Off the Coast of Haarken [5/12, House Storm, Faeliel/IN TRANSIT]

[Ragnar Storm]

Off the Coast of the Haarken. [5/15, House Storm, Faeliel. IN TRANSIT]

Everyone needs entertainment. Ragnar Storm had met Faeliel, the Fire Dancer in the Birds of Play troupe, they were at first scheduled to preform at the second ball. Then for such unforeseen circumstances--that ball was canceled. To raise money, the Birds of Play preformed in the streets of the Capital in order to secure transport to Kelailles and perhaps even preform for the House of Storm. Luckily for them, Ser Ragnar Storm was in the crowd that day with his coin purse and he was so impressed with Faeliel's act that he paid for the entire trip.

In fact, Ragnar Storm even offered Faeliel and her company to come with the Storm family. The Storm family were the leaders of Kelailles, and Ragnar Storm wanted a great homecoming. He knew there were no Fire Dancers of any sort in Kelailles, so why not bring his own? Faeliel was nice enough, easy on the eyes and a little handsy, but that never hurt anyone! If the younger storms weren't impressed by the Fire Dancing they certainly would drool over Faeliel. Yes, Ragnar was pleased with his find of the Birds of Play, they were an excellent troupe. They were so talented, Ragnar thought, that they should preform for the Storms whilst in transit to Kelailles.

It was a day after they had left the Capital island, the large boat they inhabited (a luxurious five floored galley) had ample room for a party. Ragnar Storm announced to the crew and his entourage that on the deck at sun down the Birds of Play would do their act. When the hour came close, Ser Ragnar Storm approached the door to the Birds of Play's quarters and knocked, seeing if Faeliel was preparing to preform.

[Faeliel]

Putting the last touches of her make-up on, Faeliel checked to make sure everything was perfect before cleaning up her station. The rest of the troupe also made their own preparations, with Saorla at the head of her game barking orders to each of them. It was a lucky string of fate indeed that she happened across Ser Ragnar Storm in the marketplace that day. For now their trip to Kelailles was covered and they were also traveling in utter style! It was things like this that made Faeliel love being a performer, not to mention that the Storm men were also quite easy on the eyes.

Fugue was relaxing with her guitar, tuning up the strings to make sure they were perfect when she glanced over and saw Faeliel with a happy look on her face, “I know that expression.”

Shrugging it off, Faeliel tied her tribal belt around her waist, “Ser Storm is quite the handsome fellow, isn’t he?”

“Oh yes,” Fugue agreed with a touch of sarcasm in her voice, “Handsome…and very married.”

Faeliel glared back at her before playfully sticking her tongue out, “Pfsh! A minor detail if anything. It’s not like I’d be asking him to whisk me off into the sunset. I know my place.”

“Do you now?”

The girls giggled at the jest, and Saorla jumped in and fixed Faeliel’s hair, which was held up in its spunky lion’s mane manner. “If you’re plannin’ on beddin’ any of them, don’t forget to take your herbal tonics with you.”

It was at this point the rest of the troupe finished up and started chiming in. Foxsong finished stretching, “What’s on the docket for this evening, Fearless Leader?”

Caspian cleared his throat before giving Faeliel a ticklish poke, “Behave around the Storms, girly.” When he took the center area of the group he continued, “It’s going to be a few days from here to Kelailles plus the actual performance when we get there. In order to keep us all fresh, and to give the Storms something new to watch each night, we’re going to break these performances on deck into segments. That way, leading up to the main show in the castle itself, it ends up being the most extravagant. We’ll break things up into groups of 5, and then shuffle each night until we reach the main location. The only exception is that Faeliel may have to work double shifts since Ser Ragnar Storm himself was particularly keen with her performance in the market the other day.”

To this compliment, Faeliel poked both of her cheeks and smiled sweetly. The rest of the group faked boos and hisses for the sake of being silly.

Caspian continued, “Tonight we’ll have Botchi, Pelenar, Tannenbaum, Faeliel, and Nashala. Tomorrow night will be Gorgis, Fugue, Foxsong, Eresir, and Arisondra. That should evenly distribute the acrobats from the singers, as well as our three shock performers. Keep your performances basic these first two nights, we’ll ramp up the pomp and circumstance as more days progress. That should keep our lord Storms well entertained and quite pleased with us. Be prepared to work another shift if one of the lords wants an encore.”

There was a pause before he spoke again, “And another thing…if you are courted, keep it discreet. That goes for the men as well.”
The guys bemoaned the command and Caspian smirked, “Oh don’t give me that! We’re entertainers, let’s make our lords happy to invite us again. No causin’ any trouble!”

The troupe cheered a little mantra for themselves as the team who were going to perform tonight finished getting ready whilst the rest would help them prepare. Faeliel was already dressed when a knock came to their troupe door. She decided to make herself useful and opened to answer it. Her eyes lit up as she saw who had come to check on them.

“Oh! Milord, what a pleasant surprise, we were just talking about you and how generous you have been to aid us in being your chosen entertainment for these next several days!”

Faeliel slipped out of the room and shut the door behind her so that the commotion wouldn’t overpower her conversation with him. The bells along her belt jingled as she shifted her body. Tonight’s outfit was a medley of reds and purples. Her skirt hung low along her waistline while her top kept only her chest covered with a V cut neckline. “Myself and a few of the other troupe members will be entertaining you and your crew tonight, tomorrow the other half will perform.”

It was at that point she lowered her gaze a little and smirked, “Feel free to let us know if you or the other Storm lords would like any private performances as well, Milord.”

At that point the door opened back up and Fugue reached out and grabbed Faeliel by the shoulders, “Stop flirting and help us bring some of your crap to the stage!” She rolled her eyes and gave Ser Ragnar a smile, “My apologies Milord, Fae-Fae loves a man that’s easy on the eyes.”

Faeliel’s face turned red as she glared at Fugue, “Don’t tell him that out loud!”

“Oh hush, you!” Fugue then looked over at Ragnar, “Lead the way, Milord. We’re ready to present.”

[Ragnar Storm]

Ser Ragnar Storm couldn't hide his happiness as the peppy Faeliel stepped out of the room to thank him. She was so bold to be wearing clothes like that, Ragnar stole a glance at the short waistline but caught himself and refrained from looking at her short V-neckline. He tried to keep the color from flushing his cheeks but he was afriad the effort was in vain. Goodness, everything about her was absolutely alluring; her curves, that innocent fluffed up hair, her happily whimsical attitude. The bells added an exotic look to her. Ragnar's brain was telling him to bend her over a nearby crate and have his way with her; and if Ragnar's conscious told him to do that; an honourable and married Knight--then Faeliel would undoubtedly be a huge hit with his crew, entourage and the younger members of his family. He wondered if Ossian and Eldric would behave themselves around her. In a not-so-weird way however, Ragnar greatly respected Faeliel, and he wouldn't let any unintended harm befall her.

He cleared his throat and regained his composition, "My, Faeliel, you certainly look, umm... well, alluring," He chuckled awkwardly, "If you need anything please let any member of my staff know."

Then Faeliel mentioned the private preformances. Ragnar found his face flushing with red again. He hesitated, and in that instance he was rescued by another member of the crew who accused Faeliel of flirting again. Of course, Ragnar reminded himself, being flirty is her job. The revelation that Faeliel thought Ragnar was handsome actually relieved him, and it was cute when it was Faeliel's turn for her face to turn red. It was odd, she hadn't shown a vulnerable side since they met in the Capital. Ragnar only smiled knowlingly.

"No worries Faeliel," He winked at her, "I won't tell anyone." How fun it was to be on the other side of the flirting. "Now if you'd follow me I'll lead your troupe on stage."

Ragnar, who wasn't in his plate armour but a lighter battle garb and a leather breastplate--for a warrior always had to be prepared--turned briskly and started to walk. The deck was already set with fancy dinner tables, the ship's finest silverware, and servants were roaming around serving a dinner of seafood. It was a high class dinner party for being on sea, and Faeliel's act would be the climax of the night. It was aleady quite dark around seven in the nighttime, some of the event planners were quite skeptical, but Ragnar assured them that the Faeliel's preformance would be even more stunning at night., No doubt the younger Stormlords were already seated at one of the dinner tables near the front; a seat saved for Ragnar.

There was a makeshift wooden stage that had been constructed that evening. It had some pieces of wood that held up a wall for the rest of the troupe to relax behind while a member had the stage for a momen. Most importantly, it held quite a wide area. Ragnar led the troupe to the side of the stage, wished them luck, flashed Faeliel a final, boyish smile, and then took his seat at the dinner table where Ossian, Eldric, Rain, Renauld and Arlan sat.

[Eldric Storm]

"Flustered a bit uncle? You seem a tad red. Sailings not that bad, well it is when you bring a fire hazard on deck like you have," he joked, taking a handful of grapes off the table and proceeding to devour them one at a time. "This troupe must be something special if they made Ragnar Storm personally invite them to perform. You were ever serious uncle," he remarked as his uncle took to his seat beside him. "Good to see you're planning to have a bit of fun."

Eldric hadn't had the time to meet with any of the performers yet, only a casual acceptance that they were to be accompanying the Kelaillan party back to their homeland. He was sure he'd find out soon enough why it was his uncle had brought these entertainers along, should make for a good show, lessen the time of their journey.

Eldric wasn't in any armour, he didn't believe they'd need it, and if by some chance they did, he'd have an entire retinue of defenders anyway. He'd enjoy this performance in comfort, and armour wasn't that.

When the band started taking positions up on the stage, Eldric knew. He leant over to his uncle, "Now I see why you were flustered. No shame in that, you might wanna cross your legs though," he chuckled. He passed his uncle a goblet of wine in token of apology, even though he was only playing with him. He began to prepare his plate for enjoying the show.

[Ragnar Storm]

Ragnar sat down and was immediately harassed by his Stormlord Nephew. If Eldric was enjoying himself then usually everyone was having a good time. Ragnar himself took the brunt of his teasing, something he didn't mind; they were all having a good time tonight. It was true that Ragnar was quite reddish, he liked Faeliel's company, he didn't know why; but the last thing on his mind tonight was his lovely wife back home.

When Eldric pointed out the flagpole between his legs Ragnar gracefully took his nephew's advice and crossed them: "If you see smoke at any point during the show you'll warn me won't you?" He joked, but he knew Faeliel was extremely talented and he was sure that she wouldn't burn down his luxury galley.

Ser Arlan even had his own piece of eye candy as the one known as Foxsong took to the stage. At least Eldric wouldn't have to deal with Arlan's sly persistence tonight. Rain's eyes were fixed on Faeliel's just like any other man in the audience. Strangely enough it seemed only old Renauld was transfixed on talking about something boring--politics or what have you. He was not in the slightest affected by the performers on stage. Ragnar wondered if he would lose his libido at the advanced age as Renauld no doubt already had.

[Faeliel]

Tonight Fugue was to be the hostess, as she took center stage of the dining room area of the enormous ship. A giant circle, similar to a circus, outlined the area of where the performances were going to reach out. The audience was seated all around so that everyone had a great view, whether they wanted it or not. The brunette cleared her throat and then spoke before the crowd, “Milords and M’ladies…on behalf of the Birds of Play we thank you for your generous invitation to come and perform for you on your way back to Kelailles. Tonight we honor you with a taste of what is to come once home is within your sights. Enjoy your food whilst we entertain you with magic, music, feats of morbid horror, dance, and intrigue! Our performers for you tonight are Botchi, the magician; Pelenar our beautiful songstress; Tannebaum the sword swallower, Nashala our tarot reader, and the grand finale, Faeliel the Fire Dancer!”

A wry smile then crept upon Fugue’s face, “As we warn all of our guests, be careful when touching our fire dancer as she is prone to burn you with her charm alone. The stage has been thoroughly soaked with a special fire-retardant solution within this circle that you see. However, you must always utilize caution when moving about the ship and interacting with the performers. Thank you, and enjoy the show!”

The performance began and soon each of the Birds of Play who were announced began to present themselves to the audience. Botchi was that stereotypical crazy old man, but he had a knack of pulling off illusionary tricks that had a few of the audience members laughing along with him as he ambled about. At one point a pastry was presented to the Storms which, from the center, burst tens of yellow canaries that fluttered about the cabin before exploding into small yellow tufts of glitter and streamers. One of his grand finale tricks was having everyone look up at the ceiling for only a brief second just to find everyone’s drinks had been completely switched about. The need to get up and socialized in order to reclaim their proper beverages gave the next performer. Botchi wrapped his cape around him, and when it pulled away, the beautiful Pelenar was in his place.

The atmosphere cooled down a little, as the songstress was in a beautiful emerald green gown that trailed out in the center. At this point Fugue was in the background playing a guitar for her as she smiled to the audience before looking over at Eldric Storm and bowing before the Stormlords. The song eventually began and she sang a song of the village lantern of which was a guiding light that acted as a beacon of honor and courage. As the song came to a crescendo, Fugue joined in behind her and acted as a chorus. Pelenar reached out to each of the Stormlords as she continued with, “You’ll hear my voice…”

When the song died down, the two musicians bowed before their audience before backing up and gesturing for the next performer to appear. Tannenbaum was a tall and lanky individual, with pale skin but dark hair. With him he brought forth a table of various blades of sizes and styles. Fugue changed up instruments and Pelenar stood beside her in the distance as they began another song that resembled that of a slow tango. As the music played, Tannenbaum began the unique progression of swallowing different types of blades. Some seemed as long as he was, while others had curves to them. Each item that he would put down his throat kept getting more and more gruesome, to the point where a few of the more squeamish members of the audience eventually had to look away. The entire time Tannenbaum had a completely blasé look on his face, as if it were nothing that he was performing this weird act.

Eventually the song was coming to an end, and as Tannenbaum removed the last blade, he suddenly paused and pretended something was coming back up from his throat. Sticking his fingers in his mouth, he soon pulled out a tarot card to which a woman came up from behind him and plucked it from his fingertips. She was a woman of darker and exotic features. The card disappeared between her fingers and then suddenly transformed into an entire deck. As she shuffled the cards, she went around to different individuals and had them pick different ones as she read them their fortunes. Some were good, others she warned to be careful, whether it was political affairs or gambling debts. Eventually she came over to Eldric and pulled a card for him, “The Tower is a mighty card of great ruin. In this time of turmoil you must be weary of those you aid. If you support a pack of wolves, you must be prepared to fight ships. Arbrecht is a land of mistrust due to deeds of those before us but the ripples in the water spread throughout. To quell the storms of war, all must be willing for forgive the past, or else there will be no peace for any of you.”

She slid the card to him and smiled sympathetically, “A gift to you, Milord. Remember my words and keep this card as a reminder that you must be strong when the towers of stability fall.”

She then headed back to the center of the stage and bowed before her entire audience. At that point she turned around and headed away, the lights beginning to dim to the point where it was almost pitch black. The last performer was here to present…

[Ragnar Storm]

Ragnar started the audience's clap as the company took the stage, Fugue stepped forward and the clapping died down as she announced the acts. She warned the audience of the Fire Dancer's heat, to which Ragnar smiled knowingly. Ragnar kept a straight face as the illusion master of an old man preformed his tricks, even making illustrious canaries appear at the Stormlord's table. Ragnar jumped only slightly before a smile appeared before his face.

"I'd like to have a distraction like that when negotiations go sour." Rain joked.

One of the canaries, instead of flying away like the rest, actually perched himself on Ragnar's shoulder. The Lord Lightning seemed quite humanized by the odd bird and Ragnar couldn't help but raise his eyebrow. The yellow bird stayed on his shoulder the entire show. The old man then preformed his last trick by disappearing and allowing the songstress to take his place. The crowd was very pleased by this trick and applauded loudly, Ragnar had a small smile and only looked onward as her song started. She sang to each Stormlord in turn, Ragnar smiled politely.

"How fitting," Ragnar said loudly as he drew the Lightning card when it came to his turn. The lady said her part, which described Ragnar fittingly, but she also called the Lord of Lightning 'Unpredictable, unrelenting, and striking with ferocity'.

The Lord Lighting kept a mostly stoic face through the entire performance. It was indeed a tremendous show of talent, but it only whet the appetite that Ragnar had for the upcoming Fire Dancer.

[Eldric Storm]

Ragnar wasn't the only one surprised by the illusionist's trick, Eldric was forced to jump too, and quick to laugh about it. He soon found himself short of his wine too, just as he was feeling particulary thirsty! The entire dining table turned into a unorganised mess and everyone rediscovered their cups, Eldric poured himself another, he didn't want to miss anything by getting caught up among his vassals.

Eldric rearranged himself as the emerald-clad songstress entered play, she was lovely on the eyes, and soon to his delight, lovely on the ears as well. Eldric caught the gaze of Fugue, returned her a smile and raised his goblet in toast to the night's entertainment. "A wonderful song," Eldric said to his close companions, applauding with the crowd.

Eldric never understood sword swallowers, and how they managed to do it. He sat through the multiple performances both in amusement and agitation. When the performer started to gag when he extracted the largest sword, Eldric almost made to raise to his feet, but when he realised it was part of the act transition, he settled down.

The new magician entered approached the onlookers brandishing a deck of fortune cards, personally handing the tides of fortune out to one-and-all. The exotic fortune-wielding performer handed Eldric a disappointing card with fair warning. She seemed to know much, and fortune did not favour him. He offered her an smile albeit uneasily, and with a knitted brow, accepting the card she proffered and her warning. Many questions took root on his tongue, but he held them back, it wasn't the time. Perhaps he could catch her later. He didn't speak, but simply nodded in acceptance as she turned away.

He took the card gently in hand, and looked at it in prolonged unease. Was he doing the right thing? Lady Elanor had his word. He needed to speak with this Nashala, maybe she knew more than she was letting on just then. He set the tower card down, and in it's place raised his goblet and drained it entirely.

Faeliel was up next, the reason this troupe had gained access to the Storm's flagship. If she had impressed her uncle, she must be something quite special. The entirity of the troupe had talent that was beyond any doubt now, but he especially was looking forward to the fire dancer.

[Faeliel]

There was no sound of movement except the creaking of the boat and the sounds of the ocean waves. Then two bells sounded and suddenly a ring of blue fire sprang up as Faeliel swirled her fire artifact across the floor before lifting it up and started to spin it. The item was a chain that had a fiery poi at each end. With the right centrifugal forces she was able to spin it like a baton stick, but the fact that it was completely made of chain that could go limp, or bend, at any change in movement gave it an exotic flair all its own. For now she spun it like a baton, throwing it up in the air and catching it as Fugue and the other troupe members started up the musical introduction before it went into the lyrics and Pelenar began her tune.

The song was about a type of sea nymph known as Loreley. The blue flames represented the ocean as she spun the chain about. The ring of fire on the floor had long been extinguished, and Faeliel began dancing to mimic the lyrics of the song to the guests. She skipped about the stage as she danced the chain about her wrist, causing it to bend and change in the motion. The moves were so fluid and quick that the bends in the links were perfectly controlled.

The beginning portion of the song she spent coming up to each of the guests and impressing them with flair by quickly flashing a brief spin close to them. Or dabbing her finger in a cup of water and suckling on it coyly as she acted as if the chain of fire wasn’t even there. Her mastery of the flames was astonishing as she came to center of the stage during the first part of the chorus.

“And the winds would cry, and many men would die. And all the waves would bow down to the Loreley…”

As these lyrics were sung, Faeliel touched one of the balls of flame, and quickly pull away. The blue flames streaked in mid-air causing ribbons of fanciful flames around her.

When the next verse came about, she got closer to the Storms themselves. Faeliel set her eyes on the female knight, Raine, as she had noticed this particular knight had been watching her ever since the marketplace performance. Coming straight up to the table in front of the woman, Faeliel gracefully brought her right light high in the sky and transferred the flaming chain from her wrist to her ankle. A swift flourish of the arms before she then leaned in and gave Raine a playful wink before leaning in and taking a bite right off the fork of the female knight who seemed to be a little frozen in pure astonishment through mid-meal. Afterwards, Faeliel kicked the chain in the air and back flipped to an upright position in order to catch the item coming down.

Next she made her way over to Eldric and brought the flaming chain down around her hips, then back up her body before going back into the traditional baton stance. Her left hand carefully started to touch the spinning flames, and with a trick of the hand, she pulled away and it appeared as if she was now holding an additional ball of fire whilst still spinning the other flaming item.

Her eyes gave away a mischievous look as she said in a low tone, “The Tower bids warning, but there is light where there is dark.” From there she grabbed the card with her flaming hand and set the card afire. The card immediately absorbed the heat and the outer coating sparked golden flames before dying out and revealing a new card underneath reflecting Justice, “Stay true to your heart. You’ll know the right course of action, Milord.” At that point she leaned in close and tucked it securely in his breastplate, making sure she leaned in plenty close to give off the gentle scent of sandalwood and cinnamon.

A transition from lyrics into an instrumental interlude began, and now her dancing gestures became sultrier. Her hips swayed to and fro with a seductive flair, and for a brief moment she glanced up at Ragnar with a devious smile before turning her attention quickly to other guests in similar bursts of brevity. When Pelenar went back into the third verse, and now she made her way to her most generous lord who ended up saving the entire troupe from having to schlep all the way to Kellailes on their own dime.

Making her way over, she hopped her butt onto the table in front of him and moved the chain to her ankle. Leaning into him, her skirt fell all the way down to her hips as she spun the chain around her ankle with her leg high in the air like before. This time her eyes were locked completely on Ragnar as she slowly rolled onto her belly and reached out to him. Her finger started at his belly button and slid all the way up his chest before gracing his neck and over his Adam’s Apple. When she reached his chin, she leaned in further with her cheek touching his and whispered into his ear in tandem with the exact lyrics of the song, “…be with me until the end of time…”

Unlike Pelenar who was singing the words, Faeliel said it in a soft, sultry tone before she just as quickly backed away off the table and danced her way back to the center. The chorus began to finish itself up as she did another wave of very fast spinning tricks before the pace of the song slowed down. Now the chains started going limp as she matched the tempo of winding down. When the last few notes quickly ending, so too was the fire snuffed out in perfect timing to the group.

Eventually the lights came back on and all of the performers were in the center doing their bows to the audience in appreciation.

[Ragnar Storm]

Ragnar's excitement boiled inside him as the anticipation of Faeliel's preformance grew. Even if she did the same exact show as she did in the market, it would still be exciting. Ragnar couldn't help but keep his guard somewhat up, he didn't want to embarassed like Aiden was in the market place--and especially not infront of all of his honorable guests. If she had made a fool out of Eldric, he'd be happy about that. But Ragnar suspected Faeliel had something in store for him, for he was the reason her troupe was here in the first place. He felt proud about that fact, that he was the reason why all of his guests were getting an astonishing preformance right now. A boring night of sea travel was practically turned into an elaborate show because of him.

His subconscious couldn't help but scoff, the mighty demi-god Ragnar Storm, the avatar of Lightning itself, was now a talent agent? What hilarity was this? Still, he doubted that anyone was having a bad time. There were gorgeous ladies preforming, and for Arlan and Rain, handsome men as well. Ragnar wasn't sure about Rain though, perhaps she enjoyed both of the genders equally. Regardless, she seemed to be enjoying herself.

They all waited patiently, the only sounds were that of the hull of the boat crashing solty against the waves of the sea. Finally Ragnar let his guard down and that was when two bells chimed loudly and a blue ring of fire sprang to life. Faeliel appeared and begun to spin it around. Ragnar and many others cheered loudly at her appearance, she was the star of the show afterall. The cheers died down immediately as she dazzled them with her pyrotechnics. The entire troupe started up musically and Ragnar was delighted again to hear Pelenar sing again. She had become one of his favorites as well.

Ragnar kept his smile through Faeliel's entire preformance. He was happy that she kept her act fresh, and he was surprised at every turn of her act. It seemed like flames could just engulf her in tragedy at any moment, she was dancing very dangerously indeed. Seeing her preform before, Ragnar didn't panic for a moment, but he was sure that his exalted guests held their breath of the act. Ragnar liked the song as well. He spent only a moment wondering where the river Rhine was located, but nevertheless Penelar's voice was that of an angel's. Ragnar watched Faeliel travel to each table and mystify all of the guests.

Then Faeliel came to their table and Ragnar was pleased when she entertained a stunned Rain Hollen. Going onto provide Eldric with some more vague advice and giving him a lot to be happy about. But it seemed it was Ragnar's turn to be Aiden Faerald in this preformance of Faeliel's. Ragnar was more prepared than poor Aiden as he expected to be seduced as part of her preformance. Everyone on the boat knew he was married so Ragnar refrained from returning her wink and tried not to enjoy her light touch too much.

With combined relief and sadness Faeliel finally relented in her assault and Ragnar Storm resumed his composure. The chorus came in again and Faeliel put out her fires in perfect timing with the song. Whilst wondering how many rehearsals such a spectacular preformance must've warranted the crowd stood in a standing ovation and Ragnar instinctively followed. He made eye contact with Faeliel and smiled at her knowingly. She made him feel like a teenager again.

[Eldric Storm]

Eldric let the silence build the suspence for him, letting his anticipation for this fire dancer build up to the point of excitement. Then she was at it, a ring of fire shot up and illuminated the fire-dancer herself that had won the troupe's invitation upon the barge from Ragnar. A small part of Eldric's brain was screaming FIRE!, but the rest of his thought patterns were blinded by the entracing light of her performance, so the cautious part of him was stampeded without instance.

To make the performance even better, it was enjoined with music, and the lovely voice of Pelenar. Faeliel's mastery over fire was enchanting as she wandered casually around the room. His uncle Ragnar had made quite the catch, he thought to himself as Faeliel stole a bite of Ser Rain's meal, that was amusing.

It was his turn next as the blue flames flashed around her in a dance, illuminating all kinds of things across the table before him and around her. She took a flaming hand to his tower tarot card, and transformed it playfully changing his fortune. Eldric nodded with a happy half-smile to her advice, he wasn't going to speak and disrupt the flow of the performance. She leant in and tucked the card in the breast of his tunic, leaving a lovely smell behind when she pulled away.

She moved around his seat and onto Ragnar. Eldric turned his head to follow - he wanted to see this as she suddenly hopped onto the table before his uncle. She wasn't above messing up his table setup in her flirting. Eldric watched in apparent amusement as his uncle was set upon. He genuinely wondered if Faeliel wanted his uncle, or if it was all just a game in the routine, either way it made him smile.

She topped off the performance with an intense display before her light finally expired, bringing darkness upon the cabin for but a few moments. Eldric could still see the lights, patterns imprinted on his sight, seemingly decorating the darkness.

The candles around the ship were relit in sequence and the performers took a bow in the refreshed light. He raised with the rest of them in applause, he even threw in a whistle among the intense cheering.

[Arlan Ossent]

The performance was as lovely as any could possibly be in Arlan's mind. It had the kind of things that kept you watching and kept you on edge, waiting for something expected and getting something completely different and UNexpected that just made the show so much better. All in all it was highly enjoyable.

The ladies were all pretty of course, but that didn't really interested him much. He was more intrigued by the handsome men. He smiled dreamily, imagining them all in every way.
They were quite beautiful, he thought.
But none of them really had the charm his favorite Lord Eldric had. He was much MUCH better looking.

Speaking of which..
He glanced over at Eldric once the cheering for the troupe had finished. He cheered and applauded as well, but his heart wasn't entirely in it as he was now staring at Eldric.
He smiled and tried to move a little closer to him, wanting to ask how much he was enjoying himself.

[Faeliel]

The half that had presented tonight all took their respective bows and then headed back to the main room housing them. They had succeeded in satisfying their temporary retainers for the evening, and it appeared that everyone had a good time. Once they had retrieved all of their items from the stage, Faeliel shook out her special gloves and began taking them off.

“Didn’t pull out the big guns tonight, I see?” Fugue mentioned casually.

Faeliel only smirked, “Gotta leave them wanting more. Can’t show them everything, then you have nothing left when they want an encore.”

“Aw, I think you have enough tricks in your arsenal to keep them thoroughly entertained for quite some time.”

“Perhaps, but I’m too lazy to want to think of more.”

They both laughed as the troupe headed back inside to join the others. A big series of cheers echoed back as they entered, and the members began sharing their stories in regards to what had transpired. Naturally the main topic was Faeliel’s attempt at seducing a Storm.

“I thought he was going to pop right out of his pants,” Fugue replied with a laugh as she poured herself some ale and began to drink. The entire troupe always enjoyed reveling in celebration after every show.

“Fugue! Such words!” Pelenar scolded with a sarcastic glare before they all laughed more and traded stories about past trips to Kelailles.

Eventually the conversation turned a bit more on the serious side. Caspian chimed in, “Where are we to go next given the political climate of Arbrecht?”

“Ernsaw is actually the closest to Kelailles,” Saorla interjected, “Followed by Maldenham then Westerland. The remaining two is going to be the challenge in regards to which direction we should go from there.”

Faeliel listened in closely as she paid attention to the travel routes. The ale warmed her stomach as she compared locations to the dates in her mind.

“We only have so much time though before winter sets in,” Caspian replied back, “Arbrecht climate is exceptionally cold, we don’t want to get stuck in the middle of that when it hits in the next several months. We should probably choose to skip some locations.”

“Aye,” said Fugue, “and it doesn’t help that tensions are running high now that their Province Lord, Jon Fitzwulf, was murdered.”

Nashala rubbed at her arms as she said grimly, “Many things are going to change in a very short time. It’s best we not linger in these lands. I believe it would be best to finish our performances here in Kelailles and then travel back to The Vandermark. We should not get ourselves caught in civil strife.”

When Nashala’s eyes met Faeliel’s the two exchanged knowing glances. Words were never spoken, and the troupe as a whole was oblivious, but there were certain things you just couldn’t keep secret from a psychic, and sometimes that knowing glance spoke more volumes than her words. To this, Faeliel looked away and pretended to keep herself busy with a trinket on her costume, “Oh come on, Nashala…a little excitement never killed anyone. Especially us.”

To that, there was a wave of cheers and laughter as they took it as a challenge to press on through Arbrecht. Saorla finally interjected, “We’ll see what the atmosphere is like in Kelailles before making a final decision. I feel the Storms would give us a general idea of the real dangers that may be present with the current situation as it is. Only then shall we take a vote on the matter.”