Snippet #2289318

Liandre hurried from the cell where Eiurin was being kept, following the hallway she had initially taken with Luther earlier. Though admittedly, perhaps, she should've stayed to properly escort the red-haired woman out, she was disturbed by the woman's presence. The small princess had not been exposed much to women of the night and part of her wondered if she should've behaved differently. One of the guards nodded to her as she walked past, opening the door for her politely. She didn't look up to meet his gaze, instead tilting her head downwards and brushing a thick strand of her hair behind her ear. Liandre had been down to see Eiurin too long--somehow, she had a feeling the king was going to be quite impatient with her when she returned up to the viewing booth.

Turning on her heel as she rounded the corner, the girl entered the elevator, mind abuzz with thoughts of what was to come. As the machine whirred to life and brought her up the floors, she briefly thought of Luther. She had left him down there; oh well. He didn't have a visitor's key but somehow, she felt he would be alright. He seemed eccentric enough to talk his way out of any situation besides and in all likelihood, had probably returned back upstairs while she was still conversing with Eiurin. The elevator came to a halt on the topmost floor and she departed, heels clicking on the ground as she began her walk back to the balcony.

Liandre's heart felt a bit heavy in her chest as worry began to claw at her insides. They were getting very close, the preliminary matches must've ended by now. It made her antsy to consider that soon she would have to move into the next part of her plan. Though she had been mapping it out for months now, back and forth with Eiurin and covering all the details, she knew from experience. A plan that was applied into motion often went awry due to outside elements and unforeseen causes. There was no way to properly predict every single possible event to take place, after all. And it was the things that she couldn't predict that were making her feel particularly uneasy. If something were to go wrong, if something were to interfere... oh, she couldn't bear the thought of failing the poor flawed. They had not asked to be imprisoned and used as mere stage puppets for cruel amusement. She had to save them--she just had to...!

The princess took a deep breath, realizing with a bit of small shock that she had come upon the booth once more, more quickly than she had anticipated. She swallowed, soothing her features back into the controlled, calmly visage she adopted around the king as she curtsied to one of the guards. He hurriedly bowed and opened the door for her, the small girl sliding inside and working her way back into the proceedings. Almost instantly, she noticed the king, who was casually reclining in his seat. At her approach, he turned his head, a thin smirk on his lips as she took her seat some feet from him.

"Ah, Liandre dear, whatever took you so long? Nervous about your champion?" The girl tried her best to smile back at him, deciding to evade his question with another comment.

"The turnabout for this year's match is rather interesting, is it not? The flawed do seem to be a rather diverse bunch." She watched as the king's jaw tightened but in an instant, it was gone, replaced by a chilled smile.

"Quite, though sadly none are a match for my own," The man paused, as if in thought before continuing. "Tell me, what do you think of the one down there?" He pointed to the young boy who had just destroyed the last of his opponents in an array of feathers. Liandre had not caught much of the match but from the looks of things, he was quite formidable. To her surprise, he did not wait for the announcer, merely glaring up at the audience. The intensity of the look made her feel sorrow--how much suffering had he gone through to contain such bitter rage at them...? The winged-boy turned back to the steambots, which escorted him through the exit, like all the champions before him. Liandre looked away, the sight of blood was making her queasy, and forced herself to look back upon the king. The man was regarding the whole scene with sick amusement.

"He's a feisty one, though I don't see him lasting long when it comes to the elimination matches..." Seeing her chance, the princess did not hesitate to interject. Through all her research, she only had the bare knowledge when it came to this part of the tournament.

"Elimination matches... my lord?" She added quickly at the end, trying to appease King Resdreillhm's ego. Her subservience worked like a charm and he chuckled, giving into her question.

"Aye, elimination matches. It's much like picking off the scum from your boots. I'm sure many of the... victors won't make it through the round." She furrowed her brows but did not speak, only nodding her head for him to continue. "Ah, I forget, my dear. You have not attended any tournaments before now. The champions, much like your own, are gathered in that holding pen," Here he gestured off to a gated area that was on another side of the arena. "It's a resting period so they can gather their strength, form futile alliances... up until the elimination round. There, all will be gathered to do battle until only two of them are standing. Then we move into the semi-finals." Only... two? Her hand clenched into a fist. That was too little, she truly would have to do it now--just as Eiurin had suggested and just as she had imagined.

The king took little notice of her rising discomfort, turning to one of his royal aides instead. Liandre's breath faltered a bit as she began to consider all that she had been told. If what he said was true, which she was pretty sure it was, then her best bet to release all the flawed would be during the next round. Which meant... the machine would have to be ready. She shifted her eyes up, one of the attendant's nearby catching her line of vision. She re-focused her gaze back down to her lap with a sigh. This wasn't going to be easy. Creating a distraction large enough to free the flawed would be difficult enough. Getting to the scientist's laboratory where the transdimensional portal was kept would prove to be frightfully more challenging. But still, it was a task that needed be done and she refused to give up before she tried. Her hand instinctively settled atop her mirror, which was safely in the folds of her vest.

For the first time since she started this whole mission, she felt a trickle of doubt. And the princess could only hope she knew precisely what she was doing.