Graceling

[Galadas]

Elliot didn't enjoy riding a horse, but he also didn't feel good with showing off his grace to these 'friends'. Maybe it was because they were actually nice to them, and he wasn't used to it.
He was now looking at a beautiful castle, he had no words for it, was it real, or... He grew wary of his stomach and his mind. He had not slept well in days, he had not touched food since they left the town at night. He felt a bit sick, as if he was about to throw up. He wanted rest, food, and a place to stay. He hoped so dearly to get it when they would enter the building. Even though, he wondered who Kasta's friend was, but more he longed for sleep, for dreams, dreams about other realities, other places, other people, so he wouldn't have to worry.

[Cara]

Aris peeked around the window to see the company that had just arrived. She felt like a small foolish child again. She immediately saw Kasta, sitting tall and imposing upon her horse. Nothing had changed, it seemed. There were others with her, though she only recognized Lorn, who sat besides Kasta. She watched them dismount before leaving her spying position and making her way to greet them.

The group was lead through the large doors to the main hall. As the thick wooden doors were opened, Kasta was hit by all the memories that came with this place. She looked around, seeing a young woman sitting in the throne before them. She bowed, showing the proper respect.
“All rise,” the young woman said.
Kasta looked up, her eyes meeting the dark red and purple eyes of the young woman. “Aris,” Kasta said with a nod. Aris smiled as she looked down at the others. Stepping towards them, she greeted each with a nod.
“You must all be very tired and hungry. I have but heard little of your ordeal, but we have time to talk,” Aris said. She turned to her waiting guards. “Please escort them to the dining hall and send word to have water drawn and bedding spread,” she said. Aris moved carefully towards Kasta who stood with an amazing stillness.
"It has been a while," Aris said using the native tongue of Druet. She could feel the space between them.
"A long while, I admit," Kasta said speaking fluidly in Druet.
Aris paused. "We have much to discuss..." she paused again. "Tell me. Do you seek Druet's help as a friend or a diplomat?" she said carefully.
Kasta's eyes flashed. "What is it that you ask me to be?" Kasta parried. Aris looked at Kasta, trying to read that unmoving expression. She could feel the tension in the air. The rest of the group was chatting and eating happily at the large table, unaware of Kasta and Aris.
Aris took a breath. "I wish to have what once was, but now no longer is, yet wish to have what could be and never was." She looked at Kasta. Something had changed, but she couldn't name it.
Kasta smiled, though Aris wasn't sure how real it was. "If all works out you will have little to worry about..." Kasta looked over at her friends. "Come, let us eat together as... 'diplomatic friends'," she said with a laugh.
Aris nodded, smarting from having to be invited to her own table. It was a blow well dealt by Kasta. They would have a more serious talk later without the past hindering what they had to do and without all the riddles that wavered on the edge of a sword.

[Galadas]

Elliot was happy seeing food again, it was like he hadn't eaten in weeks, which was well exaggerated. He threw all on his plate and didn't even care that he might only eat half of it. He smiled. He looked up when Kasta and her friend took place at the table. "Kasta, where do you know each other from?" he asked.

[Cara]

As Kasta sat down she smiled at Elliot. "We go...way back," Kasta said. "We were childhood friends," she said. Elliot nodded, but he wasn't so sure if they were still friends. Although he hadn't understood their conversation, since he had no ability whatsoever to speak Druet, he could get an idea from their tone. It was...reserved. Not that of two friends having met for the first time in years.
Kasta helped herself and was talking lightly with everyone. No one dared touch the subject of why they were really there. For one moment they all wanted it to be light and easy going. They all waited to see who would be the first to tear apart this moment of happiness...

[Cara]

Thankfully throughout the dinner, the subject wasn't approached again. Kasta reported all that she knew, listening to Aris and the other officials and generals of news from all the other kingdoms that came through the isolated peaks to Druet.
"It's very bad... Gracelings everywhere are under attack..."
"Not attack though. They're being forcefully recruited."
"Yes, by a man who calls himself the Master."
"We need to find more about the Master. How exactly he controls people... and it isn't just Gracelings. According to you, Kasta, many other people in that village fell under his control, right?"
"Yes," she said. Kasta spoke up. "We have Mila..."

[Galadas]

"She wasn't of much help," Elliot said, remembering the what Kasta told him on the way into Druet. "I still find it strange to believe that the Master is not graced... or maybe she's just fooling around with us. I bet she has no idea what is happening to her." He paused. "None of you would happen to know a Graceling with a grace to find certain patterns or look into someone's mind. Anyways, if you need my help, you say so," he said. That was out, he felt useless now. He wished to leave, lay in a warm bed and hope it was all a dream. And maybe, when he woke up, he would be home again, in Rada. In the house with the old lady, with Dedelean on her way to find him.

[Cara]

Kasta nodded. She knew Mila had to be lying. The Master was Graced with a strong and terrifying ability. And it was with the mind, she knew that. She had felt the pressure of... what? when they had seen him.
"Aris, how many fighting Gracelings do you have here in Duret?"
Aris looked at her. "Too many to count. Our army has a store of people who are Graced. Why?" she asked.
Kasta smiled. "There's definetly a mental connection between the Master and Mila. What if we were able to draw him to us. A trap?"
"That's too risky!" someone shouted.
"A trap! Brilliant!"
"No! He's too powerful--"
"Then how will we stop him?" Kasta demanded. "Will we let him gather more Gracelings to him? Become more powerful while we sit by and watch?"
Silence.
"Kasta, what you are purposing is..." Aris sighed. "It has too many risks. What if he overcomes us? He could bind all of us to him."
"What's to say he won't do it once he has the power to pass into Druet?" Kasta asked. "We need to move before it's too late. You've heard the reports coming in from all the other kingdoms! He's gathering to himself an army..." Kasta looked around at all the faces. "What do you say?"

[Galadas]

"I'm in!" Elliot shouted. "Because Kasta is right, we can't just sit back and wait for something to happen, then it will be too late."

[Cara]

There were many variations of enthusiasm. Some were full of doubt. Others fear. But the overall feeling was agreement, albeit, resigned agreement.
Aris stood then., speaking to her officers and council members. "Ready the troops. Get all able bodied men and women to arms. Gather all our Graceling forces under command!"

Kasta quickly made her way with a few soldiers, Lorn and Elliot to cellar where Mila was being held.
Mila looked up when she heard the door was opened. "Ah, so Lady Sarce has returned..." she mocked. "Come to get information from me?" she laughed.
Kasta's eyes were hard. "No. I've come to kill you."

[Galadas]

Elliot growled silently, but understood. All part of the plan. If the Master would come to Mila, he would have his chance to meet his friends on the battlefield, old times. Sadly they would be on enemy's lines. Peter, Isaac, Dedelean, who more might he recognize... How long would it take for a battle to start? Would the Master recruit them? He hadn't noticed it himself, but he had turned his head away, to stare at a blank wall, a prison wall. He had never seen the inside of it before. He had always stayed far out of big trouble, he was careful. Now the wall fascinated him, like it told him he was forever free.

[Cara]

Mila glared silently at Kasta, as guards dragged her out of the cell. She gave no struggle, but you could see the hatred burning in her eyes. Finally, as they brought her outside and tied her up, she said, "My Master will avenge me."
Kasta smiled. "That's what we are hoping for," she said. She turned and nodded to Aris. People were starting to gather, to watch.
Elliot saw something flicker behind the anger and hate in Mila's eyes. Was it genuine fear? Despair? Mila locked her gaze on him. "Elliot," she said, pain in her voice. Elliot looked away. He felt sorry, but it was necessary. When he looked back at her, he saw anger. "Dedelean hates you..." she spat. "She was under my command herself," she said. Elliot felt as if he had been slapped. "She said that if she sees you again, she will kill you."
Kasta walked up and almost casually, grabbed Mila's throat choking her words off. "Someone gag her..." she snapped. She looked at Elliot. "Don't listen. She knows what your fears are, she saw into all of our hearts..." Kasta said, a dark look over her eyes.

Silence fell as Kasta stepped up to the scaffolding. Mila's death would be a cruel one, sadly; slow and painful.
Before Kasta could even raid a knife, someone ran forward, shoving through the crowd, crying. "No! My baby!!!" a woman cried. Guards quickly grabbed her and held her back, as she struggled to get to the scaffolding. "Please! Lady Sarce! Have mercy!!!"
Kasta looked at Aris, questioningly.
Aris came over to the woman. "Why do you withhold judgment of the royal court?"
"My queen..." the woman said, tears coming down her face. "Spare her."
"She has been condemned to death," Aris said, firmly.
The woman shook her head, as she struggled forward again, only to be contained by the guards. "Please...she has done nothing wrong! She's my daughter."

[Galadas]

Elliot shrugged. He head told him that Mila was long gone, but so was Dedelean then? His heart told him that no mother deserved losing a child. Which to listen to? "Can we not also hurt her? Is it really necessary to kill her?" he asked.

[Cara]

Mila looked down at her mother with a sneer. Kasta stepped aside to speak quietly with Lorn, Elliot and Aris. She hated making a giant scene, and it was already a spectacle.
"What do you wish me to do?" Kasta asked Aris.
Aris was frowning. "Mila has been convicted of a wild assortment of crimes as well as various charges of murder..."
"But that's not her fault," Lorn pointed out. "Like all the others under the Master's influence, they are only his puppets."
Kasta was about to speak, when they heard a scuffle and shouting. She turned to see that the woman had managed to break away from the guards and jump up on the scaffolding. Mila was fast; before anyone could make a move, she managed to twist and grab her mother about the neck with her free legs. Kasta jumped up with a graceful swiftness, as she grabbed Mila and broke her choke hold. The woman had fainted from lack of oxygen, and was quickly removed.
Mila was laughing almost manically. "Kasta, kill me. I dare you!" she prodded, laughing still. "I am the first! This city will burn!!!" Her eyes went wide, as Kasta drove a long-handled knife into her chest, before punching her in the head and knocking her unconscious.
Disgusted, Kasta away. "Someone get the healer. We're keeping her alive. For now."

[Galadas]

Elliot watched with disgust, he had hoped that Mila would've come to terms when seeing her mother, but the outcome showed that the Master's powers were much stronger than emotional bonds, he knew that already. "What do we do now?" he asked, a bit afraid of Mila's words during her outburst.

[Cara]

(agh! i'm so mad! *sigh* i had it all typed out and was about to submit it, but i was logged out because my time was up! and i lost it all! even the back button didn't work i'll prob post it later when i get the patience to type it all again.... )