with that same look of both curiosity and surprise present in her eyes, as if changing the angle from which she was viewed would suddenly morph her into something else entirely.

The server came by and placed a tall wine glass of ice cold water in front of Aegle, one garnished with springs of mint and a slice of lemon perfectly mounted on the lip, bowing before retreating as rapidly as she had come. Throughout the entire process, Erytheia’s blood red gaze did not waver, taking in every aspect of the other girl that she could see. And then, the small curl of the corners of her mouth as her expression relaxed into a smile, one equal parts admiration and melancholic. Perhaps, if the previous smiles she had exhibited were like flowers blooming on an otherwise plain bush, then this smile would be those same flowers drooping as they wilted. A quiet sadness, but beautiful all the same, in its own way.

“That… is impressive indeed. Do not put yourself down like that! You bear a great strength within you, Miss Verdant. The Huntsmen Academies do not accept candidates lightly. The road yet ahead of you is long and harsh, but you should nevertheless be proud of what you have already accomplished.”

The smile faded as her gaze dipped to the table. Her right hand, clad in black silk lined thin leather that fit snugly enough, brushed an unwitting thumb over the knuckle of her index finger - once, twice, as if tracing the scars underneath. The errant thought crossed her mind that the same couldn’t be said for her. Knowing her mother, it was more than likely that a stealthy donation had made its way into Haven’s coffers at the same time that her own application crossed the Headmaster’s desk, along with a letter of veiled threat and promise. For someone who had decided to forge her own path, it still weighed heavily on her that she had to rely on that to even begin to do so.

But that was the point of it all, wasn’t it? One step at a time, one lesson at a time, she was extricating herself from the quagmire that had been her life before. Even if it meant using the resources that she held such distaste for, even if it meant abusing her family name to get where she needed to go…

Erytheia shook herself mentally. Aegle Verdant had been nothing but polite and pleasant with her, and here she was, her thoughts going off on an entirely unrelated tangent. Straightening up, she channeled her own excitement in a bid to overwhelm those morbid thoughts, clasping her hands together as she offered up a warm smile.

“I apologize if I came off rude, Miss Verdant. It was unexpected to think I might meet another of Haven’s students, tonight of all nights! Running into you here was an excellent coincidence, I daresay!”

The excitement clear in her voice and the sparkling in her eyes, Erytheia leaned forward ever so slightly, more animated than she had been at any point up to date. If it were not for her formal manner of speech and her fine manner of dress, she might have passed for any young woman eager to converse with a friend.

“Do you already have a team assigned to you? What sort of weapon do you use? How are the professors treating you? Have you had any difficulty settling in?”

Without missing a beat, there came the next sentence, one that perhaps might shake Aegle Verdant’s perception of the young lady for the first time tonight.

“I do hope we will be able to work together some time!”

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MADE BY MIZO

[Aegle Verdant]

"Haven? A Huntress? You?"
Aegle had expected no better, not even from the polite princess, hardly ignorant to the absurdity of the situation. It wasn't the outright shock she'd sometimes gotten, and Erytheia did not seem to think she was lying, but what she did get was no less suggestive, however kindly it was meant.
She smiled despite herself, and despite the doubt that gnawed her hollow. She'd put a brave face on it, and joked about the circumstances of her admission to Haven, but she'd had time to think about that admission in the months since, and perhaps to understand how it had truly come to pass. Aegle was under no illusions as to what she was, nor just how ill suited she was to the path she'd chosen to walk, even if some people tried to pretend otherwise. They might be able to hide from the truth, but she was constantly confronted by it, she must live it; Aegle would have needed to be mad not to see it.

A glass of water appeared before her; She'd been so focused on the highborn girl, that the serve who'd borne it might as well have been invisible. Aegle blinked, and watched the shy girl retreat from the table without a word. It made her feel a little strange, being waited on in such a fashion.
Pulling the glass closer, Aegle's eyes returned to Erytheia and found the princess wearing a new sort of smile. A smile which, for better or worse, Aegle was all too familiar with. She'd worn it herself, more often than she might count. The two of them couldn't have been much more different; Erytheia was beautiful, cultivated, with a face as fine as crystal, where Aegle's face was too narrow, too pale, and skull-like in the bargain, and yet, wearing that smile, the two of them looked much the same.
"That," Erytheia said finally, breaking the silence that had sprawled out between them following her astonished utterance, "Is impressive indeed."
Aegle's grin twitched a little wider, 'Is it?' She wondered silently, 'Why?'
"Do not put yourself down like that! You bear a great strength within you, Miss Verdant. The Huntsmen Academies do not accept candidates lightly. The road yet ahead of you is long and harsh, but you should nevertheless be proud of what you have already accomplished."
'Should I?" Aegle wondered, then, again, 'Why?'
She wondered what great strength Erytheia might be referring to, or how the princess could possibly know enough about her to make such a bold claim.
'If I named my strength, would y'still call it great?' Aegle's grin twitched a little wider as she imagined it, but she knew she would not actually do it; Nothing would end an amicable conversation quite so quick as doing that.

Just as arguing with Erytheia would be a poor way to repay her kindness, Aegle did not suppose adjusting her world view to a more realistic one would be very polite.

"I apologize if I came off rude, Miss Verdant." Said the princess, which was ironic given the thoughts Aegle was entertaining at that moment, "It was unexpected to think I might meet another of Haven’s students, tonight of all nights! Running into you here was an excellent coincidence, I daresay!"
'Another, is it?' Aegle wondered.
Still, it did Aegle's heart some good to see the sudden excitement, the genuine pleasure, that seemed to swell off of Erytheia. It made Aegle wish she could be half-so enthusiastic, half-so confident, half-so self-assured. Of all the huntresses in training which Aegle had met, none had seemed quite so pleased as the princess presently was. Most had reacted as one might expect, with disbelief, disregard, or disinterest.
'Is it Erytheia who makes me special?' Aegle wondered. She hoped not; She hoped the princess had not gotten the wrong idea somehow, that she had not mistaken Aegle for someone who actually deserved to be at Haven academy. Then Erytheia made it quite clear that she had.
"Do you already have a team assigned to you?" She asked, then, "What sort of weapon do you use? How are the professors treating you? Have you had any difficulty settling in?"
Question after question, too quick for Aegle to answer any one with much grace. She was flattered by the interest at least, even if she hardly felt she deserved it.
'She acts like I'm remarkable.' Aegle thought. She wondered if Erytheia really thought she was, and by what reason she might justify that opinion.
"I do hope we will be able to work together some time!"
That gave Aegle pause. She looked over Erytheia again, her poise, her self-possession, her apparent delicacy, and giggled despite herself. She could see it now, now that she knew to look for it.
'Behold, my peer...' It made her want to laugh, but she did not think Erytheia would get the joke. If she did, she did not think Erytheia would find it all that funny.
'I am such a weirdo.'

Aegle did not hide her surprise; Erytheia would be looking for it, and she would not disappoint her. Instead, she chuckled again and slowly shook her head, and looked down to her hands where they clutched the base of the delicate glass her water had been served in. Hands, thickly swathed in linen, with fingers that trembled even at rest. She looked across the table at Erytheia's own hands, slender fingers in dark gloves, and fingered the slender stalk on her crystalline cup. It was hard to imagine callouses beneath those gloves, just as it was hard to imagine them gripping a weapon.
'Is it a strong grip?' Aegle wondered, as she raised her glass, trembling, to her lips. She was still smiling, despite herself, despite everything, as she drank.
"I've only at Haven since the beginnin' of the week, not enough time t'get a team." It was the easiest of the princess' questions to answer. Aegle's glass rattled as she set it back down, and she flexed her fingers restlessly as she considered how best to answer the remaining questions.
"The professors have..."
'Been kind? Understanding? Patient?' Aegle's grin twitched, the slash it cut across her face more crooked than ever, 'put up with me, and not made too much of a spectacle out of me. They have not shamed me or anyone else by making me spar.'
"The professors are very knowledgeable." She amended, with a difficult shrug.

Aegle was silent for a long time after that, her eyes on her glass rather than the girl seated across from her. She'd left the two most difficult questions for last, but that had not made them any easier to answer.
"Wouldn't say I'm settled in just yet, y'know?" She said finally. It was the least contentious of the two questions, but would require more explanation than t'other. She felt she owed Erytheia an honest answer though, as poor a payment as it would be for the highborn girl's companionship.
Aegle let her glass alone for the moment and cupped her hands together instead, to feel the bony ridges along her knuckles, where they poked through her wrappings. They stung, despite the linen, still raw from the last night's exercises. She tried to find the words to explain herself though, giggled softly and let her head hang back, and wondered how complex an answer her hostess might tolerate.
"Seein' all the other students," with their strong bodies and years of experience with their respective weapons and fighting styles, and half of whom were so comfortable with their semblances that they used them without thinking, "It's good t'have somethin' t'aspire to, I guess."
She would not mention the other feelings that came with being surrounded by people stronger, faster, tougher, and better trained than she was. She didn't mention the hours she spent every morning and every evening, trying to catch up, nor the doubt that she even could. That was too much honesty for a stranger, even one as cultured and kind as Erytheia seemed to be. Better that she should move past the subject, before she was tempted to overshare.
"I didn't go t'no prep school, I think I said," Aegle unfolded her hands, just in case the princess hadn't seen them, and tipped her head loosely to one side, showing every tooth in her emaciated head, "S'when most people learn what weapon they want, yeah?"
It was when her brothers, Aaron and Vulcan, had forged their weapons, back when Vulcan had still thought he might be a huntsman. Aaron had tried half a hundred different weapons in training; Her parent's had pictures and holos of him holding everything from great spears to daggers.
"What'bout you?" She asked, turning the question back on Erytheia before she was asked for more details. Remembering Eva's weapon, Aegle tipped her head the other way and mused, "Bet it's a pretty somethin', whatever t'is. Somethin' elegant 'n beautiful, no doubt 'bout it."
The girl came from wealth, that much was clear. Whatever weapon she wielded would be the best money could be, Aegle was sure.
Remembering what her brother had told her, she wondered aloud, "Maybe a spear?"
Spears were best for small girls with slight builds, as they countered weight and strength and reach. Not as versatile as a sword, not as quick as knives, but well suited to keeping a foe at bay and capitalizing on their mistakes.

words - 1,575

[Erytheia Hellebore]

The noble warrior stood, and the people looked to her.
For she was a beacon - hope given form, yet still only human.
Within that truth there was great promise.
If one could stand against the night, then so too could anyone - everyone.

In her hand the warrior held a Rose. And her aura burned bright.

❝

While Erytheia was blissfully unaware of the internal turmoil that was raging within her dinnertime companion at the moment, the long pause and the sudden focus on her glass of water rather than the heiress herself was enough to give her some inkling of what inclination those thoughts were heading in - not a particularly positive one, or so it seemed to Erytheia from the outside looking in. And, as far as she could see, it seemed like Aegle Verdant was not as physically inclined as she was, which made the other’s apprehension quite understandable. She wasn’t about to jump to conclusions, though.

Mentioning that she hadn’t gone to prep school was one thing, but the notion that others waited until then to choose a weapon was somewhat perplexing for Erytheia to consider. From a young age, she’d been coached in the basics of various weapons, and could fight as well with a dagger as she could with a sword or lance. It was a lesson reinforced by the prestigious military school that she had gone to - the smallest of arms first, followed gradually by the larger until they had reached the largest they could be reasonably expected to handle. Not the mention the handling and maintenance of firearms, which in and of itself was a class all its own. Still, she was aware that her upbringing didn’t exactly pass for normal among all those she might meet, and was more than willing to consider that it might not be the norm for anyone not of old blood, as the Hellebores were. Inclining her head slightly in response, the young lady acknowledged the other’s words and offered up an apology.

“That might indeed be the case. I apologize, but I am unfamiliar with how the average combat school operates. Mine was… unique. And I do not interact overmuch with other students.”

Another smile, a pause to think, black gloved fingers tapping lightly against each other.

“In a way, perhaps! But Irkalla Arali is less a traditional spear, and more a swordstaff, albeit one large and shaped differently from the norm. My blades can be separated and wielded independently when the situation requires it. The weapon itself is from an earlier time, however, and appeals to less than modern sensibilities. I would love to give it a makeover, but sometimes a clear and simple function can be better appreciated than… well, whatever contraptions others might come up with, I daresay.”

It was one way to look at it. Another, and one that often crossed Erytheia’s mind, was that the weapon itself had been forged not only to kill Grimm, but also to kill others of the user’s own kind. Her ancestor had been born in a time of strife, and that was reflected in Irkalla’s nature. The Hellebore armory had been and still was full of such ancestral weapons, ready to be used at any moment, with smaller wooden training versions for when she was younger to practice their quirks and unique functions.

Snatched away from her thoughts by the arrival of the server, Erytheia glanced up with a slight start as the small white ceramic plate was set in front of her. A pair of small sea urchins, the bright yellow-orange of their roe gleaming in their dark purple shells. Artistically arranged on a bed of thinly sliced white vegetable strips so fine as to look like a twirled mountain of twine, it was indeed a sight to behold.

“Your sakizuke, L-lady Hellebore,” said she, moments before she scurried around to the other side of the table and placed the second plate in front of Aegle herself. An almost inorganic looking fractal pattern of the vegetables sat in a soup of darker green, looking very strange but no less edible or delicious for that.

“And your romanesco, Lady Verdant.”

After placing both plates down, the server hovered around for a few more seconds, waiting in case the two had any requests. If they had none, she would bow once more and retreat rapidly back towards the kitchens - otherwise, those requests would be fulfilled quickly and to utmost satisfaction before she would leave. For her part, Erytheia seemed perfectly fine with this, spooning a bite of her food with a small noise of pleasure and dismissing the server if she confirmed with a small glance that Aegle had no more requests to make.

“Most enjoyable. How is Vytal’s Ensemble treating you, Miss Verdant?”

@ ● 741 words ● 3295 total words

MADE BY MIZO

[Aegle Verdant]

"My brother uses a spear." Aegle proffered, unprompted. She could well imagine this refined highborn girl wielding a glaive; A sensible weapon for someone of her size, and deadly as any sword in hands which knew how to use it. It would make up for the lack of reach inherent to being small, and would turn the enemies greater weight against them. Being able to split the weapon into two blades was a stroke of genius too, as it eliminated the one true vulnerability inherent to long arms, that being the difficulty of their use in close quarters. It was truly an elegant weapon, the one Aegle saw in her minds eye, though one requiring its wielder to master not one but two distinct fighting styles. That, along with Erytheia's comment about her upbringing, painted a distinct picture of the highborn girl. One competent, learned, and adaptable.
"He fights with a sword too." Aegle was almost positive that Erytheia would not care how Aaron fought, but she could not help but share.
"A spearman's a menace, he says, so long as he's got the space t'use it, or friends t'stand beside him. All that reach, and y'can let the grimm do most of the work for you." He was graceful with that spear, and would use it not only for attack and defense, but for mobility too. Aaron made it dance, and he danced along with it, as light as if they were both made from air.

Aegle's fingers twitched, and she trailed off as the server reappeared with a plate in hand, this one meant for her. The fair was not what she'd expected, not even close.The combination of colors and odors was mouth watering, but it was the presentation which took her breath away. A head of emerald green sprouted from a intricate array of lesser vegetables, diced and arranged with geometric precision and half-drowned in a steamy sea of greenish broth.
"S'like a work of art." Aegle said, distressed. Her concept of 'art' was atlesian to the bone, but even she knew one wasn't supposed to destroy beautiful things.
'How can I eat this?'
She took up knife and fork in trembling hands, turned the plate this way and that, as if she might find some way to attack it without ruining the beautiful symmetry of its arrangement. Aegle licked her lips, adjusted her grip on her utensils, leaned to one side and then the other, before finally sagging, defeated.

Eyes closed, she stabbed down with her fork, raked with her knife, until tines and blade both clicked on the delicate plate beneath. Opening one eye, Aegle regarded her handiwork. She had rent the huge head of greenery, as with an ax blow, and split it right down the center to reveal the pale green flesh beneath, from which steam was gently wafting. The spell was broken then, with the center piece despoiled, the rest of the arrangement lost much of its power. Peeling the romanesco with her fork, Aegle teased out a morsel of the and speared it.
She swabbed up a bit of the broth, and speared another piece of what she assumed to be carrot, before bringing the dripping bite to her lips.
Aegle was not sure what she had expected. From the green of the sauce, she'd expected something pea or cabbage flavored. What she got was a confluence of flavors, unidentifiable in their complexity, which set her eyes watering.
"It's good!" Aegle squeaked around her mouthful, sounding just as surprised as she felt, as her fork returned to her plate for more. The green sauce was cool, and the vegetables hot, and the combination seemed to warm her all the way down to her toes, each bite carring with it the taste of the sauce and the spice the vegetables had been drowned in.

Aegle had never tasted anything half so extravagant, had never even suspected something as simple as food could be so richly and intricately prepared. After a few mouthfuls, she was sure she'd never taste anything quite so good again. It was as though the server had read her mind, because it was just then that she reappeared and placed another plate down before Aegle.
"Venison, Lady Verdant." She explained. Aegle gawked. She'd totally forgotten there was supposed to be venison as a part of her meal. The second plate was no less gorgeous in its arrangement, with a slab of red meat centered between three different sauces, each one making an elegant spiral on the blue-veined plate. It was as pretty as her romanesco had been, though the artistry of its arrangement employed much different sensibilities. Where the romanesco had been geometric and fractal, the venison was organic and smooth, almost invitingly soft. Aegle dragged her half-finished romanesco out of the way and pulled the venison closer. Having tasted the vegetables, so felt less guilty about despoiling this second plate, her reverence well outweighed by her curiosity as to how it would taste.

Sawing off a healthy morsel, Aegle smeared it through one of the artful sauces, then paused. She looked across the table, uncertain, at the plate that had been laid before Erytheia, and suddenly felt absurdly guilty.
"S'that the only plate you're gettin'?" She asked. Admittedly, both her plates had contained less food on their own, but together they were nearly double the blonde's portion.

words - 900

[Erytheia Hellebore]

The noble warrior stood, and the people looked to her.
For she was a beacon - hope given form, yet still only human.
Within that truth there was great promise.
If one could stand against the night, then so too could anyone - everyone.

In her hand the warrior held a Rose. And her aura burned bright.

❝

“Your brother sounds like a very sensible combatant,” was the heiress’ errant comment on how her dinner time companion described her sibling, smiling as she did so. She had never had one herself, but from what she heard it certainly seemed like Verdant had a good relationship with her brother, the way she went on about him.

Red eyes twinkled with amusement as her companion first gingerly poked at her meal for a while before taking her first bite, and then squeaked out a compliment of the quality of her meal around the vegetables in her mouth, the smile quirking upwards a little more at the sight of Verdant enjoying the food. Erytheia was naturally an emphatic person, one who was well attuned to the mood of those around her, and to see such obvious and overwhelming positive reaction eased her spirit quite a bit indeed. The smaller girl had seemed a little out of sorts and not very comfortable in her place since she’d entered - understandable, considering what had apparently been happening right up to the point that the heiress had intervened, but that seemed to be all but forgotten now in favor of the culinary wonder she was experiencing at the moment.

“I am glad it is to your liking,” Erytheia smiled across the table, lifting a second - and final - spoon of sea urchin roe to her mouth. Like clockwork, the blue haired server appeared with a fresh plate and whisked away the now finished first course, demurring a quiet “your Hassun, Lady Hellebore,” as she did so. The second plate held a block of perfectly cubed fried omelette that had been rolled in a completely even spiral, a slice of cured meat so thin that it was nigh translucent, and what appeared to be a fillet of pink fish that had its upper half torched while the lower remained raw, and topped with a creamy orange appearing sauce. All three were approximately half the size of Erytheia’s thumb, served on a white plate that was nearly as long as her arm with nothing else on it, the stark contrast between the colors a sight to behold. Sighing happily, the blond haired young lady used one hand to tug her sleeve back as she picked up her chopsticks with the other, moving to take up the rolled egg in an elegant motion once she had gotten a proper grip on the lacquered wood.

“S'that the only plate you're gettin'?”

Erytheia blinked quietly, glancing over to Verdant with her mouth slightly open to see the other looking at her with an almost guilty expression. There was a slight pause before a giggle escaped her, and the Hellebore firstborn lowered her chopsticks and food back to the plate so that she could cover her mouth with a sleeve as she laughed. It was a beautiful sound, high and clear as though a bell was ringing on the eve of a snowy night. When she finally calmed and looked over, her eyes shone with a subtle warmth, and the sleeve lowered to favor her companion with another genuine small smile.

“You are such a sweetheart,” she said, tilting her head to the side ever so slightly, still wearing that smile. Golden hair shifted with the movement of her head, tiny ripples moving through the strands before they stilled into her new position.

“I am glad - and grateful! - that you had such concern for me. But no, it is not. The dishes are small, but they come in great numbers. Sate yourself without worry, Miss Verdant - I shall be doing much the same, despite how meager this might look.”

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[Aegle Verdant]

Erytheia's answer was a tinkling giggle, as pretty as a crystal chalice, which she hid poorly behind one hand. The laughter did a funny thing to the highborn girl's face, creasing around her eyes while seemingly relaxing and warming the rest. That warmth remained when she lowered her hand, and Aegle saw for the first time a hint of the more natural beauty behind the Hellebore artifice. Once again, she thought of Evangeline, of the iridescent eyes and sudden smiles, and thought she saw an echo of that ease in Erytheia.
'There is a girl behind all the manners and elegance...' Aegle thought, 'A warmth and a softness beneath a layer of pristine porcelain.'
It pleased her to imagine that there might be more to the highborn girl than was immediately apparent, some secret depth that her manner and her grace kept hidden. The idea that she was doing this, that she was eating dinner with Aegle and condescending to converse with her, for reasons other than some noble sense of duty, was a comforting one. Aegle suddenly wanted to know more about Erytheia, to know what she wanted and why.
As Erytheia lowered her hand, revealing the smile beneath, Aegle was given further cause to wonder. A polite smile, she might have thought, perhaps even with a hint of indulgence, except that was assuming that Erytheia was not actually enjoying this interaction. If Aegle allowed that the highborn girl was genuinely enjoying her company, that smile took on a more suggestive appearance.
'It doesn't just touch her eyes, it fills them. It's not dutiful in the slightest, it only seems that way because of how held together Erytheia is.'
Indeed, with how self-possessed the Hellebore was, it hardly seemed possible that any expression could abound without her leave, let alone one so radiant as a smile. Yet Aegle now wasn't sure that Erytheia exerted such a tight control over her expressions. Rather, it seemed like her face was open and telling, but with a different sort of openness than the highland girl was used to.
'This is the poise of nobility,' Aegle was sure.


"You are such a sweetheart." Erytheia said, and Aegle's wonderings shattered all at once. Before she was even conscious of it, her lips had ticked up in a twisted smile, just as warmth flooded up along her cheeks and the nape of her neck, and once more turned her entire head hot with color. Aegle had been called many things by many people, but Sweetheart was almost exclusive to her parents, who said it more for endearment than any real accuracy. It was a phrase interchangeable with many other terms of endearment, and therefore without any literal meaning of its own.
Not the way Erytheia had said it though. The choice of word, like everything else from the highborn girl, had seemed very conscious, considered, and deliberate. Perhaps it was that fact that made Aegle blush; The notion that someone might genuinely consider her sweet. Her heart gave an achy flutter, like it too was unsure how to parse such a compliment.
"I am glad, and grateful, that you had such concern for me, but no, it is not," Erytheia assured her, eyes alight with that same strange, scintillating light as when she'd been laughing her polite and pretty laugh.
"The dishes are small," Expounded the highborn girl, "but they come in great numbers. Sate yourself without worry, Miss Verdant.
There was yet another hint of that smile, the one suggestive of depths Aegle had not yet seen, which must lie beneath Erytheia's effortless grace,"I shall be doing much the same, despite how meager this might look."

Aegle was left with no certain reply, left feeling both reassured and somewhat chagrined. She made herself smile, in spite of her blushing face, and again wondered at the strange kindness of this stranger seated across from her. Somehow, she had managed to make Aegle feel better for her concern, like she'd somehow done them both a service by voicing it, as well as foolish for having been concerned to begin with. Somehow, she'd made Aegle feel half normal, and maybe even appreciated, if only for a few fleeting moments, not the sort of feelings the crooked girl was used to.
'If I spend enough time with her, will she make me forget how weird and wrong I am? Will it be as though I'm not lowborn and crippled, and awkward as iron small-clothes?'
She might not have thought it possible, but then she wouldn't have expected to find this dinner so comfortable, following how the maitre d had treated her.
'I think I like this feeling.' Aegle thought.
"I think I like you." Aegle said. Perhaps she had known it subconsciously as soon as she'd met Erytheia, but that moment was the fist time she'd truly been conscious of the fact. Yet, having said it, Aegle knew it was true. She liked Erytheia, and was enjoying being around her, despite their differences, despite her own short comings. She liked the highborn girl, and wanted to spend yet more time around her, and learn more about her.

Then, like an anvil had been dropped upon their table, the import of that statement slammed down between the them.
"Oh," Aegle's grin slashed savagely wide, just as her face turned the color of a sickly beet, "Guess I said that out loud."
It was not the sort of thing you should say to someone, she knew, least of all someone you'd only just met. It was a statement loaded with all sorts of possible interpretations, and all sorts of obligations; Aegle would just as soon not have said it at all.

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[Erytheia Hellebore]

The noble warrior stood, and the people looked to her.
For she was a beacon - hope given form, yet still only human.
Within that truth there was great promise.
If one could stand against the night, then so too could anyone - everyone.

In her hand the warrior held a Rose. And her aura burned bright.

❝

“I think I like you,” said Verdant, shortly before she grinned in embarrassment and flushed a bright red. After the initial blink of surprise, Erytheia’s response was another warm laugh, taking it as the compliment she had no doubt it was intended as, rather than as a social faux pas or an opportunity to poke fun at the younger girl. The feeling she got from Aegle Verdant was that the other was much more direct and blunt than any of the people who often frequented the social events that she was used to, with their silver tongues and careful words. It was a nice feeling, not having to hold her own words in check and able to speak to someone in earnest without worrying about what agendas they might have or what issues speaking too freely could cause. And she couldn’t imagine that it would hurt to encourage that bluntness she found so refreshing - not that it mattered, here, away from prying eyes and wagging tongues and her mother’s iron fist.

Tonight, she was just Erytheia, as much as she could be.

“I certainly should hope so, Miss Verdant. It would be remiss of me to ask for your company if you find my presence not to your liking, no?”

There was another smile as she tilted her head towards Aegle’s own plate, subtly indicating that she should partake before the food ran cold. It was a notion that the young lady would follow herself, once the other girl had started - the Hellebore heiress placed the small piece of rolled omelette into her mouth and chewed slowly, savoring the subtle layers of flavor before she swallowed and returned her attention back to her dining companion. It would have been inaccurate to call her motions dainty, but they were certainly measured and smooth with no wasted movement, a casual ease that seemed controlled and yet not controlled at the same time.

“You said you have a brother,” she spoke softly, timing her question so that her companion would receive it in between swallow and the next bite, so that she wouldn’t scramble to answer over her food. Crimson eyes peered with curiosity over to where the other sat, interest clear in their gaze. While the conversation was gently steered to where it had been before, the Hellebore heiress was interested about Aegle’s sibling, never having had one of her own. And from what she could discern, the shorter girl clearly had a high regard for said sibling, which made Erytheia wonder about him, and if he had worked for the company before, either in part or in whole.

“Would you mind if I asked you to tell me more about him? A sword and spear user, I believed you mentioned - is he a Huntsman?”

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[Aegle Verdant]

To her credit, Erytheia didn't seem especially offended by Aegle's candor. Rather, she actually seemed amused, perhaps even pleased by it. A quiet, tinkling laugh, as fair and refined as the heiress herself, drifted across the table towards Aegle.
"I certainly should hope so, Miss Verdant," Said the Hellebore, smiling warmly, "It would be remiss of me to ask for your company if you find my presence not to your liking, no?"
Aegle slash of a smile twitched a little wider, and her face felt a little hotter. She tried to conceal the latter by shoveling another mouthful of food into her mouth. It was all really quite good, but the fine fair could not hold a candle to her tablemate. She barely even noticed as yet another platter was placed before her, just as the first two were taken away. The quality of her meal no longer seemed quite so important as the crimson eyes watching her from the other end of the table.

"You said you have a brother," Erytheia said finally, ending the silence that Aegle had felt too embarrassed to break, "Would you mind if I asked you to tell me more about him? A sword and spear user, I believed you mentioned; Is he a Huntsman?"
Swallowing the morsel she was, just then, in the process of chewing, Aegle cleared her throat, "I've actually got three brothers."
A small correction, and she was not wholly certain why she'd made it, when the only brother she'd mentioned so far was Aaron. Why had it become important to her for Erytheia to have as accurate a picture as possible of her familial ties? Perhaps it was merely the fact that the heiress had shown interest in those details.
"Aaron's the one y'mean," Aegle agreed, "but there's also Vulcan and Paeon."
She scratched at the edge of her jaw with the handle of her fork, "Aaron's the oldest, though they're all older n' me though."
'Why's she askin'? Why does she care?'
"And it's not just the sword n' spear, Aaron's good with just 'bout every weapon y'could imagine." Everything from daggers to machine guns, really; There wasn't a weapon Aaron couldn't use. Not a terribly remarkable talent for a huntsman to have, but it was certainly an impressive one.
"He's a specialist for the Army," She told Theia, and nobody could fail to hear the capital 'A'; To an Atlesian, there was only one army worth mentioning, "They're sorta like huntsman, I guess. Does Mistral have specialists? He did go to Atlas, so I guess he's at least certified. They used t'call him 'The Perfect Soldier' a'fore he graduated."
Aegle wasn't sure why she mentioned that last part, and suddenly felt a little embarrassed for having said it at all. Aaron had never liked the moniker, having held fast to the opinion that 'perfect' implied he couldn't improve. He'd proved that supposition quite wrong after joining the specialists.
"Now they call him the 'God of War'," Aegle looked uncomfortable, and added, "His semblance is really strong. S'not flashy like a manipulator or a transformation, but it makes him real tough t'beat."
She'd watched him in the Vytal Tournament one year, cheering him on from her hospital bed. Each of his fights had gone the same way, with Aaron seeming to move at regular speeds while his opponents all moved in slow motion. His awareness of his surroundings, his reaction time, his agility, all grace and deadly precision... Aegle had often wondered what it must be like to be so strong.
"Y'can tell when he's usin' it 'cause it makes his eyes glow. Even without it though, he's really tough; Bear-strong n' cat-quick."
She'd once seen Aaron slice down a tree with a single stroke of his sword, and it never seemed like anything could touch him if he didn't want it to.
"He's real serious a lot of the time, and often quiet, like he's thinkin' real hard, but he has a really friendly smile..."
She missed him. Aegle deflated a little, remembering how Aaron and the rest of her family were on the other side of the world.
"D'ya have any brothers, Erytheia?" Aegle asked, looking back at the heiress.

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