"I, um." Karl pushes his food around with his fork, then he starts chuckling. "I need some sleep. Today has been strange and tiring, just like yesterday, and the day before. I hope things settle down some. I'd really like to have a chance to-" He reached out to just brush his hand across hers. "To do a lot of things. Can I walk you up to your room?"

~*~

Teryk is not even close to being asleep. He's busily doing...something. Whatever it might be has a lot to do with paper, ink, books, maps, numbers, and candles. He doesn't lift his head or turn to look at Janelle, he just holds up a finger that seems intended to stop her from talking anymore until he's finished whatever he's in the middle of. The task seems to be short, or a short portion of something longer, because he looks up about ten seconds later and sets his pen down. "Administrative...leadership..." He isn't looking up at her, though, he's looking at his piles of papers, neatly stacked everywhere.

"I have been making copies of them, and organizing each copy in a different way. This one is alphabetical by first name, that one is by last. Both organized by race, of course. I have several others, too..." He's clearly been a busy little bee. Pointing wordlessly to the other piles, he seems to be recalling which is which as he does so. "That one," he finally points to one of the stacks with a degree of triumph. "You want the people listed," he picks up just one page and offers it to her, "on this paper. There aren't a lot, but the elves have a couple, the dwarves have a couple. We've got some clerks and there's one genuine bureaucrat from Pallaxis."

The page has twelve names on it, some she already recognizes (Ferdilen and Kelios stand out as elves who would obviously be on such a list). Teryk makes a face. "You are aware, of course, that Princess Narsi of Gelest was the Crown Princess, and probably has a great deal of training for the job of Queen which is technically now hers, because we have to assume at this point that her father, the King of Gelest is dead."

Lily

"I'd like that." Lily answers, tenderly. She rises, taking Karl's offered hand as they exit. "Honestly, I'm almost glad to have a day that's merely strange and tiring. It's easier than thinking about, about," Suddenly, it's as though the weight of the whole week or more that she's been here comes crashing down on Lily, and she begins sobbing, then weeping, just outside her room, enfolded in the gentle warmth of Karl's arms.

Karl helps Lily into her room, and onto her bed, just holding her close and letting her cry until she's too exhausted to do anything but fall asleep. In his arms. After the day this has been, it doesn't take long.

When she wakes up the next morning, he's still there. He took off their shoes at some point, and covered them both with blankets, but nothing else seems to have changed. He's awake already, and idly brushing his thumb back and forth lightly on her arm.

~*~

Billy and Vorel wake up at about the same time. Vorel feels like himself again, his strength returned. Someone thought to bring a small bowl of cut up fruit for him. It sits in sight, just off the edge of the extremely comfy pillow he's resting on. Karias is not in sight, but there's a suspicious little lump moving around under a rug on the floor.

Billy



Billy wakes up, stretches, then remembering where he is and why, he looks over at Vorel. Seeing him awake and looking alright, Billy asks him, "Hey Vorel. Are you feeling alright? You really looked beat last night."

He then recalls Vorel opening the barrier so he could get back in. "How come you can open the sheild? Is there some sort of trick to it you can teach me? The wizard used my blood too to make it and I'm a dragon sort of like you?"

Teryk just shrugs. "In the two minutes I spent with her to complete the census, I found her to be...shall we say...'difficult'." He gives Janelle a dry smirk and his tone conveys that's really an understatement. "Ellissandra is, at the very least, a much more pleasant person. But go, it's late. Get some rest. I'm sure all the reasonable people have already done so. I was just thinking about packing it in for the night, myself."

Janelle

"Yes, it's been a long day," she replies in a wry tone, understating the case herself. "I'll be heading to be shortly, I just wanted to make sure this information was handy. Thank you, Teryk. You're very efficient." She folds the paper carefully, so as not to smudge the ink, before tucking it away. "Do you think you could arrange for these individuals to be available in the morning? I'll speak with Elissandra and show her the list tomorrow. It may give her some hope, if she knows there are good people she can rely on to pick from." She pats his shoulder once in gratitude. "Sleep well. I know I will." She nods to him and leaves the room, making her way to her own, and falling asleep not long after her head hits the pillow.

Lily

Lily yawns and blinks, then realizes that she's awake. "Uh, hi. I mean, good morning. I mean, oh never mind. Thanks for staying with me. And, and I'm sorry." She reaches out with her other arm, to take his hand in hers. " It's just that you make me feel safe, safe enough to think about, well, everything."

"I'll leave some messages about to be delivered first thing in the morning," Teryk tells Janelle as he grabs some fresh paper to do just that. She gets the distinct impression from him that he appreciates the notice of the work he's doing, but would never actually say so, or be upset by it not being noticed. A workaholic, undoubtedly.

~*~

"That's one of the highest compliments I've ever been paid," Karl says as he holds Lily firmly and squeezes her hand. "Good morning to you, too. This is also about the most pleasant way I can imagine to wake up." He chuckles lightly, a soft rumble of very masculine amusement. "Well, it's pretty close, anyway."

Vorel wakes up slowly, clenching up slightly and keeping his eyes close for a long few minutes as his mind creeps out of the warm safety of slumber. The pain from the previous night wasn't there though, though he could feel its effects lingering, but only slightly so. He relaxes again on the pillow as he opens his eyes. A quick sniff brings his head to face the bowl of fruit. He gives a sharp, happy trill and scrabbles to the edge of the pillow and viciously bites into one of the pieces, using a claw to keep it still as he rends a piece off.

As Billy speaks, he swivels his head to look at the large draconian, a small amount of fruit juice leaking from his maw. His posture fades slightly as what happened the previous night comes back to him. Yes, I'm alright, he replies to Billy, slightly subdued.I am now at least. It wasn't entirely me that opened the shield though. Tabin's, he starts then stops. He pokes at the piece of fruit and lets out a short sigh. Tabin's part of the shield, he reached out where I touched to let you through. He looks back to Billy for a moment and shakes his head. I do not know if there is any teaching to it though. When the shield went up, I think it drew more than just Tabin in, it nearly took me as well. Tabin would know the answer better than I would.

Billy



Billy thinks about Vorel's reply for a few moments.

"Well, I'm glad you're better. Do people get changed into other things a lot around here? I mean I used to be a boy. Now you say Tabin is the shield. I'm don't know about Lily, but Janelle was different before too?", Billy asks curiously.

Janelle

Janelle goes looking for Elissandra again first thing in the morning, the paper she got from Teryk safely in hand.

Ellissandra is found at the palace, sitting with Teryk, Ferdilen, and Kelios for breakfast. The guard standing by at the door is different from the one that Janelle saw last night, and he just nods to her. He was there at the North Gate yesterday, and presumably knows who she is.

The Princess and the two elves are chattering about something, Teryk is sitting quietly with a stack of paper and quills, two bottles of ink, and some toast. He is clearly listening, but probably not participating beyond sharing the food with them. He's the first to notice Janelle, and stands up with a smile.

"Your Highness, I believe you know Janelle," he gestures to her and waves her to one of the many empty seats. "No one else has arrived yet."

Ferdilen and Kelios both acknowledge Janelle with friendly smiles and nods. Ellissandra gestures to the same seat. She looks like she probably slept well last night, though her smile is thin and weak.

"I took the liberty of adding your friend Lily to the list, since she's the only druid we have, and the Princess asked for the dragons to be invited. No telling when any of them, or the others from the list, will wake up, though. It seemed a little rude to have people woken for this, given how the last few days have been and all."

~*~

It seems like perhaps Billy's voice summoned someone, or maybe they were standing outside, waiting for a sign there was someone awake in the room, because there is a knock on the door and it opens a little bit. "Sorry to intrude," a young female voice says hesitantly, "I was asked to not wake you, but to let you know when you woke that Her Highness, the Princess Ellissandra wishes to see you whenever you're ready, over in the Palace."

~*~

It's Karl's stomach grumbling that disturbs him and Lily later, but hers isn't far behind. As they move to retrieve hastily removed clothing from where it was flung, he notices something on the floor by the door and picks it up. Before he's found his pants. "It's for you," he holds out a piece of paper that's been folded over and has her name written on it in neat script. It must have been slipped under the door at some point.

The note was written by the same hand that put her name on the outside, and Lily is pretty sure it's Teryk's handwriting. His name at the bottom confirms that.

Please join us this morning at the Palace for a meeting regarding the city in general. Breakfast will be provided.

- Teryk, for Janelle

Janelle

Janelle sits in the indicated seat. "This was the only help I could think of so far," she says to the princess, "Although Teryk's been a step ahead of me the whole way." Perhaps because of the attack yesterday, she's feeling a little more self-conscious about her appearance than she has previously. There isn't much she can do about the fangs, but she found that this body's muscle memory was quite good at arranging its hair to hide the miniature horns on her head, which helped.

Lily

Lily slips on her green dress, then takes the note, giving Karl a quick peck on the cheek. "Thanks, love. Huh. They want me for some kind of meeting, at the Palace. You should come, we can both get something to eat." It doesn't take long for the two of them to finish getting dressed and set out for the Palace.

~*~

Lily and Karl enter hand in hand. Lily nods to those already there, but her eyes are glued to the food on the table. "Good morning, everyone. I brought Karl, I hope that's all right."

"Well, there just isn't a lot else to do," Teryk waves off the compliment form Janelle. "I'm used to being busy." He's about to sit down again when Lily and Karl come walking in. Instead, he gestures to two empty chairs. "I'm not sure he won't be bored to tears," Teryk says with a light chuckle, "but we have plenty of food and chairs."

Karl seems to be in a quite irrepressibly good mood as he follows Lily in and gets a chair for her. He sits beside her, blithely unaware of the serious expressions on some of the faces present, and starts in on the food.

Two dwarves arrive next, Baelrock (the leader of the mining town) and another that Janelle and Lily haven't met yet.

"It would be fair," Teryk says quietly, mostly for Ellissandra's benefit, "to point out that I did not invite Narsi of Gelest. She's decided to take up residence in the Palace, though, so she could happen on this gathering."

Ellissandra nods. "Corbin, announce Narsi if she starts lurking nearby."

The guard at the door seems to be the person attached to this name. "Yes, Highness."

"If anyone knows of a good spy-type person to keep an eye on her, that would be highly beneficial. I intend to remove her from the- from my palace and have her installed someplace else."

Billy




Hearing the princess wants to see them , Billy turns back to Vorel and tells him, "Common Vorel. Princess Ellissandra is really nice. She set up the pillow for you and the bed here for me. She sat up with us and told stories."

Billy makes his way out and to the palace, just a bit excited to see the Princess and hoping Janelle will be there too.

Janelle

"Did you have something specific in mind, princess?" Janelle asks in response to the question of Narsi.

Ellissandra sighs heavily. "I don't trust her to act in the best interests of everyone here, as opposed to the best interests of herself. The two might be the same thing sometimes, but somehow, I don't think they always will be. Eat first, though. Let's wait for the majority of the people to arrive before we really discuss anything important."

It seems like this is about the time most people are waking up, as the rest of the invitees arrive within the next ten minutes. Janelle and Lily don't recognize any of them specifically, though most look familiar. Billy and Vorel arrive before the last of them, before everyone is introduced. That task is handled quickly, so everyone knows who is who and what. Those that are in attendance:

Ellissandra, princess of Pallaxis
Ferdilen, the wood elf priest of Oturn, and an elven Elder
Kelios, the martial leader of the wood elves
Baelrock, the leader of the dwarves from the mine
Kradin, the martial leader of the dwarves from the mine
Karl, royal guardsman from Chemeny
Alan, leader of the craftsmen building the city
Bradley, mayor of the city until a couple of days ago
Jason, royal guardsman from Pallaxis
Advasian (male), high elf Sheriff of the city
Marissa, captain of the city guard
Norris, mayor of a small town in Gelest
Sasha (female), owner of a large company based in Rusenia that operated in every country on the continent (they made and distributed equestrian gear)
Adrian (male), halfling leader of the farmers and herders that were originally supplying the city
Teryk, a clerk who will be taking notes about the meeting
Janelle, Lily, Billy, Vorel

The meeting seemed to be ready to begin after the brief introductions all around, and Ellissandra stands up to make sure everyone can see and hear her.