Time to Escape

[Hidden Jewel]

She so needed a break from everything and it was time she took off for a while. Being the free spirit she was learning she could be she left a note for her parents letting them know she was taking Slepnir and also that she would stay in touch through links if they needed her. Going to the stables she prepped Slepnir for a ride and hopped on him letting him dictate which way they would go. The only thing with them was two bags, one with some clothes and one with some food for them both. Slepnir turned in one direction and kept going throughout the day with minimal stops during the ride. The final stop was made at an inn that smelled to him of something familiar but it was not familiar place to either of them. They came to rest at the doors of an inn so it seemed and the only thing Kyra thought was please don't let this be a bad place to stop. Getting down she tied up Slepnir and headed inside to see what was what at the moment. Taking the time to let her vision adjust from coming in from the outside she looked around and thought it looked nice enough to visit. Deciding she would stay for a bit she made her way to the counter and rang the bell waiting for someone to come help her.

[Madeline Cauthon]

Madeline had been in the office setting up a new computer program for Wolf's Head when she heard the ell at the front desk. Standing up, she smoothed out her black cotton blouse and made her way out to the front. To her surprise their first customer was none other than her best friend in the world, Kyra.

Madeline walked over to Kyra with a smile. "Well look what the cat dragged in? Let me guess, Dre finally drove you crazy."

Madeline was picking of course.

[Hidden Jewel]

She looked up surprised to see her bestie walk out to the desk. Looking around to make sure she wasn't back at the other place for a minute and then looked back to Madeline as she spoke. A slight laugh in her voice she shook her head slightly.

"You know how he can be but it's all good. Just need a break from some stuff and it seems my horse knew where I needed to be. What is this place and what are you doing here?"

Kyra leaned up against the counter and waited for answers.

[Madeline Cauthon]

Madeline gave Kyra a warm hug. "This is Wolf's Head Inn and Tavern. It's my dads place. He letting me open it back up and try to make a go of it. Kind of like Dre did with you and the forge."

Madeline walked back behind the desk. " How is the family doing? The new sis fitting in okay? I know Arcadia must be over joyed finally having her back."

[Hidden Jewel]

Returning the hug she smiled as she looked around some more.

"It's a nice place and I'm sure you will do great running the place. Lydia, mom and dad are doing great, we are all happy that she is home where she belongs. Dad adopted her a couple months ago. There just seems to be one thing missing but I'm sure it will all work out soon. Before I forget do you have stables here where I can put Slepnir? Don't think you want me to leave him out there hitched up out front all night."

A slight smirk crossed her lips as she spoke.

[Gawain]

"MADDIE!! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS DAMN THING DOING?!"

Yes, Gawain was, after living...however long he has lived, trying to learn the computer. With mixed results. "Damn you, you piece of crap! Why should I give you a password when the stuff is mine to begin with?! Hell, I paid for YOU!" Very mixed.

Finally, Gawain had had enough. Stomping out of the office and sticking his head out, he spoke gruffly. "Madeline, I swear, this thing is a piece of shi-hey, what's this? Kyra! Did you get lost or somethin'? Er...wait. Where's Dre? Haven't seen that scaly bastard since that demon prick was stomping the muddy piss out of me. How is everyone? Sheena, Dre, Arcadia, Lydia....how they doin? Those idiot slowpokes at the Starry Mist ribshack ever get out of the timewarp they were in and realize Lydia had been home with her real family for months now?"

[Madeline Cauthon]

Madeline near about jumped when she heard her father yell. She looked at Kyra and let out a giggle. She stopped when she heard her dad come out. "Dad, I told you I would take care of it. Tell ya what, let me go look right quick and log you in. That way you and Kyra can get caught up."

Madeline gave her dad a kiss on the cheek, and started to the office. "Kyra I'll walk you to the stables when I get back."

[Hidden Jewel]

Kyra nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard him yelling and blink and calmed as Gawain started talking to her. She shrugged a little as she spoke to him.

"Everyone is doing well and they haven't tried to come for her so I am hoping they gave up on the idea of getting her back to them. Lydia is where she belongs and is happy and adjusting well. Dad even adopted her a couple months ago."

She smiled to Madeline and nodded before she turned her attention back to Gawain.

"This is a nice place you both have here. Hopefully, I can get mom and dad to bring Lydia up here soon but not sure how that will work out since the house and forge are back at the other inn."

She stopped briefly and looked around not sure what say and didn't want to say too much and start yapping his ears off.

[Gawain]

"That's great that he adopted the kid. Hell, she looked like a pair of blonde eyeballs with legs the last time I saw her...." He chuckled, waving a hand. "Course, I was a little pissed, so yeah, I see her point. Anyway, that sounds good, except for one thing. Madeline will be doing most of the running of the place. I'm gettin' too old for this crap." He smirked, shooting the kid a wink. "Oh, come on, like you two don't talk about your old-fart daddies when we can't hear ya."

"So, you want a room? Tell ya what, since you're family, you can have your pick. I got the bill, so don't worry about how hideously expensive it looks. Xavier bought a sh*t-ton of furniture for that coffee chick a little while back, and she pretty much sh*t on him in return.....hey, I'll put ya in the room that he pretty much furnished! He'll probably be here as soon as he gets back from the Waste, so....yeah."

[Hidden Jewel]

She laughed a little and shook her head at him.

"Lydia is a good addition to the family and we all love her. Sounds like a plan and thanks Uncle Gawain, I appreciate it. And ummm can't say we don't do that from time to time but hey it's all in good fun."

Laughing a little she shook her head at him.

"So why don't you tell us how you really feel about her. Hope your family is doing well also. Hoping I can talk dad in coming up sometime to visit if nothing else."

[Madeline Cauthon]

Madeline walked into Gawain's office and sat in his bog chair behind the desk. Clicking the box that wanted the password she typed bal3f1r3 and clicked the green arrow button. Smiling she took a posty note and wrote the password on it, and stuck it to the monitor. Madeline walked back out to where Gawain and Kyra were.

"Dad we do not...Not when we're with in a twenty mile radius of that damnable hearing of yours. I fixed your computer, and wrote the password down where you can find it."

Madeline walked to Kyra's side. " We're going to walk out to the stables. I'll get her set up in a room when we get back. You ready Kyra? Madeline started walking towards the front door.

[Hidden Jewel]

Kyra laughed hearing Madeline as she came back out and smiled with a nod. She stood up straight and waited for her.

"Ready when you are. This will give us a good chance to catch up a little and you fill me in on a few things."

She smiled and headed for the front door to get Slepnir so they could take him to the stables.

[Madeline Cauthon]

Once outside, Madeline waited for Kyra to untie Slepnir. She then would lead her to the back of the inn where she would see the beautiful stables.




After the were inside she looked at Slepnir. "You're pick boy, what ever one you want."

Madeline opened the back of the stables to show the huge fenced in pasture for the horses to roam and exercise. "Swifty is out there somewhere if Slepnir wants to go out."

She smiled at her bestie. "So what have you been up to? How is the forge holding up?"

[Hidden Jewel]

Once they were outside she untied him and took off his reigns so he could walk freely, she wasn't worried about him running away from her or anything like that. He walked next to her sniffing the air and making noises nudging her along a little faster. Seeing the stables she smiled brightly as she spoke to both him and Madeline.

"These are beautiful stables, it will be perfect."

Hearing Madeline he went straight into a stall and kicked the ground as if to say this was his stall. Rearing up a little he came back down planting his feet once again on the ground before going out the doors again on his own to explore like some horses with a mind of their own do at times. Smiling Kyra looked around and shrugged slightly as she spoke again.

"Been getting acquainted with Lydia and spending time with the family mostly. Been back to the Castle once or twice now and Sheena went back to take care of some business. But all in all everything is running smoothly. How about with you? How is everything?"

[Madeline Cauthon]

Madeline smiled to know that Slepnir and Kyra liked it. Madeline listened to Kyra. "Sounds like fun. Nice normal fun."

Madeline smirked. "Let's see, spent the better part of last month as a nine year old...Don't ask I don't know. Worked with mud people behind the stables. Had a really bad experience with a flask filled with orange juice and Vodka. Oh also found out the stable boy at Tel'Ranaemyn is actually my uncle Gareth's kid." Madeline shrugged. "Thats about it."

[Hidden Jewel]

She turned and raised a brow at all that Madeline just told her. Starting to say something she opened her mouth and stopped still trying to process everything and then started again.

"Ok that all had to be an interesting trip and I knew of you being a child and you were supposed to come stay with us but not sure of anything after that. I guess things just got screwy with the possibility of people out searching for Lydia. And are you meaning Connor? Only talked to him a couple times but he seemed nice enough. Is it a good thing he is your uncle's son?"

Finding a bale of hay she took a seat on it and listened.

[Madeline Cauthon]

Madeline giggled and ran her left hand through her hair. "Yeah, sorry about that, it seems when I was first turned, my memory was that or fourteen years ago. So I sort of didn't remember anybody. Except dad, Airtia and Dre. Crazy huh? Anyway so I ended up talking him into letting me stay with my brother. He and my foster sister Epiphany watched out for me. Nothing personal, just Dad was really intent on finding a way to fix me."

Maddie laughed. "You should of seen the look on his face when he opened the door, and I was all little again. But yeah, Connor is Uncle Gareth's son. Dad was suppose to talk to him sometime soon, but I don't know if he has or not. Almost scared to ask. I'm not sure how I would react to meeting the man that killed my father all those years ago. That's along time for resentment to grow, and Dad well he's...Dad."

Madeline realized she'd been rambling. "So wanna go inside and pick out a room. I was planning on putting you in a suite. It'll always be your room, whether you here or not. And I don't see any reason for your folks and Lydia to come up. Dre should remember that Dad had this place built to where Dre could stand up right with plenty of room!"

[Hidden Jewel]

"Wow that is all very interesting and it's no big. No offense I don't think I could have handled having you around as a kid with everything going on with Lydia and stuff. But I'm glad you are safe and an adult again. I'm sure everything else will work out the way it's supposed to with your dad and Connor talking."

She smiled and moved off the hay that she was sitting on and planted her feet with her hands on her hips.

"So lets go find me that room. You know I'm not picky but I would like to see the room your dad was talking about with the furniture your brother furnished."

Kyra was curious to see what kind of taste the rest of the family had in furnishings. She waited for her to lead the way to the room.

[Madeline Cauthon]

When they got back inside, Madeline walked behind the desk, and grabbed the key for room 306. Giving kyra a wink when she came back around, she took her by the hand and led her to wall past the stairs. Looking at the wall, Kyra would see two silver panels in the middle. She would also see Madeline push a button and hear a beeping sound. Madeline turned to look at her friend. "So Kyra have you ever road in an elevator?"

[Hidden Jewel]

She smiled as they went back inside and got the room assignment. Kyra was all fine and dandy until she was lead to what looked like a set of doors in the wall and a button was pushed to open said doors. Her brow raised as she heard Madeline's question about riding in one of them before. The hesitation sounded in her voice as she gently pulled her arm away and slowly backed away from the doors.

"What is this kill the best friend day?"

In her defense she didn't have a clue what an elevator was or what purpose it would have for her at this very moment.

[Madeline Cauthon]

Madeline giggled at her friend. "No silly I'm not trying to kill you. Just showing you something new. This here is called an elevator. It's a tall box that goes up and down between floors. Each floor has a set of doors just like these that the elevator will open. Think of it like portaling between places minus the magic."

When the doors open Madeline stepped in. "Calm on Kyra, have a little faith. I promise nothing bad will happen."

[Hidden Jewel]

She still looked at her as if she were crazy for trying to get her into this contraption but she took a leap of faith and entered the death box as she is calling it until she sees its not going to kill her. Moving forward a little she paused at the entrance of the elevator and tapped her foot into it to make sure it was sturdy and seeing it was as sturdy as she could pray for at the moment she stepped in fully and held on to the bars that were on the sides. Although she was wondering why it had bars on the side if it wasn't going to hurt her.

"What are these used for? To chain people to and torture them?"

Kyra's eyes were wide and a bit fearful at the given moment.

[Madeline Cauthon]

Madeline couldn't hep but shake her head. "Will you relax, I already told you I wasn't going to let anything happen to you. As far as the bars go, I think Dad just liked the way they look." Madeline tapped her finger on her chin for a moment. "Although you could be right about the chaining people up thing, except change people to wife." Maddie then got an image in her head. "On second thought don't."

Unlike most elevators, you couldn't feel this one start or stop. The only way you know you had moved is when the doors opened. As soon as Maddie stepped inside and pressed the button that had the number three on it, the doors closed. About five seconds later,the doors opened again on the third floor. Kyra would probably think that Maddie had lost her mind, because of the quickness, and the stillness of the elevator. Maddie stepped out and smiled. "Okay we're here. Third floor, come on Kyra, it's safe to step out."

[Hidden Jewel]

Kyra tried her best to relax but it was hard to do when you encounter something brand spanking new to you. By the time Madeline said they were there she was looking around thinking like Madeline thought that she lost her every loving mind. And speaking her mind was on top of the list it seemed today.

"It didn't even move. How could we be there already?"

But when the doors opened she seen a different area and peeked her head outside the doors and then back to Madeline.

"Ok that is wicked and no don't wanna do it again just yet."

She laughed a little starting to relax even more now as they were so far safe and sound out of that thing.

[Madeline Cauthon]

Madeline chuckled as they walked down the hall to room 306. She stuck the key in the door and opened the door. To a beautiful suite. Madeline let Kyra walk in first. Once she was inside Madeline walked over to the 32" flat screen on the wall and turned it on. As luck would have it, one of Madeline's guilty pleasures was on, wrestling. Some hot blonde guy that looked like he was a former soldier was fighting a guy that Maddie thought what Thor was suppose to look like. With a smile on her face, she would watch Kyra walk around the room. "Well what do you think?"

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