"It went well?"
"Tolan you bloody idiot, don't do that!"
"Do what?" Tolan asked innocently as he leaned against a nearby tree - one of the few around the dunes of Tullan. He watched as Diabolique calmed her breathing as she picked up her pack.
"Scared the living crap out of me old man!" she muttered, only to huff in annoyance as the elder man laughed softly. "Evil git," she hissed. Tolan just laughed even more!
"My apologies, child." Tolan bowed slightly as he finally caught his breath, standing away from the tree he took the pack from the child, hitching it onto his shoulder as Diabolique joined him on the other side.
"So it went well?" He repeated the question as they slowly trekked towards Haven. Diabolique shrugged slightly as she looked over to the beach.
"As expected, they signed, yet something came up to shock me in a way."
"Oh?"
Diabolique once again shrugged as she did not answer the elder. She wasn't ready to tell him what had happened on the planet. Tolan, sensing something had happened, nodded to himself. For now he would leave the issue.
Placing the folder upon the wooden table and sitting back against the headboard of her bed, Diabolique pondered her next move. Her eyes kept darting to the file as she sighed. Karl would have to be informed. She mentally berated herself as she slid off the bed, but first to seek out Latro, for she gathered one way or the other the Hirogen hunter would end up tracking her down if she did not see him sooner or later. Better to get the interrogation over with.
"They agreed?"
Diabolique shrugged as she leaned against the door frame of Latro's quarters.
"How'd you guess?" she questioned with a raised eyebrow. The Hirogen placed the bone of some poor soul onto his wall as he shrugged un-Hirogen like.
"You've returned," he stated, making Diabolique laugh softly.
"There was a surprise though," she offered as she entered his quarters browsing the many hunting trophies.
"And that was…?"
Diabolique didn't answer straight away as she looked over to the tall hunter for a moment.
"They said they would support me in the future," she replied cryptically. Latro's non-existent brows creased as he looked over his shoulder towards the child, her fingers traced the bones of his last hunt.
"Then let us hope the others follow," he stated before taking the child by the shoulders and guiding her out of his quarters and down to the kitchens.
"When will you see him?" Mia asked as she cut away at some vegetable or another. Diabolique, whist stealing the vegetables, shrugged.
"When I'm ready and not before dinner," she grinned as she chomped away. A chuckle from the outer doorway took both females attention. Tolan, laden with more vegetables, carefully set them down on a nearby table.
"Well you're a growing lass so all for the waiting we are. Plus patience is a virtue. Not that Karl even knows what a virtue is." He muttered the last part to himself. Diabolique hummed non-plussed as she glanced out of the huge gothic-style windows to Latro, who at the time seemed to be in an ever-so interesting convocation with Tolan. No doubt about what she had not mentioned when seeking out Latro, she thought.
A cough brought Diabolique out of her thoughts. It seemed grim had found out about her return.
"He wants to see you," Grimmuttered to the child as though the very thought of seeing her was like chewing a wasp!
"Sir you wanted to see me?" Diabolique questioned as she set down the signed treaty. Karl's pale hands reached out, grasping the title as he admired the handwriting of each council person upon it. He spoke.
"Well done. I see you survived," he muttered. Diabolique's fists clenched as she looked away in an attempt to keep calm.
"I have," she stated simply.
"Then continue surviving... And I suggest you continue collecting signatures," he stated before waving the child away.
As Diabolique slammed the door to Karl's office she leaned against the cold stone wall. She should have expected to be cut down like string holding a puppet, yet she felt strangely bereft. Sighing, she stood and stretched before heading down the few stairs. She needed air and time to think.