Post by Kris Graas on Aug 20, 2009 6:53:52 GMT -5
Kris grunted an acknowledgement for the person knocking on the door to enter, knowing fully well who it was. Cleo would have flourished in without knocking and all of his children would have knocked but shoved the door open without waiting for a response. Same for Lita probably, even though she didn’t tend to seek him out. Ashlyn Swallow, however, was not feeling comfortable enough to just step in. She had grown far more accustomed to them all, but she still seemed somewhat wary of both Cleo and him. He supposed he could understand it to an extent as he observed the blonde girl and with her Lita step into his office. He had had to go to Rome in the morning on some business while they were still sleeping so he had left word for both of them to come and find him at some point when he was back. But both Ashlyn and Lita had seemed to have decided to come together. Kris nodded absently in response to their greetings and raised his quill from the letter he had been writing: “Would you mind waiting a few minutes for me to write the letter? I want to show you something.” Ashlyn gave a little nod – Kris mused if it was supposed to look more regal or if she didn’t trust her voice – as she shifted lightly where she stood before the door. “Sit down or feel free to look around,” Kris suggested before lowering his head to the letter again. Soft footsteps told him a moment later that they had decided to look around. Reasonable too. If she was nervous sitting still in a chair opposite Kris’ massive table would have only made it worse. Besides the office was decorated with some rather interesting trinkets.
Two minutes later the clash of metal on floor and the swearword, scarcely louder than a sigh, forced Kris to swallow his smile and delayed his response by a couple of seconds. “Don’t swear in my office,” he offered amiable, finding his amusement rising once again at the almost guilty silence that followed his words. “Leandra likes to organise mock-duels with her shadow with those swords when she has some story of hers on mind again, so they’ve seen far rougher handling than that. Don’t worry,” he added with amusement evident in his voice, which apparently soothed Ashlyn’s frayed nerves somewhat as she whispered something to Lita. Kris returned his attention to finishing the letter while the quiet clangs of metal let him know that the girls were safely depositing the two swords in their sheaths behind a hanging family crest. It took another minute, before Kris signed the letter with a flourishing gesture, folded it and stamped his crest in the middle. Rising he crossed the room to the opened window and the large chocolate-brown and white eagle-owl perched there and offered the letter to the pretty bird. The owl turned it’s head as Kris’ fingers gently stroked it’s head as he Kris informed the bird of its destination – St. Aberdine Monastery. The bird hooted and took off and Kris turned to the girls, who had both turned to observe him.
“I wanted to show you two something,” Kris repeated as he crossed the room again to a private door leading to the well-protected insides of the castle. The most middle rooms of the castle were used as sanctuaries for the most valuable relics the family owned, the jewels and some other bits and bobs of this and that. One way to approach them wound through most of the library, the shorter way that was never shown to visitors went from inside Kris’ office. Without waiting for reply, Kris pushed a heavy tapestry depicting the nature around the castle aside and touched his palm to a stone right before his eyes. The stone didn’t make much of a sound as it moved backwards and the stone folded back and changed into a heavy oak door. Pushing it open, Kris carried on holding the tapestry back as he gestured for Ashlyn to step through: “You two and the rest can shift the door by tapping the stone with your wand. It’s not overly protected. As the Head of the family and the owner of the castle, I get some more privileges. Although Rister might manage wandless as well, seeing that he’s bloodbound to the house also.” Ushering the girls before him, they walked through the dim hallway that went on fro about ten metres before coming to another door. At Kris’ urging Lita pulled the door open and stepped into the crossing hallway that she seemed somewhat relieved to recognise as she had been through here to the Graas personal jewellery vault a couple of times with other members of the family.
But whereas the vault was to the right of where they stood as well as the long winding path via which she had generally been taken here, Kris turned left. He passed two doors to the left and one to the right without a second glance, before turning to the second door on the right. Pushing the door open again, Kris stepped in and with a lazy wave of his wand sent six large balls of light to hang in the air halfway between the floor and the ceiling that arched three stories higher from them. The rooms were in the middle of the castle so they had no windows to let light in after all. The room looked somewhat bleak however. The only furniture was a high step-raddle standing against one wall and metal steps hooked into the walls on both sides of one large wall of the room that was constantly shimmering. “Family trees. Ours is rather old and large, even though thin and questionable occasionally. But it has lasted and carried. Some ancestor was rather interested in it and had ours spelled to this form. Have you seen one of these before?” he asked the girls as they observed the wall. Ashlyn had always been smart and rather knowledgeable about some traditions and habits, so Kris wasn’t entirely surprised to see her draw her wand and approach the walls as she informed Kris that basically such family trees would update themselves at every birth and death and wedding or when someone was counted into the family and that it showed you who you wanted to if you thought of it while pointing your wand at the tree. As if to demonstrate Ashlyn neared her wand to the wall and asked for the starter of the line with her wand tip glowing softly. For a moment longer the wall shimmered then it seemed as if the wand was working as a magnifying glass as the names ‘Michel Graas’ and her ‘Emmanuela Graas’ appeared floating on the wall with birth and date numbers under them, the names unified in a traditional family lineage mark signifying marriage. And showing lines pointing downwards to their son and two daughters that attracted Lita to step forward with her wand stretched out as well as they studies the wall.
“Very good,” Kris stated, pleased that he wouldn’t have to explain the work-principles of the wall. Coming to stand between the two, Kris held his hand with the signet ring a few inches from the wall and they both observed as the name Litana Hollows jumped up at them, surrounded by a thing silver line like the rest of the names but not connected to any. Lita gasped audible reaching out his finger to trace her name on the wall, clearly surprised to see it there. “Not blood. But considered family. I discovered the added name a couple of years ago,” Kris mused, smirking slightly into Lita’s astonished face. Kris moved his fingers lightly and called for Ashlyn’s named. This time the shocked gasp came from his left. “And this appeared a month ago,” Kris said as the three studied the name on the floor as well as the faint half-curving lines attaching Ashlyn’s name to Damon’s. Not quite the markings of marriage yet… but not far from it either. Dropping his hand Kris took a step backward, smirking widely as both girls immediately scrambled to raise their wands again and called forth their own names. “Blood doesn’t make family. Mirri will help you two get back to my office and out here once you’re finished,” Kris told the girls, his fingers gracing the head of the house-elf that had appeared at the mention of its name just as he had stroked the owl before. The house-elf bobbed a bow and settled into to wait in a corner as Kris turned on his heel to head back to his office, the door to the room closing quietly behind him. He still had some more work to do.
Two minutes later the clash of metal on floor and the swearword, scarcely louder than a sigh, forced Kris to swallow his smile and delayed his response by a couple of seconds. “Don’t swear in my office,” he offered amiable, finding his amusement rising once again at the almost guilty silence that followed his words. “Leandra likes to organise mock-duels with her shadow with those swords when she has some story of hers on mind again, so they’ve seen far rougher handling than that. Don’t worry,” he added with amusement evident in his voice, which apparently soothed Ashlyn’s frayed nerves somewhat as she whispered something to Lita. Kris returned his attention to finishing the letter while the quiet clangs of metal let him know that the girls were safely depositing the two swords in their sheaths behind a hanging family crest. It took another minute, before Kris signed the letter with a flourishing gesture, folded it and stamped his crest in the middle. Rising he crossed the room to the opened window and the large chocolate-brown and white eagle-owl perched there and offered the letter to the pretty bird. The owl turned it’s head as Kris’ fingers gently stroked it’s head as he Kris informed the bird of its destination – St. Aberdine Monastery. The bird hooted and took off and Kris turned to the girls, who had both turned to observe him.
“I wanted to show you two something,” Kris repeated as he crossed the room again to a private door leading to the well-protected insides of the castle. The most middle rooms of the castle were used as sanctuaries for the most valuable relics the family owned, the jewels and some other bits and bobs of this and that. One way to approach them wound through most of the library, the shorter way that was never shown to visitors went from inside Kris’ office. Without waiting for reply, Kris pushed a heavy tapestry depicting the nature around the castle aside and touched his palm to a stone right before his eyes. The stone didn’t make much of a sound as it moved backwards and the stone folded back and changed into a heavy oak door. Pushing it open, Kris carried on holding the tapestry back as he gestured for Ashlyn to step through: “You two and the rest can shift the door by tapping the stone with your wand. It’s not overly protected. As the Head of the family and the owner of the castle, I get some more privileges. Although Rister might manage wandless as well, seeing that he’s bloodbound to the house also.” Ushering the girls before him, they walked through the dim hallway that went on fro about ten metres before coming to another door. At Kris’ urging Lita pulled the door open and stepped into the crossing hallway that she seemed somewhat relieved to recognise as she had been through here to the Graas personal jewellery vault a couple of times with other members of the family.
But whereas the vault was to the right of where they stood as well as the long winding path via which she had generally been taken here, Kris turned left. He passed two doors to the left and one to the right without a second glance, before turning to the second door on the right. Pushing the door open again, Kris stepped in and with a lazy wave of his wand sent six large balls of light to hang in the air halfway between the floor and the ceiling that arched three stories higher from them. The rooms were in the middle of the castle so they had no windows to let light in after all. The room looked somewhat bleak however. The only furniture was a high step-raddle standing against one wall and metal steps hooked into the walls on both sides of one large wall of the room that was constantly shimmering. “Family trees. Ours is rather old and large, even though thin and questionable occasionally. But it has lasted and carried. Some ancestor was rather interested in it and had ours spelled to this form. Have you seen one of these before?” he asked the girls as they observed the wall. Ashlyn had always been smart and rather knowledgeable about some traditions and habits, so Kris wasn’t entirely surprised to see her draw her wand and approach the walls as she informed Kris that basically such family trees would update themselves at every birth and death and wedding or when someone was counted into the family and that it showed you who you wanted to if you thought of it while pointing your wand at the tree. As if to demonstrate Ashlyn neared her wand to the wall and asked for the starter of the line with her wand tip glowing softly. For a moment longer the wall shimmered then it seemed as if the wand was working as a magnifying glass as the names ‘Michel Graas’ and her ‘Emmanuela Graas’ appeared floating on the wall with birth and date numbers under them, the names unified in a traditional family lineage mark signifying marriage. And showing lines pointing downwards to their son and two daughters that attracted Lita to step forward with her wand stretched out as well as they studies the wall.
“Very good,” Kris stated, pleased that he wouldn’t have to explain the work-principles of the wall. Coming to stand between the two, Kris held his hand with the signet ring a few inches from the wall and they both observed as the name Litana Hollows jumped up at them, surrounded by a thing silver line like the rest of the names but not connected to any. Lita gasped audible reaching out his finger to trace her name on the wall, clearly surprised to see it there. “Not blood. But considered family. I discovered the added name a couple of years ago,” Kris mused, smirking slightly into Lita’s astonished face. Kris moved his fingers lightly and called for Ashlyn’s named. This time the shocked gasp came from his left. “And this appeared a month ago,” Kris said as the three studied the name on the floor as well as the faint half-curving lines attaching Ashlyn’s name to Damon’s. Not quite the markings of marriage yet… but not far from it either. Dropping his hand Kris took a step backward, smirking widely as both girls immediately scrambled to raise their wands again and called forth their own names. “Blood doesn’t make family. Mirri will help you two get back to my office and out here once you’re finished,” Kris told the girls, his fingers gracing the head of the house-elf that had appeared at the mention of its name just as he had stroked the owl before. The house-elf bobbed a bow and settled into to wait in a corner as Kris turned on his heel to head back to his office, the door to the room closing quietly behind him. He still had some more work to do.