==== with Cladissa ====
Grommesson stands as a gentleman for Lady Cladissa to seat herself at breakfast. His etiquette is automatic and provides some time for him to adjust to the social change. He still views Cladissa more as a celebrity icon than the colleague that she treated him.
"Yes, you live a crazy life. But frankly my reference point is fairly crazy, too." He replies.
"I'm glad that I can help, but it's scary. Whenever, I'm threatened I lose control. I feel like my life is like driving a four horse carriage. When I'm threatened, I lose the whip and the horses tear off where ever the road takes them. Each time, I wonder and hope if I'll regain control."
"And you m'lady. How are you handling your sister's condition?" He asks.
===== With Argor ========
Argor finds Grommesson in the library reading a random book learning about the world. "You're more a lord than I, Master Argor. Of course, I would join you. I would follow you anywhere." Grommesson re-shelves the book and follows Argor.
==== with Cladissa ====
Grommesson stands as a gentleman for Lady Cladissa to seat herself at breakfast. His etiquette is automatic and provides some time for him to adjust to the social change. He still views Cladissa more as a celebrity icon than the colleague that she treated him.
"Yes, you live a crazy life. But frankly my reference point is fairly crazy, too." He replies.
"I'm glad that I can help, but it's scary. Whenever, I'm threatened I lose control. I feel like my life is like driving a four horse carriage. When I'm threatened, I lose the whip and the horses tear off where ever the road takes them. Each time, I wonder and hope if I'll regain control."
"And you m'lady. How are you handling your sister's condition?" He asks.
"Stepsister," she says reflexively, but suddenly sighs. She looks away for a moment, then shrugs. "Fine, I guess. I mean, it's better than her being evil, right? I was almost convinced she had joined the Shadow Lodge."
She smiles sadly at him. "I still cannot get over the fact that you're Grommuk's kid. It just goes to show how much we don't know about the serum." She looks down at her lap.
She looks back up and reaches over to take his hand. "Thank you for telling me what it's like. But it seems -- it seems like you know friend from foe when we're all being threatened. It's just that when all the bad guys are gone, you get... confused. You're in there, though. You can hear us. So with time, and practice, I'm sure you can control it."
===== With Argor ========
Argor finds Grommesson in the library reading a random book learning about the world. "You're more a lord than I, Master Argor. Of course, I would join you. I would follow you anywhere." Grommesson re-shelves the book and follows Argor.
”Not any longer, young Blakros. I no longer am member of a noted House, as you are. A Merchant Lord, perhaps. But that would be at best. Though, that could change in time. I hope to one day be a true political force for the people of this city. But certain things need to take place prior,” Argor replies.
He gestures for the door and walks alongside the half-orc. ”So tell me...despite your youthful existence, have you managed to find anything of interest in the world of economics? Despite your Family Name, you will need to have some source of livelihood to not only differentiate yourself, but support yourself should the family come into trouble.”
Cladissa teleports into her room. She pulls out an ancient brooch and climbs into her ornate and intricate web that stretches across her room. Using her delicate legs, she climbs to the ceiling and gently hangs the brooch on a piece of gossamer thread, where it slowly turns back and forth.
She watches it for a while, wistful, until she feels a tremor in her web. She moves to the door, listening.
"
"Hello there! I am Sabrina's mother Jeevika, Holy Vindicator of Shelyn. I apologize if my timing is once again atrocious, but may I collect my deceased daughter's possessions? I have proof of our relationship; Sabrina wrote quite often. Alternatively, just imagine me with black hair!"
Cladissa gasps. With all speed, she rushes out and meets Jeevika Kailani, mother of Sabrina, and learns that Sabrina is dead.
========After sending Sabrina's soul to rest =======
Cladissa nods farewell to Jeevika. She looks down at her hand and sees that it's clasped with Argor's.
She looks up at him. "I think that we're pretty close to your restaurant. Do you feel like grabbing a bite to eat, and talking?"
Argor smiles. ”Certainly. I had actually tried to arrange something if that nature myself, but you weren’t in your chambers yesterday when I tried.”
He makes his way to the Golden Raven and arranged for a private table out in the garden area. He orders the chef’s finest for the two of them, a secret item not even on the menu that Argor only orders by asking for the “Chef’s Special Selection.”
While they wait, he says, ”There is something I wanted to give you, if you’d allow me the privilege...”
Cladissa turns her head and gets a distant look in her eye. "I was... out, yesterday. Something pressing came up."
She doesn't elaborate, and idly plays with the edge of the cloth napkin while Argor orders their meal.
Her eyes widen. ""Oh, Argor, you don't have to give me anything," she says softly, biting her lip nervously.
”Have to? No. Want to, yes,” he says as he reaches into the inner pocket of his shirt. He retrieved the pendant he made the previous day and holds it out for her to see as he stands and walks to her side of the table.
”I call it ‘The Heart of Galt.’ It is cut so that the facets draw the light into the center so that it seems to radiate its own light,” he says as he steps around behind her, draping the ornate mithral chain around her neck and fastening the clasp.
__________
Cladissa sharply gasps in surprise when she sees the stone's beauty. "It's amazing. I--" she stops a protest before it begins as he steps around her and puts it around her neck. She is mesmerized by the gem for a while, staring down at its sparkle as it rests on her chest just above her dress's neckline.
She eventually looks up. "'Heart of Galt'? How could I possibly find some excuse to return it now? You are too clever," she says with a hint of a smile.
Argor smiles in turn. ”I wanted it to be personal. Something to serve as an anchor for you in times of tribulation. With what you’ve said, you have made it clear that you wish for Galt’s best interests. Who else is better suited to wear a token of such a title?”
He takes her hand for but a moment before returning to his seat. ”So what was it that you wished to discuss?”
==== Cladissa ====
Grommesson slightly flinches at his stepsister faux pas. Then, he tenses up a little when Cladissa takes his hand obviously very self-conscious of the personal contact. He nods with her words and replies, "I certainly hope you're right. The sooner then better, too."
==== Argor ====
"I cannot say that I've ever encountered the world of economics. I see people pay different values of gold for different goods and services, but I don't know how prices are set. And besides getting gold from the Pathfinders and my family, I would not know where to find it." Grommesson declares complete noble ignorance of the real world.
Cladissa studies Argor's face in silence. "I... owe you an answer, of course. You've made your feelings perfectly clear, while I've needed some time to figure out my own feelings," she says after a while.
She looks down, and takes a moment to adjust the arrangement of utensils at her place.
"It was unexpected. You'd changed, and I had a hand in that, I know. But still, I'd never dreamed that you could... see me that way. It was not what I'd intended, that's for sure."
She realizes she's talking around the subject, and squeezes her eyes tight. Then she looks up at the arcanist, her eyes red-rimmed. "You've been a constant force in my life ever since the injection. Challenging me, pushing me, forcing me to rise above the limitations I've placed on myself. You've made me so much better than what I could ever have dreamed I'd be. I could never repay the kindnesses you've shown me over these few years."
She looks down, and rubs the Heart of Galt between her thumb and fingers. "I thank you for that.
"But my answer is no."
It is about that time when the food arrives. It is locally caught lobster seasoned to perfection with various styles of melted butter, with sides to compliment the plate. The chef remains a moment for comment, but sensing the tension at the table, decides it best to instead return to the kitchen.
Argor sits in silence for sometime, numbly looking downward at his plate without touching it. His face is expressionless.
Adrenia sits in Argor’s office when she is suddenly overwhelmed with a sickening feeling of sadness. She doesn’t know what has happened to Argor, but she cannot stop the silvery tears that begin running down her cheeks from the shared pain of the experience.
Cladissa sits with her hands in her lap, staring at her plate. Her heart breaks for the second time in two days.
She had reasons, explanations, logical conclusions why she had to say no. Why isn't he asking me? Why isn't he demanding my reasons?
The food remained untouched in between them. Her stomach felt ill. She tried to fight back tears.
"I-- I went to the Worldwound yesterday. Sir Preston was captured and being marched to Iz. I went and rescued him."
She tries again to straighten the utensils at her place, pushing them in tiny increments back and forth.
"He-- I-- I ended it with him as well. We both have our duties. His to Mendev, mine to Absalom and Galt. I can't-- I don't expect you to understand. I can't really explain it myself. But it feels like the right choice."
”I have responsibilities too. To the people of this city. To the Arcanamirium. To my businesses. To the Society. To my friends. To those in need. To society as a whole. To Planes undiscovered. With power such as ours, the list of things we are expected to be responsible for is eternal. But in the end, what good is it if we cannot share a well earned reprieve with those we care about...?” he mumbles back in reply, barely audible. ”But responsibilities...you can trust...I know all to well about the nature of that. But...I won’t torment your heart by trying to sway your decision.”
Argor stands and draws his staff to his side via a cantrip. He then picks up his plate and says ”I find that my appetite is diminished, and I do not wish to spoil yours with awkward company. Please, help yourself to anything the Raven has to offer.”
He then floats out of the room, pausing only long enough to add ”Keep the Heart. It was a sincere gift, and I do not wish for anyone else to have it.” before making his way out to the streets. He hovers along silently for some time. Eventually, he spots a man on the far side of the street begging for some coin for food. It clearly wasn’t a ruse, the man’s ribs could be counted beneath his ragged shirt. Argor floated over to him and handed him the plate of food without saying a word, before flying off into the skies, headed for the mountains of the island.
Argor pauses a moment considering the dilemma. ”You are in an unfortunately unique predicament, Young Lord Blakros. Your body is that of an adult, and while your mental faculties are as an adults as well, your naïveté due to your lack of experience and education is a serious weakness. Therefore, during our downtime, I think it will be necessary for me to tutor you, at least a bit each day, on the workings of society and common things you would be expected to know for someone of your apparent age. Is this agreeable to you?”
"Argor, stop! Wait," Cladissa calls out as he floats away. She calls her broom to her and floats into the sky after him.
She pauses when she sees him deliver his plate to the beggar. Her heart sinks. She was so sure he would demand reasons. That he would have her justify her decision, and that she could convince him that her decision was the correct one.
But instead, he was just hurt.
As the architect of that pain, Cladissa gives up her pursuit. She lets herself float down to street level and meander slowly through the streets until She finds the old Jabberwocky Lane manor house. She floats inside and busies herself repairing the old webbing throughout the estate.
Adrenia sits in Argor’s office when she is suddenly overwhelmed with a sickening feeling of sadness. She doesn’t know what has happened to Argor, but she cannot stop the silvery tears that begin running down her cheeks from the shared pain of the experience.
The midnight-black form of the Sylvanshee slips by the door and pauses. He turns his head and stares with his yellow eyes half-lidded. "So, she told him, then? How's he holding up? She feels awful, in case it matters."
Adrenia’s tear filled eyes look at Cole hopefully, ”Told him what? This feeling through our connection...he is devastated. He feels...feels broken! What did she do to him!?”
Cole gives himself a shake, then sits down. "She said no. I'm actually proud of her. Not that she caused him pain, of course, but that she said no despite it causing him pain."
The Sylvanshee twists and scratches a spot in his neck. "A year ago, Cladissa would have said yes to spare Argor the pain he's going through now. And she would have been miserable.
"I'm going to go check on her. You might want to do the same with him. He's not as used to disappointment as she is." He fades into a cat-shaped mist and speeds away.
Adrenia nods and begins flying around the city, trying to find her master. Her luck proves inadequate, and eventually the terrible sorrow she feels is replaced with...nothing!
The link! He...he’s that far away!?!?
She immediately doubled back, trying to move close enough to regain the connection, to no avail. Her own anxiety growing, she realizes she has no other option but to seek out someone...anyone...who might could help her.
Her first thought goes to Cladissa, but remembering the pain she caused Argor causes her to not seek her out. She considers Grommesson, Thrassk, and Gianluca...but none of them could likely find him either.
She finds herself slowly flying back to Verde Heights anyway, and eventually crawls up onto a place in the mantle of the marble fireplace and sits, allowing herself to assume her normal helmet form to think.
"You miscalculated," Cole tells his witch when he finds her inside the estate at Jabberwocky Lane.
Cladissa looks up from the intricate web she had been spinning. "Well, yes. I feel terrible."
Cole shakes his head. "I meant him. Adrenia felt it through their link."
Cladissa throws a wad of sticky webbing at the Sylvanshee, who turns to mist to avoid it. "Thank you so much for that update! Would you have me change my mind? Go after him, just to spare him from a little heartbreak?"
Cole remains unflappable. "I didn't say that. I just said that--"
"He's taking it hard, yeah. I know; I saw. I'm worried. But what can I do?"
"You teleported recklessly into the middle of the Worldwound when you saw Preston in danger. Would you do the same for Argor?"
Without hesitation, "Yes." She stares at the cat. "So are you saying... Oh, gods, this can't be happening. But if it is... ugh. Come on, hop aboard."
Cladissa and Cole teleport to Verde Heights.
She then rushes to the scrying mirror and begins the ritual, sending Cole off to Argor's room for a piece of his clothing to enhance the connection.
Adrenia leers at Cladissa as she enters the manor. From her helmet form, it’s nearly impossible to tell, however. As the pair walk on by, she shifts back to humanoid form and flies after them. ”So!” she calls out, ”What was that about? You just had to go and try and break him? You couldn’t even let him down easy? What did you say to him? Did you even warn him, or just tell him a flat out ‘Nope! Not interested!’?”
Cladissa steps back in shock from the verbal assault by the diminutive angel. Her shoulders sag and her head bows.
"I told him the best way I could. I didn't want to hurt him, but there's no way I could've avoided it, now, was there? I didn't ask for him to love me!"
She looks up, meeting Adrenia's eyes. "If I didn't have the power to say no, then it wouldn't be love. It would be a prison. You should know that, angel. I care for him deeply -- deeper than he has any right to be, considering our past. A past that, unlike him, I can recall clearly."
She folds her arms and gives Adrenia a challenging glare.
The halfling sized angel pauses and hovers at eye level with Cladissa. ”I’m not saying you didn’t have a choice. Of course you had a choice! And I wasn’t there for the conversation, so unless Argor deems it worth explaining, I may never know. But did you choose to break it to him softly, or like a Tarrasque slapping him across the face, I can’t help but wonder. Judging by the sudden pain and emotions I felt...I have my theories...”
She lands on the floor, her bare feet lightly slapping the marble surface. ”Or, maybe you could have taken me up on that offer of girl talk I gave you back in Galt. Maybe I could have given you some emotional insight as to how to break it to him gently. But, I’m just a familiar, right? What advice could I have to offer?” she says before tossing her hair back and walking towards Argor’s private quarters.
She stands in the hallway for a while in silence. Finally, she sighs. "Well, a pissed-off Argor is marginally better than puddle-of-goo Argor," she says to Cole, who mews dubiously.
Rubbing her face, the events of the day catch up to her. She sways on her feet. "I'm going to go cry for a while. I still can't believe Sabrina's gone," she tells her familiar.
She slowly moves toward her room in Verde Heights, feeling suddenly very awkward for being in this place. Once inside, the tears begin to fall. She begins packing up her belongings in between bouts of sobbing.
Argor came to rest on a rocky outcropping, specifically a large rock that jutted out from the side of the mountain and looked out over the sea to the south. Argor sat down cross legged on the stone and laid his staff across his legs. He flipped open his spellbook and worked a bit of warding magic, before sitting still and meditating.
After about an hour, Argor muttered ”If you have come to try and kill me, you will find that I am neither in the mood to be trifled with, nor an easy target.”
He then opened his eyes and looked at the figure floating in the air before him...
Cladissa pushes the last pack into the corner of her room. She had cut down her hammock in which she had taken to sleeping, and though there was still admittedly a lot of stray webbing about the place, she had done a fair job of cleaning up.
She decided to leave her things there piled in a corner for a while, since she wasn't sure where she'll be living. She had taken off the Heart of Galt almost immediately. It felt wrong to wear it, although she had already designs to make it part of her regalia -- if she ever has the opportunity. She owed Argor that much.
I owe him more than that, she thinks, so she sits down and pens a letter. The words don't come easily, and she is ultimately not very pleased with it, though she also wonders if it would get torn up before it's read anyway.
She slips out of her former room and knocks on the door of Argor's chambers.
Adrenia opens the door a moment later. Her face has softened, but the tear stains on her cheek and her posture still prove her to be somewhat on edge.
She looks over at Cladissa’s packed things and rolls her eyes. ”Please! Put that stuff back. You know he wouldn’t let you just leave. Especially until this Onyx business is concluded!” she says, putting her hands on her hips.
Cladissa shakes her head. "I'll be safe. I'm going to the Seventh Church for a while. I need to speak with Genedair about what I've seen in the Worldwound."
She passes her the letter. "Here. Can you give this to him? I wanted to explain. It's not everything; and there's still a secret I have that I won't ever speak out loud or write down until it's time -- but I've decided to share it with him. If he's willing to speak with me again."
”Of course I’ll give it to him,” the angel says as she takes the paper.
She looks demurely to the ground. ”Listen, I’m sorry about earlier. My body and mind were still aching from the link, as well as the shock of getting hit with those out of nowhere. Don’t...don’t let what I said run you off. Look...let’s see if we can find him in the mirror, see where he’s at. Then you can tell him this,” she holds up the letter, ”in person. Besides. I’m worried about him too...”
Cladissa's brow furrows. "Okay, we can do that. Let's go. Hopefully with you in the ritual, there's no way he can throw off the scrying."
She leads Adrenia to the scrying mirror and begins the complex spell.
After the hour long ritual, the surface of the mirror shimmers, revealing what at first appears to be an ideal panorama of the sea. But as things come into focus, you can see an epic battle being waged! Argor appears to be going toe-to-toe with a lich, while on the ground nearby a few heavenly ankylosaurus’ are battling another undead for clad in dark plate armor! The armored figure cuts one of the dinosaurs down, its form dissipating back to where it came, leaving just one more between it and Argor...
Adrenia gasps in a panic!
"You didn't know he was in battle?!?" Cladissa gasps as she summons Cole and her broom to her side.
"Hang on; we're going on a ride!"
”No! He’s too far for the link!” she exclaims as she clutches to Cladissa’s shoulders!
The trio appear hovering in air beyond near the mountain, and a thunderous boom echoes out as the celestial dinosaur slams its tail at the undead knight, who manages to dodge it and slice at it with its greatsword in return. The dinosaur bleats out a pained grunt before vanishing as well.
Argor appears unaware that his guardians have fallen as he is currently in a game of arcane cat-and-mouse with the lich. The pair trading spells and counterspells.
Cladissa looks around at the battlefield, grinding her teeth at the fact that they are dealing with undead of all things. Her eyes fall on an old statue covered in moss and lichen, but otherwise a sturdy relic. That'll do nicely, she thinks as she targets it with her spell.
The undead knight spins as the statue comes to life, steps forward, and brings a massive stone fist down upon it.
Cladissa guides her broom down to get closer to the spellcaster battle. When the lich turns its glowing, empty sockets in her direction, she waggles her fingers at it, then hexes it with Misfortune.
The lich snarls it’s nearly skeletal face at Cladissa. Seeing his current champion bested and now outnumbered, it casts a spell and vanishes as it teleports away!
Argor staggers then collapses to ya knee, his right hand sliding down his staff weakly as he falls.
”Argor!” Adrenia cries out as she dives to his side as fast as she can, taking his left arm and helping to lower him back to a supine position. Argor simply leans against her, breathing heavily. Adrenia does her best to hold the mage up, but her meager strength is clearly straining.
Cladissa lets her broom hover in place as she sits on it, watching Argor and Adrenia. She opens her mouth to speak, but stops short. She studies him from the air, looking with her practiced eye for signs of major injury or debilitation.
She glances over to watch the animated statue continue to pound the undead warrior into a fine powder.
"Do you, um, want to go home? I've got a teleport left."
It appears he is just severely fatigued from an intense battle. He sits up after a moment and looks at Cladissa, his eyes flickering with blue energy that obscures the emotion behind them. ”In a moment. Yes. But, perhaps we should talk. It would seem that when we don’t...bad things happen,” he says, pointing to the statue pummeling the corpse.
Cladissa nods in agreement. "Yeah. Seems so. Friends of yours?" she asks. "It's kind of odd you just happen across a pair of undead like this." She sounds genuinely curious, and not accusatory in any way.
She floats down to hover just above the ground and shifts her position on the broom, using it like a bench.
Argor slowly gets to his feet and makes his way over. He starts to sit, but then pauses and gestures to the space beside her. ”May I?”
He waits for affirmation before sitting beside her. He sits quietly for a moment, his head hanging. ”I did. Or at least, my old self did. I had no memory of it until they appeared. I know not who the lich was, but that one,” he says, pointing to the remains of the skeletal figure beneath the statue, ”his name was Walton. A warrior. His cousin was a young wizard named Richtor. Richtor sought me out at the Sanctum one day and asked for my aid in a venture. He found a series of clues that hinted at a long lost trove in a cave in these very mountains. We were between missions, and he offered good coin.”
He falls quiet again a moment. ”I accompanied his group down into the heart of these mountains. It felt like we traveled for hours. Eventually we came to carved sections of stone that turned out to be of ancient Ossirion design. One of their number, a half-orc named Durg, set off a trap that caused a cave in that killed a half-elf named Galthaliane. Then an undead horde set upon us. We fought waves of them. Eventually we pushed through, and found the heart, or so I theorized then, of their complex. A massive tomb rising beyond our vision. There...I saw a Death Knight. It annihilated their priestess, Alune with magic. Richtor, Walton, Durg, and myself retreated to where the cave in happened, and I used magic to get myself away via turning into a gaseous form and slipping through the rubble.”
”I...I left them to die so that I could escape. It is a sin I couldn’t even remember...and now that I can...I don’t think I can bear it. I know I have attoned...but...” he hangs his head, a single tear falling to join the ocean below.
”You were right,” he whispers, ”I am undeserving of your affection...”
Cladissa sits and stares at her lap for a long time. She finally breaks the protracted silence, but hesitantly. "You were. Now... I don't know. I'd like to think that, maybe, in time, it could be possible. That I could forget who you were, and know only the man you are."
She looks up at him out of the corner of her eye, to gauge his reaction. "But it's more complicated than that. I'm -- I've made a decision. I once thought that my mother was going to choose a husband for me, and he would take care of me.
"Then, when I rejected her, I had to learn how to choose someone for myself. But I've lately come to the realization that I don't need someone to take care of me. I can take care of myself. I'm not going to take a husband."
Argor sits quietly as Cladissa speaks, but looks at her in stark confusion as she concludes. ”You...you think that I feel you need cared for?” he turns and gestures to the battlefield. ”It is certainly that isn’t necessary. As for being a husband...you again are many steps ahead of me.”
”I do have feelings for you. Romantic. Passionate. Friendship,” he blushes. ”even lustful...if you’ll pardon the lewdness of the statement. But as this isn’t a relationship of political intrigue. Rather, of emotion, I had hoped. I am not trying to alter your decision, and if you wish to stand by it I will respect that. But, if you are willing,” Argor asks, his blue eyes looking into her violet ones, ”I humbly ask if you would, quite simply, be willing to date.”
Cladissa rocks back, eyes wide in surprise. "Date?!? For someone who rarely does things in half-measures, that's very restrained on your part," she says with a smile.
Her smile fades as she shakes her head. "I can't. And it has very little to do with you. Well, you specifically." Her eyes grow very serious, and her lower lip even trembles a bit. "The serum. We've seen two examples that those who take it are, well, fecund. The serum affects the offspring, and can even affect the mother." She holds her stomach as she swallows hard. "I'm not-- I don't--"
She closes her eyes and orders her thoughts. "As the one biologically ordained to carry such offspring, the uncertainties and consequences of any sexual activities would fall upon me." Her eyes are moist when they open and look at Argor.
Forcing the topic onward, she quickly adds, "And then there's Imrizade! She's my friend; I'm not going to be the other woman while she's lost."
”I’ve spoken with Lady Hamaria. She and I agree that, given my changes and her tribulations, a wedding at this juncture is in poor taste. That is even assuming we can rescue her alive...”
Argor’s shoulders sag, and for the first time in a long time, he looks defeated. He stares out at the ocean for a minute or two in silence. ”Your logic in every circumstance is sound, however, and I will not torment you further on the subject. Perhaps we can instead put this behind us and move forward simply as friends?”
Cladissa looks crestfallen when he tells her that he's broken things off with the Blakroses. She clutches her heart as it breaks; their wedding had been one of the happiest moments of her life, even with Auronee there. Auronee, oh, gods.
She looks away from him as tears flow down her cheeks. She takes a moment to wonder how it was possible that she still had any left, but it didn't stop them from flowing.
She turns back to look at him after his offer of friendship. "Argor, we'll always be more than friends. Everything we've gone through -- it seems trite to call ourselves just friends." She leans over and hits him with a cure light wounds.
"So. Do you want to know a secret?"
”Well,” he replies, himself nowmlooking crestfallen, ”I’ve apparently shared a massive one even I wasn’t aware of with you, so by all means...”
Her heart begins to pound for some strange reason. She wrings her hands a couple times. ::Now, you cannot tell anyone. Don't mention it, don't really even think on it if you don't have to. Okay?::
::I'm the sole surviving heir of the Galtan royal line:: She watches his reaction closely.
Argor arches an eyebrow at her “statement.”
::Interesting. All the more reason we need to rectify this rebellion in Galt with utmost prudence. Restore you to your throne and bring an end to the bloodshed...My Lady...::
He thinks the last part with a sly smirk.
Cladissa smiles and shakes her head helplessly. ::I want the bloodshed to end first. The throne is... a strange idea that I haven't really wrapped my head around yet. I've only known for a few weeks. Actually, for as long as you've been... you::
She reaches into a pouch and draws out the Heart of Galt and watches it glint in the sunlight. ::And this will be an heirloom of my house::