Nobles' Sitting Room: Royal Palace of Andor, Caemlyn

You find yourself in a antechamber with a high, vaulted ceiling inset with colorful stained glass. Lush carpets of red and white lie upon the marble stone floor. Couchs and chairs are arranged in conversational groupings within the room.

A servant pushing a small cart filled with clean linens and bedclothes comes out of the gilded doors and heads up the corridor. Down below, in the Queen's Gardens, you can see snowdrifts against the white stone walls, and icicles hanging from tree branches. To the east is a wing set with doors that house the nobles who reside in the palace. To the northeast are a pair of double doors that lead to the balcony and gardens. A hallway with guests' rooms branches to the west, and the heavily guarded Queen's chambers are south. A great staircase of white stone curves down to the Entry Hall below.

Jaeara exits the suite set aside for Lord Aeron.

Jaeara wanders aimlessly down the corridor from the nobles' rooms, one hand stretched out agains the wall, as if it were guiding her. Her eyes are half-lidded, her face downturned, watching her feet as they pad soundlessly against the polished marble floor.

Rennar appears to be sitting on one of the various chairs about the room, for once actually inside. She looks up as she hears a door opening and closing, tilting her head just so briefly. Eyes filled with curiousity regard the girl before her.

Jaeara pauses at a window, placing a pale hand up to the light, seeming surprised to find a faint edging of frost there. The green eyes stare listlessly down into the snow-covered gardens below, and the girl swallows hard, her fingers folding in on themselves, into a fist placed at her side.

The balcony door seems to be fixed by now, replaced not too long ago after Durnik's supposed tantrum. Rennar continues to watch the girl quietly, curiosity filling her. She nods her head in a gentle manner, "Good morning." Her voice is a soft whisper. She looks almost sickly herself, as if she hasn't eatten in a long time - a pale palor to her skin.

Jaeara shivers a little, feeling the drafts for the first time. She draws back from the window, a bit of dismay, perhaps even panic, entering her expression. She wraps her arms around herself, blinking and looking around as if seeing the room for the first time. Rennar is offered a sidelong and shy glance, as the girl bites at her lower lip nervously. Her body twitches, as if it can't decide whether to bow or curtsy, eventually falling into nothing. Hesitantly, she smiles.

The smile is returned, though a bit wanly. This is not one of Rennar's better mornings. Curiosity continues to fill her emerald gaze as she continues to watch Jaeara. A light sigh escapes her lips as she regards the woman, "I do not bite..." Her words come out as a half-hearted attempt at a jest. "I am Lady Rennar Hune." She comments, with no expectation.

Jaeara frowns slightly, thinking through a fog. Her head tilts slightly to the side. "I remember..." she pauses to cough hoarsely into her curled fist, the shivering form slipping into a nearby chair and curling her bare feet up underneath her. "I think...h-h-...we...no...I met you once, a long time ago..." One hand rakes through her shorn hair, uncertainly.

Rennar appears to blink, eyes widening a bit, "We have...?" Recognition certainly does not light upon her features. So many surprises, and so many people telling her they've met. She is unable to hide her surprise, her eyes narrowing only slightly, "I do not recall such a meeting. Perhaps you could refresh my memory?" She tilts her head to the side a bit, her eyes wide as she regards Jaeara.

Jaeara half-curls, drawing her knees to her chin, hugging her shins tight. She rests her cheek upon her knees, avoiding looking directly at the other woman. "It was a long time ago...when Lord Aeron and I first came here. I was lost, but you helped me." She closes her eyes. "I wasn't a girl then. Jaeara was dead, not Jaeden." Her eyes blink open, regarding Rennar's feet. Tactlessly, she adds, "You look different now."

"So much has happened since that time..." Rennar speaks in quiet tones, shifting uncomfortably, "I still do not recall, though will believe you if you say that is true." She manages a half-hearted smile within the girl's direction. In truth, Rennar has been through quite a great deal, which would explain her lack of memory upon such a small matter. "Though, I am glad you remember me in a good light, rather than ill..." She gently sets aside a book that had been residing in her lap, then shifts once more equally uncomfortable as before. "Well... yes. I do." She admits to the appearance thing. "My uncle, while I was held captive, saw fit to make some changes." And with that, her won eyes lower to her hands, not meeting Jaeara's gaze. Imagine that, a noble unable to meet a /commoner's/ eyes.

Jaeara rocks back and forth a little, thoughtfully. "Do you like the old you better?" she inquires in a half-whisper. "I wish Jaeara died anyway. Jaeden was stronger. But now we are just half and half and both and neither. I don't think the world wants such a creature."

"Much..." Rennar murmurs quietly, keeping her eyes upon her hands. "The old Rennar was much stronger, more assured of herself, though not without her faults." She reaches up a hand to touch her 'hair', though amazingly enough it goes /right/ through it - an illusion of hair. "And, she had hair, and was not a rat." The last five words come out as the barest of whispers, though still could be over heard. There's almost a self-loathing, perhaps part of her conditioning while she was held captive.

Jaeara continues her rocking. "You could make those that hurt you feel the same way." She offers. "Wound for wound, word for word. Though sometimes I think they just have to die." The tone of voice is remarkably calm, emotionless. "I'm going to make them feel and hurt like I did. No one believes me, I'm only Jaeara now. But we're going to repay them, someday."

Eyes widen in shock and surprise at Jaeara's words, head popping up sharply to stare at the girl. And people think Rennar is nuts? She shifts a bit more uncomfortably in her seat, "Would it be my way, my Uncle would suffer the same conditions in which he had me suffer, but it is not a matter for me to decide. He is in the Queen's dungeons awaiting Queen's justice. All that I can do is hope that she will give him due justice."

An intense cloud of fatigue clouds Jaeara's ethereal features, a glimmering of perspiration curling the dark hair at her brow. "My kinslayers will be found only by my hand. They won't see the inside of a dungeon. Either that, or they will complete what they started. But perhaps sometimes hope is enough. It won't be, for us." There's a rustling down the hall, as a sheepish and sleepy-faced looking servant pokes her head out of the room that the girl had vacated.

Emos glances around curiously as he enters from the Guest Quarters.

Emos glances around curiously as he leaves the sitting room and glances around curiously as he out onto the balcony.

Rennar continues to watch Jaeara with a wide-eyed expression which couples with shock. She doesn't look as if she knows how to respond with that. "Then... I wish you all the fortune on your... quest." She murmurs quietly, unable to really say anything more. Her eyes go to the servant, then back to the woman before her, then she presses her lips together in a thin line.

"There you are, Mistress Jaeara!" the servant scurries forward, dropping a hasty and embarrassed curtsy to Rennar. "You know the Wisdom said you should stay in bed! Lord Aeron would show me the barbed end of his tongue if he knew you were out already..." The tone is scolding and motherly, but seems to either soothe or let the girl give up easily. Jaeara allows herself to be led back to the room, whispering over her shoulder, "Goodbye, Lady Rennar..."