Disclaimer: Any scenes, characters, phrase, terms, etc. that are mentioned
in Tamora Pierce's books or any others' are not mine. Only Lord Kaeron,
Eos, Mari, Tylan, the Ladies and their Houses, and the plot are mine. Any
similarities to any other stories, novels, etc. are purely coincidental and
not intentional. (there, I did a proper one.)
A/n: Long overdue thanks to Rainfall for reviewing my story; chapter 5 occurred the day after the assassination attempt failed, btw. ^ ^ Keep reading, your reviews are the only reason I'm still posting on fanfiction.net. To anyone that's reading this story: I know I'm completely killing the timeline of the Immortals and Protector of the Small series and even killing sequencing of a certain established scene with the Tortallan ambassadors, and I totally apologize. But since it's necessary for the plot, I'm afraid I'm going to have to keep doing that. Have fun reading!
Ch.8:
Lord Kaeron raised an eyebrow at Tristan, and asked Eos pointedly, "Would you like to dance?" Eos reluctantly took his hand and answered gracefully, "Of course." As they danced, Eos quickly tried to find ways to escape Lord Kaeron. "Lord Kaeron, would you excuse me? I need to-" Surprisingly, he cut her off. "I must warn you, your behavior is earning you a bad name in this court despite your beauty and charming manner. If I were you, I wouldn't make it a habit to go with men of bad repute like Tristan Staghorn into secluded corners or alcoves. It does present a bad idea of what exactly you are doing there." His handsome face was stone- like, and Eos's eyes narrowed as she gave him the same glare that she had earlier bestowed upon Tristan, and walked away from him. The next day, Eos came out in a light blue summer-fitting dress with sandals on her feet and no traces of face paint or any adornments, except for the necklace that she had spelled to look less ornate. As she walked out of her room, a slave came with two messages; one from Tristan, and one from Lord Kaeron. Eos raised her eyebrows at the second note, and thanked the bowing slave for bringing them. The slave meekly answered, "I live to serve, Nobility." Eos, completely shocked at his submissive demeanor, watched as he walked away, head down. *That's horrible that another human being could be so broken.* As she closed her door to read the notes in peace, however, another slave came up to her. "I bring flowers and this caged dove from another Nobility. He begs your forgiveness and hopes to see you today, Nobility." *Must be Kaeron, I can't think of anyone else that would do such a pompous thing...as if I could be bought off with dead flowers and a caged bird. Even Tristan didn't try that.* Still, she thanked the other slave, who answered exactly the same way as the other slave had, and she shut the door. Eos sat in the ornate chair and read the notes aloud in peace and privacy.
Today the Scancran ambassador is arriving with the Tortallan ambassadors. Take note of both; the Tortall has sent powerful people. The Lioness is famed throughout all the lands for her prowess at fighting skills and is the King's Champion; Numair Salamìn is a black robed mage that is one of the few to ever escape Emperor Ozorne's will and is currently the pet mage of the King of Tortall. However, he was a book-bound idiot that knew very little practical magic when I knew him. Duke Gareth of Naxen is one of the few that is better than the Lioness at swordfighting, and his son is the Prime Minister of Tortall and is reputably equal to his peers in fighting skills. The last one, Verlidaine Sarrasri, is supposed to have some sort of knack with animals and is coming to work on the Emperor's birds. She's bringing a dragon, apparently her pet of some sort. The Scancran ambassador's name is Darkan Finousri. Remember that! He's supposed to be blonde and blue eyed, so he'll definitely stand out in our court. He's your average Scancran ambassador, he's here to muscle his way through Ozorne's sudden lack to trading with his country. But he's going to take you back in exchange for quite a pretty amount of gold. Don't mind, it's not my gold, Ozorne is paying for it because he suddenly needs the information you're providing on Lord Kaeron and his sister. Good luck, magelet.
Tristan
Eos smiled as she re-read the note for the information and burned it to unreadable ashes with her magic. However, she frowned as she read the second letter.
Lady Tanianne, I apologize completely for my bad behavior last night. The dove and the flowers are tokens of apology; would you join me today when the Tortallan ambassadors arrive? Yours truly, Lord Kaeron
Eos quickly penned a note back to Tristan, asking, "Veralidaine Sarrasri? She is from around Scancra? -Tanianne" She then folded the cream- white paper carefully and sketched an eagle on it, signaling that it was from her.
~Flashback~
Tristan murmured to her he passed her casually in the main court, "Choose something that I can use to identify you with." Eos rejoined, "What?" "A symbol of some sort." " I don't have a symbol!" "Choose one. Quickly." "I don't know!" She smacked away his hand that had snaked around her waist. "Fine...then you can be the free flying, predatory eagle. That's very beautiful." He smirked at her as he walked away.
~End Flashback~
Eos opened the door and tried to deliver the letter herself, but was blocked by a slave the insisted that Nobility should not have to do such tasks, that it was the job of the slave to do such. Eos shook her head again as she went inside to "read", actually practicing with her daggers and learning more spells to enhance her fighting abilities. Later, she went to watch as the Tortallans' boat arrived and joined Lord Kaeron to converse. Out of the corner of the eye, she saw Tristan easily settling at a place where he could both observe his spy and his old classmate arriving. Lord Kaeron said drolly, "Look, the animals are all coming to watch as well!" Lady Semally took this as a joke and started laughing, until her laughter died at the sight of the mass of migrating birds, cats, dogs, and even rats that came to the shore line. Eos asked, "What are they doing?" even though she had already connected it to Verlidaine Sarrasri, the mage with a "knack" for animals. Lord Kaeron answered, "Perhaps it is one of the mages that the Tortallans are bringing...she's said to have some sort of gift with animals. It's said to be wild magic, but none of the mages at the Imperial University believe that to be true." As the Tortallans came ashore, Kaeron commented on the different areas of Carthak City that were visible from the balcony. "Hialla is far away from Carthak City, is it not?" "Yes; I've never been here before." *At least I'm truthful about that.* Kaeron smiled, and said, "Well, then it is my pleasure to take you around the city." Eos winced inwardly, and replied helplessly, "Thank you, Lord Kaeron."
A/n: I know that was kind of awkward to read through, I think I'm going to make some changes to this chapter later. Please review!
A/n: Long overdue thanks to Rainfall for reviewing my story; chapter 5 occurred the day after the assassination attempt failed, btw. ^ ^ Keep reading, your reviews are the only reason I'm still posting on fanfiction.net. To anyone that's reading this story: I know I'm completely killing the timeline of the Immortals and Protector of the Small series and even killing sequencing of a certain established scene with the Tortallan ambassadors, and I totally apologize. But since it's necessary for the plot, I'm afraid I'm going to have to keep doing that. Have fun reading!
Ch.8:
Lord Kaeron raised an eyebrow at Tristan, and asked Eos pointedly, "Would you like to dance?" Eos reluctantly took his hand and answered gracefully, "Of course." As they danced, Eos quickly tried to find ways to escape Lord Kaeron. "Lord Kaeron, would you excuse me? I need to-" Surprisingly, he cut her off. "I must warn you, your behavior is earning you a bad name in this court despite your beauty and charming manner. If I were you, I wouldn't make it a habit to go with men of bad repute like Tristan Staghorn into secluded corners or alcoves. It does present a bad idea of what exactly you are doing there." His handsome face was stone- like, and Eos's eyes narrowed as she gave him the same glare that she had earlier bestowed upon Tristan, and walked away from him. The next day, Eos came out in a light blue summer-fitting dress with sandals on her feet and no traces of face paint or any adornments, except for the necklace that she had spelled to look less ornate. As she walked out of her room, a slave came with two messages; one from Tristan, and one from Lord Kaeron. Eos raised her eyebrows at the second note, and thanked the bowing slave for bringing them. The slave meekly answered, "I live to serve, Nobility." Eos, completely shocked at his submissive demeanor, watched as he walked away, head down. *That's horrible that another human being could be so broken.* As she closed her door to read the notes in peace, however, another slave came up to her. "I bring flowers and this caged dove from another Nobility. He begs your forgiveness and hopes to see you today, Nobility." *Must be Kaeron, I can't think of anyone else that would do such a pompous thing...as if I could be bought off with dead flowers and a caged bird. Even Tristan didn't try that.* Still, she thanked the other slave, who answered exactly the same way as the other slave had, and she shut the door. Eos sat in the ornate chair and read the notes aloud in peace and privacy.
Today the Scancran ambassador is arriving with the Tortallan ambassadors. Take note of both; the Tortall has sent powerful people. The Lioness is famed throughout all the lands for her prowess at fighting skills and is the King's Champion; Numair Salamìn is a black robed mage that is one of the few to ever escape Emperor Ozorne's will and is currently the pet mage of the King of Tortall. However, he was a book-bound idiot that knew very little practical magic when I knew him. Duke Gareth of Naxen is one of the few that is better than the Lioness at swordfighting, and his son is the Prime Minister of Tortall and is reputably equal to his peers in fighting skills. The last one, Verlidaine Sarrasri, is supposed to have some sort of knack with animals and is coming to work on the Emperor's birds. She's bringing a dragon, apparently her pet of some sort. The Scancran ambassador's name is Darkan Finousri. Remember that! He's supposed to be blonde and blue eyed, so he'll definitely stand out in our court. He's your average Scancran ambassador, he's here to muscle his way through Ozorne's sudden lack to trading with his country. But he's going to take you back in exchange for quite a pretty amount of gold. Don't mind, it's not my gold, Ozorne is paying for it because he suddenly needs the information you're providing on Lord Kaeron and his sister. Good luck, magelet.
Tristan
Eos smiled as she re-read the note for the information and burned it to unreadable ashes with her magic. However, she frowned as she read the second letter.
Lady Tanianne, I apologize completely for my bad behavior last night. The dove and the flowers are tokens of apology; would you join me today when the Tortallan ambassadors arrive? Yours truly, Lord Kaeron
Eos quickly penned a note back to Tristan, asking, "Veralidaine Sarrasri? She is from around Scancra? -Tanianne" She then folded the cream- white paper carefully and sketched an eagle on it, signaling that it was from her.
~Flashback~
Tristan murmured to her he passed her casually in the main court, "Choose something that I can use to identify you with." Eos rejoined, "What?" "A symbol of some sort." " I don't have a symbol!" "Choose one. Quickly." "I don't know!" She smacked away his hand that had snaked around her waist. "Fine...then you can be the free flying, predatory eagle. That's very beautiful." He smirked at her as he walked away.
~End Flashback~
Eos opened the door and tried to deliver the letter herself, but was blocked by a slave the insisted that Nobility should not have to do such tasks, that it was the job of the slave to do such. Eos shook her head again as she went inside to "read", actually practicing with her daggers and learning more spells to enhance her fighting abilities. Later, she went to watch as the Tortallans' boat arrived and joined Lord Kaeron to converse. Out of the corner of the eye, she saw Tristan easily settling at a place where he could both observe his spy and his old classmate arriving. Lord Kaeron said drolly, "Look, the animals are all coming to watch as well!" Lady Semally took this as a joke and started laughing, until her laughter died at the sight of the mass of migrating birds, cats, dogs, and even rats that came to the shore line. Eos asked, "What are they doing?" even though she had already connected it to Verlidaine Sarrasri, the mage with a "knack" for animals. Lord Kaeron answered, "Perhaps it is one of the mages that the Tortallans are bringing...she's said to have some sort of gift with animals. It's said to be wild magic, but none of the mages at the Imperial University believe that to be true." As the Tortallans came ashore, Kaeron commented on the different areas of Carthak City that were visible from the balcony. "Hialla is far away from Carthak City, is it not?" "Yes; I've never been here before." *At least I'm truthful about that.* Kaeron smiled, and said, "Well, then it is my pleasure to take you around the city." Eos winced inwardly, and replied helplessly, "Thank you, Lord Kaeron."
A/n: I know that was kind of awkward to read through, I think I'm going to make some changes to this chapter later. Please review!