Ag had finally returned to the palace around noon. He and Mordeki had discussed minor thing on the return and parted upon entry. Ag took a turn for the hall that contain the team's rooms as he saw Reggie exiting his with a confused look on his face.
"Oh, hey, Ag. Do you know what I'm supposed to do with this?" He stepped up to Ag holding the folded invitation he received. "It's some sort of invitation to well... here, but it doesn't go into further detail."
"Give me a moment..." Ag sighed with his vambraces still in hand. He opened the door to his room then stepped over to the armor rack he had set up inside. Upon turning to go back to deal with Reggie he noticed a familiar looking invitation sitting on his bed pillow.
He took it in his clawed hands and stepped out of his room. "It seems I've received one as well. You were right about this being vague. Doesn't say specific location, time, or who invited us. Also I think there's a typo. It says 'from' instead of 'for'."
"Kinda weird how it has our personal signatures on it as well. You think it's some sort of magic at play?"
"That's a likely explanation." Ag looked up from his paper and spotted a maid servant down the hall. "Come, she would likely know more about such things."
The two walked down the hall together not fully realizing just how aggressive their approach was as the maid let out a startled yelp looking up to Ag and his intimidating height.
"H-H-how can I hhhelp you, S-Sir Wuth and Sir Mark?"
"Do you happen to know what we do with these?" Reggie asked as he showed of the invitation.
"Oh... Um, you've gotten a letter from Queen Kivara; have you accepted it yet?"
"It's from the Queen? How can you tell?" Ag asked doing his best to inspect the paper.
"Ummm, it's the wax seal. Her stamp is on it."
The two looked at the wax seal they both initially dismissed. This was the first time either of them had received an invitation in such a manner, so they were quite clueless. They looked at the red wax with a royal looking Jaybird on it.
"You said we have to accept the invitation? I'm not familiar with this custom." Ag asked looking down at the maid. She had gotten a much calmer expression getting use to Ag's presence. His demeanor overshadowed by his cute ignorance.
"Yes. Simply say 'I accept this invitation'. There's a magical seal on it so that only you can open up it's contents with this phrase. It's to help prevent information leaks and whatnot."
Both men raised an intrigued eyebrow as they stated their acceptance. The invitations unfolded to reveal the details of a late-evening tea party hosted by the queen. Ag's eyes locked onto the phrase 'Formal Wear Required'.
"Grmt, W qre't noih rne tbudar krdi." Ag swore in his native tongue.
"L uot'h udme gbl hztnse." Reggie replied fluently.
"Bfu ydrdb Dxotreii?" Ag asked with surprise.
"L'me vwpnvd yczh lp nseh rnj huhie." Reggie replied nonchalantly.
XXXXX
All instances of other languages will use a Vigenere Cypher with the key being the race the language belongs to. In this case "Dragon".
The translation will be put here this time, but the future will take a little extra effort!
"Damn, I don't have any formal wear."
"I don't have any either."
"You speak Dragonic?"
"I've picked up some here and there."
XXXXX
"Hmmm..." Ag hummed. "...we have that allowance Zackaria gave us for our personal missions, right? Well, we could reason talking with the queen is a high priority diplomatic mission. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I'm thinking you're using a lot of words to say 'let's go buy a stupid amount of fancy clothes to impress the Queen'. And if that's correct; I'm in." Reggie said with a determined smile.
"I saw a clothing store on our way back into the city. Let us go, Wf Bghgov!" Ag gave a final dragonic war cry.
"Sir Wuth, please calm down!" The maid tried to calm him but she was nearly shoved on her rear as he walked by in a good mood.
"Sorry about that..." Reggie leaned over to catch the maid before she fell, righting her. "...I wonder why clothes shopping gets him so excited."
XXXXX
Gala's Perspective
XXXXX
Man, this city is soooo much bigger than Stoneclock. I feel like I could walk in one direction for the whole day and still not find an end. The noble district is so pretty. Refined looking buildings and gorgeous parks. There was one that even had a duck pond with a bakery near it. I wonder if Dian would like to feed ducks... Actually she probably wouldn't, but I have to try anyway!
She could be secretly a big softy that likes cute little animals, like kittens, and mice, and small birds!
My short mental imagine of Dian petting a cat, holding a little field mouse, and letting a tiny red bird nuzzle into her neck was quickly replaced by Dian keeping a jaguar on a chain leash in one hand while she strangles a honey badger in the other, all while a massive hawk with blood dripping from it's talons rests on her shoulders.
Gods that's badass... Like, really badass... I wish I could be that jaguar... Ah! No! Focus Gala! It's time for cute, wholesome, romance!
I was making my way into the common district when I bumped into someone I didn't see. No, like, really I can't see them! Everything about them other than their clothes is just BLACK. And I don't mean like really dark brown like that one breed of human I mean REALLY BLACK.
It's like I'm gazing into the abyss! (And it's gazing back!)
"Oh, I'm very sorry about that. I wasn't watching where I was going." The humanoid shaped abyss spoke with a soft, refined, sultry male voice. The kind that can tuck you into bed while you're standing; that level of soft, refined, and sultry.
I was honestly lost for words, so the grey skinned male elf with white freckles behind him spoke instead. "Oh good job idiot. You knocked the poor girl silly!"
"It's not like I ment to!" The abyss shouted back upset. "Please tell me he's wrong and I didn't break anything milady." The abyss offered a hand which I cautiously grabbed, mostly cause I could barely tell where it actually was.
"Oh...Yeah... Sorry..." I stammer, still stunned. "I've just never seen something like you before." I couldn't see and facial expression, but from his body language he seemed more relieved.
"First time meeting a void elf? Don't worry, I had the same reaction." The grey skinned elf laughed a bit.
"A void elf? I've met very few elves in my time but I've never heard of a void elf." I say. "Um... What kind of elf are you?" I ask pointing to the grey skinned one.
"I'm a star elf. I guess it's fair you wouldn't know; we're the rarest of the cosmic elves." He said slightly disappointed.
Void elves? Star elves? Cosmic elves? I thought there was only one kind of elf! Tanned skin ones just known as Elves! Actually no that's untrue. Julia has fairer skin. I guess there are different types of elves.
"Okay, explain this to me like I've never heard about elves ever in my life, because that's kind of the case..." I say a little coyly.
"Well, you have your standard High elves. Cookie-cutter and pretty normal, but when a high elf is born during certain celestial or natural events it has a chance of being a cosmic elf, or a nature elf. For the cosmic elves include Sun, Moon, Star, and Void. --"
"You forgot Twilight." The void elf interjected.
"Oh yeah, Twilight too." The star elf continued. "And for nature elves you have Wood, Sea, Dark, White, and Mud elves."
I couldn't help but laugh at the last one. "Mud elves? Do they have the power to make really good pottery?"
"Ha. You might know them as 'Urban' elves. When an elf bloodline gets too diluted they take a neutral tan skin and get a mix of different elf bloodline powers, but they're always weak." The star elf finished somewhat scoffing at probably his own sense of supremacy.
Tan skin he says? I get a devilish smirk around my beak. "Do mud elves also end up being really tall?" I ask.
"I've never actually seen a mud elf so... maybe?" He seemed a little confused at my question, but honest with his answer.
"Well thank you for the lesson mister... I actually never caught any of your names."
"Oh how unprofessional of me. My name is Duke Manidel Soverin." The void elf spoke, combined with a smooth and sudden motion as he took my hand in his and bent down to kiss the top of my knuckles. Sometimes I wish I was attracted to guys; he's putting on so much royal pretty-boy charm that it's gonna feel real bad about rejecting him if he tries anything.
"And I'm Sir Damos Pieyaré. Duke Soverin's personal knight." The star elf spoke with a sense of pride behind his duke.
"My name is Gala, it was a pleasure to meet you both!" I give a curtsy bow to the gentlemen and continue my journey through the town.
XXXXX
"So what the hells was that little stunt you just pulled?"
"I'm not sure what you mean." The Duke cracked an unnoticeable smile.
"You never give a commoner the time of day let alone give a royal gesture!" His knight said upset at his liege's new disposition.
"I'm not sure actually. When I saw her lying on the ground, she didn't look at me with eyes of fear. They were eyes of wonder. I liked it."
"Gods, you really are an idiot."