Aaron Quinn's Story

Mollem silently listened as Gabrielle uttered her rebuttal, an outright refusal of demands that he had through reasonable.

It was then his face darkened, and his pleated cowl was thrown back over his head, as he turned to face Kianna.

"Quaero praecessi etiamsi habere illam occidere." He muttered to her in Anquietas, the known Aschen language.

He then shot a glare to Gabrielle before he turned back towards the throne room, with two Confessors in Tow, he moved towards one of the many doors that had lined the main hall, almost as if he had been pouting.

Kianna shook her head as Mollem slipped from the room, seemingly weary of the whole matter. Truth be told she was as well, but for whatever reason this matter seemed of some importance to Mollem and she would humor him on it for the time being.

"I think you misunderstood," Kianna replied. "My husband asks that you report the individuals," she explained. "Not that they be afforded any special treatment," she added. "If our officers and soldiers are acting in a manner unbecoming of their station, then we need that information to reach the Aschen Consulate so that it can be addressed on our end as well. If our citizens are acting in a way to compromise the tentative peace between our people, then we need to know of these individuals. Surely this is a simple request to help us to ensure that future conflicts are stemmed before they even begin."

She shook her head. "If no one reports these matters, then it is unreasonable for people to assume we know they are occurring and to lay blame that nothing is being done to prevent it."

She chuckled lightly.

"As much as I would like to claim omnipotence, I fear that is a talent that lays beyond me."

Norrington for the first time did something. He turned his head towards Gabby and whispered in a low voice, "Wait, did you ask to see him or vice versa?" If he was close enough his whiskers would probably tickle at the side of her face. And then he was back to being an utterly neutral observer of the ongoing diplomacy.

No, this was beyond stupid. Standing there, growing more exasperated and annoyed that she had even agreed to come, Gabrielle snapped her gaze towards the Divine Shadow as he mumbled some mombo-jumbo towards Kianna. When he shot her a glare, she was nice enough to do the same, resisting the urge to flip him off as well. She figured that would get her fingers cut off and she sort of liked having them around. When he left in a huff, she couldn’t help but wonder what had been said, but knew better than to ask and instead just glanced between Aaron and his mother, fighting to keep from saying or doing something she would ultimately regret.

“Hnnn…”

That was all she allowed herself to do, knowing it was least likely to get her into trouble. The only good thing with him leaving was that he took two of the Confessors with him. That allowed her to relax a little bit more. Though, when Kianna began to speak again, her shoulders tensed up and she felt her irritation rising even more. Tightening her jaw, Gabrielle just shrugged towards the woman, Gabby glanced over at Norrington when he whispered a question towards her. Leaning towards him while ignoring his whiskers rubbing against her cheek, she whispered just as quietly as he did.

“Vice Versa.”

Turning back towards Kianna, she narrowed her eyes, still twirling several cards in the pocket of her jacket. She studied the woman for a couple of minutes, figuring that unless she said what the woman wanted to hear, Kianna would continue to speak to her in the same manner, making it appear that Gabby just didn’t understand what was being asked. Even though she was a sixteen-year-old, she wasn’t stupid and had been the top of her classes. Hell, she even graduated when she was just fifteen. Flexing her jaw, she took in a few deep breaths before deciding to respond accordingly.

“Whatever. And how do you wish me to go about reporting these shenanigans to you? I still think it’s stupid that I have to do that for the Aschen, when I am not being asked to do it for any other group. Maybe they have a better handle on their soldiers and people than you do? Or maybe they just don’t care.” Gabrielle wondered briefly if she was just digging a hole, but at the moment, she didn’t give a shit. When she agreed to go discuss this with the Divine Shadow, she didn’t think it would go in this direction. Well, to be honest, she wasn’t exactly sure what direction it would be going in, but that was probably because she wasn’t politically minded like others.

"You know, you're kind of a jerk," Aaron told Gabby.

His words drew a frown from Kianna, who was attempting to maintain some sense of civility to the conversation.

"That's not necessary," she told Aaron. "Why don't you go on," she told him.

Aaron shrugged and headed off, back the way he had arrived from. Clearly the boy had been spending too much time with Mollem.

With Mollem and Aaron gone from the room, it was just herself and the two confessors that remained as Kianna retook her seat with a thoughtful look. She would have preferred to dismiss the confessors, but she had a feeling that they were here on orders from Mollem to keep an eye on her as much as their guests. Kianna had enough trouble just keeping them out of her special projects division. No, she had no illusions as to who the confessors were reporting to.

"How many other nations do you know with a rather large ethnic population living across the street from your establishment?" Kianna inquired in response to Gabby's own question. "There's no secret that there's been a great deal of bad blood between the Aschen and the Terrans in the past, and these things don't mend overnight. Your cooperation and assistance will not go unappreciated, and I'll see that you're provided any information you need regarding the Aschen Consulate before your return to Terra."

She studied Gabby a moment, and despite Gabby's seeming agreement to the matter, it was plain to see that she was far from thrilled with the situation.

"What can I do to assure you that I have nothing but the interest of your establishment, Wing City, and the improvement of Aschen and Terran relations in mind?" Kianna inquired.