"The Consequences of Action" Log Date: 6/28/00 Log Cast: Alamoana, Kaiulani, Perla Log Intro: Pandion Kaiulani, young Atlantean noblewoman, has come to the city of Haven along with her sister Alamoana to live for a while under the watchful eye of their cousin Sarojin--Pandion's Decemvir. But while Alamoana has been enlisted to provide aid to their family in the lander city, a role which will allow her to actively move among them and experience Haven firsthand, Kaiulani is there for another reason entirely: so that her family can keep a stern watch over her. Because Kaiulani has a secret, a mysterious guardian who has shadowed the paths she's swum for as long as she can remember. This unnamed protector of hers has never been seen by her family, has never answered telepathic calls, and is in fact thought to perhaps be simply a figment of Kai's overactive imagination--but her Pandion kin do not wish to take a chance. Especially the Decemvir himself. Accordingly, in an attempt to get her away from her guardian--assuming he does in fact exist--they have sent Kai to Haven, and so far she has been sequestered within the Korallion, the Atlantean embassy therein. But her family has not reckoned on two things. One is that Kai's protector _does_ exist, and has in fact followed her to Haven. The other is the irrepressible buoyancy of Kaiulani's curiosity and bravery, and that with the temptation of the lander city so close, nothing short of a cyclone could keep her away from sneaking out to explore. Nothing, perhaps, except the wrath of her beloved older sister.... *===========================< In Character Time >===========================* Time of day: Evening Date on Aether: Saturday, September 13, 3906. Year on Earth: 1506 A.D. Phase of the Moon: Waxing Gibbous Season: Late Summer Weather: Clear Skies Temperature: Hot *==========================================================================* As you come into the entrance hall, Alamoana is just leaving the Residence Wing, a woven, drawstring bag slung over one shoulder. There she pauses, silent for a time and watching you, perhaps awaiting your notice. After a moment, though, she clears her throat instead, saying, "Oh, there you are Kaiulani. I'm going out, and you're to stay here while I'm gone." Damp, her halter clinging to her and water gleaming in her long unbound hair, Kaiulani comes lightfootedly trotting into the hall -- and, it might be added, barefootedly, for her thin sandals are dangling idly from one white hand. She starts as she is hailed, however, her head swiveling around to find you, and then a flare of bemusement and a tinge of surprise flash across her face. She comes over, head quirking. That you've spoken aloud doesn't escape her, and she asks disappointedly, "Oh, but sister -- did not Cousin Sarojin tell us we are _both_ to explore the city? The Rialto is so _large_, and I've barely glimpsed it; did I tell you there are _musicians_ there?" The words tumble out of her with only a little bit of effort, her features crinkling occasionally as she practices the pronunciations. Perhaps the first words, spoken aloud, were calculated to be heard by all, but Alamoana's next thoughts remains private, between the two of you. Telepathy>> Alamoana thinks, ""Well, I was planning to take you with me, dear. But, seeing as you've already witnessed quite a bit of the Rialto at night, I figured you would be bored."" Your sister blinks, then makes a small soundless 'o' with her mouth while a delicate tinge of coral flushes across her cheeks. Kaiulani cannot quite help glancing this way and that as if a trifle afraid some of Cousin Sarojin's guards -- Great Water, but she's never been so thoroughly _watched_ in all of her life! -- might be lurking somewhere nearby, ready to add thoughts of stern admonition to your own sent implications. Watching with a delicately lifted brow, Alamoana crosses her arms, fingers tapping on biceps. She waits patiently for some response from you, until, at last, there is a prompting. Telepathy to Alamoana>> Kaiulani's mind flares forth in a surge of embarrassment, though from the flavor of her thoughts, it's rather more embarrassment at having been caught out in her act of mischief than of having committed it in the first place. There's a winsome innocence there too, as she drops into wordlessness out of habit: Telepathy>> Alamoana thinks, "Perhaps you'd care to attempt an explanation as to why you forsook my trust? Why you chose to risk the ruination of all the priveleges my being here allows you? Perhaps you don't understand that the only reason you are allowed to be here at all, rather than locked up in the family home under the waves, is my intervention and pledge to watch over you?" Again, Kaiulani blinks, and now the flush of color in her cheeks deepens. Her hands shift around to join behind her back, sandals still dangling from her webbed fingers, and she shrinks down a bit in apparent chagrin. Her head ducks down a bit, too, though she's still looking up. ** rings across her broadcast thoughts, along with a layer of keen dismay that her sister, the one relation who has always appeared to understand her, would accuse her of such things. From the way her mind's touch shrinks in on itself, though, as chagrined as the language of her body, it's easily discernible that none of this had occurred to her. Very tinily, she appends, ** ** Alamoana replies evenly, her face rather blank, even in her apparent frustration. And it is frustration, rather than anger. Along with some hurt that she was not trusted. Not asked. ** Perla enters from outside. Perla has arrived. Kaiulani's mouth draws into a sheepish little line, and _now_ her gaze dips down in chastised embarrassment. ** is her next offered thought, but it's colored with hesitation -- she knows how it will most likely be received, after all. After twelve years of bringing home stories of her mysterious 'protector', the girl's developed quite the habit of thinking herself invulnerable, but she's also grown aware of her family's opinion to this, too. Alamoana's lips press to a thin, pale line as she regards her sister, expression reasonably neutral save that, as she continues their silent speech. The newcomer is given a flickering glance, but little more for the nonce. Telepathy>> Alamoana thinks, "Whether this protector of yours does indeed exist, and have noble intentions towards you, Kai, still you cannot be sure he is invulnerable himself. What is there to say you will not someday find your foolish pride leading you into a situation too much even for /him/ to handle? What then?" Perla The palest of white, Perla shimmers like the pearl she is named for. Only her eyes hold a hint of color, the merest ghost of blue. There is a silvery sheen along her spine and the center of her arms and legs, and the faint suggestion of gills whenever her hair isn't covering her neck. Her shoulder-length hair frames her head like a halo, currently held back by two thin strands of irregular pearls that cross over the top of her head. She wears the deep aquamarine kaftan of the Delphi Mystai, embroidered with a row of interconnecting rings. Two pins of clear quartz are at the neck. Something in her older sister's implacable logic strikes the younger maiden, and strikes her rather hard. Kaiulani gives an audible little gasp, dismay once more welling into her expressive face; only before Alamoana has she ever truly been comfortable enough to let her emotions leak into her visage, but now, Kaiulani appears to be unable to help it. One brief, desperate flash crosses her mind, a certainty that her protector must be able to conquer _anything_ if he saved her from a shark -- but it subsides as quickly as it arises, carried away on the wake of her awareness of the sense of what Alamoana has sent her. The younger girl chews on her lower lip, and then resignedly bobs her dampened head, just once. Telepathy to Alamoana>> Kaiulani promises, meekly and with her comprehension of what you've told her churning beneath the mental effort of putting her communication into words, "I... will stay here as you request." Perla leaves the entrance hall, making her way into the courtyard. Perla has left. Watching all with implacable reserve as Kaiulani goes through the stages of realization, Alamoana waits until it is finished. Her head bobs occasionally, approving, as various emotions and thoughts flit through and across her sister's head and across her face. Finally, she sends quiet approval, adding ** She does not wait for confirmation before turning, saying over her shoulder, ** Alamoana has left. [End log.]