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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1439508" data-attributes="member: 15043">The Party Relaxes While Harnesses Are Made“So... things are back to normal,” Tess sighed absent-mindedly as she looked over towards where Aris and Pellaron were still talking, though it looked like their discussions had broken down into a debate, undoubtedly on theological matters.  Pellaron is back among the living, Lucius is not evil... Lucius and Siabrey are off trying their best to make a child while Shaun and Elenya are... what?  Trying to make it twins?  her brow scrunched slightly, provoking Xanadu to speak.”Yes... back to normal... as if they were normal in the first place,” he looked off into space himself, his half elf hand wrapped around the back of the dwarf with brassy eyes that sat next to him.  “We truly are living through some dark times...”“But it is in the darkest of times when the lights of those who are true shine the brightest,” Alisandra said quietly, laying her head on his shoulder.  As the day turned slowly into dusk, the red sunlight from the desert caused her brassy eyes to turn almost into fire.Her eyes are gorgeous in the setting sun...  just like... Tess’ mind snapped.  She knew how to make it normal... and get a laugh.“Um... Xanadu?  Wouldn’t it be funny if....” she whispered her plot hurriedly in his ear, on the side away from Alisandra.  Undoubtedly, the humorful mate would have tried to stop him.  When Tess finished explaining her idea, Xanadu let out a laugh.“Tesseron, you humor me greatly,”  he smiled.  The half elf dragon then gently removed his arm from around Alisandra, and stood.  Clearing his throat, he began to speak softly, moving his hands about in patterns Tess did not recognize.  Alisandra’s eyes narrowed even further as she heard more and more of what he was saying, until they were mere slits when he was finished.“Xan, that was very mean!” she scolded in a motherly tone.  The dwarf was up on her feet now.  “They’re just having fun!  Let them...”“Uh... hey!” came a raspy, breathy voice over the air, coming from the direction Siabrey and Lucius had wandered off to.  Tess fell over laughing, as Xanadu began to chuckle.  The voice continued its complaints for another few seconds. Finally over the desert, in halting, broken breaths, came the same voice, “Hey... If you.... keep... this up... Xana...du.... We’ll... just... have... to... ex...er...cise....hard...er...to... keep... warm!”  The voice was decidedly a woman’s, and Tess, despite her distate for the party’s antics, broke out in laughter again at seeing Xanadu’s face fall.“I swear... nothing stops them!” he said quietly in disbelief as Alisandra lit into him.“Xanadu Brightcold!  You are an ancient silver dragon, not an itinerant prankster!  You ought to be ashamed of yourself, interrupting young people in love like that!  How would you like it if someone interrupted us at an intimate moment!  I cannot...” she continued her rant, and Tess cackled even more at the visual image of a small, even petite (if thats possible for a dwarf) dwaven woman screeching at a large half elf man.  Her peals of laughter grew louder as Alisandra caught Xanadu’s ear and twisted.“OW!” the dragon squealed.  “Fine fine!  I’ll undo it!” he growled, holding his ear.It was about fifteen minutes later when Shaun and Elenya came back.  Both tried to move quietly, but their giggling was too loud, and Tess caught them out of the corner of her eye.“Enjoy yourselves?” she asked quietly, and Shaun gave a nod.  Tess looked on with some dismay, noting that Elenya’s finely braided hair, which Tess had spent an hour and a half fixing early that morning, was now all undone and hanging in untamed tresses about her shoulders.“Very much,” Shaun verbalized the nod, before quickly adding, “I’m starving.  Where’s dinner?”“Is that all you think about?” Elenya asked gently.  “Yeah, you also think about... I’m in public, I can’t say that...” she said slyly.  Tess started a groan.“Say what?” Shaun pressed.“That you are obsessed with food.  If you aren’t careful, you’re going to eat yourself into having a large belly... like a pregnant man,” she teased.  Both Shaun and Tess knew that was likely not what she was going to say earlier.  “Be patient.  I’m going to take Siabrey to teach her some things about cooking finer meals.  We’ll fix your food, be patient,” she cooed.“Ok, fine.  Luke!” Shaun shouted over the desert, not knowing where his friend was, but hoping the desert wind would carry his voice to the neccessary destination, “Hurry up!  You’re holding up the chow line!”It wasn’t until some fifteen minutes later that Siabrey finally came into view.  To the party’s surprise, she was carrying something large...as she drew closer, everyone realized it was Lucius’ form, his 6’0” splayed across her 5’3” form in what would be called in other worlds, a ‘fireman’s carry.’  Some apprehension initially went around the party, until she drew close enough they could see she held an enormous, proud smile across her face.“You broke him!” Shaun called out in mock astonishment.  Siabrey shook her head with a smile.“No... I’m just good enough that I wore him out,” she giggled, setting Luke’s unconscious form on the ground.  Tess gave a smile, and unusually, was the first to make a quip.“Lucius has been by our side, fighting demons, orcs, spiders, and assassins.  None have managed to defeat him.  If they only knew what they had to do before hand to knock him out...”  The entire party shared a laugh at that.Elenya grabbed Siabrey by the hand and began pulling her towards a pot Elenya had set boiling before going off with Shaun.  “Sorry to pull you away before he wakes, but Shaun is getting antsy for food...  and of course, I wanna talk!  Compare notes?” They giggled, running off towards the pot which was simmering about 30 yards away, towards the village.  As the skipped away from the rest of the group, the noise of Siabrey chattering rapidly in high tones was clearly audible.Lucius began to slowly stir by this point, his eyes fluttering open slowly as he gave a grunt and tried to sit up.”Ah... Lord Lucius,” Shaun grinned, “how does it feel to re-enter the world of the living?”  “Ugh.  If I have to leave the world of the living, I wouldn’t mind if it happened when...” he stopped his tired sounding voice in mid sentence.  His voice changed, filled with properness, “Ahem. Excuse me... gentlemen do not discuss such things in public!”  His haughty air broke a second later as a grin came through.“Aw... c’mon!” Shaun jeered, patting Luke on the back, “details, my boy, details!”  Tess gave a very loud groan.  “No details!” her voice added to Shaun’s cajoling.  Lucius merely gave a distant smile for some time, but never spoke.“Siabrey... hon... no... don’t touch...” Elenya gave out a sigh as Siabrey’s whirling about caused another set of spices to fall over.  The former barmaid turned wizard quickly set about salvaging it, as the fighter, suprisingly giddy, apologized.“Sorry Elenya, I just didn’t realize it was there!  Now, you said just a pinch of ginger?” the fighter asked, as a handful fell into the pot.  Elenya gave an exasperated sigh, and hoped for the best.“Yes... just a pinch.  Siabrey dear, you put in about ten pinches.”  It was hard dealing with her after she had spent time with Luke... she tended to get excitable and giddy, hardly the proper mood for good cooking.  Nonetheless, Elenya was showing great amounts of patience.  “No matter.  We can add some extra cloves to take away the bite.”“So, how come you’re such a good cook?” Siabrey asked, taking the cue to sit away from the cooking and let Elenya do the mixing.  It is a rather unusual combination... a barmaid that knows magic that could also be a chef...”Well,” Elenya said, then halted as she dipped a finger in the boiling pot of stew and tasted it.  “Mmm... needs more cloves.  Well, I wasn’t really the waitress at my uncle’s tavern... when you all met me, I was covering for another waitress, Isildra.  She just had a baby,” she put several pinches of cloves into the stew, “and she was a good friend.  Normally, I was the cook on days when I wasn’t helping my father at his magic shop.  Dual education, you know? “ She dipped a finger in again, and with a nod, pronounced it good.“Ah,” Siabrey nodded before jumping back in with several strips of her sandhog ribs.  “Now, do I just dip them in this stew, and then add the cloves, or do I...”“Yes,” Elenya said, and watched with relief as Siabrey did exactly that.  “Good... good good.  I don’t know why Lucius wouldn’t let you eat these, they’re delicious.  Put some garlic on them, and you’re we’re set.”  Elenya turned her back to douse the fire and lift the pot, not noticing the mound of garlic Siabrey accidentally poured over the ribs.  Dammit. the fighter giggled, Gotta fix that.  She began taking other ribs and smearing them through the garlic, piling them on a cloth bag.  While the mound disappeared before Elenya turned around, all the ribs were doused in a coating of garlic potent enough to kill every vampire for ten miles.“Looks good?” Siabrey asked, and Elenya fought hard to scrunch her nose at the ribs covered in white specks.  It was hard teaching someone so eager, yet so... “Yes... looks delicious.  Lets go call take it to the hungry boys.”“Food’s ready!” echoed over the plains, and with a bolt, Shaun was to his feet and dashing forward.  Lucius came with a half stumble, apparently still dazed, while Tess sniffed the aroma’s  wafting through the air with anticipation.  To her surprise, she noted Xanadu was not coming with; normally in half elf form he enjoyed eating human food with the rest of they party.“Xanny, you’re more than welcome to come and eat... you too, Alisandra,” Tess offered, and the half elf shook his head no.“Alisandra is going to be fixing me something today... its been quite a while since the two of us have shared a meal, so I’ll take you up on your offer some other time.”“Oooo... go Xanny!” Shaun catcalled as he grabbed a rib and added cloves to it.  “Someone is gonna...” he finished before Elenya elbowed him.  “Ow!”The party could see for a moment the same annoyance in Xanadu’s eyes that had greeted them when he turned Shaun into the flying alligator, and gave Siabrey her now long gone rabbit ears.  The look faded rapidly, as he gazed down at Alisandra, and they could literally see in his face the expression, “not worth my time.”Rather giddily and excitedly, Siabrey fixed a plate for Lucius, snatching his empty plate from him before he could grab some food, piling it high, and then shoving back towards him in a few seconds.“Try?” she asked, her voice high, her motions rapid and giggly.  Lucius turned his head a little sideways, and looked at her.  “You’re a little odd tonight,” he said slowly.  “Are you sure you are ok?  The cooking smells didn’t go to your head, did they?”  She shook her head vigorously, an expectant grin on her lips as he tried some of the stew.Lucius’ face went beet red, and he fought will all his might to not cough, and instead choked it down.  It took a few moments effort, and he turned to Siabrey.“Tasths good hun,” he said as his eyes teared up.  He found himself in a crushing bearhug as the hyperactive Siabrey grabbed him.“Thank you honey!” she cooed excitedly.“Mmm... tad too much spice in the stew... otherwise very good job Siabrey,” Elenya a few minutes later, to cover up the more apparent reaction of Shaun, who after the first bite set his stew bowl down and only went after the ribs.  Seeing that she was still giddy and hadn’t noticed, Shaun lightly elbowed Lucius.”Luke... do me a favor, ok?  Get your girl into action more often, ok?  She’s in such a better mood afterwards!  It’ll help keep me alive!”“Um...” Lucius began, before seeing her staring at him and grinning, “I think if that happened too often, she’d break me...”“Sooooo...” Tess jumped in, changing the subject rapidly, “Elenya?  Have you and Shaun picked out a name for your kid yet?”  For the love of the elves, maybe you all can talk about something not involving sex?“Um... not yet,” Shaun said, glancing at Elenya.  “We were kind of hoping that some of you might have ideas to help us out.”“Nuahs!” Siabrey squeaked, which caused many in the party to jump.“What? Say it slower,” Shaun asked, leaning close to her.  The fighter was bobbing up and down in place almost.“Nuahs!  Your name spelled... BACKWARDS!” she giggled with laughter.  Shaun made a strange face a Luke, who merely shrugged.“Um... no.  Something more normal.”“How about Shawn! With a W!  Like your brother!” Siabrey announced, now definitely bobbing up and down where she was sitting, her face giddy with glee.“NO!” Shaun snapped loudly, causing the party, even Elenya and the rambunctious Siabrey, to jump back. I reacted too hard... tone it down... relax Shaun... its not like W is going to come back and get you...  A few deep breaths later, he repeated, in a more normal voice, “No.  Out of the question.”“Why?” Siabrey asked, his jolting cry evidently knocking much of her giddiness away, at least temporarily.“Um... personal reasons...” Shaun quickly offered, before thankfully Elenya interrupted with an idea.“I think I have one... El-en if its a boy.  You know... El-en with the hyphen.  If its a girl, we could always name her Ellen.  Its dual use!”  The party agreed, and after some more discussion, the topic prompted Tess to ask a very deep question.“What are you going to do when this is all over, Shaun?”   Shaun went silent, as his mind began to think...  What SHOULD I do once this is all over?  I don’t want my former life back... and because of W and my family I can’t go back home and take over my father’s business...  what can I do?”You should be a dance teacher!” Siabrey laughed, bouncing up and down again beside Lucius, who stared at her funny before mouthing towards Shaun, “She’s nuts.”“No... actually I wasn’t thinking that,” Shaun said thoughtfully, “I actually think I’d like to be a guard.””A guard?!” Siabrey stopped her hyperactive bobbing, her voice incredulous.  “A guard of what?  A brothel?  Are you... what... gonna give tips to incoming patrons?” she rolled her eyes, and Shaun held up his hand for quiet.”No... hear me out.  Now, you all know I was a thief... a very good one.  Well, I know what thieves look for... why not the city watch?”  Lucius breaks out into laughter, while Siabrey rolls her eyes again.  ”I’m sure you’ll be on watch... watching as you steal my money!” she quipped, before Elenya interrupted yet again.”Shauny... actually, I know something you could do that would use your former skills.  I am my father’s only child... and my uncle has no heirs.  Likely one day I will inherit both the magic shop and the tavern... if you could run the tavern, honey...” Shaun laughed.”I could be an innkeeper!? Great!” he giggled.  “And its not like any thief would be robbing inside my establishment!  I’d be ready to kick them out with a swift kick of my boot!  Huzzah!” he shouted in excitement, his leg in a mid-kick when he noticed the party staring at him, somewhat afraid.  “Sorry,” he sat down quickly.  “Um... what about you, Tess?” Shaun asked quickly, trying to divert attention.“Um... well...” Tess began slowly.“You could always live with me and Lucius!” Siabrey excitedly offered, “After all, you’re like a sister to me!””Um... no no no...” Tess quickly declined, “I... I wouldn’t want to intrude.”  Good save Tess... can’t blurt out that they’re messing around like bunnies would annoy you to no end...  “I think I would want to have my own concert hall... in Irulas or Iskeldrun or some big city like that.  And there,” her hands began to wave gracefully in the air as unsounded music lifted in her head, “I will perform for adoring audiences and live in the lap of luxury for years upon years... Heaven knows I’ve earned it with you jokers.”  The party laughed, before turning their attention the Lucius.”Um... me?” he pointed at himself, and they nodded.  “Well... I’ll likely be occupied for a while rebuilding Holstean...”“Why not move your capital to Obash, or close to the desert, my love?” Siabrey suggested hopefully.  I would sure enjoy it... and perhaps I could convert you to the ways of the desert as well... heh...yes... that could be fun... her mind darted about.“No,” he said gently, bringing her daydream to a halt.  “I can’t... the city of Holstean right now is in the center of all the iron, mithril, and precious metal mines at the southern end of the valley.  Economics, love,” he ran a hand along her now downcast face.  “However,” he added quietly, “I will build us a villa between Obash and Kardatic, where we can stay during the winter... and you can take flying lessons from your father...” his smile grew as he saw her eyes open wide in wonder.  I have no clue how I’m going to pay for that, but I’ll find a way, Luke hid behind his smile.”You... you would?” Siabrey stammered hopefully, before crushing him in an embrace when he nodded his head yes.  He really loves me!  Building a villa!  In the desert!  Her mind leaped in realization of the potentialities that this could prove.  So his little statement before Obash was not a prank... it was something real!  He does want to marry me!  We’ll live together... in a peaceful place, and grow old side by side... with children...Wait.... CHILDREN?Siabrey’s daydream screamed to a crashing halt.  Children... but they will have Ananias’ blood in their veins as well!  They’ll run the trouble he has!  Oh no... I could never do that!The thought troubled her mind enough that later that night she sought out Tess privately to ask her for advice.  When she explained her mental predicament, Tess merely laughed quietly, before whispering back, “So?  The child will have a trickle of demon blood in him.  They child will also have an ocean full of siabrie blood in him.  It should make no difference, if you two raise the children properly,” the bard smiled.  Siabrey relaxed, and thanked Tess... and her mind went back to the delayed daydream...and children... how many?  Two is too few... three?  Four?  Five is the most I could take, though I understand some nobles have seven or eight...</blockquote>

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