Meanwhile:
I looked towards Aram as she stood in the center of the foyer, looking far too comfortable standing in a palace, she seemed familiar with the idea of being this style of environment, like she had been in royal homes before. She is so…strikingly gorgeous with that Sigian face of hers: those big upturned almond shaped eyes in that piercing neon turquoise color with slit pupils, rich and warm caramel toned skin and her short clipped black hair, showing off the bat like points of her ears, the hair on her left and top of her head hanging to her jaw in lived in, but still quite tight bouncy curls, it was obvious she had been on the road for the past couple days by some fresher bruises and healing cuts on her person, thick and straight black brows making her look either annoyed or angry, the low sharp widow’s peak of her hairline pushing her hair onto her face with that massive C shaped scar through her right eye as wide as her iris. She stood with her shoulders squared and her feet squared to her shoulders, those broad, heavily muscled shoulders visibly relaxed, but the sheer strength of her muscles still visible through the heavy clothing she wore, matching hips and long muscled legs clad in leather that I could nearly see the coils of muscle through them, there was no hiding that…impossibly gorgeous figure of hers, there was no other way to describe her person aside from just…heavenly, poets would get all sorts of flowery in their language about her figure and how that it could either inspire blood-freezing fear or blood-boiling lust. Her arms were folded behind her making her shoulders and muscles flex and bulge, slightly pushing her chest forward and straightening her posture, but I could still recall seeing those strange, razor sharp steel colored talons she had for nails. As I walked close to her, her immense height made her have to physically look down to meet my eyes, as she spoke she showed all of the sharp triangular teeth. Full lips painted bloody red, eyes edged in widely flared wings of smoked out liner, freckles of pure inky black speckling over her face and neck, extremely high sharp cheekbones, flawless skin save for the scars covering her. Her eyes flicked around the room, not in a shock or awe of most people being here, but more along the lines of her judging the sense of interior decorating.
“Check if she’s armed.” I said looking towards me left, two guards walked into the room from a side hall, Aram laughed softly as she simply rose her hands and arms a little as they moved her coat, cloak and things before undoing a harness like strap around her left shin and took a very large dual bladed dagger out of her shoe,
“Always forget about that thing” She said with a smile, her teeth are also pristinely kept for someone not of noble standing of backing,
“Sir, she’s in armor.” One of the guards said,
“Well, Aram, you’re my guest for the day, if you wish. My staff can launder your clothing, procure you a new set for today and based on how you only just returned, I’m sure you’re in the mood for a bath.” I said, she shrugged softly, as the guards continued to pat her down for weaponry,
“I wouldn’t say no. however, clothing does not need to be procured for me, I always travel with multiple sets. I try to bathe out in the wilderness as frequently as I do here.” She said, that low, rumbling, deep voice of hers sending shivers down my spine as that Sigian accent made her voice almost hard to understand. Rolling, purring and hissing letters making her voice sound like some kind of godly serpent was speaking rather than a person, it was obvious a majority of her life was spent in Sigia as well by the thickness of her accent as well. The guards near pulled her coat and cloak off her, which she allowed before softly raising her arms as they removed her armor, running a hand back through her hair as she smiled softly as the guards went to undoing the harnesses holding all of her armor on, “I’ve also got chainmail under my clothing.” she offered as they took heavy, dense black leather away from her form, before jumping as they went to undo the belts at her sides, “Watch there boys, she ain’t got much on under this.” She said laughing softly as they undid the harness around her chest, softly winking towards me as she said that, as they removed the pieces revealing they were lined in a strange near black metal that had a very prevalent green sheen to the metal, not evergreen exactly, deeper and blacker.
“Adamantine. Quite an expensive metal, no?”
“Yes, it is.” She said as they pulled her gauntlets off her arms revealing that even to the finger covering armor, was lined in the green metal,
“So, how could a sell-sword…afford to have a set of…obviously custom made brigandine armor lined in adamantine made? Lodor’s ability to mine and process adamantine is…far behind that of Sigia, no?”
“The armor was a gift…when I turned thirteen.” She said,
“Who would get a thirteen year old girl, adamantine lined armor?” I asked as one of the guards turned the breast-plate they took off her, revealing a deep, ornately carved mark on the inside of the plate, it depicted a two headed phoenix with wings spread, a scythe in one claw and a staff in the other crossed below it over the mass of tail feathers, I had seen that emblem before, but…not on casually made armor, there was a diamond shaped piece of what looked like glass or something embedded into the chest of the phoenix that when it was removed from Aram’s figure, there was a crackle of neon green energy/light.
“That is an emblem of the Sigian military, no?” I asked,
“It was gift because I was to join the military soon after I got it.”
“At thirteen.”
“Tis standard in Sigia that all able bodied people serve in the military, most enter at thirteen as squires or pages and move through the ranks.”
“Did you?”
“Yes, of course, I did” she said, “I finished my deployment in the military soon before the siege hence why I was not with the military…slaughtered by the hands of your soldiers.” She said, when we were talking before, the siege seemed to be a sore spot for her, understandable though, though at the tone she took with me, a guard shot her a look as he pointed her own sheathed dagger towards her,
“Watch your tongue, mongrel, when speaking to the prince.” He said, Aram laughed softly as she looked towards him, having to look down to meet his eye, the dagger vanished in smoke, she didn’t do anything to dismiss it or anything,
“I wouldn’t be taking that tone with me, I can watch my tongue just fine…if the prince does not care for my tone, he could watch it for me.” she said softly licking her lips showing off her forked blue-black tongue and making me flush every shade of red possible. The two guards just let her things with a maid to be taken to be cleaned, leaving Aram in a tight fitting black silken button-down, high collared and long sleeved, a sleeveless, high collared skin-tight black and golden brocade doublet with tight corseted lacing up the sides, high waisted black leather extremely tight fitted trousers under the doublet, but over her shirt so the doublet hung to her knees free showing a vibrant green interior, with very well kept black knee high boots with heavy buckles up the front. She sighed softly as she moved to push her sleeves back as she crossed her arms, but nothing visibly changed because as she did so, she revealed solid black forearms along with those too long and bony fingers with the sharp steel talon nails. “So, was there…a reason you had your…guards disrobe me of my armor?”
“Well, I wanted to ensure that you’re disarmed.” I said as I crossed my arms, taking a step or two towards her, “And…what was that you just said, that if I didn’t like your tone, I would have to watch your tone for you?” I asked, “Bold of you, no, to make an…outwardly direct advance on myself…in front of a few guards?”
“What’s the worst they could have done? Kill me, please…that doesn’t work.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, she sighed deeply as she looked towards me,
“I can die just…not permanently.”
“So, if something like…stabbed you?”
“My body would disintegrate into smoke and I’d resurrect in about twenty four hours.” She explained, “Nothing can permanently render me dead.”
“Nothing?”
“Not a thing.”
“So you’re…”
“Immortal, yes” she said nodding softly, “So, was there a…particular reason that you launched a near full scale man hunt on me aside from me just…catching your eye?”
“I just…” I said quietly, looking towards my feet as a touch of guilt, shame and embarrassment filled my chest.
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