"Oh. Oh, no, I did not." Calfuray wrung her hands nervously, standing upright again after she realized that she wouldn't have to skirt around the things she wanted to say, "and I suppose you wouldn't know where we are in relation to the kingdom of Norling."
"I haven't heard of it before," he confirmed. There was always the chance that it was somewhere relatively near the kingdom that he hadn't heard about yet. They had never been the greatest teachers when it came to humanity, and Kartiel could only teach him so much about geography when more pressing matters needed to be addressed. "I'm sorry."
He looked away from the rapier, his attention instead going to the person now hiding behind a different tree that was slightly closer to where the three of them were standing. He tried to look as friendly as someone wearing a cloak that obscured any recognizable features could look.
"You can come out," he said, also trying to keep his voice from sounding threatening. This person either knew who he was or was just terrified of him based on his appearance. Which admittedly was to be expected, but it was still surprising that this particular outfit was what terrified them. It was a good thing he had been smart enough to wear this cloak out.
Oh, he'd been spotted. He had never been good at that sneaking around thing anyways.
Kynan poked his head out from behind the tree - no real point in hiding now. "You're a mage?" he said. "What kind of magic are you good at?"
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
He hesitated after the question was asked, trying to understand how three completely different people could end up here and not know where they were or how they had gotten her in the first place. Even more worrying was the fact that he had no idea what any of them were. The only one who looked remotely human was the princess, and even she had some inhuman characteristics.
"I'm good at general magic," he said. "Right now I've been working on my potionmaking, but I'm more skilled with regular spellcasting."
"Wonderful." Calfuray gave a little clap and smiled, and then turned to survey the other too. "If I may have the pleasure of knowing everyone's names? I'm Prin- um, Calfuray. Please call me Callie."
He watched her from within his hood, studying her as she spoke. So he had been right - she truly was a princess, even though she had tried her best to avoid directly saying something like that. "My name is Orpheus," he said. If they were doing introductions and none of them had the foggiest idea who he was, his name would certainly be helpful.
"Kynan," he said, stepping out from behind the tree. It wasn't what his brother would've done, but it wasn't like anyone was going to recognize him. Right?
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
"Paq." She said. If they were introducing themselves, she might as well offer up her own name. Paq didn't give one of her aliases, partially because she doubted that it would matter anymore. This was a strange land, after all. And it wasn't like it was her true name, anyways, as that had been stolen from her long ago.
"Well, it's lovely to meet you, Orpheus, Kynan, and Paq." Calfurary gave the others a friendly smile and turned to look at Orpheus, since he seemed to be the only one who was from the kingdom.
"Do you have any idea as to how we all ended up here? Was it something.. ah, magical, do you think?"
"Probably," he hesitantly replied. None of the spells he had encountered yet could do something like that, but he was only just getting into the more advanced magical arts. Add in the fact that lockets - which weren't present on any of them - had to have been enchanted with something to make them hop between worlds, and it was seemingly all the more likely that magic was at fault.
He took a deep breath. Kartiel was going to kill him, but he couldn't just leave these three here. Besides, it wasn't like they were humans; they would have never been accepted by the Rexun Alliance. Their stories were true, and it was his responsibility to help them find their way back - after all, he had been the one to discover them.
Letting the breath out in a sigh, he said, "We should go to the castle. King Kartiel could help me figure out where you should go while you're stuck here, and could help teach you how to avoid people from the Alliance if you decide to leave." He raised a gloved hand up and massaged his forehead. This was a headache in the making. "He's pretty good at things like that, though I doubt he's going to be thrilled about having outsiders here."
Paq narrowed her eyes at the cloaked man. She'd dealt with kings before, with queens, emperors, and empresses. None of the interactions had ended well for her. But this 'Kartiel' wouldn't have the same malice. He wouldn't know who her family was.
"Alright." She said, removing her hand from over her rapier. She adjusted the hood of her cloak to better hide her more goblin features, then knelt down and plucked several flowers to the ground. She tucked them into her pocket. They smelled nice, so perhaps she could use them for something later.
"That would be wise." Calfurary nodded and suppressed a sigh. If she never had to speak to another royal again, she would be perfectly happy. Perhaps King Kartiel wouldn't be a complete a**, as was her impression of most foreign kings.
She gently smoothed the loose strands of her updo, her fingers feeling empty when they didn't brush her tiara. The was no use looking for it now- if it was gone, it was gone.
Kynan froze up. Stepping away from the tree had been a bad decision. "King?" he said. "Alliance? Avoiding people?" We're - we're in a lot of danger, aren't we?"
On seeing the green person pick flowers, he reached down and plucked one of his own. If he lived through this, at least he'd have a memento.
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
"Not right now," he assured Kynan. He would be the one in a lot of danger; something told him Kartiel wouldn't be giving him lessons for at least a week now out of spite. "I'm not sure if you have humans where you come from, but they tend to heavily dislike anything that isn't like them. Telorum's the safest place for you three to be right now."
He absentmindedly ran his gloved fingers through a strand of black hair that had managed to escape from within the depths of his hood. "If no one objects to it, I have a little charm that'll bring us to the door in front of King Kartiel's room." He had said that he should only use it for emergencies, but he was almost completely certain that this counted as one.
"Yes, do your magic, Sir Orpheus." Calfuray smiled, trying not to look as exited as she acually was at the prospect of a charm that could grant teleportation. "Thank you for your hospitality."
