Elemental Kingdom

"Should we go to the waiting room, Snow? It's open and airy and fairly safe there."

She nodded her head, she remained as a tiger.

"Come on then, this way." Delilah cradled Ethan close as she led the way to the waiting room.

Snow followed her.

Garnet soon found Nathan, thouh she stayed hidden from everyone else she twitched her ear and he could hear her tell him they needed to talk.

Nathan glanced briefly towards her, only knowing where she would be because of the other times it had happened. At the moment, he was in the middle of a meeting with what looked like the military council, his expression cold and closed off against whatever it was they were suggesting. After a moment, he lifted his hand, cutting off the man who was speaking and slowly standing.

"You would have me lower the conscription age to fifteen, when our people barely experience peace as it is? You would have children taken from families at the cusp of adulthood, and have them sent to their death before their parents see them grow?" As Nathan spoke, he walked down the centre of the room, looking at each and every one of them. "Your own sons and daughters brought to fight because they know how to wield fire, or ice, or earth as their own? We are not a country at war." Nathan started back towards his seat. "And so I will not allow you to dictate this as such. Dismissed."

He turned away from the council, towards the side door that would lead to the room Garnet was expecting him in.

She ended up in the room. "You know the fact that I have to find out what's going on in our kingdom is pretty low Nathan." She told him. "But you're now having the maids keep our son from me? That is too far."

Nathan moved to take a seat, quietly removing his cloak and folding it on his lap. As he spoke, he started unbuttoning his shirt, "The maids do very little of what I ask them these days, and so much more." Nathan pulled the shirt from his shoulders and the material peeled away with an almost 'squelch'. His skin was bloody, torn and covered in scabs and blisters. "I say this, because I do not recall asking them to line my clothes with acid. Rest assured Garnet, I would not do as you have so falsely accused me."

Nathan finished speaking then, setting his clothes aside to reach for the jug of water the room held, only now showing the pain he must have felt during the entire meeting on his face.

Garnet sighed and she set about using her elvish abilities to heal his wounds. "What's happened to us Nathan? W used to be close, and in love, now it feels as though we are strangers to each other. Even our own sister doesn't recognize you." She looked at his back as she spoke and healed him.

"If I show a detached disposition, my family will be less at risk by whoever has found the right to try and cause unrest in the kingdom. If they want to kill me, I dread what they would do to you and Delilah and our son. There are worse things than death, Garnet." Some of the wounds on his back wouldn't heal, obviously dark magic inflicted by whoever had been after Nathan. Some of the wounds were clearly old, but just simply hadn't healed because of curses, and then there was the red, seeping wounds caused by the acid just that morning. It was a wonder he could even walk.

"Even when we are alone, we're strangers Nathan, and you know we can protect ourselves." She told him. "What's your excuse for Snow and Blaze? It wasn't just because she would heal without him, you done it for this threat, when it's more important for them to be together."

"Snow has already been targeted," Nathan said softly. "It wasn't by pure coincidence. It was for her connection to Blaze who, at the moment, is the biggest contender against the current threat we're facing. It wants to separate Blaze and myself, and then it might start to work on the country."

"So your solution is to make the rest of suffer for the country?"

"I'm planning on nipping this by the bud before the bodies of thousands lay at my feet, dead by a threat I could have stopped."

"And lose your family in the process, go right ahead. I haven't got the power to stop you, but I've war Nathan, I've been on the battlefield, laying down my life for my family, and I can tell you, none of the plans that have been suggested are going to work." She gently kissed the back of his shoulder where he was unharmed before she left the room.

"And that's why I haven't listened to any of their suggestions," Nathan murmured to himself. "And, if all goes to plan, nothing will be lost, no one will be hurt, and everything shall be fine again by the end of the month."

Garnet walked down the hall, before she stopped at feeling someone behind her, and she turned around but there was no one there.

Delilah was still with Snow and Ethan in the waiting room.

She then walked a bit faster to the room where Delilah, Snow and Ethan were, before she was suddenly grabbed from behind, a hand over her mouth.

Delilah twitched, tilting her head as if she'd heard for something, turning to look at the door.

Snow heard it too, and she got up, still in her tiger form. "Just a maid." She shrugged, opening the door and there was a bowl of milk at the door, and she sniffed it.

"You can't trust the maids in this building. Don't drink that milk either, we should look for Garnet."

"It's clean." Snow told her, taking a drink. "I'm pure remember, anything bad I'll know about it, but you stay here with Ethan." Snow told her, stepping over the bowl.

"Are you going to be okay by yourself?"

She nodded.

"Are you sure?" Delilah asked, voice becoming serious as she gently shifted Ethan in her arms.