Post by Tijia/ Ari on Apr 27, 2007 17:30:46 GMT -5
Name: Ari Stacu
Age: 112-115
Age Appearance: 25-26
Race: Werecat
Gender: Female
Allegiance: Empire
Birth Place: Kuasta
Hometown: Uru’baen
Du Edoc'sil?: no
Hair//Eye//Skin color: Ari has a sheet of jet black, hip length hair that is slightly curled// deep blue eyes// pale, fair skin
Height: 5ft. 9in.
Weight: 139lb.
Description:
Physical: Ari has a sheet of jet black, hip length hair that is slightly curled. Her softly smiling deep blue eyes twinkle in the softest of lights. She has pale, fair skin with a light dusting of freckles on her nose. Her small button nose is set above thin, pinkish lips. Ari has a thin waist but is fairly curvy. She is slightly clumsy after spending almost a hundred years as a cat.
Cat: In cat form Ari looks like a small, striped tabby. Her stripes alternate between light grey and grey. She has white whiskers than are vainly straight and a velvet black nose. Her triangular ears are always pricked and listening for helpful information. She spent almost a hundred years in cat form and likes it better than human form. Few people know about her being a werecat but those who do consider it a big secret.
Mental: Ari loves being a werecat and considers it a gift instead of a curse. But when she was removed from her home she abandoned her human form because it reminded her of the society that had thrown her out. She learned hard work, patience, and to avoid drunken men from her work as a waitress. She has been a kind and wise person from her experience around nobles and peasants alike. She has learned history and the inner workings of the Empire from her new position. She, unlike other werecats, has never considered roaming the country and giving out advise. She is firmly allied to the Empire through her lasting love of her parents and the thought that rebels killed them. She can handle heavy criticism and uses it to make herself wiser and stronger.
Clothes: In a casual setting Ari wears a simple cotton, white petticoat and a lace bodice. In a formal noble setting she wears a floor length deep blue silk dress, navy silk slippers, and long white gloves with matching blue edging (blue to show off her pretty eyes). In a semi-formal setting she wears a soft, lace-up leather bodice over a flowing white shirt and a floor length simple white skirt. When fighting Ari wears mail shirt and leggings with a tight, leather bodice, rugged breeches and light leather boots. When riding, or horse, she wears her fighting clothes just she drops all mail.
Weapon of Choice: Bow: ivory white, unknown wood, flexible, and wind carved into it Sword: whitish steel, hilt made of white gold, inset with two diamonds beside each other, light and deadly sharp
Magical Experience: Skilled
Languages: Common, a good bit of Ancient
Occupation: advisor to the crown
Literacy: read and write
Past History: Ari was born to her two parents, Jamise and Fronar, in Kuasta, far from the capital but not out of reach. Her parents were two nobles of the imperial court, her mother known for her sense of style and her father for his authority and high graces from the crown. They were good parents and taught her all they knew and when they ran out of things to teach her hired a personal governess. She found out she was a werecat when she was six but her parents didn’t find out until she was twelve. When they found out they were horrified and turned her from their house. She was heartbroken and armed with only a bow and her old pony, Cloud, she set off to the Spine. There she decided to change to a cat until she received a sign from the heavens that it was time for her to reenter the world and do her part. So she spent many years as a cat and never heard of her father’s sudden death in the crushing of the resistance or her mother’s suicide. She hunted and lived as a cat now and didn’t care about humans. All that changed many, many years later. She was strolling along in the Northern Spine and a flash of blue light scared her out of her wits. Suddenly a deer came leaping from a glade near her. She softly padded over to the glade and peered through the leaves. She saw a boy of seventeen leaning over a bright blue stone. The entire glade was scorched and she was so frightened she accidentally changed to human form. She was lucky that she was hidden in the trees so well and the boy was focused on the stone for she was completely undressed after living as a cat all these years. Quickly she changed back to a cat and scampered south. A couple days later she arrived at the place where she had first abandoned her life as a human. There, in a sealed box, she found her old, tattered clothes, her un-strung bow, and a quiver of bent arrows. She was surprised that her things had survived. When she had first seen the remnants of her old life she knew that it was time to reenter the world. So she changed back to human form and got dressed. Once she was dressed and had cleaned up in a stream, she strung her bow, it wasn’t very tight but it would have to do. Next she checked her arrows only one or two weren’t bent. She might get lucky and hit a deer but it was unlikely. So she spent the next day roughly making arrows. She set out at sundown on the first day of hunting with a full quiver. She had wasted five arrows by the end of the second day getting back into the groove of hunting and being a human. But on the third day she got a deer, using four arrows. She carried the deer back to her camp site in a mere two hours and got to work cleaning it. When she had separated the meat from the fat and had cleaned the hide, she used her cat claws to slice the hide into pieces. Two pieces she sowed together, using a small sharp bone and some threads from her skirts, to make a wineskin. She filled this with water and set it in the stream to keep it cool. The rest of the hide she fashioned into a small cloak. Having needed more of the hide than she had thought to do these two things she had to wrap the meat into leaves and set it also in the river to keep from spoiling. For the next three days she hunted and her result was a large bear and a couple of fowl, using the rest of here arrows. While hunting, she had also found a small herd of wild mustang. Using a bit of vine Ari had managed to lasso a smaller mare. It was speckled grey and white and would help her reenter civilization. With the bear hide she made a small blanket and was able to wrap the all the meat in the rest. She was ready to ride to a small village now and sell the birds for some coins that she could use in a bigger town.
Ari arrived in Uru’baen poor and looking for work. When she arrived she found a nice looking tavern where it happened they were looking for a new waitress. She immediately got the job and began waiting tables. She searched for two days looking for a reasonably priced house until she finally found one, it was a small cottage and she could afford it so she bought it. A year and a half later she was still working as a waitress in the tavern and by this time she was used to the catcalls and drunken wooers. She was one of the prettiest girls that worked in the place so many of the men there harassed her. She had made friends among the staff and she shared looks and eye rolls with many of the other waitresses. The tavern owner came up to her one day and she curtsied. “Can I help you sir?”, she asked, hoping he didn’t want her to take on more hours.
“Well Ari a messenger from the castle just came asking for my top waitress. They want you for an audience with the Queen. I don’t know why but that’s what the messenger said and he was pretty curt. I’ll let you go but it’ll come outa yer salary little missy.”
Ari was confused, only nobles and generals got audiences with the queen, why would she want to talk to a lowly peasant? “I understand sir. I’ll be back. Fran! I need you to cover my tables, don’t know when I can get back. And watch six, he’s real drunk.”, she shouted the last bit to a waitress coming out of the kitchen.
She then ran up the stairs to a small room the owner let her have for late nights. She changed into something clean and washed her face. It wasn’t her best but it would have to do. She looked in the mirror and blew a stay curl from her face. Taking out the do rag from her hair she let it down and swiftly comb the knots from it. Lastly she applied some of her lip color and descended the guest stair to find the herald at the bottom. “Miss Ari Stacu I presume?”, he said stuffily.
“I am her, are you the herald that is to take me to the castle?”, she responded.
In response to her polite question he looked at her sternly and motioned for her to follow him. He led her to a carriage outside. Ari had never ridden in a carriage before so she hesitated a moment before letting a gloomy groom help her into it. The curtains were quickly drawn around her making her blush. When the carriage stopped and the door opened they were at the castle. The same dreary groom helped her down. Before being hurried through the gates though she smiled at him and whispered, ”Thank you.” Her kindness seemed to surprise him but she was already being hurried into the castle by the time she noticed this. She was quickly led to a solid gold door guarded by two men. The herald then did a quick pivot and nervously said,”Now remember approach the dais with your head down, when you reach it curtsy. Do not speak unless spoken to. I don’t know why n earth she sent me to bring a peasant girl to her but stay in your place. You aren’t a noble you’re a girl who probably has no husband and will be lucky if she can manage one. Now we go, follow me.”
A horn blew as the entered and a booming voice said, ”Herald Kasta Joka and Miss Ari Stacu.”
Ari approached the dais just as the herald had told her to. She only looked up after she had curtsied deeply. Meru said slowly, ”Ari do you know why I have called you to me?”
Ari shook her head, not brave enough to speak. “I have called you to me because you bear specific resemblances to Ari Stacu daughter of Fronar Stacu, known werecat.” Ari’s eyes widened. Her queen had just unraveled her past in one sentence. “I-I…… don’t….I really…… my parents, you knew them?”, Ari had snapped under the pressure of Meru’s deep eyes.
“No, I did not know your parents. My father did though. Merely three days after they threw you out they wrote to him about you. He sent your father to his death in the war, I’m afraid, to keep his mind off you. Your mother died soon after. It’s been nearly a hundred years Ari. I only know of you because my record keeper informed me of a duplicate in the census. See you were never reported dead so you remained in the census. I found you two days ago in my father’s diary. But that is not the only reason I have called you here. But wait, I hurry myself. First I need you to prove that you are a werecat.”
Ari listened in stunned silence until Meru told her to change to cat form. With a small smile Ari quickly shrunk into a cat. When the change was done she promptly began to clean her paw. Meru laughed,”Very good, now I can tell you the other reason I have called you here. You are a respectable, successful, unmarried, strong woman. I have let you come here so I can vigorously search your mind to see if you have what it takes to be a Dragon Rider. Now, change back and release your mind. Let down the steel walls and let me in. I shall not harm you so do not doubt me.”
Ari could tell that she had said that basic speech for many other young people and she was so surprised she submitted to the ruler, letting her mind wander. After a hesitant moment she felt a soft caress at the edge of her mind, she let it enter and search her thoughts, feelings, and memories. A few moments later she felt it retreat and Meru sat up straighter in her chair as though she were now interested. “You have passed my test Ari but to touch or even see one of the eggs you must now at this moment swear loyalty and fealty to me and the empire. If you would please repeat after me…..”
Everything went smoothly after that, she pledged allegiance and then a guard led her, more respectful this time, to a white marble corridor. She was directed to a cushioned table on which the large white egg lay. A guard told her to touch it. She brushed her fingers by the eggs surface. Nothing happened so she got hurried to a small library. On small velvet pillow was a green egg. She touched this one and again nothing happened so she was hurried to a third room, this time a bedchamber. On the silk pillow of the bed sat a bright turquoise egg. Bored at this point she touched the egg and it and again nothing happened so she was escorted back to the throne room.
“Well it seems you have failed like all before you.”, Meru said lazily, ”But you are the only werecat that I know of in the Empire. I am going to give you the position of High Advisor to the Crown, yes that will do nicely. Do you accept?”
Ari stared at her unbelievingly, her an advisor to the crown it made no sense but the Queen probably knew best, so she accepted kindly, ”Thank you Milady for this extraordinary opportunity! I gladly accept your offer! What are your orders?”
Meru thought for a moment before saying, ”My advisors meet every day at noon or whenever I need them. You however have no need to attend these meetings everyday, only once a week or when you need help. You shall live in a suite just off mine. You shall present the council’s thoughts at the end of the week. You will also attend all meetings where I am present and shall attend all audiences. Do you understand?”
“Yes mam”
“Then you are dismissed.” With that Ari left the castle to pack her things, and move to the castle.
Introduction: She was so much in shock that the next few days passed in a minute. After a week had passed she had finally settled into her noble setting.
She had first returned to the tavern and told her boss of her resignation. He had been surprised and had begged her to stay at least two more weeks. In the end she submitted and said that she would stay for two more weeks but only for one shift each day. She then went to her small house and packed up all her necessities. Soon a carriage and a wagon appeared. A groom lifted her things into the wagon but instead of helping her into the carriage he said,”Milady, I have been asked that you put something on a little more respectable than what you wear now.” Ari a little taken aback had replied,”Oh, of course, excuse me for a moment.”
She promptly hauled one of her suitcases from the wagon and reentered the house. She pulled out her best dress, a lavender satin one with lace cuffs, and her best pearls. Once she had appropriately dressed herself, she combed the knots from her hair and tied it up in a purple ribbon. When she exited the house again the groom took the suitcase and they went back to the palace.
Since then other advisors and friendly guards had helped her learn about running the Empire and how the castle was run. She found that sometimes it was much easier to get around the castle in cat form than in human form. That’s why she was asleep in a ball on her bed one lazy afternoon when a messenger came bursting into her room. “Miss Ari! Her Majesty Meru is nearly delirious with anger, she calls you to her drawing room.”,he choked out, it sounded like he had run a long way very fast. Ari stretched and yawned, finally she changed to human form and said,”Thank you I’ll be there in a moment. Go to Chef now, tell him I sent you for strawberry cordial. You may bring it into my study to drink, wait there for me.” The boy stared at her for a moment before bowing and scurrying away. The servants here just couldn’t get used to the fact that she was kind and wouldn’t strike them. She quickly smoothed her skirts before changing back into a cat and hurrying off to Meru’s rooms. She slipped past the guard and into Meru’s drawing room. She was in a rage, pacing the room and clenching her fists. Ari sat calmly on the floor, tail twitching calmly, waiting for the ruler to notice her. Meru finally turned to the door saying,”Where on earth….”, before she noticed the small cat in front of the door. “Ari dear, you should have announced yourself. Oh well, the Varden. We’ve just had a spy from Northern Surda, the Varden has a new ally. It’s a creature from beyond our eastern borders. They are a winged human-like being called Kreeshone. They are like elves, they don’t die unless by illness or wound. The only good thing is that they can’t reproduce, at least as far as we know. I just knew that they’d find someway to renew their hope after all their leaders died. Ari I need your help, how should I respond to this?” Ari listened carefully to the predicament and sat there thoughtfully for a moment before saying slowly,You need to show them that you are strong and this won’t faze you, whether that is in winning a battle or merely talking to troops. You are unknown to Alagaesia as of yet so maybe you need to gather troops at Uru’baen and give them a motivating speech. You need to hide your anger, do not let it go public, keep it private. Show a calm smooth face and this may yet come out well…..
Age: 112-115
Age Appearance: 25-26
Race: Werecat
Gender: Female
Allegiance: Empire
Birth Place: Kuasta
Hometown: Uru’baen
Du Edoc'sil?: no
Hair//Eye//Skin color: Ari has a sheet of jet black, hip length hair that is slightly curled// deep blue eyes// pale, fair skin
Height: 5ft. 9in.
Weight: 139lb.
Description:
Physical: Ari has a sheet of jet black, hip length hair that is slightly curled. Her softly smiling deep blue eyes twinkle in the softest of lights. She has pale, fair skin with a light dusting of freckles on her nose. Her small button nose is set above thin, pinkish lips. Ari has a thin waist but is fairly curvy. She is slightly clumsy after spending almost a hundred years as a cat.
Cat: In cat form Ari looks like a small, striped tabby. Her stripes alternate between light grey and grey. She has white whiskers than are vainly straight and a velvet black nose. Her triangular ears are always pricked and listening for helpful information. She spent almost a hundred years in cat form and likes it better than human form. Few people know about her being a werecat but those who do consider it a big secret.
Mental: Ari loves being a werecat and considers it a gift instead of a curse. But when she was removed from her home she abandoned her human form because it reminded her of the society that had thrown her out. She learned hard work, patience, and to avoid drunken men from her work as a waitress. She has been a kind and wise person from her experience around nobles and peasants alike. She has learned history and the inner workings of the Empire from her new position. She, unlike other werecats, has never considered roaming the country and giving out advise. She is firmly allied to the Empire through her lasting love of her parents and the thought that rebels killed them. She can handle heavy criticism and uses it to make herself wiser and stronger.
Clothes: In a casual setting Ari wears a simple cotton, white petticoat and a lace bodice. In a formal noble setting she wears a floor length deep blue silk dress, navy silk slippers, and long white gloves with matching blue edging (blue to show off her pretty eyes). In a semi-formal setting she wears a soft, lace-up leather bodice over a flowing white shirt and a floor length simple white skirt. When fighting Ari wears mail shirt and leggings with a tight, leather bodice, rugged breeches and light leather boots. When riding, or horse, she wears her fighting clothes just she drops all mail.
Weapon of Choice: Bow: ivory white, unknown wood, flexible, and wind carved into it Sword: whitish steel, hilt made of white gold, inset with two diamonds beside each other, light and deadly sharp
Magical Experience: Skilled
Languages: Common, a good bit of Ancient
Occupation: advisor to the crown
Literacy: read and write
Past History: Ari was born to her two parents, Jamise and Fronar, in Kuasta, far from the capital but not out of reach. Her parents were two nobles of the imperial court, her mother known for her sense of style and her father for his authority and high graces from the crown. They were good parents and taught her all they knew and when they ran out of things to teach her hired a personal governess. She found out she was a werecat when she was six but her parents didn’t find out until she was twelve. When they found out they were horrified and turned her from their house. She was heartbroken and armed with only a bow and her old pony, Cloud, she set off to the Spine. There she decided to change to a cat until she received a sign from the heavens that it was time for her to reenter the world and do her part. So she spent many years as a cat and never heard of her father’s sudden death in the crushing of the resistance or her mother’s suicide. She hunted and lived as a cat now and didn’t care about humans. All that changed many, many years later. She was strolling along in the Northern Spine and a flash of blue light scared her out of her wits. Suddenly a deer came leaping from a glade near her. She softly padded over to the glade and peered through the leaves. She saw a boy of seventeen leaning over a bright blue stone. The entire glade was scorched and she was so frightened she accidentally changed to human form. She was lucky that she was hidden in the trees so well and the boy was focused on the stone for she was completely undressed after living as a cat all these years. Quickly she changed back to a cat and scampered south. A couple days later she arrived at the place where she had first abandoned her life as a human. There, in a sealed box, she found her old, tattered clothes, her un-strung bow, and a quiver of bent arrows. She was surprised that her things had survived. When she had first seen the remnants of her old life she knew that it was time to reenter the world. So she changed back to human form and got dressed. Once she was dressed and had cleaned up in a stream, she strung her bow, it wasn’t very tight but it would have to do. Next she checked her arrows only one or two weren’t bent. She might get lucky and hit a deer but it was unlikely. So she spent the next day roughly making arrows. She set out at sundown on the first day of hunting with a full quiver. She had wasted five arrows by the end of the second day getting back into the groove of hunting and being a human. But on the third day she got a deer, using four arrows. She carried the deer back to her camp site in a mere two hours and got to work cleaning it. When she had separated the meat from the fat and had cleaned the hide, she used her cat claws to slice the hide into pieces. Two pieces she sowed together, using a small sharp bone and some threads from her skirts, to make a wineskin. She filled this with water and set it in the stream to keep it cool. The rest of the hide she fashioned into a small cloak. Having needed more of the hide than she had thought to do these two things she had to wrap the meat into leaves and set it also in the river to keep from spoiling. For the next three days she hunted and her result was a large bear and a couple of fowl, using the rest of here arrows. While hunting, she had also found a small herd of wild mustang. Using a bit of vine Ari had managed to lasso a smaller mare. It was speckled grey and white and would help her reenter civilization. With the bear hide she made a small blanket and was able to wrap the all the meat in the rest. She was ready to ride to a small village now and sell the birds for some coins that she could use in a bigger town.
Ari arrived in Uru’baen poor and looking for work. When she arrived she found a nice looking tavern where it happened they were looking for a new waitress. She immediately got the job and began waiting tables. She searched for two days looking for a reasonably priced house until she finally found one, it was a small cottage and she could afford it so she bought it. A year and a half later she was still working as a waitress in the tavern and by this time she was used to the catcalls and drunken wooers. She was one of the prettiest girls that worked in the place so many of the men there harassed her. She had made friends among the staff and she shared looks and eye rolls with many of the other waitresses. The tavern owner came up to her one day and she curtsied. “Can I help you sir?”, she asked, hoping he didn’t want her to take on more hours.
“Well Ari a messenger from the castle just came asking for my top waitress. They want you for an audience with the Queen. I don’t know why but that’s what the messenger said and he was pretty curt. I’ll let you go but it’ll come outa yer salary little missy.”
Ari was confused, only nobles and generals got audiences with the queen, why would she want to talk to a lowly peasant? “I understand sir. I’ll be back. Fran! I need you to cover my tables, don’t know when I can get back. And watch six, he’s real drunk.”, she shouted the last bit to a waitress coming out of the kitchen.
She then ran up the stairs to a small room the owner let her have for late nights. She changed into something clean and washed her face. It wasn’t her best but it would have to do. She looked in the mirror and blew a stay curl from her face. Taking out the do rag from her hair she let it down and swiftly comb the knots from it. Lastly she applied some of her lip color and descended the guest stair to find the herald at the bottom. “Miss Ari Stacu I presume?”, he said stuffily.
“I am her, are you the herald that is to take me to the castle?”, she responded.
In response to her polite question he looked at her sternly and motioned for her to follow him. He led her to a carriage outside. Ari had never ridden in a carriage before so she hesitated a moment before letting a gloomy groom help her into it. The curtains were quickly drawn around her making her blush. When the carriage stopped and the door opened they were at the castle. The same dreary groom helped her down. Before being hurried through the gates though she smiled at him and whispered, ”Thank you.” Her kindness seemed to surprise him but she was already being hurried into the castle by the time she noticed this. She was quickly led to a solid gold door guarded by two men. The herald then did a quick pivot and nervously said,”Now remember approach the dais with your head down, when you reach it curtsy. Do not speak unless spoken to. I don’t know why n earth she sent me to bring a peasant girl to her but stay in your place. You aren’t a noble you’re a girl who probably has no husband and will be lucky if she can manage one. Now we go, follow me.”
A horn blew as the entered and a booming voice said, ”Herald Kasta Joka and Miss Ari Stacu.”
Ari approached the dais just as the herald had told her to. She only looked up after she had curtsied deeply. Meru said slowly, ”Ari do you know why I have called you to me?”
Ari shook her head, not brave enough to speak. “I have called you to me because you bear specific resemblances to Ari Stacu daughter of Fronar Stacu, known werecat.” Ari’s eyes widened. Her queen had just unraveled her past in one sentence. “I-I…… don’t….I really…… my parents, you knew them?”, Ari had snapped under the pressure of Meru’s deep eyes.
“No, I did not know your parents. My father did though. Merely three days after they threw you out they wrote to him about you. He sent your father to his death in the war, I’m afraid, to keep his mind off you. Your mother died soon after. It’s been nearly a hundred years Ari. I only know of you because my record keeper informed me of a duplicate in the census. See you were never reported dead so you remained in the census. I found you two days ago in my father’s diary. But that is not the only reason I have called you here. But wait, I hurry myself. First I need you to prove that you are a werecat.”
Ari listened in stunned silence until Meru told her to change to cat form. With a small smile Ari quickly shrunk into a cat. When the change was done she promptly began to clean her paw. Meru laughed,”Very good, now I can tell you the other reason I have called you here. You are a respectable, successful, unmarried, strong woman. I have let you come here so I can vigorously search your mind to see if you have what it takes to be a Dragon Rider. Now, change back and release your mind. Let down the steel walls and let me in. I shall not harm you so do not doubt me.”
Ari could tell that she had said that basic speech for many other young people and she was so surprised she submitted to the ruler, letting her mind wander. After a hesitant moment she felt a soft caress at the edge of her mind, she let it enter and search her thoughts, feelings, and memories. A few moments later she felt it retreat and Meru sat up straighter in her chair as though she were now interested. “You have passed my test Ari but to touch or even see one of the eggs you must now at this moment swear loyalty and fealty to me and the empire. If you would please repeat after me…..”
Everything went smoothly after that, she pledged allegiance and then a guard led her, more respectful this time, to a white marble corridor. She was directed to a cushioned table on which the large white egg lay. A guard told her to touch it. She brushed her fingers by the eggs surface. Nothing happened so she got hurried to a small library. On small velvet pillow was a green egg. She touched this one and again nothing happened so she was hurried to a third room, this time a bedchamber. On the silk pillow of the bed sat a bright turquoise egg. Bored at this point she touched the egg and it and again nothing happened so she was escorted back to the throne room.
“Well it seems you have failed like all before you.”, Meru said lazily, ”But you are the only werecat that I know of in the Empire. I am going to give you the position of High Advisor to the Crown, yes that will do nicely. Do you accept?”
Ari stared at her unbelievingly, her an advisor to the crown it made no sense but the Queen probably knew best, so she accepted kindly, ”Thank you Milady for this extraordinary opportunity! I gladly accept your offer! What are your orders?”
Meru thought for a moment before saying, ”My advisors meet every day at noon or whenever I need them. You however have no need to attend these meetings everyday, only once a week or when you need help. You shall live in a suite just off mine. You shall present the council’s thoughts at the end of the week. You will also attend all meetings where I am present and shall attend all audiences. Do you understand?”
“Yes mam”
“Then you are dismissed.” With that Ari left the castle to pack her things, and move to the castle.
Introduction: She was so much in shock that the next few days passed in a minute. After a week had passed she had finally settled into her noble setting.
She had first returned to the tavern and told her boss of her resignation. He had been surprised and had begged her to stay at least two more weeks. In the end she submitted and said that she would stay for two more weeks but only for one shift each day. She then went to her small house and packed up all her necessities. Soon a carriage and a wagon appeared. A groom lifted her things into the wagon but instead of helping her into the carriage he said,”Milady, I have been asked that you put something on a little more respectable than what you wear now.” Ari a little taken aback had replied,”Oh, of course, excuse me for a moment.”
She promptly hauled one of her suitcases from the wagon and reentered the house. She pulled out her best dress, a lavender satin one with lace cuffs, and her best pearls. Once she had appropriately dressed herself, she combed the knots from her hair and tied it up in a purple ribbon. When she exited the house again the groom took the suitcase and they went back to the palace.
Since then other advisors and friendly guards had helped her learn about running the Empire and how the castle was run. She found that sometimes it was much easier to get around the castle in cat form than in human form. That’s why she was asleep in a ball on her bed one lazy afternoon when a messenger came bursting into her room. “Miss Ari! Her Majesty Meru is nearly delirious with anger, she calls you to her drawing room.”,he choked out, it sounded like he had run a long way very fast. Ari stretched and yawned, finally she changed to human form and said,”Thank you I’ll be there in a moment. Go to Chef now, tell him I sent you for strawberry cordial. You may bring it into my study to drink, wait there for me.” The boy stared at her for a moment before bowing and scurrying away. The servants here just couldn’t get used to the fact that she was kind and wouldn’t strike them. She quickly smoothed her skirts before changing back into a cat and hurrying off to Meru’s rooms. She slipped past the guard and into Meru’s drawing room. She was in a rage, pacing the room and clenching her fists. Ari sat calmly on the floor, tail twitching calmly, waiting for the ruler to notice her. Meru finally turned to the door saying,”Where on earth….”, before she noticed the small cat in front of the door. “Ari dear, you should have announced yourself. Oh well, the Varden. We’ve just had a spy from Northern Surda, the Varden has a new ally. It’s a creature from beyond our eastern borders. They are a winged human-like being called Kreeshone. They are like elves, they don’t die unless by illness or wound. The only good thing is that they can’t reproduce, at least as far as we know. I just knew that they’d find someway to renew their hope after all their leaders died. Ari I need your help, how should I respond to this?” Ari listened carefully to the predicament and sat there thoughtfully for a moment before saying slowly,You need to show them that you are strong and this won’t faze you, whether that is in winning a battle or merely talking to troops. You are unknown to Alagaesia as of yet so maybe you need to gather troops at Uru’baen and give them a motivating speech. You need to hide your anger, do not let it go public, keep it private. Show a calm smooth face and this may yet come out well…..
