"Commiserations"

Log Date:
	6/29/00

Log Cast:
	Kaiulani, Jasmine

Log Intro:
	Sentenced to stay within the halls of Korallion until her sister
Alamoana deems she has learned a lesson about the foolishness of sneaking off
into unfamiliar marketplaces, Kaiulani has been restlessly prowling the
embassy in search of anyone and anything which can occupy her--and distract
her from incessant thoughts of her mysterious and increasingly fascinating
rescuer. And, for that matter, the fact that her family thinks she must be
protected from said rescuer in the first place, when Kai believes with all
her heart that her unnamed guardian means her well and would lay down his
life to keep her safe.
	But the Korallion's halls are not without their own excitement. 
Kai has encountered the young mother Jasmine, who seems to have as her 
companion--or perhaps her charge--a strange, dolphin-like personage called
Melei. This latter female has shocked Kai by grabbing hold of her hair and
slicing off a portion of it with a knife; moreover, or so the Pandion 
princess has been given to understand, Melei inadvertantly caused a bit of
a mishap for Jasmine as well once Kai fled their company.
	Just a trifle nervous about crossing Melei's path again, yet unable
to remain in her room an instant longer, Kaiulani goes out prowling through
the halls once more--and finds Jasmine in a state not entirely unlike her
own: guarded and coddled until she is ready to shriek....

*===========================< In Character Time >===========================*
             Time of day:  Evening
          Date on Aether:  Monday, September 15, 3906.
           Year on Earth:  1506 A.D. 
       Phase of the Moon:  Full
                  Season:  Late Summer
                 Weather:  Clouds
             Temperature:  Comfortable
*==========================================================================*

Upper Hall - Korallion - Haven
        Gentle curves define the length of this hall--not that one can see 
  very far along it. It obviously travels around the outer wall of the 
  Korallion as both ends disappear quickly, cut off by the long arc of the 
  building. The walls glimmer quietly with the shimmering grace of 
  mother-of-pearl. Illumination floods from without in the daytime, the 
  sunlight filtering through the outer shell walls and turnin them into a 
  gorgeous display of light and shadow. In the darker hours, the thin film of 
  growth on the inner wall takes over, filling the passage with a soft, 
  phosphorescent glow.
        The inner curve is broken by both doorways and short passages down. 
  The doors likely lead into airy suites while the passages are quite 
  obviously filled with water just below the level of the hall floor.
Contents:
Jasmine  
Obvious Exits:
Rooms <R>   Entrance Hall <EH> 

With the fall of evening, Kaiulani peeks out of the room that has been given 
  to her and her sister, sweeping a glance up and down the damply glimmering 
  length of the corridor before she slips out to make her way along it. She's 
  at least somewhat sure she won't have to worry about Akane and Ronan, her 
  two guards, dogging her steps _inside_ the Korallion... and since she's 
  feeling fretful about the whole business of guards in the first place, the 
  young Pandion maiden has resigned herself to another evening alone within 
  the embassy's walls. The habitual reserve of her family aside, her 
  frustration shows in the crinkle of her white nose and the small stoic line 
  of her mouth as she makes her way for the entrance hall.

Jasmine has not been so lucky as guards go. At least, not until Melei has been 
  cornered and brought before Koralland. So here she is, accompanied by Kua 
  and Lau. The baby is sleeping quietly in her sling, and Amaril scampers 
  about at her feet. Her guards are alert, keeping an eye out for the wayward 
  ward.

Jasmine
A slender young woman about 5 and 1/2 feet tall. Her skin is the soft brown 
  color of a fawn, her hair a darker brown, drifting in soft waves just to her 
  waist and is held back with a headband of tiny white seashells. Gills are 
  set in the sides of her neck, with webbing between her nimble fingers and 
  toes. Her eyes are a powdery blue framed by long lashes. She is dressed in a 
  simply cut coral dress which falls loosely to just above her knees. From 
  left shoulder to right hip is a sealskin pouch, cradling an infant.
Around her neck the woman wears a copper amulet with an etching of a mountain 
  overlooking a body of water and surrounded by puffy clouds, with a wide band 
  of intricately woven strands of leathers. Also around her neck is a strand 
  of delicate pearls. Obviously the woman is not terribly fashion conscious, 
  as her neckwear clashes somewhat. However, knowing Jasmine the pieces likely 
  have some deeper meaning than to be worn for the sake of fashion alone. 
  Around her left wrist is a slim, coral colored bracelet. On the ring finger 
  of her left hand she wears a gold band with two perfect pearls joined 
  together, settled at about mid-finger, where the webbing between her fingers 
  ends.
Carrying:
Leilani
Amaril

A small start -- and then Kaiulani pulls in a breath, composing herself and 
  squaring her shoulders as she approaches the little knot of people (plus one 
  otter) that appears before her in the corridor. The maiden's greetings flow 
  forth from her mind, touching upon all three of the adults, though flavored 
  with a layer of concern for Jasmine in particular -- for Kaiulani has heard 
  something of what befell this woman after she'd left her, and now a bit of 
  guilt adds itself to the frustration already crinkling her features. *Good 
  evening...*

A bit of frustration laces Jasmine's thoughts until she receives your 
  greeting. She looks toward Kaiulani and smiles, though a bit regretfully as 
  she looks at the shorn hair. *Blessings. I trust you are well today?* A 
  sense of apology for Melei's behavior.

Fortunately enough, the hair in question hasn't been _too_ seriously abused -- 
  though a lock of it now escapes the pearlescent mass primarily held back 
  from Kai's face, dangling down to hover just below the delicate line of her 
  jaw. As she steps up to polite conversational distance, the girl allows 
  herself a little quirk of a smile. *I am well,* she affirms, *and grateful 
  you appear to be the same... I had, um, heard a bit about what happened 
  after I left you...*

Jasmine flushes slightly and nods. *Yes, Melei's little 'push' caused me to 
  hit my head on a bench, but I am fine now. My husband is a healer. I...do 
  not know if healers can make hair grow? I hope your sister was calmer by the 
  time she found you?* Because, at first, she wanted to blame Kaiulani for the 
  incident with the hair.

The girl flushes lightly pink, sheepishly and perhaps unconsciously fiddling 
  with that dangling lock of hair. *We have not... discussed the matter much,* 
  she confesses, her mental voice swirling back in on itself just a little, 
  strongly flavored with the discomfort of a teenager aware that her guardians 
  are not entirely pleased with her.

Jasmine would not know the feeling. Her parents were both dead by then and she 
  spent many years in the sea virtually alone. *I wish you luck then, and 
  understanding. I told her that we would discipline Melei.* Somehow. *She ran 
  off, and we have not seen her since.* Hence the guards, who are currently 
  standing slightly behind Jasmine, arms crossed. Amaril sniffs around your 
  feet, for lack of anything else new to smell.

Kaiulani glances down, smiling a bit more at the animal and nudging him 
  lightly with one bare toe. At the same time, though, she sends ruefully, *No 
  harm done -- I mean, my hair will grow back, and it wasn't as if she were 
  the shark that bit me...!* Lifting up her gaze once more, she appends a wash 
  of gratitude for the well-wishes; apparently, she's rather of the mind 
  she'll need them. *Melei is... a shifter of some kind, isn't she...?*

Jasmine sighs softly and nods. *She is dolphin graisha and...from the looks of 
  her recently lost the child she was carrying.* A brief moment of pain 
  passes. *But her mind...is more that of a child than a woman grown. We have 
  tried to keep her reigned in as best we can but the last several months she 
  simply rejects us.*

The Pandion girl's reaction is not physically much -- just a tightening of her 
  pale brows above her sea-green eyes, and a flash of awkward concern across 
  those. Her thoughts flare out in a momentary tangle of acute compassion and 
  pity... and more than a little uncertainty as to how exactly to respond to 
  such a thing. Then she catches herself, drawing the burst of emotion back 
  closer in, like a fisherman draws in a net. A bit of a blush colors her pale 
  cheeks again, as she sneaks a glance at the guards; what sort of impression 
  will she be making upon these people, if she doesn't conduct herself like 
  the lady her parents continually attempt to make of her? Still, though, it 
  seems to her that there must be something she can proffer this young mother 
  as a way to lighten her heart. *I was about to walk to the pool,* she 
  suggests, gingerly. *Do you have a destination...? If you would like to 
  accompany me, be welcome...!*

The guards would likely think nothing, as Jasmine is about as untrained in 
  'ladylike' as can be, and yet she tends to endear herself to nearly 
  everyone. Including her husband (although, there are things he would like to 
  change). She nods. *I was headed there myself. I would be glad to accompany 
  you, if you do not mind the guards. Kor insists they are about until Melei 
  is found.* She sighs softly. *Though she would never intentionally hurt me.* 
  Well, she is fairly certain of that, anyway.

Kai can't help a bit of a smile; Jasmine's situation seems abruptly familiar, 
  somehow. *Then let us walk,* she invites, gesturing ahead to the entrance 
  hall. *I have to get used to my own guards when I go out, so I might as well 
  practice on yours...!* There's a wry kind of amusement bubbling in _that_ 
  thought, even though she still seethes with barely restrained frustration 
  that she has to have guards in the first place.

[And soon...]

You jump into the pool of water and fall through it until you are cushioned by 
  the gentle currents in the coral cavern.
Rainbow Cavern - Korallion - Haven
     Refreshing waters fill this room, which is fashioned of coral and lit by 
  florescent, multi-colored algae. Decorating the walls is an elaborate scene 
  of guardsmen dressed in their finery, riding on the back of sea horses. The 
  mural itself begins at one end of the cavern and continues to the opening at 
  the other. Upon the other wall is a mural depicting a great feast on a large 
  table. Many merfolk swim and dance around the grand table set for the ten 
  Decemvirs--the kings of Atlantis. In the foreground is the famed city of 
  itself. All in all, this cavern seems well lit and frequently trafficked by 
  schools of brightly colored fish. The gentle pull of the current tugs at 
  you, beckoning for you to come into the next chamber.
     Above you is a small opening that allows dim light to enter the room, 
  presumably from the surface. Another opening at the far end of the cavern is 
  another opening, rimmed in an elaborate pattern of shells.
Obvious exits:
Grotto Entrance <GE>  Surface <S>

Jasmine falls through the opening from the Guardroom and joins you.
Jasmine has arrived.
Jasmine chuckles softly at your comment about the guards. Once in the water, 
  Leilani begins to awaken and Jasmine lets her out of the sling to swim 
  freely. Amaril keeps himself fairly close to the top, being a mammal. Bad 
  thing, that, when your mistresses go swimming in the ocean depths. Poor 
  little otter. *I usually manage to get out without them, though I sometimes 
  suspect that Kor has them tailing me.*

With an audible sigh, Kaiulani flops into the pool, her hair sweeping out 
  around her in a pearlescent cloud as she submerges. *I am sure they all are 
  very nice guards,* she admits, half-grinning, *but I think right now that if 
  I sneeze outside in the courtyard without Akane and Ronan around to hand me 
  a kerchief, my sister will have a fit, then Cousin Sarojin will have a fit 
  and send us _both_ home, and _then_ Mother and Father will have a fit and I 
  won't be able to see Haven again until I am ancient and my fins are all 
  wrinkled.* With that, she makes another face.

Jasmine laughs softly. *Your parents are here though, I thought you had said?* 
  Leilani explores the edges of the cavern, hands skimming over the rocks. *I 
  have not met Sarojin myself, I think. But only have heard of him. And I do 
  hope that with Lehua, he will change to be more accepting of women.*

The maiden shakes her head, something of her petulant expression remaining, 
  though it eases a little. *Mother and Father have returned to our waters... 
  my sister and I are here for the time being, though. Cousin Sarojin is to 
  take charge of us.* A beat. *Of _me_,* she then corrects herself, the 
  petulant expression returning and filtering out into her thoughts as well. 
  Her hands gesture expressively in the water, punctuating the frustration 
  she's projecting. *I'm supposed to be learning how to work like an adult, 
  you see, and ever since the shark attacked me out by the fleet and my 
  rescuer showed up and they all _know_ he's real now, I--* Wait. Oh. Um. Did 
  she really _want_ to blurt that out? Kai abruptly cuts herself off, blushing 
  deeply, and at least for a moment tries to hide her chagrined expression 
  behind her drifting locks of hair.

Jasmine nods slowly, having difficulty following how one thing fits with the 
  other. *Can you not learn to work like an adult at home? Although, I prefer 
  Haven, but I am glad to have seen Atlantis and some of the cities in Amaris. 
  But I don't quite understand about the shark.* Not prying, just leaving it 
  to you whether to clarify or not. Leilani begins to wander toward the 
  opening to the next cave, when Jasmine's private call causes her to return 
  to the area of the two women.

Kaiulani nibbles on her lip, then lets herself sink back to the magnificently 
  decorated wall just behind her. *Well... it's a little complicated,* she 
  sheepishly replies. *You see... there is... well...* Words, or at least her 
  still inefficient ability to frame her thoughts into them, fail her here. So 
  she resorts instead to sending bursts of memory, and image, and impressions: 
  herself, with the Pandion fleet that recently blockaded the city. Herself, 
  swimming out some ways from some of her cousin's ships... and ambushed by a 
  young shark. Herself, bitten, dazed, bleeding in the water... but rescued 
  by... someone. She does not know who he is, but she has a hint of a face 
  lurking somewhere in her recollections. Whoever this person is, he returned 
  her to the ships without revealing himself. *He's my... rescuer,* she 
  concludes, just a trifle shyly, not entirely certain how this bizarre little 
  tale of hers will be taken. *He's been around me all my life, as long as I 
  can remember, and my family is trying to keep me away from him!*

Jasmine's expressions change as the story unfolds. At the last, there is 
  confusion. *He's been around and yet you don't know him?* This seems a 
  contradiction. *And why would they want to keep you away?*

The girl's aware of the contradiction, oh yes, and she explains in a wordless 
  burst of more images and impressions -- it would seem that this mysterious 
  rescuer of hers has never revealed himself to her, save in passing 
  indistinct glimpses. But he has saved her from mischief and outright peril 
  more than once, and as long as she can consciously remember, he has been... 
  out there, a protective presence somewhere in the waves. Fretfully she wraps 
  her arms about herself, her eyes doleful now. *Father and Mother do not 
  trust him,* she sends sadly. *He has never sent to me... and after what 
  happened to the priestess and her party...* With that, Kaiulani trails off, 
  an unmistakable little tendril of fear curling around the edge of her 
  thoughts. Evidently, she doesn't _entirely_ trust this nameless saviour of 
  hers either.

Jasmine shivers slightly. *You mean -that- is the shark attack you were in? 
  But perhaps someone has set his duty to guard you?* Such does not seem far 
  beyond the realm of possibility.

Kaiulani shakes her head, sending strands of her hair waving this way and that 
  through the water. *No... I was alone... but, well, it was enough for Father 
  _and_ Mother _and_ Cousin Sarojin to want me out of the water for a while. 
  So now I'm...* She shrugs her slender young shoulders, restlessly. *I'm 
  here. And Cousin Sarojin won't let me go out without Akane and Ronan and my 
  sister was very angry with me when I snuck out the first time, so I had to 
  promise not to do it again.*

Jasmine nods slowly. *I know that they were worried that Teacher (an image of 
  Okalani) had been kidnapped, and indeed this is what had happened. I imagine 
  that they fear the same for you,* she assures. Though, she wouldn't want 
  guards accompanying her, either.

Uneasily, Kaiulani now bobs her head, unable to deny the sense of the 
  suggestion, but still... *I don't... think _he_ would harm me... but I'm 
  just not _sure_!* The girl rolls her entire upper body for a moment in her 
  frustration, making a wash of microscopic disturbances to the current. Then 
  she looks back to the older woman, a bit more confidently now. *You say that 
  you do not think Melei would harm you... it is like that, you see?*

Jasmine shrugs a little bit. *As she usually is, she would not. But something 
  has happened. I do not know what is wrong. But I do not think they fear he 
  would kidnap you. Else why would he return you to them?*

*That's what _I_ said!* comes Kaiulani's rush of agreement. *He has never ever 
  hurt me, and he could have taken me away plenty of times when I was 
  small...!* This much, it seems, is rock-solid to her. Her restlessless now 
  drives her to do slow laps back and forth through the pool, though she 
  avoids bumping into the little one frolicking around her mother. *But they 
  say that if he were honorable, he would have said something to me by now... 
  I don't even know his _name_, or what he looks like... or _anything_!*

Jasmine shrugs a little, being well out of her depth. *I am afraid I cannot 
  help you with that. But only to sympathize with your...being captive in such 
  a manner.* Leilani drifts over to her mother, tugging her hair lightly.

Kaiulani rolls over in the water, to give herself a better view of the mother 
  and child, and smiles sheepishly. *We seem to have something in common, at 
  least,* she offers, her mind's touch lightening. Perhaps it's helped her to 
  vent?

Jasmine smiles and nods slowly. *For a time, at least. I know Kor worries 
  about my going out alone, but really, I think he worries too much.* She 
  reaches out to tickle the baby's hands.

[This scene was never finished, as it was RPed just before Kai's player 
 went on vacation. End log!]