A thread for Caitriona after she leaves the tourney.

'What kind of piece of trash murders trees, flowers and animals anyway?' Caitriona seethes as she makes her way through the grounds to get the best vantage point as she gathers all of her current power to conjuring a downpour of water without winds to get the fire quenched before it damages any more of her forest.

Once she has it going enough to douse the fire, she then heads out to find a mount that will take her to Glandon Tor as quickly as possible.

Fortunately there was an entire stable of giant eagles and falcons in the castle, and being a Princess, Caity would have free rein to commandeer one. One of the grooms would offer to come with her, to help her manage the great bird in flight.

Kierahn chased after Caitriona, "Hey sis, wait'up.  I'll come with... you heading up to Avalon then?", he asks, flipping a token on his thumb with a mischievous grin on his face.  After a moment, it was obvious that he was actually flipping two of them, having handed over the rest to his father.  He waited as she looked over the eagles, though showed no interest in getting an eagle for himself.  He'd long ago learned a form that could fly, and didn't bother with mounts when self propulsion was so much more accurate and faster.  "Didn't you learn any spells that'd let you fly?", he asked out of curiosity.

Cait pushed her sopping wet hair from her face as she got to the stables. "I'm not going as our Father's emissary, Kier. I'm going to negotiate the return of the knight who was competing in *my* honor that our sister decided to try to kill. Maybe I can offer to serve her to speak to Daddy so that he doesn't completely erase her realm from existence... I dunno, but I can't sit back and do nothing."

She chose what appeared to be the strongest eagle that would take her to Glandon Tor quickly.

"Do you think I'd be choosing one of these if I had means of my own?" she asked quirking her eyebrow.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:20, Thu 06 Dec 2018.

Kierahn shrugged as giant wings grew from his back, speckled purple and black feathers like that of a some bird of paradise, as his own form grew slightly larger, making him appear as some motley colored angel.  With a leap into the air, and a flap of wings, he was aloft, "I don't know sis... thought magic could just do everything... that's why it's magic...", he commented with a grin as he left the ground.

"I don't do that kind of magic, Kierahn," Cait replies seriously. "And I am not wasting my energy on conjuring up a creature when I can just use one of our own."

Caitriona has none of her usual sense of joy and wonder about herself now as she mounts the large bird, only a grim sort of determination and a touch of anger.

 "You don't have to come with me, if you don't want to. This isn't going to be like one of our adventures when we were little. There's a good chance that she'll kill me as soon as listen to my request but I have to try. Our sister tried to kill the one whom I think she was referring to when she mentioned her children among us, but Sir Tristan is one of our knights too. He's taken up arms for our protection. We owe him at least the attempt of rescue."

"Hey, I'm in agreeance here... Let's go save your suito...errr... our friend.", he states with a mischievous grin that makes it clear that no amount of seriousness was going to damper his spirits.

"You don't understand," Caitriona sighed as she pulled her eagle into flight. "This isn't about having a suitor. It's about having some honor. Branwen tried to kill a man for what reason? Because she absolutely must be the center of attention at all times and he skipped over her... and what do you think will be done about it? Nothing! Because as horrible as she behaves, as miserable as she makes them, our parents NEVER take her to task. They give her every damn thing she wants and she treats them like garbage. The one thing they can't control is what other people think of her and that was in effect when no one would compete in her name or honor... because she has none. So she lashes out and they'll do nothing... again."

"And because of her, Sir Tristan was not able to defend himself when that fairy queen attacked while he was competing in my name... I'm honor-bound to retrieve him on that alone," Cait continued. "What sort of a person would I be to leave him to a fate he doesn't deserve? None that deserves the title of princess."

She heads in the direction of Nolava and Glandon Tor so that they can get to Tatiana's realm with all due haste.

"I'm so tired of Branwen getting away with everything without consequence only to have my life turned upside down. You haven't lived with it, Kier. I have... I try to do everything right and it doesn't make any difference because she's pulled some asshole move that tells Father that *I'm* not old enough to handle what she is allowed to do. I'm sick of it, man. Just absolutely sick of it."

The trip to Nolava took a few hours. Yes, the floating continent was right above Avalon, but even for the giant birds it took a bit to reach a suitable altitude, and then realign to fly over the floating land.

Nolava from above is breathtaking. The continent, less developed than Avalon below, is a rolling field of white. The famous trees of Nolava, formed of cloud rather than wood. There was clouds of every description, from fluffy white cumulus right up to stormcloud trees with branches of lightning in every shade and color. Far in the distance was Castle Nolava, surrounding a much smaller town than the one surrounding Castle Avalon.

The pennant in Caity's hand suddenly flapped in an invisible breeze, pointing in a direction to the northeast. Would she follow the pennant or blaze her own path to the Tor?

Caitriona motions to Kierahn and follows the pendant to the Northeast as she figures it is mystically tied to the fae realm.

"Sooner there, the sooner I can ask to speak to the queen there," she says to her brother.

Kierahn nodded in acquiescence, his eyes enjoying being 'home', as for the past few years this had been his home away from his sister, and he'd grown quite attached to it.  He sped along on his own volition, his wings easily capturing the air in great flaps similar to that of the eagle upon which Catriona rode.

Once they were level with Nolava's ground, they could easily set out for the Tor. However, it would take two nights to reach their goal, so they'd need to set down somewhere and set up camp along the way.

Caity sets her mount down in a clearing as it gets to be dark and conjures a large pavilion style tent with a central area with a small table and stove. A room to one side had a couple of cots they would use for sleeping. On the other side of the tent was a small loo and a sink for washing up. She had done this before during stints out in the forest on the mountaintop at home before but this one was minimalist at best.

Once that was done, she pulled a couple bottles of Avalon red from the small satchel at her hip along with bread, a small sealed jar of butter, a wheel of cheese, cured meat and a couple of plates and knives.

"Didn't have time to plan for better food but it'll keep us going," she told her brother as she sliced the bread and meat to make a couple of sandwiches. "Cold or cooked?"

Kierahn is surprised when Catriona shows signs of needing a pause.  He was use to going days, even weeks without sleep with relatively little effort, but he remembered that the Eagles lacked his stamina, so he returned to the ground, his form returning to the more commonly accepted figure that he was known as.  He smiled when Catriona offered him some of her food, also completely unrequired, but understandable, so he sat, "Same as you sis, good either way.", he responded in earnest, intending to spend the night watching over the duo whilst they slept.

Cait opened one of the bottles of wine and drank directly from it as she slid one of the sandwich plates over to her brother.

"This is not what I thought I'd be doing tonight," she sighs, wiping the top of the bottle off and offering it across.

Kierahn accepted the bottle, taking a gentlemen's swig from the bottle before returning it to Catriona and grabbing a sandwich.  Chewing it, he commented to Caitriona, "This your first time on the eagle?  He'll need to be taken cared of a bit, can show you how if you want.  Can't leave the saddle and bridle on him all night long... will also have to fluff his plumage a bit, saddles are bad for the feathers...", he advised as he watched the great beast.  Fortunately, he'd lived up here for several years with his Aunt, and had a fair bit of experience with the mounts they used.

"Thanks, I appreciate it," Cait replied to her brother as she ate. "Never really had much need for an eagle in the forest..."

Her eyes watered a bit at the memory of her forest lit ablaze. She would have to take an extensive trip when she got home to survey the damage and begin the work of clearing the dead trees to make way for new growth. Then she would also have to check on the animals she'd been tracking and see how many had been senselessly killed. There would be a lot of work to do in rehabilitating the mountain.

She bit back her emotions and cleared her throat. "I hope the rains made their way down to the city afterward to help control the fires there too."

After finishing the makeshift dinner, Cait went to see to the eagle to let him rest for the night, stroking his beak and feathers a bit and giving him generous praise for his work at getting them so far for one day.

Once he was seen to (with her brother's valuable assistance, of course), Cait moved to one of the cots and pulled her shoes off, which were not the best things for traveling since she really hadn't planned to go anywhere. She laid down and rolled onto her side, facing the tent wall.

She sniffed slightly and then said softly, "Turn the light out when you're ready to sleep, hmm?"

Speaking of lights, the light in one of the cumulus cloud trees emerged from the "bark" as a phosphorescent orb. One came over to sit on Kierahn's shoulders. Another came by to hover next to Caity. Kierahn might recognize these beings from his time in Nolava. Will-o-wisps. Tricky little faeries that lured travelers to uncertain dooms.

Kierahn grinned at the little play-thing, holding his hand out for it to land upon as he waited for Caity to get her beauty sleep.  He had no intention of sleeping, and so focused on the small fae that lit up the area in a dim glow.  Whispering he asks, "What mischief do you have planned for today, little cousin?", though he doesn't expect it to come close enough to land nor hear him.  They were lures, meant to be chased, not interacted with, and he was quite content to not leave his resting place.

Caity had only just started to drift off, the heartache of the ruined day finally easing into an uncomfortable sleep as she felt something hovering near her. She looked up at the little light source curiously.

"What do you want?" she asked it.