Dresses are scary [open]

[Anonymous]

[Timeline note: this is between that unfinished thread with Kisa, Cyrus, Arolyn, and the many Kaleasters and Midsummer. Not necessarily too much before the latter, but... before it. *Nods* But open to whatever! I was just bored and decided to play with my little boy.]

It is a family traditions of Kaleasters to hate court.  Actually, that really isn’t quite accurate.  In point of fact it was the tradition for many years for the duke to frequent court at least half the year as a part of his duties to king and country, and for a time that had become a tradition of enjoying the small entertainments court life had to offer.  So in reality, it wasn’t really a tradition.  In point of fact, it was limited almost entirely to the current duke, one or two of his siblings, and his children.  And of the youngest generation of Kaleasters, even the majority didn’t really mind the opportunity to get dressed up.  Actually, most of them enjoyed it.

Tyroshaun was the exception to the rule.  It wasn’t that he disliked it.  He was bloody well terrified of the place.

The dark expression on his face as he strode through the halls of the castle was not due primarily to his location, however.  Instead it was due almost entirely to the rather unpleasant confrontation with his father that had taken place within five minutes of his arrival.  I got too complacent, that’s all. And now he’ll be watching me too closely. I’ll have to wait for him to cool down… And that wasn’t the worst.  He was exiled to this blasted place until further notice.  He could only hope that Fenway would have sense and possibly take a liking to him.  The only other men his age he could think of were… well, Merdirein, as much as his father and Katrina insisted the man wasn’t half bad, considering, Tyroshaun couldn’t bring himself to like him.

Still, however forbidding his expression may have been beforeâ€"and it was, as several people seemed to avoid him somewhatâ€"it changed drastically as he reached his destination: the main room where most of the court dealings happened. The instant he did, the fury was wiped away and replaced by a completely blank expression.  Beneath it he was trying not to turn around and very nearly run, but… at this point he couldn’t really get away with it. Not with his father looking over his shoulder.  Absently running his handâ€"still with his riding gloves onâ€"over the slight growth of beard he’d rather uncharacteristically decided to keep, he cautiously edged his way around the room.  True, keeping to the wall wasn’t the most… efficient way of moving, but at least it kept him out of the way of the majority of the adolescent girls andâ€"even worseâ€"their mothers.  Oh god oh god I’m going to die.  I can’t do this.  They’ll… try to kill me or something.  He quickly began playing with his gloves in an effort to hide the way his hands were shaking.  Repent of the way he’d taken over Glauster? Never.  Rue ever telling Katrina about his ideas? Most definitely.  He couldn’t really think about anything else.

[Anonymous]

Alaois had assured 'Nait that she wouldn't have to be in court all the time. Shortly, she promised she would find something to occupy 'Nait that would keep her out of court as much as she liked. The vagueness of that concerned 'Nait, but nevertheless, she had to be thankful for the prospect of not having to be here every day, among all these twittering butterflies... hummingbirds... peacocks...

Whatever she called them, they all had bright clothes and sparkly jewelry and no brains, as far as 'Nait was concerned. She didn't even like the court nobles in her own country, let alone those in Serendipity. So the little Connlaothan girl stood in a convenient corner against the wall, across the room from her mother and mostly out of her line of sight (a calculated move), arms folded over her chest, and looking entirely uncomfortable in the cream-colored dress she'd been wearing. It didn't help that every time she moved somewhere, she tripped over the hem of her dress, almost inevitably.

And she kept eyeing almost everyone that came too close with a good deal of suspicion. Many of them gave her similar looks - the ambassador herself was coldly polite, foreign but not entirely off-putting; her daughter was just hostile.

[Anonymous]

Drinks.  Over there. This is good.  Just a little farther… As he gave the table a rather forlorn lookâ€"despite his very strict policy of never getting drunk so as not to lose his edge… well.  He knew how fast his mind worked, and sometimes it was just a little too much.  And when his surroundings were as overwhelming as court… well.  It really wasn’t something he was really comfortable enough with to handle on his own.  Not that it would take much, of courseâ€"just a little strong port or a glass or two of wine, or possibly a touch of brandy, and he’d be just fine.  Or so he could hope.

It wasn’t just the many young females who all had suspect motivesâ€"or if they didn’t, their mothers probably did.  It was the sheer colour and movement.  For most people, it was dazzling or at the least somewhat stunning to see, at least the first time.  For him, the light bouncing around and the hundred different shades just made it almost impossible to hear his own thoughtsâ€"and for someone whose mind was almost constantly working and trying to find new things to think about, that was a particularly disorienting experience.  So he just kept his eyes mostly on the centre of the room as he slowly made his way around the perimeter, trying to pretend like he was part of the wall.  Maybe if he believed it, everyone else would too.

Luckily for him, though, his magic was hypersensitive enough to warn him just before he would have run into someone.  It really did have its uses, he supposedâ€"like basically giving him a mental image without having to look, if he really needed it.  And the sudden registering of “small human shapeâ€? was a good tip off to stop and look where he was going.  He managed to, with some difficulty, not stumble in shock at not having noticedâ€"and then had to quickly come up with a mantra of “Running away is bad.â€?  Not another female.  Heaven help me. And for a moment, then, as he looked down at her in slight surprise, he tried to remember if he’d seen her somewhere.  No, where he’d seen her, of course he’d seen her.  Glauster, yes, that was where, but then why would she be…

Oh.  Oh shit.

After a moment he did his usual, rather awkward-looking half-bow he used whenever he bothered to bow at all.  He hated this.  He could never remember anyone’s name in these situations.  At least he’d remembered she was the Connlaothan girl.  She’d looked incredibly familiar, of course, but… then again, she wasn’t exactly wearing a sword at the moment.  For a moment he found himself glad he still was.  A security blanket? Not at all.

“I didn’t expect to see you here, miss.â€?  Rathnait.  Dammit, what’s her family name? The ambassador… Aldanrin you are a complete idiot who deserved to get caught if you can’t even manage this much… He hoped that would be enough for now, even as he kept searching his memory desperately in the hopes of finding that particular piece of information.

[Anonymous]

'Nait noticed the young man approaching her long before he noticed her. And were he actually looking at her, she'd be a little more suspicious of him, but for heaven's sake, he wasn't even glancing in her direction, just looking at something in the center of the room... She still kept her eye on him, because if he didn't look where he was going at some point, he was bound to run into her, and that was the last thing she wanted. Bad enough to be in a room with these people, but to actually have one touch her?

Although... come to think of it, he looked familiar. A lot like that young man she and her mother had run into coming down from the border, but... older. Another of the same family, probably, they seemed to breed like rabbits... It took her a moment longer to realize that it was the young man she'd met coming down from the border - the beard had thrown her off, somehow.

And then he stopped, short of stumbling over her, and 'Nait quickly replaced her startled expression with one of bored annoyance, much the same one she'd been wearing since setting foot in the court. Despite that, though, she smoothed her dress unconsciously. She wasn't nervous, it was just that the dress made her uncomfortable. She didn't wear them often, that was all...

"Aldanrin," she said, as politely as she could manage, her chin tilted up farther than she'd have liked to look him in the eye. This was much easier, talking to him, when she was mounted. Looking up at him like this, she felt like a child, and perhaps because of that she sounded a little defensive when she added, "And I prefer to be addressed by my name, if it's not too much trouble. I'm not a 'miss'."

That was for silly noble girls. Oh, 'Nait was nobility, but... that was different. She didn't frequent the court, she didn't wear dresses unless forced to, she didn't flirt with young men or worry about the latest gossip... In her mind, there was a very large difference indeed.

[Anonymous]

Her slight movement in smoothing her dress had, entirely unconsciously, drawn his attention to it somewhat.  He knew she was wearing one, of course, he wasn’t an idiotâ€"but it had really more registered as completely contrasting to the impression he’d gotten of her at Glauster.  And it equated, in his mind, to noble girl, a beast to be feared, so he really didn’t think about it much.  But it did make him remember the fact that he had been so angry with his father for jumping to conclusions without bothering to check the facts that he hadn’t exactly changed, entirely.  Meaning… he was still a little dusty. And somehow, quite vaguely, the sight of even the little girl in a dress made Tyroshaun (usually looking absolutely impeccable) feel somewhat… like he didn’t look his best. And it vaguely bothered him.

But, really, he had more important things to worry about than that.  Also more important things to worry about than the fact that she’d actually remembered who he was.  Still, her manner made him feel somewhat awkward.  Generally when girls did that they wanted to trap him into somethingâ€"the few times he’d allowed it involved certain… associations he’d been interested in furthering at the time.  And thoseâ€"and the use of namesâ€"tended to be over fairly quickly.  Besides, he couldn’t just call her “Rathnait.â€?

After a moment, he decided to take refuge in the one thing he knew of that could possibly protect himâ€"ironically enough, something he detested: protocol.  â€œI’m afraid far too much of my education involved good manners for me to entirely desert them.â€?  There, that should hold, at least until he figured out what she wanted.  He’d heard about the meetingâ€"why she’d want someone from a family of particularly prominent mages using her name was entirely beyond him.  Unless she didn’t know, but that seemed unlikely.

After another short pause, in which he tried to work out how to live up to that politeness he claimed to have been educated in, he said with as little hesitation as he could manage, “I hope your stay so far hasn’t been overly taxing.â€?  He winced internally as he realized he had as good as implied it wouldn’t have been good at all.

[Anonymous]

"Are you implying I haven't been educated in manners, Aldanrin?" 'Nait asked, her eyebrows arched questioningly. She looked a little like her mother, when she took on that expression, but she didn't quite have Alaois' polish, nor did she give the impression that she was being polite only until she could find a way to make due without you. Actually, she brought to mind a kitten trying to be a tiger. She had claws and teeth alright, but she was just so adorable, you couldn't really think of them as a threat.

"And as I haven't yet been assaulted or corrupted, then I suppose it's as well as I could have hoped." Her tone implied that those hopes were very, very low to begin with. She probably wouldn't have spoken so carelessly were her mother near enough to hear her, but 'Nait had been keeping careful tabs on the ambassador, and in this din, she was well out of earshot.

"I hadn't exactly expected to see you here either. Don't you have better places to be?" At this moment, anywhere far, far from here seemed a good place to be.

[Anonymous]

Staring at her a moment in utter shock, Tyroshaun felt, for one moment, that he might as well have been her age and in his first year exposed to court for all that he seemed able to deal with this. “N-no!â€? As he realized he was almost starting to stammer and quickly tried his best to recover his mask.  â€œI simply meant that I was overtaught to the point of being somewhat incapable of abandoning what I know.â€? Something dimly registered in his mind about that being the most utterly ridiculous and idiotic thing he’d said in years, and somehow he wondered where his ability to keep up the act of aloof, icy young noblemanâ€"something he’d perfected only with great effortâ€"had suddenly disappeared to.  In point of fact, despite the hair and beard which tended to add practically ten years to his appearance, for a moment he looked like a rather confused school boy.

Finally deciding he had simply been caught unawares, he tried his best to set his mind back into its normal frame, something helped enormously by the fact that he’d finally recalled her family name.  At least now he wouldn’t slip up by accident.  But then what she’d said registered with him, and he sighed.  Connlaothans and their petty prejudices.  Oddly enough, it was enough to snap him into a semblance of calm again.  

“No matter what you may think of our customs, we do have to be civilized when conducting international relations.  It’s entirely unfair of you to assume we would be any less concerned about maintaining delicate balances of peace.â€?  His tone was slightly chiding, rather like a teacher with a small childâ€"and whether it was just made more marked by his lilting accent will be left entirely to the imagination.  â€œWe want war possibly less than you do.â€?  Certainly the Kaleasters didâ€"they were all mages, and they had no wish to confront the idea of the worst possible outcome of any confrontations between the two countries.

At her question, though, he stiffened slightly, and for a moment his eyes flashed with anger.  It clearly wasn’t directed at her, from the way he was staring fixedly at a point in front of him (or in other words, far above her head), but it was nonetheless a sudden burst of emotion that was rather uncharacteristic for his usual court manner.  â€œNormally I would be at Aldanrin or Glauster,â€? he finally admitted.  â€œBut my father required my presence for various reasons.â€?  He wasn’t about to admit he was being punished by a forced stay, though.

[Anonymous]

'Nait's lips twitched into a smile despite herself at just how frazzled he seemed to be by a simple question. Somehow she managed to keep from remarking that she'd expected a viscount to have a bit more dignity and composure, though just barely. A moment later, realizing she was smiling, she wiped the smile from her face, though the trace of amusement remained in her eyes - not easily readable, because 'Nait rarely was when she was uncomfortable, but there nonetheless.

It vanished the instant he adopted that chiding tone. Bad enough that people looked at her like a child, but to treat her as one... She barely managed to keep herself from snapping at him, or possibly hitting him, and it was probably a good thing that her mother had insisted she leave all blades in her room (and that 'Nait hadn't been able to find a way to conceal a weapon with this damn dress).

"I see," she said simply, and left it at that for a moment, then muttered under her breath, not particularly intended for him to hear, "At least you have a reason."

[Anonymous]

For a moment Tyroshaun was almost at ease again as he looked down (rather far down, he realized) at the girl.  He caught her smile, and the amused look in her eyes that lingered afterwards, and really he couldn’t entirely blame her for laughing at him.  That much he readily understood, and there was a brief, faint smile that lit his face as he raised an eyebrow in slight acknowledgement of his own ineptness.  He didn’t bother stopping to think about why he would smile about itâ€"usually if he messed up like that, he would get rather bashful and run away (figuratively speaking, most of the time).  But he did smile, if rather wryly and self-deprecatorily, but it was a smile nonetheless.

He saw her expression change, though, and while he realized he really had sounded slightly pompousâ€"a bad habit cultivated by raising younger siblingsâ€"he knew he was right.  And unfortunately, when Tyroshaun knew he was right he didn't much care about anything else.  He noted the way she seemed incredibly eager to hit him, as it was an expression he’d seen all to recently on his own father’s face, and sighed internally.  This really wasn’t his day.  His father, the little Connlaothan girl… with his luck he’d have a duel by the end of the day and have to own up to being a better swordsman than he was generally known as.  After a moment he said rather quietly, “Miss Vailiâ€"you seem to understand that speaking freely to me is no real problem, for whatever reason, but people have an unfortunate tendency to overhear things in this room.â€?  Why was he even bothering to warn her?  She’d just hate him all the more for it, but… he really hadn’t liked that comment.  Not least because it was most likely directed at the mage population more than anyone else.  â€œI was not under the impression your mother was here to instigate a war, and I am quite sure that we are happy with the peace so far.  Don’t push your limits.â€?

He didn’t entirely realize he was warning her not to push him too farâ€"why he was tolerating this from her to begin with was beyond him.  But as he caught her muttered comment, he raised an eyebrow.  â€œI assure you, if I had any say in the matter, I would be dealing with business from home. But a parent does have a certain amount of authority.â€? He rather thought she’d understand that.

[Anonymous]

'Nait ducked her head briefly to rub at her temples. This room was giving her a headache. It wasn't the noise, exactly - it wasn't that loud, really, nothing compared to the clacks and crashes and shouts of a training yard - it was just constant, and with the lights and the sparkles off jewelry and adornments on dresses, and the occasional whiff of too-strong perfume... it all added up.

After a moment, she shook her head and looked back up at Aldanrin (as she was intent on calling him, hesitant to use anything more personal, even a name), fighting to wipe any trace of that temporary loss of composure off her face.

"I am not a diplomat, sir, surprising as that may be to you," she said, her voice even, twisted only by that faintest bit of irony. "And yes, my mother does have a certain amount of authority, but that compels my presence and not much more. I'm not here to make friends, and I hardly think a stray word from me is going to start a war. I am not the ambassador."

[Anonymous]

Tyroshaun regarded her for a moment, noting her rather obvious discomfort, and felt a flash of pity for the girl.  They were two of a kind in that respect, thenâ€"this room tended to give him migraines in less than two minutes.  That it hadn’t yet was a miracle in and of itself.  Or something.  He regarded her quietly for a moment, not entirely sure what to do with this situation.  As much as he knew his giving her advice was not entirely apropos, the girl didn’t seem to have any idea of her actual position here.  He hoped, for her sake and sake of general peace, that she was more diplomatic with other people than with him.  After a slight pause he glanced around and said quietly, “Wait here a moment.â€?

He made his way, without quite as much of an attempt to blend in with the wall, over to the table with drinks.  A few quiet words to the nearest servant, accompanied by a smile (he recognized the man from an earlier visit), earned him two glasses of wine, one of which he downed immediately.  Belatedly realizing that may have been incredibly unsubtle, he tried to hide how uncomfortable he was as his glass was refilled.  Once it was he made his way back to the little blond girl and handed her the other glass.  â€œCome.  I think I’m even less eager than you are to be here,â€? he admitted with a rueful smile as he scanned for the nearest exit to the garden.

Once he found it, he beckoned to her slightly and started for the doorway.  He was rather glad that he hadn’t made any kind of dramatic entrance, as it would have made escaping unnoticed much more difficult.  As it was, though, between his quietness and attempt to project nonexistence, he seemed to have avoided the rest of the court. However temporarily.  Once he was outside he breathed a sigh of relief and looked down at his glass, trying not to drain it.  He had to make this one last longer.  He glanced back at the girl.  â€œIt’s quieter out here,â€? he said by way of an explanation.  It was in full view of the court room, certainly, but removed enough to be free of the annoyances.

[Anonymous]

'Nait frowned a little, irritated that he just told her to wait her and then turned away, jsut expecting that she would... It wasn't as if she had anywhere to go, anything to do but wait. It was the principle of the thing. She did wait, though, completely ignoring the sidelong glances of several courtiers and missing what might be jealousy in the gazes of some of the women.

When he returned, she delicately took the wine glass from his hand, and considered it for a moment with something that didn't quite reach suspicion. That moment passed, and she took a sip - maybe it would dull her senses, lessen her headache for the moment. Even if it gave her a headache in the morning (something that, given her size and alcohol tolerance, wasn't all that unlikely), she figured it was more than worth it.

And she followed him outside, though she did glance uncertainly over her shoulder as she did. She paused several steps from him, keeping a cautious distance - or quite possibly trying to stand farther away so she didn't have to tilt her chin so far up to look at him. "My mother... If she looks for me and doesn't see me in there..."

Not that she wanted to be in there, but something compelled her to play the good daughter for just a minute here. Sometimes it was easier going with Alaois than fighting what she wanted. 'Nait's mother could be a force of nature, like the tide. Only much, much scarier.

[Anonymous]

Tyroshaun leaned against the wall of the castle and took a sip of his wine, using the moment of forcing himself to focus on not drinking the whole thing to regain his equilibrium.  But, all in all, he felt better nowâ€"a bit of a drink and open air helped immensely.  Regarding her for a moment, he smiled slightly, very glad he’d had the foresight to ask for one of the weaker varieties of wine.  After all, a little girl like her wouldn’t be able to handle much more.  And for him… well, it would mean he was in even less danger of losing his edge than usual.  And dealing with the Connlaothan girl made that imperative.

He glanced at the door back into the court room and smiled faintly.  â€œBelieve me, miss, almost anyone would be able to tell your mother where you are if they saw you with me.â€?  His voice was slightly more relaxed than before, if the faint traces of amusement in it were any indication.  After all, he reasoned, it wasn’t as if he were hard to spotâ€"the contrary, quite unfortunately. Unless he were using his magic, but that was another matter entirely.  â€œBesides, I’m wouldn’t take you out of sight of the court room.  I can hardly afford to offend your mother,â€? especially after the way that Father decided to be as uncivil as he can manage without starting a war, he added silently.  Tyroshaun did not, however, mention that he was also not about to take an unmarried young woman of the court out of sight.  It was the single stupidest move any sworn bachelor could make.

After another sip, he sighed and decided to get to the point.  Not that she would like it much, but he didn’t particularly enjoy beating around the bush.  He spent a brief moment considering his phrasing.  â€œMiss Vaili, you seem to be suffering under a slight misapprehension about your status here.  It may not be official, but you are a diplomat.â€?  There was something rather compassionate in his tone, but then from a man who had to be coerced into setting foot in the capital that was only to be expected.

“I don’t mean to offend you, but… the facts are these.  You’re a Connlaothan nobleâ€"highly enough ranked to be well-trained, I will guess.  Here in Serendipity, at least half the nobles, if they are not mages themselves, come from families that are, and more than that ratio of the most powerful people are mages.â€?  He looked at her rather somberly, hoping she would understand what he was trying to get at.  â€œThat your mother brought you at all is… a gesture of good-intentions, if you will.  Your presence makes you a diplomat by default.â€?  He smiled slightly, then and glanced at her dress.  Yes, she was most definitely a diplomat in all but name, if her mother was forcing her to dress like a proper noblewoman and in all likelihood go unarmed.  She’d struck Tyroshaun as someone who tended to ignore rules about weapons and to find some way of destroying any dress-like outfit put before her.

[Anonymous]

'Nait felt the sudden urge to down the wine in her glass and fetch another one. The headache of the court had gone. It was being replaced with the headache of Aldanrin, which promised to be somewhat worse. After all, this headache could follow her. And it was worse to know that truthfully, he was right.

She eyed him coldly for a moment before telling him in as close a tone to her mother's as she could manage, "I don't believe I asked for your advice, Aldanrin. And while I appreciate the thought-" though her tone implied nothing of the sort- "I believe I will manage on my own."

'Nait tried to ignore the comments about mages. Well, not so much ignore them as push them to the back of her mind, so much as was possible. If she thought too much about how many mages were around this place, she'd never want to leave her room. She glanced around the garden momentarily, searching for a way out of this conversation - there wasn't one, really, and she knew it.

[Anonymous]

Tyroshaun watched her with a sardonic smile.  Clearly the girl didn’t like to be wrong, particularly when directly involved in a discussion with someone who was right.  He also knew from extensive (and recent) experience with his father when he was getting on someone’s nerves, and in her case it made him feel almost good.  He thought, very vaguely, that he and Nadia were far too similar at times.  Still, her tone didn’t indicate the best of receptions. After all, anything to make a girlâ€"almost any girlâ€"imitate Her Icy Bitchiness was probably a bad thing.

“It wasn’t precisely advice,â€? he said after a moment’s consideration.  â€œIf it were advice, I would have told you again when you shouldn’t talk about magic being corrupting when fairly powerful mages are around to hear.â€?  His besetting sin was, of course, that he always did, but then he unconsciously considered himself above such rules.  â€œIt was simply a statement of fact, however unwilling you might be to accept it.â€?

After taking another sip and noting the way she seemed so desperate to find a way out of talking to him, he somewhat incorrectly assumed it was because she was aware of his magic.  After all, everyone knew the Kaleasters were all mage-born, she would have heard about it by now.  Arrogant? Not at all.  Finally he added, “Your presence is also a sort of… assurance of good-behavior on our part,â€? and by “ourâ€? he meant mages, not just Serendipity.  â€œAny sort of harm or, as you term it, corruption would be justification for a certain amount of hostility from Connlaoth.â€?  Again, it was her warning not to push the temper of the mage community and more specifically him too far.

He took another sip before, deciding that the conversation wasn’t likely to get any better if she got annoyed, he told her somewhat gently, “If there’s something pressing for you to do I won’t keep you, of course.â€?  There, it was her decision now.  If she wanted to go, he’d just find a way to hide from his father until dinner.  If she wanted to stay… well, at least he wouldn’t be in the court room.

[Anonymous]

The sardonic look was getting on her nerves almost as much as his words themselves. Arrogant bastard. If she'd been speaking to him at home, where she was comfortable and could be herself, she'd have been facing him at the point of a blade right about now. Not that she'd hurt him all that much, she'd just love the opportunity to kick him around the training yard a bit. Pity that wasn't an option here.

She considered him for a moment, and then took another sip of wine, mostly to stall while she thought. "I'm sorry, did I offend you, speaking of corruption?"

Her words were polite, but they held a sort of... edge to them, in her tone, an added question: Are you afraid it might be true? After all, living among mages, he had to have at least an inkling of what they were like. He'd have to be completely mad not to. Then again, maybe everyone in this country was mad.

And then an opening, a gentle offer for her to leave... She glanced back to the court room, her only other option now. The court, where it was hot and noisy and filled with people she didn't know and didn't like, and her mother... At least out here was cooler, and much quieter, with only a few nobles wandering about - and most of those were pairs or small groups, intent on talking to each other so they wouldn't notice her. "Nothing pressing, no. I think I need to stay for at least an hour before my mother accepts it as... making an appearance."

[Anonymous]

Tyroshaun unconsciously relaxed as the girl decided to stay.  After all, if she was staying out here, it gave him a perfect excuse to stay as well. Entertaining the ambassador’s daughter without making a mortal enemy of her would probably sooth some of his father’s ruffled feathers to boot.  With any luck, a little judiciously placed attention and Aldanrin would be back at home sooner than currently projected.  That’s certainly what he told himself, at any rate.  â€œOnly an hour?â€? he murmured.  â€œLucky child.â€?

Her question, though, and the tone in which she asked it, made him go very still for a moment.  The crux of the matter, and how in heaven he was supposed to answer it without the whole discussion deteriorating into yelling was somewhat beyond him.  Besides, he couldn’t imply that he thought there was a possibility of corruption.  Because he knew there wasn’t.  After a moment he simply admitted quietly, without any trace of rancor, “Mildly so, yes.â€?  After all, he wasn’t an evil murderer or anything, and he knew he was easily one of the more powerful mages in Serendipity. Or anywhere.

He sighed slightly.  â€œI know it is that fear of corruption which leads to the Connlaothan dislike of magic, but I’ve always been slightly confused as to what that corruption entails.â€?  Wouldn’t his father be proud of him if he managed to convince a Connlaothan noble that magic really wasn’t all that bad after all? “I was hoping you might tell me.â€?

He doubted his effort would really takeâ€"people so set in their prejudices were incredibly difficult to handle.  But still, it would be fun to try.

[Anonymous]

"An hour minimum," she corrected. "If I am lucky. I don't hold out much hope of that." Usually, 'Nait wasn't quite this negative. But just about any Connlaothan would get a little pessimistic when faced with a land full of mages, and 'Nait was no exception.

She paused at his response to her question, and bit her lip momentarily, a frown flickering over her face. It disappeared almost as quickly, though, as she made sure to school her expression to something more neutral, cool and composed. However, she still balked a little at answering - he warned her not to talk about how mages were evil, and then he went asking about it? Insane, she decided. He really must be.

"I don't believe that would be exactly... diplomatic. I suppose you'd know better than I anyway, seeing mages firsthand so often." Mages like his bloody siblings... She suppressed a chill, remembering that little encounter.

[Anonymous]

Giving her a sympathetic look, Tyroshaun reflected that there ought to be a law mandating all participation in court be voluntary.  Then he realized there was really no way to verify it, and people who ordered their children’s presenceâ€"like his father and the ambassadorâ€"would ignore it anyway.  Then he realized he’d actually just equated the two, and decided to move on before he accidentally came up with something to make the duke even more furious than he already was.  â€œNo, I wouldn’t either,â€? he said with a sigh.

Her evasion made him sigh and roll his eyes slightly.  She was quick, that was certain.  But then again, he also hoped that maybe her frown indicated he’d struck a nerve.  Tyroshaun had a nagging feeling that the girl really had no idea what she was talking about and was simply repeating what she was always told.  It would be a pity to let a mind like that go to waste on parroting idiocies. It never once occurred to him that trying to change her mind was more or less lunacy.

After a moment’s consideration, he simply said mildly, “I believe I’ve indicated a rather more patient temper than some.  My father, for instance.â€?  That was a flat out lieâ€"in fact Tyroshaun could be at least as volatile as any Kaleaster, usually more so.  In court, though, it tended to retreat behind a certain diffidence.  â€œI have my limits, I suppose, but seeing as I’ve yet to get into any duels I dare say I can control myself,â€? he added lightly.  He sobered then, although he still had a very faint smile.  â€œYou also have to recall, culture here in Serendipity and the rest of the world considers magic perfectly acceptable and even occasionally prized, so an alternate view is a point of… academic interest.â€?  There, that sounded reasonable, especially coming from a man who reads philosophy for fun.  â€œAnd I have grown up with magic, so for me it and its effects are so commonplace I’d hardly be expected to know the difference.â€?

[Anonymous]

That made sense, and 'Nait rather wished it hadn't. Much easier to deal with the fact that people lived among mages and didn't mind it if they were all completely irrational. She gave him an annoyed look, as if she blamed him for being logical, and said a little sharply, "If I'd known there would be people so curious, I would have brought a book."

Nevertheless, she supposed it was her duty to enlighten him, much as she wished she could get out of it. This was a matter for priests, not her. She didn't particularly care about magic, beyond making sure that anyone who dared to use it was properly punished. She sighed and thought back to what she'd been told as a child - only children had to have it explained to them why magic was evil. Everyone else just took it for granted. And as 'Nait had heard these lessons just after her father had been killed by a mage, the teaching had set particularly deep.

"Magic's a force of evil in the world. It gives people a power they shouldn't have, and that power... sets a darkness in them. Mages aren't like people. Their souls get turned into just... a shell for magic and evil. They kill without conscience, they use their power to their own advantage, and they don't care how it may harm other people." She gave him a perplexed, uncertain look. "I'd think you'd be able to see that, even if you spent your whole life around them."