Can you find my problem?

[Ycharley]

Lumina sat back in her seat and crossed her legs. She picked up a yellow-green apple from her plate as her eyes returned to look up at Tatsu. She took a bite, the apple making a crisp juicy sound, still she sat observing Tatsu. She didn't even make a move to speak until the apple was half way eaten.

"Are you watching your manly figure or just wish to have something else to be fixed?" She asked with an almost playful smirk.

[Zero]

Tatsu raised a brow quizzically at the quip, he didn't really understand what Lumina was poking fun at. Most notably the part about his manly figure. What did that even really mean? Men came in all shapes and sizes, it made absolutely no sense. "Not to insult your cooks, but I do not eat when I am not hungry. There is no other reason. I would not trouble your servants with extra work on my behalf."

A lot of Tatsu's energy came from the sun and magical sources, while wine was always enjoyed, he rarely consumed food. It was typical for his kind to sustain mostly on energy, but he did eat, generally large meals every few months, like a snake.

[Ycharley]

Lumina shrugged, her mood not seeming to be dampened by his response. "I just thought where you hadn't eaten it had something to do with your taste," She spoke before returning to eating her juicy apple. As she ate she tried to figure out the riddle of a man that sat in front of her. He seemed not to eat, was a rather ancient soul and one that seemed to be able to pick up dragon blood, added to his abilities of magic detection he was quiet a puzzle to figure out, but she enjoyed it. If she didn't like problem solving she wouldn't hold the position she did.

"So what do you wish to talk about, you are the guest after all."

[Zero]

"Just a lack of appetite, my Lady." He murmured his response. There had been those that had been insulted before by his lack of willingness to eat. They had accused him of disliking their food to suspecting that he feared they would poison him, which was a great insult, of course. Sipping his wine, Tatsu let his pale eyes drift lazily away as he tried to summon a topic of conversation when asked.

"Tell me about your people, how long have you ruled them?"

[Ycharley]

Lumina rested back in her chair, her goblet of wine in hand, her left leg crossed over her right. "Well let me see, Hmmm, I think this is my eighty-ninth year of ruling over these people, yes, eighty-ninth." She spoke before taking a sip of her wine. "They as a whole I would say have a personality much like myself, they take time to warm up to people, but once they do you become a part of the family. My father ruled over these people for hundreds of years, so when it was my turn to take him place they were rather taken aback at first, because I was a single woman, and my reputation about my power."

[Zero]

Tatsu listened to her intently, sipping his wine and still looking pensive as she finished. "No doubt you have proven yourself to them many times over. I find mortals have a strange opinion of single women. I find that a single woman is no less capable than a married woman. To think otherwise would to imply that women need men to be successful, which I find to be quite the opposite."

[Ycharley]

Lumina nodded, "I agree with you, but it is the culture of many humans to think that way, and since most of my people are human that is the general culture. Though, as of late the culture has been changing, before this dreaded curse it seemed that my leadership had brought a sway in their beliefs, though now you could not say this, they have returned to their old superstitious way," Lumina said before taking a sip of her wine.

[Zero]

"Of course, they lavish you with praise when times are good, but as soon as trouble arrives they begin to whisper about how you being a woman has somehow brought this upon them." Tatsu could only speculate, of course, but he had seen this sort of thing a time or two in the past. Perhaps not this exact situation, but just as he'd described it, yes. Good times the leader is a saint, as soon as things went wrong the leader was incompetent and to be regarded with suspicion. It wasn't always just about a female leader, to be fair.

[Ycharley]

"Yes, but it comes with being a leader, something you can never avoid when you rule for any extended period of time," Lumina spoke as she leaned back in her seat with a sigh, absent mindedly running her fingers over the pendent on her neck, and old habit she had formed.

"Maybe one day I will help better form the culture of the people here, but first we must get this problem at hand solved," She spoke before placing a grape in her mouth. "Have you ever seen anything like this?" She asked after she chewed her food.

[Zero]

"Perhaps, but I would not know as I have never been a ruler in the traditional sense." Being an elder to guide and guard his people had not been the same thing as being a ruler. Tatsu could never command his people, he could only serve them by sharing his wisdom and strength. Both had failed a long time ago, and now he paid the price in his solitude.

"I have not. Never on this scale, anyway. I have removed and destroyed items that made a single person or a family fall to ill will, but never an entire people. Whatever has been placed here, it is a foul object indeed." Tatsu was rather eager to find it. Not only to bring the suffering of Lumina's people to an end, but also so that he might examine such an artifact. It would be destroyed, if possible, but still he found himself curious about it.