The Seven Kingdoms

[[Opening post! It's pretty long. Everyone can post once until I think its ok to continue on. I still want to wait for some of the reserved characters to get their characters up. I don't want to lead them behind.]]

Chase slipped two coins onto the counter, ordering a cider, one of her favorite drinks. In the corner were three men. Next to her was a scrawny man and sitting in the corner was a gruff looking woman with an equally gruff man, fighting about a donkey. Chase sighed. The three men looked the richest, stealing from them would bear good rewards, but getting away would be a trick, especially in this small tavern. Chase picked up her Cider and took a sip.

Peering back at the men, she noticed one was missing. Being careful to keep her hood down, she glanced around the tavern. Although nobody would mistake her for a guy, her long curly hair easily showed her feminism, if she kept her hood down they wouldn't suspect she was graced.

"Now what's a fine young women like yourself doing in a bar like this?" a voice asked. Whipping around, Chase looked up to find the missing man from the three sitting next to her. Chase kept her eyes down and hood covering them. "What, a girl can't get a drink around here?" She growled, picking up her cider and turning away from him. A small glint near his belt caught her eye. He had a knife.

"Not one so young as yourself, now let me see here," he said, reaching to pull back her hood. But Chase was already reaching up to stop his hand, but her sudden movement caused the hood to fall back a little, just enough for him to see her eyes. "She's Graced!" he bellowed, snatching his hand away from hers. Narrowing her eyes, Chase assessed the situation within a second, then acted.

In one fell move, she leaped up onto the table, and stood herself up with her hands and whipped her feet around, kicking the man in the face. Using her momentum, she launched down from the table in a backhand spring, bringing her feet up to kick him squarely in the chest. As he crumbled to the ground she leapt on top of him and pushed off, leaping into the air and catching hold of a hanging lighted lantern that swung from the ceiling. The two men that had accompanied him were now advancing on either side. As she swung on the lantern, she kicked both legs out into a perfect split, nailing both men in the face.

She needed to get out of here. A place like this wasn't meant for a fight. However, She noticed the finely crafted dagger of the one man and decided it was worth it. Performing a backflip, she landed on the edge of the table he laid on. The table flipped upward, sending the man comically flying through the air. Chase ducked under him as he flew, snatching his dagger from his hands. Marveling at her prize she tucked it into her boot and sprinted out the door, not followed by the two others.

Smiling triumphantly, she pulled the dagger from her boot and inspected it. It was finely crafted from Liend. So what was it doing out here in Murgon City? Chase shrugged and pulled her hood up again, not wanting any more attention at the moment. Disposing of her older dagger, she replaced the new in her boot, proud of her find. However, attacking in the bar was a bad idea. Now the whole town wold catch rumor that there is a Graceling in the city terrorizing taverns. She would never find a place to stay.

Leon slowly woke up in his bed in the inn. He softly sat up and moved his legs till his feet met floor looking down at his feet. 'Its nice to see with both eyes for once,' He thought. Popping his neck he stood looking out the small window out at the street grabbing his eye patch from the side of the bed. Putting on the patch over his blood red eye his hair falling over it. He looks down at the tattoo on his right arm that clearly says "Grace". "How long has it been my friend? I have lived in this city and this room of the inn for two years now and I am longing for someone that is like me." As he says this the door of the tavern across the street swings open a figure hooded and smaller then himself moves out of it. The inside of the tavern looked a bit messed up and it looked as if three men lay on the floor.

Leon moves closer to the window looking as the figure moved down the street. He moves to his door opening it fast running down the steps to a huge room with chairs and tables where the frunt desk sat with no one behind it normal of this place. He slows as he walks out of the door of the inn and looks down the street the figure still walking but it now looked as if it was messing with a dagger. He moved after the person keeping out of sight as much as he could but kinda failing at it. 'Who is this small person that can take on three men and win it must be a graced one like me' He thought.

Shay sighed as she pick one of the tiny white flowers off of a bush. She looked at the fragile thing in her hand and brushed her fingers against the flower's soft petals. Making sure her wavy brown hair covered her one eye that was darker than the other, Shay let the crowd of people around her push her along the current. Keeping her head down Shay's eyes darted from face to face. Young people, old people, but never anyone like herself. When Shay arrived at the market she walked around and pretended to look at the items the venders where selling. She saw a short lanky boy who appears to trip over his own feet and she sighed, she'd found her source of money for the day. Turning her head down Shay walked over to the boy and bumped into him sending him sprawling on the floor. "Oh my," Shay said in her soft quiet voice, "I'm so sorry." Helping the boy up she gave him a faint smile and quickly walked away. When she was far enough Shay let out a sigh and took the boy's pouch of coins out of her pocket. She felt bad knowing that the boy would be yelled at for losing his money but Shay had swapped it with the flower. And it was a beautiful flower.

When Shay got to the inn she was staying at she opened the old splintering door and smiled at the lady behind the desk. Walking up the stairs to her room she opened the creaking door and locked it behind her. Turning around she slid down the door to sit on the rug covering the room's floor. Taking the coins out of her pocket she threw them across the room and laid her head on her arms. Shay hadn't realized how tired she was until her eyelids drooped shut. She didn't even bother to move to the bed as the sounds of people outside drifted away and Shay fell asleep.

Izzy sat by the river bank slipping her feet into the icy water letting out a jagged breath. She had being running since the night before, the inn she was staying in found out what she was. She had to climb out of the window in her room to get away before the inns hired thugs broke her door in. She gingerly took her feet out of the water letting them dry in the sun as she thought about her next move.

She got her shoes back on and started heading into the near by town, reminding her self with each step to count to three better each step. Once she reached the tavern she head rumblings about the "freaks" being everywhere. She couldn't help but smile, that might mean a grace might be around "it would be nice to not have to hide who I am for a change." She thought to her self as ashe scanned the street.

She watched a guy trailing a hooded girl, poorly. She couldn't help but keep an eye on the pair keeping her distance barely. She noticed an ally way that would lead out in front of both of them. She looked around to see if anyone noticed her moving into the dark walk way. She smirked to herself as she darted to the end leaning against a wall waiting for the pair to catch up.

"They're coming..."
Sitting alone in a small tent under the cover of the thick forest, Zandra opened her eyes. One Grey , One Teal, The Graced Priestess took a breath.

She rose from her cot, grabbed a deep black cloak, flung it over her shoulders and pulled up the hood. She knew a group of Gracelings were gathering, and they would change the world.

Whether it was for the better, or for the worst, she didn't know.

Her visions were never that clear, all she knew was that she was apart of it. Despite her desperate need for solidute.

She exited her tent and followed the path that would lead to the gathering of Graced. She focused and allowed her miind to pick up on the thoughts that were flowing around the forest.
"There!"
She darted for them.

Nathaniel glanced up from the cards in his hands when he heard the commotion coming from the place next door. With his back facing the wall, he kept himself in the shadows so as to hide his eyes. They weren’t so wildly dissimilar that you could tell right off but if Nate was in direct light or he held your gaze for a moment too long you knew instantly what he was. Laying down his hand he pulled his hood up over his head and dealt himself out. Making his excuses he quickly and quietly slipped out of the door in time to see the figure or figures of interest make their way down the street.

The nondescript young man’s interest was piqued, at the sight or sound of chaos he was ready to spring into action. It was his status as a graceling that made this so. It had been too long since Nate had last sparred, or even worked up a sweat. Of course he was trying to keep a low profile as all like him should be trying to do. One mistake was all it took and according to the shouts coming from the tavern it was apparent the perpetrator was a grace. Swearing softly to himself he knew that soon this place would be no safe haven for those like him and if it was true that a graceling was wandering the streets kicking up trouble for the rest of them he wanted to see what it was about.

Falling into line behind the rest, he made no effort to hide himself. There wasn’t a point now as far as he could see. Stopping short he looked at the hooded figures curiously and pulled his own hood back from his face.

“Looks like you might have gotten into a spot of trouble back there. I don’t know that I’d take time to admire my spoils considering this city’s not gonna be safe for any of us once word spreads.” Nathaniel said wryly, a lopsided smile on his face by way of greeting. Glancing back and forth between the two figures in his eyeline.

[[I'm really busy tomorrow and don't know when else I'm going to post, so I'm going to post now because I won't be able to tomorrow. Hopefully Not That Awesome can jump right in]]

Chase gave wry smile as she traced the hilt of the dagger with her finger. She knew she had attracted attention, although it wasn't her intention. Two men were following her, but not the ones from the bar. Both of them were blatantly obvious about it. She could hear them from where she stood. Letting out a chuckle, she suddenly ran forward and leapt into the air. Her hands caught hold of a bar jutting out from a building. At some point the bar might of held up a sign to a shop, but now it was a perfect thing to climb. Her hands grasped hold of it and she used her momentum to swing straight up into the air, perform a flip in the air and land gently on top of the bar. Letting her feet slip forward and her body fall backward, it looked as if she were about to tumble to the ground, but her legs remained on the bar, so that she swung upside down, facing the two men.

Ok, so she was a bit of a show off.

"Looks like you might have gotten into a spot of trouble back there. I don’t know that I’d take time to admire my spoils considering this city’s not gonna be safe for any of us once word spreads.” The man said, removing his hood. Chase took in his appearance, taking note of the one eye blue and one eye green. Graceling. Chase grinned.

"Oh but why not? It's a very nice dagger," She said, holding up the dagger and picking the dirt out from under her nails with it, all the while upside down. Chase's attitude normally deterred most people. She smirked. "And I wasn't in a spot of trouble. The man had something I wanted and he had something he wanted. We just had... different views." Chase looked around to see if anyone else was around, but it was just her, Mr. Better Than Everybody and Mr. I Suck At Stalking People. "So what's your grace? And what about you?" she said, louder the second time, pointing with her dagger to the man poorly hidden in the distance. "Hasn't anyone ever told you it's not polite to stalk little girls?"

Chase grinned to herself, almost pleased with herself that she had caused so much trouble. Although she did feel bad. She hadn't meant to affect so many other Gracelings. She didn't know that many still lived in this city. "You can call me Chase. And nothing but Chase or you might get chased."

Shay's eyes snapped open when she heard a clamor outside of the inn. Rising slowly to her feet Shay made her way to the single window in her room and poked her head out warily. She was started to see a girl smaller than herself hanging upside-down from a pole sticking out from the inn's wall. Shay's eyes took in the hooded man she was talking to and the poorly hidden man in the background and clicked her tongue. The man was making a mockery of himself with his poor hiding skills, he wasn't even sticking to the shadows like any person who gave thought to hiding would. Shay's attention was drawn back to the upside-down girl and hooded man when he threw back his hood and said, "Looks like you might have gotten into a spot of trouble back there. I don't know that I'd take time to admire my spoils considering this city's not gonna be safe for any of us once word spreads." Shay saw his one green eye and one blue eye and had to cover her mouth so she wouldn't gasp. Other gracelings!

She couldn't help but smile, she'd found not only one, but three others like herself! Her smile turned even bigger as she felt the icy tingle that meant she was turning invisible. Time to have a little fun. Pulling herself out of the window Shay slowly started climbing up to the roof, telling herself not to look down the whole time. When she finally made it to the roof she'd missed half the conversation but she made it in time to hear the girl say, "You can call me Chase. And nothing but Chase or you might get chased." Shay and sat cross-legged next to the girl. Turning visible again she smiled at Chase and said in her soft voice, "Chase....what a lovely name!" She looked at the two men and turned back to Chase with a smile, "Sorry to interrupt. It only seemed fair that I even the numbers."

Leon looked at the two of them not knowing what to say his eye patch moved a little the eye under it blinking. He slowly moved out of where he was badly hidden just to see the girl jump up and hang form a bar coming from one of the near by walls. He smiled still not knowing why he tryed to hide in the first place knowing he wasn't good at it. His light purple eye looking over the two both were hiding their eyes with hoods. Why? He had so much luck with his dealing with the eye patch over one eye he could understand hiding it with a hood. He was snapped out of his thoughts but the girl asking him something.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you it's not polite to stalk little girls?"

He hadn't even been meaning to 'stalk' her but he guessed thaat is what it could have looked like. "I am sorry Miss Chase. I didn't know how to speak to you and I was only waiting. It looked like you had a fight with a few men and I didn't think know how you would react to me.........."He looked away and looked back and now there was two girls he didn't know what to think till the 2nd spoke. He moved a little closer and asked "And what would your name be miss?"

Izzy smirked taking her cue from the new girl that just appeared from line air. "Sorry to interrupt. It only seemed fair that I even the numbers." She stepped out of the shadows of the alley way making her way in three steps to the wall under Chase's perch "I think I would rather have the odds in our favor would you agree?"

She pulled her hood down as well showing her copper and blue eyes, "I am Isabelle, but you can call me Iz or Izzy." She clear her throat trying to keep her voice slowed some what from her normal blurred speech.

Nathaniel immediately took a step back as the others made their appearances. He was confident, but he wasn’t sure if he could withstand the odds if they all turned their attention his way. They might be the same, gracelings all of them but that didn’t mean he immediately trusted them. As for the matter of numbers it didn’t matter much to Nate seeing as he always played for a team of one.

“Well, look here. What are the odds that so many of us would convene so randomly? If I didn’t know any better I’d think we were being set up, but I just can’t see how that’d be possible.” Nathaniel offered his voice neutral as he tried to keep all of the newcomers within sight and listened to them exchange pleasantries.

The cagey young man completely ignored the question of what his grace was, instead letting the attention shift to the rest of the group. His grace was as such that it wasn’t immediately noticeable and was such a part of him that he didn’t consider it to be anything strange or abnormal. Crossing his arms across his chest he took stock of the people before him. There were five gracelings meandering in the alleyway, as if that were a normal occurrence and wouldn’t set the town aflame if they were caught.

“I’m Nathaniel and we might want to do away with the how do you do’s and find someplace else to be? I mean it’s all well and good, there’s more of us than I thought but it wouldn’t do us much good if we were all cornered by an angry mob and strung up.” Nate added to the conversation, his tone making it apparent that he wouldn’t be too bothered by such a turn of events. Nathaniel might try and seem logical but he can’t help his natural affinity for a fight.

"I'm Nathaniel and we might want to do away with the how do you do's and find someplace else to be? I mean it's all well and good, there's more of us than I thought but it wouldn't do us much good if we were all cornered by an angry mob and strung up." Shay smiled shyly at the rest of the group and sighed, "Nathaniel's right, we're no good to anybody if we're dead." Shay slowly got to her feet and walked to the edge of the building.

Looking down over the edge of the roof she wondered vaguely how she was going to get down, unlike Chase she wasn't exactly able to just swing down. Sighing Shay looked over the group once more before quietly adding, "My name's Shay by the way. Some people used to call me Shy or Mouse, I'm not really sure if I should take that as a complement or an insult so you can chose." Shrugging Shay walked back over to where the window to her room was before climbing back in and going to gather her stuff. Something told her that this trip was going to be different.

"Chase....what a lovely name! Sorry to interrupt. It only seemed fair that I even the numbers." Chase was so startled by the sudden appearance of another girl that her feet slipped and Chase let out a small yelp "Ahh!" She didn't have time to catch her self and so she tumbled to the ground, landing roughly on her back. To ease the impact she rolled upon hitting the ground and sprung up. Coughing and dusting herself off a bit, she was bright red, embarrassed.

"Well that was.... an impressive trick" She said grinning up at the mystery girl who was clearly also graced. However, upon studying her she noticed that both her eyes were brown. Maybe she wasn't graced? But looking closer, she saw that one eye was just a bit darker than the other. Interesting. Chase's own eyes were hard to miss. Bright and strange, just like her personality. "You, my friend, have earned my respect. Shay's your name? I like Mouse better."

Taking in the other members of this merry band of misfits, she watched as the stalker guy spoke up, and quite eloquently. Chase rolled her eyes and twirled the dagger in her hand "You can say what you want," she said dismissively. Just then another voice crept up "I think I would rather have the odds in our favor would you agree?" Chase jumped, startled again, and quite surprised she'd managed to get outsmarted, twice. Frowning, she turned to the new girl, who claimed to be Isabelle. "Izzy, I do agree. But I also agree with Nathaniel it would be wise to go and find somewhere else to talk."

Her eyes darted up to the rooftops, and in another second she was climbing to the roof. After another second or two she was standing precariously on a ledge, overlooking a small view of the city. Mapping out the area in her head before climbing down, she had an idea of where to go. "There's a forest nearby and a small cottage next to it. I'm pretty sure the cottage is abandoned but it's hard to tell from here."