The Emperor, with the lessons, in the palace.

As was his usual form of ?recreation?, Gnimish sat in the quiet, darkened room of the palace known as the observatory, gazing intently into the huge star shaped scrying crystal hanging from the ceiling. It was never really clear what he was looking for, even he didn?t really know. Yet he spent hours upon hours in this room, just gazing into the crystal as it displayed scenes from all across Shylasa.

Abruptly the gnome Emperor spun around in his seat, tearing his gaze away from the crystal and fixing it on the drooling lizard parked underneath a table. ?Drakhan! ?ey, wake up?what day is it?? As usual the lizard never actually spoke but Gnimish nodded as if he had received a reply. ??oh. When?s that valentines thing that everyone was talkin? about or whatever?? Again silence and another nod.

?C?mon, we?re goin? out for a while?? Gnimish hopped up and started to head out of the observatory, followed closely by the drooling lizard. ?You?ll see where we?re goin?, just calm down already!? Absently returning the salutes and bows sent his way, the gnome Emperor sped down to the lower levels of the palace, seeking out one chamber in particular. Finding the door he was looking for, Gnimish pushed it open and peered inside, at least a dozen pairs of surprised eyes looking back at him, each one wondering why the Emperor was visiting the Imperial Tailors Guild.

Returning each bow and greeting of ?Your Highness!? with a little smile and nod, he made his way through the maze of workstations to one of the back offices where he hoped the master tailor would be. There he found the elderly lady, sitting behind a desk sorting through orders and invoices and other such papers that Gnimish really wasn?t familiar with at all. He closed the door to the office behind him, hoping it would prove sound proof enough, and cleared his throat to get her attention.

?Oh, your Highness!? the startled old lady began to rise from her seat, but Gnimish quickly waved his hand to stop her, not overly concerned with protocol right at this moment. ?Tailor, I?m in need of a bit of a favor.?

?Of course, your Highness, what can we have made for you? A bit of sprucing up for your robe there? Maybe a new robe altogether? I always thought your Highness would do well to wear some gloves this time of year too, it gets terribly cold??

Gnimish shook his head and raised a hand to stop her, then lowered his voice so as to ensure no one outside could hear him. ?No, I?um?I?d like to?? his words trailed off into a mumble and the master tailor tilted her head trying to listen.

?My apologies, could your Highness speak up??

?I said, I?d like to?well?learn how to make somethin??? Both the tailor and Drakhan?s eyes widened hearing the Emperor?s request, and Gnimish gave the lizard a little thwap with his foot before Drakhan could start in with the teasing.

Gnimish had actually thought it through this time. ?A cap! Yep!? He remembered seeing her wear one of those on their trips, and thought she?d certainly like a nice new one! A flawless plan, he thought.

And so another day passed with the master tailor showing the Emperor the ins and outs of basic tailoring, and Gnimish once again assumed he had things under control and asked to be left alone to finish. Many, many more hours passed before the Emperor once again yelled, ?A-ha!!? and held up his new creation, a nice green somewhat cone-shaped cap.

Just as Drakhan was about to grudgingly congratulate Gnimish, the little cap gave out under its own weight, the tip drooping to the side like a silly little elf hat those people wear during the holidays.

Once again, with a long, drawn-out sigh, Gnimish hid the cap under his robes and waved goodnight to the master tailor, again looking entirely disappointed at the result of his efforts. ?Guess that got us nowhere, Drakhan.? Gnimish commented as they got back to the observatory. ?So now whaddya think I oughta try??

Drakhan looked up at the Emperor for a moment, and Gnimish blinked. ?Ya think I oughta give the stuff to ?er anyway? What?s she gonna want with a two-thumbed bakin? glove thing and a droopy cap?! Just trust you? When?s that ever gotten me anywhere??

The lizard just shrugged a bit and went back to sleeping under the table while Gnimish stared at the silly little glove and cap he had created, shaking his head. ?Eh?that lizard?s never right about anythin??never?nope. Give ?em to ?er anyway, what?s he thinkin???

But despite his insistence that he would do no such thing, the two items found themselves resting on a shelf in his chambers as he crawled into bed that night. He?d find something to do with them, he convinced himself, and slipped off to sleep.

"How'd ya make... well, silly question I'm guessin', I know how ya made it! Do ya...eat it? Or somethin'?" The thought of consuming such a thing was terrible to him, but it did look like food after all.

"With flower and eggs and sugar." She chuckled. "Yes, you can eat it. Or you can keep it around and dust it every so often. Eventually it'll become brittle and crumble if it's touched, provided no rodent or lizard gets to it first."

"Lizard..." With a slight grin he shook his head. "I'd make a suitcase outta 'im if he took a bite outta it. Nope, I'm thinkin' this needs to not get eaten. Oh!" All at once the box and its contents came rushing back to him. "Say, ya hungry?"

"Sure am." She looked at him with slight surprise. He had never before asked her if she was hungry or thirsty, only magicked up the blue mugs.

"Great!" He rose from the seat, taking the handle of the box in one hand and offering her his other. "I got somethin' to be showin' ya, yep!"

"A surprise?" She took his hand and stood up again, a smile spread on her lips and her eyes shone with excited anticipation. "For me?"

"Certainly fer no one else!" He had meant the comment to be in jest, but it came out sounding very serious to his ears. With a nod he helped her up then turned to the doors of his chambers. Releasing her hand again, he opened the doors and they headed out into the palace.

"Where are we going?" She whispered as they hurried through the hallways. There was no time to nod greetings to any of the people they passed by.

Leading her through the winding hallways of the huge crystalline structure, he glared at anyone who stared too long at the heart he kept hanging from his neck, daring someone to say something, but they made it to the door he was searching for without incident.

"Ah, now that's the surprise, isn't it? Ain't many folks even bother goin' back 'ere anymore really, susprised this door even opens..." It did open, fortunately, and he pushed the heavy door open to reveal the scene beyond.

The unseasonably warm air of the day rushed in through the door, carrying with it the fragrant scent of the Imperial gardens stretching out before them, a great assortment of winter bloming flowers both native to Shylasa and imported from other realms. Mellisandre stared wide eyed and speechless. Flowers seemed to everwhere she looked.

"I come back here now and then myself...other than the caretakers that's about it really. Figured if there was anyone I oughta share the place with, it'd be you." Gnimish took a deep breath, inhaling the familar scents of the gardens.

"It is stunning, absolutely beautiful, and it smells great." She squeezed Gnimish's hand. "That is indeed a most wonderful surprise. I'd have never suspected this." She waved with her free hand at their surroundings.

A wide smile spread across his features as she voiced her approval of the scenery and with a nod to her he led the way through the rows and rows of colorful blossoms, the memory of the path to their destination etched into his memory by hundreds of trips down the very same paths. Mellisandre exclaimed over the more surprising sights they passed along their way and paused to sniff at a bloom now and then.

"For me." She whispered to herself and had to sniffle a bit. "A little starch'll fix that."

"Definately fer no one else..." He nearly whispered the sentence this time, then looked at the cap again. "Couldn't get it to stop doin' that, not much of a tailor I suppose..."

"It's green. Do you want to do the honors?" She pulled the cap off she had been wearing - the old, dark red one she didn't particularly care for. The phrase, the same he had used once before already, had a cerimonial air to them.

"I'd love to. Figured green was the color ya liked most, wasn't entirely sure, but had to guess..." With a little chuckle he gently placed the cap atop her head where it persisted in it's droopiness.

Tears pearled from her eyes and slowly rolled down over her cheeks as Gnimish sat the cap on her head and she thought of what lengths he must have gone to. He had made the cap that hard way and went through all the frustrations and pain from pinpricks just for her. It would have been so much simpler to just get the blue mist to form into a cap, already starched. She had not missed his whispered words, either. They tugged at her heart and made her feel warm inside.

"There ya go! Oh...ya okay?" He blinked once and shakily reached out to wipe one of the tears from her cheek, unsure what had brought them on, not at all used to seeing people crying out of happiness.

She nodded and, leaning toward him, wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"I'm fine. I'm just so happy. It's the best cap ever." She sniffled a little more against his neck. "Thank you."

"Yer very welcome, Mellisandre." He was relieved once again, fearful that she hadn't liked the little cap. Gently he slid his arms around her, careful not to squish the edible heart he was still wearing. Once again the poor assortment of foodstuffs found themselves completely forgotten as he held her, gently kissing away a stray tear drop that had found its way to the side of her face.

"Silly of me to be crying. I'm sorry." She attempted a grin. "I love my new cap and that you made it.? In fact, she was all kinds of impressed that he made it. She?d love and treasure for that fact allone. That it was green, definitely her favorite color for caps, and near perfect were unimportant details. But she needed a subject change if she was to stop making herself appear silly.

?So, err, what else did you pull out of the box?"

Even with his lack of dramatic sense, eating seemed so insignificant at this point. Releasing her and looking down at the food he had pulled out of the box he paused to try to remember it all.

"Well, that bottle there, it's really just a fruit juice an'...hm...the tin there, it's full of some kinda bread, I keep wantin' to call them crackers but the bakers assured me they were somethin' special, I dunno. And this thing..." He lifted up the thing that looked like a little gun.

"It's ?supposed? to be some kinda condiment dispenser, the guilds assured me it'd work. Supposed to be everything ya could think of in here, if ya just turn these little knobs. Guess ya put the stuff on the bread or somethin'? I dunno actually."

"We can try it out. It doesn't look like it would blow up. They didn't per chance tell you what it's filled with if anything, did they?" She tilted her head this way and that to study the new device.

"Didn't really give me much of an instruction book I'm afraid, nope!" With a little chuckle he opened the tin up and pulled out one of the little pieces of bread then aimed and pulled the 'trigger', a little stream of mayonnaise shooting out onto the bread. "Er...that ain't lookin' right..."

The Chancellor, with the Newspaper, in the Prison Cell

The long walk to the dungeons of the Imperial Palace was a trip that Gnimish dreaded making, but one that needed to be made. Earlier in the day he had signed the orders to strip Walter of his title, and he felt he should personally inform the disgraced ex-Chancellor of the news.

The dungeons, as they were called for lack of a better word at the time, were just another strange thing about the Imperial Palace. Rather than at the lowest level or even underground, they rested near the very center of the structure. Gnimish always felt that sticking prisoners off in a distant corner somewhere was just begging to have them escape without notice.

Responding with slight nods to the usual bows and greetings from the guards, Gnimish made his way through the dungeons and stopped before the cell at the end of the main hall. As expected, Walter sat on the bed in his cell reading a stack of newspapers. Despite having traded his uniform for the plain garb standard to the prisoners, the ex-Chancellor still had a certain aristocratic, superior air about him as he looked up from his paper to greet the Emperor.

?Yes, I know. You have come to strip me of my title, correct? Just had to come and do it yourself.?

Gnimish slowly nodded, then turned his gaze to the newspaper Walter was reading. ?So what?re they talkin? about in the papers this week??

Walter shrugged and tossed the newspaper at the bars of the cell and it fell face-up on the floor, the front page showing a caricature of Mellisandre standing as though she?d just tossed something and Gnimish standing next to her, struggling to hold a gingerbread heart twice his size, presumably the object that had been tossed.

Gnimish shook his head in surprise, but a smile still appeared on his face. ?Jeez, that stuff is gettin? around quick.?

?Walls have eyes; you never did understand the concept. You even took the girl to your little memorial gardens. This is quite serious then??

Another slow nod from the gnome answered the question. ?Very. I?m hopin? so, at least.?

It seemed odd to Gnimish that Walter was speaking so casually about the subject now, his voice didn?t even have the usual condescending tone to it. Gnimish could only assume that Walter knew he was finished. There was no point in further conflict. The two had been comrades long ago, after all.

?Ya know I can?t be forgivin? ya fer puttin? ?er through all that, Walter.?

The Cat With The Hair On Twilight Isle

Through the portal and onto the isle hopped the gnomish duo, Gnimish calling out to no one in particular with his usual, ??ey, folks!? and Mellisandre looking about and waving.

?Oooo, Brannie gettin? beat up?they oughta charge for watchin? this, Sandy, it?s great.? Gnimish said with a grin, hopefully loud enough for the lizardman getting beat up in the ring to hear, as they headed over to their usual seats.

?It?s a good thing they don?t.? She plopped in the chair next to him, grinning right back.

?They could be makin? a fortune though!? The gnome tried imitating a loud circus announcer. ?Come see the amazin? Bran, the lizard who knows no pain! Stabbed, kicked or fried, he still comes back for more!?

His antics earned him another grin from Mellisandre. ?I?d be more inclined to come see you duel, though.?

Gnimish and Mellisandre greeted the newly-arrived Rena and Gnimish turned back just in time to see Artemus thanking Topaz for something and heading off into the trees. ?Hm, so much for tryin? to beat on ?im.?

?Maybe you should ask Rena for a duel.? Mellisandre suggested.

?Rena? She?s never wantin? to be duelin? me though!? He gave a grin and a helpless little shrug. ?I?m fine just sittin? here.?

Mellisandre grinned and found his hand to hold. ?I?m just fine with that too.?

Just then a leopard?s yowl sent birds flying from the trees. Gnimish gave Mellisandre?s hand a little squeeze, turning in the direction of the sound. ?What is that kitty up to now??

?What kitty?? Mellisandre asked, looking around.

?Hm? Oh... Art. He likes to turn into a kitty and run around or somethin'... well, so I hear anyway, ain't never seen it myself.?

A couple moments passed and from the trees came a white snow leopard, a small touch of gold mixed in with the white. The big cat stretched idly and then moved around the rings a little bit.

?Hmm.? Scooting closer to Gnimish seemed to be a good idea. ?Like that thing over there??

Oh...Gnimish looked at the leopard and grumbled a bit. ?Yeah, that one. He's as bad as Drakhan, starin' and pouncin' on ya.?

The large feline meandered its way to the caller's couch, coming at an angle and passing in front of Topaz. Dark storm clouds promptly gathered above, most likely the doing of her protective mate, Lucien.

The leopards tail swung out and swatted at Topaz's legs, and the look it gave her clearly said, "Call me silly, will ya". After that it laid down on the sand to stare at Gnimish as it had many times before.

?That cat is a bit large, though.? Mellisandre observed.

Mellisandre scolded at the kitty. ?And look what a mess you made of the table and chairs. Are you going to clean that up?? Then she looked around for the cap that was no longer on her head. ?What did you do with my cap? That's my most precious cap ever.?

Gnimish abruptly broke off from the whacking contest with the kitty to look at Mellisandre. ?Yer cap? 'ey, what'd ya do with 'er cap, kitty?? The kitty?s large eyes turned to look around for said cap as Mellisandre nodded to Gnimish, her bottom lip quivering.

Gnimish let the newspaper drop to his side, her expression was almost heartbreaking. ?Oh, no... it's gotta be right here somewhere, Sandy, we'll find it!?

But she found it herself first. The cap was poking out from under the cat. She bent to reach for it while pushing at the cat with her other hand. ?There it is! Ack, get off my cap! And stop hurting Gnimish, too.?

?Oh, phew...? Gnimish sighed in relief as she spotted the cap. ?There it is... bad kitty!?

?There, much better.? She inspected the precious cap for any damage and picked off every cat hair and speck of sand ?Why do cats have to have so much hair?? She asked, muttering and grumbling. Then finally the cap was found to be wearable and she sat it back on top of her golden braids.

?I dunno, cats are weird...? Gnimish did his own little inspection of the cap as she sat it on her head. ?Eh, it looks ok!? Then he gave that poor bottom lip a little smooch. ?Good as new, sorta...?

Mellisandre smiled and blushed at the compliment and smooch. ?Lucky cat. He'd be in huge trouble had he messed up that cap.?

?I'll say!? Gnimish took another glance at the kitty, who was now mercifully distracted by Rhaine over at the callers couch, it seemed. ?I think I'll just do my callin' from over here tonight...? Mellisandre nodded in agreement and took his hand.

He was too lazy to pick up the chairs and table himself now that his hand was happily occupied, so he just opted to dissolve them into the blue mist and reform them in their proper positions. ?There we go, all set.?

?Oh, genius.? Mellisandre commented and flopped down into one of the chairs while Rhaine discussed with Topaz the possibility of the gnomes deserving such irritation from the big kitty.

Gnimish flopped down right next to her, calling out to the isle, ?Okay, folks, uncle Gnimmy's magic duelin' is now open!?

?That's my cue to go home, I'm done babysitting, Artemus.? Topaz said, waving to everyone before she vanished. ?Good night.? Too slow, both gnomes tried waving back but the fairy was already gone.

?I could sling a spell or two.? Mellisandre offered.

?If ya do, who's gonna protect me from that kitty?? Gnimish feigned terror at the thought.

?Hmm.? She winked to Gnimish, ?Maybe I should just sit here.?

He smiled and nodded in agreement with her idea, raising their entwined hands up to lay a kiss on the back of hers. ?Sounds much better than sittin' here all defenseless.?

?Yeah, Sandy's been waitin' all night to toss some spells around, someone hop in a ring with her!?

?She's all yours' Will.? Artemus offered, nodding to Mellisandre and moving toward Rhaine.

?All mine? Gnim might object.?

?I'm sure he meant just for a duel.? Mellisandre giggled at William?s comment.

Gnimish gave a slightly wary look to William. ?Eh, yer right, just for duelin'.?

?Oh, I don't know. Can you cook?? Will inquired, and Mellisandre nodded. ?I'm an associate baker at the imperial bakery of Shylasa.?

?Ooo. A baker.? William sized up Gnimish. ?I could take Gnim, but I'm not sure about his lizard.?

?I'm thinkin' Sandy would be the one for ya to be worryin' about, Will.? Gnimish helpfully offered.

?No, you can't take him. I would object.? Mellisandre insisted. ?So, are we dueling then??

One might have thought William seemed disappointed. ?Oh well. Yes, we're dueling then.?

Mellisandre grinned and gave Gnimish's hand a squeeze before she let go and slid off the chair to head into the ring. At hearing Will?s choice of Nether Ray ahe declared with a grin, ?I'll pick, err, all of the apprentice spells.?

Artemus and Rhaine stepped into a ring together as well, giving Gnimish something to do other than stare at Mellisandre as he had planned on doing for the duration of her duel.

Artemus gave Rhaine a good thrashing and Mellisandre put up a good fight against the Arch Mage, taking it right down to the wire before Will pulled the win away. Gnimish was quite proud of his little baker girl.

?If it's any consolation, ye dueled well.? Will offered to her before he made his fare-wells.

She nodded before she climbed from the ring and hurried back to Gnimish. She gave him a peck on the cheek. ?Thanks for officiating.?

Gnimish smiled as she returned to him, always finding it just a little chillier whenever she left his side. ?Yer quite welcome.?

Mellisandre found his hand to hold again, inquiring, ?How far did you get with the picture??

Gnimish held up the doodling pad to her, showing off the finished work. It was fairly obvious which of the two stick figures got the most doodling attention.

?Oh, you made me look so pretty.? She looked up from the picture to smile to Gnimish.

?Ya think so?? He grinned at the picture before slipping the doodling pad back in his robes. ?I was thinkin' it didn't do ya justice.?

?I think you're great at drawing pictures.? Mellisandre complimented, to which Gnimish smiled, shifting a bit in his robes.

?Aw, thank ya?I do think I?ve mastered stick figures.? After a moment they both opened their mouths at the same time.

?It's time for us to go home, isn't it??
?Hm, thinkin' we oughta be headin' back soon...?

Gnimish chuckled in harmony with Mellisandre?s giggle that they once again talked over one another. Gnimish rose from his seat and took her hand into his, quite looking forward to the farewells to come. ?So it is? welp, G?night folks!? Mellisandre waved as he tapped his amulet, poofing them home.

?Aye, it seems to be all over you and I'm sure Gnimish would take offense?? Russel tossed several bananas at her, watching as they stuck to the gooey marshmallow stuff and looking rather pleased with the result.

?No more of that.? Sandy kicked Russel?s shin to make her argument more convincing.

?Umm, too bad we didn't have a little bit of chocolate sauce and ice cream to go with it. You'd look pretty appetizing then.? He winked at her after yelling ouch from getting kicked in the shin.

?Oh no. My pretty cap.? Mellisandre?s bottom lip started to quiver as she thought how impossible Gnimish would find it now to think of her as pretty. Who did that oaf think he was, anyway? Just because he was a mage and she an apprentice didn?t mean he had to be this mean. Because it was handy and still right in front of her, she reached for a corner of his robe to at least wipe the goo from her face.

Gnimish wondered why people kept messing with poor Sandy's cap and grumbled a bit as he walked over to the ringside.

?Aye, you did well for a baker Mellisandre.? Russel cast a spell of cleanliness upon the cap she had, making it spotless from all the goo and stuffs. But he did not extend the spell to clean up the rest of the mess he made. The he stepped from the ring and after a bow to Gnimish over to the fairy.

?Aw, yer all a mess now!? Gnimish couldn?t help but chuckle a little bit despite trying hard not to.

Mellisandre looked down her ruined her ruined clothes and then up to Gnimish, blinking a few a few times. She always wore her Sunday best when going out with Gnimish, not that anyone could tell now, and she wondered if it would ever be clean again. It would take hours, if not days, and repeated washing to get the sugary mess out of her hair, too. Unshed tears stung her eyes as she thought she may have to wear her work clothes the next time Gnimish wanted to go out, if he ever even wanted to go out with her again.

Gnimish coughed a bit, catching himself. ?Err, sorry... maybe we oughta get ya home to be cleanin' up...?

That gave her an idea and she leaned forward a little, careful not to ruin Gnimish's calling uniform, and whispered to him. It was his turn then to blink a time or two, which he followed with a nod and big, silly grin. Mellisandre grinned back, and then ran over to the mage who was now seated in a chair.

She jumped onto his lap and rolled and squirmed and squiggled, eluding his attempts to ward her off. Russel?s attempts at getting a hold of the sticky yet slippery gnome failed. With all her squirming and wriggling he just couldn't keep her from really making a mess of his cloak and getting him all gooey too.

Fortunately, Gnimish made it back to the calling couch before the laughing fit took hold and he nearly fell over.

Mellisandre made sure to rub the gooey braids on whatever part of the mage?s clothes still looked clean, too. Only when she was satisfied with her 'clean up' job, she slid off his lap and ran back to Gnimish.

Russel laughed, and then sent a warm smile after the departing gnome. ?Aye, and I probably deserved that.?

?Much more, really, but it's all I can do on such short notice.? Mellisandre called back to Russel over her shoulder. Gnimish was still laughing at the turnabout as she returned, though he figured that Russell should count himself lucky.

?I'm still all sticky, though.? Mellisandre turned to Gnimish again.

?Why much more?? Russel stood up and looked at Mellisandre not understanding why, it seemed to him, she was starting to be filled with malice toward him.

?That was my best dress.? Mellisandre explained.

?Oh... well, I do apologize then.? With a shake of his head Russel started toward the waters shoreline.

?At least ya got the worst of it off on 'im!? A few snickers still escaped Gnimish?s mouth as he reached out and rested his arms around Mellisandre?s waist, laying a kiss on her lips and looking as though he's about to bubble over with adoration.

The young gnome muttered something about gnome haters, but sounded and looked far happier after getting kissed. Gnimish didn?t even seem to mind getting his pretty prismatic robe sticky.

?Queue's closed... can get ya home an' outta that gooey outfit now if yer wantin'.? Gnimish was somehow far too happy to take the fairy?s suggestion of someone blasting anyone into anything at the moment.

?That stuff itches, too.? Mellisandre nodded to him and reached for his hand.

?G'night, fairy!? Gnimish tossed a wave over to Topaz, returning her good night wish, and one over to Russel, though with a little grumble and only because his job demanded it. Then he tapped his amulet to poof the duo away.

He obviously was of the opinion that even the emperor beckoning couldn?t keep Rodney from dying like he was supposed to. After a while spent listening to Rodney's grumbeling he added, "Your highness."

They're just kids, Gnimish, the emperor reminded himself with a little sigh and a shake of his head as he approached the children, looking down at Rodney. "Well, so yer dead? Ya don't look dead. I'm thinkin' yer fakin' it." It was an awkward attempt at "playing along" but he hadn't exactly come prepared to deal with ?dead? kids, so he just stood there, waiting for Rodney to get to his feet.

"Of course he's faking it, he had better be." The taller kid firmly kept his foot on Rodney's belly while Rodney was doing his best to comply with the emperor's order's of not being dead.

"It's just a ... a belly wound... let me up ... "

"It hit you in the head. Now shut up. You can't talk anymore with your head gone."

The other youngster looked undecided about which one of his buddies to side with, especially now that the adult had said Rodney wasn't dead.

Just then Rodney managed to unbalance the older kid who promptly toppled into the dirt. He called out "Sandy's inside," even as he took a swing at the older kid, now sitting on the ground. "Hey, you're getting my pants all dirty. Auntie said to stay clean or we're not getting to come along."

Gnimish let out a little exasperated sigh, realizing he wasn't going to get any privacy out of this. "I was just gonna ask if..." but Rodney had just saved him the trouble and he nodded, turned and quickly headed away from the kids and into the bakery.

Pushing the door open, he hoped that the Matron wouldn't be his next obstacle, at this rate he wouldn't get to see Mellisandre until Friday. It'd still be worth it, but avoiding the bossy woman would just be a bonus. The bakery and the kitchen were empty of people and of baked goods. Obviously everything was shut down and cleaned up for the night.

Gnimish figured that just tromping up to Mellisandre's room uninvited might seem a little weird. So, taking a cautious look around to make sure he was avoiding Mrs. Moosegnobbler, he made his way across the kitchen floor and over to the stairs leading to Mellisandre's room and tried a quiet little, "Hellooo?"

At first there was no reaction at all. Then, just as Gnimish was about to give up waiting for a reply, a half sized gnome girl poked her out from behind a door.

"Um." For a while she just looked up at him from saucer-like eyes. "Hullo." The girl looked at him some more.

"Oh, er..." Gnimish blinked back at the girl, that not having been exactly who he had been hoping to see when he noticed the door moving. "Well, hello there."

"I'm ?isbell and I'm this many." She stepped out from behind the door and held up four fingers and the, using her other hand, pressed another finger down. "You look funny. Are you a mage? What happened to your face?"

"Oh, hm...well, good evening, ?isbell who is five." He couldn't help but grin a bit at the kid and imitated her a bit. "A mage? Er, somethin' like that...and it's called a beard, yep!" That last part was said as he reached up and touched his chin for a moment.

Mellisandre looked up from her work as the door opened and promptly poked the needle into her finger. "Ow! Gnimish! Oh!" She quickly shoved whatever she was working on, needle and all, into the lidded basket in front of her, already moving to get to her feet.

"Auntie, auntie! There's a man outside." The little girl, too, was in motion as soon as the door opened, running as fast as her little legs would carry her over to Mellisandre with her arms spread wide.

Mellisandre, the surprise tucked out of sight, barely had time to move to catch the girl that came flying at her. "Ughf."

"I can see that, Elisabelle." Mellisandre looked up to Gnimish as the girl settled in her arms and gave him a wide, welcoming smile.

"Sandy, 'ey! Ack!" His faced took on an odd mixture of a smile and wince as she poked herself, but quickly melted into just a wide smile, though the little girl beat him to getting a hug. The hastily tucked away surprise caught his eye for just a moment but the mess of colors was forgotten as he walked over to the pair.

"Sorry for droppin' in unannounced, I was just in the neigh... well, no, I was just... eh..." He shook his head a little, chuckling. "I just had to come see ya, I missed ya."

Sandy took a step toward Gnimish, for the moment ignoring the girl in her arms. "I missed you, too. I even thought I imagined your voice." Elisabelle, in turn, was rather fascinated with the new and much improved view of the man she now had from her vantage point. He didn't appear near as funny to her now, though.

"Nah, that was just ?isbell and I conspirin' on how best to make our entrance, eh?" He grinned at his little co-conspirator and then looked back up at Mellisandre. " 'ey, so yer this Auntie I?ve been hearin? about? Never woulda guessed."

"One of many. Elisabelle is the daughter of Mrs. Moosegnobbler's brother. They're all going to the fair this evening." Mellisandre winked to Gnimish before she bent to set Elisabelle on her feet. ?Didn't your mommy tell you to wait downstairs? She'll miss you when she's ready to go to the fair."

"Yes." The little girl looked crushed at the prospect of being missed, and possibly left behind.

"Hm, whatever shall we do?" Mellisandre looked at the girl as if she didn't know an answer.

Gnimish couldn't help but grin at the little scene playing out, and he figured he'd let it play out for a bit rather than mentioning that it was his idea to bring the girl upstairs and put her in such dire danger of being left behind.

Just about then they heard a call from downstairs. "Elisabelle? Elisabelle!"

"Oh, mommy." The little girl looked even more lost.

It seemed like an eternity to have gotten to this point and he was boundlessly happy to finally have his arms around her again. Smiliing widely as he released her, he took her hand once again. "Was supposed to be workin', but..." he shrugged a little. "...just had to come see ya. Hope I didn't interrupt nothin'." That's when he remembered the box on the bed and took a little glance at it.

"No, of course not. I was just whiling away the time." Mellisandre led him to the bed - the only available seating.

He certainly wasn't going to resist her lead, and he flopped down on the bed, eagerly wrapping an arm around her as they sat there. Whiling away the time, she called it. He certainly wasn't going to bother questioning any further, far too distracted with the braid his hand had somehow already found. "Ya know, I don't think I've ever actually been to a fair... do ya like 'em?"

"They're fun in the right company. Say, would you like to go?" She gave him a little wink and chuckled. "I happen to know where there is one."

As engrossed as he was in trying to think of a way to ask if she'd like to show him around the fair, her enthusiasm threw him off balance for a moment. "Er, well... I mean of course I'd like to go with ya!"

Mellisandre chuckled happily at his ready accepting of her suggestion. "You'll see it'll be great fun. Of course people will probably bow and such every step you take. It might be even more fun if people didn't recognize you."

"Yeah, I could really be doin' without that part..." He almost winced as he imagined having repeats of the episodes with the children, only with fifty times the people. "Definately ain't needin' any of that. I don't suppose ya got any masks around here, eh?"

"Mmm, no. But masks aren't all that comfortable, and people would still know it's you by your handsome robe." Which gave her an idea. "Maybe it would do the trick if you left the robe here."

"Leave the..." He looked down and lifted a bit of the garment which seemed to be practically
attached to him as often as he insisted on wearing it. Sure, he took it off to sleep... he supposed Mellisandre knew that much now... but go out in public? He'd almost feel naked like that. "Well, I suppose, if ya think that'd work...ya did say I looked nothin' like the paintin's after all!"

Despite the agreeable reply, he didn't move a muscle at first toward removing the robe, stalling for a few moments before he finally stood up.

She nodded vigorously. "I do think that'll work. Would you like some help to take it off?" She offered with a mirthfull wink as she stood up and moved to assist him even before he had time to reply.

"Oh, I'd certainly love a hand!" He chuckled a bit as she helped him get "undressed". Despite its name, the Prismatic Robe was built more like a long, heavy coat, with a split front, and he shrugged it off his shoulders with some help from Mellisandre. "There we go...I suppose that's not so bad..." Though he didn't seem convinced by his own words.

She looked him up and down, and then again more slowly and with obvious appreciation. "I suppose there is really nothing we can do to make the beard longer. But appart from that you look just like everyone else, just way more handsome." She leaned forward an placed a kiss on his lips.

Funny how something as simple as a kiss could completely put him at ease, but it did and he happily returned it. Then he seemed to have a little revelation, a grin spreading across his face. "Oh, I know what'll be throwin' folks off fer sure!" He held both hands out as if catching water with them and a swirl of blue mist appeared, forming into a little pointy green cap which he plopped onto his head. Much like taking the robe off it seemed awfully awkward to him at first, but he was sure he'd get used to it.

"Oh, absolutely perfect! It even matches mine." Mellisandre clapped her hands together and twirled around herself before hugging him. "I can't wait to see how this is working."
He looked so very stunning a gnome, she just had to kiss him again before she reached for his hand. "Let us be off and find out."

He chuckled and shook his head a bit as he took her hand, ever so pleased with her happy, enthusiastic attitude and how it seemed to almost rub off on him. Surely, he'd never go off to a fair in a cap and without his robe on his own! "I'm thinkin' it'll be just wonderful, yep!" And with that he headed to the door of her room, opening it up and heading down the stairs with her.

Gnimish almost froze at first, glancing from Mellisandre to the couple and back again before he realized that she had a mouthful of nuts.

"Oh, 'ey, good evenin'! Nice to be meetin' ya, I'm Gnim..." He feigned a little coughing fit, catching himself in the middle of the mistake. "...blux. Yes, Gnimblux, That's it, yep!"

"Gnimblux, a pleasure. I'm Dagnariel and this here strong silent type is Maxorian." Maxorian nodded politely at the mention of his name, but no one could possibly hear what he was mumbeling into his beard. "You'll just have to tell me how you enjoyed the fair tomorrow." Mellisandre nodded and smiled before the pair turned away from them.

"Sammy, wait up!" Dagnariel waved, presumably at someone within the crowd just ahead of them, and dragged Maxorian along.

Gnimish turned back to Mellisandre and shrugged with a little sheepish grin. "Er, I panicked!" Then burst out laughing, grabbing a couple of those nuts himself just in case any more curious bypassers came strolling by.

"Oh, 'ey, looks like it might just be our turn." And so it was. An oddly dressed attendent helped them into the boat while he advised them to keep their hands inside the boat and out of the water. Then they were off toward the dark cave entrance.

Her mouth finally empty again, Mellisandre chuckled softly. "At least they were all grown up."
She scooted a bit closer to Gnimish and placed a hand on his thigh just as the boat entered the cave.

"They didn't ask enough questions to be kids!" He snickered a bit and got comfy in the little boat, her presence going a long way toward helping with that, and he placed his hand on hers as they floated into the cave.

Inside, after a short while of total darkness, the cave walls and ceiling started to glitter. The boat took them past scenes of gem mining dwarfs, a golden egg laying goose, trough a forest of trees that grew strange things like wheels of cheeses and curled sausages.

"Those look just too funny." Melisandre giggled, pointing at those sausages.

"All that food and not a single pie..." Gnimish chuckled as she pointed, and then moved that hand to wrap around her shoulders, noticing the change in environment. Their surroundings had darkened again and the air around them had cooled noticably. The music, too, had changed, making them expect some kind of scary sight next.

"Uh-oh, ya'd better keep close to me." He gave another chuckle and a wink as he squeezed her to him, awaiting what frightening spectacle was to come.

That was advice Mellisandre meant to follow to the letter. She snuck an arm around his waist and got as close as possible without sitting in his lap. From the boat ahead of them but just out of sight they heard a little scream followed a grumbling chuckle.

"I wonder what scary thing awaits us."

Gnimish gave an unknowing little shrug just as the scene on the walls and ceiling changed to one of a huge minotaur and terrible looking trolls with eyes that moved to follow the boat as cackles and roars assailed the ears and echoed throughout the cavern. But even in their intended frightening state there was something silly about their appearances that one just couldn't quite put their finger on. That didn't keep Gnimish from feigning protectiveness, though, and he gave Mellisandre another little squeeze and placed a comforting little smooch on her cheek.

Bob Salzberg With The Pad In The Crowd

Either way, he did finally stop and they reached the end of the ride, him climbing out first to offer her a hand out of the little boat. They didn't get more than ten paces away from the ride before a particularly nosy looking fellow - human, of course - stepped right in front of them and stared down at Mellisandre.

"Say, miss, could you spare a moment?"

"No, not really." Mellisandre gave the man a blank look. He didn't look even vaguely familiar. There were few enough humans in Hirshberg, so she was sure she'd remember him if she had seen him before.

"What did you want?" She held Gnimish's hand a bit tighter.

Gnimish didn't appear particularly pleased with the interruption and chose to simply ignore the rude fellow and step around him, taking Mellisandre with him.

But the man seemed undaunted, shifting his weight to remain right in the couple's path, and completely ignoring Gnimish to boot. "Now come on, give a guy a break, will ya! You are Mellisandre Gnoffeymel, aren't you?"

"Yes..." Mellisandre was sure she didn't like the fellow.

Being ignored didn't sit well with Gnimish either, and he tried opening his mouth to speak over the annoying man, but even his mouth was no match for his competition in this case.

"Who are you?" Mellisandre had to tilt her head back to look into his face. That was not something she appreciated.

The man opened his mouth again and trampled right over Gnimish's attempt at telling him to go jump in a lake. "Funny thing, you see, I saw you getting on the boat ride and just missed you, so I had to settle for waiting here for a bit. So you *are* Mellisandre Gnoffeymel, interesting." The man pulled out a little pad and jotted something down on it.

"I'm Bob, Bob Salzberg, Associated Shylean Press, I'm sure you read our papers, right?" Of course he didn't actually wait for an answer. "So Miss Gnoffeymel, our readers would just love to know who this new fellow you're bouncing around with is?"

"You're not going to write about that are you?" Mellisandre thought feverishly what to tell the guy. It was always better to have the press on your side. The associated press had mostly serious papers. It might actually do Gnimish and her some good to talk to this reporter, Mellisandre thought. "Say, can you keep a secret until deadline?"

"'ey, now, ya mind yer own business and stop botherin' 'er! We don't have to be standin' here - " Gnimish once again simply got trampled by the man's much louder mouth.

"Writing about it is what I do, Miss Gnoffeymel, and keeping secrets most definately is not. Now really, what's it like, dumping an Emperor?"

Well, if he wanted to play it that way, she could do that, too, Mellisandre resolved. So, instead of imparting the secret to him in a conspiratorial voice, she leaned over to Gnimish.

"Ohhh." He visibly relaxed at the news that it was a planned part of the ride and leaned into her a bit, nervousness fading into being pleased at having these few moments with her above the din down below. "'ey, yer right...might even be able to see the pretzel at yer folks place!" He snickered a bit, giving her a little nudge.

She chuckled at that. "I think it's too far away for that. But we can see the entire fair from up here, too. What would you like to try once we're back down?" She turned her gaze from the view then to look at Gnimish and promptly forgot what she had asked. He did look absolutely stunning under the green cap.

"Hm? Oh, not sure..." He wasn't sure what he'd like to try then but when his gaze caught hers he was plenty sure of what he'd like to be doing right now. He leaned over and placed another kiss on her lips, figuring he'd figure out something to do once they were on the ground. Mellisandre barely noticed the jolt when the ferris wheel started moving again.

It wasn't until their little gondola was almost back to the ground that he broke the kiss, smiling happily and raising a hand to stroke her face just before an attendant scurried over. He unbuckled them to usher them out, clearly in a hurry to get the next bunch of folks into the wheel.

Mellisandre chuckled. "He is cute." Of course it would take a nearly uncountable amount of popped baloons to ?earn? any of the bigger prizes. But this one?s fur was stained with most of the colors of a rainbow, not unlike Gnimish?s usual robe, and Mellisandre already liked it far better than the dull brown large one still sitting on the top shelf.

"Small bear? 'ey, where's it say I only get a small bear?" Gnimish grumbled a bit but still accepted the small bear, Mellisandre's reaction to it doing wonders to banish his irritation at not getting the giant one, and he offered it to her with a smile and a little bow. "An offerin' for Princess Gnoffeymel!"

"Thank you." Gnimish promptly received a second hug, much tighter and a little longer previous one, and a sound kiss.

"Sandy-darling, is that you?" A voice asked from behind Mellisandre just then. The voice belonged to a male gnome with shaggy blond hair sticking out from under his cap.

Gnimish raised a hand to steady the cap that he had forgotten all about and was threatening to fall off his head with the little bow and stood up straight to see the source of the new voice, a voice that had made Mellisandre blush.

Mellisandre, too, had turned to greet the owner of the voice, and found herself in another hug, bear and all.

"Dagnariel told me you were here. Why didn't you say you were planning to..." The man broke of mid-sentence when he saw Gnimish." And who do we have here?"

"Papa, good evening. This here is my boyfriend." She hoped her father wouldn't greet him by name for everyone around to hear, or worse, insist on a proper introduction. By now several people had turned their heads their way.

Gnimish blinked once as Mellisandre was suddenly hugged by the stranger, but reminded himself that he wasn't a stranger to her and that the fellow was probably one of Mellisandre's cousins or something... until he heard her greeting and found himself blinking a couple more times.

"Maggie!" Mr. Gnoffeymel shouted over his shoulder. "Look who I found! It's Sandy."
Then he turned to look at Gnimish. "So you're the... uhm, err... we hear so much of." He had well understood Mellisandre's pleading look.

"Well, um..." Gnimish glanced quickly from Mellisandre to her father and then back to her and back to her father. "Yes, it's... very nice to finally be meetin' ya, Mister Gnoffeymel... you've, um, a fine daughter, yep." Nervous? Why was he suddenly nervous? How odd, he thought, it's just her family.

Magorielle Gnoffeymel was only a few steps behind her husband and joined them just in time to hear Gnimish's last few words. "That we do. Good evening, Sandy." Mellisandre was pulled into another hug.

"Mom. What a coincidence." Mellisandre felt a little bit awkward. This what certainly not how she had imagined a meeting between Gnimish and her parents to take place.

"Coincidence, yep... um, good evenin', ma'am, how are ya this evenin'?" The least he could do was try to make a decent impression, he figured.

In answer Mr. Gnoffeymel raised his mug. "To a fine excursion then. I'm sure my girls won't let us starve while were floating over the ship yard either."

Mellisandre had to calm a giggle before she took a trink from her mug. Everyone just absolutely loved her mom's picnick foods. There would be no outing of any kind that her dad went on without her mom's cooking.

"Oh, Sandy's definately been showin' me some of that Gnoffeymel bakin', yep! She brings all kinda treats when we go off to the isle for us to be munchin' on!"

"To the isle?" Mellisandre had not mentioned an island that Magorielle could remember. " What isle would that be?"

Mellisandre blushed a little and hoped her parents would put that up to the heat of the crowd in the fair tent and the ale. She had omitted the isle or the arena when she had told her parents about Gnimish.

"Oh, Twilight Isle, yep... it's... hm..." He tripped a bit, realizing he really couldn't think of a way to explain its whereabouts to them. "Well, it's far off someplace, folks go there to do all sorts of magicin' and stuff... Sandy's even tossed a spell or two!" Gnimish turned and gave her another smile, remembering how well she took to the entire thing, even in the face of less than accommodating folks like a certain marshmallow-throwing mage.

Mellisandre wanted to groan. She had not told her parents about casting spells or sword fighting either. But she could do nothing else but smile back to Gnimish before she turned to her mom.

"The island allows people to put together a spell or two, and there are contests about who can use those spells the best." No way did she want to have to explain the concept of dueling or what business a trainee baker had spending all that time with dueling instead of studying.

Gnimish wasn't particularly interested in telling her parents that he took their daughter to a place to get stabbed by swords and blasted by fireballs either, so he thought that maybe following the dueling subject too far might not be such a grand idea.

"Yeah, just... ya know, little spells an' such. Somethin' just for fun an' all!" A tiny wisp of mist began to appear in his hand as he began to summon his own mug out of pure habit, but he quickly stopped himself with a nervous little chuckle and reached for the mug already provided, nearly draining the thing.

Mellisandre had seen the little wisp and squeezed his fingers gently. But her parents had not seemed to notice, perhaps because just then her parents' neighbors stopped at the table. Mellisandre used the temporary distraction to whisper to Gnimish. "Good save."

Gnimish nodded to her, squeezing back, and he exhaled another held-in breath. "Didn't wanna see rude or anythin'..." he whispered back, setting his near-empty mug back on the table and barely restraining himself from leaning over and giving her a little smooch, an impulse that was all the more powerful because he couldn't do it. Or at least he felt like he couldn't.

Fortunately the distraction from the neighbors gave him a moment to relax. At least the neighbors didn't seem to be paying much attention to the stranger at the Gnoffeymel's table. They were far too busy talking about events of the next day to do more than nod to Mellisandre and Gnimish. Again, Mr. Gnoffeymel ignored such nods and avoided making introductions.

Stop letting things slip, Gnimish, he told himself. "Well...sometimes when folks are castin' spells on that isle place they have me... hm... be a referee. Yep, that's a good word for it. An' Sandy she sits there with me when I do, an' I doodle pictures for her on my referee pad because sometimes the casters get kinda borin' when they don't blow somethin' up. It's a comfy couch, we get nice an' cozy on it, yep!" Oops, did it again, went off babbling again, Gnimish. Clam up already! Nervousness and tidbits of information that one didn't want to let slip simply didn't go well together, it seemed.

Mother Gnoffeymel gave her daughter a stern look, and her husband got to feel her elbow stabbing into his ribs, that promised a long talk at the very next opportunity.

Gnimish turned and gave a sheepish little grin and a shrug to Mellisandre, knowing he had probably rambled on a bit too much there. "Well, it's also... ya know... a nice *big* couch too, plenty of room for two folks to have lots of space, yep!"

Mellisandre Gave him a little kick under the table. That was certainly enough information about the couch on the isle for her parents.

Gnimish just jumped a little at the kick but didn't look away from the Gnoffeymels. He raised his free hand and coughed into it a couple times, pretending to be clearing his throat. One of the waitresses replaced Gnimish's empty mug with a full one and set another full one on the table for Mr. Gnoffeymel.

Gnimish saw the mug as a most excellent oppportunity to retreat from the amazingly awkward conversation that he had gotten himself into, and he hastily grabbed for the mug. A mug wouldn't last forever though, but just as he was setting it back down fortune offered him another bit of luck as a young gnomish boy came sprinting by the tent howling, "Fireworks! Fireworks! Mama, the fireworks are starting!"

"Can we go see the fire works?" Mellisandre picked up on that like it was a raft and she drowning. Gnimish couldn't possibly get her into any trouble while everyone was busy gazing at the fire works.

"Oh, yes!" The words leapt out of Gnimish's mouth entirely too quickly, eager as he was to be away from the current conversation.

But Mellisandre's parents, too, seemed delighted at the prospect. Quickly everyone took a last drink from their mugs before they left to hunt for a good viewing spot.

Gnimish found a nice place on the grass from which they could watch the fireworks, and made a point of making sure it was just far enough to afford them a little privacy during the show. Once settled in he wrapped an arm around Mellisandre and held her to him. That at least seemed innocent enough to do within view of her parents.

Mellisandre happily leaned against Gnimish. Her parents didn't seem to find anything wrong with that, she noticed with a bit of relief. They had made it just in time, too. Once they had found their seats the first rockets went off. The show started with simple little rockets that left behind colored trails and the occasional bursting rocket that filled the sky with color, a hint of the show to follow.

Governor Ma?asary With The Motion In The Council Chamber


Esmiralda, Governor Birdwink of the Median region, arrived just on time. That was quite a bit later than she had wanted to arrive for the monthly meeting, having looked forward to a semi-private word with her neighbor before the order of business came to the issues she wanted to have resolved today. As it was she had to hurry to take her place in the line up for the emperor's entrance with barely enough time for nod to Governor Osmaragon before the door opened for the emperor to enter.

Tessina Osmaragon gave her friend and neighbor a bemused wink before she too turned to watch the emperor's arrival. Esmiralda was always looked to be in a hurry, even when she was standing still. Whereas Tessina always appeared to have all the time in the world. The two women looked very different in just about every other possible way as well. One was tall, slender, dark with pointy features, the other short, plumb, blond with rounded features. But for all their outward differences, they got along famously. With each other, that is. Neither could say, nor would they want to, that they got along with the emperor.

The door to the Council chambers opened with a slam that echoed through the room. The Emperor himself stood in the door way for a moment before he entered the chambers. On his head sat the Imperial Crown and his left hand cradled the heavy, steel-crafted Scepter of Shylasa. A thick cloak of (faux) lion?s skin sat on his shoulders and flowed behind him onto the floor, but the Prismatic Robe still stood out among all the adornments. It was an expected sight and one everyone on the council was used to.

Gnimish took a deep breath and composed himself as he entered the chamber and walked down the center isle toward the throne that awaited him at the other end. Nowadays, these meetings were as much an exercise in acting as anything else, but he'd become quite good at that. It was important that he maintained a level of skill at the facade; these were the people that ran the various portions of the Empire after all.

As was customary, he deliberately avoided eye contact with any of the Governors on his way to the throne. The sound of his heavy boots making contact with the floor echoed through the silence until he finally reached his destination. Slowly and deliberately he took his seat and scanned the room. Finally he raised the scepter and brought it down on the small, square pedestal next to the throne and a thunderous, ringing sound filled the chamber, signaling the official opening of the Council session.

A brief period of shuffling and scraping of chairs ensued until everyone was seated. Then a quiet hush fell over the assembled governors, each eager to speak of the issue closest to his or her heart but none willing to be the first to speak up.

Usually, Chancellor Ka?ramey would act as major domo, but he was not present at this council meeting. The empty seat, just behind and to the right of the Emperor's throne, became the focal point for more than a few Governors? eyes once they were seated.

Gnimish scanned over and tried to take in the reactions of each and every one of them, but it was a fruitless task for him. Finally a scribe, performing the duties that would normally fall to the absent Chancellor, approached the throne and knelt before the Emperor for a moment before he moved to take his place, standing beside the throne.

In a somewhat nervous voice he spoke up, attempting to call the meeting to order. "The first... the first order of business of this session of the Imperial Council of Shylasa is the removal of Walter Ka'ramey from the position of Chancellor of the Shylean Empire."

As if a sluice gate of a dam had been opened voices flooded the council chamber. Everyone present had an opinion about that point of business. Eventually one of the Governors stepped up and requested permission to approach the emperor, presumably to hand over the stack of official looking papers he was carrying.

"We want to know what exactly he did. There needs to be a trial." It was a male voice, but no turning of heads indicated who may have yelled out the sentiment. In fact, all heads remained turned expectantly toward the emperor.

"The only reason Walter would ever do something against the emperor would be if the emperor did something to hurt his beloved Shylasa." Esmiralda hissed a whisper to Tessina. She was horribly upset with the emperor about removing Walter, but she was not brave enough - or stupid enough - to say so directly to the emperor.

The young scribe meekly stepped away from the throne as if the words from the Governors were real projectiles aimed at the Emperor.

"Aye! We demand an explanation! You can't just throw an official into prison without trial!" A rare dwarven voice spoke up over the din and loud whispers.

The scepter came down again, not completely silencing the room but helping at least. "Walter Ka'ramey conspired with the Mage-Lord Victor Kirnov against the Empire! That should be more of an explanation than any of you need!"

"There is no proof!"

"We demand a trial!"

"Where is your evidence?!"

The voices filled the chamber again and the scribe retreated even further from the throne as the Emperor fumed.

"Impossible." Esmiralda paled - not an easy feat with her already rather pale complexion. "The Mage Lords... Walter would never do that." However remote they were, the Mage Lords still constituted a threat to Shylasa. Walter may not always see eye to eye with the emperor, but he was extremely loyal to the empire. It was inconceivable to her that he would conspire with the biggest enemy of the empire, no matter what gain Walter might have intended from such an action. Though equally unlikely, it was far more conceivable to her that the emperor was telling less than the truth.

They did have a point, Gnimish knew. He really had little in the way of actual proof to present other than the word of the one person he wanted to keep out of this entire affair and that of his bodyguards, both of which would be assumed to simply be repeating what he told them to say.

"Oh, shut up. Of course there's proof." The Governor of the region that included the little villages of Hirshdale and Hirshberg stood and spoke up.

"Don't any of you read the papers? Seven people were viscously murdered having been in the wrong place at the wrong time. And there was a quite a mess to be cleaned up in the banquet hall. The subjects demand better protection than that. There was quite a panic, too, having mage lords just show up in the middle of peaceful meetings, steeling away the population. You'd have to be deaf not to have heard that all that happened on Ka'ramey's invitation."

The governor could not possibly know all that, and it was impossible to tell if he spoke out of conviction or because he thought it to his best benefit to support the emperor in this.

"I heard that creepy Kuriyama was at the scene of that massacre!" Another voice rang out from one of the Governors that remained seated, repeating one of the hundred rumors that surrounded that event.

The situation was quickly moving into territory that, Gnimish realized, he wasn't at all prepared to deal with and he did his best not to appear thoughtful, since that would not do at all. But he was busy delving into his mind for a graceful way to escape this line of conversation. Finally, and without giving it nearly as much thought as he should have given the content of the declaration, he yelled out over the din.

"What is she? I'll tell you this, you would do well to pay more respect to your future Empress than you are now, how is that?!"

"Empress?"

"We can't have a commoner be empress."

That was a mistake, Gnimish, he told himself as the voices piled atop one another to bring the room to a new level of chaotic clamor. There was no snickering this time to greet his choice of words, only outrage. One of the female governors, a young red-head, even cried a few tears, having seen herself as the emperor's choice of mates.

While Esmiralda was entertaining anyone who wanted to listen with snide remarks, Tessina sat back and gave the issue some serious thought. The result she came up with was not so very far from the truth.

'So, Ka'ramey saw something wrong with the emperor's choice of future empress of Shylasa and he went and did something about it and got caught. Of course, a baker would have no clue how to run Shylasa. But what was it that had Walter pull in the mage lords when a bit of poison or a well paid assassin were so much more convenient and trustworthy?'

She was certain that one or the other of Ka'ramey's supporters would be all too happy to finish the job for him and did not worry overly about the remote possibility of an imperial wedding. To find out what role the Chancellor had intended for the Mage Lords, though, did seem far more important to her. She - or the area of Shylasa she governed - shared a border with the lands ruled by said mage lords.

Gnimish couldn't think of a reply to quell their outrage, he really had said far too much this time. It wasn?t that it wasn't the truth, or so he hoped, it was simply a poor time to make such an assertion. Then he figured that now that he'd dug the hole, he might as well just jump in while he was at it.

"Rank has nothing to do with my choice in this, nor do your opinions in the matter! Commoner or not, Mellisandre Gnoffeymel is who I have chosen, and that is my word!" It was a rather cold and official way of putting it, but one had to speak in their language to get anything through to a group of people like the Governors sometimes. The words and their delivery seemed to have a cooling affect on at least some of the tempers.

Governor Ma'asary even remembered enough of the protocol to request, "I move to add a point to today's business, the point of declaring Miss Gnoffeymel a royal of ... err... some sort." Somewhat deflated he flopped back into his seat after the somewhat lame finish.

The senior scribe finally remembered to resume his duties and took a small step closer to the throne, nodding quickly. "Governor Ma'asary has placed a motion on the floor."

"Accepted." Tessina was one of the governors who had the required answer.

"De-" Esmiralda started but a kick to her shin had her press her thin lips together on the rest of the word.

Walter Ka?ramey with the Newspaper in the Prison

Another day came and went on Shylasa. The bright sun was chased away by a moonless night. Walter Ka?ramey stared at the little bared window where the wall and the ceiling met. It wasn?t low enough to glance outside and offered little in the way of distractions from his thoughts. Even the newspaper that the Emperor had so graciously agreed to have delivered to him every morning could never keep him from his thoughts for long.

He had expected, and perhaps even hoped, for far worse a fate. In truth, he would not blame the Emperor but be grateful should he forget about him entirely. It would be better to be forgotten than to be remembered as a failure.

The ex-Chancellor had nothing but time to contemplate just why his plans he once thought of as carefully laid had gone so awry and to berate himself for his ignorance, inability, stupidity, and blindness.

He had failed utterly in his duties. That was the point all his contemplations eventually led him to.

The welfare of the Empire and good intentions had always been the motivation of his actions. But he knew how he looked in the eyes of the Emperor now: a traitor.

His actions quite possibly had furthered the plans of those who would prefer Shylasa?s destruction. That he would not forgive himself. But even viewed as a traitor he was a failure. Nothing, absolutely nothing, not even a small part of his intentions had been achieved.

He had known full well that far more malicious minds than his were plotting and would have something waiting in the shadows for the Gnoffeymel girl. That the Emperor would remain single and unattached was far too important for most of the royals for them to do nothing.

He had tried to warn off the girl and when that had proven ineffective, to advise discretion; he had tried to warn the Emperor to be more discreet. But neither of them would listen, so caught up they were in their newly blooming romance. Their carelessness would result in Mellisandre eventually vanishing into one of those shadows, and Walter knew it ? had known it.

It wasn?t that he cared for the Gnoffeymel girl; she was just a commoner after all. But the Emperor cared for her. He also knew that anything happening to the Gnoffeymel girl while the Emperor fancied himself in love with her would sink him even further into the hole of uncaring inactivity and indecisiveness that the death of his daughter had pushed him into.

Governor Birdwink with the Apple In The Prison

Esmiralda had obtained permission to visit the prisoner, Walter Ka?ramey. But the person she had found on the other side of the bars had little in common with the powerful and cunning Chancellor she knew Walter to be. Rather than be outraged by her news of the Emperor?s decree to have Mellisandre Gnoffeymel declared Duchess of Hirshberg and the ceremony the following month to make it official, Walter was lethargic and barely reacted at all.

Walter knew Governor Esmiralda Birdwink as one that was not entirely fond of the Emperor and thus her coming to him with any information at all showed that she and whoever she might be in cahoots with thought him on ?Their Side?. It was rather fitting, he thought, that ?she? had brought him an apple instead of the figs she knew he had a particular liking for.

The Governor had been certain that he would advise her on what best to do to prevent that common baker to become Empress. He had plotted with the Mage Lords to have her killed, after all, or so she had been happy to remind him, confirming his suspicion.

It was ?disturbing? that the decree was made due to a motion and vote by the Council and not something the Emperor had thought up on his own, Walter had offered and patted her hand, making it sound as if the council pressed the relationship upon the Emperor.

He had even gone so far as to state that the kid ? only someone of Walter?s age would call a 50-some year old senior scribe a kid ? had, in fact, done very well, and not like Esmiralda had suggested ?been totally lost?.

In the back of his mind, however, Walter knew what this decree meant. The ceremony would be the perfect setting for those who were waiting in the shadows to make another attempt on the girl?s life.

His reaction and comments had irked Esmiralda, however, and Walter had assured her that someone was going to kill the girl now for sure and she needn?t worry her pretty head about it.

Governor Esmiralda Birdwink had left again shortly thereafter, not entirely pleased but perhaps a bit mollified, or so Walter hoped.

?They are going to kill that girl.? He spoke out loud once he was alone again. ?They are going to kill that girl and do it right in front of the Emperor.?

To Walter?s thinking, the only event that would be more public, more visible, more liable to have Gnimish and his bodyguards distracted, and more earth-shattering to the Emperor to see his beloved struck down at would be a wedding, and there was no telling when the Emperor would get around to that. The emperor was already unstable enough as it was; there was simply no telling what the gnome would do if such a tragedy were to be allowed to come to pass.

Suddenly Walter felt energy flooding into his old body. There was a dire threat to both, the Emperor and the Empire, and he, the Chancellor, would have to avert it.

It would be far more difficult to accomplish anything without any authority and from a jail cell, though. Perhaps it was time to call in a favor or two, he thought, and resolved to humbly request pen and paper the next time a meal would be delivered. He would start with a note to his valet.

Her left hand went up to curl around the pretzel pendant Gnimish had given her some time back almost of its own volition and certainly before she could contemplate what all that fancy wording meant. But her thought of Gnimish at that moment was intense enough for the amulet to poof her instantly to within a couple feet of his current location.

Not having expected and not being prepared in the least for the change of location, she arrived, sitting down a tad roughly on her bottom. The jolt made her lift her eyes that until then were staring as if hypnotized at the open card in her right hand.

Happily humming a little tune, daydreaming about his upcoming visit to his beautiful baker, and doing his best to figure out just how people used things like this brush, Gnimish barely even noticed the little 'thud' behind him. In fact, it wasn't until he saw the movement in the mirror that he quickly spun around and hid the brush behind his back as if it were some sort of terribly incriminating evidence in some heinous crime.

"Err... oh, Sandy!!" The sight of her there on the floor took another moment to process before he found himself quickly taking the two steps that it took to cover the distance between them and kneeling down to help her up.

"'ey, ya alright? That thing actin' up again on ya? Ya ok, ya look kinda... pale... or somethin'. Whaddya doin' up here on a Wednesday? Not that I'm not happy to be seein' ya, I just mean..." Right there is when his mind finally caught up to his mouth and reined it in, concerned as he was about the look on her face and sudden appearance.

The look Mellisandre gave her unexpected surroundings was a blank one. But when her eyes settled on Gnimish a smile curled her lips.

?Gnimish! No, no. Really? I mean yes." She giggled then. Trying to answer all of his questions at once no longer appeared such a good idea. But hugging him did, and that was what she did as soon as she was standing on her feet again, the card still in her hand.

"I missed you, too. But I was working and then I found this confusing invitation when I got back to the bakery. Were you getting ready to sleep? I had not really meant to come visiting." She had seen the brush, of course. Knowing that it was a new acquisition she fantasized that her request for one a while back had prompted the purchase.

"Wha'? No, I mean..." Not-so-deftly he tried setting the brush down on the dresser behind him but misjudged the distance and ended up dropping it onto the floor with a loud clatter.

"...I was just gettin' ready to, ya know, come see ya. I know it woulda been unusual again, but I... well... sometimes it's just hard thinkin' about spendin' a whole day without ya." His words added a blush to her widening smile. He simply had to give her a proper kiss in greeting, almost entirely forgetting his questions about why she'd come to visit him so unexpectedly and what the card in her hand was all about.

"It's a good thing, I'm thinking, that you fixed the pretzel a little too well." She said with a happy chuckle once she could talk again. "I'd have waited asking you about the fancy words until tomorrow and would have missed you all the more."

"Mmmhmm..." He grinned widely, looking for her hand to take, and found it occupied by the card she was carrying. A fact that brought him out of his state of blissful surprise and back to wondering about the circumstances of her visit. "Whaddya got there? Wait, fancy words? What is that thing?"

"It's called an Invitation." She handed him the card and then snuck her hand into his free one. "It came in envelope with at least a dozen marks on it. And it's full of fancy words. What are courtesies suggested by a council and what does all that fifth and twenty and fourth mean?"

"Yeah... yeah they are. It has to all be official, after all. I suppose you have to be 'initiated' or somethin' before they'll really be happy." It did strike him as amusing though and a chuckle escaped his lips to echo her laughter.

Mellisandre was laughing about something else, though. That Gnimish had said he considered their relationship serious and what exactly that meant would not occur to her until the next day.

"I have absolutely nothing acceptable to wear." That came out very feminine, despite the underlying laughter. But in this case it was also painfully true. Mellisandre owned nothing that could be even remotely considered proper dress for a court function. "I guess I can't go."

"Oh..." Something about that was even funnier and he couldn't help but laugh at the situation, though the laugh was also full of relief at how well she took the news. "Now really, that's one problem that I actually can be fixin' for ya!"

"You can?" She turned her face up to look at him with an incredulous expression.

"Of course!" It was a rare bit of insight on his part, and perhaps not the best timing or situation, but he saw it as an excellent opportunity to shower her with gifts. "I'd love to get ya a new dress... or two... or three..."

"You would?" She tilted her head slightly. Men were not supposed to like going shopping, much less offer such a thing of their own volition. But Gnimish looked extraordinarily happy with his suggestion. And just were would Gnimish get that kind of money? The thought that money for clothes wasn?t something emperors worried about never entered her mind.

"Court clothes are horribly expensive, though, in part so no baker can go and buy some and impersonate governors." She chuckled again and, letting go of his hand, wrapped both her arms around Gnimish. "Or Duchesses."

"Eh, yeah they're expensive... but that's nothin'. The hard part will be findin' somethin' that does ya justice, yep!" With her arms around him it just seemed like returning the favor was the natural thing to do, and he squeezed her tightly to him. The warmth in their embrace always felt new and exciting to him, it was a wonder he ever let her go at all.

"Wow, you're amazing." Mellisandre gave a happy chuckle. "You really mean to go shopping with me, for clothes at that." That she had to let the council 'bestow courtesies' on her was a small prize to pay for that, she thought. And maybe, just maybe, the entire thing wasn't as bad as she had thought at first.

"I got ya into this whole mess, least I can do is be there to help ya through it, right?" How bad could it be, really, he asked himself. Besides, if he went along he might just be able to pick out a thing or two that he'd like to see her in.

"You had better be there. The card says you decreed I had to be a Duchess, no way are you going to weasel out of being there." She chuckled. Of course Gnimish would be there, why hadn't she thought of that before? She'd not have to face all the well practiced royals by her lonely self.

"Yep, of course I'll be there for ya." Another squeeze and a kiss placed atop her head served to punctuate that promise.

"That way you can give little secret introductions like you did with the people we ran into in the arena and on the isle." Could it be that she was starting to actually look forward to the festivity? "When is the ceremony to be?"

"The...." He had to release her for a moment, at least with one arm, to open the card and re-read it. "Second Thursday in the fifth month, what is that... the tenth of May? Somethin' around there."

"Plenty of time yet to get ready for it." Despite the exhilaration of looking forward to a shopping excursion Mellisandre had to suppress a yawn. She had been up since dawn after all and something about leaning against Gnimish and feeling his arms around her made her relax and let weariness rise to the fore. "I'm sorry. It's certainly not the company."

"Oh, no, I understand." The late hour had snuck up on them somehow, as it always seemed to whenever he was around her.

With her already in his arms a simple tap of his amulet was all it took to send them both to her room above the Moosegnobbler bakery. He took his time tucking her in and wishing her sweet dreams before he poofed back, alone, to the palace to get some sleep of his own.

?He?ll do.? With a little luck the mute would give him days, perhaps even a week or more, to work with.

?If Your Excellency could disregard the impossible state of the cloak? it would help reaching your suite unnoticed.? The valet appeared crushed that he had not been able to provide a more befitting disguise for the Chancellor but held the cloak ready to drape over his shoulders just the same as soon as the mute had relieved him of the dinner plate.

Walter stepped into the cloak and raised the hood, pulling it over his forehead, before he nodded his readiness to Vernon. Together, with Vernon leading the way and Walter staying a step behind the valet, they left the prison ward and slipped into the stair case.

None of the view people they passed along the way seemed to think anything odd about an old cloaked man being led down the hallway by a prison guard. So far so good, Walter thought.

?I have taken the liberty of drawing you a bath and to lay out your robe and slippers.? Vernon resumed his position as valet as the climbed the stairs. ?Your mail awaits you on your desk.?

?Mail?? Walter thought it odd that there should be mail waiting for him. Someone should have thought to want to have a look at his correspondence.

?I sat the more important looking ones on top.? The valet hurried to open the door leading from the stair case into the hallway that led to, among other suites, the one Chancellor Ka?ramey considered home.

The hallway was pleasantly empty of guards and residents; a state, that under normal circumstances, Walter would have complained about and rectified, but now greeted with a little sigh of relief.

Moments later they were safely ensconced in his well appointed suite of rooms. Another few moments later, Walter luxuriated in the feeling of thick, lush carpeting under his feet on his way to the hot tub. Vernon already had set up a writing tray at the side of the tub with the more important looking correspondence for him to peruse while allowing the warm water to relax him and to soak away the prison stench.

The Brute With The Club In The Guestroom

The Peg-Legged Dwarf proved to be the perfect place for Walter to blend in and remain unnoticed, though he found that he could not bring himself to be thankful for the painfully loud noise, revolting stench, and unsavory patrons. Ziegraf on the other hand, dressed in a coat that was oversized even for him, appeared to be entirely at home, Walter observed as the brute arrived.

A hulking specimen of a man, Ziegraf was the perfect candidate for an enforcer or bodyguard. He had once boasted that none in the Empire could defeat him in an arm wrestling match, and indeed none had succeeded so far. None, that is, save for that freak Kuriyama, whom Ziegraf made the mistake of challenging personally. Despite being half Ziegraf?s size, the swordsman not only beat him but yanked him clear out of the chair he was sitting in.

There were advantages to keeping a man like Ziegraf around. For one he didn?t say much. That was always a plus in Walter?s book. He also made for quite the path-clearer on their way up to the second floor where the inn?s guest rooms were located. Room 11, quite conveniently, sat at the very end of the hallway. The guest book had revealed that an Elrich Miller currently stayed there

Walter motioned at the closed door and Ziegraf gave it one sound kick and knocked it open, nearly ripping it off the hinges in the process.

Elrich, a small, wiry man, jumped up from the bed he had been lying on and drew a small knife. Keeping the small table between himself and his uninvited visitors, he eyed the pair and did his best not to appear startled.

?What the hell is this? You?d best turn your meaty head around and head right back the way you came in, stranger!?

?Elrich Bent-Blade?? Walter stepped in behind Ziegraf and pulled the hood of the cloak down, looking the man up and down.

?Who the hell wants to know, huh??

A nod from Walter was all Ziegraf needed to advance on the knife-wielding assassin. With a surprising burst of speed Ziegraf was around the table and grasped the knife hand?s wrist in an iron grip while his other was placed firmly over Elrich?s face, vastly overpowering the smaller man and forcing him mostly backwards and slamming the back of his head onto the table.

Walter calmly moved to close the door behind him, hoping that the enormous clamor downstairs along with the time of day prevented any patrons from being alerted to the interrogation taking place up here.

Walter considered the name for a moment. There were certainly more than just a couple members of the council with the first name of Melchior, though that didn?t pinpoint anyone, it did narrow down the number of suspects.

Now that his tongue had been loosened, Ziegraf didn?t have to prod for Elrich to provide every detail he could remember.

?Very well. Then we?re through here, Elrich.? Walter turned to the door and moved to open it as Ziegraf pulled a sack from his coat, tossing the club aside and yanking Elrich to his feet.

?What?re you?hey! Hey! I told you what you wanted! HEY! Old man! Call your dog off ? ? The rest of the sentence was muffled as Ziegraf pulled the sack over his head and hoisted him over his shoulder.

?Shut up if you know what?s good for you.? The muffled protests continued, though. Ziegraf wrapped his huge arm around the writhing man?s neck to cut them off and moved to catch up to Walter, who was already at the door. There was another popping sound and Ziegraf stopped with an odd expression on his face. ?Oops.?

?Leave him then.? Walter sounded only slightly annoyed. Ziegraf released the body and it fell to the floor, hooded head cocked at an odd angle.

The two made it out of The Peg-Legged Dwarf just in time to see the city watch entering the establishment, presumably to seek out the man they?d left on the floor upstairs.

When Mellisandre finally arrived at the room that was to be hers for the next two days she quickly unpacked her suit case and then sat down to come up with a plan for when to what to ensure everything that needed baking was ready and fresh when it was needed. A knock at her door interrupted her half way through. She?d be expected downstairs in half an hour to start the day?s work, the page informed her. So much for a good night?s sleep, Mellisandre groaned silently as she hurried through her morning routine.

Friday and Saturday had been filled with so much constant activity that she didn?t even have time to worry about any mishaps, that her assignment was part of a huge test, how the committee would check her progress, exhaustion or anything else. But Gnimish?s beloved face had popped into her mind with regularity and somehow each of those glimpses had reminded her to remain focused on her tasks.

Today had started as early as the other two days. Though she tried to review the questions the committee had posed to her and the answers she had given, she now could hardly remember a thing from this morning. Between the monotone noise of the moving train, a comfortable seat, pleasant thoughts of meeting Gnimish at the end of her trip, and very little sleep the last few days, it wasn?t long before Mellisandre drowsed.

Again she was surprised by how time passed without her being aware of it when the train slowed and a loud voice said ?Hirshberg?. Already the train was slowing down and only moments later the cabin door opened. Mellisandre couldn?t get off the train quickly enough to suit her and in her hurry to get home she almost missed Mr. Moosegnobbler who had come to fetch her from the station.

She had intended to just drop her suit case off in her room and then poof to where ever Gnimish was at the time. But that was not to be. Mrs. Moosegnobbler insisted on her sitting down for short cake and coffee and on hearing some details on how the weekend went first. The Moosegnobblers were impressed that their apprentice got to oversee the Hotel Ashton?s baking and would not let her retreat until after she had described each of the wedding cakes and some of the other more special breads and pies.

Finally the coffee was consumed and their curiosity was satisfied for the moment and Mellisandre was free to leave. Once in her room, she glanced at the suit case and gave it a shrug. Unpacking could wait. Her hand went up to the pretzel shaped pendant, thoughts of Gnimish filling her mind, when she noticed a stack of papers sitting on her bed.

A few more moments to see what it was would not be so bad, she thought and instead of tapping the amulet she grabbed up the papers. Letters from Gnimish she noticed as she read the first line and warmth spread through her. She would read them again later, she thought as she placed the stack under her pillow and then poofed to Gnimish.

(In Black Ink)

Good Morning, Sandy!! I hope you got lots of rest for your tests today. Looks like I?m going to be having a busy day, it?s Petitioner Day. Well, every day seems like that, but today it?s official.

I?ll write some more later! Off to the Council Chambers I go.

(In Green Ink)

Well, that was far from an exciting way to spend half a day. We do have local magistrates for this sort of stuff, but I guess it?s good for me to work with the people now and then. Still, the things they ask about?even had two farmers that came in to fight over who owned a giant pumpkin because it was planted on one plot of land but grew so big it rolled onto the neighboring plot.. Was larger than three gnomes they claimed. I find that hard to believe, but I bet you could make a lot of pumpkin pies with that!

(In Red Ink)

Figured I?d go take a walk in the gardens while I had some time. Everything?s a little different now with it not exactly being winter anymore, but it?s still basically the same place. Went past where we had our picnic too, someone actually put a little table and chairs there in that spot! Going to have to talk to someone about that, that?s just silly.

Stopped by the monument in here for a bit too. Have to now and then to remind me of things. Guess I never showed it to you; I?ll have to do that someday.

Not enough time to drop by the Arena tonight it seems.

(In Yellow Ink)

Oh, goodie, guess what I got for dinner tonight? Yeah, potatoes. Mashed potatoes with blue food coloring and little chunks of red onion. Why would I eat that even if I liked potatoes?! That?s just awful. I let Drakhan eat it. Not sure in this lighting but I think his scales turned a little blue.

(In Black Ink)

Well, getting ready for bed. Just took a quick bath, boy does that bring back some nice memories!

I love you and miss you and know you?re doing great.

See you later, good night.

(In Red Ink)

Good morning, Sandy. You?re coming home today!

The clock and I got into a staring match earlier. I guess it won because I blinked and you still weren?t back.

How was the train ride home? You?ll have to tell me all about it; you know I?ve never been on one of those things? I can?t wait to be hearing how you did!

Drakhan says he?s tired of me pacing around the room. Well too bad.

I?m not sure what to be doing with all these papers. Guess I could just keep them somewhere. Last thing I?d need is someone finding them and nosing around though.

(In Black Ink)

I know what I?ll do with them?I?d best do it fast before you get home.

Won?t be able to write anymore though. So for now I?ll say goodbye. I?ll save the rest of the mushy stuff for when I actually see you later today. It?ll be much better that way anyway.

-Gnimish

One of two grooms stepped in front of the two gnomes and opened the door to the carriage; a little retractable set of stairs slowly tumbled out as he did so.

"We really get to take a ride in this?" Mellisandre asked with sparkling eyes. It was a rhetorical question, though, as her stepping up to it proved.

"Figured just poofin' all over the place wasn't quite fittin' for a trip like todays, ya know?" Gnimish nodded with a smile as they approached the little stairs. He offered a hand to steady her with as she ascended them into the waiting carriage.

"You're a genius!" She sank into the well cushioned seat with no little surprise. That the fancy equipage was Gnimish's and that he could take rides in it whenever he wanted, or that he probably had done so many times before completely escaped her at the time.

"This is soft. Oh look, there are even little curtains on the windows." The inside of the carriage was as elaborately decorated as the outside but surprisingly and luxuriously comfortable despite all the decorations.

"Yep!" Gnimish smiled happily at her approval as he climbed in and took a seat beside her as opposed to the 'proper' seating across from her.

"I think they keep makin' them comfier every year to try to get me to ride in 'em more often. Somethin' about appearances and such. I dunno." He shrugged as he slipped an arm around her while the groom folded up the little staircase and closed the door, and then scurried to hop onto the back of the carriage. The second groom released the horses and followed suit. Moments later the driver gave the reins a little snap and off the gnomes went.

"They put new seats in every year?" That appeared a rather wasteful practice to her. Even riding in it every day Gnimish couldn't possibly wear out the seats that fast. Mellisandre happily leaned against Gnimish, enjoying the feeling of his arm around her even more than the superb carriage ride.

"Somethin' like that. ?Seems like every day I don't ride in one they think there's somethin' I don't approve of that they can be fixin'." Another little half-shrug followed, Gnimish not being nearly as interested in the idea of sycophantic carriage builders replacing seats as he was in the woman seated next to him. "Shouldn't be a terribly long ride really, the place isn't far from the palace or anythin'."

"So it's just like with the potatoes?" In a way that explanation made more sense to her then the one about appearances. She thought Gnimish always appeared absolutely fantastic and a carriage could do little if anything to improve on that. "Is it a store where all the court goes shopping?"

"Exactly like the potatoes, yep... every time I don't eat them they fix 'em some new way thinkin' I'll just be divin' in, heh... so tired of potatoes." One could almost hear his stomach groaning in protest at the thought.

"Oh, and some of 'em shop there, yep! Dunno if we'll be runnin' into anyone, they usually buy a decades worth of stuff at a time or somethin'... seems that way at least." Of course to Gnimish a small dresser of clothing was 'a decades worth'.

"If they ever meet Rup- no Russel, they'll need all those in the space of a week." Mellisandre giggled at the idea of buying years worth of clothes at once. Fashion wouldn't slow down enough to make that worth while. She also doubted that Gnimish's assessment was quite correct.

The Assistant with the Tape in the Daisy Room

Mellisandre had just tucked her hand into the crook of Gnimish's arm when door to the clothing store opened. Mellisandre just caught a glimpse of a friendly face with fine lines before the woman that stood in the opening dropped into a curtsey.

"And here we are, yep... oh, 'ey there!" Gnimish was sure he'd been here before, but it seemed he didn't pay much attention because nothing about the place seemed all that familiar. Other than the plain door, that much he could remember. As the grooms scurried about to get back to their places on the carriage Gnimish headed for the entrance, nodding to the lady there.

"Good afternoon, your imperial highness. It's such an honor that you grace my humble establishment with your visit. Please do come in." The woman straightened once the emperor had greeted her.

"And you too, Duchess Gnoffeymel." Obviously the clothier was well informed on the current gossip. "You are just in time for tea. You will have a cup won't you?" She led the pair into a comfortably appointed and elegantly furnished sitting room as if they were expected and dear guests.

"Oh, well...it's not official or... oh, thank ya, I was kinda thirsty..." Gnimish seemed a bit embarrassed by the fact that word of Mellisandre's title had already circulated so fast.

Mellisandre gave Gnimish's arm a little squeeze as they followed the woman, presumably Clara Witman herself. For the moment the gnome baker was speechless and impressed. Her eyes darted here and there in an attempt to take in everything at once.

Though at first glance the room appeared to be just like any other fancy sitting room Mellisandre had seen pictures of, she took notice of all the little things that hinted it was used for more than just serving tea in dainty cups.

The coffee table book covers pictured fashionably dressed ladies and gents rather than the expected classical paintings or flora and fauna. Also unusual were the curtains in way too many to be normal doorways leading off the room and the fine yet unexpected materials of various throws and doilies on the dainty yet comfortable couch and arm chairs.

"Your trip was not too strenuous, I do hope." Ms. Witman inquired politely as she poured steaming tea into little cups as soon as the couple was seated.

"Nu uh." Mellisandre shook her head. "Gnimish had the most adorable carriage for us to get here in with cute little horses."

Gnimish nodded his agreement as he reached for one of the cups. "Nah, was a comfy trip, had the best company too." It wasn't the drink he was used to, but it was welcome nonetheless and he took a few little sips of the tea. "I guess ya know why were here then, we gotta be pickin' Sandy up somethin' to be wearin' at... well... ya know..."

"Of course. Ah, there you are." Ms Witman greeted a much younger version of herself. They were even dressed in the same elegant afternoon dresses.

"Please take Duchess Gnoffeymel into the Daisy room and get her measurements while I will inquire what exactly she will need." Though she was talking to her assistant, she smiled to Mellisandre and gave her a friendly nod, inviting her to follow the assistant.

The Gnopfken Girl with the Shoe in the Sitting Room

Clara Witman tried her best not to laugh or even smile, but the corner of her lip was twitching just a little despite her best effort.

"We will take care of those too then. Has it already been decided what jewelry she will be wearing for the occasion?" A duchess, even one as young as Mellisandre, should not appear to a function as the guest of honor without a little bit of jewelry.

"Oh, I don't think I've ever seen Sandy wearin' jewelry or anythin'... hm. Hadn't thought about it really, there's gonna be the official tiara thing of course but I dunno what else!" Fortunately Gnimish was a little too busy with being boggled by the entire situation to notice Clara's reaction to his cluelessness.

"We could invite Mr. Goldstein over to show us a few pieces, if you prefer something new as opposed to the imperial jewels." Clara wasn't sure if any imperial jewels even existed, but she deemed it safer to assume that some did than not, and managed to advise the emperor without seeming to do so.

"Oh, no... those are for... well...somethin' else." Gnimish did, of course, have the hope in his mind that one day he really could place the Imperial jewels on his Mellisandre, but this wasn't the occasion. "Would be nice to be bringin' some stuff for Sandy to be lookin' at though!"

Mellisandre had been asked similar questions by the woman who had introduced herself as Shelly. But her answers had simply been that Gnimish seemed to like her in green things, that she had better not embarrass him with what she wore to the ceremony and she had not been shopping for palace clothes anywhere before just now.

When all the measurements had been taken and Shelly had written each and every one of them down - there were far more of them then Mellisandre thought any single person could have - the woman led her back to the sitting room.

"Everything went well?" Ms Witman pulled the little book out again and added a few more notes, so it was not obvious if her question was directed to Mellisandre, who hurried to sit down next to Gnimish again, or Shelly.

"The Gnopfken girls are about the right size." Shelly offered in way of reply.

"Get them ready then. Here, I marked down what all they should show. And do invite Mr. Goldstein over." Clara handed the little book to her assistant and then turned back to her guests to refill their cups.

Relieved both to have Mellisandre back and to no longer be alone with Clara and all her confusing questions, Gnimish smiled happily and set his cup down and leaned over to Mellisandre, whispering, "Ya ok?" As if the entire process of buying clothes was some horrible ordeal.

"Of course. This is an odd way of shopping, though." She whispered with a little giggle. Out loud she asked, "So now we just wait a little?"

"We will get to see a few gowns in just a little bit." Clara Witman smiled to the pair and went on to explain what they would be looking at.

"I suppose somethin' like that..." As he set his cup down he took a quick glance at Mellisandre?s feet just to make sure she really did have shoes on. He was still a little confused by the questions.

Ms. Witman had finished her introduction of the gowns they would be looking at and turned the conversation to polite chit chat, getting as far as to ask their liking of the current weather, when the assistant returned.

Before Gnimish or Mellisandre could reply, Shelly offered ?The Gnopfken girls are ready."

"I'm thinkin' it's perfect!" Gnimish wasn't sure, but he could have sworn that he saw the Gnopfken girl in the beautiful green dress quickly stick her tongue out at the other girl after having heard his comment, but he wad been too distracted by Mellisandre's reaction to really notice.

Meanwhile the clothier silently directed the girls to come closer and to show off the petticoats they were wearing underneath the dresses. Both were fashioned of a shiny white material, one merely adorned with lace borders between tiers while the other's bottom tier, from the knee down rather than just from mid calf, consisted of three layers of fine lace.

"I think... um..." Gnimish blinked a couple times and found himself turning away to look at something terribly interesting on the wall for some reason. "...I'll leave this one up to ya, yep."

"I've never seen anything so pretty." Mellisandre couldn?t resist and leaned forward to finger the lace.

"It's much softer than it looks, too." The expression on Mellisandre's face was one of pure amazement and joy.

Whatever it was on the wall that Gnimish suddenly had found so interesting seemed far less interesting as soon as he heard her voice, and he just had to turn and see the expression on her face.

"Which one of 'em do ya like?"

"This one and this one." Mellisandre pointed first at the petticoat and then at the dress she had fallen in love with the moment she saw it. "It is beautiful."

"Then that's what we'll be gettin', yep!" Terribly pleased that she'd found garments she liked so much, Gnimish turned and began to nod at Clara, figuring she would be expecting his confirmation. But then he remembered something before he opened his mouth, and he looked back at the Gnopfken girls for a moment.

"Oh, she said shoes too, hm."

At Gnimish?s remark Mellisandre dropped her eyes to the shoes the girls wore. Both pairs matched the dresses perfectly in color. One pair appeared simple with a comfortable heel the other was adorned with glittery stones and had impossibly high looking heels.

Gnimish, too, looked from one set of shoes to the other and nodded at the simpler, shorter-heeled pair. He found the very sight of the absurdly high heeled pair painful and knew there'd be no way Mellisandre could be comfortable in them.

"Up to you and all, but those other ones, I dunno how anyone could be wearin' 'em!"

"Poor girl must be uncomfortable." Mellisandre looked up to the girl wearing the impossible shoes with a sympathetic smile and received a little wink in return.

"By when would you like the garments to be delivered?" The clothier addressed Gnimish after she had jotted down a few more notes, guessing that Mellisandre would rather walk out of here with the clothes under her arm. Which of course just wasn't the thing to do.

Gnimish tore his attention away from Mellisandre's glowing face just long enough to turn to Clara and answer. "We'll be needin' em by... hm... second Thursday... the ceremony is on the tenth, so at least a few days before that."

"That is certainly possible." Ms Witman nodded. The few alterations needed to the gown and the making of the undergarments would take a few days at the most.

"Three days hence to the palace." She had not lifted her voice, but she was looking to Gnimish for confirmation or instructions to the contrary, while a wave of her hand dismissed the two girls.

"Oh." Finally she lifted her gaze from the display to Gnimish, looking for help. "Uhm..."

Gnimish smiled widely and wrapped an arm around her, not sure if she was intimidated by the dwarf or the jewelry or both. Mr. Goldstein took the delay in stride, not unfamiliar with such reactions, and placed the first piece back in the case. Slowly he started to go over the other contents of the case, shifting a gemstone here and there to show off its sparkle in the light.

Uncharacteristically forward about the unfamiliar subject, Gnimish leaned forward and found a pair of relatively simple earrings with little glittering diamonds hanging down and held one of them to her ear, brushing away a little wisp of stray hair in the process.

"Ya know ya can be pickin' out anythin', ya want, of course!" Mr. Goldstein raised an eyebrow as Gnimish took the earrings, but said nothing while the Emperor toyed with them.

Despite Mellisandre smiling ever so beautifully at him when he held the earring to her ear, and Gnimish being rather captivated by that smile, he did notice that there was something amiss with her ears.

"Oh, hm, where do ya put..." he wasn't entirely sure at first if he was just missing something, or if there really was something wrong. Finally he realized that, no, her ears were definitely not pierced. Feeling a tad awkward, or rather even more so than he had to begin with, he placed the earrings back in the case, not hearing the quiet snicker from Mr. Goldstein.

"Maybe we oughta stick to somethin' a little simpler like a ring." At least he couldn't make a fool of himself there. She most certainly did have fingers.

"Very good thinking.? Mr. Goldstein pulled a row of rings from the case. Five different rings sat nestled between two padded rolls of pale velvet.

Who knew that shopping for rocks was such a challenge, Gnimish thought to himself as he looked over the rings. That sapphire one certainly wouldn't go with anything, neither would that amethyst, not that he was aware that the purple stone was called that. That round emerald with little diamonds surrounding it certainly looked like something that would work though; he thought and lifted it from the display despite the muffled sound of protest from Mr. Goldstein.

Mellisandre looked on wide eyed. She still had difficulties believing what her eyes were showing her.

Gently Gnimish found that hand that he had sought out so many times before when preparing to poof them somewhere. But, for some reason, this seemed far different. His hand may have been shaking, or maybe he was just not paying enough attention. Either way, he tried slipping the ring onto her middle finger first before he chuckled nervously and found her ring finger instead. It turned out that the ring slipped on way too easily and would probably have fit better on her middle finger anyway.

Mellisandre was way too nervous to notice, though. As soon as the ring was in place she grasped Gnimish's hand before he could pull back.

"It does look ever so pretty and it's almost the same color as the dress.?

Nodding his agreement, Gnimish looked from the ring to Mellisandre and found himself unable to resist placing a small kiss on her lips as she held his hand.

The Emperor With The Tiara In The Hollow

The bakery appeared different to Gnimish when he arrived there. It took him a few moments to realize what was different, too. The closed sign in the window he had expected for this time of evening, but the lights still being on and the door standing wide open was odd. Also odd was the fact that the bakery was decorated with bright paper garlands.

The noise of multiple conversations, wafting from the bakery kitchen along with the mouth watering aroma of baked goods, greeted him as he entered the building.

Parties and Gnimish weren't exactly the best of chums, but he certainly wasn't going to let that get in the way of his seeing Mellisandre tonight. He waded through the crowd, completely forgetting he was sticking out like a sore thumb in the prismatic robe among the people crowding the bakery, and tried searching out Mellisandre. He almost turned a bright red when he saw one of Sandy's friends from the fair... Dagnariel was it?... and made a point of avoiding eye contact with that one, fearful of an episode about the whole "Gnimblux" thing.

Gnimish needn't have worried though. Everyone recognized the prismatic robe. Only the emperor wore such a piece of clothing, and no one mistook him for anyone other than the emperor - once they took the time to look at him, that was. Even Dagnariel did not recognize him as Gnimblux with the green cap from the fair.

Mellisandre stood next to Mrs. Moosegnobbler, appearing particularly small with the missus' arm around her shoulders. Whatever Mrs. Moosgnobbler was saying to the pair across from her must be embarassing to Mellisandre, Gnimish thought, for a bright blush was staining her cheeks.

Of course, once Gnimish caught sight of Mellisandre and the color in her beautiful cheeks, he simply had to get through the crowd as quickly as possible to see her. She certainly didn't look in poor spirits now, but he was still concerned about her after the ceremony. But questions about her condition would have to wait, a party certainly wasn't the time or place.

Finally, he broke past the last couple between him and Mellisandre; standing as though he'd just ran a short distance and doing his best to be polite by just waving a little to get her attention while Mrs. Moosegnobbler talked.

When Mellisandre spotted Gnimish, alerted by whispers of "The Emperor", she ducked out from under the missus' arm with a mumbled apology and went to greet him with a proper hug.

"Hello there. I missed you. Look, they're throwing a party, and it's for me." It actually hadn't quite sunk in yet that the party was due to her having passed the pre masters - not just passed either, but passed with marks of excellence.

"I missed ya too... A party for you!?" A wide smile appeared on his face as he embraced her, and right in the middle of the crowd too. That'd certainly make the papers, not that he gave that fact a single thought.

"Whatever fo... oh, yer test, it's yer test, isn't it?" Were It anyone else it might have been a miracle that Gnimish had the presence of mind to remember such a thing. In truth, he had been thinking about Mellisandre?s test quite a bit those last few days, knowing how excited she'd be once she got word back of her success, or equally crushed should she have met with failure.

Mellisandre nodded and pointed toward the table. The cake, still sitting on the table, was mostly gone. But the letters 'Cong' and 'Mell' could still be seen in white sugar paste on chocolate.

Her room looked just as it always did. No decorations marred its simpleness and no people crowded it.

"Peace and quiet is nice after all that noise downstairs." Mellisandre sighed contentedly.

"Definitely..." Gnimish closed the door behind them and made darn certain it was shut up nice and tight before he turned back to Mellisandre and took her hands in his. "So ya really did it! I can't believe... er, well, of course I can... oh, ya know what I mean. I'm sure ya've heard plenty of gushin' already tonight, suppose you'd rather be rescued from it than havin' me start up on it too."

Mellisandre nodded vigorously, but her wide smile told him that she was very pleased with his reaction and the faint color in her cheeks that his compliments were well recieved.

"That party has been going on forever. With the missus making such a fuss now, I don't even want to know what she'll do once I pass the actual exam."

"Oh, I'm not sure I'm even wantin' to know." Gnimish snickered a bit and shook his head. "She's liable to stick ya on the roof of the bakery with a big glowin' sign that says ya passed it! Ya'd be lookin' like a big holiday ornament or somethin', and no one's wantin' that, nope."

Mellisandre had to laugh at that image. "The sad thing is, that's probably what she had in mind until Mr. Moosegnobbler told her why she really shouldn't attempt it."

"Aw, jeez. Can't put nothin' past that lady... speakin' of which maybe we'd best be gettin' outta here, someone's gonna come lookin' for ya eventually. And they'll probably want to stuff us both with cake or somethin' and make us do a polka with our cake-stuffed bellies and... well, maybe we just oughta get movin', eh?"

"You are a genius." Mellisandre just had to squeeze him for that suggestion. Then she put her hand into his and nodded. "I'm more than ready to leave."

Gnimish smiled and nodded, giving her hand a little squeeze as he reached for his amulet. But rather than appearing in his room at the palace, the gnomes found themselves standing before the hollow under the tree outside Hirshdale.

Mellisandre recognized the hollow at once. After all, it was her who had shown it to Gnimish.
"This is perfect." She exclaimed with a little chuckle, then ducked down and moved into the hollow, pulling Gnimish along.

"Somethin' about it just seems more... secluded. Than the palace that is. Exactly what we're lookin' for right about now." He definitely didn't resist her pulling, not needing any encouragement to follow her into the hollow.

"You got that on the dot." Mellisandre settled next to him and for a while listened to the silence.

The night was indeed surprisingly quiet, as if the trees themselves had politely agreed to lay a blanket of silence across the woods just for the two gnomes taking up residence in the hollow among the gnarled roots. But it wasn't the silence that Gnimish noticed so much as what it let him hear. For those quiet moments he listened to every one of Mellisandre's breaths, the quiet rhythm as relaxing as anything he could think of as he sat with his arm wrapped around her, holding her close.

Mellisandre could not recall ever having been that tired before. Not even when she had worked for days on end with little to no sleep inbetween days had she been as tired as she had been during that ceremony dinner. Perhaps the air in the room had been bad. The air had been heavy with perfumes and colognes. Or perhaps the nervousness leaving her took all energy with it. She just didn't know.

"It was still embarassing. I tried very hard not to do anything wrong." Mellisandre was far more bothered that she should have messed up so completely, than to worry about her health. She did feel just fine now after all.

"Ya did great, really." A kiss placed on the side of her head punctuated that. "I was proud of ya, bein' able to handle all that formal stuff and folks starin' at ya, and recitin' silly oaths and all that. So ya fell asleep, I bet hardly anyone even noticed! And that tiara will show up sometime, can't have gone far or anythin'."

"I'm sorry I lost it right away." That tiara was the other thing Mellisandre was worried about. It had looked ever so expensive. And it was just nowhere to be found. Gnimish and her had gone back to the room of ceremonies later that night to look for it, without any luck though.

"It'll turn up, I'm sure of it, yep. Probably stuck under somethin'. I suppose someone coulda stolen it or somethin', but that's not yer fault. Besides, what's the worst that could happen, eh? Just a tiara, not nearly as important as... say... yer cap. Can always just have another one made!" As if to illustrate the point, Gnimish summoned up a few wisps of his mist to dance around her head, lighting up the inside of the tree as they formed into a tiara of blue crystal. Far from an exact replica of the lost item, but he couldn't quite remember what that looked like anyway.

"Do you think anyone will notice the difference?" Mellisandre reached up to feel what it might look like and smiled to Gnimish. He was so very sweet about the entire disaster and trying to make it appear a minor mishap.

"Oh, I'm afraid so." He chuckled a bit, knowing his hasty creation was nothing compared to the item that was lost, but he wouldn't say so for fear of further worrying her over losing it. "But it's enough to pretend with for now, eh Duchess?"

"Och, you." Mellisandre chuckled and pressed a smooch on his bearded cheek. "Emperor. Where is your tiara anyway?"

"My tiara? Oh no, I'm not wearin' one of those. All dainty and cute and such, nahhh." He did, however, light up the inside of the tree again, summoning up a just-slightly oversized crown to sit on his head. "There, now we're the royalty of the tree!"

"That sounds a lot better than of all of Shylasa or Hirshberg." Mellisandre giggled.

"Yeah, rulin' the inside of a tree hollow can't be all that hard. Whaddya think our first order of business in the kingdom of tree hollow oughta be?" Gnimish snickered a bit, not really expecting an answer as he leaned over to place a kiss of his own on her cheek. Though, he did find it impossible to resist just tracing his lips down ever so slightly to give the side of her neck a little kiss as well. And then another.

It would be some time before the two finished saying their sweet goodnights, and despite the fact that it would be all too easy to just allow herself to slip off into sleep in his arms, Mellisandre remembered that come morning, and morning couldn't be all that far away anymore, children would come to play in their cave. So just before sleep could win out, Mellisandre found and tapped Gnimish's medallion.

"Well, no wonder. It didn't have enough time to work, useless woman." Walter, after having re-assured himself that no one else was walking the corridor and about to catch him eavesdropping, had pressed his ear to the door just in time to hear the male voice reply. Melfrey sounded more than just a little annoyed, he thought.

Melfrey, in turn, shook his head as he caught the still pretty blond covering a yawn. She had probably tried on the tiara in front of a mirror, he guessed. She could be such a vain creature.

"Where are your gloves? I told you not to touch it without unless you wanted to die, too." He quickly grabbed up a cloth to keep between his hand and the tiara. "Here gimme that."
With that he snatched the fancy piece from her hand and sat it on a tray.

"I only held it for a minute." She lied blatantly.

"Sure you did. You can be such an idiot. What do you think would happen if it was found with you or in your rooms?" He suppressed a satisfied smile when he saw her pale at his words.

The conversation that followed was conducted much more quietly and Walter had to hold his breath a few times in order to make out the words. Even though, he did not learn enough of their planning to entirely satisfy his curiosity.

"Now go find me one of the maids that cleaned up in the room of ceremonies." Melfrey?s words sent Walter back into hiding behind on of the curtains. A moment later he witnessed Governor Struthers leave in somewhat of a hurry and decided to wait and see what would happen next.

After a short while, much sooner than Walter had expected, the woman returned, with one of the palace maids in tow. A ridiculously young maid at that, Walter thought. The girl was looking straight at him, too. For moment he feared the girl would give him away. Then he reminded himself that she couldn?t possible see him through the heavy curtain and was probably just looking toward the window. He should be more worried had she glanced down to notice his boots.

Then the moment had passed and the two females entered Melfrey?s chambers, closing the door behind them. Walter snuck back to his listening post in the hope of learning more of their plan.

He made out what sounded to him like hypnotic instructions that would have the maid deliver something to the butler with the explanation that she had found it while cleaning in the hall of ceremonies. It was a decent plan, Walter admitted as he returned to his hide out. The maid would have no memory of meeting with Belinda and Melfrey. So, even if anyone ever suspected anything amiss, no suspicion would fall back on the Governor and Melfrey.

When, finally, the maid left again, she carried a small bundle, presumably the ?something? capable of inducing death that was to be handed over to the butler. Walter decided to follow the maid at a secure distance. A task that was made rather difficult once the maid arrived at the entry hall. Walter was forced to stay back. Though he couldn?t hope to hear what was spoken between the butler and the maid, he managed to get a decent view of them.

Walter nearly gasped when the butler pealed away the cloth and looked at what lay inside while he was chiding the girl. That looked suspiciously like the tiara he had seen the emperor set on the Gnoffeymel girl?s head. Odd. He?d not have figured Belinda as one of those who?d have an interest in seeing that the emperor remained without attachment.

"Oh, it's the cute horses again!" Mellisandre just had to give Gnimish a quick kiss before they closed the distance to the carriage. She was touched that Gnimish had noticed how much she had enjoyed their last ride among all the excitement and nervousness about shopping. "You do have the most wonderful ideas."

"I remembered how much ya liked it the last time." Gnimish beamed at the excited little kiss. It seemed everything was going just right as he offered her a hand to help her into the carriage before climbing in himself. "It might be kind of a long trip, so good thing ya thought it was comfy before."

"Yes, it's ever so comfortable." She sank into the luxurious cushions and happily leaned against Gnimish as soon as he sat down next to her. "A long trip you say. You're not going to tell me until we get there, are you?"

"Well, it might be another opera." Gnimish's arm found its way around her as one of the footmen closed the door to the coach. "Or maybe some theater!" He didn't sound a bit serious about either of the possibilities though.

"That would be marvelous. I really loved the one with the vampires flying around and the silly thing with the bath and the sponge." Gnimish taking her to the dance of the vampires had been her first experience with the opera, and she had enjoyed every minute of it, including the intermission.

"If it's going to be a very long ride, how about you tell me another story to while away the time?" She'd been wanting to hear another, but there seemed to be little time for such.

"Another story, hm... what're ya in the mood for? Or is there somethin' ya'd like to be knowin' about? I guess you've seen so much of my life lately and I've never had the time to be stoppin' and explainin' any of it."

"You could tell me a little more. I'm definitely in the mood to learn everything about you." She found his hand to hold - the one not attached to the arm he had placed around her shoulders - and settled to listen.

Everything about him. That was a bit of a problem, he'd always thought. Did she really want to know *everything*? Maybe not, but if he expected Mellisandre to share her life with him, the least he could do was be honest about who he was. But how to begin such a tale, he wondered. Some of the things that needed to be said couldn't just be blurted out.

Fortunately, Gnimish felt an odd sort of clarity as he opened his mouth to begin, knowing that none of it would truly matter to Mellisandre, knowing it wouldn't change a thing. "Well, ya remember that story I told ya about me meetin' Drakhan and such?"

"Yes, of course I remember that." Mellisandre nodded.

"That didn't exactly happen on Shylasa... well, it didn't happen on Shylasa at all. In fact, Shylasa wasn't even here when that happened." It wasn't many words, but it was certainly a brain-full of implications, and he stopped to look at her as she took it in. She looked puzzled.

"Where else could it have happened? Oh, in Rhydin?" She tried to put the pieces of information together in her mind, but had some difficulties with that. "What do you mean Shylasa wasn't there when you met Drakhan?"

"If you just added the before and after years, how many would you come up with?" The sleep years didn't really count for anything, did they?

"Best guess? Somewhere between thirty and thirty-five."

"That's not so bad. In fact, that's rather perfect." She gave him one of her very best smiles and then reached up with her free hand and ruffled his hair. "You didn't really think I'd take to calling an old geezer or anything like that, did you?"

"It could be even less!" He chuckled as her hand made a bit of a mess out of his hair, not that he minded one bit. "I wasn't sure how ya'd be takin' that kind of story, but it was only fair that I'd tell it eventually, eh?"

"I'm glad you did. Now I've an answer to give when anyone asks." For a moment she just smiled happily. "That wasn't the story, though, was it?"

Just amazing, Gnimish thought as he stared right back at her. How could he *not* love this woman after all that? It made what he planned on doing today even easier, and he even began feeling a bit impatient to reach their destination. "Well, perhaps not the whole thing, there's always a bit more, eh?"

Mellisandre nodded to that. "We have time for a bit more, don't we?" She absolutely loved Gnimish's stories and she sure would love to hear the rest of this one

"The rest of the story... it kinda gets even crazier." He found the hand that had tousled his hair a bit and gave it another little squeeze. "Ya see, Drakhan and I, we didn't just go stumblin' on Shylasa and decide to take a long nap."

"That wouldn't make much sense. If I stumbled upon such a thing, I'd want to go exploring." Mellisandre agreed with him.

"Somethin' like that, yep. Thing is, Drakhan and I weren't so much searchin' for a new home as much as we were lookin' to... well... make a new home."

Knowing that probably made almost no sense, Gnimish chose to pause here and try demonstrating instead, releasing Mellisandre's hand and lifting his now free hand a bit. A small cloud of mist appeared in his hand and began to form into what seemed to be a rotating sphere.

At that very moment the carriage ground to a halt, accompanied by a series of dull thuds, breaking Gnimish's concentration and causing the forming sphere to dissolve back into the air.

"What was that?" Mellisandre was taken by surprise and would have fallen off her seat had she not had the presence of mind to brace herself.

"I dunno, maybe we're here already, hm." That didn't make a lot of sense to Gnimish though, as he had expected the trip to last far longer.

Mellisandre flinched as she heard two thuds in close succession and tried to peer through the curtained window.

Even if they had reached their destination, the grooms would have been at their door before the carriage even stopped. As Gnimish jumped two more times at those last thuds, he reminded himself that those weren't a usual part of the trip either and he joined Mellisandre in taking a look out the window, since opening the door proved to be impossible from the inside.

"Oh-ho, who do wes have here. Ey, boys, this here gent looks just like the emperor. Wes got us the big fish."

Gnimish replied to the bandits observation with a simple "Mmhmm" since he didn't even have a word to describe how he felt as he climbed out of the carriage and helped Mellisandre down. His mood was quickly shifting away from the calm happiness that had enveloped him just minutes ago, and the change showed on his face.

By the time it occured to Mellisandre that they could just have poofed with a tap to Gnimish's amulet, it was too late to do so. Most of the masked people had crossbows trained at Gnimish or at her and she guessed that they'd loosen their bolts as soon as her or Gnimish made a wrong movement.

"So, what's the emergency?" Mellisandre asked as soon as she had both feet on the ground.

The crossbows didn't seem to concern Gnimish all that much, though he did make a point of stepping partially in front of Mellisandre. "Whatever it is, I'm thinkin' it'd better be *really* important to be interruptin' this trip..."

"Emergency - ey boys." The rough voice gave a false snicker. "Wes are in needs of funds. So yous have the privilege of getting robbed."

The speaker waved his crossbow at one of the other masked riders to get of his horse and approach the pair. "Yous be handing yours valuables over to this here fine man. And don't yous be trying anythings funny."

Mellisandre spoke up then. "Valuables? Hah, we don't have any. You guys picked the wrong carriage."

Gnimish raised an eyebrow as the man approached. Mellisandre was right, he didn't even have anything all that valuable on his person... oh, yes he did, he remembered. The ring in the little box. The ring for Mellisandre. The ring to go with the words he wanted to say today. They weren't about to get that, or anything else. He'd had just about enough of these morons anyway.

As soon as the man got within ten feet of Gnimish and Mellisandre, a shell of pure blue aether shimmered into place around them and a cloud of little wisps of mist appeared in the air around it. All in the blink of an eye each little wisp formed into a fist-sized shard of crystal and streaked out toward the approaching man.

With only a minor reaction delay, bolts wizzed at the aether shell, mindless if their comrade was hit by them or the pair that was to be robbed.

Mellisandre was temporarily fascinated by all the activity in the air ahead of her, or she would have tried to dodge the bolts. She didn?t have to, though.

"I coulda told ya this was a bad idea, if ya'd bothered to be askin'..." Gnimish glared at the apparent leader of the bandits as the bolts slammed into the watery surface of the shell, each one hanging in the air for a moment as if struggling to penetrate it before they simply dissolved into tendrils of mist.

Those bolts sealed their fates, Gnimish figured, and another series of crystalline shards appeared in the air and returned fire at the mounted men. Unfortunately for them, Gnimish was far more accurate than a crossbow and they didn't have the benefit of shielding. Each shard flew true, knocking men from their horses but leaving the animals unscathed.

Fortunately for Gnimish and the taunting Mellisandre both, a savior in the form of a black shadow and a gleaming katana saved the Emperor from finding out just how ineffective he'd probably have been with the scimitar against the two bandits. Before the two could even open their mouths to mock Mellisandre and point out the fate they were about to deliver to her, their bodies both crumpled to the ground, blood flowing from identical chest wounds.

"Now they're definitely hurt." Mellisandre wasn't able to recognize Kuriyama until he stood still. While he was moving, he was merely a blur.

"An accurate assessment, Duchess Gnoffeymel." Kuriyama slowly stepped toward the pair of gnomes, sharp eyes looked up and down the form of the Emperor as Gnimish sheathed Kui-sa'kai silently. Something was obviously wrong, but with Mellisandre there the bodyguard decided to leave the topic be for now. "It would be best if the Emperor took you home immediately and did the same himself. I will make the carriage my concern for now."

"There used to be a driver and a couple of coachmen, too." Mellisandre didn't like the idea of being dropped off at home without Gnimish. They certainly were not children being cought with their fingers in a cookie jar to deserve being sent to their prospective rooms.

"I am aware of the situation." Kuriyama answered in the same tone he'd have asked for a cup of tea in as he approached the damaged carriage and amazingly well-behaved horses.

Finally the silent Gnimish turned to Mellisandre and placed an arm around her shoulders again. Despite his attempts at getting it under control, he was still shaking very slightly.

"I'll take ya back to the palace, Sandy."

"That's a much better idea." Mellisandre put an arm around Gnimish's middle and squeezed gently. She'd have to get up early in the morning to make it to work on time, but she certainly didn't want to be alone just now.

"We'll talk later, Kuriyama." Gnimish reached up and tapped his amulet, sending he and Mellisandre to his chambers in the palace and the safety, peace and quiet that came with the room.

Upon reaching his chambers, Gnimish immediately made for his bed and sat down on the edge with Mellisandre, wrapped an arm firmly around her and pulled her close. The attack itself wasn't anything exactly new to Gnimish, so much, and the bulk of his concern was placed on Mellisandre, though the issues with his control over the aether had shaken him greatly. "Ya alright, Sandy? Everythin' in the right place and such?"

"Yes, I think so. Bolts wizzing by and glass pieces flying all over the place, that was shocking. They were a stupid bunch of people, though. We don't every carry loads of gold or silver with us when we go out. Whatever were they hoping for? But yes, everything seems to still be where its supposed to be." She reached up with her free hand to make sure the cap was still there and in one piece. With a little chuckle she added, "even the cap's all right."

Then she turned to Gnimish with a concerned look. She'd not have given away anything in words or actions while the thugs were around, but now no one was watching.

"What about you? There was something not going quite right with the shards, was it?"