[Leela] Chapter 7: Cardinals of Xalaster

[Ella]

Leela Steading

That was true. She did remember him saying that when he tried before, the people ended up thinking it was a ghost haunting them because they still could not see him.

"I'm glad." Leela smiled at the wind spirit. He was not just practicing for her, he was practicing because of her. Well, because of her and Zavan, but he seemed to interact with her more from what she had seen.

Leela grinned at Efrit when she finished her evaluation. "Still flat."

"In all seriousness, though, you look good in that. If the original tailor left enough seam allowance, I can loosen up those areas that fit a bit tight. If you want."

[Throndir]

Heroic Action point earned

Like usual Efrit had been grinning, especially since he must have thought that he looked pretty swell in the new suit. At least until you finished the first two of your evaluation. And after that he was only scowling.

"If it's tight, doesn't that mean that I'm not flat. My body is simply rippling with muscles." He winked at you.

Abi giggled. "That means you're fat! Fire man is flat fat! Fat flat!" Abi chanted as she popped in and out of existence in a puff of smoke all around Efrit.

"I am perfectly proportioned."

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"Are you saying you have muscle man-boobs and are proud of it?" She teased. There was a faint blush blooming from her words and their conversation.

"Abi... that doesn't make any sense. He is definitely not fat." She was pretty sure the imp had just decided to start saying that because it rhymed.

"We are well aware of your... proportions..." The blush increased in intensity as she remembered their first meeting and she looked away from Efrit. "Anyways, if you like your clothes tight, I won't see if I can loosen them. Personally, though, I think it is better to leave some things to the imagination rather than accentuating them with tight clothes."

[Throndir]

"Man boobs isn't quite what I was going for..." Efrit locked eyes with you. "I can show you exactly what I mean later tonight though if you'd like." Efrit said grinning.

"But if you really prefer something a bit more loose, I can have you work on them now, we still have an hour? Up to you Great Princess. Personally, I think this is nearly as good as my fire form." He shrugged.

[Ella]

Leela Steading

The blush on her face was no longer just a slight change in color. She could feel the warmth of her blush as it intensified at Efrit's words and tried to hide it by looking down at the table as if to see if there was any food or drinks left.

As the title she had gained on the day she met Efrit proclaimed, she had already 'seen it all' from the fire man. Sure, she liked pictures of her favorite anime guys all shirtless in sexy poses and liked to read fan-fiction about them, but this was different. They were fictional characters on paper or her computer screen and she did not have to actually interact with them or anyone, meaning it was just her and only her with no uncomfortable situations. Seeing a well-built man shirtless - and whatever else he had planned at the suggestion - in person and 'later tonight' was just too embarrassing.

"N-no, thanks."

'Note to self, when deciding to tease Efrit, be better prepared for his counter attacks.' She really had brought it upon herself, considering the sorts of things he had said in the last few days since they had first met.

"If it doesn't bother you, then I won't make alterations. We can have one tailored specifically for you when we get back to the castle, anyways." The spots that fit a little tight on him were minor enough. She had mostly offered to make alterations for his own comfort. "Preferably a fireproof set, if I can find a way to make that happen..." The last bit was more of a mutter to herself.

"Since we do have a bit of time left, do you know any Ethereal magic spells you could teach me? I did more studying when I woke up this morning and think I have a good enough grasp of it to try out some spells."

[Throndir]

"Learning about the ethereal with the first part." Efrit said. "After that... well, there are various techniques that I could teach you, but if you mean spells... Transformative spells, correct? I know magic that augments my own abilities as an ifrit. The magicka is called 'sensory magicka', it's a field of magic that changes your body."

Knowledge (sensory magicka) -> Sensory Magicka Spells

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"Well, I originally started learning it so I could do something similar to Zavan's ability to turn his nails into blades to attack. But since my ability got increased so I can use abilities I copy for up to a week without seeing them again, it might be better to learn other things that I haven't copied yet." She shrugged. She supposed she might as well learn whatever Efrit was best at for as long as he was her teacher. Hopefully he would be better at teaching things that pertained to him more. "So how does sensory magicka change your body? Might as well go over the basics of it all in the time we have left."

[Ella]

Training with Mag Modifier:

Rolled 1d20+14 : 4 + 14, total 18

[Throndir]

Location: Golden Wing Inn
Date: Day 5 - Time: 10:00 AM

You attempted to start learning Sensory Magicka, but you weren't able to make any progress. As you were finishing it up, you heard a knock at the door, it was the bunny demihuman maid.

"Excuse me, my lady, Bishop Mateo is here and waiting for you at the lobby."

[Ella]

Leela Steading

Well... This was it. Efrit was definitely a terrible teacher. Or perhaps the subject matter was just too difficult for her to grasp the idea of in such a short amount of time. Or both. She had pretty much thrown Efrit into teaching her. Perhaps he was the type to need to prepare himself for teaching. Hopefully, he would be better at going over the things she had told him she expected reports on, since she was giving him plenty of time to prepare those. With a small sigh, she packed away her notes into her backpack after telling Efrit it would probably be best to save it for later.

At the sound of the knock, Leela quickly looked over her two visible companions to make sure they looked presentable, specifically Abi and her hair. The imp's hair had gotten a little messed up from all her bouncing around earlier, which Leela was not surprised considering her fixing the imps hair that morning had been hasty and when she was half asleep still.

"We will be right out." She called back to the maid servant, then turned her attention to the imp, fixing her hair so that the buns would not come out if she hopped around.

"I don't know if we are going to the leaders right now, but feel free to join us or search the city, Zephyrus." Leela said just loud enough for the wind spirit to hear as she worked on Abi's hair.

When she finished, she grabbed her backpack. There was no way that she would leave her backpack anywhere. It contained many valuable things to her from her own world and she would not risk losing it. That done, she opened the door and led her companions out and down to the lobby.

"Good morning, Bishop Mateo." She greeted the man as she neared. "I hope you have good news for me?"

[Throndir]

You heard an affirmative from Zephyrus. "I'll see where it is first, then I'll continue my search."



Heading down the stairs, you saw the fat bishop sitting in one of the chairs.

"Princess Leela Steading of America!" The bishop started smiling broadly. "I'm excited to let you know that the cardinals have agreed to meet! We take new countries appearing near our lands quite seriously, especially with the demon threat. By chance would you or your knight be familiar enough with the records of your own country? I've been tasked with gathering as much information as I can to present to the cardinals before the meeting. I'm to bring that to them by noon. Your meeting with them will be at 1 PM later today."

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"I am happy to hear that." She smiled back at him. "Regarding your request for more information on my country, I would be the person to ask such questions of." Leela felt the request was rather... rude? She was not entirely sure what he meant by 'records' of her own country, but it made it sound like he wanted information that may not be open to public knowledge if he was asking her how much she knew of it. The good news was... she could always say that something was strictly confidential if she felt he was prying too much. But she would definitely have to be on her toes about all this... And try to remember as much as she could about politics from her home world.

"But first, I would like to know what they said about the negotiations that I mentioned before?" She stared at him with her hands clasped together gently, still putting on her "politician's" smile as she waited for an answer. Actual country or not, she was not willing to provide any more information than she had to, especially if the other party had no intention of even considering her main request.

[Throndir]

"I see..." The bishop looked troubled. "You would be able to answer questions like what your country used to import and export from neighbors? Products and goods that the remainders of your country can now do? How about population? We'd prefer to have information on the demographics of America as well. The percentage between humans and other races. What religion is practiced there, if any. And if its the religion of the Light as we follow... Information on your currencies that you use, and if they have any intrinsic value. What infrastructure you may have left in your country? How are the roads maintained, or the amount of soldiers and knights your country employ. That sort of thing. The more information I can provide earlier, the smoother the meeting will go later today." Mateo explained.

"Anyways... the demon..." Mateo lowered his voice. "I mentioned to them of your request for the release of the demon. They had flatly refused. Though, one of them had considered it, if there were things you were willing to offer up in exchange. When I told them of your dealings with the demons of 'Roshandan', they too think you are being fooled, and simply mislead. We fear that you are being manipulated by them... They have been debating what to do with the demon they had captured, but they've chosen to schedule its execution in a week's time. We've also recalled our hero from the front-lines, as insurance in case things go awry. He should arrive perhaps in a few days. Unfortunately he's coming in from the south gate, rather than the east one..."

[Ella]

Leela Steading

Leela's eyes narrowed as he listed the sort of information he was requesting. While she could understand they wanted to know as much about a possible ally as they could learn, she could not help but wonder if they had ulterior motives. After all, they had taken in a bunch of the demi-humans as part of a deal with their country and seemed to be using them primarily for less desired work. Servants, builders, and hard-labor jobs if they dissatisfied their employers. And, to add insult to the prying, he was implying that she would not know such information. She had told him that she had been inspecting the defenses of a border town at the time of the shifting. So why would any ruler send one of their heirs to perform such duties if they did not have a decent grasp of the rest of the country. Perhaps this Bishop Mateo was being sexist, implying that she would not know any of the things he was asking about because she was a woman. That just ticked her off.

His reply about 'the demon' fueled her annoyance. So, someone comes asking for them to release a captive and they decide to schedule that prisoner's execution instead of putting such an idea on hold. At least one of them was 'corrupt' enough to be willing to consider the demon's release if she was willing to offer things in exchange. However, that was also a worrying thought, as she tried to think of things she could possibly offer. She also did not even know if the demon they had was even Ashaki, as they made no mention of the demon's gender.

"I can assure you, Bishop, that if I, Princess Leela Steading, heir to the throne, cannot answer such questions, no one else will." Her politician's smile remained as she spoke. She wondered if he would catch her use of 'will' instead of 'can' and the implications behind it. "However, I do not believe an inn lobby is the appropriate place to discuss political matters." Mateo may feel comfortable conducting such business standing in a public lobby, but she did not care for it.

Leela looked around the lobby and caught the attention of an employee on duty in the room. "Does this inn have an office or other such room for guests to conduct meetings in?"

[Throndir]

The employee you caught was the same one who had brought up the food the couple times. The bunny demihuman nodded and lead the way into another room. Assuming you follow, both you and Mateo would get there without much trouble. It was decorated much the same as the rest of the inn, with stained glass windows for lighting, and the use wood trimmed with silver or gold. The bunny demihuman bowed once before leaving the five of you alone.

Bishop Mateo waited expectantly for your response to his questions.