Beyond Good and Evil (Aldir and erikaleeanne)

[erikaleeanne]

After shutting her door, Maevis leaned against her bedroom door, the total reality of her situation sinking in. In a way, she blamed herself for asking him what she did; she should known that his answers were going to be closed-minded and arrogant. She guessed that, somewhere deep inside of her, that he wasn't who she had thought he was. It seemed though, regretfully, that he was fairly one-dimensional, despite his intentions that were obviously deeper than what she completely knew.


It was in that moment of exasperation that Maevis did something that she couldn't remember doing in quite some time: she cried. It was very brief and hardly anything, but the feeling of the tears gently tickling her face was strange. She stopped the crying almost as quickly as it started, dismissing the act as a momentary lapse. She soon climbed back into the bed and read.


As she read, her thoughts drifted to Xarl. She wondered what he was doing. She wondered how angry he was. She wondered why she cared. She also wondered a very unordinary thought : did she really like him? He was intriguing, a trait that Maevis was never going to admit to him although it was an admirable one, but he was so arrogant, and he seemed to have such contempt for her and her bloodline that he didn't seem interested in anything else about her. She supposed that she was going to be okay with that, where she wanted to be or not.


Maevis's thoughts slowly drifted back to the books that she was reading. Many of them had been feverishly used, and a few of them had the same dainty, feminine writing that was in the first book she had read. She wondered who the books used to belong to.


After a while, she closed the book and threw it onto the mattress with a sigh. She hopped from the bed and approached the window, bringing her arms to her chest and looking out at the village in the distance.

 

[Aldir]

Xarl finished sketching out the diagram of the font needed; clenching his jaw at the thought of how many resources would need to go into this. First there was the need for labor to actually build the thing, which was much larger than he had first anticipated. He would not be able to fit it within his lab, that much was for certain just looking at it. Likely he’s need to either clear out a larger room upstairs or do it outside. The latter was a poor idea, given the amount of outside stimuli that could interact with the font and creation process.


Which led into the second issue, gathering the amount of font liquid for the process itself. The common liquid used in fonts was a specially treated substance, certainly not cheap or easy to make. Xarl snorted as he considered very briefly becoming an enchanter, it was an interesting field but he doubted he had the mentality for it. Though… giving it further thought it did seem a much easier way of gaining the liquid, rather than seeking out his erstwhile fellow sorcerers. He was certain his mentor had left some notes on enchanting in the lab library; perhaps they would assist him in that regard.


So his task was before him, while he worked with this princess in his home Xarl would need to create a font for his purposes. Then when it came time to trade her off the tall man would trade the royal off for the staff, meaning that this would not all be time wasted. He drummed his fingers across his chin and started towards the bookcases near the back, his golden eyes searching the spines of the volumes. Longs fingers played along the stylized lettering, searching for the correct volume before finally finding it.


The dark haired man pulled it from the bookcase and carefully opened it, welcomed by the graceful and grandiloquent style of his mentor. Poetic words and prose flowed through his mind, a tiny smile forming over his lips as he regarded the information. Riyanna left much to her protégé, including her journals on various magic. Enchantment was one of those magics, a magic that required magical tools though the user need not be a sorcerer of any kind. Xarl scanned briefly over the first few pages, devouring his mentor’s teachings ravenously. Soon enough a light tugging at his stomach made him realize the time.


Xarl grumbled slight, idly considering starving the ungrateful princess for today before discarding the thought and stuffing the journal under one arm. He began making his way out of the lab and towards the kitchen, knowing full well that he’d never hear the end of it. That didn’t mean the tall man had forgiven her naturally, he still had his pride to think of and his dignity. The light in her room was also conveniently better for reading, so there was no reason he could not conduct his reading there rather than under candlelight. Seemed logical really.


Thus a time later the sorcerer found himself outside of the door to the princess’ quarters, raising up a hand to knock before mentally scoffing at himself. What foolishness was this, he didn’t need to display manners in his own house to a captive. He was able to go where he wanted when he wanted, Xarl was not about to let this woman soften him or win a victory over him. Petty though it might have been, the sorcerer could be extremely petty when he felt threatened. Thus is was that he simply pushed both doors open without preamble and placed the tray off similar food as this morning on the table.


“Lunch is served, your majesty.” The sorcerer said, his tone rather cold as he sat himself down and opened his book.

 

[erikaleeanne]

Maevis was still peeking out the window when the sorcerer came in with food. She had been thinking about a many number of things, but the gentle grumble in her stomach reminded her that those things could wait.


She noticed the coldness in the prince's voice as he sat down and began to read after delivering the food. She figured that this meant that he was still bitter about what had happened, but there was no way on earth that she was going to apologize. The cocky, ignorant man deserved it.


She sat herself on the bed an again and studied the food, noticing that it was fairly similar to what she had eaten for breakfast. She supposed that she couldn't exactly complain; Maevis hadn't exactly expected to get any food at all. Still, she didn't know much longer she was going to choke down the same meal.


Maevis then glanced to Xarl, who still seemed to be pouting. She wondered what he had been doing for the past several hours. Probably continuing his research over that beloved staff of his. She then came to the conclusion that she was not interested in getting into a silent contest of will with such a childish sorcerer. Talented, but childish.


She looked down at the food again, not making eye contact but pulling the words "thank you" from her mouth with as much sincerity she could muster, which wasn't a lot, and almost sounded sarcastic; but she supposed that it was something.


Maevis decided to slowly reintroduce conversation. "You know," she said quietly as she ate, despising herself for even trying to converse with him in the first place (she doubted he would answer with any sort of genuinity), "I'm sure that you must get tired of eating a similar meal every day. As a child, I watched our cooks prepare meals rather eloquently. Made friends with a few, in fact. Learned a trick or two." She quickly took another bite.

 

[Aldir]

Xarl merely snorted at the thanks offered from the princess, he was not going to fall into the trap of civility he had previously fallen into. Instead he only slightly narrowed his eyes at the royal before turning the page of his book, engrossing his mind in the depths of Riyanna’s grandiloquent prose. It was a thing of beauty really, how she captured the concepts with such poetry. The older woman had managed to make even the most seemingly boring of magics appear as a passionate form of art. Truly one of a kind she had been, her ideas of magic highly practical though also with a romantic undertone to it.


The tall man lightly sipped at his water, only breaking from his study when his house guest spoke up. The sorcerer turned his attention from book towards her fully, blinking at first as though attempting to process what she had just said. She was offering to cook, not a poor idea though Xarl could not help but wonder if she was simply looking for a means to poison him. After all, if he died then no one would pursue her beyond her uncle perhaps. He narrowed his eyes for a moment before filing away an idea for later just in case, paranoia was a good thing in this situation.


“Very well. If you have a desire to cook, I will not stop you. Though, I’ll have to supervise you of course. You’ll also excuse me for also requiring you to sample anything you might prepare for me before I eat it myself. I did not fall off the wagon yesterday, girl.” The tall man offered, his words implying his suspicions quite blatantly.


“In any event, I’ll need to make a trip to the village tomorrow for supplies as I am running low on foodstuffs at the moment. Enough remains for a meal tonight and that is about it.” The sorcerer said aloud, as much to himself as to Maevis.


With that the sorcerer fell silent once more as his eyes sped over the pages of the book in his hands, soaking up as much information as he could. The man paid special mind to the necessary supplies called for in actually enchanting an item. A number looked rather expensive to his eyes, though money was not a massive issue considering the estate left to him. Besides, he could also increase his funds by selling off such items on a side market. That was if he refrained from blowing himself up, apparently enchanting could get rather dangerous.


So those would be his tasks tomorrow, travel to the village and pick up both foodstuffs and also some enchanting supplies. According to the book he would also need an anvil or some form of solidly strong pedestal to keep the item he was enchanting upon while he was enchanting it. Not exactly a huge issue, he’d simply speak to the metalsmith in the village regarding the possibility of making one. Still, it was a long day of tasks ahead of him on the morrow and still there was no word from Dalton regarding his little revolution. Irritating.

 

[erikaleeanne]

Maevis was rather annoyed with Xarl's dismissive towards, though not extremely surprise. He was becoming predictable in his intolerant and and hateful mannerisms, and she was slowly beginning to adapt to them. Still, it was such a shame that she had to spend such time in the company of someone so bitter.


With that said, Maevis noticed how interested and peaceful he was in what he was reading. She made a half-hearted attempt to see what he was reading, then figured that she might try to get her hands on it later. She wondered if it was anything that Riyanna might have written. She then wondered if Xarl loved Riyanna.


Maevis was also a little surprised when Xarl said that he was going to allow her to cook for the evening, on the condition that he watched and she tasted the food herself. All the same, Maevis was relieved to hear that she was going to be able to eat something other than the meals that Xarl was providing.


Then he mentioned going to the village for supplies, and she felt her heart flutter a little at the thought of getting out of the castle. She knew that there was not much of a point in trying to escape from captivity; it would more than likely lead to bloodshed, perhaps of her own. She focused her attention on Xarl for a brief moment and wondered if he would take her with him. Even if he didn't initially, she would probably sneak out to join him anyway.


With her thoughts in order, she picked up her book again and opened it, then pondered what Xarl had said a moment before. "Poison you, huh?" She teased quietly, "That would be quite an event."