• Solo • The Seeds of War

[Kirei Qe'Azour]

20th Cylus, 721

Kirei smiled at Aiden as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. With nine children, date nights were few and far between. But the older children had insisted, saying that they could handle the younger children for a few trials so that Aiden could take Kirei into Scalvoris Town to see the lanterns on display during the Flowerlight Festival.

Kirei never would have even considered it if it weren't for her friend, Kir'sani, though. At fourteen arcs, Kirion was convinced that he was all but an adult now. And at twelve arcs, Maerin and Eris felt as if they were almost as good as adults. But Kirei knew differently. They were very mature for their ages, yes. There was no denying that. As former street kids, it was inevitable that they would be. But they were still kids.

Kir'sani's presence changed things though. She was an adult, and she insisted that she could look after the kids on her own for a few trials. Kirion, Maerin, and Eris were old enough to help Kir'sani with the younger children when they weren't at school, so between the four of them, Kirei was certain that everything would be okay if she and Aiden left for a few trials to enjoy the festival.

And it was every bit as beautiful as Kirei had imagined it would be. Kirei paused to admire one of the flower lanterns. She wasn't sure what kind of flower it was supposed to be, but it was beautiful. The petals were long, and pointy at the tips. Kirei was fairly certain that she had seen this particular flower before, but she couldn't remember when or where she had seen it.

Whoever had made it had gotten creative. Each petal had been made out of a different color paper. And with the lantern lit up as it was, it looked as though the flower was glowing with its own inner light.

Bringing light to the island indeed. I love this festival. Kirei thought with a smile.

"What are you looking at?" Aiden asked softly.

Kirei showed him the lantern she had been looking at.

"It's beautiful." he said.

"Yes it is."

Aiden turned slightly and pulled Kirei into his arms. He looked at her searchingly for a few trills as if to judge her mood. Then he kissed her gently. Kirei returned the kiss happily. After a few bits, they pulled apart once more.

"Shall we continue?"

"I think we should."

They moved on. As they meandered through the garden, they could hear bits and pieces of conversations being held by the people around them. At first, this didn't bother them. They ignored the other people around them the same way that they expected the other people who were enjoying the garden to mind their own business. But when they accidentally overheard a small group of people discussing the upcoming war with Slag's Deep, they couldn't ignore it any longer.

Talk of war had no place on date night, and the mention of such a grim topic quickly soured the mood. They continued to look at the brightly lit flower lanterns for a little while longer before they both decided that it would be impossible to recapture the mood and made the decision to head back to the inn they were staying at for the night.




"Speech"

[Kirei Qe'Azour]

22nd Cylus, 721

"Welcome back." Kir'sani greeted Kirei warmly as she and Aiden entered the family room.

"Mama Kitty! Tauriel exclaimed as she launched herself at Kirei.

Kirei grinned at her daughter and opened her arms to embrace the little girl. Within trills, she and Aiden were surrounded by kids. And each and every one of them were competing with each other as they welcomed them home. Kirei picked Tauriel up and bounced her on her her hip.

"Miss you, Mama Kitty."

"I missed you too, little one. Did you have fun with Kir'sani while we were gone?"

Tauriel nodded. Kir'sani stood back and gave the children the time they needed with their parents. But she could see the tension that Kirei and Aiden were trying to hide from the kids, and after half a break or so, Kirion, Maerin, and Eris picked up on it too. When they did, they began rounding the younger kids up with the promise of a fun new game and herded them out of the room so that the adults could talk.

"You came back early. We weren't expecting you back until the next trial." Kir'sani said quietly.

Kirei nodded. She looked around to make certain that the kids really were out of earshot. Talk of war wasn't something that she wanted to expose them to. The kids knew about the war, of course. Kirei was pretty certain that everyone who lived in Scalvoris knew about the upcoming war with Slag's Deep unless they lived under a rock out in the jungle somewhere. But for her kids, the war was a vague, far away thing that the grownups were going to make go away and Kirei wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.

The Council had declared war on Slag's Deep in Egilrun. She didn't know much about the prison, really. Certainly not enough to know why Kura and the Council would declare war on it. But she trusted her sister. If Kura felt that war against Slag's Deep was necessary, then Kirei believed her. It was that simple. That didn't make the situation any less dire though.

"We heard people walking about the war while we were looking as the lanterns, and it spoiled the mood so we decided to come home early." Aiden explained.

Kirei nodded in agreement.

"Aiden and I were talking on the ride back here, and we decided that we wanted to do something to help with the war effort." she added.

"What do you have in mind?" Kir'sani asked.

"If there's something that I can do to help, then I'd like to help as well."

"That's part of what we've been talking about on the ride home." Aiden began.

"We're not fighters, of course. None of us are. But we can make a donation to the war effort. Both in money, and in goods. Weapons would be an obvious choice. That, and armor. So we could go to Hurk over at Little Korlasir and see what kinds of weapons and armor an army would need.But there's also medical supplies, food, possibly travel gear if the Elements have to travel from other places to get to Egilrun or if they have to set up a base outside the town, cold weather gear might be needed too depending on just when all of this happens. And who knows what else an army might need. To that end, I'd like to donate a mixture of both money and supplies. We'll have to check our savings to see how much we can afford to donate."

Kir'sani nodded in agreement.

"I can put some money towards the donation that you and Aiden decide to give." she offered.

"Thank you." Kirei said with a relieved look.

"Donating both money and supplies is a good idea because it will allow us to fill any immediate needs we can think of and give the Council money they can put where it is needed the most." Aiden added.

Kir'sani nodded again.

"We may be able to negotiate for a discount on supplies if we let the shop owners know that we're going to be donating the supplies we buy to the war effort. That will help as well. As for food, I have some ideas on that as well."




"Speech"

[Kirei Qe'Azour]

22nd Cylus, 721

"What did you have in mind?" Kir'sani asked curiously.

"I'm a chef. If I research what kinds of foods are good for people who are traveling and what kinds of foods armies are typically fed on, I should be able to find things that I can cook for them. That will add to the donation we are going to make. And, of course, I will write to my sister. As Alberach, she may know of other things that a non fighter can do to help."

With the plan such as it was in place, Aiden went to go get their financial records. Kir'sani went to get hers as well. When they returned, the three of them sat down together to go over their financial records. The first step was to see how much money they had. The second was to decide how much of that money they could safely donate without causing their family any hardship.

Once that had been done, the three adults began thinking about any big purchases they might need to make in the next few seasons. All of them were in good health, so it was unlikely that any of them would need expensive medical treatments in the nearby future...and even if they did, if they were unable to afford them, they would still be able to get the treatment they needed anyway thanks to the Order of Adunih. The house was in good repair, so barring any unforeseen events, they wouldn't be needing any repairs, or worse, a new house any time soon. One by one, they considered any possible need that they might need to have money for, but they were in a good place financially. The one thing that they could think of was that since Kirei and Aiden were trying to give Ru a younger sibling, they would have a new baby to think of if they were successful in their efforts. They couldn't predict when or if they would be successful...not unless they resorted to herbs that would guarantee a pregnancy, and neither of them wanted to do that. Even so, as long as they were careful, they could still afford to make a sizable donation without hurting themselves in the process.

After much though, Kirei wrote down a figure on a sheet of paper, and showed it to the others.

"I think that we can safely donate this much without any difficulty. What do you think?" she asked at last.

"It looks good to me." Aiden offered.

Kir'sani nodded.

"It looks good to me too."

"That's settled, then. Now we just have to decide how much of that will be donated in the form of money, and how much will be donated as supplies."

They discussed it for a while longer before coming to a final decision. When they had, Kirei stood, and looked at the others.

"Thank you for helping me to make that decision. We'll get the money together, and send it to the Council within the next few trials. For now, I have a couple of letters to write."

OOC

The donation that Kirei makes is 20 WP.

"Speech"

[Avalon]

Review Rewards

Name: Kirei

Points awarded: 10

Knowledge:
Detection: Observing the details of flowers
Detection: Overhearing details of conversations
Detection: Checking for unwanted listeners

Renown: 10 (for the donation)

Skill Review: All Skills used appropriate to level


Notes:
A great little story! I love stories like this where characters are affecting change on a wider scale. You created a lovely story to explain the donation and I'm sure it will be much appreciated!

I'd like you to submitted named knowledge for this review. I double-checked the review a few times and had a hard time seeing either of the skill categories you asked for. As such, I'd like to see where you are seeing them with named knowledge. Just pm them to me when they are ready and we can go from there.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding this review, feel free to PM. Enjoy your rewards!

Avalon