Wing Warriors
Author: Abby Ebon
Beta: Alara Moonrunner
The Queen's Own Herald Talia used he strongest Gift- that of Empathy to feel at the boys emotions- it surprised her that the metal seemed to sense her, and she felt its wary guard over its charge, even as she felt for him.
His emotions were chaotic, and she felt sympathy for him, even as she sought out his feelings over being sent here, of all places.
Surprised, confused, and a general heaping of helplessness- so obviously he was no direct threat- unless they encouraged a rash action. Talia signaled Selenay and Daren, and the rest of the Heralds came of their own free will, to hear what the Queen's Own had to say.
"He isn't a threat, unless we provoke him. More then anything I feel he wants out of here as much as we want him out." Talia said after she had gathered her courage. Kero and Eldan stood beside each other, with the Queen and her Consort, Skiff –former thief, guarded their backs and stood with the cat-woman Nyara.
There too was Herald Alberich, weapons master, and the former Captian of their once-enemy Karse. There were others, but those closest to her Queen and Princess- Talia paid the most attention to.
"Mindtouch?" The Queen demanded of her Heralds. Eldan steeped foreword, "I could, and did- his mind is in as much a jumble of things I've ever encountered from a teenager, on the surface. Underneath that is someone we do not want as an enemy." Eldan warned them when Alberich stirred.
"I couldn't touch him long without the…metal interfering, but I gained three things. He is familiar with technology neither we – nor I think, even the Empire, could even attempt to reproduce. It's caused so much pain…and death." Eldan took a shuddering breath and continued- sparing none of them.
"He fights with five others- they all have those…Gundams, these are weapons that could destroy our Kingdom- even the world quite easily- if the boys wished. The five are all boys- trained and enhanced…using bits of themselves and …medical experiments…" Eldan was shuddering and Kero reached out her hand to hold his, her concerned eyes on her love.
"It's a hard thing to see." Eldan murmured softly, unafraid to rejoin his lover, and show a small bit of weakness. Talia hadn't felt any of that- but she hadn't been looking for those feelings- Eldan had had little choice.
The Queen, her Consort, and no few of her Heralds had paled at Eldan's words. "Is there no way to fight?" Skiff asked in dazed disbelief.
"They aren't familiar with the Gifts- nor Magic, or creatures such as Gryphons- or our Companions. Their Gundams seem to be able to protect them from all that." Eldan added, not facing them, even as Kero hovered over him protectively.
"Could they not be made into allies?" Nyara asked familiar with hostility where fear was.
"Possibly," Both Eldan and Talia said at the same time. "They usually answer to five….Healers? But these 'Healers' were the very ones who made them into warriors" Eldan explained.
"Healers?" Talia said scornfully, "No they are meddlers- no Healer would subject them to such things- let alone have them answer to them afterwards." Talia hissed at the thought, Eldan sighed, and nodded his agreement with her.
"So what do we do with him?" Skiff asked, nodding his head in the direction of the Gundam.
"For now- we wait until he comes back out of his…Gundam." The Queen answered, adopting the word Eldan had used.
--
Duo was bad at waiting for things - just ask any one of his fellow pilots. Therefore after going over his music collection twice; and not settling for anything. Trying to contact his fellow pilots' each- twenty-five times and just getting static.
Duo was ready to a) screw it and use the scanners to navigate b) turn the Outer-speakers on and see if he got a reaction with the…white-clothed people or c) go out and see if they could speak English- or one of the other odd languages Duo had picked up in space.
He grinned- he could always learn a new way of insulting someone.
None the less, Duo's training held- though the Outer-speakers where were looking more and more tempting to use.
--
Heero had been confused when he found himself in a mountain pass with civilians gaping at him. He'd been pissed when it took half a day to repair his Gundam –from the inside. When he got it working- he'd turned on the scanners.
It took till the next morning for the scanners to pick up a hint of a Gundam; Heero had been all for the destruction of the near-by town with annoying citizens who kept throwing rocks (and a few boulders) at his Gundam.
Fortunately training held- and Heero left the spooked (and probably smoked) villagers behind in favor of gathering his fellow pilots and proceeding into a planned strategy. Heero had no way of knowing he was going deeper into the Kingdom of Rethwellan- and away from Valdemar.
He had no way of knowing that he would cause King Faramentha Jadrevalyn the biggest headache –ever, or that the people of Rethwellan were reporting sightings of their first ever Unidentified Flying Object- and that he and his fellow pilots would cause a controversy over whither metal could fly, with Mages everywhere within Rethwellan.
He also didn't know that a nobly born White Winds Mage and a Shin'a'in of the Clan Tale'sedrin were having tea with Quatre- which of course, was where he was headed.
Friday, April 13, '07- Reposted with corrections made by Alara Moonrunner