The Night is Darkening Round Me

[Hanseatic Republics]

The night is darkening round me,
The wild winds coldly blow;
But a tyrant spell has bound me
And I cannot, cannot go.
The giant trees are bending
Their bare boughs weighed with snow,
And the storm is fast descending,
And yet I cannot go.
Clouds beyond clouds above me,
Wastes beyond wastes below;
But nothing drear can move me—
I will not, cannot go.
-- Emily Brontë (1837)​

A cold wind blew across her blouse as she stepped off of the airplane that brought her to these realms of disorder. She had heard stories of Veronica the Chancellor of this country being shot just hours before she landed here. News of riots came with this story on her plane, but lacking a safe place to turn in the region she and her crew decided to press forward. She felt that should could possibly give hope to these southerners. She had much to give to these people. To never arrive after stating that she intended to seemed rude in any respect.

Now stepping down the stairs from her private airplane she adjusted her gloves and her hat which had been bothered by her movement and the weather. Her eyes had trouble adjusting to the brightness. The airplane was so dark. There surely weren't any loud cheers or fanfare though. Her shoes hit the tarmac and she walked forward as her blue eyes finally managed to focus on what was in front of her.

 

[Thaumantica]

Setting a defensive perimeter around the two blocks surrounding Crownsreign Boulevard, the Cantigian Transity Authority treated street urchins and roaming pedestrians with dismissive disrespect. The roads of Cantignia's bright white capital were wide, white, and open to the Austwegian Queen who had chosen to honor Vesper after every Monarch of Europe turned their backs on the metropolitan society.

Marching out on the north end of the street were the Boy Scouts of the diminished Covenant, bearing Cantigian, Engellexic, and Austwegian banners in ridgid display of their regimented boyhood. Quite oppositely on the southside, Girl Scouts curtsied and hummed a somber tune while the oldest and most practiced young women sang a francophone rendition of the new Austwegian national anthem.

Imperfect in their presentation, the Cantigian Transity Authority backed up and pushed in to the planned display by Cantigian Covenant Scouts with rifles to escort the royal party in to a sincerely secure location. The uniformed children reached out and touched the young Queen as she walked by, breaking from their physical orders, but frequently repeating the phrase their leaders had encouraged them to resight: "Nos cœurs sont avec vous, chère Reine".

It was an emotional display of Vesper and Cantignia's diminished innocence, protected by a civilian military of adults greatly undermined by old Engellexic nobility but not so dissimilar to the Austwegian Queen's own origins. Vesper was a literal ghost down before the foreign delegation, soon guided to the urban chateau of Lady Genevea Heathcote, who considered herself a close friend of Alice, and the first and only Cantigian noble to agree to a new Covenant with elected officials in Cantignia beyond the Engellexic Crown's mandate.

 

[Hanseatic Republics]

The sight was far from what Chancellor Bakken had described to her just a few short weeks ago. The Chancellor told her of what seemed to be a far more lavish and beautifully happy place. These people were far more serious. The security she found necessary, but perhaps a bit more overbearing. It reminded her directly of her time during the succession crisis when she had armed guard with her for prolonged periods of time. Then she wondered if she had made the correct choice in agreeing to become the Queen of a foreign nation. Today she felt those same kinds of feelings, just now she was not sure how safe Cantignia would be for her. Such things did not entirely matter though, not now anyway. She trekked forward with a renewed vigor with that thought and sought to emanate confidence and hope to what she now saw in front of her. These children being who she saw being her favorite part of these proceedings.

Inger Lise smiled as all the cute children greeted her. She did not understand what they said and felt ignorant and uncivilized due to that fact. The only part she thought she understood was the last bit, which she internalized to mean "my Queen." She felt as though she were wrong. Her internalized world view being so limited to Ivernia and Franken for so long clearly appeared to be a poor choice today. Regardless, she considered the children most lovely and waved back at them as they departed the area with a smile.

 

[Thaumantica]

Quietly deeper within the metropolitan urban escape the Cantigian Transity Authority invited Austwegian security and officials in to the somewhat more regular streets of Heatherstown, where seemingly unaffected citizens walked in and out of markets waving to the Queen without fear of political repercussion.

This was the social realm of Lady Geneva Heathcote, a long time personal confidant of Queen Alice, and the first and only noble to surrender her nobility to the Transity Authority to form a new Covenant with elected officials. Lady Geneva sunk to her knees before the radiance of her Queenly visitor, Inger Lise, grasping the feet and rising up to kiss her hands before boldly embracing her with an entirely Cantigian hug.

"I want to learn everything there is to know about you, Mademoiselle!" Geneva exclaimed with a unbreaking smile, pressing a guiding hand in to the small of the Queen''s back. "We are widely surrounded by the CTA, my Queen, and if I have proved anything as a schmoozing Vesper socialite - this chateau is prepared to withstand even the most debaucherous of colonial evenings!".

Geneva pushed past the centerpieces and valued items she might usually display to a noble guest, instead affording the Queen a simple powder room where she might refresh herself before starting their conversational discourse. "My Queen," Geneva declared as Inger Lise appeared once more with a new pep in her step, "I welcome you properly to the Friendly Confines, more dangerous and exciting than your Chancellor visited, though quite robust in a way that few young royals are likely to ever experience".

 

[Hanseatic Republics]

Inger Lise stepped into the powder room. She looked around at the floral room and its lovely decor. She found it suitable for the colonies, though lacking the history she was more accustomed to in the old world. She pursed her lips in the mirror and smiled. She really didn''t care to do much more to herself before she spoke again with the Lady. She considered it more rude to keep the Lady waiting long. Stepping back out the Lady friendly spoke to her, "I welcome you properly to the Friendly Confines, more dangerous and exciting than your Chancellor visited, though quite robust in a way that few young royals are likely to ever experience".

Inger Lise smiled with a light giggle. "I''m not sure if this is a will be quite as friendly as your confines are advertised, but a surely more rewarding trip than my Chancellor could have ever described. She is a fine young woman, but being even younger than I, her vision is blinded by her naivety." Inger Lise looked at her surroundings taking in the moment. "I was born a German and it''s quite hard to get it out of me. So I am a bit business like from time to time and I am quite curious as to what kind of environment I am in. You might understand that news is sparse outside of these confines. In fact news from Vesper is shockingly non-existent in many ways. But do not forget to let me tell you some stories from home. I would very much like to share with you everything I can. I believe these Austwegians I''ve come to live with surely did not open me up, but they did give me an understanding of what it means to be alone. I very much enjoy your company and hospitality today Lady Geneva."

 

[Thaumantica]

Ushered in from a bright corridor, a Vesper Police Officer stumbled in and denied Lady Heathcote's opportunity for response. "Madame Heathcote, the Transit Authority wishes to inform you that Havenshire, Danish, and Potenzan military authorities have confirmed their incursion towards Crownsreign Bay,". Geneva nodded bitterly and offered her guest a cup for tea, "I am by no means a fortune teller or believer in mysticism, but I foresee a devastating future for these nations who wish to sway our citizens uprising".

Geneva instinctively pushed a cup of Engellexic tea at the German influenced Queen, ignorant of her beverage culture. "I have been quite consumed with the legend of your ascension to power, Queen Inger Lise, what do you make of the Danish - what was the word, ''impotency'', in telling you how to run your country?" Madame Heathcote asked with sincere interest, "For us it will take merely surviving, our nobility, and finally realizing that we can no longer kill our way out of a disagreement with the common folk.".

"If I could summarize the environment you have entered, I would do it like this:" Geneva said with a clink of her tea cup against the kettle, "Your current company and security have the largest armed force, and a democratically elected loyalty around most of this nation. My fellow nobles have taken up arms against workers in key cities with factories, ignoring the upheaval that''s been in the making since I was a very young woman!".

Butler to the Lady''s Chateau, Daniel Hartley approached the conversing women with a bowed head. "My Queen, My Lady of Vesper, the Transit Authority is preparing to make announcement, if I can please turn the deviled radio device on?". Geneva looked upon her butler with disappointment and appreciation simultaneously, "Yes, of course Mister Hartley - we must be kept abreast with progress of our fate.".

This Message is Brought to You by the Cantigian Transit Authority:

In accordance with the remaining elements of Cantignia''s elected authority, the CTA greets European embassies with humility. This is a time of great upheaval for the peoples and patriots of this country, yet we mindfully understand our duty to the international community to protect your citizens abroad.

Chancellor Angus Scalton, elected Deputy Chancellor of the Covenant before Madame North''s demise, has officially made a neutral stand in Vesper, the Capital of this country, where he will ensure the expedient evacuation of foreign nationals who have found their way in to these friendly confines.

Armed Forces that remain loyal to the elected government in Vesper, which includes the Army, Aeroforce, and majority of the former Covenant Armada have been ordered to cooperate fully with incoming military elements. Commander Clarence Campbell will be in contact with international commanding officers as they arrive on the scene, and will make every effort to to ensure Vesper is a secure zone of transit for the ongoing evacuation.

In response to our outstanding efforts to coordinate with your embassies and military assets, we ask that incoming naval, air force, and ground commanders announce their presence in the region as they arrive. A sudden incursion of said assets will be a dramatic event for this region, the first of its kind, so we wish to maintain peace and order with the many forces entering Crownsreign Bay.

Geneva turned to her guest with a steady smile before leaning in, "I hope you can explain how a German, or upper European woman might responds to this kind of conflict if it were happening up north". Teapots and cups were gradually cleared by Madame Heathcote's understaffed maids and men. Two had left the city to join the uprising in other parts of the country, and one older maid has simply gone missing altogether. In comparison, Lady Geneva had retained more staff than other socialites in the capital, which had turned the streets of Vesper in to a near ghost town in the evening by the time the national anthem was played over the loud speakers, originally meant to be a warning system for storms or attack.

 

[Hanseatic Republics]

As the police officer spoke, what he said seemed a bit of a shock to her. Foreign governments were already acting upon this crisis. Vultures to the virgin lands of the Oceanic. No different than a Dane in Østveg. A little bit lost in her thoughts, a cup of tea was suddenly placed before her. The Lady then asked her a question, "I have been quite consumed with the legend of your ascension to power, Queen Inger Lise, what do you make of the Danish - what was the word, ''impotency'', in telling you how to run your country...?"

Inger Lise took a quick sip of her tea before speaking. She did not wish to appear rude before her host. "The tea is quite lovely, thank you." Taking another sip she stewed the question over for a split second before replying. She did not wish to convey anything too much out of the ordinary from what was now her home. She spoke, beginning with a slight stutter to her answer. "W-w-well, you see the Danish question is always a difficult one to answer. Not because we have not an opinion. More due to the fact that no matter how my people may feel, it is irrelevant to the general powers of this planet we reside on. All things considered, I feel it to be immensely frustrating. The harbinger of death knocks at our door daily. We do not shirk from him cozy in our homes. They knock knowing we shall not answer, despite the obvious evidence that we are home. Barricade the doors and shut off the lights some of us may shout, but I believe in another. I believe more in making it a point that we are home. Turn on every light and candle. Turn up the radio and start the fireplace. The more our world can see that some people live in our house, the more likely this harbinger shall not have the urge to through a stone through our window. For if our neighbors should see this Dane, they surely would not be please to see such vandalism in their home village. Humanizing ourselves it highly important. So while I enjoy very little in powers, I certainly can provide us a real face in the world. Some of the reason I am here today."

As the ladies continued to converse, Lady Geneva asked if they might hear the radio. Inger Lise nodded and they listened. As the broadcast simmered down, Geneva asked her a question. "I hope you can explain how a German, or upper European woman might responds to this kind of conflict if it were happening up north." Inger Lise could not decide whether or not to smile or frown. She imagined her face just looked like an emotional circus. Looking down to some what hide this butterfly of emotions, she spoke in a worried tone, "Unfortunately Lady Geneva, our circumstances are all so different in the North. There are so many other nations, they grow worried of change. Balance of powers they say. Without this very idea, an idea that supposes that if the balance were to change..." She paused trying to find the correct words, "...that the civilization of our Old World, and all that we enjoy may change for the worst. Such a predisposition already limits the options for the North. Everything leads to some kind of order eventually. It would not be in the interests for anyone else to watch the world burn beside their own front porch. I grow worried for Oceania. Cantignia is so isolated, the mere willpower of a single foreign despot may change everyone and everything for the worst. I would not trust fore-..." She paused again, releasing that she'd condemn herself with such words. "To say without self-incrimination, beware of foreigners bearing gifts. I do not trust this foreign intervention."

Inger Lise was now finding herself curious as to what exactly was going on in Cantignia. As the sound of the anthem could be heard from the loud speakers, she was keen to escape out into the harsh reality of Cantignia. Such a reality could not be much worse than what she saw her relatives have to deal with in Franken post-August Catastrophe. Seeing the people was important. Understanding the plight of the Oceanic man and woman would be key to keeping her independent and free. Firmly out of the hands of the Danes for what she mostly worried of. Yet also because these people empowered women. Inger Lise firmly believed the success of Alice helped propel a group of parliamentarians in an Austwegian courthouse to vote on a having a woman lead their country, a woman lead their destiny; genuinely having these Austwegians believe a woman was the better choice. Far better than any Danish King could ever give them. Alice was an inspiration. Inger Lise sorely wished she could honor her memory with the Cantigians. She was beginning to doubt she would have that opportunity in the near future.

She asked her hostess a question, "Lady Geneva, you seem to have a strong understanding for your common folk. What gave you such insight on them? I grow curious as to how I could perhaps also understand the common folk of Cantignia. I want to see what is happening here."

 

[Thaumantica]

"Your Majesty, if you do not mind my saying," Geneva said with some apprehension, "I am glad that you were not blooded in the same way our Queen was at a dreadfully young age. The sweetness and innocence I knew to be true within Queen Alice was almost entirely torn away from her by that terrible man Ilchester." Geneva whispered, getting much quieter and taking on a gossiping demeanor. "You see, Her Highness never had much of a hope for sanity after seeing her personal guard cut down in summary execution by the Chancellor's own chosen replacements. She could not have been any older than fifteen at the time, and within a few short years Her Highness was overseeing executions and planning a cloak and dagger game with Mister Ilchester himself!" Geneva marveled with astonishment.

Events concerning the former had been rumored in the decade or more following the sudden disappearance of Queen Alice's Guard, though the latter rumor of espionage and shadow warfare between the former Queen and the retired Chancellor was widely reported at the time. "Isolation was not the undoing of my familiars within Cantigian Nobility, I'm afraid" she continued by regaining her smile, "It was the exposure of diverse ideas and visitors for the first time in our history, when Mister Scalton and the late Madame North finally opened this city and the covenant up to cultural events and previously banned publications." Lady Heathcote approached a small pile of books stacked only somewhat ceremoniously near the radio, sorting through titles such as 'Burning Forest', a Sylvanian title describing the rapid growth of its Republic; 'Critique on Our Economy', written by a Post-Delegationist Revolutionary; and finally 'The Invisible Worker: A Treatise on Women', a Carentanian based title.

"There were others of course, Your Majesty, though I think these pieces circulated the widest within the friendly confines, and did the most damage to the reality the Empire and our Nobility has demanded the common folk believe," Lady Heathcote said, sitting back down with another book that looked to be a rather new first edition, "This one is called 'Imperial Inferno' by Madame Veronica North, posthumously to be released by my publishing company once the uprising is over."

Geneva offered it to the Austwegian Queen awkwardly, the first real moment of social faux-pas she had committed in this exchange by Cantigian standards, presuming to offer something to a Monarch. "You can keep if you like, Your Majesty, I would just ask that you not speak of it until it has been properly released, you see, this is a memoir of sorts that goes in to very rich detail her exchanges with the Empire beginning when she litigated against them after the Imperial Textile factory inferno in 1932, and later as she overcame the capital and pedigree that challenged her and even Queen Alice in Dulwich proper . ." Geneva remarked with a jovial tone ". . I am quite certain that had Madame North published this memoir earlier, the motives of her assassin would have been unthinkable!"

Struck down by a revolutionary member of an organization Madame North was once an integral part of, the Scarlet Skirt Society (and the break-off organization, the Scarlet Committee), the motives behind the killing were molded on the idea that the Chancellor had lost her spirit for feminism, labor fairness, and opposition of Imperialism of the Engellexic variety. "This woman did not compromise, not truly, with the forces this uprising intends to do battle with - I believe with all of my heart and mind that this visit of yours would be a very different one had Veronica published this, which explains why bloodshed and violence were not the solutions to our outstanding disputes."

 

[Thaumantica]

Darkness had fallen on Thursday with macabre foreboding for the rise of Friday, a day that was meant by design to live in the collective minds of all those who managed to survive. Within the locked down colonial city of New Dulwich, the Scarlet Committee prepared themselves for a certain doom - hoping only to extend their occupation of City Hall so that the revolution might live on for a few more hours. Besieging the uprising by all sides, a Marine Task Force that had been made to represent the 'Empire', surrounded them with a corps of highly trained veterans and superior equipment.

Lord Cyrus Tuskvale awoke from a nightmare with a blood curdling scream that scared the young sergeant who had spent the last two minutes re-arranging the Noble Commander's breakfast in an occupied townhouse outside New Dulwich. "Bring me my officers, double time!" Cyrus shouted and the bewildered NCO, bothered himself by how he had sprung up from a short slumber. He had dreamed of perverse things that no proper Lord would ever admit to, Queen Alice of Great Engellex & Cantignia leading him to the throne room on Persephone Island wearing nothing but a loose fitting gown, before pushing him playfully in to the throne. In his dream she told him that he would now rule, and give her sons that would rule in his image, completing his life long fantasy before quite suddenly and violently turning in to a large red fox, the symbol of Alice's family, and gnawing away his genitals before he could awake screaming and flailing.

"The bitch is dead," he re-assured himself calmly "Today I ride to glory as 'Cyrus the Conqueror'!" Lord Tuskvale declared above jittering, shaky legs that nearly buckled under his uneasy steps. Tea, steak, and poached eggs were wolfed down by the Noble Commander as he nervously consulted a map of the Crimson Islands. He would win the siege of New Dulwich most assuredly, with blood and iron, but could he convince the Vesplanders he was capable of doing the same thing to the capital before Chancellor Scalton's Commander Campbell arrived with the full force of the former Covenant. "I am Rosenberg, and the Communists are my Pilgrims . ." Lord Tuskvale mused with his first feeling of certainty since opening his eyes.

Dressed for battle, helmet and fatigues forming a visiage of nobility around his half century old body, Lord Tuskvale marched out of the occupied townhouse with a well armed security detail of rifleman in to greet him with a delayed salute, "Get your shit together, on point gentlemen, we have a battle to win for Charlotte, hell, for Alice!" Cyrus blurted out with an uncomfortable rememberance of his dream. The shouts of commoners became louder and braver as the Commander drew near, "They're up a bit early aren't they?" he asked one of he rifleman who hadn't taken his eyes off of Lord Tuskvale since he stepped out of the townhouse, "Quite so, my Lord - it's a big day for all of us isn't it?" the young man replied with a nervous smile. Cyrus ignored the younger man, likely plucked from a dust ridden acre of Cantignia no man of stature had any business knowing of, "Where are my Officers?"

Three Colonels rendered salutes towards Lord Cyrus Tuskvale as he approached, roughly fifty feet from a set of improvised barricades and rifle pointed marines separating them all from a great mass of commoners. "The civilians wish to leave the city before the battle begins, my Lord," a tall and imposing Colonel gruffly announced. "Make sure we have enough bullets for all of them then, Colonel, unless you think a parlee of bayonets would do the job cheaper!" Tuskvale jauntily replied with a laugh that no one around him was prepared to share. "Is that your order, Lord Tuskvale, open fire?" a much younger Colonel with Ivernish eyes and hairs asked with an air of hesitance. "Kill that one!" Cyrus replied pointing at a young woman in the crowd, "Kill every last one until New Dulwich is purged!"

In unison the three Officers performed an about face, now facing the mass of commoners who had started to finally back up after hearing the Lord's mad shouts for murder. "MARINES!" the third Colonel shouted, "READY!" rifles and machine guns clicked and readied for operation, "AIM!" some thousand weapons on this echelon of the city pointed towards the civilian masses. Breaking his cadence the ordering Colonel performed another about face, looking Lord Tuskvale directly in the eyes: "Lord Tuskvale, Long Live the Queen!" the Colonel whispered before giving his last order, "LORD'S RIFLEMEN . . FIRE!" Eight rifles coughed a burst of bullets in to the Lord Commander who could only open his mouth and scream an inaudible last word before collapsing with a rigid clunk in to a pool of his own blood and waste. "MARINES!" all three Colonels ordered loud and clear after each checking the Lord Commander's pulse for certain death, "STAND DOWN!"

 

[Hanseatic Republics]

Inger Lise saw that finger pointed towards her and was shocked. Hearing the click of the rifles ready to shoot her, it felt as though her life rushed before her. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, as her bodyguards had shoved themselves in front of her to prevent any bullets from harming their Queen. The commotion knocked her down to her knees as she felt weakness pervade the entirety of her body. Screams of panic filling the crowd seemed faint to her own senses. The barrel of a gun looking at her in the face.

A woman's arm grabbed hers to pull her back up. "You cannot fall down, yous might find yerself trampled upon!" The sound of gun shots could be heard. Inger Lise was shocked as the Lord's body fell to the ground. The blood was obvious from even so far away. Where was she and why was she here still? Depending on the next actions of these soldiers, it could be a terrible day from here on out.

24 HOURS AGO.​

The chat she had with Lady Geneva was enlightening. She paid her respects to the Lady upon her departure and thanked her several times for the book. She noticed that the Lady seemed a bit awkward in that moment. She was not sure if that was part of her culture in giving gifts or if she really had not wanted to part with the book. Inger Lise would not refuse the book though. She felt that would seem more rude than taking it from a seemingly unwilling woman.

It was soon there after her curiosity had been peaked and she decided that she would have to go to New Dulwich to see what exactly was happening with her own eyes. She felt it morally objectionable to hide away under the protection of Lady Geneva while many others starved or died. The Lady warned her to be careful as safety could not be assumed.

She had received some old clothes from the Lady for the purpose of keeping her concealed. She did not want to look like a royal or a noble for that matter. An angry mob could turn on a woman of great wealth, and she would likely suffer inhumane and horrible acts before her death in a mob.

Arriving in New Dulwich by way of automobile a day later, she would walk into the city center. She brought two bodyguards with her which helped her feel reasonably safe; however, nothing would ultimately be able to save her from the worst. News from the area highlighted a reason to feel afraid. There were newspapers printed that depicted a possible death squad to recapture the city the following day. This intrigued her and she decided to see if she could purchase some more local looking clothing to fit into the crowds with. Not to mention that the clothes she had been given were not particularly comfortable. She visited a shop just a few blocks from the city center.

"Hello!" an anxious looking face said as they walked into the establishment. The woman who ran the shop looked much more like a girl. "Hello," replied Inger Lise as she walked into the shop. "How can I help you?" The girl walked up to Inger Lise. Searching through a few of the clothing racks the woman walked directly up to Inger Lise and seemed to be waiting for a response. Store culture in Oceania was far different, Inger Lise could walk among the shops of Kristiania and nobody would pay her notice until she purposefully asked for assistance. "I am sorry, but I do not require any assistance." The woman's face expression changed, "Where are you from? You ain't like the people usually come through here." Inger Lise was not sure how to deal with this. The woman continued, "You best start talking to me, because I ain't giving out anymore five-fingered discounts to you peeps. My inventory is getting weird and I'm not doing well through these times. Gotta protect me interests ya know." The woman was feisty, and then made it apparent she had a gun as she walked to block off the route to the door. Inger Lise's bodyguards both stepped in front of her. Inger Lise was not happy with this and so she pushed her way in front of them. "Miss, I assure you we mean to no ill-harm. I am merely searching for something local." The woman nodded and walked over to a rack and pulled out a nice dress that seemed to match the floral pattern she was wearing, only in a different color. "This one is quite a looker. What's yer' price?"

Inger Lise paused, she was not sure what she meant exactly. "Price? Are not you supposed to tell me the price?" The woman put the dress back on the rack, walked over to Inger Lise and gave her a good look. "Wells yous sure are foreign. But ye'd be dumb to be immigrating here now. So clearly you've got business in town. With those two oafs ya got wit you, ya need protection. You stick out like a sore thumb."

Inger Lise decided she ought to reply, "Well I am from Ivernia." She lied to cover her trace.

"Ya don't sound like one," the woman retorted.

"I'm from the German part." The woman looked annoyed, "Is that so? Well I don't think there is a German part. So what'cha think now?" Inger Lise smiled, "Well I think you would be a bit naïve to the geography of Ivernia then."

"The name's Lara. What's yours?"

"My name is Lovisa. Now can you help me find a dress?" Lara chuckled, "Ya, soon as you tell me where yer from and what's yer real name." Lara took a measuring tape up to Inger Lise and tried to figure out some basic sizing.

Walking back and searching through a rack of clothes she produced a fairly ragged looking winter dress with a hood. "Yer hair's too nice and you'll surely be all noticed and stuff with that nice dress I suggested ya." She tossed her the clothing. "I'm coming with. Surely you can't take me for a fool can ya yer majesty? I ain't gonna let you die on my streets."

Inger Lise's face changed to a more quizzical look. "How did you know so easily?" Lara laughed, "Yous know how I said yous all stick out like a sore thumb? Yer name was in the paper. Just didn't think you'd be so mad as you come out here." Inger Lise changed and soon Lara escorted them out and locked the door behind herself.

"So why are ya here?"

Inger Lise pulled the hood over her head. "I wanted to see what was really here. I cannot leave here while there is still so much suffering." Lara didn't understand, "You don't owe us anything. We can take care of ourselves..." Inger Lise interrupted, "Life is not just about debts, there is a moral understanding and investment we must place in each other. It would not be right for me to leave this country without truly finding out how I can help."

Lara chuckled, "Surelys, yous never been poor." Looking back at her, Inger Lise noticed a bit more about Lara. She wasn't too tall, strawberry blonde hair. She did not seem poor herself. Inger Lise was a bit happy to have the help of a local, although she was not too sure how trustworthy she could be.

OOC {
If you take issue with me adding a local side kick, let me know. I had a difficult time going forward in time, because the results of this clearly important event are in your hands not mine. So I went backwards and began a new character that might be interesting as I either continue through Cantignia, or whatever happens.
}