Succession: Heir to the Empire

"Of course. You must exhausted after last night," Nebi told her coyly as he laid back down, resting his eyes for a moment.

*

"The Lord Steward's orders overrides that of the Old Hag. Besides, she's currently participating in a challenge right now," Evelyn noted as she greeted Katie with a smirk, "So the dead girl returns. Your 'death' has affected Susanna most delightfully. Did you know she's currently sleeping with your would-be murderer? Don't be surprised. Captain Rhys had told tell us everything."

Rein

"Yeah, it will be great to get back to that." Rein agreed. She put on her pants, though make sure to be careful with her left leg.

"And, maybe later tonight, we could...try something I remember hearing the female maids talking about." Rein mumbled that last part, still blushing.

Tsuba, Maul

Tsuba and Maul shortly joined Carlisle, swimming to the river bank in a matter of minutes.

"I-I-I-I am d-d-definitely going to burn down this forest." Tsuba seethed through chattering teeth.

Syrien

"Good morning, Lady Brighe." Syrien said, appearing beside her. Unlike his companion, no visible affects of a hangover could be seen on the Elf.

"Have I missed much?"

C.C.

"Whatever you pleases your ego, boy." C.C. teased. The Mage stood up after a moment and began to retrieve her clothes.

Brighe

"Thrice, Syrien. Even in the midst of such a difficult challenge, he wasted able resting time, just so he could have sex three different times." Brighe exclaimed, anger seething in her voice as she gripped onto the edge of the pool.
----------------------
Carlisle

Carlisle laughed as he heard Tsuba complain about the Forest again, still aprtially agreeing with her while in his tired and cold state. "Yeah, and I doubt that the climb is going to change your mind any time soon." Carlisle pointed out as he patted Tsuba on the back.
-----------------------
Kegan

"Hmm, well that does sound like fun, I have to admit."
-----------------------
Katie/Rhys

"What!? He's tricking her into sleeping with him?" Katie shrieked before turning to Rhys. "Why didn't you tell me he was doing this to her?" Katie asked.

"Because I just found out myself, yesterday, Katie. And as you no doubt know, it's not like I've had time to inform you everything, considering how long you've been here." Rhys said, seemingly unphased by Katie's accusatory glare.

"What else, has happened to Anna, Rhys? Tell me!" Katie ordered as she started to get emotional, her lack of sleep and food visibally effecting her.

"Well, Caesar's influence on her is evident. That much we can be certain about. She still has no idea about his part in the plot to murder you, which means we can assume that she still blames me."

"But you and C.C. can still save her, right? I mean, I'm sure once she knows that I'm alive, and that Caesar's responsible for everything, she'll be alright, right?" Katie asked quickly, on the brink of tears now.

Rhys turned to look towards Evelyn, glancing at Katie right afterward as he thought over what he should say. "Of course, she's going to fine in the end, Katie." The Guard lied.

Syrien

"I...did not need to know that." Syrien said. His left eye began to twitch rather violently.

Rein

"So, uh, are we ready to go?" Rein asked.

Tsuba, Maul

Tsuba stiffened some at Carlisle's touch. "No doubt." she said neutrally.

Clara

"You two expected your charges to show restraint? I'm surprised they waited this long, and I don't even care to know them." Clara said condescendingly.
---------------------
Kegan

"Yeah, but you should know, the trail is going to be a bit steep. Though I have found a path where we wont have to climb at all, so I guess it could be worse." Kegan informed Rein before walking up to the side of tree, creating an opening after about ten seconds of chanting. "Well, lets be off."
---------------------
Carlisle

Carlisle quickly pulled his hand back from Tsuba as she noticed how uncomfortable she was. "S-sorry about that. I was out of line." He replied before quickly walking away from her as he rushed towards the Mountain.

Rein

"Alright." Rein said cheerily. She followed Kegan outside and began to walk, making sure to be careful with her left leg.

Tsuba, Maul

Tsuba and Maul began the long trek toward the mountain with Carlisle. Maul, as usual, was silent. Tsuba, however, seemed to be in a sour mood if her silence and earlier actions were any type of indication.

Carlisle

Carlisle sat on a ledge as he breathed heavily, practically exhausted after the two straight hours of climbing up the cliff. The Doctor knew that he was holding Maul and Tsuba up at this point, and while he did feel guilty for it, he was more worried about the way Tsuba was acting at this point. "It's only been two days, you can't expect someone to just change their entire personality and attitude within that time. A lapse is something that is entirely reasonable, especially with the way you treated her last night...." Carlisle thought as he blamed himself.
-----------------------
Kegan

"Well you're doing great, Rein. At this rate, we'll be at the Grand Observatory just a few hours before sunset." Kegan said as he tried to be encouraging to Rein.

Rein

"Sounds great." Rein said, trying to sound excited. She was pretty much fine right now, though her left leg was killing her. She didn't want Kegan to know, though. Rein was confident she could make it on her own.

Tsuba, Maul

"How much farther would you estatement we have to go, Carlisle?" Tsuba asked in a cool voice.

Carlisle

Carlisle looked up and mentally counted for a few minutes before turning back to Tsuba. "About eight hours, if you stay behind with me. But if you decide to leave me it's only going to take you five." Carlisle informed Tsuba as he stood up slowly and carefully, not wanting to fall off the edge of the cliff.
------------------
Kegan

"Great. And remember, I can carry you if necessary, not like we're climbing up a cliff or anything."

Rein

"No, no. I wouldn't want to trouble you." Rein assured. She couldn't help but wince slightly for a moment from the pain from her leg, but it quickly disappeared. She hoped Kegan hadn't seen it.

Tsuba

"Don't worry, we won't leave you behind."

((Well, I'm off to bed. 'Night all.))

Kegan

Kegan's eyes narrowed as he studied Rein for a second. "Ok then. But lets stop for lunch anyways." He decided, knowing that it would give Rein a break without putting her on the spot.
------------------------
Carlisle

"I'll be fine you know, it's the last day so it's not like we have much too worry about." Carlisle protested as he tried not to be such a burden.

Tsuba, Maul

"On the contrary, things might be even more dangerous. Baruti could pull out most of his tricks now that we are nearing our destination, to test us." Maul pointed out.

"Correct, Maul. Which is why we need you to stay with us." Tsuba added.

Rein

"Ok, sounds great. Uh...what are we going to eat?" Rein asked.

Kegan

"....That is an excellent question." Kegan answered, slightly depressed as he realized there wasn't actually any animals or fruit trees around for them to get food out of.
--------------------
Carlisle

"k. But I'm going to have to apologize in advance for slowing you down." Carlisle replied as he stood up and gripped onto the side of the cliff, ready to climb even if he felt like crap.

Rein

Rather conveniently, a pack of birds started to soar high above.

"....Well, that was convenient. I guess we have our meal."

Tsuba, Maul

"I could carry you, if you wish, Carlisle." Maul offered. "We of the Order are trained to carry large and heavy objects under any condiition, if need be. It would hardly take any effort to climb up with me carrying you."

Tsuba smirked a little at Maul's suggestion.

"Oh, her mind is terribly damaged," Evelyn noted with a smirk, "You know, if the good Captain here was at his post, he could have seen this and prevented this, but he was busy taking care of someone that was supposed to be dead."

*

"You know, you got to stop calling me boy. It's very inconsistent with what you call me at night," Nebi told her as he dressed himself.

After breakfast, which consisted with the remnants of the previous night's supper of fowl and berries, they set out. Nebi could only smirk as he saw the Grand Observatory. This was going to be a cinch.

A great crash interrupted his thoughts as he saw a couple of trees literally flying at him and C.C. he pulled her out of the way and gaped at what he saw: Mountain Trolls, three of them with great clubs.

"Great, a giant beast that's resistant to magic with a hide as tough as it is stupid," Nebi commented, drawing his sword,"

He frowned when he saw the beasts' eyes glow a sickly yellow. Great. They were being controlled by someone and he had a feeling he knew who.

C.C.

"Well, this is troublesome. Good luck, Nebi. I'm afraid I'm forbidden from directly affecting your part in the challenge." C.C. said.

"Wait! What?" Nebi asked her in confusion as he dodged a blow from a club before rolling to the side, away from two of them behind him.

"Damn it!" he cursed, raising his hand and sending a stream of fire at one of them, knocking it back before he stabbed another in the leg. It just looked at him bemusedly before roaring angrily as his small brain processes the pain. The third one again lunged at him with its club and Nebi had to dodge again.

"Great," Nebi muttered as the trolls began to stomp towards him and he prepared another fire spell, "Just great."

*

"Oh. Susanna is a lot more amusing now," Evelyn continued, "Insanity is the newest craze. I like her better this way."

Carlisle

Carlisle bit his lip as he contemplated Maul's offer. Sure, it would be useful, and he certainly wouldn't mind the rest. But if he did do it, he would become the very definition of being a burden. "No, I'll keep climbing. Besides, I'm not going to be able to become any stronger if I let you guys do all the work." Carlisle pointed out before he began to start climbing again.
------------------------------
Kegan

"Nice one." Kegan commented as he looked up at the birds. "Now I just need to make sure that they fall close to us, even a few yards from here and the drop would be too far for us to be able to walk in good time." Kegan pointed out as he sat down. The Half-Elf slowly chanted, keeping his eyes on the birds as he uttered the magic words. A breeze blew by Rein and Kegan, going up towards the sky and flowing around the birds before throwing them into the ground just a few feet from Rein.

Rein

The breeze casually lifted Rein's shirt for a moment, flashing Kegan. But at this point Rein didn't really mind or care, considering what they had done the other night. She winced a little at the sound of the bird's impact.

"Good job, Kegan! I'm glad we can eat now."

Maul, Tsuba

"If you say so." Maul said before returning to climbing.

C.C.

C.C. yawned a bit and tapped her foot impatiently. "Oh come now Nebi, they aren't that tough. Just make them trip and fall down the mountain."

Rhys/Katie

"So...it's my fault that this is happening to Anna?" Katie asked in surprise as she sat down on the bunk in the cell, the news coming to her like a slap in the face.

"Evelyn is exaggerating quite a bit, Katie, C.C. will be able to fix Susanna. I promise you that much. And besides, even if I hadn't been taking care of you, I wouldn't have been able to stop Caesar's work on Susanna, that would have been against the law, since Caesar is one of the Heirs." Rhys pointed out as he tried to calm down Katie. The Captain turned towards Evelyn and motioned for her to go, knowing she would ignore him in the end. The Dark Elf had always hated Rhys, for who knows what reason. Perhaps it was jealousy that the Emperor had trusted him with the position of Captain of his castle? Who really knew, that didn't matter much at this point, especially not to someone as young and naive as Katie. "Besides, C.C. will be able to fix Susanna, no matter how bad off she is. I mean, how many times has she saved your life by now?" Rhys asked as he tried to reassure Katie.

"That's the thing though, Rhys, if C.C. had't tried saving me all of those times. If I was dead...then Susanna wouldn't even be in this situation, right Miss?" Katie asked as she looked up at Evelyn.
------------------------------
Carlisle

"Great. We have about two hours until the next ledge where we'll be able to take a break then." Carlisle gave his estimations to Maul and Tsuba before he quickly tried to climb up, ignoring the aching burn in his muscles.
------------------------------
Kegan

Kegan grabbed the birds, unphased by being flashed By Rein at this point. After last night, it wasn't exactly a big deal, and besides, there were more important things to deal with then embarrassment at this point. "Great. It's gonna take a while before everything is ready. Why don't you just sit and rest for now, k?" He suggested to Rein.

Rein

"Ok." Rein said, nodding. She leaned against a wall of rock and gently slid down. She hoped it wouldn't take all that long for Kegan to fix up their breakfast. She was getting rather hungry.

Tsuba, Maul

"Very well." Maul replied. The Kaleesh and Tsuba continued their climbing at a somewhat faster pace, neither of them seeming to tire.

"Good idea," he called, dodging to the side and raising a hand out before muttering a spell, "Doton."

With that said, pillar of earth rose slightly, causing the trolls to trip and a couple to fall off the side of the mountain before Nebi knocked the next one down the cliff-side with a well-aimed fire spell.

"Nice job helping me back there," he told her sarcastically.

*

"You are correct," the Dark Elf told her with a smirk, "Susanna would be holding a grudge right now and Caesar would have tried to kill her, but I'm sure she could have fled to the protection of one of the other Heirs. A strong one, mind you. Like Maul."

C.C.

"Hey, I was prevented from helping you. I had no choice." C.C. said with mock offense, smiling. "Well, now that that's out of the way, shall we continue?"

Kegan

Almost twenty minutes later, Kegan walked back over to Rein, cooked birds in his hands. "So, they're kind of burnt, but they are definitely still edible." He informed Rein apologetically.
-----------------------
Rhys/Katie

"It doesn't matter what we think might have happened. For all we know if Susanna had immediately rejected Caesar, he probably would have just killed her and then you would both be dead. Predictions without actual facts are useless." Rhys protested as he started to get a bit angry.

"But Rhys, you know-" Katie started to reply, sobbing as she spoke.

"Katie! It is not your fault. Evelyn here is exaggerating quite a bit." Rhys lied as he grabbed Katie's hand and looked up into the girls eyes. "I promise you, Susanna is going to be fine, everything is going to be fine. I will fix this."

Rein

"I'm sure they'll be fine." Rein assured. "Though I can't wait to have some real food once we're done with this challenge. I can't believe I'm missing palace food, but it's sure alot better than what we have to work with here."

Tsuba, Maul

Tsuba and Maul continued to climb, until they reached the point where they were to rest. Tsuba laid on the ground, eager to take a break.

"How much farther do we have to go?"