(Untitled)

[guard_of_az]

Who: Guards at the Gate, A New Arrival, OPEN
What: Someone followed Az home
When: February 1st, 7 PM
Where: First blockade before the Royal Stables

Comments

[xlittle_mousex]

Little Mouse got off of her pony and walked towards the man cautiously and slowly. She took a small piece of paper from her satchel and held it out for the man to take and read after she sign language to him to open the note and read it.

Stepping back from him she looked around as she seen another guard. She was curious and quite frightened. She had never been around grown men before. Quite frankly she had never seen on either but she knew about them a bit.

But the one in front of her scared her. She placed her hand on her knife in case she needed it. She wasn't going to trust them.

[purplerhino]

Lieutenant Patterson received the call. And seeing as how Cain was a bit... held up at the moment, and still a bit fluffy, he headed out.

The situation was... a child. A well armed child. A child with the clothing of Ix.

"Go get one of the female guards, Rachel should be on duty." Dave ordered the nearest armed man.

If the kid was from Ix, and it looked like she was, than being surrounded by men had to be less than comforting. Rachel had a daughter, herself. Grown and married, but the maternal side slipped out around kids.

"Three stay, the rest to your posts. Protocol 5." Dave commanded. Protocol 5 meant no harm or killing. Restraint only if absolutely necessary.

The kid was still armed after all, and likely skittish.

"Your visit is a bit unexpected. You set off security. Do you have a name?"

The man she'd handed the paper to was one of the guards who had remained.

[guard_of_az]

This was his last shift not on the Princess's detail, at least unless he was reassigned in the future, and Chris had been counting down the hours of the last shift. The minutes even. And instead of an anti-climatic close to the brief sojourn away with less intense duties, a little girl on a pony had walked up and turned it all on its head

[xlittle_mousex]

As the man crouched down to her level she backed away and kept her hand firmly on her knife. Watching them intently she figured they understood her sign language and said in sign language, "Where is Az?" Her mouth stayed firmly shut not one movement came from it not even a sound came from it. It still was a mystery on why she didn't talk. No one but Little Mouse herself knew the reason. Most thought she was mute, incapable of speaking.

[purplerhino]

Dave recognized what this 'Little Mouse' was doing with her hands, although he could not interpret it. He'd seen it before.

"House of Cain, huh?" That tickled Dave for some reason. "She's still in the house of Gale. She hasn't married her intended yet. But that's alright." She was a child, pretty as could be, but still a child. Unfortunately, Dave had seen children trained to kill before. And this one might well be a little assassin.

"Robertson," he turned to a dusky skinned man who had returned to his post inside the gates, "see if princess Azkadee is available. If she is tell her 'Little Mouse' is out here looking for her."

If the princess did know the child, chances were she wasn't here to kill. After all, that could have been achieved in Ix.

Dave tilted his head. "Can you hear or just read lips?"

[xlittle_mousex]

She gave another sign and pointed to her ear to signal she could here and covered her mouth to signal she couldn't speak after realizing the men didn't know her signs. She then pointed to her weapons and held her hands up and shook her head to signal she wasn't here to harm anyone. Crossing her arms she waited impatiently for Azkadeilia.

[az_of_the_oz]

Az had been asleep when the knocking sounded at the door, and both she and Jeb came awake. Although she still felt a bone deep sense of tiredness, even after they had fallen asleep together in the bed hours earlier, she found a robe she had tucked away in her nightstand and pulled it on. The news she received when she opened the door with Jeb standing behind her, as ruffled and wearing only a pair of his pants as he was, had caught her surprise. But instead of arguing that there was no way that Little Mouse had followed her to the Palace, she just nodded and said she would be there immediately.

Before he could even suggest that he come along, Az kissed him to keep him quiet, enjoying the brief contact before pulling away. While she had missed him desperately as well while she had been away, if this was Little Mouse, she had to already be frightened and adding another male to the mix just would not do. He tried to protest, but after a bone-meltingly intense kiss she had just shaken her head and went to dress as casually in O.Z. wear

[xlittle_mousex]

Little Mouse smiled when she saw Az, moving forward quickly and hugged her. Before she caught sight of the other guards, and darted to duck behind Azkadellia as she clung to the back of her dress.

She looked up at Az's face, and then peeked around at the other men before signing to Az. "I'm scared. Who are they?"

The girl looked at the guards who watched her carefully, "Why don't they trust me?" She added with a few swift hand gestures.

[purplerhino]

Dave tried to make sense of the sighs. The kid didn't speak, but could hear, he got that. She gave the impression she was indicating her weapons, but did she mean no one should touch them?

"Okay, you can't talk. Can you write? That'll make it easier. I recognize your signs, but I don't know them."

Just then Az came running.

"Stand down. His order was sharp and clear.

Az evidently knew the kid and so she was no threat.

"Sorry, highness. We had to be sure. Even children can be killers. Especially well armed ones." There was a sadness behind his blue eyes as he spoke. Revealing too much knowledge of killer children.

[az_of_the_oz]

Little Mouse was tiny, barely coming up to Az's shoulder, and she was far from a giant herself. The Princess had barely gotten her arms around the slight figure and gave her a quick squeeze before she was wiggling away to duck behind her. It was difficult, but not nearly impossible to twist around enough to see what the girl was signing. She had learned over the last week that it was better to keep her in view, at least when she was moving at high speeds. You never could know what to expect

[xlittle_mousex]

Little Mouse perked up and cocked her head to the side and then signed, "No I seen a male once and he was armed yet I don't like speaking of the moment." She watched the guard and listened to him speak to Azkadeilia. Her eyes lingered over the man's weapon briefly before looking back up and at Azkadeilia once more.

[purplerhino]

Dave knelt on one knee before the child, however he made to move or attempt to touch her.

"I'm sorry we had to make such a bad first impression. But you definitely looked like a dangerous and fierce warrior of Ix. It put us on edge much like we did you. After all, how many of us would you take down if you wanted."

Better to let her think the group of guards were afraid of a child then to have her remain overly afraid of them. Besides, show him a female that didn't like a bit of ego stroking.