At first, Torrin didn’t seem to trust his cousin for Aria to be alone with her but something changed his mind. “Okay, I’ll see you around I guess,” Aria called out Torrin. She then caught up with Quinna, trailing at least three steps behind her. “One r,” she replied. To have two r’s and somehow be related to Torrin because of that seemed a little weird to her. Even his own name had two r’s in it she realized. She wondered if there was really a book written about her family. Did they really make their mark in the worlds? She never heard any stories about them. She was beginning to feel embarrassed she didn’t even know her own heritage...
Aria gave a glance at Torrin when he nudged her and then realized what he was hinting at. "Oh, yeah... Do you have anything by the name of Dorin from the Realm of Light in your library?" It couldn't hurt to ask. Aria knew next to nothing of her family. All she knew was that her kingdom fell into darkness long ago and her parents were alive. For some reason though she hadn't met them yet. She had remained separate from them since her birth and she never questioned why. Perhaps it had to do with protecting them from the Light Chaser or some other reason Aria couldn't wrap her head around. She wondered if she would ever meet her parents... would they ever want to meet her?
Aria was learning rather quick that Torrin wasn't a big fan of his family in general, or at least his extended family. He seemed to harbor a not so good history with them, which was kind of sad to Aria. Maybe it was because she had a good relationship with her own aunt and uncle, which she was coming to realize probably weren't exactly her real aunt and uncle, but she loved them all the same. "Nice to meet you Quinna," Aria said with a pleasant smile, reaching for her hand and shook it politely. "A little of all of those things," Aria replied. "Some knowledge, a tour..." It didn't take long for Qamar to come back to the group with her findings. "That was quick. I'm glad you found what you were looking for at least." Then Enzo came back to the group with his own book which didn't have any words on it but strange bumps. Aria raised her eyebrow in curiosity and tilted her head a bit. "Ch-chicken...?" Enzo was a weird duck...
Aria gave Watts a wave before exiting the smithy, happy to be back out in the fresh air once more. The heat of the forge was something she wasn’t fond of. Maybe on a cold winter’s day she would find it more appealing, but for now she wanted to stay out in the open. She wondered what they were going to do next when Qamar brought up something about her family and wanting to do research at the library. Could there be something there? “It wouldn’t hurt to look, would it?” Aria piped up. Unless they had other matters to attend to but this seemed important to Qamar.
Watts seemed like he wasn't going to take a no for an answer to make Aria something. She watched as he took Qamar's dagger and had it sharpened, then got on to Torrin about his armor being broken, and a gauntlet of sorts needing to be fixed. For some reason Enzo wanted wings, but either he was a bad artist or his penmanship wasn't that great because the creation on the fancy scrap of paper was just scribbles. Blinking at the bad attempt of the work of art, Aria then adverted her gaze and tapped on her chin in thought for a moment. "You know, I could use a knife. Maybe a pocket knife? Something handy and practical. I don't need anything fancy," Aria said with a small smile. She didn't want this man to overwork himself while they were here or put too much on his plate.
Aria was caught off guard by how loud the blacksmith was. She hung back, letting Torrin lead the majority of the conversation. He did seem a little cranky as Torrin described, but Aria didn't mind too much. However it didn't take long for her to be roped into the conversation too. "Oh, I was just here to tag along with Torrin," Aria said with a nervous laugh. "I wasn't expecting to have anything made for me." She looked at Qamar, wondering if she needed anything done.
Aria wiped her brow when all was said and done. King Joch seemed like a really intimidating sort of man. It was no wonder why Torrin was reluctant coming back here. Or at least that was one of the reasons Aria could pick up on. It was then Torrin addressed her and she shrugged her shoulders. "I... guess? What about the others?" She gestured to Qamar, Boreas, Enzo, and Lumen. "And what are the restricted areas your Uncle talked about? N-not like I'm going to go there, but I'm just curious."
When a new person stepped into view, Aria stood to attention right away. Their presence seemed to demand it, and one look of the guards Boreas, and Qamar dropping down was proof to Aria enough that this guy seemed rather important. Aria was taken aback a bit when the man addressed her as a princess right away and she felt the need to curtsy in respect to the man before her. He soon introduced himself as the king of the realm of darkness and it all made sense why his presence seemed intimidating after all. He ask what threat was happening to the realms and Qamar spoke up. Boreas seemed to fill in the rest of the explanation. "We need a place for Eilonwy to be safe," Aria began, gesturing to the other princess of heart. "The Light Chaser as we mentioned is gathering the princess of hearts, probably part of his plan to rid the worlds of darkness completely. And we believe this is the one of the safest place for her to be. Oh, and her friend Taran needs to stay with her too... They're kind of a package deal. Anyways... Worlds have been disappearing too. To darkness. The Light Chaser brought back one world, I saw it with my own eyes... I don't know if he can bring back the other worlds or not... He can also open up portals to different realms we never seen or heard of. He placed one of our friends there. She went in as a child of about twelve years old, and three days later came out as an almost eighteen year old... This Light Chaser isn't someone to trifle with. He has nearly taken out a few of the Light Council masters, and other masters have disappeared off the map... In other words, the Light Chaser is very bad news..."
Aria didn't take the commoner comment to heart like everyone else seemed to have had. She shrugged her shoulders. Nora already didn't seem like a pleasant person to be around though and so she scooted closer to Torrin. It seemed like Qamar had her heart set on another mission in mind all of the sudden, and things were starting to become a little confusing to Aria... All she knew was she was considered not only a commoner, but an outsider as well, which was far worse of a crime it seemed. She stayed silent, not knowing what to say or really do with herself at the moment since there really wasn't much she could do to contribute to anything for now.
Aria took off her hood and shook the hair out of her eyes. "My name is Aria..." The welcoming wasn't the greatest, and with that in mind, Aria wasn't sure how the rest of the trip was going to pan out. Would they be able to get what the Council wanted them to retrieve? It seemed that Nora had high standards and really disliked Torrin... What if this mission was a bust? Still, she would support her comrades the best that she could, even though the world around them was foreign to her as well as the customs of this place.
She was almost there when the guards suddenly turned on her. Aria skidded to a stop, quickly putting her hands up. It was then Torrin's voice rang out over the communicator and Aria unsummoned her keyblade. It was strange to say the least that this was happening. One minute they were fighting alongside of them and then the next they were enemies. Did Torrin reveal himself? It would only make sense why the sudden change in events. Aria walked slowly with the guards, and then spotted Torrin up ahead with a lady that didn't look too friendly. Aria kept her hands up as the guards pointed their weapons at her, not wanting to make any false moves. "So much for being discreet," Aria muttered under her breath.
Aria was nearly knocked off her feet by the airy blast, and her attention was turned briefly to a person clad in armor. She watched for a moment in awe as this new person seemed to move so effortlessly, taking out the heartless before she disappeared from sight. She was brought out of her trance by the appearance of Enzo who was covered in soot and looked a little worse for the wear. "I dunno," she answered as she slashed at more heartless and sent more water spells in the way of the flames. She then saw what appeared to be the guards taking out the Flame Cores and the fires as they were going along and Aria glanced over at Enzo. "Seems like they have it covered here, I'm going to go check on Torrin." With that, she started to run where the most chaos seemed to be happening.
Aria used the power of her rainbow, casting a protective shield around herself as well as the Flame Cores got closer. She then jumped to it with her water magic, drenching the heartless that were swarming her. Maka is not feeling very well, so this is all she can muster to post. But to make it look like she put some effort into this, she is writing fluff. Like how Aria afterwards went back to work to try to control the flames that were getting out of control. Chaos was everywhere, just like at Maka's work.
Lost loves? She couldn't help but to notice how Torrin seemed a bit awkward with that question. It never occured to her that Torrin had any love interests before all this began. With what Qamar asked her about how she felt about Torrin, it had been circling around in her mind. Did she love Torrin...? But what if he already loved someone else? Besides, who could really love her? It never happened, and she believed it never would. She never caught anyone's eye before, and she didn't believe she could be that special to someone. She was an awkward, immature, dim-witted, light-hearted duck, not fit to be someone's love companion. Torrin then brought up something about his cousins and his family, but then he dropped the subject before he indulged them. She realized then and there she didn't really know Torrin that well. Sure they had breakfast together for the past couple of weeks, but she didn't know about his background and origins. Not like he knew about hers. Aria stayed quiet as the group made their way in the district. She had a look around the place, keeping to herself as she took in everything. It was then all went into chaos, and the time to daydream was over. Aria jumped into action, summoning her keyblade and readied herself to run towards the fire with Enzo. "Alright, let's go!" She then noticed Enzo wasn't looking so well and raised an eyebrow. "E-Enzo...? You okay...?" It was then he took off his glasses, cleaned them, put them back on, and then ran into the fires yelling. "Wait Enzo!" Aria cast Rainbow Glow on him before he disappeared, giving the crazy guy some kind of protection from the heat and smoke. She then took in a deep breath, finding the power within herself to try to help out. "Okay, something to put out fires...." Water, dummy. She nodded and then called on the power of the Wavesurfer, summoning all the water power she could get. Streams of liquid surrounded her keyblade and her being and then she was off, running first toward the building that Enzo disappeared into. She aimed her keyblade in that direction and began spraying streams of water at the flames, dosing them to create a safer path for the young man to journey back through. Aria then began running down the buildings, putting out fires with her water magic and taking out Firecores to try to stop the fires from spreading, also trying to keep an eye for anyone needing an extra hand getting out.
Whilst wishing the others good luck, soon Aria found herself spirited away to the other realm. The darkness was pressing, that much she noted. She swore she could feel the dark creature within her churning and maybe even giggling in glee with the surroundings... Aria was barely paying attention to the group when Enzo suddenly broke out into song. It was a strange one at that, and the outlook of the mission in the song was dim, but the tune was sort of catchy. Aria blew some lose strands of hair from her face, grounding herself back on the task at hand. They were heading to the castle where it was mentioned there was no guards. With really not much to say or do, Aria quietly followed behind the others, hoping that the dark being inside her would sit this one out for a while and leave her be.
When the meeting was over, it seemed as if there was no time to waste. Cloaks were handed out, and the reasons to have them were explained why. Aria held hers up to her body to examine it to herself. "Ooo, black... So... colorful...." She shrugged a little and slipped it on, whipping her hair back where it should be then stood to attention. "Anti-beacon thingy, activated!" Aria struck a pose, pointing upward in the air while her other hand rested on her hip. She chuckled to herself and faced the others. "Okay, I'll be less silly. I'm just happy to be able to go with you guys is all. I'm glad I'm not being held back."
Lost Voices Lakoda was grateful for the support her friends were giving her. She took Conrad's hand on the way to the inn, only to let go once they were there. She remembered well how Conrad would comfort her in her greatest times of need. As the questions were being asked, another hand took hers and she looked down to see it was Everette. She smiled a little and squeezed it back, waiting for the explanations. The man stroked his long beard, trying to figure out how to answer all the questions at once. "The attacks, as you say, have been happening on the outskirts of town for about two months I want to say, at night when there's hardly any moonlight. First it was just passerby's or travelers on their way here, being picked off randomly. The stories were the same though. There was always a maiden singing in the woods right before the attacks... only a few managed to survive. Some say they saw skeletal figures, others say spirits. No one has gotten a clear look. The attacks started to move towards our town a few weeks ago. People would hear singing, children laughing or crying, people calling out for help, and then when they go out, they disappeared. Gone..." Mr. Drove looked over to the boy who was picking at the frills of his blanket and gestured to him. "Felix has been our first to actually escaped. Said he saw an old lady in the woods before being chased by skeleton monsters. We've lost at least seven or eight of our own so far..." Mr. Drove looked to Lakoda and narrowed his eyes. "How about you missy. Do you have any questions?" Lakoda wasn't expecting to be put on the spot and straightened to attention. She quickly shook her head no with a polite smile. "What's the matter, can't talk?" Her smile faded and her grip on Everette's hand tightened.
The meeting wasn't what Aria wasn't expected. It was lax with no pressing matters on hand. The Light Chaser seemed to be in the background T-Posing, and attempts to try to rescue the other Princesses of Heart didn't even surface. Perhaps that effort seemed futile, given how almost two of the strongest masters were taken out by a single hit for two weeks. Or that's how Aria remembered it going. Talks of the Mark of Mastery exams was brief, and Aria felt herself cringing inwardly at Master Kaio's words. Was she one of those not yet ready for that? She had been working as hard as possible these last two weeks, learning all she could. Still for some reason it didn't feel like it was enough. Her mind wandered back to the meeting, hearing input about armor and special metals. Something about it being in Tinarah and Chrono's home-world and in another place that Aria never heard of. But as soon as Torrin spoke up, it became apparent where it was located and why Torrin would have seemed reluctant to go back. With teams forming left and right, Aria pressed her lips together in a thin line and rest her knuckles on her chin in thought. She wondered why Gero wasn't pushing her to go with the group going to the Realm of Darkness, or Take for that matter since they were both Princess and Prince of Heart. Perhaps it was because he didn't favor the budding friendship that was forming between herself and Torrin. Torrin had all the support he needed, but maybe Aria could tag along as well. Still, there was that little problem she had going on that only Torrin and Gero invested in these last two weeks. Should it go out of hand, she wanted to be near someone she trusted. What if she had a nightmare while with Chrono and Tinarah? She didn't want them to deal with it, or have something go terribly wrong. The only one who truly knew the nature of what lurked within was Torrin, and to an extent, Master Gero. "I'll go with you guys," Aria finally announced, nodding to Boreas, Qamar, Eilonwy, and Torrin. "Seems like a fun road trip ahead of us."
When Aria saw it was Master Thallasa who has imposed on them, Aria relaxed a bit. When she was told the meeting was urgent yet not so urgent it was a bit confusing to say the least. Yet Master Thallasa cleared it up when she said they needed to come with her right then and there. "We'll take our dishes to the kitchen first and then we'll meet you there," Aria promised. Guess she wouldn't know what Torrin was going to say to her for a while. True to her word, Aria led the way to the kitchen and quickly washed their plates and cups before drying them and setting them back on the shelf. She then dried her hands and headed out of the room, going towards the meeting room, wondering what in the world would they be briefed about.
Aria raised an eyebrow when Torrin started to choke on his food. This breakfast didn't seem that hard to eat unless he just swallowed it the wrong way. But now he seemed like a nervous wreck for some reason which confused Aria more. "Are you okay Torrin...?" But before she could get an answer to that question, he was fumbling over his words and trying to get something out. It was then the news about her birthday came around and Aria shrugged her shoulders a bit. "That's okay. I mean, the birthday... It's not a big deal." But Torrin seemed like he wanted to say something more and now it was bothering Aria a bit more. "If this is about me being a princess, I was already told that..." But she had a feeling it could be something else. What was making Torrin such a nervous wreck right now?
