The Forgotten Zodiac

Soren pondered the question for a moment, feeling equally as floored as Lucia and showing the part well. Eventually he just shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose as he regarded Elincia.

"Look at the ring," he deflected, and the young Queen took the bait, rushing forward and pulling Lucia's hand into hers.

"Oh, look at that blue!" she said, waving Ritz over to look as well. "It's lovely!"

And so she went for another thirty seconds before turning back to Soren, who had, thankfully, come up with a reply in that time.

"I suppose the wedding will have to be in winter, with all the preparation required." He shook his head and sighed. "I suppose that'll do. Might serve to make me enjoy the season better." He cast Lucia a knowing glance before turning back to Elincia. "Of course it'll not be near the anniversary of your Coronation, so we can still... enjoy... that ball without having to worry with anything else. Before or after then?" he asked, turning to Lucia. "If we choose after, we could just leave the decorations up from the ball and save time later."

Ritz, after spending that good thirty seconds with Elincia, gasping over the color, complimenting Soren on his intelligence, and generally expressing delight, snapped sharply back into the conversation when Soren gave his answer. "So you're hosting at Melior, then? Well, that's just boring." Her eyes widened in shock and horror when he expressed his intention to reuse the decorations, and she grasped Elincia by the arm tightly. "You mustn't let him do that! I will come decorate your whole throne room by hand, but you simply <i>can't</i> recycle them like that. It takes all the fun out of everything, and your, sorry, <i>the</i> wedding would look so drab!" If that dire threat was not enough to get Elincia firmly on her side, Ritz immediately began convincing Lucia. "You must save something for your wedding, something memorably. The fireworks, obviously; but still! You don't want everyone to forget it ever happened; and, if you leave it up to a <i>man</i>, that's a guarantee everyone will. No offense, Soren."
Lucia, one hand out to be inspected, leaned against Soren as the barrage of words came at her. Finally, without really attempting to answer any of them, she offered a suggestion. "How about Soren and I get married whenever we feel ready, we can talk about it later; and we can have the wedding whenever the decorators feel its prepared? You can do whatever you like, Elincia; but I'm not really sure I feel like waiting three months." That initial suggestion, which had mostly been a sarcastic remark meant to bait at those speaking to her, was becoming more and more appealing. It did seem to appease everyone present, without requiring her to wait three years to get married.

Soren, at Ritz's outburst, looked on the point of exasperation. He took hold of Lucia's arm when she shifted closer, almost protectively (which was a bit laughable, considering the size difference between he and Lucia) and risked speaking up again.

"Well, I'm glad we're... getting it all sorted out in the first hour," he muttered, directing the comment to Lucia. He offered her a somewhat-apologetic look, before turning back to Elincia and Ritz.

"Well I..." he cleared his throat, preparing it for the, he hoped, believeable enough lie. "I'm ready to turn in for the night. Walking around nervous and indesicive all day is not something I'm used to, and I truly hope I don't have to repeat the experience... though I suppose some good came out of it," he amended, glancing up to Lucia.

Then, turning back to the other two women, he said, "So I'm afraid I'll have to beg my leave of you, for now. Lucia?" He kept hold on her arm and extended an invitation for her to accompany him in his escape now - he was fairly certain she'd take him up on it. Not to say he didn't <i>like</i> Elincia and Ritz's company... normally. He just didn't particularly care for it right now.

"I'd love to join you." Lucia took her leave of the present company and said the customary nice things to Ritz. Once those had been sufficiently stated, she took her leave with Soren. The weren't together for a particularly long time. In connection with Soren's excuse, they both went to bed shortly.
The remainder of the evening passed quickly. Soren and Lucia's departure seemed to remind everyone that it was, indeed, quite late at night. With as few remaining people present as there were, it did not take very long for everyone else to take their leave. Within an hour, everyone had gone to bed.

Nephenee rose early the next morning - she had yet to grow accustomed to life as a noble, and still woke at the same time she used to when she lived back on the farm. She would usually, nowadays at least, lay in for a while with Geoffrey until he woke, but here, she was alone, and there didn't seem much point in laying in bed doing nothing when there was so much of this new country to explore, so she got up. She turned and made the bed behind her, then moved over to her luggage and pulled out the outfit she'd brought with her to wear today.

She hadn't known what to expect from Ivalice, so she'd brought along the outfit that could take the most wear - her old soldier's uniform from the Mad King's War. At Geoffrey's request, she'd left her helm and weapon behind in Delbray, but she nonetheless felt a bit more secure in the familiar clothing.

After she finished securing the last bit of armor, she moved to the door and stepped out into the hall, looking around to see if anyone else was up yet.

Surprisingly, considering the hour and the lateness of the night before, Nephenee had barely started down the hallway before she was hailed by someone behind her. Doned was also strongly accustomed to rising early, due to varying isomnia and overnights on the airships. He jogged to catch up to Nephenee, though he considerately joined her some distance to the side so as to not make her uncomfortable. "You headed somewhere particular? I probably know a shortcut." He offered, as way of introduction. 

"Oh, no where in particular," Nephenee said, striving to keep her voice sounding something more like Elincia's or Lucia's and not her low country drawl. "I was just wanderin'. Taking in the... the sights," she said, struggling for a better word. "Looking around, you know?" she repeated, crossing her arms in front of her and tucking her chin slightly in a show of shyness and modesty. Her armor clinked as she continued walking, and, not wanting to call attention to the drab garments (or, at least they looked so when she was wandering in this palace), she slowed to a stop, turning slightly to face him. "Were you headed somewhere?"

Doned stopped as she did and shook his head, obstreperous brown hair waving slightly with the motion. "Not really. It's too early for breakfast; that's served when most people are up, in an hour or so." He surveyed the windowless hallway and motioned vaguely for them to continue. "If anything, I was going to go check on the weather. I heard a storm might be blowing in; and you don't want to be in an airship during a storm, especially not on your first time up." He started slowly down the hallway so that Nephenee could keep up without her armor making noise, which he'd presumed was her motivation. One of the few benefits to his childhood seclusion was his ability to pick up on other people's shyness, though he still would have prefered to have a childhood.

Nephenee trailed after Doned, glad for the slow pace as it allowed her to keep up as she glanced around the halls, still in awe of their size and the, to her, remarkable differences from Melior and Delbray. She had just started getting used to all of this - Ohma, her hometown, had been nothing when compared to the slpendor of the noble houses and palaces. She could still hardly believe it, herself, that she had ended up in a place like this.

"A storm?" she commented, returning to the conversation. She turned her gaze back to Doned as he spoke. "Yes, I could see how being in the air during a storm wouldn't be good. I don't remember ever seeing Elincia on her pegasus in bad weather. I reckon the same idea goes for anything in the air," she said. "Right?"

"Pegasus?" Doned frowned completely unfamiliar with the term. "You mean the legends about the winged animals? Those things? If they were real, the idea would be similar. More like how chocobos head for cover when a storm's comin' in, so they don't get carried off." He didn't realize that Nephenee didn't know what a Chocobo was, just as she hadn't realized he didn't know what a pegasus was as a functional thing. Ivalice had some legends of horses, pegasi, and unicorns; but everyone knew they weren't real creatures. That would be ridiculous.

Similarly, Nephenee looked a bit taken aback at the mention of the new creature. "Chocobo? I'm afraid I don't... rightly know what those are," she said. She tilted her head slightly. "But of course there are pegasai. There weren't any in Ohma, but lots of the female members of the Crimean Royal Knights ride pegasai. Queen Elincia's has been passed through several generations, I think, 'cause her great-grandmother used to ride the one she uses. Beautiful animals," she said, lighting up a bit as she reached a familiar topic. "We had horses on the farm, but they were mostly draft horses. A pesasus is different. They're... regal lookin', with those wings and white coats. Well, the ones in Crimea are white, but I've seen pictures in books of black and golden ones, too. I--" she broke off suddenly, realizing how much she had been monopolizing the coversation. She blushed, and offered Doned a place back into it.

"Erm... I'm sorry, what's a Chocobo?" she asked hesitantly, hoping she hadn't bored him with her talk of the pegasai.

((Remember, they are supposed to talk about the clans.))

"You mean horses are real too?" Doned was completely shocked by this revelation. "And they can work on farms? Fascinating." Before he went off on a complete tangent about her statement, the mechanic pulled himself back. "Chocobo? They're the biggest ground transport. Like big chickens, but rideable. We use them to pull wagons. Thick yellow, brown, red, or even black feathers. Big beak. Really like giant chickens. They're too heavy in the middle to fly, and they aren't much use in combat, but they're great farm animals." Watching Nephenee carefully to see if she had more questions, Doned turned the question back to something that interested him. "So horses. You really have those in Crimea?"

"Yeah, of course," Nephenee said. "My husband, Geoffrey, he rides one. His, of course, is much different than anything back on the farm, but I suppose that's expected, considerin' his position," she said. She hesitated a moment, before adding, "He's a knight. Head of the Royal Guard. Ah, Lady Lucia's brother," she informed him, so he'd know where she fit in the Crimean royal picture.

"But, but... enough about me," she said, blushing furiously after talking about herself and her home. "What about you? Yer brother's head of a clan, right?" she asked. "What about you?"

Doned nodded with interest while gallantly pretending not to notice her blush. When she inquired about his occupation, he shook his head; and his stiffly dried hair moved a fraction of a second behind his hair. "I'm technically in a clan, for combat training and airship access; but I'm not really involved with it. Marche and I are competitive enough with my trying to beat him out professionally." He paused for a brief second of thought and reminiscence before snapping his attention back to his conversation with Nephenee. "I'm a mechanic on an airship sometimes. Other times I work on inventions with Ezel Berbier and Nono of the <i>Brilliante</i> on their inventions or ideas of mine." The two people he had named were both well-known inventors: Ezel, creator of the Law Cards, was a magical genius; and Nono, a renouned artist, balanced well with Doned's more practical skills.

Nephenee listened carefully to the explaination, before asking "So what, exactly, is a clan? I mean, if it's too complicated to explain right now, I understand, but y'all... you all keep... it seems important and like somethin' I should know," she said. She had stopped looking around at the walls and now faced Doned when she spoke, a sign that she was getting more comfortable around him. She couldn't say that she wasn't enjoying this talk, and found it to be an enjoyable way to spend her morning.

"Clans?" Doned stopped walking so as to properly formulate words to answer this question. "I can explain them now as good as later; and, you're right, they are somewhat important. Clans are sort of the basic combat unit of Ivalice. They're mercenary groups of as few as two to as many as twenty-four. Each person in a clan is a highly specialized fighter; and the clans are typically organized in teams, factions, of seven members. Once formed, a clan takes on missions that are posted in respected pubs and takes payment for them. When they become skilled enough, they start to work in the clan wars. Clan wars aren't really wars; they're engagements between the clans over territorial rights. If you have rights to the territories, the shops will give you a discount, and you get lower taxes; but you are required to defend the area from monsters, help out with natural disasters, and be generally nice to the people there. In the bigger cities, like Cyril, it's a political function that comes with pay and way lower taxes; but you have much more competition. Daily engagements and everything, plus public relations for the city. Most clans just do clan wars to get materials, weapons or money, from other clans. Some do it just to practice, since it's an engagement. Money is made off of the missions you do. People will pay a lot of money for things, rare minerals, cloths, hassling their enemies." His face froze when he realized the key fault in his explanation. "You don't know what engagements are either, do you?"

Nephenee tried to look like she was understanding all that was being said, but it seemed that she was transparent. At his question, she simply smiled. "Fraid not," she muttered, then cleared her throat and repeated herself, louder, as she remembered social tact. "I'm afraid I don't know what those are."

Doned nodded and immediately started in on a secondary explanation. "The engagements, as I understand them, and I don't really. Actually, I'll start with judges. Judges are our law-keeping force. They work annonymously, but they embody and have some of the most powerful magic in Ivalice. Before a fight, a clan member announces that they declared an engagement, using a specific word-pattern. A judge teleports there and creates a, like, a mini-universe. A copy of the area you want to fight in and all the people who want to fight. Then, you go inside the copy and have your fight; but you are exactly the way you were when you went into the engagement, even if you were killed inside it. It's like he paints a mind-picture of everything; you fight, and he makes everything look like the picture again. Does that make any sense?"

Nephenee nodded slowly, then, just as slowly, the nod turned into a shake of her head. "I'm sorry, what do the judges create?" she asked, confused by the concept of a mini-universe within a universe. "Is it like... he gives you a dream that you act out with others?" she reasoned, wondering if the comparison was even close.

"Yes!" Doned's eyes lit up slightly as she gave him a better way to explain it. "Yes, like he puts you in a dream, and you act out the fight. Then, when someone's one, he takes you out of the dream with no one hurt. The only difference is that the dream really happens, you feel it, and you don't forget it." He smiled awkwardly, trying to tell if he was helping at all.