<div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=227120.msg11189381#msg11189381">Quote from: Angelic Kitten on 24-04-2015, 15:38:35</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote"><div class="floatright"><em><strong><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: comic sans ms;">For:<br/>(http://www.angelickitten.com/gal/avatar/abigail.jpg)<br/>Abigail<br/>Elysia<br/>Reinhardt</span></strong></em></div><br/>Adhafera looks a bit sad and just a little hurt as she accepts Cosette's letter, which presumably explaining her absence, "I suppose this explains why you are here alone.  I shall read this later then."<br/><br/>She seems to make an effort to smile and brighten her mood, "Though i suppose i have Sol to thank for you timely arrival.  You look well enough, i presume your travels here went well enough.", she waits for a nod or comment of agreement.  It was in truth uneventful.<br/><br/>"Cameron has concerns regarding my safety, and has proclaimed the reinstatement of the Order of the Rose.  If you arent familiar with it, the Order of the Rose, was started in honor of his mother, Queen Rosaline Edenburgh.  An Order of no more than a dozen of the most loyal and resourceful women of their day.  They went on to perform many deeds of valor, known and unknown in the service of the crown.  The one blemish on the order's history, was their greatest failure.  The premature demise of their queen.  Even so, he believes that they are still the best solution to his concerns for my safety."<br/><br/><div class="floatright"><em><strong><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: comic sans ms;">(http://rpol.creativelass.net/fh19031.jpg)<br/>Queen Adhafera</span></strong></em></div>"That will be all Stephen.", she nods to your guide and waits for him to leave before moving a few inches to her right and patting the bench with her left hand to call you forward to sit.  She looks a little perplexed.<br/><br/>Adhafera pauses in thought, "They're suppose to be the people i consider the most loyal and trustful, but how is a queen to judge that?  When every face and courtier that comes to audience wears two faces, how am i to judge?  I had hoped Cosette and yourself would see it fit to join the order.  While your competence and valor are well known to me, more importantly I know where your loyalties lie.  We've fought battles together, and slept beneath starry skies together, and made the Misty Valley the safe haven that it is now.  Would that i could have such faithful company now."<br/><br/>Between her index finger and thumb, Adhafera rubs Cosette's letter, "I fear, I have Cosette's answer in my hand.  I would hear with your own voice your sentiment on the matter."<br/></blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Abigail nodded when Queen Adhafera stated she'd read Cosette's letter later. She wasn't entirely sure what her fellow Paladin had put into words for the Queen's benefit and her own, but Abigail recalled what Cosette had told her personally. She wanted Abigail to be respectful to the Queen on her behalf, but also honour the choice Cosette made to remain with Rothor, when it was what she truly wanted. A time would come to explain further, but as Adhafera spoke of Sol and her timely arrival, she let the topic change occur.<br/><br/>"The journey was uneventful, even enjoyable. The roads are safer than they used to be, and even though it is in my nature to be vigilant, this lends itself to a greater calm." She almost tacked on a 'your majesty' at the end of her statement, but she thought Adhafera might prefer that she did not, given that speaking to an old acquaintance leant itself to reflection on her former way of life.<br/><br/>Abigail listened with interest as Adhafera recounted the purpose of the Order of the Rose and she had a strong inkling of why she'd been asked to meet with the Queen, though she wondered whether her own deeds were good or spectacular enough to qualify. She supposed she had helped save the Queen's life on one occasion before Adhafera's ascension, and it probably hadn't gone unnoticed by her.<br/><br/>"It is in my experience that loyalty is best judged by actions rather than words, your majesty. Even then, if a person is given enough opportunity to talk they will usually express their true loyalties or intentions, or those elements they are most interested in. Perhaps it is the ones that don't who are the more practiced courtiers. I'm not sure. I have not known many, I just tend to listen. I would be honoured to serve you, Milady, so long as my loyalty can remain true to the Church of Sol and ultimately Sol himself. I have taken vows that I must keep, but I can give you my word that I will do my utmost to protect you and defend you if I join your circle of knights. I am honoured that you would consider me, Queen Adhafera."<br/><br/>She bowed, because it seemed the thing to do. "Cosette asked me to decline respectfully on her behalf and she explained to me her reasons why she's chosen not to come. In the time since the war, Champion Cosette has changed and settled down with her partner, and given a choice she wishes to remain with him. She told me that if the need is ever dire, she will answer your call. However, I feel that she has made her preference known. She means no disrespect; her life with Rothor is very different to that she once lived and she wants to live a more settled life."<br/><br/>