AmberCourtThreadAuraFaiellanArrivalAtCourtIndex Amber Court Thread Aura Faiellan Arrival At Court "Now, shall we?" Aura's mother offers. After arranging her cloak again to cover everything between neck and ankle, Aura waits for Nick to scamper back to her shoulder before nodding to her mother. "We shall." Deirdre leads Aura and Nick out of her quarters and with grace and elegance and poise, heads through the Castle as it if were a procession of some sort. Down in the Castle Deirdre leads Aura, to the first floor. At one point, in a hallway that makes an elbow toward a low murmur of noise that Deirdre stops all forward progress. She smiles to Aura. "No, at this point." Deirdre says, making it sound like she had come to a sudden decision. "you and Nick should go in front of me at this point." "We're the warmup act?" Nick squeaks. A servant passing by stops to regard the impromptu conference for a moment before moving on. "No..." Deirdre smiles. "It's a coming out party." Aura smiles genially at any nearby. Then she fluffs the bottom of her cloak and takes the lead with a swirl of purple. She gives Nick a sidelong glance. "Did you just squeak? You're about to meet a dragon; no squeaking. We are Atlantean, mon ami. You must be above it all. Even dragons." With Nick on her shoulder, Aura can and does lead her mother around the corner and to a short hall. At the end of this hall is a pair of open doors that leads into a hall cum room full of people. A guard is announcing people as they identify themselves and step into the room. People take note of Aura and she gets stares, frank looks and quizzical gazes as she leads the trio forward. Aura and Deirdre come close to the front of this short queue when... "A dragon?" comes a sweet voice behind Deirdre and Aura. Behind them now is a short red haired woman, as short as Lorius, clad in formal green with a bit of purple accents. Eyes the color of that dress look up to regard Deirdre, Aura and Nick. Behind the woman is a taller, younger woman with hair more blonde than red, but her facial features somewhat resemble the shorter woman in front of her... "Fiona." Deirdre says with a neutral tone. "A pleasure to see you here." Despite her mother's less then warm greeting for the redhead, Aura's expression brightens. "Likewise, dear sister Deirdre." Fiona replies with a smile. "You remember my daughter, Shannon of course." The young woman behind Fiona gives a nod of the head to Deirdre and Aura. "And these are...?" Fiona's eyes and attention drop from Deirdre as if letting go of a hot stone, and she focuses her attention and expectation for an answer entirely on Aura. "Aunt Fiona," Aura says with a respectful nod of her head. "I am Aura, daughter of Princess Deirdre and Warlord Atreus, Sword of Atlantis. I am very pleased to finally meet you after all Lorius' stories." She gestures towards her shoulder with one hand, revealing a tanned appendage bare of all but jewelry. Her smile is warm as she continues. "This is Nick. He is a horrible flirt, and an even worse singer, with a disturbing addiction to pulp novels, but I like him anyway." Fiona gives a slight nod to Aura and then looks at Nick piercingly, quizzically. "Hi, Princess Fiona. Hi...Shannon." Nick manages to say aloud. "I wouldn't presume to teach your familiar the minutiae of Court address and protocol." Fiona replies. "However, it may be useful for you to know, Aura, is that the title of an acknowledged child of a Monarch is Royal Princess, and the title of an acknowledged child of a Royal Princess is Princess." Aura gives Nick a sidelong look. "Please excuse the familiarity. We are close to the ruling family in Atlantis, and such formalities were never required of among us. Nick was given to me by the Emperor's son, so his -- sense of humor and personality were given much leeway. Ashram finds him amusing." "Ah, I almost feared that Nick was *Lorius*' creation." Fiona replies. Aura smirks. "He is the one responsible for Nick's love of pulp novels and the conviction that he is a lost member of The Rat Pack. Oh, and the showtunes." Nick says nothing, but he does puff himself up proudly. Fiona pauses, as if not certain how to respond to this. The Princess settles for a slight change in subject. "Speaking of whom, I see that my son has been telling stories about me..." Fiona continues, her tone now somewhat warmer, seemingly pleased at the thought. "He has mentioned you to me, in camera of course, I understand my sister's desire for the privacy of your upbringing." she continues, with a glance at a silent and watchful looking Deirdre. Aura expected nothing less, and her nod lets Fiona and Deirdre know that. "So does your presence here suggest that you are going to be officially acknowledged as a scion of Amber today, Aura?" "Oui," Aura nods. Deirdre looks radiant as Aura continues to answer Fiona. "It isn't what I planned when I decided to come, but it had to happen eventually. Lorius has been trying to nudge me this way for some time." Fiona adds."As my daughter here might tell you, records of you in the rolls do exist, although in obscure volumes and not in a very well documented manner." "Oh, good," Aura smiles. "I do so enjoy being the one doing the surprising. Especially when I am certain to be getting a few surprises myself. Lorius was very thorough in his briefings, but there is still much I don't know about people and things here." "Amber must be experienced, and speaking of which, shall we walk?" Fiona says. "Court will open momentarily." Fiona moves forward, with Shannon behind her. Deirdre shakes her head slightly. "Come, we're holding up the queue, and I would rather not get into a clash with Flora as well as Fiona." Deirdre says. She gestures for Aura to precede her. Aura chuckles and moves forward. At the entrance of the room, Fiona and Shannon continue to move forward into a sea of faces, none of whom Aura recognizes, although many eyes turn in her direction. The dress of these nobles, and probably scions of Amber, are mostly conservative. The woman wearing a dress made out of mirrors, however, is a notable and obvious exception. "Rather avant garde for Amber, isn't it?" Aura leans back to ask her mother delightedly. "I must make a point to meet her." "Rebman." Deirdre says quietly. "Has to be. William's latest conquest, more than likely." Aura just hums thoughtfully at that while she watches the two in question a moment longer. Two large doors at the far end of the room of the gathering of people open from the inside. "Princes, Princesses and all attendees of Court. This session is now declared open. You may enter." comes the amplified voice that Aura recognizes. It is the voice of the Chamberlain, Lord Henden. Aura moves along in the wake of her redheaded Aunt. Her eyebrow twitches at the sight of Gerard. She has heard of him, of course, and Lorius' stories rarely err on the side of understatement. But still. "... wow," she breathes. She turns to wink at her mother. "That one's intriguing." Deirdre chuckles. Gerard, along with the young man that he has been talking to, and the strange device, start moving toward the throne room. "That is your uncle Gerard. I'm sure that Lorius didn't fail to talk about HIM." Deirdre says, bemused. "He may still be the only truly honest one of us in this family. You always know where you stand with Gerard. Always." "Oh, Lorius spoke of him," Aura assures her. "But even he did not do the physical presence of that man justice." "He looks like he could wrestle a mountain and win." Nick says, regaining his voice now that Fiona and Shannon are apparently not in close earshot. "I know," his mistress agrees readily with an eye still on Gerard. She smiles. "Remind me to prepare a Memory Pearl for Io and Adonia; they will not believe me otherwise." "I will, but I don't think they're gonna believe anyhow, doll." Nick replies, watching Gerard for a moment longer. "Adonia's a looker, but if she caught HIS eye, he looks like he would tear her in two when he..." Deirdre clears her throat, interrupting Nick's train of thought as the group enters the throne room. Backlinks |
