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Started by Anonymous, June 14, 2010, 11:16:47 PM

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Anonymous

It felt good to be in uniform again. The heavy metal of the armor, the pull of the cape when she moved. Tarlaka pressed a gloved hand to the table, trailing her fingers along the back of a chair. It'd been a few months since she returned, the once long hair was now short, curling around her head. It had been bleached, stripped of it's colour. Tarlaka had sawed it all off. There was a few moments where she was glad that she needed to heal so her hair had time to grow back.

Even if it was short now.

Tarlaka missed her wings. Her big black wings. People could spot her a mile away when she had those and they'd shut up before she got there. Now it took until she was there for them to stand at attention and look properly whipped. She'd sooner back hand for it, but she'd been gone for a while. Sooner or later they'd learn, and she'd hope sooner. Tarlaka wasn't keen on making her hand hurt.

A quiet sigh and her hand clenched at the chair before she stood and walked to a window, standing. It irritated her that training had fallen while she was gone, it couldn't have been long. Four months? Slaking. She wanted to smack all of them. Get a spear and smack them on their asses, acting above themselves, not showing the proper respect.

"Fucking trainee's." Tarlaka grumbled before moving away from the window. It irritated her that she had been stolen, that she had to rest, do little else but stay in her rooms and see to her daughter. The visits from Yuri and Akkiel helped keep her sane but the healing took longer than she wanted it to.
                        
On a whim, Tarlaka moved to a chair, it scrapped loudly against the floor in the quiet room before she removed her gauntlets and pillowed her head in her arms. Even though she looked at rest she was alert, her ears listening to everything, the flip of pages. Pages? There shouldn't have been anyone in here. Tarlaka lifted her head and stared at the shelves before raising her voice, "Who's here? Show yourself."

Xphy

It was amazing how time could change a place so much. It wasn't everyday that Celesti decided to visit the castle in Ketra, but each time she did she was always surprised by how different it looked. Over the years the place had changed quite a bit. Just about every King that had risen to power during her lifetime, whether it had been through inheritance or usurpation, had put their own personally touches on it. Walls had been torn down, new rooms added and rearranged, furniture and fixtures changed. Compared to how she remembered it before she had left to settle in her own lands the similarities were vague at best.

 Her reasons for visiting the castle were simple enough. She had wanted to do some research in the castle archives. Her adopted father had been on her mind a lot lately, and while she had known him very well much of time had passed since his death. She still remembered what kind of man had been of course, but some of her memories had begun to fade over time and eventually guilt had driven her to travel to the capital.

So here she was, her eyes scanning bookcases for any records or logs that might have contained information on him. The castle being what it was she had decided to dress a bit more elegantly than she normally did. After all there was the chance she might run into the King or someone else of importance. She had chosen to go with a fine royal blue tunic with golden embroidered hem with a matching mantle and black ankle-length leggings underneath, and boots on her feet. Her hair was woven in a single long braid that hung just beyond her hips and all of her butterflies, transparent in the well lit room, were calm and perched about her clothing. She would've let them fly freely, but they tended to bother people.

Just as she was about to pull another of the logs from a shelf she heard the screeching sound of a chair dragging against the floor. Apparently there had been someone else in the room other than herself. The other person seemed to have noticed her presence as well, calling out as soon as she had begun to flip through the book she'd taken down.

With a sigh she walked in the direction the voice had come from, a female knight coming into view as she walked around the side of a bookcase. "Sorry, was I bothering you?" she asked, closing the book in her hand and crossing her arms in front of her. She didn't quite recognize the woman, or rather she looked familiar like she had seen her somewhere before but there was something off about her appearance. Like something was missing...

However while she didn't recognize woman right away, she recognize the armor. Its design was one she was very familiar with, having worn something similar when she was younger. The woman had to be Tarlaka Glockmoor, the current Commander of the military. That explained a lot. Celesti had heard that woman's most recognizable feature, her wings, had been clipped when she had been kidnapped a few months back. Her hair also seemed to be a bit shorter than she remembered, but people cut their hair all of the time.

Anonymous

Tarlaka stood instantly and gave a bow. She wasn't expecting someone like this here. Maybe a new recruit trying to get out of training. This though. She bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut. Suddenly feeling ashamed for everything. For her daughter. For getting kidnapped. For being a weak commander. Commanders should be strong.

They shouldn't get hurt, they shouldn't be weak. They shouldn't have children, they shouldn't have limbs removed.

When she rose from her bow, her face was stony and plain. Her hands were fists at her sides and she looked at Celesti, curious. What was she doing here? Tarlaka rested her hand on her hip, tilting her head to the side. Normally, her wings would have been pulled back, the feathers down and smooth. Now there was nothing and she could feel the useless muscles in her back ache.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you, Lady Celesti." Tarlaka took a step forward to stand near her, she felt dwarfed. She was an average height for a woman, the metal heels on her boots gave her an extra inch or so, but this woman. A momentary pause, she'd been a Commander, right? Tarlaka took a breath and blew it out slowly before she let her expression change into something more of a plead. "Did you do anything wrong? While you were commander?"

Tarlaka frowned before she took a step back and bowed again. "I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I am Tarlaka, current Commander of the military. I'm afraid I'm not quite cut out for my role, and seek some sort of guidance." Tarlaka rose up and shook her head before placing a hand through her hair. "I'm sorry, Lady, I'm just so confused and.... Just... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you."

Xphy

The suddenness of Tarlaka's question had taken Celesti very much by surprise, her neck craning backwards and her eyebrows rising. She had expected the bow and even the apology, as unnecessary as it had been. But the question had come out of nowhere. The woman seemed desperate for an answer as well, probably for a yes, and the more the commander spoke the more obvious it was that something was bothering her.

"Tarlaka, calm yourself. That is n..." She took a deep breath, and ran a hand over her braid. It probably wasn't a good idea to finish that sentence. Finishing it would only hurt the situation, even if it was true. She had heard many of the rumors that were circulating about could Tarlaka and she could sympathize. Having been a female Commander in a very male dominated military herself there had been more than a few negative rumors about her as well. Plus she could only imagine how much worst it must have been for Tarlaka having a child and being kidnapped on top of it all.

"To answer your question I cannot think of anyone who has held that rank who hasn't made their fair share of mistakes, myself included." She brought her hand back down and once again crossed her arms in front of her, her eyes carefully studying woman before her with every word she spoke. "However it was how they responded to those mistakes that defined them, not the mistakes themselves."

With that said she walk over to the table that Tarlaka had been sitting at and placed her book down before motioning for the woman to have a seat with her hand.

"But come. If you are troubled sit and talk to me about it."

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