Traveler's Inn

Ivan chuckled and stood "Of course~ You vould not have been able to open it anyvay~" Ivan blew on the door again, the wards leaping off to circle the pair on the bed, glittering softly. Ivan clicked his tongue and frowned. Stupid wards. He pulled open the door and stepped aside.

"Your highness~ Do come in~"

'About time, Ludwig, I- oh.' Roderich stopped and blinked at the man who'd opened the door. He had no idea who he was; he assumed he was one of Ludwig's travelling companions. He nodded to him. 'Thank you.'

Roderich stepped into the room, eyes narrowing as he saw both his cousins, one of whom was currently wrapped around another young man. 'Good grief. And here I was expecting a meeting or something. I see I needn't have hurried.'

"We were taking a nap while waiting on you," Ludwig said, stretching his arms now that he was free of Feliciano, much to his disappointment. He stood and held out his hand for his cousin to shake. "This is Ivan," he said, gesturing to the man. "The young man on the bed is Prince Feliciano of the Kingdom of the Sun. And you know Gilbert."

"Our friend Matthew has retired to his room. I will try to explain the situation as best I can. There are some political plots in play, and they involve the prince."

Gilbert grumbled and pulled himself out of a doze when he heard the new voice at the door. He knew that voice...that pain in the ass voice. He rolled over onto his back, but didn't open his eyes. He stretched and allowed himself to relax into the pillows. The room smelled a little and he idlely sniffed at his clothes. Not him.

"Hello Roddy."


(what sort of background would you like us to have, cousin?)

Feliciano stretched his arms, searching for the warm body next to his, finding only the mattress and the blanket. With a disappointed grumble, he turned on his back and opened his eyes, suddenly scared to have been left alone.

Luckily, Ludwig's back was the first thing he saw as he opened them, the second was Ivan, and the third - he realized - was another unknown man in the room. His overall look qualified him as noble, from the fancy coat he was wearing to the expression on his face - could he possibly be the cousin Ludwig had contacted earlier?

"Ve, hello~" he simply said, trying to put his hair down, his head still overshadowed by sleep and beer.

Ivan quickly scooped up his pet from the middle of the floor. It would not be good if she was trod on. As soon as the door closed, the wards zoomed back to the door, burning themselvs in yet again. The golden bird twittered and fluttered onto the albino griffin. The dragon cooed in response and curled around her masters neck to watch the newcomer. She though his hair would make a perfect nest.

Roderich eyed the door, and the dragon, before turning to each of them in turn offering his hand. 'Charmed, I'm sure. And...' His eyes roved disapprovingly over Gilbert. 'Hello, yourself.'

'Go on then, explain away. You don't mind if I sit for this?' He didn't wait for a reply, perching on the edge of Gilbert's bed and crossing his legs. He would have sat somewhere else, but Gilbert was preferable to strangers. Slightly.

(Whatever background you'd like. I'll follow your lead.)

Ludwig took a seat next to Feliciano and sighed. "Essentially, someone is trying to start a war between our country and the Kingdom of the Sun." He put his hand on Feliciano's shoulder. "We can only assume it is for profit. We, Matthew, Feliciano and I, were attacked in the forest. Someone was trying to assassinate Feliciano. I was thinking we should visit Uncle. He has been in contact with the country in the past. There's also, well, Gilbert said Uncle has named me as his heir, which could be an excuse to bring nobles to our country so we can discuss the situation at length."

He still felt awkward at the idea of being an heir and becoming king one day.

Gilbert flashes his brother a smile as he lay in bed with hid interlaced fingers pillowing his head. He was proud of him--to a fault.

Then the albino griffin eyed Roderich cooly but without malcontent and bumped his socked toe against the man's hip. He stuck his tongue out and then smiled. He liked the other heir very much--he liked fighting with him as if they were children again even more. He wondered if he could get in a good back and forth with Roddy while the meeting continued.

Roderich listened carefully. He glanced from the young prince at Ludwig's side, and back to his cousin. He took a minute to think it all over before replying; it was a lot to take in without any prior warning.

'...I see. Firstly, you say you were attacked; are you all alright? Secondly, I think you would be better off going to Uncle's as soon as possible, rather than hanging around in inns- what on earth possessed you to stay here? You're making targets of yourselves- and thirdly,' he paused for breath, getting into his stride. 'Thirdly, I heard he made you his heir. Congratulations, I suppose, although I don't envy you the job.'

He meant it, too; ruling the kingdom sounded too much like hard work. Feeling a nudge, he glanced over his shoulder at his other cousin. He was tempted to stick his tongue out in return, but thought better of it; instead, he rolled his eyes, smiling very faintly.

'And how are you, dear Gilbert? Causing trouble?'

He rubbed his eyes, only half listening to what Ludwig was explaining - he knew the story very well, anyway. He watched Gilbert teasing Roderich - once again, he felt a bit lonely, even if the small room was crowded of people. He would have liked having his brother there as well, even if only to be beaten or called "stupid" by him... he sighed. He found some comfort in Ludwig's hand on his shoulder, though, and shifted a bit closer to him.

"We all are fine, thanks~" he answered to the third Griffin prince's question. He looked back at Ludwig, remembering the wound the fight had caused him.

"Feliciano was able to heal the wound that the would-be assassin inflicted." He gave the prince's shoulder a squeeze. "And I was managing to stay rather incognito. I've traveled for the last three years without a single person recognizing me. Gilbert more or less ruined my cover."

He smirked. "As for ruling, you aren't in line for your father's share of the kingdom?" He knew that their Uncle had always been in the managerial position. He had always been an overseer, and Ludwig had a feeling he would be with his own brother and cousin. And Gilbert wasn't always enthusiastic about his own position. If Roderich was the same, the triumvirate like system could be dissolved.

'I am, but...well, we know how it will turn out. You'll end up with the most responsibility.' And good luck to him, too. Roderich was content to leave the work to his cousin; he would rule, and rule well, but if war broke out he'd let Ludwig deal with it. 'Anyway, it's not as if my father is on death's door, I've a while before I have to think about that.'

He wasn't surprised in the slightest to hear Gilbert had blown Ludwig's cover. 'What did he do this time?' he asked, sounding bored and pointing over his shoulder at his cousin. He didn't care too much about staying undercover, but bickering with Gilbert was second nature. He almost enjoyed it.

Gilbert cleared his throat. "It would have greatly helped if I had been informed ahead of time that my brother was indeed undercover." He rolled his eyes.

Absently, he looked over to the small male Ludwig had such a thing for--

Gilbert sat up and looked at his brother. He pointed to him with two fingers. "Wait wait. Did you say the little prince could heal?"

"Yes. He can heal," Ludwig said, showing his unmarked arm. "I had a long gash from the attack, and Feliciano did a fantastic job in fixing it." He would leave out that the smaller man had managed to pass out shortly after due to the sight of blood. "It was not a life threatening cut, but it was healed without even a scar."

He smiled over at Feliciano and gave him a reassuring squeeze of the shoulder.

"Well, you're too kind. I'm not that good with magic." he said with a smile, and he lowered his head modestly.

He glanced at the three Griffin princes; again, hadn't he known that they were all related, he wouldn't have guessed it. He wondered to whom of them this Uncle would look like. Feliciano and his brother, instead, looked almost like twins, and they both resembled their grandfather the king.

Ludwig looked still as he was a bit shocked at the idea of becoming the heir. As for Feliciano, Lovino was older than him, and that made his brother the first in the line of succession. This said, his grandfather had often shown more attention and interest in Feliciano (if this was the consequence or the cause of his brother bad companies, Feliciano wasn't sure yet) thus the succession for the throne of the Kingdom of the Sun wasn't decided yet.
He wondered if this could possibly have influenced or contributed to start the plotting against him - Feliciano himself didn't care much about becoming king, he would have gladly left the place to his brother, but he also knew that it wasn't his decision.

He still didn't believe that his own brother could be somehow involved in this, so he kept his thoughts for himself, following the others' discussion and waiting for them to decide what to do.

A bit groggy after his less-than-comfortable nap, Matthew sat up, not quite sure of how much time had passed due to the lack of windows in his room. Honestly, what sort of room didn’t even have a single window?

He began to worry that he’d fallen asleep for hours and left the room immediately, not caring in the least that his hair and clothes were most likely disheveled. Making his way down the hall, he raised his hand to knock on the room belonging to the others but stopped himself.

It was still possible that he’d fallen asleep for only a few minutes and knocking would only wake them up. And the wards Ivan had put on the door made it both impossible to hear the sound of voices and to open the door. So Matthew decided it would be best to sit next to the door until it opened. It couldn’t be that long before it did, and he was patient.

(Yeah, I’m just going to leave it like this for while I’m away. If you guys stay in the room for a while he’ll stay outside and if you leave, assume he’s following, please. Thanks. ^^)

Roderich remained quiet, thinking. He was good at planning and tactics, but less than thrilled about the prospect of actually having to fight; he was neither as robust as Ludwig, nor as hot-blooded as Gilbert. He'd made the trip from Rosenheim alone, but usually, if he was travelling, he took an escort with him. It occurred to him that, although he wouldn't really have to worry if he was travelling with his cousins and their companions, another pair of hands wouldn't hurt. Besides, she was already in Rothenburg.

'Ludwig, would you mind if I sent a message to General Hedervari and asked her to join us? She's already in the city. She'd be a useful addition if we're going to our Uncle's.' Apart from being a superb soldier and bodyguard, Erzsebet was his friend and confidant; having her around would be a comfort.

(Erzsebet said she'd jump in once I send for her and she does her profile. Also, are there any windows in this room?)

Ludwig nodded. "I don't think it would necessarily be a bad idea to call on her. Extra support cannot hurt."

"When we go I will fly with Feliciano, and since Gilbert seems to have taken a liking to Matthew..." That wasn't especially true, but Gilbert had at least found Matthew acceptable enough to sit with him. "I imagine they will fly together."

He didn't mind at all the idea of riding with Feliciano, and the prince had seemed almost enthusiastic. He wanted the prince with him for selfish reasons, not that he'd say it aloud. It was a few hours' journey there, and it would mean a big of time he could actually talk to the brunet.

"So as soon as you can get in touch with her, we can set out, I suppose."

Gilbert cocked his eyebrow at his brother. Took a liking to Matthew? Well, he supposed he did enough. He didn't mind the young man traveling with them, though he had yet to see a use for him...other than to smile pretty.

He sat up fully and swung his legs over the side of the bed to put his boots back on. He might as well be ready to go.

Feliciano sat up again, thrilled at the idea of flying on a Griffin.
"Ve, this is going to be amazing~" he clapped his hands happily.

He wondered who this General could be; Ludwig was surely right saying that some additional help wouldn't hurt, and furthermore, the name sounded promising - and she was a lady. The next thought was that she had also to be an excellent warrior, if she was General, and then he remembered again what Ludwig had told him about female Griffins the very first morning. He was still curious to see her, though.


(I guess there can be a window, yeah)

'Flying? Ugh.' Roderich sighed, standing and making his way over to the window. He wasn't all that fond of flying, or of his true form at all, really; but it was the easiest way of travelling, so he raised no further complaint.

He opened the window, before bringing his hand to lips and muttering under his breath. A flickering light could be seen in his palm for just a second, until he blew on it, and it dissipated into the air. He turned back to the group.

'I've told her to meet us outside the inn. She should get here soon.' The message spell was simple enough, but not that widely used; Roderich had found it was useful when he wanted to speak privately with Erzsebet. While not a great scholar of magic by any means, he had a knack for using basic spells in interesting ways; the sword at his side was not as simple as it looked, for a start.

(AKA, I'm ripping off the mystic knight class from FF. If it interferes with any established rules, let me know. ^^; )

Ludwig smiled at Feliciano's enthusiasm. "Will you be able to keep a close eye on my things while we fly?" he asked the prince. He was also reminded that the enchantment he had on his human clothes only allowed them go to into his bag, not to return to his body after the transformation. HE could have done without another awkward moment.

"I do not think the window here is big enough for us to take off from here, but if we go back to the Dam Tavern, I'm sure the owners would help us. Before they operated their mill and dam--hence the name of their tavern--they were all higher-ups in grandfather's and father's armies. They will have somewhere we can take off from."

Ivan stood up and cracked his neck and winced at the sound. He quickly banished the wards and opened the door.

"I vill meet you in front of the tavern. I need to collect things from my room."

He bowed and slipped out of the room making quick work of the distance between the two establishments. He grabbed his gloves and hat from the bedside table and found the barmaid to leave her a healthy tip and a promise that he would come visit. Five minutes and one seething father later Ivan was outside as promised, though not of his on volition.

"I believe I can do that." he replied nodding to Ludwig. It hadn't yet occurred to him that he would possibly be too busy trying not to fall down to also be sure that their bags were safe.

Feliciano looked at Ivan going out of the room and looked around. He hadn't even had the time to unpack anything, so his stuff was still as ready as it had been that morning when they had left their camping place for the city. He thought that they hadn't had the time to take a proper bath like he had hoped before, but oh well, flying to a safer place was still more important.

Putting his backpack on, he grabbed his mandolin and sat on the border of the bed, ready to stand up as soon as the others gave sign to move.