Tarothin Armunn
Babbling Loony
Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Posts: 2061
Location: Dark Cove, Felucca
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 Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2004 8:57 am Post subject: The -Little Package- |
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| Quote: | Captain Noah Hafford paced up and down the plank of his ship, glancing up every now and then at the sun lowering in the sky. 'Where were they?' He had done as Ditto's message instructed. The port destination had been changed and he had gotten his vessel and the Armunn package here safely enough. Lord Armunn or someone from his court should have arrived hours ago.
Noah turned his attention to scan the deck of his ship and spied a small, robed figure sitting crosslegged on the ground, staring at him. Even now, he found it hard to believe all the trouble and damage she had caused him. An attack on his ship before they even left the Ancient Sea, odd storms that seem to follow them, knocking them off course, the first mate's pet bird she had strangled, the assassin that killed one of her guards and later he suspected she was responcible for the death of her other guard. The fire in the galley when she had thrown a lantern at his feet. Noah shook his head. No. She had to go and she had to go now. He made his way up the plank and walked passed the sitting child to go to his quarters and write a message to Lord Armunn.
The little girl watched as the captain made his way below deck and then turned her small face back in the direction of the plank. She could see the road from here and continued to sit as she waited, wondering if her mother had forgotten to tell her father they weren't docking in DarkCove as planned. Would he even recognize her? He had seen her a month ago in his time, but for her, a year had passed and Imryrr's aging was still being affected by the energy storm that had engulfed their island the day she was born. To her parents, they would have remembered her looking four or five at the most. But now, she had grown to the equivalent of a seven year old. Her hair was all pink then. Now it was mostly black with only a hint of pink along the edges. Her eyes were an icy blue so light they looked almost white at times, yet could darken to black according to her mood. She took delight in the way her eyes frightened the average passerby if they glanced either the whiteness or the blackness. Her father would have to remember at least her eyes. Her lips were pouty like her mothers and this was a feature she detested. She never pouted, she'd told herself. Almost never. Thankfully she inherited the rest of her looks from her human parent and could easily pass for one with little trouble, but for the eyes.
Noah emerged on deck with a satisfied expression. "Alright, young lady, lets go."
Imryrr stood up and quickly possitioned herself infront of the captain to walk ahead of him. Noah stopped abruptly and waited. Halfway down the plank, Imryrr stopped and looked back at him.
"You know..for a smartass brat, your really not too 'smart'." He said with a grin.
Imryrr tilted her head to the side as if in question and waited for him to explain.
Noah continued, "In all your haste to be the 'first' one, and not lowering your high and mighty status by walking behind me, you fail to take in the fact that there could be an ambush..an assassin..laying in wait for you. That..and the fact that you don't know where we're headed."
An hour later, Imryrr stood on the edge of the dockway alone, while Captain Hafford went inside the nearby tavern. A stranger on horseback approached and stopped infront of the hooded girl. She looked up but didn't recognize the helm. Nothing about him gave any indication he might be one of her father's men. The man seemed to be scanning the docks for someone or something, yet his close proximity to her and his weapon nearby gave her pause. As some form of precaution, little Imryrr readied her own weapon for possible attack.
The strange soldier asked about a package. She knew of no package and informed him she didn't work on the docks and that he should ask an adult. The man seemed impatiently annoyed and spoke under his breath just loud enough for her to catch a name.
"Damn Tarothin.." And the stranger began riding the docks in search of something.
At hearing her father's name, Imryrr chased after the man. Once she reached him, she told him that Tarothin Armunn was her father. The soldier looking man seemed a bit surprised and surmised that the "package" must be the young girl in front of him. As he was making the polite offer to take her to her father, Imryrr was telling him she would allow him to guard her and escort her to him.
Nazralte chuckled and they left together to find her father, Lord Armunn.
Upon arriving at the training grounds, Nazralte wisely instructing her to walk along the edges of the mock battlefield. Imryrr did so and when they reached a shaded area of wounded soldiers, she scanned the area for her father.
Many of the men were tall, and some wore the familiar D|O emblem, like he did, yet even standing on tiptoe, a four foot little girl can only see so much. He came up from the side and Nazralte's turning to face him, caught her attention and she too turned. As Nazralte spoke to the tall D|O soldier, Imryrr walked up to stand in front of him. Her small face tilted straight up as her father, the Dark Knight, towered over her. She wanted to smile at seeing him, yet didn't want to appear foolish, so she steeled her expression.
Tarothin, still was not exactly sure who she might be, since the last he'd seen of his daughter, she was just exiting the toddler stage, and this child was completely covered in a hooded robe. He reached out a hand and removed the hood from her head. When he looked into her face, there was instant recognition.
"Hello father"
Though he was slightly shocked at how much his "little one" had grown, Tarothin smiled down at his daughter.
Imryrr was almost overcome by wanting to hug him, yet held the urge in check for fear of embarrassing him in front of his men. Instead, she stood straight and listened to every word he spoke. Apparently, he thought he was expecting an actual package, and not his own daughter. He seemed pleased that Ditto had changed the docking plans so that she would arrive here instead of DarkCove, and said it was clever of her. Imryrr however, doubted how clever her mother was since she hadn't told him that he was expecting his own child.
She spent the rest of the afternoon watching her father train with the others and did some training of her own on the local wildlife. When Tarothin stood to critique the day's training and gave his speeches, he picked up a shadow as Imryrr stood behind him. She watched his every movement and listened to every word carefully. She followed closely behind him when he traveled to what would be her new home in DarkCove, mimicking the way he carried himself. She even followed him inside the dinning room of Armunn Keep when he was to have a private meeting with a man she later heard him call, Porthos. Imryrr had climbed up onto the large stone chair, with her feet dangling from the edge. She looked between the two men as they spoke, but said nothing. Only sitting quietly and politely with her hands placed in her lap, listening intently and taking in everything said.
She was very pleased with herself at one point of "their" important meeting when they were interrupted by someone she thought at first to be a servant, and chased him from the door, thereby painfully realizing the man was no servant, but a D|O soldier. She had gone after the man with her kryuss, but Sir Beowulf easily struck the child down. A dazed Imryrr checked her wounds and congratulated Beowulf on a fight well fought and went back inside to rejoin the meeting. The little Armunn miss sat in the stone chair, holding her injured arm, yet inside she felt proud of herself. She may not have won the fight against him, but just having had the oppurtunity to cross blades with a Dark Order soldier, seemed to carry it's own honor.
After the meeting, Imryrr, sore and tired, tried not to yawn. The afternoon and evening had been exciting and she still had yet to see the rest of the keep. She asked her father a question regarding Honor. Tarothin smiled, seemingly pleased of her question and was more than willing to answer her. She listened yet his answer seemed confusing and disturbing. It seemed to contradict a lesson in tactics she'd learned, so Tarothin explained a bit further as he took her upstairs to show her to where she could sleep for the night until a more permanent room could be readied. Imryrr thought of her father's study on the tiny island in the Young Kingdoms and how she had often gone downstairs in the middle of the night to study maps and would fall asleep in his comfortable chair. When she inquired if he had a room such as that here, in her new home, Tarothin showed her inside his study. The young girl was amazed. Hundreds of books lined the shelves. Very detailed maps graced his desk, and in it's place was a particular map hosting an array of chess pieces. The chair at the desk looked enormous to the small girl and very comfortable. Imryrr held back another yawn when she asked her father for his permission to sleep there tonight. Lord Armunn gave a small chuckle and his permission, and then left to put himself to bed.
That night, she stared at the 'chess map' until her head lowered and the 'little exhausted package' fell asleep. |
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