The Forgotten Zodiac

Those five days passed quickly, and the party was soon ready to depart. The final accounting was small, just Ike, Elincia, Lucia, Soren and Nephenee. The final member had come along at the Queen's insistance; she wished to spend more time with her sister-in-law, and a trip like this seemed a good a time as any. Geoffrey and Kieran were staying behind to maintain the castle; and Bastian, as Elincia had supposed, was simply too far away to be able to join them.

Gernave, who had come through with Nat to assist in the spell-casting, checked to ensure that all were present. With all present and accounted for and Ike reassured multiple times that it would be safe for Elincia, the two mages performed the spell. A black dome spread from the center of the circle and enveloped the six members. There was a brief period of complete emptiness before the dome shrunk inward again and left them standing in the throne room of Ivalice's Bervenia Palace.

The throne room was incredibly dissimilar to Crimea's, accurately relecting the difference of their respective monarchs. The throne room itself was a marble hallway, tall strong pillars lining a walkway to the throne. The pillars were coated in gold at the tops and bottoms. Red stained glass windows, made in intricate magical patterns, cast a glow across the whole room, turning the white to pink and the gold to a bronze. Behind the throne hung the flags of the various noble house of Ivliace, increasing in size as they increased in political influence. Wound between and around the pillars were ribbons of blue and green. Medallions of silver and bronze hung from the ribbons, all of which were Viera made.

Ritz gave a short shout of excitement when she saw that the visitors from Tellius had arrived. She spun from where she had been standing next to the throne and ran toward the new arrivals, dragging her companion by the wrist. When she reached them, slightly breathless, she beamed at them and gestured toward her friend. "Shara, this is Ike, his wife Elincia, Soren, and Lucia," she said, gesturing to each as she said their name. "This is Shara, my sister." After a brief pause, she started up again, "Oh, and Shara, Ike and Elincia are the king and queen of Crimea, that place I told you about. Elincia does wonderful things to curtains."

Shara was a tall Viera, though that might have been because of the slim boots she was wearing. An embroidered green skirt came down close to the top of her boots, and a sleeveless green half-shirt covered her chest. A large, black bow hung across her back and a quiver hung from her left thigh. Long, thin ears protruded out of her short, white hair; and the fur that covered them was alight brown, the same as the fur that covered the rest of her body. "A pleasure to meet you all."

Ritz looked over the final guest, as if trying to recognize her. Finally, she said, "I'm sorry, but I don't believe we've met. Who are you?"

Those five days passed quickly, and the party was soon ready to depart. The final accounting was small, just Ike, Elincia, Lucia, Soren, and Nephenee. Geoffrey and Kieran were staying behind to maintain the castle; and Bastian, as Elincia had supposed, was simply too far away to be able to join them.

Gernave, who had come through with Nat to assist in the spell-casting, checked to ensure that all were present. With all present and accounted for and Ike reassured multiple times that it would be safe for Elincia, the two mages performed the spell. A black dome spread from the center of the circle and enveloped the six members. There was a brief period of complete emptiness before the dome shrunk inward again and left them standing in the throne room of Ivalice's Bervenia Palace.

The throne room was incredibly dissimilar to Crimea's, accurately relecting the difference of their respective monarchs. The throne room itself was a marble hallway, tall strong pillars lining a walkway to the throne. The pillars were coated in gold at the tops and bottoms. Red stained glass windows, made in intricate magical patterns, cast a glow across the whole room, turning the white to pink and the gold to a bronze. Behind the throne hung the flags of the various noble house of Ivliace, increasing in size as they increased in political influence. Wound between and around the pillars were ribbons of blue and green. Medallions of silver and bronze hung from the ribbons, all of which were Viera made.

Ritz gave a short shout of excitement when she saw that the visitors from Tellius had arrived. She spun from where she had been standing next to the throne and ran toward the new arrivals, dragging her companion by the wrist. When she reached them, slightly breathless, she beamed at them and gestured toward her friend. "Shara, this is Ike, his wife Elincia, Soren, and Lucia. I'm afraid I don't know you." she said, frowning at Nephenee. "Ritz Malheur, for now. Anyway, this is Shara, my sister." After a brief pause, she started up again, "Oh, and Shara, Ike and Elincia are the king and queen of Crimea, that place I told you about. Elincia does wonderful things to curtains."

Shara was a tall Viera, though that might have been because of the slim boots she was wearing. An embroidered green skirt came down close to the top of her boots, and a sleeveless green half-shirt covered her chest. A large, black bow hung across her back and a quiver hung from her left thigh. Long, thin ears protruded out of her short, white hair; and the fur that covered them was alight brown, the same as the fur that covered the rest of her body. "A pleasure to meet you all."

All the visitors spend a good amount of time looking at Shara, though each tried not to stare. They'd not seen a viera before, at least, not a transformed one, and the sight was just as monumental as the appearance of the others during the wedding had been.

It was Soren to break the silence. "A viera, is it?" He nodded to her, committing the name to memory. "Hello."

Elincia had turned her gaze from Shara to look around the room some time before Soren spoke, but now drew herself back to the conversation and smiled. "I do well with curtains?" she asked, then laughed slightly. "Ritz, this room is beautiful. I've never seen the like. These windows really set off the room. And the ribbons!" The Queen moved over to one of the pillars and fingered a silver medal. "These are lovely." Finally, she seemed to recall something.

"Oh, Nephenee!" she said, turning to the shy, teal-haired girl. She went over and took the girl's arm. "Why don't you introduce yourself?"

The girl's face reddened slightly with embarassment. "I... I'm Nephenee. Geoffrey's wife. We didn't meet, but... you," she gestured to Marche, "You were at the wedding. I saw you."

Elincia smiled. "She and Geoffrey were wed alongside Ike and I. After you all appeared, though, she went to Delbray. Her family's been moved there to stay with Geoffrey." She paused, looking th Nephenee, and smiled. "She's also very shy. I apologize."

Nephenee blushed a bit harder. "I reckon it's... I mean, I think it's a pleasure to meet y'all. You all," she corrected, her face growing ever-darker.

Ritz laughed and beamed at Nephenee. "I'm thrilled you could make it." The bride-to-be faltered, trying to find a way to engage the newcomer in conversation. "I love your hair. It's really beautiful." She gestured to her long white hair and shook her head slightly. "Yours is much more interesting a color." The Viera turned back to Elincia and fingered one of the medallions as well. "Oh, I can hardly take credit for those. Koringwood trades them with other races; they have runes of protection and such on them. I just got them to give me first dibs, though the are lovely."
Marche nodded and smiled at Nephenee, one arm draped around Ritz' shoulders. "Marche Radiuju. I can't honestly admit to remembering you very distinctly, but you'll have to forgive me. I was a bit preoccupied at the moment. That makes you Ike's sister-in-law, right?" Like his fiancee, he would have wished to make Nephenee more comfortable, but he wasn't entirely sure of a way to do that. Instead, he directed his attention to those he knew, in the hope that, by leaving her out of it, he would make her more ready to be in the spotlight. "Ike, I've been informed by Ritz that after greeting you all, I am to depart and take anyone male with me; so that Ritz can go do whatever girls about to get married do. Anything in particular you want to see? Mewt's in the library, if Soren wants anything." He gestured vaguely at one of the doors off the room, which was the closest route to the throne room. "Syl's off doing security something-or-other. Montblanc is with Mewt; and Alexander, thankfully, does not arrive till later." After a brief glare from Ritz, he adjusted his statement. "Did I say thankfully? I meant emotionlessly. Completely emotionlessly."
Shara nodded at Soren, observing him with an interested eye. "Indeed. You're Soren? From Ritz's description, I pictured you as someone more intimidating." She shrugged and shook her hair briefly, resisting a laugh. "I'm sure you make up for in other ways." After a less-than-subtle cough from Ritz, she bit her lip, still grinning. "You should probably forget I said that. Apparently I wasn't supposed to." From her tone, it was obvious to most present that she had known she wasn't supposed to say that, but she had chosen to say it anyway to test Soren.
Lucia listened to Shara with one eyebrow raised, stifling a smile at Shara's remark. "I say his bark is worse than his bite; but I've never seen him bite. You might be careful. I'm sure it won't be pretty when he decides to." A small smile crossed her mouth as she teased Soren, though it was lightly meant. Shara just seemed likely to be a source of endless amusement.

Nephenee seemed considerably more comfortable when the others decided not to talk to her, and allowed herself to look around the room, taking in the surroundings. She nodded vaugely in Marche's direction to answer his questions, but decided to be quiet for now.

Soren, too, was quiet, but for different reasons entirely. His red eyes narrowed to a glare and his eyebrows pressed together over them as he frowned. He turned the glare mostly onto Lucia for her encouragement of Shara's words - he could hardly expect the stranger to know what would offend him. Lucia, though, should know better. He allowed Shara's comment to slip, though he heard that knowing tone in her voice, and elected to change the subject. And change who he was having a conversation with. "I, for one, would like to visit your library, Marche. I am certain I can find something interesting to read in there, as your mages did in Melior."

Elincia smiled, shaking her head slightly as the others interacted. Then, she turned back to Ritz, after Marche's words. "What do you have planned?" she asked, smiling at the girl. "It sounds like this visit is going to be exciting! Aren't you excited, Nephenee?"

The girl reddened and nodded, looking a bit bewildered at having been called on so suddenly. "I reckon... I mean, I think it sounds great."

Marche led the way out of the room, followed by Ike and Soren. Gernave and Nat both had other places to be, as evidenced when the Nu Mou looked down at the Moogle and inquired as to whether the Moogle was ready tto transport their visitors luggage. Clan Nutsy was still responsible for castle security, but that was an increasingly hectic job with the wedding arrangements. Everyone in the caln was needed to pull their weight and then some.
They arrived in the library shortly, a massive room full of narrowly spaced bookshelves. In the center, there was a square of space filled with tables, which was where Mewt currently was. The young prince was analyzing and cross-referencing nearly fifteen books, all of which he had spread across the table. A notebook in front of him, though not the leather one he'd had in Tellius, was detailing his notes on the subject, which was in a completely illegible language.
Marche gestured at Mewt, who had been so engrossed he hadn't heard them come in. "Behold, Mewt's hobby. Completely illegible languages which he, completely illegibly, notes into a notebook. It pays off, every now and then he vaporizes a bad guy. You got a demonstration."
Mewt jumped visibly when Marche spoke behind him, splattering ink across his paper. "Marche. Delighted to see you, sorry, hear you sneaking up on me." The annoyance in his tone was just barely visible, and it faded away when he greeted Ike and Soren. "You two made it. I hope everything calmed down after we left." He paused, glancing around to ensure no one was coming in after them. "Kieran's not here? I was hoping to ask after Henry, the child the assassin went after. You don't happen to know anything?"
Ritz grabbed Shara and then Elincia on the arm, assuming Elincia would take Nephenee's arm. "C'mon, I'll show you the rest of the palace. Bervenia has a gorgeous view at sunset, so the reception show be right around then. It's hard to plan, because weddings can go longer tahn expected." She paused, then glanced over at Nephenee and commented on her accent carefully. "If you're- If you're correcting yourself for my benefit, you don't have to. I grew up pretty deep in the country. I like it, it reminds me of the little towns around Koringwood."

Soren nodded to Mewt and looked over the Prince's work with interest. "What is all of this?" he asked, gesturing to the books. He paused, seeing one among the many that was familiar. "You have a wind tome," he commented, reaching over to touch the runes that, to the mage, were anything but illegible. "I assume you picked this up from the market in Tellius?" he asked, drawing his hand back. "If you need my help reading that... I am more than capable. It is a simple text, I've studied it since I was... oh, four." He glanced over at Ike, appearing have some sort of internal debate. "Yes, four, I believe. Just let me know," he said, then turned his gaze to the countless other books on the shelves. Then, he elected to answer Mewt's question, as Ike hadn't yet.

"We left Kieran in charge, against my better judgement," he commented.

Elincia smiled at Ritz and Nephenee in turn. She nodded to the shyer girl, encouraging her to comment.

"Oh... I'm glad ya like it," she said, sounding a bit more confident in speaking now.

Elincia smiled at Nephenee again, then turned back to Ritz. "I'm sure everything will be wonderful, Ritz," she said.

Ike shrugged and shook his head. "I haven't heard anything about the kid, other than the fact that Kieran is still yammering about his bravery. I'm sure he's fine; Kieran would have said if he wasn't." He approved rather firmly that Mewt was concerned about the child; it showed responsibility and sympathy which were always admirable traits.
Mewt nodded at Ike and picked up the tome and showing the front to Soren. "Bastian gave it to me. I'm comparing it with our current wind spells and the archaic methods. These parts," he pointed out underlined sections in several of the books. "These are nearly identical. However, these," he pointed out several more underlined in a different color. "Those are completely unrelated." He held the notebook, which contained color-coded translations, out to Soren to see if the mage had any thoughts on the matter. "Of course, Humes haven't done wind magic for quite some time, unlike Tellius. I'm wondering if the wording changes are part of why, they assign the spell in ways that would make it more and more difficult to use."
Marche made Ike's gaze over the two mage's heads and rolled his eyes visibly. "He goes on like the for hours, all the time. He goes days without seeing the sun when he gets into his translating." He looked around the room, before Montblanc piped up beneath him. "Kupo, I'll go help with the organizing." After Marche nodded and waved him off, the Moogle exited the room. "You'd like his job, Ike. He'll go help direct food preparation."
Shara glanced at Ritz as she thought through the towns surrounding Koringwood. "Her accent does remind me of Glensvale, especially Helena. You remember Helena? That lovely baker who pretended she hated all of us, but always left cookies on the windowsill."
Ritz laughed and nodded. She looked over at Nephenee and nodded again. "I definitely see it. They look similar too, around the eyes." She shrugged and changed the topic, aware that she was likely boring her guests. They'd reached a ballroom, decorated similarly to the throne room with a mosaic of interlocking colors on the floor. "Here, the balcony's this way." She led the way excitedly toward the balcony and pushed the doors open, releasing Shara and Elincia's arms. "Isn't it wonderful?"

Soren nodded, turning interestedly back to Mewt. "Bastian did? Characteristic." The mage shook his head slightly and looked at Mewt's notes. "This is quite detailed. How long have you been working on this?" he asked. He considered Mewt's second comment, then said, "Runetongue is quite complex to learn. I only know as much as I do because I was educated quite... rigorously from a young age. Most spell masters are closer to Bastian's age than mine. And honestly," Soren sighed a bit, "Bastian and I still have much to learn. Though I do not find the experience enjoyable, he and I have studied together, and agree that it would be prudent to study some of the newer texts. He's told me he'll bring some back from Begnion."

Nephenee smiled at Ritz and Shara, then dropped her hold on Elincia's arm as the others pulled away. She looked around and a small gasp caught in her throat. "It's real pretty," she said quietly.

Elincia's words conveyed the same sentiment as Nephenee's had, but they were barely understandable as she rushed foreward, looking out over the balcony's railing to the Ivalician landscape. She smiled, then turned back to her sister. "Lucia, can you believe it?" she asked. "It's... so stunning!"

Mewt frowned, looking at Soren and the text with some confusion. "Really, you can't read that?" He held up one of the one's from Ivalice and held it out to Soren. "What about this? I'm not nearly as good there, since it's a dead language; but I can read... runetongue, as you called it. Syl taught me; it's just the Viera language. I learned it just after I learned to read normally." Mewt's eyes lit up slightly as he spoke with Soren, delighted to have found someone not bored by his hobby. "When you get those newer tomes, could I have a look a one? They could be quite helpful with this." He leaned over the table again, nearly knocking the ink over in the process, and retrieved a stack of small notebooks, which he held out to Soren. "These are my translations from various others. My wind study is relatively new; it didn't catch my interest until I had the text from Tellius to compare."

Lucia had paused earlier on to acquire of Nat and Roderick where their belongings would be taken. By the time of her return, Ritz had already joined everyone in an arm chain; but, since she hardly knew Shara and wasn't sure Nephenee was ready to take Lucia's arm, she had simply walked along beside. Now, as she joined the others on the balcony, she gasped in awe. "It's lovely." Out from the balcony was a wide open plain, covered in grass and wildflowers. Past the plain were forested hills, just beginning to change their leaves to red and orange.

Ritz, still smiling, waved those compliments off. "Would you believe it was Mewt who found me this? I mean, the forests have been there for ages. Queen Remedi was just intimidating the owners into not ruining her view, but Mewt bought them all and then declared them a national forest or something. Now schoolchildren have all sorts of field trips, and Alchemists camp out to study fungi, but the view remains the same. I thought it was brilliant of him." She spun around twice before pulling herself up to sit on the railing. "You should see Ambervale; the building is prettier than this, and it's in this canyon. You can see all the rocks change colors as you go lower."

Soren looked over the notebook again. "Some of the symbols are familiar, yes, but I cannot confidently claim literacy," he said. He held out the key for Mewt to take back before receiving the texts the Prince handed over, He placed most of them on a small, clear space on the table, then lifted off the one on the top, flipping through it. He paused on one page. "Now, <i>that's</i> interesting," he said, waving Ike over for a look. "These pages are written in our common tongue. Here, Ike, read that aloud, would you?" The mage handed over the notebook to the king and picked up another one, flipping through it to find anything else he could decipher. "From where did you transcribe this?" he asked.

Elincia nodded, imagining the places Ritz described with a smile on her face. "Those canyons sound like what most of Daein looks like," she said. "It's a beautiful place, but I am preferential to forests," she said, admiring the turning colors of the leaves. "You picked a beautiful time for your wedding," she said.

Ike took the book and started reading from the top of the page. "Second full moon of Summer, the year of the Goddess, Ashunera. The Portal continues to activate when I read the inscription in front of it. However, I've yet to be able to increase the duration for long enough for me to venture through it. It has increased, but not nearly long enough. Tomorrow, I must attend Father's funeral. His death was quite unfortunately timed, especially as it leaves Mother alone for many years from now on. Considering her mark on me, I probably shall as well; but I never consider myself alone when I have research." Ike stopped and looked up at Soren to return the book. "That's the end of that page."
Mewt, after looking over Ike's shoulder to see what he was reading, was staring at Ike in shock. "You can read that? Marche, he just read aloud the transcript of Archmage Degani. You know, the crazy guy who was really good at magic?" He crossed to a shelf nearby and pulled several books down. "What about these? Because no one, in the history of Ivalice, has found a translation for those. Funnily enough, he had a story about coming from another land that sounds a lot like Tellius..." He pulled more books from the shelf and brought them over to the table and stacked those by Soren as well. "These are the texts written about him and his works. His notebooks have been copied accurately throughout the years, but no one knows what they say. Really, you can read them?"
"Daein? That's the country above Begnion, that hates Laguz, right?" Ritz frowned slightly as she thought her way through the map she'd briefly observed in Crimea. "I'll hope the comparison is a good one. You'd like Ambervale; it's gorgeous." She deflected the comment about her brilliant choices, instead continuing to ramble about the scenery.

Soren glanced at the first page of each book. "Yes," he said, nodding. "If Ike could read it," he glanced up at the King and smiled, hoping Ike knew the mage well enough by now to know that he meant no... well, not much... offense by the words, "Then I certainly can." He flipped open the book that Ike had finished reading from, and frowned slightly, then repeated several words aloud. "Ashunera... Portal... mark?" The mage shook his head slowly, trying to piece something together in his head. "Goddess Ashunera... I think I've read that name before in one of the texts from Begnion. I've only seen it once, though; I've never read of her in any of the books from Melior's library. Nor have I heard of a "Portal"..." Here, he hesitated. "The mark he describes... Mewt," Soren looked up, breaking off his thought. "Might I borrow these? I could write out a translation for you, if that would be a good bargain."

Elincia nodded at Ritz's summary of Crimea's eastern neighbor. "Yes, unfortunately. The Daein countryside was a marvel. Its people, however... I am certain your Ambervale is much more hospitable," she said.

"That would- that would-" Mewt looked delighted, and he returned to the shelf. He returned with another large stack of books, which he then separated into two piles. "These are all of his books, here. These are the other commentaries on his work." He paused as it occured to him that, if the Common Tongue in Ivalice was written differently than the Common Tongue in Tellius, Soren wouldn't be able to read most of them. He opened one book, written in Ivalice's Common Tongue, and held it out to Soren. "Can you read this?"  He flipped through them until he found a book written in the magic language of Tellius. "What about this one?" Knowing that it was entirely unlikely, he sorted out all but the commentaries written by Viera, in the Language of the Forest. "These should still be good."
"Ambervale?" Shara stated. "It was the longtime summer retreat of the Randall family, though it's lain empty since Queen Remedi was killed there. Since then, the area has stablized. The people might try to hold royalty hostage, just to have some again; but they would never harm anyone." She shrugged as she contemplated the people of that area. "It's a shame, really. They would make brilliant bandits, with those valleys."

Soren poured over the books, forgetting that Ike and Marche were still in there. He looked over the selection that Mewt had sorted out and nodded. "I can read all of these. When I transcribe, I'll write in the Old Tongue. Otherwise... that wouldn't be much help to you," he said, nodding. "It may take some time, but I can recruit another mage to aid me. one that writes legibly. And if we had someone dictate the writing, the task could be completed all the faster," he added.

Nephenee gave a small shudder at the mention of bandits, before speaking lowly. "I reckon you can be glad there are upright people livin' there."

Elincia nodded in agreement with Nephenee, then shifted the topic. "Did you have plans for what you wanted to do with us before the wedding, Ritz? Or does the grand tour go on?" she asked, smiling.

Mewt, still delighted with the idea of actually being able to read what had been considered unreadable for years, shrugged and nodded. "Keep them for as long as you need; no one uses these books but me. All they do is sit here and gather dust. I'd be glad to have someone other than me make use of them." He stacked the books Soren wanted into one pile and began sorting the ones he had been using. As he did, another idea came to him. "Soren? If you wouldn't be objectionable, I could teach you the two languages you don't know, if you would teach me the one I don't know." The prince immediately shifted back to the work he was doing, as if embarrassed that he had mentioned it. "If you wanted to. There's no obligation."
Ritz processed Elincia's question and looked at the sky, checking the position of the sun. "Oh!" She whispered something that might have been a curse under her breath and leapt off the balcony where she had been sitting. "I need to be getting ready!" She hurried back into the ballroom and into the palace, calling over her shoulder, "Come help me choose a dress if you like. The Viera don't require white dresses, so my options are open."
Lucia glanced at Elincia and headed off after Ritz. There really didn't seem to be anything else for them to do, so they might as well go give Ritz opinions. Though, really, she didn't know why the woman hadn't picked a dress by now, no matter how many she had.

Soren considered the offer. "I don't know how good of a teacher I would be, but it would improve relations between our two realms if we could more easily understand one another," he said. Then he nodded. "We could give it a try, though I don't know how avaliable I will be for visits," he added quickly. "I can try, but again... I don't know how well you can learn from me."

Elincia trailed after her sister and Ritz, glancing over her shoulder once to ensure Nephenee was following. As almost an afterthought, she reached out and took the girl's arm, hoping to make her feel more secure. "I can't wait to see the dresses," the young queen practically skipped down the halls after Ritz - the weight of Nephenee's arm on hers was probably the only thing that held her back. "They must be gorgeous, if you still can't decide."

Mewt shrugged and grinned. "I'm a quick leaner. Besides, as much as I like Bastian, you're probably a better teacher than he is. Actually, if you get me the translations of those," he gestured to the books, "I'll translate them to what I normally read. Then we can just go over the text. We have all the same sounds, so it should be a pretty simple translation. Once we get a working base, it should be pretty much self-teaching." He straightened and looked at Marche. "You ready to go get dressed? The ceremony starts soon, and you have to get dressed."
Marche assent and stood up from where he'd been lying on the floor. "I could hardly forget that I'm getting married. Let's go." He walked off after the prince and called over his shoulder. "Ike, you want to come? It'll just be Mewt yelling at me as I mistie things; so I guess I could take you somewhere else. Ritz probably has Elincia doing girl things, so I guess she's unavailable."
Ike assented and followed Marche out of the library, knowing that Soren would come as well. "I can watch you tie knots. Maybe I'll learn something." He paused and turned around, going over to the table to where Soren's books were. "You want me to carry some of those?" he offered. He could at least carry them without the stack covering his eyes.
Ritz moved along quickly so that those following her her could up, though just barely. "Well, there are really only two contenders. One of them you just have to see, but the other is pretty basic. Well, I mean, you'll laugh." She slowed down in the hallway and entered a room off the side. "When Marche first proposed, I asked him if he had any preferences for what I wore to the wedding. I expected him to blow the question off, but then he made this really sweet face and asked me to wear what I was wearing the night he first asked me to dinner. That gives it a lot of potential, but it's my combat uniform, and I just don't know. C'mon!" She ushered the girls into the room and entered her closet to find the two articles in question.
While Ritz was in the closet, Shara perched herself on the edge of the bed. "The correct answer, by the way, is for her to wear the uniform. It's not like she'll look terrible, period; and Marche will love it. Exodus, as kids, he only liked her 'cause she could trash him." She stood again and excused herself quickly. "I'll go get dressed myself. Won't take me long."

Soren nodded to Mewt at the suggestion, saying something along the lines of agreement. He turned back to the stack as the Prince spoke to Marche, thumbing through them for a moment before selecting one and tucking it inside his cloak. In case he found spare time. Not that he'd read during a wedding.

As Ike offered to carry them, Soren said, "I don't see a problem with leaving them in here for now. They'd probably be safer - I wouldn't want to misplace them. Just remind me to pick them up before we leave," he said. He pushed his stack a bit further away from Mewt's working area to distinguish them a bit more. He stood, about to follow the others, before instead electing to find a chair.

"I'm sure you don't need me in the way," he commented, looking around on the table for an empty notebook so he could start transcribing the traveler's journals. "And, if you don't mind, I'm much rather stay in here then learn to tie a knot. But I agree on the point that Ike should go," he said. He frowned a bit as he found no paper to write on, then just shook his head and opened a nearby book, set to just read for now.

Elincia made herself comfortable sitting on the edge of the bed, looking around as she waited for Ritz to return. All the travelers from Tellius had come wearing their formal dress; they were all ready for the wedding when they arrived. Each had packed with them a set of more casual clothing (as casual as their stations allowed, of course) to wear after the ceremony, but that would not be needed until much later.

Nephenee seemed a bit more ill-at-ease than her sister-in-law, and spent her time waiting by wandering around the room, looking at the walls and items on the top of the dresser to occupy herself.

But as Ritz had implied, she did not take long getting ready.

"I bet you look wonderful, Ritz!" the young queen called as she heard the bride-to-be come back towards the door. "Let us see!"

"I'll come get you before the ceremony, Soren." Ike stated. He left the books be and hurried after Marche and Mewt. He knew the mage didn't have a problem being left alone, especially in a library. That meant the former commander had no problem leaving him alone, and he knew it was actually what Soren would want. "What knots are you tying, Marche?" he asked as the ran of.
Ritz stepped out of the closet, dressed in the pre-mentioned uniform. Most of the time she'd spent in the closet had been getting her dress off, since it was quite easy to get on. The uniform consisted of a pair of boots, coming to the knee but still designed for function, covered by a short-sleeved dress a shade of pink darker than her hair. Over the dress came to shoulder pads, the left one which extended down her arm until it connected with a gaunlet at the elbow. The gauntlet itself was a dark brown, matching her boots and her shoulder pads. Two red belts hung parallel across her stomach and hips, and a long golden staff hung through the belt on her right side. The outfit did, however, show signs of wear. The boots were scratched and scuffed visibly, despite having been polished recently. The shoulder pads and gauntlets were the same, with a series of deep gouges in the gauntlets that looked like they came from the mouth of a large feline. The dress was in surprisingly good condition, mostly because it was the most replacable part of the whole costume. Ritz held her arms out and spun in a circle for Elincia. "Well? This is, as you might have guessed, that clanner uniform. There's a dress too..."