Duchess Victoria's rooms in The Palace

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DragonKitty

DragonKitty

Scholar
"Yes Your Grace, at once!" the messenger lad stammers as he bows before Victoria. Backing away a few steps, still bowing of course, he eventually turns and runs out the doors, speeding off with his message towards the Home Guard Barracks. Smiling, Victoria stands and motions to her guards, and begins to head towards to doors herself, she has business in the Earthweavers' Enclave.

As she walks, she reflects on the events of the past few days and recalls how she was relaxing in her solarium when news was brought to her of rumors that her brother the King and the ArchMage were lost in a great battle back at Parson's Breach. She spent a long while pacing the room while she waited on her Vizier to return with confirmation of the truth of the rumors; his return within a few hours with the news that the rumors are indeed true, her brother is missing (perhaps even dead?) and the ArchMage as well, led to a multitude of lengthy meetings with her staff while she gathered more information, obtained details where possible and putting plans in place to offer aid and support to the people of the Breach.
 
Victoria enters her solarium, out of breath after the rapid exit from the Earthweavers' Enclave...she isn't sure who or what was screaming as her two guards ushered her very quickly out there and away from any danger. "What is going on now" she wonders out loud to the room, hollering for a messenger she dispatches him with haste to find her Vizier. He will always knows what is going on. She settles down with some letters to read while she waits.
 
Laurent had paused at the Imperial Quarters in the capital to change quickly before arriving at the Court. Proper presentation and all that. He was now back in his finest attire of the court, elven silks woven into magnificent patterns. "Zee Baron vould be proud ja?" He laughed aloud at the mirror before making his way to Court as summoned.

They have gotten to know him well as the Chevalier both with songs, wit, insight and skills in knowledge of far away lands. But now he was here with a deadly serious look as he approached the proper Herald. He shows the scroll with the correct messenger seal of the Her Grace Victoria. "Gut lad, Laurent of the Family Justeau of zhe Imperial House, iz here at zhe command of her Beloved Grace." He gently lays a hand on his shoulder bringing the Herald into a confidence. "Tell her Beloved Grace I bear newz of a man who vas given Vords of Power as a birthday present."

He then allows the Herald about their business, and studies the Court while awaiting his next duty.
 
A young page approaches, dressed in the dark blue of the Duchess's household, he bows low to Laurent before standing and saying "Master Laurent, Her Grace would like to invite you to join her in her private solarium for a meal. If you would kindly follow me I will take you there directly." The page turns and begins walking towards a hall on the left, 2 guards are posted at the entrance to the hall and looking past them you can see more guards spaced along the length of the hall as well. This hall is more quiet, the only other people to be seen other than the guards are two ladies in waiting giggling in the doorway of one room off the hall and a couple pages and servants walking quickly about their business. The guards at the entrance cast a quick glance at the page as he stops just before them and turns around to be sure that their guest is following him.
 
Laurent as per Imperial Protocol follows the correct steps behind. At the entrance guards Laurent unhitches the Imperial blade and has it presented along with his small blade. A quick once-over in the hall mirror to be sure all the silks are flowing "as right" and he is prepared.
 
The guard on the right steps forward to take Laurent's blades, both hands in front of him with his palms up. "Your blades will be returned to you upon your exit, Sir, for Her Graces' safety none but her guards are allowed past this point armed".
 
Laurent hands the blades over with a smile. "Sehr gut. I vear zhey vill needs a good zharp und clean vrom Parson's Breach ja? Ve made zhem paid dearly zhere." He straightens up. "My compliments." He winks at the page. "Vell younglink, ve zhould nay keepz her Beloved Grace vaiting ja? Protocol und decorum, zhour time zoo zhine. Zust don't ofer do's it, I had qvite enoughs at in ze Emperor'z court. Comez to zhink of it zoo did hiz Imperial Radiance." He chuckles and waves the page forward. "Veet veet gutz herr!"
 
"Indeed Sir" he replies, and begins walking down the hallway. He moves briskly barely looking at the guards or even the ladies in the doorway who glance at both men as they walk by with smiles before turning back to each other and resume giggling.

Both ladies attire contains splashes of dark blue and silver, the Duchess's colors, perhaps Ladies in Waiting? The guards in the hallway all wear the dark blue with silver accented tabards, same as the few pages scurrying about, these are all Victoria's personal guard. As they are walking the page quietly says, "This wing is the Duchess's private quarters, her formal sitting room where most petitioners may see her, is in the central part of the castle. This wing is for private and personal visits." About two thirds of the way down the hall they stop at a door on the left hand side.

Knocking briefly first, the page grabs the door handle and opens the door into a well lit room with large windows, live plants dot the area here and there with color as well as sofas and chairs are placed to provide comfortable conversation and a view of the castle gardens out the window. A fire crackles in the large fireplace at one end of the room. A table is set up near the fireplace with dinnerware and chairs for two, ready for dinner to be served it appears. Two guards can just barely be seen, they seem to almost blend into the wall with no tabards on to make them stand out, they are the same guards she had with her on her visit to Parson's Breach - her personal guards. The page steps fully into the room and spotting Victoria looking out the window, silhouetted and bathed in the golden light of early evening, he bows low and announces "Master Justeau, as requested Your Grace." Still bowing he steps to the side to let their guest into the room.
 
Laurent enters and removes his hat in a proper flourish as he takes a knee. "Your Royal Highness, az Her Grace commands ve zhall attend, Laurent of zhe Family Justeau und Imperial Houze at zour pleazure our beloved Grace."

>I would imagine the rest goes to PM as the Page would likely seal the doors at that point<
 
The page closes the door behind him as he exits. Victoria turns to greet her guest....

<Continued in PM>
 
The morning has been busier than usual in the Duchess's apartments as she had called a meeting with several of her senior staff and advisers.

"You all know what you need to do then, yes?" she asks.

"Yes, your Grace." they reply in unison

"Excellent. Every detail must be perfect. This is of the utmost importance to me and you had better not fail. You had best get started don't you think?" With that she returns to reading her correspondence, occasionally writing a reply and sending it off with a page to be delivered.
 
Victoria dismisses the page with a wave of her hand. Sitting down on the chaise in her solarium she puts her feet up, sips from a cup of her favorite tea and opens the latest batch of messages delivered to her just now. She starts with one message in particular, as she was pleasantly surprised to see a note arrive from this trusted ally so quickly after their last meeting, as brief as it was. She smiles as she reads the note and when she is done she sets it gently aside, for when she has read all her correspondence she will pen a response.
 
Standing in the Duchess' waiting room for a chance to speak with her Highness; Tal looks nervousily about the opulent room. Remembering the look on the page's face had been one of shock as he had received Tal's reply as to the nature of his visit. Such a simple phrase had caused the poor page to nearly faint; "I am here to speak with the Duchess about possible corruption within the Arcane Sanctum at the highest levels". Now he waited for whatever was to come; a quick death by Royal guards or by tainted celestial magics; no matter what he had to try and speak with the Duchess.
 
The page knocks on the door to Victoria's solarium and is admitted right away by her guard. Crossing quickly to Her Grace and bowing he relays the message given by the Biata waiting in the other room and then waits for a response. Victoria says simply "Send him in.". The page backs away until he has exited the room, turns and heads back to their guest.

Stopping in front of Tal, the page says "Her Grace will see you now. Follow me" Stopping at the guards to they could take Tal's weapons while he is inside, assuring him they will be returned when he exits. Once past the guards, the page moves down the hallway and knocks once more in the solarium door, gesturing for Tal to enter the now open door.
 
Stepping into the solarium, Tal immediately bows deeply to Duchess Victoria and then kneels to one knee. Head lowered, Tal waits to be recognized and given permission to speak; all the while glancing around the areas of the room he can see and watching the feet of the guards standing so close behind him......
 
Victoria looks up from her paperwork, standing she makes her way around her desk to stand before the kneeling Biata. "You may rise Tal" she says. "Come, sit with me and tell me your news." My guards will make certain we are not disturbed.

Making her way to one of the plush chairs in the room, she sits waiting for her visitor to join her.


Continued in PM
 
You both hear a voice in your heads. It's female. It's Nadja
You can only make out 2 words ASTRAL... TRAPPED....

Victoria slumps in her chair, asleep. Tal's mental blocks are hit hard leaving him stunned and a throbbing headache. Never has he felt such power.

OOG: Victoria is rendered unconcious.
 
Victoria blinks several times as the room slowly comes into focus. She sees the concerned look upon Tal's face. The room is dark. No candles have been lit by her attendants and the stars pierce the glass above her. Tal stands near, a grave look upon his face that seems to lighten a bit as Victoria stirs. Possibly a good night's rest will take away the throbbing in her head....
 
Two Days after the Ball

A Page has been sent with the freshest White Lillies and a quick note.

"Your Beloved Highness,

I would entreat your lovely ears in a week at your royal convenience and pleasure.

LJ"
 
Victoria looks up from the last of her morning tea, as a page delivers White Lillies and a note to her desk, the page bowing as he walks backwards a few paces before turning to leave. Reading the note, she nods slightly, not surprised to receive this note so shortly after the ball. She makes a mental note to arrange a brief meeting in a weeks time, when she can fit it into her schedule of course.

Her gaze settles on the map in front of her again, pondering just what to do with it, smiling at the memory of the reveal at her Masquerade. She so loves surprising people. Motioning to Chip in the corner, she rolls up the map again and hands it to him when he approaches. "Put this in a very secure place Chip, make sure that none other than yourself has access to it." He bows and leaves, Victoria smiles because she knows that Chip will see it well hidden and protected.

The appearance of that Vampire has her concerned, and she is still irked at the female Biata for her utter rudeness. Although it all did make the evening more interesting and entertaining. Her guard that evening Tal, wishing to speak alone with this Biata vampire is concerning as well, she makes a note to have Chip put some eyes on him. Victoria makes another mental note to also task one of her staff with researching vampires and to have maps of the surrounding hills, where this "stone" apparently is "lost", pulled for study as well.

She then calls for pages and scribes to begin the task of handling the daily business of her Duchy and that of the Parson's Breach Valley area, so much work to do there to make it prosperous. Quickly getting straight to business, Victoria issues orders and makes decisions with a quick decisiveness that sends her staff scurrying like rats in a fire.
 
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