Jade hugs him back.

"I had to get really good at it, so my mother was not overworked. Now you don't ever have to be out of touch with family, you might even be able to ask King Random for a card to add to your deck." She smiled up at him.

  “Well, with this one I’m up to two...I have a card of my mom.  I suppose I should give this one to her so she can reach me.  I take it that these must be very difficult to make, right?” He asks after the hug ends.

Jade nods, "Yes they are much more hard to make then simple art. They are worth it though."

"I am glad you are able to stay in contact with your mother now."

  Lance presents the card to Flora.  “If anyone is likely to want to try to reach me, it’d be you, mom, so I’d like you to have it.”

  He smiles at Jade.  “If you ever needed to reach me, you can always make your own.  I just wish I had one to give to the King as well.  Outside of you three, I can’t imagine anyone else ever needing one of me.”

"Give me time, I plan on making of full deck of our generation for us all."

A warm smile, "I am glad your ok, heal up a bit, and as I said let me pack something for my mom. A bottle of Absinth is a must. Also you really should stay for tomorrow someone is taking their pattern walk and you should be there to cheer them on."

  “That would be either Jon or Ari, since you and Ballad have already done so.  I can’t imagine that either one particularly cares if I’m there or not, but if they really want me there I’ll go.  I was figuring a day or three of rest to heal up before I head back out, and I’ll be happy to bring whatever you want me to back to your mom when I go.”

  He thought about telling her that he was far from okay, and that he was actually terrified of seeing Ballad especially and the others somewhat less so, but he figured she knew that already.  He glances at Flora and to the dinner table.  It was hers to invite Jade to dine with them or not as she saw fit.

Lance feels a contact... "Eh? Hello?"

It's Flora, trying out the new card. "Just testing." She passes her other hand over the new card, in order to break the connection. "I'm very glad to have this... And yes, of course Jade may sit and have wine with us. I'd let her do that even if she hadn't made such a useful thing as this-- now she's doubly invited. And I'm sure that Odile would be willing to relay an order to the kitchen if she'd like a meal brought for herself..."

"Thank you aunt Florimel, I shall let her know. I will be back shortly."
Jade looked for Odile in the hall seeing if she could get a pheasant or small game bird with some in season vegetables brought for her from the kitchen, also for Odile to get something for herself to eat.

Whispering to Odile, "Thank you for suggesting I bring these things myself."

"No problem!"

Odile once again makes her I-am-a-puppy-who-is-delighted-with-her-own-cleverness face.

( https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/...9/Screenshot_116.jpg )

"I'll go put your food order in with the kitchens, and bring it as soon as it's ready!"

She hurries off...

When Odile returns Jade will take the tray to the table to join her relatives.

"So, if your allowed to speak of your mission, I would love to hear of your adventure. I work for the crown too, though my work is more in using my magical arts for the realm."

  “I don’t know that it’s entirely classified, but in general strokes, he sent me out into the field to look for signs of grey men incursion through a shadow.  I honestly don’t think he expected me to find any.  Probably more of a let’s send the kid out to find a left-handed-smoke-shifter kind of thing, you know, give me a task to go out, have a little down time, feel useful that I was working on something kind of thing.  Lo and behold though, I found some.  In the process of ending them they accidentally led me to where your mom is working on her mission.  She didn’t go into a lot of detail about what she’s doing, but had me come back here to report to Random about what I had found, and to send her regards to you..”

  Lance takes a few mouthfuls of food before adding, “Your mom did pass on that the grey men seem to communicate telepathically,, no speech whatsoever, and that they are fanatics.  It also seems their motivation is capture of us, not killing.”
This message was last edited by the player at 04:55, Tue 02 Feb 2021.

Jade listened cutting small slices from her meal to eat delicately.
Nodding she said, "My mother suspected the telepathy, good to know it has been completely confirmed. They want to capture us, that is good to know."

"Those things can be used to our advantage. You already spoke to the king ?"

  “Yeah, he seemed worried that they had encroached so far.  He seemed concerned at their seeming connection to the black road.”

  A bite of dinner, a sip of the wine.

  “I can guess you’ve been busy with the cards.  They have to take a long time to make.  Have you gotten out to do anything fun or exciting?”

"A party at the beach, but yes the cards take a long time I can only finish maybe two reliably a day and with bad distractions one."

"The King does have a spare though, so you should ask him when you see him again."

  Lance had been to three beach parties in his life.  One was out on Cape Cod, one in Malibu, and one in Hatteras.  The one on the cape was with the renn-fair group from King Richard’s Faire, the second was a wrap party for a film, the third was another fair group.  All of them had ended with couples or even groups going either into the water or off into the dunes for some adult fun.  He pushed the memory aside, not wanting to think of the ramifications of such a party among the young royals.

  “Sounds like fun.” He said, doing his best to conjure up a smile. “So, who is taking the walk tomorrow?”

"Jon, possibly Ariadne too if she feels up to it."

  Great!  Mr Perfect Player was going to walk it, probably with everyone throwing rose petals down before him!  Lance was undecided whether Jon would want him there or not.  On one hand, he felt pretty sure that Jon was much happier being the sole male among the three princesses.  That way he could wear his two-sizes-too-small-shirts and have everyone swooning over him.  On the other hand, he might like it if Lance was there, just to show off how much easier it was for him, and how the women still fell all over themselves around him. Yep, definitely the fifth wheel, Lance old shoe!

  Ari, conversely, Lance felt sure couldn't care less either way if Lance were there or not.  She had already judged him, he felt, and not in a good way.  In her eyes, he had already been lumped in with the drunks, junkies, and loser crowd, and he would never rise above it.

  Ballad had already made her feelings towards Lance abundantly clear, of course.

  Jade had been the only one that seemed to actually want him around.  Probably so it could make Jon's day more special, although he was pretty sure her reasons were more of the altruistic lets's all be friends and form a happy group thing.

  Lance knew he would probably go though, if for no other reason than to walk out to save anyone if they got stuck and were in mortal peril.  It was just how he was wired. Fucking Paladin Complex!

  Lance shrugs, "Have to see how the morning goes, I guess.  I'm planning on turning in early-ish and resting up to try to get back out into the field as soon as possible."

  After all, the less time he spent around Ballad, the less it would hurt, he thought.

Jade nods and continues with her meal.

"You should rest up. It really looks like you were roughed up but you also took down the enemy which I am proud of you for. I was never able too. You did good ! Still Lance you know I care about you and when you get all banged up, or do something as dangerous as walk the pattern on your own. I get mad because I can't help. I wanted to cheer you on ! You know how I found out, a herald at Ezra's and I had to corner him to get the info out of him, and all he really knew was you were going off camping. Ballad ended up telling us and it was well a bit heart breaking."

  “I understand, and I’m sorry if it upset you, I didn’t mean to do that.   I know you really want to be there for me and help me, but I just have a lot going on in here,” he points to the left side of his chest, “and it’s just stuff I have to work out on my own.  I’m really struggling with a few things, and it’s gonna take time and distance.”

  Lance lets out a small sigh.  “I’m really only good at one thing, and that’s using a sword.  I spent my whole life on my own, and I have this great ability to feel alone even when I’m surrounded by people.  I’ve been different and an outsider all my life, and a few days ago everything I thought I knew got turned upside down.  Then there was Ball...well, other stuff.  I just need to be away from things for a while so I can work my way through it all.”

"It must be a Shadow Earth thing. Ariadne feels like she is separate and apart too. Your both not though. At least you don't have to be. I will respect though that you need time to work things out. Just please be here for your cousins walks. You could raise a toast to them and applaud. After all now you know just how big of an accomplishment it is." Jade smiled warmly.

"Bah I refuse to believe your only good at swinging a sword. I bet your wonderful at a lot more then you know." She pats his hand.

  “If it’s important to you that I go, I’ll be there.”  Lance assures her.  “I don’t think it matters to either of them, but I can see that you want me to be.  After that, though, I’m gonna probably scoot and leave the celebration to everyone else.  I know I’ve been moody lately, and don’t want to be the cause of bringing down the mood.”

Jade nods, "Thank you Lance. It will mean a lot to me. I will go and let you enjoy the rest of the evening with your mother and so you can turn in early. Thank you aunt Florimel I hope you have a wonderful evening." She gives Florimel a brilliant smile.

  “Good night, Jade, and thank you once again for the incredible gift.”

When she departs, Lance walks her to the door, gives her a brief hug and promises to be there in the morning.  Afterwards he closes the door and returns to the table to continue his meal with Flora.

"I am glad I was able to finally deliver his gift. You ready to go Odile ?"

"Sure thing!"