Taking Arahael, Protecting Arahael

At dinner, Faerveren noticed the silence, aside from the happy chatter of Beldir and Gurdir. However, it didn't bother her too much, and she finished her meal quickly. Waiting for the twins to finish, so that she could put them to bed for the night, she glanced up as Cirion left. Not too long later, Rathor came through the door to the dining room, smiling.

"I finished another table today!" he announced, grinning. "By this time next week I should have every single room in the castle finished." Gurdir and Beldir smile up at him, glad. Their playroom was one of the rooms that he hadn't had time to furnish once more, instead focusing upon the rooms that were more vital. Indeed, the table, once he had finished painting it a bright yellow, would be for the playroom, along with some child-sized chairs for them to sit on.

Sitting down at the chair that Cirion had vacated, he ate a bit, hardly noticing when Faerveren took her sons to their rooms.

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Settling Gurdir and Beldir down on their beds, the folding wall that separated their rooms opened so that each could see each other, Faerveren tucked the two of them in, placing a kiss upon each other their foreheads. Heading to the door, she said, "Good night," before shutting it behind her.

Smiling to herself, she went to her bedroom, which was on the floor above this one. Passing various paintings of demon generals and such, the ones that had replaced the paintings of Daechir and the ruling family of Arahael, she forces her gaze away from them, disliking how easily the demon had asserted himself as the ruler of the city. Going up the stairs, she walked down the hallway until she found her bedroom. Opening it, she smiled at the sight, glad for a night's rest after a long day.
 
Octavian had a fitful sleep tossing and turn before finally giving up on sleep all together. He threw the sheets away from him and placed his feet on the cold stone flooring. A shiver ran through his body, the castle was so cold he could see his breath. Octavian grabbed a blanket and walked down stairs to the kitchen to grab something to eat to sooth his growling stomach. He sat in the cold and the dark of the kitchen left with only his thoughts to keep him company, he thought of Cirion and Lae and he thought of Faerveren and the twin boys. Lastly he thought of Rathor which made him make a face of disgust, he did not like that man. It felt like Rothar was encroaching into Octavian's territory, he was also getting to close to Faerveren and he DID NOT like that. Even if she shows no interest in him she is his and his alone, of course he would never admit that and she would probably be even more disgusted with him. Sighing he finished the bread he had food and rested hist head on the hard wooden table and drifting into an on and off sleep.
 
In the morning, before anyone else woke up, Faerveren got up. Changing into a pale blue dress that had once been her mother's, she got Gurdir and Beldir up. The two moaning at having to wake up at such an early hour, she helped them into their clothes for the day. In the main hall, she put on their coats for them, before pulling hers on as well. Leaving, she walked into the courtyard with them, stepping onto a small stone pathway in the gardens, which led to the back of the castle. Near the edge of the grounds was a small, gray stone building. Pushing open the door, she held the twins' hands as she took them inside the family mausoleum. Three rows of indentations in the walls, most of them filled, lined the side walls, while three vertical ones stood in the far wall, all three filled with dark wooden coffins. The middle and left ones were Daechir and Dimaethor, whose bodies had been recovered and blessed by an elven priest, while the right was Daechir's father, as evidenced by a bronze placard set in the wood of each coffin, about where the head would be. Hooks in the sides of the coffins were held by chains, who connected to the walls behind them, keeping the coffins from falling over or otherwise being disturbed.

Biting back tears as she looked on, Faerveren took from a small bowl set in the floor in front of Daechir a handful of purple hyacinth and sweet pea petals, holding them in her hands before placing most of the handful on top of the coffin. The rest she rubbed along the sealant of the coffin, at the seams. It was a symbol of mourning and praying that whoever is in the coffin will find the next life easily, and not be stuck in the living world. When the petals all ran out or wilted, the mourning was supposed to cease, and life was supposed to go on. Doing the same to Dimaethor, whose bowl had lily and crocus petals in it, she smiled at the thought of what Dimaethor would say if he saw his mother like this. He would insist on not having flower petals at all, and if he could he would have hid them someplace where she couldn't find them.
 
Cirion had been up deciding to check to see if Rathor was up and doing anything, he eventually found him working on another room in the upper levels. "What are you working on today Rathor?" he asked smiling at him, it looked liked he was working on a few chairs to put in the empty room. Cirion sat on the floor facing him, just because Octavian didn't trust him didn't mean he couldn't plus Rathor seems like a nice enough fellow. He sat there smiling at him waiting for a response Cirion was complete opposite of Octavian harsh words wont hurt him .

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Octavian had removed himself from the kitchen to take a bath, and once he was dressed he was sitting in his office filling out paper work and ordering this and that. The papers had piled up sense he had taken over, sighing he stretched and doodled on a note pad for a couple of minutes before going back to work, this would continue into the afternoon.
 
"The boys' playroom," answered Rathor at the demon's question. "I had intended on working on the observatory in the northern tower, but seeing their faces when Lady Faerveren brought them back with new toys sort of got to me." The observatory of the castle wasn't anything extravagant or special, and was little more than a large room with a glass ceiling, but Dimaethor had been the one who had bought a spyglass, and most nights could be found pointing it skyward up there. Rathor smiled to himself, trying to ignore the demon sitting near him.

Using a sharp knife to carve in intricate symbols into the backs of the chairs, giving them a more refined look, he also tried to keep them sturdy, wanting generations of children to be able to enjoy the furniture. Writing notes to himself in one hand and carving the symbols on the chairs with the other, he kept both of his hands steady, occasionally glancing at the work one or the other was doing.

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Taking the twins back inside the castle, Faerveren helped them out of their coats, before taking them to the study, for their lessons.
 
"Is there anything I can do to help you?" Cirion asked already feeling the tension in the air but he smiled anyways."Anything I could get you? Maybe a drink or...?" his voice trailed off a little as he watched him work.Cirion drew his legs up to his chest and rested his head on his knees.

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Octavian walked into the study with an armful of paper work seeing Faerveren and the twins in mid less he polite apologize "Awh I'm sorry I didn't realize anyone would be in here, I hope its no trouble for me to do some work in here?" he half asked half stated as he already was making his way into the room. He went and sat at a desk he had moved in front of the window with his back to the three he started on the paper work but ended up doodling again.
 
"No," Rathor answered simply, glancing at his notes and making sure he didn't skew the lines. The notes were mostly for himself, details about the piece of furniture he was working on, whose style he was basing it off of, and various other things, but a few pages were filled with letters from some of the other cities that had fought the demons and won. They had provided most of the other at-risk cities with information on how to defeat the demons, but it was obvious that Arahael never received them. Standing up from his seated position, he tested the chair, making sure if a child sat in it it wouldn't break or anything. When he was satisfied, he smiled, setting it to the side to begin working on the next chair.

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Faerveren also answered a question with, "No," but hers was accompanied by a sigh. However, she didn't pause in her teaching, explaining to them that in the Nymph language, which originated from the far western countries where the Nymphs mostly lived, their adjectives were also verbs, but was using simpler terms. One thing Daechir had insisted on was that his children all knew how to speak the languages of many different races, in case there was need for meeting with them. The Nymph language, being relatively simple, was the first that he had begun to teach Beldir and Gurdir, and Faerveren didn't want to change that.
 
Cirion's smile faltered "Well I'll get you one anyways." he stood up and walked down to the kitchen and heated up some hot chocolate. He headed back upstairs and placed the mug next to Rathor and leaving, he didn't have much to do now a days with Octavian being busy and being in "enemy" territory. He decided that he would go down to the barracks and see if the men needed anything, he smiled to himself as he walked down to the barracks it would be nice to be around his own kind for awhile.

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Octavian ended up turning his chair around to face Faerveren and listen in to her lesson. He vaguely remembered his father teaching trying to teach him the Nymph language and a small smile curled on his lips. His features started to soften as her lesson went on and he started to look more like a kind man of 20 then the cold general of 35. Octavian was no longer paying attention to the lesson but instead to Faerveren's voice and the way her hands would move and her fingers, he admitted he was falling for her. The man who killed her husband and eldest son was now falling for her, he chuckled lightly he was such a fool.
 
Sighing as Cirion left, Rathor used a mallet to drive in a nail in the chair, trying to get one of the legs reattached after it fell off earlier. Waving him off when he left the hot chocolate, he moved it to a safer place upon a desk, so he wouldn't accidentally spill it while he was dealing with the chairs.

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During her teaching, Faerveren heard Octavian chuckling from across the room, at what gods only knew. Shaking her head for a moment, she ignored him, returning to her lessons. After they had spent a while on the Nymph language, she decided it would be good to switch to mathematics, at least for now. Truth be told, even she was getting tired of languages, and numbers held it more. Going to the shelves, she got one of Daechir's old books, one of mathematical processes, designed for children, and sat back down, helping them through the first sentences. While the two probably were strong enough readers to get through the book by themselves, she knew that they would need a slight push to get going. Smiling proudly when they read something right, like Daechir used to, Faerveren helped them through the steps of basic addition, mostly teaching them how to count on their fingers.
 
Eventually Octavian had gone back to paper work, without turning away from his work he spoke"Faerveren I need to see you after you are done with your lessons.". He was working on the paper work Daechir had left unfinished when he met his demise, he had to scratch out his name and sign his own. Octavian wasn't much for the paper work type he rather be out in the field fighting but for the moment all was calm but he could sense something was on the horizon and would have something to do with that craftsman. And he was preparing for what might come, ordering extra supplies and getting his men outfitted in better armor he was going to take no chances. If they wanted another war then by the gods he will give them another war, and this time he will make sure it will be bloodier then the previous.


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Cirion was getting the men fitted for better armor every now and then coming upstairs to grab a thing or two but he would quickly be down in the cellar. Sometimes he would even be seen carrying heavy steel armor from the barracks to who knows where. He went and checked on Rathor and the children's playroom, "Wow you really made this room look nice. It looks much more like a playroom for children, though I'm sure you don't care for my praise." he smiled and laughed lightly as he looked around the room and at the detail that the furniture held, it was spectacular truly
 
At a point where she could leave Gurdir and Beldir to their own devices, Faerveren stood up from the chair, going to the desk where Octavian sat at. "What is it?" she asked, glancing at what he was working on. She recognized some of the earlier writing, the large script that Daechir had written in, and judging by how there was a large black splotch, the paper had used to be signed by him as well. But now, with the addition of the demon's handwriting, there was his signature next to the scratched out one. Glancing at the twin's, to make sure they were alright, she found herself smiling as she saw them counting out numbers on their fingers.

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Rathor more or less ignored Cirion when he would check on him, only making noncommittal grunts when he was asked something. Rounding down some sharp edges on the furniture, he made sure no child would be hurt on them. When Cirion came in, commenting on his work, he nodded, and said, "That was my intention. To make it look like a child would want to play in here." Not saying much else, he returned to his work, setting the chairs around the table in the center of the room. He'd get some tapestries to hang upon the walls later, probably not something too deep, but bright and colorful. Brushing the wood shavings off of his hands on his pants, he looked around at his work, the ghosts of a smile on his face.
 
Octavian had lowered his voice to a whisper"I uh....would you mind if....you could..." it was a sensitive subject with him. The fact that he couldn't work out basic mathematical problems always embarrassed him, so much that Cirion started taking up the finances on anything. He turned away from her with a disgruntled look on his face and said "If it wouldn't be too much trouble I would like you to teach me mathematics in a private session.,At this point I am asking don't making me demand it." he still didn't turn to look at her instead opted to look at the wall.

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Sighing in defeat he left to go to the kitchen to see what he could make for dinner seeing as Octavian has been to reluctant to hire and cooks. Not that he minded but he would rather be in his own territory around people who didn't constantly hate him. sighing Cirion started to wash the dishes that had piled up.
 
As Octavian stuttered, Faerveren raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to pull it together. When he finally got the words out properly, she was about to turn him down until he stated that he could just as well demand her teach him. Sighing, she said, "Fine," before turning away, returning back to Gurdir and Beldir. Taking the math book out of their hands, she returned it to the shelves, before picking out a different one. It was about history, something Daechir hadn't liked very much, but what Faerveren believed was important.

Starting with one of the earliest wars between elves and the elementals, who lived towards the south-west, she began teaching them about the great generals that led the two armies, and how many soldiers on each side there were.
 
Octavian had gone through most of the paper work when he spotted a letter that had been buried beneath it all. It was a very recent letter that was addressed to him, the hastily scrawled address on the front showed signs of urgency. He ripped the envelope open and quickly read through the chicken scratch, it was from one of the camps in a far elven territory that had caught wind of a possible attack. It explained that it wasn't the elven people but in fact a different race of people, the letter simply asks for possible more reinforcements and to be on guard. Octavian quickly stood up re-reading the letter before rushing out of the room calling after Cirion "Cirion!! I have some news I need to discuss with you!!", finding Cirion in the kitchen he showed the letter to him.

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Cirion read over the letter with a clam demeanor "Sir this could all be just a simple rumor and nothing more, I don't think its them." "What if it is them?!? Then those camps will be left defenseless!!" Octavian practically screamed as he slammed his fist on the counter. "I can't stop you from doing anything I'm simply saying that I don't think the Shadows are coming back. But I will have some men dispatched out to the far territory in the east and I will make sure that we are prepared if they really are coming back." Cirion said with a sigh has he handed the paper back to Octavian and patted him on the arm "Now sense you're down here you can help me with dinner." he smiled and the two demons prepared dinner for the remainder of the time Octavian still on edge about the whole thing. Cirion didn't think the Shadows could come back their ancient ancestors banished them, they couldn't be coming back.
 
Looking up as Octavian left the room, seemingly in a hurry, Faerveren paused for only a moment before returning to her work. She sprent about half an hour, explaining how the elven armies had used a specific strategy to hole the elementals' royal army in a box canyon, with elves on the walls of the canyon, armed with bows and arrows. A man named Adasser had shot expertly, and killed the elementals' general with one arrow.

When she had finished their lessons for the day, she stood up, returning the book to its proper place on the shelves. Taking off the mathematics book, she set it on the desk, scowling at the thought of being more or less forced to teach Octavian how to do simple math. Taking her children to the baths, she got them cleaned up before taking them to the dining room, which Rathor had completed several days earlier.

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After finishing most of the children's play room, Rathor, after making sure no paint or wood shavings were on him or his clothes, went to the dining room, seeing Faerveren and the twins there. "Good evening, Lady Faerveren," he said smiling, greeting her children in much the same way. "Good news!" he said, "I've finished the playroom. By tomorrow afternoon you should be a able to play in there again." Greeted with wide smiles from them, he sits down across from them.
 
At dinner Octavian was very silent with a expression of worry on his face, he moved his food around on the plate only eating small little pieces. As time went on his face contorted into a pained expression, sighing loudly he got up and let the dinning room. Octavian knew what the Shadows could do first hand because when he was younger they attacked his home town nearly killing everyone who lived there. He couldn't remember everything except for his father telling him to take Cirion and run.He Remembered the Shadows as black beings who looked to be about his height currently but they could change their height, they didn't have any eyes and seemed to appear and disappear from thin air. Octavian had wondered into the study and just stood in the middle of the room, he didn't know what to do he feared that because of the trauma he suffered as a child would led to crippling fear on the battle field. He would have to get over it as soon as possible if they did indeed intend to try an conquer all of the surface.

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Cirion had been starring at Octavian most of the night until he suddenly left. He made a move to get up and follow but he decided against it, if the look on his face meant anything."Octavian..." he whispered, Cirion knew what happened all those years ago only from stories as he was too young to be able to remember. Those creatures truly terrified his beloved friend, taking his most of his friends, family, and his home. Sighing he went back to his supper sitting in silences listing to the happy chatter of Gurdir and Beldir, every now and again smiling at what they had said.
 
After finishing dinner, Faerveren took the twins up to their bedrooms, tucking them into bed for the night. "If you need anything, I'll be in the study, okay?" she asks, before leaving, a light smile upon her face. Going to the study, she saw Octavian standing in the center of the room. "Have you changed your mind or do I still need to teach you?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

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As people finished dinner, they all retreated to their respective bedrooms, Lae still staying her in her room in the servants' quarters, even though there were now plenty of other unoccupied bedrooms. She enjoyed remaining in her own room, liking the familiarity. Rathor lived in a room near hers, figuring since he was a hired craftsman that he was around servants class. Deciding that he would work on the front hall, placing the proper tables and such around the room.
 
"Not now" Octavian said in almost a whisper walking to the window and looking out over the town. He wasn't going to let what happened to him to happen to anyone ever again. Especially not Gurdir and Beldir, he seemed to have grown attached to the twins sense he first arrived here. Octavian quickly sat at the desk, taking a piece of parchment out and started writing a reply to the letter he had gotten. He wrote that he would indeed send extra men to the camps but he would like the confirmation if or if not the Shadows are returning. He turned to Faerveren and handed her the letter "Would you please give this to someone to send out, its very urgent and needs to arrive to the receiver as soon as possible.".
 
Faerveren sighed heavily as Octavian said he didn't want to be taught tonight. Wondering why she would be doing him any favors in the first place, she took the letter, deciding to visit the courier's house, which was near the castle. Handing him the letter, she said, "It's not mine. Just deliver it," before returning to the castle, going to her bedroom. Changing, she placed her dress in a basket along with the other dirty clothes, deciding to help Lae wash them later.
 
It had been five weeks sense Octavian heard the rumor about The Shadows and nothing sense. He had sent plenty of soldiers to the outposts and camps along those territories that would be the most vulnerable and hadn't heard from them sense. Octavian could only conclude that one of two things happened, on one hand the rumor could have been merely a rumor and that was that or two, the camps have been wiped out by The Shadows. He wasn't going to stress himself out over mere speculations, plus Arahael has been doing very well and everything has seemed to have returned to normal. Of course the townsfolk would morn their great king but soon they accept not only the demon presence in the town but Octavian as their king. He also started going to lessons with Faerveren, as embarrassing as it sounded he could barely do mathematics. So they would meet every other night in the study where she would teach him until late into the night. It was morning now and the sun was shinning through the thin drapes. Octavian was still in bed laying on his back staring up at the ceiling, it was a particularly cold Saturday morning but he could hear the staff running about doing this and that so early in the morning. He rolled over onto his side and stared at the right wall before finally getting up. Octavian shuffled about his room he had a weird feeling today like he was excited about something. He ran his schedule through his mind and found nothing that would particularly excite him, there wasn't much on the agenda except the lesson tonight.

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Cirion was up and about helping the newly hired staff with this and that, telling them what they should and shouldn't be doing. Most of the staff were elven though there were a few demons and only one human in the mix. Even Rathor had been made a semi permanent staff member, he could leave to home anytime he wished now that his work had been completed. Rathor and Octavian still didn't get along and Cirion guessed they never would, but it is nice to have a craftsman in the castle in case Octavian goes on one of his tirades of destruction. Cirion sighed a little has he helped the waiting staff set the dinning room table for breakfast knowing lady Faerveren and the boys would be down any minute.
 
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