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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1553799" data-attributes="member: 15043">Drag n Fly typed up a short story to sum up Siabrey's 10 years, and also give some light on the personalities of two potential future characters...================================================Happy Birthday Mother!”Siabrey smiled. “Thank you children.”Lucius chuckled. “You still look as beautiful as the day I met you, love.” And he was right. Although, technically, the half-fey fighter was now 35, she still didn’t look a day over 20. The fey blood in her had kept her young. Lucius couldn’t say the same for himself, however. Years of ruling the Empire had caused lines to crease his still handsome face, and even though he was only 27, he looked much closer to her age.“Thank you honey.” Siabrey smiled and reached up to him for a kiss. Although her possible elf-length lifetime was an issue between them, they rarely brought it up, especially in front of the children.The 10 year-old twins were much wilier than that however. Vintressa looked at her mother and frowned. Her long golden hair, exactly like Siabrey’s, framed a face of pale white skin that matched Lucius’. Valeron, her older brother by a minute and a half, was graced with his father’s stunning red hair and Siabrey’s copper skin, a striking combination that was already earning him looks from the local nobles’ daughters. Both twins had bright blue eyes with a touch of red centered around the iris, along with the Siabrie’s gift of magic sight. Thankfully, neither had any wings to worry about hiding, something Siabrey thanked Heironeous for daily.Siabrey lay back on her pillow, examining her children thoughtfully, running back through the years in her mind. After the civil wars had been settled, she and Lucius had settled in Iskeldrun with the purpose of running the Empire and raising their children. The twins were born on a stormy night, extracted from her womb by a were-raven friend and her husband. A pair of silver dragons stood by: the twins’ godparents, as did a beautiful bard, an aging rainbow-haired women and a dragonfly-winged fey. Siabrey smiled at the thought of her parents. Stodiana had disappeared soon after that ancient battle with the Countess, only to be found a year later with her newly found love in the desert. The pair had reforged their love, and while they could not live together forever, they journeyed to each other’s lands at least once a month, and came to visit their daughter equally as often.Ruling the Empire was everything Siabrey had thought it would be. Tedious, irksome, but with its advantages. Her children had grown up with the best of everything, and she worked hard to make sure they were loved for their abilities, rather than the positions their parents held.    Vintressa was quite and composed, a lot like her grandmother, Stodiana. She was also a chronic bookworm, very interested in warfare, and peppered any survivor of the decade old wars that she could find with questions. Valeron was more like Siabrey, wild and impulsive. He loved to horseback ride, often spending hours galloping on his black charger. He also spent a lot of time with Kelir, fascinated by the Siabrie’s magic and trying to learn as much as he could about his own inherent abilities. So far, nothing had surfaced yet. Although Siabrey herself had never shown any flare for spells, she suspected that it was because her upbringing had directed her to the katana, and any latent abilities had probably already died. The twins however, were still young, and her instincts told her that they both possessed spell-casting abilities.“Mommy, what are you thinking?” Valeron spoke his sister’s unasked question.Siabrey smiled again. “Just of how nice it was for you three to surprise me in bed with a wonderful breakfast like this.”“Yeah right. You had that ‘Oh, I’m lost thinking about the past’ look.” Her son chided in a singsong and rolled his eyes.Laying reverently on the bedside table, Kelir the sword chuckled. She’s got you there, Siabrey. The katana said in all of their heads.“Oh hush you.” Siabrey reached out to ruffle her son’s hair. He ducked expertly out of the way. Lucius raised an eyebrow at his sons’ dexterity. “You’ve been spending too much time with Uncle Shaun.”It was Vintressa’s turn to roll her eyes. “Uncle Shaun promised Val he’d take him to see Aunt Elenya sometime soon, so she could teach him some of her magic.”    Valeron tuned on his sister. “Tattletale!”“Magic Suck-up!” Vintressa stuck her tongue out at her brother.“Children!” Lucius clapped his hands together. “Is this any way to act in front of your mother on her birthday!” “Sorry, Dad.” Both chorused in perfect harmony, looking at the floor.Siabrey chuckled and patted the bed covers. Her children crawled obediently and sat next to her. She wrapped an arm around each of them and gave them a kiss on the head. They were at the age where they grimaced at the affection, but didn’t try to wiggle free yet. “It’s ok. What more could I ask for than the two most wonderful children in the entire world.”“And what am I, chopped dragon liver?” Lucius laughed to show that the statement was meant jokingly and crawled into the bed as well.“Oh, of course! And what does the most wonderful husband in the world have for his wife on her birthday.” Siabrey leaned forward and began to smooch loudly with Lucius, intentionally keeping an eye on her kids. Predictably, they both went ‘eeeeeeewwwww’ and scrambled off the bed, only to dive back on a second later with two packages clutched in their arms.“Open mine first, Mom, open mine first!” Valeron dumped his rather heavy package into Siabrey’s lap before she had a chance to protest.“Meanie.” Vintressa was in the process of holding her square-shaped package out, a slight pout on her lips.“I have an idea, why don’t I open them both at the same time. Val, Vin, would you like to help me?” The children eagerly agreed, and began to tear the packaging off of their gifts.Val’s opened first, probably because he made no effort to save the brightly colored paper, and simply shredded it. A large carved wooden statue tumbled free, which he grabbed and held up. “It’s you, Mommy, see?”“I do see.” And Siabrey was impressed. The carving was of her standing on a heap of dead bodies and misshapen bones. Her wings were outspread; head lifted high, a broken Kelir clutched tightly in her hands. “Where did you get this image, Val?” Lucius reached out and ran a finger down the carving gently. It was clear that it brought back strong memories for the Emperor. “Kelir showed it to me.” Val said proudly, pointing at the sword. The flames wreathing the flames pulsed almost apologetically. He said that he was interested in your fighting history, so I showed him as many of the images that I could remember, and he picked this one to carve.“I’m going to do one of you next, Daddy.” Valeron was blushing with pride.Vintressa got tired of all of the attention being lavished on her brother, and pushed her carefully opened package into Siabrey’s hands. “Look at mine, Mommy.”Siabrey looked down at the book in her hands. It was old, its cover worn and creased with age. It looked oddly familiar, and radiated with magic. She tucked her fingers under the cover and opened the book to the front page, and gasped. An image of Xannadu was etched into the pages, his half-elf brows crinkled slightly. Alisandra stood next to him, waving cheerfully. A caption underneath read:“Dear Siabrey, Happy Birthday! After so many years, I know it grows hard to keep the celebration special. You have quite a creative daughter, she asked me to help make this book for you. I hope it suits you well.P.S. The pictures were drawn by Alisandra. She wishes you a Happy Birthday too.”Siabrey blinked at the page, then at her daughter, who motioned eagerly, an enthralled smile breaking out on her normally somber face. "Go on, Mommy. Turn the page!” Siabrey obeyed, and Lucius and Valeron crowded close to look over her shoulder as she flipped through the book.Each page had a likeness of an old friend drawn upon it, along with a personal message, piece of advice, or just well wishing from them. Here was Vynystra, the slightly psychotic half-elf with her huge fox mount Ender. And Pyrion, cocking his pistols in what she guessed was supposed to be a heroic pose, although the caption underneath seemed more the gnome’s character. Happy Birthday! You know what would be a great birthday present! Going to the Abyss to hunt more demons. We did that once. We should go again. I need more heads!”Siabrey just shook her head and kept flipping. Here were Shaun and Elenya, the latter elbowing the former in the classic gesture of the two. And Tess, strumming her harp and looking beautiful and happy, and Stodiana, her arm wrapped around a slightly embarrassed looking Kelir. In the far back, there was even a picture and short message from Pellaron.On the very last page was a group picture of them all. It was very well-drawn, and showed them all in battle formation.Vintressa beamed up at her mother. “Isn’t it wonderful? Xanny had the books, he said they were magic and let people talk to each other. It helped me get in touch with everyone!”“I am very impressed. By both of your gifts.” Siabrey added, wrapping an arm around her son as well. Lucius smiled. “My turn.” And pulled a small package from behind his back. It was just a plain box, not even wrapped. Siabrey looked quizzically at it, then up at her husband. “What is this, honey?”“Well you’ll never know if you don’t open it, will you.” He teased. Siabrey stuck her tongue out at him and reached for the box.Inside was a small golden key. Siabrey picked it up, then looked up at her love with a curious expression. “What is this.” He grinned the grin of someone who was infinitely proud of themselves. “The key to our new summer home.” Siabrey’s jaw dropped, then she punched him none too lightly on the shoulder.“Lucius! We can’t afford this!”“Are you telling me that the Emperor cannot buy his wife anything that she wants!” Lucius put his hands on his hips in mock imitation of her.“I know that we’ve wanted a summer home for a long time, but not now though! Honey, we’ve been through this; we don’t have enough money…” Lucius held up his hand.“I have money enough in the treasury for this.” He smiled. “Besides, the kids want to live closer to Kelir, and I for one am not going to deny my children the pleasure of the company of a fey.” He winked at the twins, who turned to Siabrey with equal pleading looks.“Please, Mommy, please? We’ll be real good!” Vintressa promised.“Yeah, and I promise not to go riding off into the desert alone again!” Valeron added. Siabrey’s heart melted at the sight of their hopeful faces. “Oh, all right. We can have a summer home. It would be good to be with father again, anyway. He can continue my flying lessons.”“Yay! We’re going to be living near Kelir!” the twins jumped up and began to bounce on the bed.“When will the house be started?” Siabrey called over their ruckus.“It’s already finished. We can move in next week for the rest of the summer.” Lucius ducked out of the way incase another punch was coming as Siabrey’s jaw dropped. Kelir laughed at her from the bedstand, and Lucius, deciding it was safe, ducked around the twins and delivered a deep kiss on Siabrey’s lips.“Love you.” He said softly, staring deeply into the red red eyes that he had come to love more than life itself.“I love you too.” She whispered back. They enjoyed a few more seconds of reading each other’s souls before the twins collapsed onto them, breathless and still grinning.“Good birthday, Mommy?” Vintressa asked. Siabrey smiled, and gathered her family to her. “The best ever. What more could one women want.”= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = == = = = = = = = = == = = == And so the Emperor and Empress, children in tow, set out to their new summer villa.  Siabrey had letters dispatched to her old friends, asking them to come help her celebrate (she was still a bit stunned by Luke’s action, and supposedly muttered, “unless we invite everyone, how are we going to fill that place?!” ).  Unwittingly though, after they arrived, the old party would stumble into adventure anew...</blockquote>

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