For the dread queen

{Interior of the Windgrace mansion- Dinah and Drystan}

[14:00] Dinah was playing. Brahms' Valse was playing throughout the house, steadily picked across the ivory of her piano. Her hair was still damp from the ocean, having spent most of the morning at the beach swimming about in the deep parts of the sea, practicing holding her breath the best she could. Part of her wanted to try and see how long it would take her to drown properly and if her healing factor would handle it well enough. Regardless, on she played, well practiced after all these years- she didn't even have the sheet music displayed.

[14:10] Drystan Windgrace made his way into the office alcove they shared, listening to Dinah play as he flipped through some papers and mail that had arrived. Yes! A New runner had been hired! She was just the best. Tough, tomboyish, reliable, and entirely not Drystan's type in the least. She had no aspiration, she worked had for her money that she spend at the cannery, but at least the economic factor was staying local. Bethany was going to work out just fine. He swayed a little and he tossed an advert for the festivals upcoming on the island to the desk, and then slunk into the chair, even humming along to certain familiar and actually hummable parts of what she was playing. When he spoke, he spoke just a tad louder than normal. "Says here that we have a ship coming in with someone from the Royal government SIS section. " He scrunched his nose up a bit. "It figured they'd plop her on a cargo ship, poor dear. We will need to see to it that she is treated properly upon her arrival. Im sure she'll be happy for the open space."

He held the paper aloft and read from it silently for a moment. This was what Drystan did for the Family Business. He was the front facing representative of the Windgrace shipping and mining operation for all of Callisto. This meant sometimes dealing with somewhat sensitive information being sent from England and his contacts in Japan. Biting his lip a bit at the end, he put the letter down, and murmured, "Her Royal Highness wants oversight, then by Gods...she will have it"

[14:15] Dinah didn't seem to be listening at all, though her head was ever-so-slightly inclined towards Drystan as he spoke. She paused her playing and stood smoothly, wrinkling her nose.

"SIS?" she stepped behind the desk with a click of heels, pressing a kiss to his temples, one hand on his shoulder before she stalked back to the chairs opposite him

"on a cargo ship? Are they paying for fare, or is this being done as a favour to the crown? small mercy at least if we know theyre on our ships, we shalll know that theyre not looking for us. They'd not be so obviously on our ships if they were" she said playfully, kicking her feet up onto the opposite chair in a casual sprawl. "Oversight. They don't know what that word means"

[14:26] Drystan Windgrace leaned into her kiss closing his eyes for a moment as she did, lifting and wrapping an arm around her waist and giving her a hug and a bit of a lower back rub before she went to sit opposite him. He tossed the letter down and shook his head sighing a bit, now that the sound in the room had settled to just the pair of them. "I think this is as a ...courtesy, but certainly not for the agent. They dont even give me a name. Of course not. She'll be the one warbling off the next cargo haul from the Mainland cursing ...well, i don't know I'd be cursing about damn near everything." He laughed a bit and flipped the last envelope in his hand. It was a sturdy paper, and not addressed to anyone in particular in the house. He didnt give it much thought and pulled the contents out. The card slid easily into his hand, and he held them while he opened the paper inscribed with the mysterious message. His face was a full furrow of confusion as he looked at the card, fisrt the back, and then the front, spying what looked

to be a drawing of some sort of Di. She looked noble, but the card was somehow, vibrating in his hand. he knew this was not for him. "...Dinah...I think this is for you, but it is no ordanary message." he moved his thumb across the back of the card, feelingthe texture of it.

[14:30] Dinah leaned backwards, arms draped across the arms of her chair, her head tipped backwards over the spine. She stared at the ceiling, feet still up on the chair opposite, though she smirked.

"Not for the agent at all. we should be able to find them out easily enough. We could pick their mind without them even knowing we're there if we fancied it. let them talk about the cargo. they can talk about all the avocado's and shamisens they fancy" she smiled in lazy amusement. She lifted her head when he spoke of something for her.

"was it addressed to me?" she asked with interest, letting her chair rock forward again so her heels clunked the floor. "What's the message?" she asked with interest

[14:35] Drystan Windgrace was frowning, but he handed her the whole deal, envelope, paper, and the card so that she may read it for herself. "Sounds like a crank. and our warding wouldn't allow harmful magics in this house..." He shook his head negatively again and nearly scoffed at the note. "Dread Queen...."

[14:42] Dinah seemed amused as she reached out to take the card and the envelope. She turned the card first, expression curious and eager. "What a sweet little thing..." she paused, reading the letter with a thoughtful frown. She re-read the letter, then looked at the card. Turned it over.

"something comes" she said in a hushed voice. "....something comes..." she sucked in a sharp breath. For a moment, she clutched the card in both hands, her eyes falling out of focus, and rolling back past the whites so her eyes were the solid black of her true shape. Her lips moved in wordless speech, her fingers trembling. she was 'seeing' it ((WB!))

[14:45] Drystan Windgrace stood up as this happened, leaning over the desk to try and take her hand, but then she was /Seeing/ something and therefore he would bear witness - his eyes went blank and nothing but darkness surrounded him.

[14:48] Dinah 'saw' it. She saw the fortune teller, she heard the one-sided conversation, she heard the voices of the entities... and her eyes slid forwards again with a gasp as if she'd been shocked in ice water and she sprang up.

"...this isn't a trick. this isn't a game. Drystan, look! It says *servants*! Someone has Seen me, stan, someone has seen me and heard me and there is a *crown* for me, dread queen, it says~!" she giggled, girlish and giddy as she hugged the tarot card to her chest. "The queen of wands. Gracious, but look, it IS me, isn't it? it's tied to me, I can feel it."

[14:56] Drystan Windgrace saw all that she saw, but the voices were even further muddles and far away sounds. When she reeled back he did as well, bending to plant his hands on the desk to steady himself. His breath sounded huffy like he'd just been out running. He looked down at the desk as he spoke. No...not a trick but Dinah.. this is ..." He swallowed and snatched the card from her clasped fingers to chest, flipping it over so that it was upside down facing her. The hands, bloody. "Look at this. and wipe that giggle off your face as if you've been through a coronation already. THIS....is not a GOOD message Dinah. Yes, someone, or something saw you. We already knew something was on the island searching for you and now this? " He just looked at her with concern, not anger. "Take what you will from a thing like this, but you and I both know full well there are double meanings in these cards,. Don't ignore the unpleasant ones." He held the card back out to her, the weird humming feeling still emanating from it into his hand.

[15:01] Dinah could feel her pulse racing already, and she cradled the letter. she wasn't sure which she preferred, the letter or the card itself. A gift. From her servants.

"You don't see it, drystan? I have been doing so much just lately, things that They could have Seen, things that I have been trying to foster and further my faith. I have been diving in the sea, diving deep into the bottom and tying the knots into the seaweed there. I've been reading the book, and wandering the wilds. I opened the door and *freedom* came through" she was pacing, almost frantic, letter in one hand the card in the other, eyes on one after the other.

"I have been pressing on the cracks of society. I have been *trying* for them to see me, and it has worked.. and *servants*, Stan? Servants! plural! Gracious..." she breathed, pausing her pacing "look at the double meaning, Drystan. A queen upright. Or covered in blood and shrouded in Their signs in the reverse. Neither are... un-manageable for me"

[15:07] Drystan Windgrace watched with sorrowful eyes as she paced manically back and forth. He understood. Somehow, he did. He just worried for his little sister.. He worried who was at play behind all of this, or if it was truly manifested by her acts of faith. "Nothing seems unmanageable for you Dinah. That is why I worry, Why Dorian worries, I'm sure, at least its part of it. ' He shrugged some and stood upright folding his arms across his chest. "So now what. You go hunting for your crown? You dive deeper and our own trained divers? You take over the world?" His eyebrow raised.

[15:17] Dinah laughed softly and she shook her head, the smile on her face still. "mother would never allow it" she ran her fingers across the textured pattern on the card.

"if i am to be a queen, there is a king, yes? That is normally how these things go? WHOSE queen? I cannot simply make assumptions... and the nature or identity of my servants. I have to find *them* first...but I will keep diving deeper, and I might just take over the world if i can~" she giggled, looking down at the letter again.

"i dont know what to do. Stan, what do i do? but...a-ah! this is so exciting~!" she gushed, once more clutching her presents to herself again, dancing on the spot. "I need to find that fortune teller. I need to speak to them and find out whose those voices were..."

[15:22] Drystan Windgrace felt the tug of worry, the need to protect her from harm. But was this harmful? It was certainly making her more happy than he'd seen her in quite sometime. And if it WAS harmful, he and Dorian and Delilah would deal with that. "I .... I don't know what to do. I suppose fortune teller may have some information that may lead you to whomever sent the card, unless it was them, themselves. Ask around. see if others have been getting strange cards. And, ...say, isn't there a woman in town, she's a sort of ...bird like creature? She is involved in this sort of business fromwhat i've heard."

[15:27] Dinah giggled as she wrapped the card in the letter again. humming in amusement, she pressed it to her chest. "I think... I think this is a sign. this is a fortuitous sign. I have my own kings I pray to, drystan. I know you don't follow the stars as i do, but.. this cannot be some... some coincidence. Some trick. it simply isnt. I wonder if it is one of mine? It must be, mustn't it? " she giggled, sagging back into the chair as if in a swoon.

"I have the ritual to prepare for too. That will be next month and I still need to make the anchor. This isles... it' feels so different. it feels so powerful. It does... this place is *fortuitous*, stan, I can taste it"

[15:31] Drystan Windgrace licked hs lips and nodded. "Aetherite, love. It is because we are atop a fracture in our earth that our family helped create, to allow the magic to flow. We are at the font. Its everywhere here, in everything we see and everything we touch." He shook his head."Just do not rush into this. Think long ans hard. and then take my had...AS you used to , long ago, and let me help you? I know..I know you trust and love Dorian ina way you do not ..erm...in a different manner...due to being twins. But lease do not forget to come for me before you run off into this night to see your stars."

[15:36] Dinah swooned back into the chair, one hand draping across her brow. "Aetherite. The blood of earth, filled with magic. It's the blood of the great ones, stan, I am sure of it, hardened to stone like...amber and dinosaurs" she murmured indulgently. "it's like sitting atop a ley line. Like being stuck with raw power" she breathed, sitting forward again.

"I will be careful. but. if there is a crown for me... what do i do? I can't refuse it. I shouldn't ever refuse a calling like that, should i?" she stood up, letting the card and letter sit in her chair as she skipped up behind him, wrapping her arms around his middle.

"Dori and I are two halfs of a whole, stan. I shan't forget you, just because you are not one of two" she promised. "...do we tell mother and father, if i am to be a dread queen?" she murmured in amusement

[15:39] Drystan Windgrace grunted a bit as she held him. "No. Our business is ours. Theirs is their own. They made that clear when they sent us here. I would not inform them of any such thing. Lest you find yourself called back to England."

[15:43] Dinah gave him a tighter squeeze, pressing her head against his jacket. "What could they do, really? Truly? they could *ask* it of us, and if we were so inclined we might agree to it, but we don't have to do anything they want of us anymore" she said quietly, though she released him, looking up towards his face with a beaming smile.

"They sent us out of the way, after all. time to be out of the way. ah! I need to prepare for the ritual soon. I need the needles for delilah. I don't want her to risk the hounds"

[15:48] Drystan Windgrace leaned over and cupped her beautiful face in hs hands, all that excitement, all that wonder, all that was precious all wrapped up in the face of a doll, of pure wonder. He smiled crookedly and kissed her, not so much romantically, but perhaps in memory, in love of course." He lifted his face and smooshed her face together a little bit and laughed low in his chest. "It has been OUR time for some time. It's about time we started acting like it." He let go of her and rested his hands on her shoulder and squeezed them lightly. "Delilah is tough, but she has only been exposed to my own madness, this...will be a hard ritual." HE coughed lightly and pushed at his throat, stepping away from her. "Whatever you may need in given time, let me know and you now it shall be ours."

[15:56] Dinah reached up to touch her fingertips to the back of his hands as he clasped her face, and as he leaned to kiss her, she stood up on her tiptoes to make it easier with the difference in size.

"our time. it is always our time. With the ritual and the manipulation of the angles, all we have is time~" she giggled.

"Sewing the threads is a difficult one. she will need to be... accepting. considering what she will see. if she goes mad, there wont be anything for it" she said quietly, gravely. "and as for your own madness, stan.." she reached up to touch beneath his chin. "I want you to start taking more care of yourself. your... proclivities, if you bottle yourself up so much, you'll make yourself sick again. so we need to find you an outlet better, wont we? Whatever any of us need, we shall find a way. the cannery maybe" she reached for her card again, and for her letter.

[16:03] Drystan Windgrace looked over her face and nodded. "Perhaps there, Perhaps i seek out this fortune seller myself, and see what a possible future my hold. " He fluttered and lowered his eyes. "We are, as you said, on an island. It's not like the old days, taking a train to Romania, or Greece...painting..."He huffed a pleased reminiscent smile. You....Should take care in how you inform Dorian of this, Maybe, calm yourself beforehand, do some meditation? You know he will want to find whomever these enteties are and rio them to shreds>" He stepped out from behind epp

Dinah gave him an impish smile and she turned over her card. "I am in the house of Wands. Perhaps you will be too?" she offered with amusement. "We shall have to see. Usually the tarot houses have four members.. king queen, knight and page. there are four of us too" she giggled and smiled "I liked romania. Carpathia was beautiful in the winter." she trailed off, but she sighed " he surely couldn't begrudge me servants and a crown" she smiled faintly and she laughed "though he wants to duel mr. Roesler. He cannot possibly challenge the king-to-be too." she thumbed the edges of her letter again.