there will be no warning.

[byhersword]

Wretch.

[It is a single withering syllable before the mirror takes form, the voice piercing through the silence with its anger. As the image solidifies within, the Warrior Princess waits, expression dark.]

You will return the Damsel to me, or I shall take out your still-beating heart.

[Again she waits for an answer, one which is not forthcoming. That stormy expression, shadows brooding across her brow, soon becomes hardened and stony. She is resolved, and her eyes lift, looking out at whoever has gathered as her audience.]

I will not tolerate this slight to our independence. These Queens, for all the good their 'nobility' does for them, have refused to resolve this situation. I will resolve it for them. I will lay waste on she who dares pluck the Damsel from this grove.

I call upon all of you, all of you who hold friends and loved ones near to your heart, to take up your swords alongside me. If you do not wield one of your own, then I beg you put your spirit behind mine: there is still much work for hands such as yours. The blacksmith is no lesser a warrior.

Come together and we will form something unbreakable.

[She takes something from her belt, a scroll that she begins to untie as she continues to speak.]

I need scouts to survey the Garden while preparations are being made, and I will need these. [She holds up the plans to what appears to be a flying machine.] She is quick and she is crafty, but so shall we be.

Who is with me.

[It is not a question.]

Comments

[ritsu_kouyou]

Tch. Why were they taken in the first place?

[byhersword]

It is the nature of some to want all they cannot have.

[ritsu_kouyou]

I am familiar with that kind of urge. So it's simply that. And here I was thinking that they were just the victims of a personal squabble between the Pirate Queen and the Queen of Hearts.

[byhersword]

What urge could be pettier.

[ritsu_kouyou]

I'm sure there are better 'treasures' to have taken from this Garden. Someone likes playing the villain.

Tch. How troublesome.

[byhersword]

She does not like to work for her prizes. Far easier to hold the innocent for ransom than to put her back into digging.

[She sounds pretty disgusted right now.]

[ritsu_kouyou]

Lazy.

[byhersword]

Notoriously so.

[ritsu_kouyou]

[That alone is almost enough to get Akiha to join the Warrior Princess. But still, none of those taken are anyone she cares about. She doesn't see this as her problem to deal with.]

Then I'm sure you'll teach her a lesson or two on how to cease such actions.

[byhersword]

It will be done.

[ritsu_kouyou]

Good.

Now, if you'll excuse me... [And she dismisses the mirror. Still... not her problem.]