The Black Tower Gauldin Branch

At the order of Madame Naoki, the staff of The Gauldish Black Tower Branch prepare themselves to receive the comatose Demonlord. Doors are opened, a large and sturdy bed is prepared, and medical staff are assembled.

Upon Lum’s arrival to the location, a team would approach with a large stretcher. Really just a sort of tarp stretched between two beams, the team would carry Maelik into the building, and into a side room. The room itself is mostly empty. The walls are paneled wood over stone, and the floor is ceramic tile, patterned in complex geometric patterns. Just two pieces of furniture save the room from being entirely empty. The first, a massive bed. Must be ten meters to a side, mostly square. Probably a bit oversized, even for Maelik, but better be too big, than too small. The other piece of furniture is a single, simple chair. Made of wood, four legs. Just a chair, sitting there off to one side of the bed.

Just across the hall, however, a very similar room is packed to the brim. Stuffed chock full of medical professionals and treatment supplies. Even though most of Maelik’s wounds seem to be treated, Naoki was taking no chances. If there turns out to be some issue that can be fixed with modern medicine, the resources would be there to rectify it. However, each of the individuals were warned of Maelik’s temper, and the group of them decided it best that he wake up without them in the room.

The going was rough for Maelik, the demon would thrash around once he was on the bed as his body experienced flashed of extreme pain. In an effort to rid himself of the excess aura he accumulated during his fight with Zuu his body made use of every one of its functions, each breath brought with it fire and each movement was violent and sudden. Even a few of his less usual features made an appearance as his drool became acid and the smoke that drifted from his agape maw turned into a poisonous cloud.

It took about an hour of horrible symptoms and by the end of it the bed was ripped to shreds and singed in some places, but when it was all over Maelik awoke with an exhausted groan.

"Who's there? Where am I?" he muttered whilst trying to see the world through blurry eyes, the crimson glow having returned (if only just a little) to his gaze.

"Augh my chest..."

Maelik's scaly visage brightened when he heard Lum's beautiful voice and he used his free hand to remove his helmet to that he could get a better look at her.

"Oh?" he said sleepily, "Well a kiss would make me feel better but why are you here Lummy Bear? And what is a Black Tower? But most importantly why am I here?"

His tone picked up speed as he spoke and an edge of paranoia and maybe a bit of fear found a way to creep in as well.

"Did they do something to me? I swear I'll strangle them with their own entrails if they get to close I'll- *cough cough cough*!" he said with increasing panic before he ran out of steam and was forced to take a breather.

Gasping for breath and feeling dizzy he allowed his head to fall back down to the shredded pillow and try to bring the world back into focus, his eyes going a little crossed as he tried to follow the motion of hallucinations.

"Whoa..."

Maelik seemed satisfied with Lum's explanation and calmed down a great deal, although a pang of regret did cross his face momentarily.

"I see... When you say that I needed to be imprisoned then you must mean that I wasn't in control of myself..." He closed his eyes and bit his lip in order to not betray any further emotion for the sake of his emotionally sensitive love. "So I went off the deep end again eh? That's... unfortunate. I never wanted for you to see me like that my dear, it's ugly."

He seemed to withdraw himself a bit from the world, wrapping his wings around himself and picking up his pillow and placing it over his face in a bid to hide his shame.

"I'm sorry that you had to see that monster," his pillow muffled voice added in a morose tone. "And I'm sorry if I worried you, someone as fair as you deserves to be happy and my actions have done nothing to help."

"You deserve more than a dangerous burden such as myself."

The demon's inhalation at her words was so strong that he practically swallowed his pillow. She was still willing to give him a chance? Even after his earlier failure?

The emotions he experienced in those few short moments were enough to bring tears to his eyes, but they weren't tears of sadness nor of happiness. They were tears of DETERMINATION!

He threw his pillow to the side and gave her a bleary eyed look that spoke more for him than words every could before he called the doctors in to check up on him. And no matter where they prodded or what they said he'd bite back his rage and take it with a grimace. Lum believed in him and while he knew that he could never hope to rid himself of his natural evilness he was going to do his best to meet her standards. If she wanted a man who was in control of his emotions he was going to be that man! He would make himself worthy!

If the physicians wanted to put him under again or take him to another room to do tests the demon would fix Lum with another stare and utter only two words.

"You will."

Lum smiles at Maelik, his enthusiasm was appreciated, even if it was more... aggressive than she might have liked. Lum senses the strange creature approaching, but thinks little of it until it bars the door. She looks at it, another creature unlike any she has seen before.

"Can we help you?"

Her voice is kind, if a little cautious.

With Maelik sound, and soon to be safe back home. Lum also departs to continue training her apprentices.

Beneath The Black Tower’s Gauldin facility, a cubic room sits, lit by small lanterns engraved with lighting glyphs. The walls of polished stone stretch upwards, engraved with complex runes all the way to the top. The ceiling, floor, and room itself are otherwise featureless, and only a single narrow door sits centered on one of the walls. Just inside this door, a single uniformed attendant stands expectantly, eyes on the far wall.

As she watches, the runes on the walls begin to glow. At first, a deep midnight blue, that gradually increases in hue and intensity as it spreads across the walls. She shields her eyes with the back of her hand as the magic continues to spread, eventually intensifying into an incredibly bright, sky blue blaze.

As the glow reaches its climax, it abruptly terminates with a loud CRACK, immediately leaving the room in almost complete darkness. Presently, the runic light sources re-activate, and reveal the presence of exactly twenty individuals who hadn’t been in the room before. They are a many and varied lot, including Empress Naoki , Artemis , Queen Arianne , Lady Genevieve St. James, Odette, Royal Fletcher, Ravven Fletcher, and thirteen assorted Isranian Embassy members. They all stand roughly spaced in a grid, each at least two meters from the next individual over. Some carry bags, and one Embassy member in particular holds a large crate neatly filled with carefully rolled scrolls.

Madame Naoki stands in the leftmost position in the front row, and carries a singular, finely made bag of black cloth. It fastens with a golden clasp in the shape of the Isranian Sun Insignia, and has a label, in both common and Gauldish, embroidered just below it.

Beyond this bag, Madame Naoki is also carrying a silver box under one arm, containing her gown. The majority of her luggage had been sent ahead, but this garment, only acquired yesterday, had missed that trip. Though the ride had been a highly stimulating one, some traces of drowsiness still cling to her. She blinks several times as the turns to the left, surveying her group. Examining each of them in turn, she determines that there have been no teleportation accidents; all of her party is present, all of their limbs are in the right spots, and nobody is screaming in agony.

Excellent. Naoki never really was one for the whole screaming thing. With everything in order, she starts for the door, leading the way through the short tunnel into the next room. The attendant, after confirming everything had gone smoothly, preceded Naoki into the room, and now stands behind a small desk. The room is otherwise rather unremarkable. The walls are paneled with wood and illuminated by sconces, and the floor and ceiling are the same polished stone as the previous entry. The only other piece of furniture, excluding the desk, is a small padded stool, upon which the attendant sits perkily.

Naoki shuffles into the room, and stops before the desk, something about drowsiness

The attendant chimes up perkily, “Name, please!”

Naoki fixes her with a deadly glare, the irritation she would normally experience compounded by her lack of sleep. Far too early in this particular morning, she was in the mood for neither perkiness nor bureaucracy.

The attendant flinches, and immediately sets to work on the paperwork. “Yes, Madame.”

After a few short minutes and a handful of signatures, Naoki’s travel documents are complete, and she is prepared to legally enter the nation of Gauldin. The attendant bundles them together into a scroll, and stamps the break with a wax seal of Gauldin’s fleur-de-lis seal. She offers the bundle of documents to Naoki, who receives it, and places it in the pocket of her jacket. She nods to the attendant, and turns as if to leave before remembering. Returning to the desk, she places one hand over the attendant’s own, and leans in close, speaking softly, words edged with steel.

“Listen to me. You are not to speak of any individual who may or may not pass through here as part of my group. Not to anyone. Under any circumstances. You admitted Madame Naoki and her Embassy, but not a soul more. This is a matter of national security, and you should feel compelled by your duty to your country to do as I say, and speak not a word of this. Do you understand me?”

The attendant springs to attention and attempts to salute with her right arm, but finds it still held under Naoki’s hand on the desk. Realizing what she intends, Naoki releases it, and it flies up to smack the attendant in the eye. She winces, but snaps into a salute regardless, albeit with one eye clenched shut.

“Yes, Madame Ambassador! Only the Embassy, you got it!”

Naoki nods, satisfied, and turns to leave, speaking back over her shoulder at the attendant.

“Good. Don’t forget; this is a matter of the utmost importance.”

Without any further parting words, Naoki exits through the opposite door, and finds herself in the next room. It is something of a ready-room, the walls are adorned with standard issue armor and weaponry of The Black Tower. In the event that reinforcements need to be brought in from afar, this room would see them armed before joining the defense. However, seeing as Naoki has no need of the room’s supplies, she instead plops herself on one of the many benches running the length of the room, setting the silver box to one side, still holding the Diplomatic Bag in her left hand.

She glances around the room, but finds no amusement in the rows of armor along the walls. It would be another few minutes before Artemis gets in, and probably something resembling a half hour before everyone is cleared and they could proceed. She should have had more border officers allocated. Naoki considers taking a nap, but decides against it- the benches aren’t terribly soft.

She ruminates for a short time on how only a few years ago, she would have been immensely satisfied to sleep anywhere as clean as this, and how now, she can hardly find restful sleep even in her old bed at The Sun, when compared to the cloud-like perfection of the large four-poster at the Chalet. How decadent she’s becoming.

However, thoughts of her own decline only entertain her for a few short minutes. No sounds indicative of the next entrant of the room make themselves heard down the hall. She sighs with exasperation, and casts her eyes around once again. This time, they settle on the silver box sitting to her immediate left. Her eyebrows raise as she transfers the Diplomatic Bag to the interior of her jacket and places the silver box upon her lap.

Madame Naoki was unable able to satisfy her initial curiosity regarding the gown in the events immediately following yesterday’s trip to the Boutique, nor had she time to this morning, having only barely woken up in time to dress herself and get into the carriage on time. Now she has some time on her hands, and thinks it high time to have a look.

She fumbles for a moment with the latches, her dexterity having not fully arrived yet, before managing to open the hinging lid of the box, revealing the garment within.

“... a deep cabernet colour, created to outline the curves of your torso and flow freely from your hips and elbows...”

Though she isn’t able to see the full extent of the gown, folded as it is in the box, the ornamentation around the neckline is presented prominently facing upward, and it is evident that the rest of the garment’s elegance is in the cut, no additional patterning exists. Almost immediately, the magic reaches out to her. It feels familiar, and fundamentally right, like a part of her body that has been missing, and now gladly rejoins the fold. This dress was, somehow, inexplicably, made precisely for her. Every fold of the fabric whispers impossible pleasures; mystery and intrigue twine with the very threads.

How strange it must be for Genevieve. When she sits down to create a garment, what forces compel her to craft a garment in just such a way as to perfectly suit a specific individual? Does she know the individual for whom the garment is being made for at the time? Or does she have any agency at all in the creation process? Unfolding the garment slightly, Naoki confirms that there is indeed a tail-hole. Such a strange sort of magic.

Though the idea of immediately putting it on crosses her mind, and seems quite tempting, the rational portion of Naoki’s mind decides against it. Not only is there a high probability of Queen Arianne coming into the room in the next few moments - and it wouldn’t do to be seen half-naked before her (Not yet, anyway.) - the gown also doesn’t seem like one intended for riding in. There may very well be mud on the roads, and if the gown gets dirty on the ride over, she wouldn’t be able to wear it into the palace. And, she decides, she would very much like to see how the royalty and nobility of Gauldin react to her in this garment.

Silently thanking Genevieve, she carefully shuts the lid, latching the box shut again. Significantly more awake and satisfied than before, she replaces the box to her right on the bench, and takes the Diplomatic Bag back into her direct grasp. Visions of flustered nobility and facilitated diplomacy grace the forefront of Naoki’s mind as she sits patiently on the bench, waiting for the next individual to join her in the waiting room.

Arianne was restless. She was eager to meet Renaux, and she was dreading it all the same. What if he turned her away? What if he had found another? What if the country didnt want her return? She hadnt been an active queen while she had been here. Could she show them that she meant to do things so mucb differently if she were given the chance again?

She wore a simple empire waisted gown and a cloak, meant for the servant that would do her duty, content to observe rather than BE observed. It was not a gown meant for Arianne. Its Fate was for someone else, but it was necessary for Arianne's trip back into Gauldin unnoticed.

For the most part, it worked, although redhair was hard to ignore, so she plaited it and pinned it up in a severe hairstyle that somewhat detracted from her beauty.

She went through customs with her breath held, posing as an apprentice seamstress for Genevieve. Things seemed to be going well.