NationStates Jolt Archive

At Liberty International Airport, a party of men waited to the side of runway 3 for the Neo-Ixanian flight to land. The president, the foreign minister, and 8 aides stood in a group by the VIP building, away from the press pen filled with TV cameras and paparazzi.
On the side of the runway were parked three LY219 APCs, painted pitch black with a single icon on each side: a burning palm tree with three red skulls underneath. These were the security for special events, members of the 3rd Batallion of the Flaming Guard Regiment. Any trouble, and black-uniformed operatives would soon have it surpressed either by physical handling of the situation or by a couple of shots from their SHOCK equipped shotguns or TASERNET pistols.

"When will she arrive? I hope the flight isn't delayed."
"Well, the weather forecast said there was an 80% chance of rain this afternoon."
"At least we can relish the sunshine while it lasts."

The president looked at his watch. It read it was 11:20am.

"Well, about 3 hours of sunshine, before the afternoon storms set in."

Catherine looked out a nearby window silently as she waited for the plane to land. An attendant had told her that the plane would land in a couple of hours during breakfast and she decided to pass the time by inspecting the items that she had brought with her, such as a Fegosian language phrasebook, her violin and some sheet music. "Every item is here." Catherine put away the items and walked back to her seat.

In the afternoon, Catherine walked with the attendant to the door as the plane gently landed on the airport's runway. "I have arrived." Catherine uttered as the attendant opened the door for her. Calmly walking out of the plane, Catherine looked at the people that surrounded her and the nearby buildings until she saw the President of Alfegos. A small smile could be seen on her face. "

This must be the leader of Alfegos." Catherine thought about the President for a couple of seconds before she decided to stand still near the President and his group and wait for them to greet her. As she waited, she thought about what she could see and do in Alfegos as a foreign exchange student.

OOC this part of the Tour seeing i'am doing troops and the transport for it?

OOC this part of the Tour seeing i'am doing troops and the transport for it?

OOC: This is separate from the World Tour.

The president saw her halt near the bottom of the steps from the plane, and went up to greet her.

"Good afternoon. I am President Al'iro Darrel of the People's Nation of Alfegos, but since that is quite a mouthful just call me Al'iro. If you would come with me, I think we can take a route that the paparazzi and press haven't already swarmed over."

He began walking with his aides towards a helicopter just around the corner of the VIP building, on a worn concrete helipad. As usual with many of the older Alfegan things, the pad didn't have an H in the centre but rather a complex pictogram of the Fegosian alphabet along the lines of "Area on which rotating-wing flying craft can land". No wonder they used english now.

The president saw her halt near the bottom of the steps from the plane, and went up to greet her.

"Good afternoon. I am President Al'iro Darrel of the People's Nation of Alfegos, but since that is quite a mouthful just call me Al'iro. If you would come with me, I think we can take a route that the paparazzi and press haven't already swarmed over."

He began walking with his aides towards a helicopter just around the corner of the VIP building, on a worn concrete helipad. As usual with many of the older Alfegan things, the pad didn't have an H in the centre but rather a complex pictogram of the Fegosian alphabet along the lines of "Area on which rotating-wing flying craft can land". No wonder they used english now.

"It is nice to meet you, Al'iro. I am Princess Catherine of Neo-Ixania."

Catherine smiled at Al'iro before she began walking with him to the helicopter that she saw in the distance. She studied the President and his aides silently, thinking that the President was a nice person. Catherine noticed the pictogram as she walked into the helicopter and took her seat. She could see the pilot preparing to begin flying and watched him for a couple of minutes. When the helicopter began flying, Catherine looked at the President and smiled at him.

"Where will this helicopter take us, Al'iro? I assume we will go to where I will be staying during my visit to Alfegos."

"Indeed, we are going to my place of residence. It's over there."

The presient pointed in the distance towards where the helicopter was flying. Beside a private air-yaucht moored on the beach, there was a massive complex of marble buildings surrounded by vibrant greens of a landscaped park.

"This is the presidential palace. I think you will enjoy your stay there with my son, Hy'il Dare'soi, as well as the rest of my family."

The helicopter came in over the garden, before settling down upon a more modern helipad set into the copper-tiled roof of the building. The doors were opened as attendants rushed over to help everyone out.

"Your luggage will be arriving within 15 minutes. I will now show you to your room."

After walking though many corridors lined with tropical woods or with granite, he ended up in the east wing of the building on the 2nd floor. An aide used a very large key from an iron ring to open the ebony door. It opened into a cool, granite room, with a lavish bedroom, bathroom and private study. Amongst the old pieces of framed parchment covered in Fegosian pictograms and the granite ornaments, a few modern items could be seen: a plasma-screen TV was set into the fall facing the lush bed, and the desk in the study on closer observation could be seen to conceal a large fold-up screen for a computer.

"This will be your room. I will see you in a few minutes. For now, I leave a personal aide with you to discuss your itinery."

"This is a good room, Al'iro. Thank you."

Catherine put her luggage near her bed and began exploring the room silently while thinking about the President's family, thinking she would meet them later in the day. It made Catherine think about her own family, her siblings were still in Neo-Ixania, her sister still reigning over millions and making decisions with politicians. After she finished exploring the room and remembering where the bathroom and private study were, she began unpacking her items and then decided to watch some Fegosian television for a few minutes. She looked at the locket that hanged around her neck and opened it to reveal a picture of her family, which included her widowed mother. She sighed and then looked at the door, waiting for the personal aide to arrive.

The black-suited man knocked on the door of the Princess's chamber, before entering. He was carrying a large breifcase with him.

"Good afternoon, ma'am. I have the itinery for your stay here, and have also been asked to tell you the ground rules for your stay in this country, a lot of which I know is common sense. I also need to ask, have you had a TCV-09 vaccination yet?"

He took out some forms, and passed them to the princess. The top piece of paper was the itinery.


Day 1: Arrive in Alfegos. Spend day at leisure in the presidential palace.

Day 2: Travel to Il'vi, spend morning and midday on the beaches. Spend afternoon and evening being tutored in the Fegosian language.

Day 3: Spend morning being taught Fegosian history and custums. Afternoon spent at leisure in New Zevkhay.

Day 4: Trip to the Grand Fegos rainforest for entire day.

Day 5: Airyauchting lessons.

Day 6: Morning and afternoon tutoring in Fegosian and Fegosian Geography.

Day 7: Spent however the princess wishes.

Day 8: Leave for Neo-Ixania

Underneath that was another piece of paper:

Rules of Stay

- You may not leave the premises of the palace or the beach in front without an aide accompanying you.
- You may not enter the west wing of the building without the president's prior permission.
- You may not engage in any conduct with the press without a press representitive with you.
- You may not go onto the roof of the building or into the airyaucht landing area without prior permission and an adult accompanying you.

"I hope these are satisfactory?"

"I have had a TCV-09 vaccination (OOC: I am assuming that Alfegos gave some vaccine to Neo-Ixania) and as for the itinerary and rules: they are both satisfactory. If I may ask, why is the west wing of this building forbidden to me without the President's prior permission?"

"The west wing of the building contains the president's private rooms, as well as archives containing documents of the highest levels of secrecy.
Now, is there anything I can get you at all?"

"The west wing of the building contains the president's private rooms, as well as archives containing documents of the highest levels of secrecy.
Now, is there anything I can get you at all?"

"I understand, sir. Is it possible for you to get me a Fegosian beverage?"

"Alright. I will get you some immediately."

The man turned to leave, and shut the door behind him. A few minutes later, he was back with a large glass bottle and a crystal glass.

"Some Khna'berva: it is a very thick syrupy juice made from the Khaaf and the Navi berries. I think you find it quite enjoyable. Now I will leave you to do what you may. If you require assisstance at any time, you can find the call button on the control panel for the room electronics in one of the bedside-table draws."

"Thank you, sir."

Catherine took a sip of the Khna'berva and a small smile could be seen on her face. She turned on the television and watched a television show while she occassionally drank her Khna'berva.

"This drink has a good taste and it is not too strong."

When the show was finished, Catherine thought about the President and his family. She decided that she would ask if she could meet them. After a couple of seconds, she decided to press the call button and wait for the aide to arrive. "I can talk to him about the President's family."

An aide presently arrived at the princess's room. He knocked, before entering.

"You called me ma'am?"

An aide presently arrived at the princess's room. He knocked, before entering.

"You called me ma'am?"

"Would it be possible to see the President and/or his family? If I am to be staying here, I would like to know the other people who I will be staying here with."

"The president is currently engaged, and his wife is currently in Polinapolis visiting relatives. However, his son is not currently too engaged. He is in the basement in the shooting range. Would you like me to take you there?

"The president is currently engaged, and his wife is currently in Polinapolis visiting relatives. However, his son is not currently too engaged. He is in the basement in the shooting range. Would you like me to take you there?

"I would like you to take me there. Thank you." Catherine took a sip of the Khna'berva before she began walking to the door.

The aide led the princess down a wide staricase to the main hall of the east wing, before descending down a darker, narrower staircase underground. Passing through the wine cellars, they eventually heard the sharp cracks of a .22 rifle being fired, on the other side of a thick steel door with a red light atop it. After a minute, the light turned off, and a tall blonde boy walked out, about 16 years old, carrying a large wooden target rifle and a box of ammunition.

The aide tactfully left at this point, to leave the two to talk.

"So, err..., hello. I'm Hy'il Dare'soi, but my friends call me Dare. You are the princess who's come to stay on an exchange trip? I am unhappy that no-one told me you had arrived, or I would have met you myself."

Catherine listened to the cracks of the rifle as they walked towards the steel door. They made her remember her brother and how she could hear the sounds from his gun when he was at his firing range. She stood silently as she watched the door open to reveal the President's son. From the corner of her eye, Catherine saw the aide walk away.

"I am Princess Catherine of Neo-Ixania. It is nice to meet you. Yes, I am the Princess who has come to stay on an exchange trip. I met your father at the airport but right now he is engaged. Do you think you could show me around this palace?"

"Sure. Lets start with the garden. I don't really like the house that much. Its so old..."

He walked over to a wall covered in shelves of wine bottles, and pulled out one of the bottles. The shelf slid open to reveal a narrow flight of steps.

"This place is full of secret cupboards and passages, and I'm the only person who actually knows. This comes out in a gazebo."

He walked up with Catherine, the wine rack folding back behind him. He pulled a hidden lever in the wall, and a slab at the top slid to the side. He poked his head out, and seeing no-one walked out from a hole that had now appeared in the paving.

"This is one of the covered areas in the garden. There's a load of garages and sheds around the west-wing side, and a few greenhouses at the back. The rest is pretty much landscaped garden. Then, inside the east wing, thats where all the guests quarters, the dining rooms, the kitchens and the servant's quarters are. The centre wing has the main dining room, and the west wing has my dad's rooms, and the archives. I haven't been there often, since he says theres a load of state secrets kept there. And I have to sleep in an attic room in the east wing.
So, anywhere you want to go? I bet they told you you couldn't go on the airyaucht, so how about there?"

Catherine listened to Dare silently as she followed him through the corridors of the house. It was nice to listen to him talk about the house and tell her what everything was and she thought it was interesting that the President's house had secret passages. After they had finished walking, Catherine looked at Dare and smiled at him. "Thank you for showing me the secret passages of the house and for giving me the information, Dare."

She walked around in the garden by herself for a couple of minutes before she looked at Dare. "An aide said that I need both prior permission and an adult guardian to go to the airyaucht landing area, Dare. That is one of the rules. Also....how did you discover the secret passages of this house?"

"Well, I discovered the first secret passage to the kitchens from one of the geusts rooms: I accidently stumbled and hit a piece of the all, and moved a secret button in the wall. I was intrigued, and from then spent all my free time looking for them. I know 17 different passages throughout the house and about 5 secret cupboards in walls. My favourite one though is a secret room that no-one has used for at least a century... we could got here if you wanted.
As for the airyaucht, well, I guess they're afraid one of us might try flying it or it might accidentally land on top of one of us. I'm told not to go on it, but no-one is usually any the wiser."

"Well, I discovered the first secret passage to the kitchens from one of the geusts rooms: I accidently stumbled and hit a piece of the all, and moved a secret button in the wall. I was intrigued, and from then spent all my free time looking for them. I know 17 different passages throughout the house and about 5 secret cupboards in walls. My favourite one though is a secret room that no-one has used for at least a century... we could got here if you wanted.
As for the airyaucht, well, I guess they're afraid one of us might try flying it or it might accidentally land on top of one of us. I'm told not to go on it, but no-one is usually any the wiser."

"Your story about the discovery of secret passages is interesting, Dare. It would be good if we could go to your favorite room. As for the airyaucht, that could be why they do not want us to go to the landing area. Dare, can you take me to your favorite secret room?"

"Alright."

Dare walked down a shaded marble path, under the deep shadows of the palm trees, before ending up at a large glass sliding door set into the building side. He slid it open carefully, before looking around the cool white drawing room. He walked over to the fireplace, and looked at the three large doors to the room. Nobody was there. He pressed a marble tile with a set of pictograms upon it, and listened to the grinding as the back of the fireplace lifted upwards on hidden machinery to reveal a small wooden starcase, in a very tight spiral.

"You go first, and I'll shut this behind you. In case you're wondering, those pictograms translates to english as 'Ascendng secrets'. It's part of the poem carved into the stone there, which I haven't been bothered to translate."

They entered, the door closing down when Dare pushed a similarly enscribed tile at the base of the secret door. He slipped past and ascended to the top, where he fumbled for a key in his pockets. He eventually pulled out a triangular-shaped key, with three seperate lengths of toothed metal around a grey-steel centre. He pushed it into the lock and twisted it around a short distance. There was a grinding inside the lock, before a click, as the door swung open. It led to a room with thick piles of dust in the corners, with the centre of the floor cleared considerably. In the far corners, piles of furniture were stacked carefully, under thick white sheets turned grey with age and dirt, while nearer to could be seen more modern additions: a small library of books of various genres and authors, a converter on a yellowed plastic electricity socket on the orange-painted wall, a laptop with a small blue flashing lights piercing thorugh the darkness and in a near corner a large mahogany chest, with a blue-velvet cushion atop it.

"Well, this is my secret room. From the stuff in here, I could say the last occupants left in 1902. I have loved this room for the last 8 years I have been here, and will miss it if my dad doesn't win another term of presidency in the February elections."

Catherine followed Dare in the secret passages and thought that they were interesting. She listened to what he told her and thanked him for showing her the passages. Silently, she looked at the pictograms as she walked with Dare, glad that she had the chance to see all these passages. "Dare, I am interested in knowing more about the poem. From what you have told me about "ascending secrets", it sounds like a poem of mystery."

When they arrived at the room, Catherine looked at all the items that she saw but decided not to touch any of them. "These are all interesting, Dare. I must say that these items are quite old, as the dust and their condition shows. In Neo-Ixania, we have many items that are old, some of which were the property of people in the 19th Century. Dare, you said that you will miss it if your dad does not win another term....does that mean your family will leave this house? I am sure you meant that and it is sad to hear that."

Catherine smiled as she continued to examine the items she saw. "Dare, thank you for bringing me here. I have enjoyed walking through all the secret passages with you. Do you have any other rooms to show me? Can you give me a tour of the Palace?"

"Well, that poem is a very old poem about the evil of man, concocted in the 1300s. It is called "Yha'ro Lir'soi", which translates as 'The son of evil lives in man', or along those lines. I couldn't say that well, since english is my second language and I am not an expert in translating between the two. I'll try my best for now.
And yes, the president and his family are by tradition allowed to live in this palace for the length of their term in office, before they leave to another residence. Though I do know we'll probably move back to our house in the middle of nowhere in Polinas province, with my father and mother switching between apartments in New Zevkhay and Old Zevkhay.
You want ot see the rest? I will take you round. Believfe it or not, we're actually in the attic. And there is another secret passage in this room, which I think is much more modern, that leads to the main roof cavity in this wing. We can then use the ladder at the end of the roof to get down onto the third floor, where all the guest rooms and associated rooms are. The second floor has the dining rooms, drawing rooms and studies for use by guests and by most of the family here. Then, on the first floor, you can find the servants quarters, and on the ground floor find more rooms. The kitchens are in the upper basement, and the wine cellars and shooting range in the lower basement. Follow me then."

He went over to the socket, and flicked the switch on the right plug. A section of the wall slidup, revealing an empty cavity filled with boxed and wrapped items, water tanks, batteries and more dust. A narrow walkway with lack of dust led up to the hole in the wall. He walked over to the end of the roof cavity, many, many metres away, and lifted up a hatch in floor, before escorting the prncess down it.

"The poem still sounds interesting, Dare, even if it is about the vices of humanity. In Neo-Ixania, I live with my siblings and my widowed mother while my older sister, the Empress, lives alone in her palace. I am surprised that we are in the attic and yes, I want to see the rest of this palace."

As they walked together down the hatch, Catherine continued talking to Dare. "You know a lot about this palace and I thank you for telling me about it. It is nice, I think, to know about these secret passages. You never know when they may be useful. Perhaps I could watch you practice your shooting, Dare? My brother often practices skeet shooting at his personal shooting range and when I watch him, he is often able to shoot his target. As for myself, I often practice playing the violin. If you would like, I could play it for you. I did play for the Prince of Canadstein once but that was at the Empress' Gala."

Catherine tried to restrain herself from stumbling and held the locket she wore around her neck tightly so she would not lose it. "I have had this locket since I was young and always wear it around my neck when I travel. The locket contains a picture of my family."

"Alright. If you want, you can do some shooting with me as well. Then, I can see if we can find a nice place for you to play the violin."

He closed the hatch beihd them, before rushing though a masze of corridors and down many stairwells, past many closed doors, and then into the cellar and the shooting range. He used another key he had in a deep pocket to unlock the small secured room that was an armoury. He walked over and took a 8.15x62mm AF rifle, using another code to unlock the padlock, as well as collect a magazine of ammunition from the safe builtinto the wall.

"If you want to shoot, take your pick from whatever you want."

He walked back into the range, and hit the light button. The lights dimmed as he lay down on the floor, fitted a pair of ear defenders, and aimed at the target replaced by an automatic system at the end of the 100m range. He began to shoot, the heavy rounds making a resounding explosion that sent a shockwave though Dare, and shook a bit of the dust from the ceiling.

"That cleared the cobwebs!"

Catherine smiled as she picked up a nearby rifle and walked to the shooting range. She put on her pair of ear defenders and laid down on the floor next to Dare as she aimed her rifle at the target. Silently, she waited until she had a perfect aim before firing, scoring several bullseyes without failure.

"Perfect! Absolutely perfect!"

Catherine reloaded her gun, having remembered her brother's lessons, and continued shooting at the targets in the distance. It made her happy when she found out that she had been able to get more bullseyes on them. "I remember shooting with my brother, Dare. That is why I am experienced at this. He taught me how to shoot and reload guns."

When she finished shooting, she stood straight and smiled at Dare, holding the rifle at her side. "My violin is in the guest room that was given to me. If you tell me where I can play, I will go and find my violin and some sheet music that I brought with me."

Dare let the rifle blast 4 more times, leaving massive holes in the target he was shooting at and making awful clangs as the bullet ricocheted at the back of the range when it hit the angled steel plate behind the targets. From what was left of the target he collected, he worked out that he had managed to get at least 40 points out of 50. He was impressed at Catherine's target though.

"Very good shooting, Cathrine: thats about 48-49 out of 50. Very good with a heavy rifle like you have there, yet you were lucky enough not to choose one of these beasts or one of the 15.2mm rifles, which I know for a fact can be used to penetrate 40mm steel with only normal lead!

Now, for your violin: if you can take me to the guest room you are staying in, I will take you to the music room on the second floor."

He left the range after locking the rifles back safely, before climbing out of the range, though the cellars, and back into the east wing. He then walked over to the main staircase, and started climbing up.

"Your room is on the top floor, am I right?"

"Thank you for the compliment. To be honest, I am a bit surprised that I almost hit all the targets but I am glad regardless. My brother taught me how to shoot when I was younger and I can still remember his lessons. Today, they have been helpful to me. I can take you to my guest room and play my violin for you. Luckily, I brought some sheet music to use, the music is simple not complex, and my room is on the top floor. Follow me, Dare."

Catherine led Dare to the guest room she was staying in and smiled at him as she pointed to her possessions. "I brought all of these items with me to Alfegos." When she found her violin and sheet music, she looked at him and smiled again. "If you can take me to the music room, I can play the violin for you. You would be the third foreigner that I have played for. One day, I may decide to be a professional violinist."

Dare smiled to her as they entered her room, with him hanging back at the door.

"The violin isn't an Alfegan instrument, with most of our intruments being what you would call percussion and wind, such as the Mi'gea and the Mo'larn. But, still, we do have many of the foreign instruments due to the massive influence of foreign nations."

He led Catherine to a music room on the floor below, walking into a calm blue-papered room with a dark blue carpet. On the far wall, light streamed in through gaps in the bamboo-shuttered windows. However, it was easy for all to hear outside the pattering of against the side of the windows in a classic afternnon storm, all evidence of which would be gone within 3 hours as the warm evening evaporated the warm rain dumped in only a few minutes.

He went into a wooden chest next to a cabinet of wooden pipe-like instruments, and lifted out a mahogany stand, which he fixed to the correct height. He then pulled a chair over, and sat down in front of Catherine.

"However simple it looks on paper, I am sure you can make it sound exquisite."

"It is nice to listen to you tell me about Fegosian instruments, Dare. Do you know how to play one of them?"

Catherine held her violin and began playing after she placed the sheet music on the stand. At first, she play slowly but the speed gradually increased until she sounded like a one person orchestra. Catherine was silent throughout the entire performance, her eyes closed, it was as if she was in another world and oblivious to what was around her. She passionately played the violin, maintaining a steady rhythm. It sounded like she was a professional violinist. After a while, she played the final notes and looked at Dare with a smile.

"What did you think? Do you think it was a good performance?"

Dare sat through the performance, his eyes never leaving Catherine. When the final notes came, along with her smile, he was speechless.

"I don't think anyone could criticise that: I think that was the most amazing sound I have ever heard."

He turned to the musical instrument cabinet.

"Even if I could read music, I doubt any Fegosian instrument could compete with that..."

"Thank you for your compliment, Dare. I have practiced for many years and I am proud to have the ability to play the violin. Dare, thank you for listening to me play the violin." Catherine smiled again before she put the violin in its case. "My parents supported me when I played and my mother, though she is a widow, still supports me. I think that my life as a princess will not prevent me from becoming a professional violinist or exploiting the other talents that I have in the future, Dare. When I am older, I hope to have a good life."

After a couple of minutes, Catherine began exploring the Music Room and looking at the instruments she saw.

"Dare, is there any other place in this house that you want to show me?"

"I honestly do not know where we could go: there are so many rooms here. If you want, we can go onto the private beach area. Or, we could go to my workshop out in the gardens, where I have been working on a few things."

He looked at his watch.

"I think we would have enough time: It is 18:00 now local time, with sunset at about 19:20. Dinner will therefore be at about 19:50.
So, what should we do?"

"Is it possible for us to go to the workshop and the private beach area? I brought a swimsuit in case I would be at a beach or a similar place. What things have you built at the workshop, Dare?"

Catherine took the handle of her violin case and smiled. "Before we go, let me put this in my room." She walked to her guest room and put the violin with her other items before she returned to Dare with her swimsuit and a towel in her hands.

"I thought I would bring it with me if we will go to the private beach area."

Dare walked down the stairs, and out onto the grass of the garden. he walked down a stone pah until the grass gave way to the descending slope of wet sand of the beach. The clouds had quickly disappeared into the distance, leaving a couple of wisps in the way of the orange disk of the sun.
He slipped his sandles off by one of the tall palm trees that defined the limit of the garden, and walked down the sand to where the sea was lapping at the shoreline, a deep blue.

"If you look to your right, you can see the rest of the bay of Zevkhay, as over there. In the distance, that island is not actually one, but a massive defensive platform that could sink a fleet of ships. It guards the entrance to the 60km bay, the edge of which you can see defined by those real islands.
That city over there is New Zevkhay, where you landed furher inland, and the much lower-lying sprawl further round is Old Zevkhay."

He walked into the sea, his feet buried in the grey-black sand that was evidence of the bay's past volcanicity, and looked back to Catherine. He had to admit she was a very attractive girl.

"I will find a place to change into my swimsuit, Dare."

Catherine returned five minutes later, dressed in a swimsuit that was not too revealing and that looked like it was from the 19th century. Her auburn hair was let down and her blue eyes stared calmly as Dare as she smiled. Some people did say that she look liked her older sister. "Some people say l look like the Empress...like a younger version of her."

Catherine walked barefoot towards the water and placed her feet in the sea as she listened to Dare talk. "It is nice to listen to you tell me about this place, Dare. It helps me know more about this place." Catherine smiled again, revealing her pearl-white teeth as she walked deeper into the water before making a splash with one of her hands. "Do you want to come in the water with me, Dare?"

As Catherine played in the water, she talked to Dare. "My parents would take me and my siblings to the beach to play together. My older sister and I would watch my brother build a sand-castle, for example. I still remember those memories of when we were together.....as a family." (OOC: Catherine's father passed away and she still remembers him)

Catherine looked away for a moment, speaking solemnly. "You know, Dare....I can easily....attack you!" Catherine spun around quickly and splashed Dare with water and laughed as she did. "It would be nice to have some fun!"

Dare was not expected the water, and wiped his eyes as Caterine splashed him.

"Oh yes?"

He splashed at her, before diving into the water. Under here, he could see the sand stretching into the distance, large orcks and patches of seaweed breaking up the monotonous colour. He swam out under the water to the edge of the small jetty, with 6 boats of varying types bobbing above him. Looking back for the where the princess was, he hid behind one of the boats to come up for air.

Diving under again, he swam underneath the red buoys that marked where the airyaucht was above him, and grabbed onto the side of the thick mast, the rungs of a small ladder on the side covered in algae. He was breaking rules, but this would definately shock her.

Keeping out of her sight, he climbed up about 10 metres from the waters surface, before leaping off feet-first into a patch of deep water where he had left Catherine, hititng the water with a massive splash.

Catherine began looking for Dare after he dived underwater. She decided not to call for him and stay silent as she looked. After a couple of minutes, she heard a loud noise and turned to see water hit her right in the face. Wiping her eyes, she could see Dare. "That was a good strategy, Dare. A good strategy."

Catherine began swimming around Dare and smiled at him. "You know, it is nice to be here at this beach area. Thank you for bringing me here." She swam circles around him for five minutes or so before she decided to splash him repeatedly, trying to limit his ability to defend himself.

Later, she walked onto the shore and looked at Dare. "I am all soaked but I had fun with you, Dare." Catherine found her towel and put it on her head to dry her hair. "You mentioned a workshop earlier, Dare. Let me change into my normal clothes and then we can go there together."

It took five minutes for her to change her clothes. Catherine walked towards Dare with a smile on her face. "What do you create at the workshop, Dare?"

Dare left the water with Catherine, and shook himself down, before putting on his dry t-shirt. He then led Catherine to a series of wooden buildings hidden behind a towering row of palm trees.

"The one at the end is used by me. Currently, I am working on a small two-man gyrocopter and a jetpack. These are rather advanced and dangerous, but I can get by with a lot of trial and error, and the help of the internet."

He opened the door with a large traingular key in the metal padlock, and revealed a darkened interior. When the lights flickered on, a large buggy with a pair of wings hanging above it could be seen in the centre of the workshop, with boxes of tools and a large oily workbench on the side wall. In the heights of the ceiling lurked the vague shapes of pieces of metal and other odd items.

"That's the gyrocopter I was saying about. Sadly, I haven't been able to get the transmission between the engine and the two pairs of rotors working consistently, and the fuel tank I'm using only lasts for 15 minutes since it is so small. But I worked out this can do over 120 kph with this on a good day, if I had a licence to fly it...however..."

He led the princess to the back of the workshop, where a large metal pack could be seen. A red joystick stuck out of one of the two armrests, and multiple straps hung off of it. Multiple large stickers and a massive sign warned all onlookers of its dangerous nature.

"This is the work of 6 years. I have only flown it twice, and then I wasn't able to control it that well. Also, the Peroxide I use in this is very, very dangerous and I had to make it all myself. But I have enough for three flights, or alternatively enough to burn down most of the area if I am not very careful."

Catherine listened to Dare as she followed him into his workshop. She looked at the tools and prototypes that surrounded her and examined them with her eyes. "Dare, you must be a good builder if you were able to build these and safely handle the peroxide. Do you think you can get a license for the gyrocopter?"

Catherine gave herself a tour of the workshop as she looked at the items that Dare has built and she thought that they were impressive. She pictured the peroxide burning down the area in her mind when Dare talked about it. "It was nice of you to show me what you built here, Dare. If you continue to work, you may be able to have them work good for you."

After a while, Catherine looked at Dare. "Do you know if it is time for dinner, Dare?"

Dare looked at his watch, then out of the window. The sun was just disappearing below the horizon.

"I think we have about 10-20 minutes until dinner. I think I will definately need to change into something more suitable if I am to go to dinner with you. I will collect you from your room when we are called to dinner, and take you to whichever dining room we are using today."

"I will go to my guest room and wait for dinner to begin, Dare."

As Catherine walked to her room, she thought about Dare. She waited to be called for dinner by watching Fegosian television. After ten minutes, Catherine turned off the television and looked at the door, waiting to hear Dare knocking and telling her that they were called for dinner.

"I wonder what I will be eating for dinner tonight." Catherine uttered.

Dare walked up to the princess's room as the sound of a gong reverberated throughout the building. He was dressed in less casual clothes for this dinner, and had combed his unruly hair into something slightly resembling order. He knocked at the door.

"We've been called to dinner now: I will take you there."

He walked down the stairs to the entrance hall of the east wing, and out onto the granite-paved driveway. Small white lights lit up the faces of the buildings in the cool, dusk air as he led Catherine across to a large central building, a large red dome towering over them.

"That is the central wing. There aren't many rooms in the central wing except for the main hall that takes up most of the building and the dining room that backs onto the gardens."

He walked through the main hall, hung with many hundreds of paintings and statues, before they passed through a corridor and into the dining room. He led the princess through the sky-blue coloured room, the ceiling with a fabulous depiction of the skyline of the bay as it would have been a few hundred years ago, to a mahogany chair on the right hand side of the president's seat, with Dare sitting facing her across the table. Its surface was inlaid with many hundreds of different woods, forming a brilliant image of a scene of hundresd of tropical birds.

The president walked into the room from a door leading to the west wing, wearing a suit, and smiled at Catherine as some servants began entering with platters of tropical-fruit starters and many glass jugs laden with thick, syrupy juices.

"Good evening princess: I hope you have had an enjoyable afternoon here. I am sorry I have been unable to talk with you, but a very pressing matter requiring my attendance cropped up. It is safe to say that we aren't in too much trouble, just the shooting down of an AUM airship over the Third Spansih States. Do they have airships in your country, Catherine?"

The sound of the gong rang through Catherine's ears as she walked towards the door and listened to Dare tell her about being called to dinner. Dressed in a simple but still expensive dress that showed she came from a wealthy family, Catherihe opened the door and silently walked with him to the dining room, listening to Dare tell her about the Central Wing. She smiled when she looked at the paintings and sculptures, as they all reminded her of the paintings and sculptures she could see in Neo-Ixania. "We have many of these in Neo-Ixania," Catherine said to Dare. "Wealthy people often have plenty of them."

Her eyes looked upward at the ceiling of the dining room as she studied the depiction of the skyline. "The picture on the ceiling looks exquisite, Dare." Catherine took her seat at the table and looked at the image of birds before she could hear a familiar voice and see the servants bringing fruit starters and juices.

"Good evening, President. I have had an enjoyable afternoon here with Dare. I am sorry to hear about the airship, sir. Neo-Ixania does have several airships, about one to fifteen, and one of them is owned by the Empress but Neo-Ixanians often use aircraft such as planes more. Airships are not really used to transport passengers anymore, mostly they are used as blimps at events, etc. The airships I mentioned (except for one) are owned by the Government of Neo-Ixania."

Catherine smiled at the President. "Sir, could you tell me what we will be having for dinner tonight?"

"Of course: we are having a hik'fego, followed by a ki'mira, a ki'ara and finallly some rea'stoma."

The president saw the princess's look.

"Sorry, I forget you don't understand Fegosian well, but you are here to learn: hik'fego is what you could liken to a type of starter, composed of fruits and vegetables of the rainforest: in this case, your more recognisable avacados, pineapples, melons etc. but also some more unique fruits such as Yi'feho - that dark pink fruit there, and Hyi'nea - that blue-fleshed one.
Ki'mira is a dish you could probably liken to a form of main course, except in Alfegos we have two. In this case, the first one I mentioned is a seafood platter, which I do believe contains swordfish amongst other aquatic foods, while the ki'ara is a dish of birds, in this case mostly Forest fowl and the Trel'tahgo bird.
Then, what you could call a form of pudding is the rea'stoma, which is a very sweet dish of maize pastry flavoured with what I think you would call chocolate and cream.

You can help yourself to the fruit syrups - if they are too strong for you there is water to dilute it. Or, if you would prefer, we have a selection of wines if you would like to ask with the cellarman."

He signalled as servant and went into a brief exchange of Fegosian, the words interspersed with the occasional click or whistle. The servant left the room, and a few seconds later another suited man came in, with an outrageous moustache underlining his nose that was only 5 foot off the floor. Dare supressed a grin when he saw the stubby little man, who then in english explained he was the cellar keeper, and asked if she would like anything.

Catherine listened silently and attentively to the President as he talked to her about the food that she could eat during dinner. As she listened to him, she took a piece of fruit, a Yi'feho, and took a small bite of it. After he finished, she smiled at him. "Thank you for the information about the food. I look forward to trying some of the food you have told me about."

Catherine looked at the cellar keeper as he walked into the dining room and her eyes were occassionally focused on the moustache but she turned them directly to his face. "May I try some Fegosian wine?" She looked at the President after a few seconds. "I am fourteen, sir, but would like to try some Fegosian wine if possible."

As she waited for the wine, she began eating some of the fruits and vegetables. They all had different tastes and eventually she had eaten one of each fruit and one of each vegetable. Catherine took a glass of fruit syrup and tried some without diluting it with water. It was strong but she decided to continue drinking. "That had a strong taste, Dare."

Catherine looked at the President and smiled. "How long until we recieve the main courses, Sir? Also, I must say that I had a good time with your son. He gave me a tour of the palace." Catherine gave Dare a small smile before she turned her head away, thinking she had heard the footsteps of a cellar keeper. "He must be here with my wine. It will be nice to try some."

The cellar keeper brought in a decanter and a pair of crystal glasses, the decanter filled with a crimson-red wine. He filled the two glasses with the sweet-smelling liquid, before bowing and retiring from the room.

"The grapes in Alfegos are, shall we say, a little different to most species, since they uncontrollably hybridised with the more invasive vines in the region. The appearance and initial taste may be similar to most red wines but the main body of the taste is rather, shall we say, powerful.
In Alfegos, there are no limits on the age you can consume alcohol within your place of residence, yet in any other place the limit is 13 years for weak alcohol and 21 years for anything above 30% volume.
As for the rest of the dinner, it should be arriving within a few minutes.

So, you were escorted around the palace by Dare? Doubtlessly he tempted you with a little rule-breaking, though I have to say that he did not enter anywhere out of bounds at all. Rather a unique occurance for him, I must say, the little rascal."

Dare blushed.

"So tell me, do you have any siblings, or are you an only child?"

Catherine silently listened to Al'iro before she took a sip of the wine. The taste was strong but she was able to handle it. "One of my relatives is a wine-taster who has tasted plenty of wines."

Catherine took another sip of her wine and smiled at Al'iro. "Yes, Dare escorted me around the palace and he did ask if I wanted to go to the airyaucht landing area but I decided not to accept. As for siblings, I have several siblings (OOC: Five siblings; two sisters and three brothers) including my older sister, Empress Anastasia II. I live with all my siblings and my widowed mother while Anastasia lives alone in the Imperial Palace."

She took another sip of her wine before she looked at Dare and smiled. "Al'iro, Dare took me to his workshop and the private beach area. We had a good time together and it was nice of him to give me a tour of the palace. I thank him for that."

Catherine turned her eyes away from Al'iro as she began to think she had heard the footsteps of waiters bringing in the next part of the dinner. She was looking forward to eating authentic Fegosian food and smiled as she hoped the waiters would come.

"I could guess that he would try that. So, your sister is an empress? That must be hard for you all, having a hereditory system of rule. Not that I am criticising your nation of course, but since we presidents only get to stay here for 4 years, and the Consul only stays for 2 years... it sometimes is hard to let go of the luxury that comes with being the head of a power such as ours."

The waiters removed the platters, while more brought in the first main course: each plate had swordfish steaks on a bed of salad-like vegetables, a thick fish sauce on top of it and its accompanying bed of prawns, Zevkhay clams and Nos'vi Taa'mira.

"Its not too elaborate since we have another dish after this. Enjoy!"

"Yes, my older sister is the Empress. She had a gala in one of the palaces of Neo-Ixania and I was able to attend and see several foreign guests such as Prince Nicholas of Canadstein. Our nation has been a monarchy for centuries, Al'iro but I understand what you have said."

Catherine smiled as she watched the waiters bring in the plates of food, her eyes were focused on the swordfish steaks. Looking at one of the waiters with a smile, Catherine began to speak. "Can you serve me some of the food please, sir?"

She turned to Al'iro and smiled. "My sister told me about Alfegos and how my nation is a member of the Fegosian Union. She said that Alfegos was one of the good friends that Neo-Ixania has in the world."

"And indeed she is right, Catherine: if your nation was ever in need, you could count on us to react both rapidly and with such strength... I don't think you've ever seen an airship like the AAS Holocaust? I saw some amateur footage of that attacking Hervia City, after a genocide took place. I can tell you that in the area it attacked, it was like an atomic bomb had been detonated. Keep that idea in mind as to what we do to those who hurt our friends.

Now, to what you will be doing here: I will be busy quite often, so I will be leaving you in the care of Dare and my top aides, who will be teaching you and showing you Alfegos when I am otherwise unavailable to do such things. Due to the problems of distance, you will sadly not be visiting Polinas province since the maglev lines are under emergancy maintenance after one hell of a smashup, which is a pity. What you will see I do believe will still amaze you. For example, I guess you noticed the airships wheny ou arrived? There are over 1200 airships in operation in Alfegos, about 600 of which were made by another of our allies Prevania. Now, I belive one of the flights will take you over the airshipyards of Old Zevkhay, where they are currently building another Erika-class airship. Now that is over a kilometre long. That is a wonder in itself...

But tell me about your country: it is so rude for one to ramble on about his motherland without consideration for that of other people."

As Catherine listened to Al'iro, she pictured the AAS Holocaust attacking Hervia City for a few minutes before she pushed the thought out of her mind but she would remember it. "I shall keep that in mind, sir. It sounds like you will bring total destruction if not decimation to enemies."

Catherine smiled at Dare for a few seconds when Al'iro told her about how he would leave her in his care. "I understand about you being busy and not being able to visit Polinas province but I think that seeing the airships and even flying in one of them will be compensation for me. As for being in the custody of Dare and your aides when you are busy, I have no problem with that."

Catherine watched a waiter put some food on her plate before she turned her face to Al'iro. "The Empire of Neo-Ixania, as it is known as in this world, is a nation with millions of citizens and its capital at Tzargrad. My nation is an absolute monarchy with my family, the House of Schverzinski, reigning for centuries. My nation is neutral in world conflicts and has a very strong economy. Is there anything specific you want to know, sir?"

"Yes, I knew that already: it seems though like you were talking straight from an encyclopedia. What is it that makes your people unlike those in the many other nations? What is it that gives that vital spark to your country?"

"I apologize if I mentioned things that you already knew, sir. As for what gives the vital spark to my nation, I would say that it is our heritage. Our heritage, I feel, is what makes Neo-Ixanians united and proud to face the challenges of the future as our people have seen several heroes and heroines who have endured problems in their lives and fulfilled their dreams. It is interesting to hear you say I sound like I was talking straight from an encyclopedia but I am sorry if you did not like that. My tutor says that I know plenty of "fancy words" as he called them and said that I was an intelligent person."

Catherine smiled at the President. "My nation has plenty of mountains, rivers and fields and they are often visited by many citizens during the weekends. The Economic Minister, Mr. Bobrinsky, said that "internal tourism" provides revenue for the economy. I do get the chance to listen to such conversations but I do not know if I want to get into politics in the future. Most likely, I would want to be a professional violinist and go on tours in Neo-Ixania and perhaps the world if possible. I did play for Dare today and I am glad to know that he enjoyed my performance."

"I see. Not meaning to criticise you, but I have had to deal with too many emotionless buerocrats in my time, which really comes as part of the job...
So, you play the violin? A lovely instrument to hear, even though some might say it infringes on our national culture, though I say to those that say that to open up to the wonders of other nations... professional? I think that would be wonderful, given the reports I have heard before of your violoin playing."

"I hope you do not think that I am similar to an emotionless bureaucrat. Yes, I play the violin, sir. If I may ask, how did you hear of my violin playing? I ask only out of curiousity. Al'iro, would it be possible to listen to musicians playing with Fegosian instruments?"

"Well, Catherine, I heard of your violoin playing from a friend who was at the Imperial Gala, since I was only able to attend for a short period of time. And again when you played for another dignitary, I heard another report of your stunning playing.
As for Fegosian music, there are many forms. The most common classical forms are Son'gea, Son'moi and Son'klar.
Son'gea uses almost exclusivly percussion instruments to create very spiritual sounds. It is the oldest of our music forms, and very spiritual.
Son'moi uses mainly woodwind instruments to create a very strange type of melody. It is usually played in small groups.
Finally, Son'klar uses both the woodwind and percussion instruments to create music that does use harmonies as you would find in our classical music: rather it uses it to make sounds that cause images to break into your mind, and touch your soul.

If you want to, I will play some music of the Son'moi discipline after this dinner."

He finished eating his food, and put down his knife and fork.

"This is traditional Fegosian food as you would find in the richer families like us, where we developed a set of cutlery similar to yours. Most of the population make very simple dishes eaten either with fingers or with a form of chopsticks. For example, a modern fad is the pa'ziza, which is like a pizza turned inside out, with the pizza on the inside. I find those rather good if I am in a rush."

"I am glad to hear that people think that my violin playing is stunning. As for Fegosian music, I hope it will be possible to hear each form. Son'klar is the most interesting to me. Yes, I would like to listen to you play some music of the Son'moi discipline and if you want, I can play the violin for you."

Catherine finished eating her food before she began talking again.

"I could tell that this food we ate, which is delicious, would be found in the wealthier families of Alfegos. Most wealthy families eat dishes considered to be expensive and perhaps extravagant. The pa'ziza sounds like a dish that I would like to eat during my visit to Alfegos. If I may ask, what shall we do after dinner?"

(OOC: Would have replied earlier, but was up on the local range blasting some targets...getting better all the time!)

"Well, after dinner, we will retire to the garden for half an hour, and talk about whatever, and then after that I will see if I can play for you some Fegosian music. After that, the evening is yours, but I would reccomend that you don't stay up ridiculously late."

The servants entered to collect the empty plates, before the next course was brought in: a small Forest fowl in the centre of a star-arrangement of palm leaves, with salad surrounding the breats of two even smaller trel'tagho birds either side.

"The trel'tagho bird is that one there."

He pointed to one of the birds on the table-top: a small bird with dark markings around its eye contrasting with a white head, and a shimmering body leading to a long tail.

"Its plumage in reality is iridescant, and it truly is a luxury. The tase is also something quite different as well."

OOC: I understand, Alfegos. Nice to hear of your success.

"I look forward to listening to Fegosian music and I will make sure that I do not stay up too late during the night, Al'iro. By the way, would it be possible to purchase some Fegosian clothes and other items? I am hopeful that I can have such items to remember my visit to Alfegos."

Catherine studied the next course for a few seconds before she was given some food to eat. She took a piece of the trel'tagho bird and ate some of it. When she was finished, Catherine smiled at Al'iro. "This trel'tagho bird has a good taste to it, Al'iro."

As she ate, Catherine turned her head to Dare and smiled at him before she looked at Alfegos. "Al'iro, will Dare be accompanying me to Il'vi on the second day of my visit?"

"Since he has nothing better to do, due to it still being the winter break here, he will be accompanying you for the time you stay here.
As for clothes and items, you do have time on your itinery for shopping in New Zevkhay later on in your stay, and probably a chance in Il'vi tomorrow."

Catherine smiled at Al'iro after he had finished talking. She was glad that she would be able to purchase Fegosian clothes and other items and that she could know Dare more. She finished eating and smiled again. "That was a delicious meal, sir. Please tell the chefs that I am glad to have been able to eat their food. Was that the last course of dinner? I am hoping that I can try some Fegosian dessert now."

"Indeed. The desert should be coming now."

The desert was brought in: a large slice of thick pastry, with many fruits incorperated into the thick sticky layer of syrup on the top of the chocolate cakes.

"Very sweet, and quite similar I believe to some chocolate cake in your nation. Enjoy. i am sure the chef will be happy with your compliment, princess."

Catherine took a piece of the pastry and a chocolate cake and began eating. As she ate, a smile crept upon her face. "This dessert is delicious, Al'iro. Please tell the chef that I am glad and thankful to have eaten this pastry. Yes, It has a sweet taste to it."

After she finished eating her dessert, Catherine stood from her seat and looked at the President. "That was a good dinner, sir and I am thankful to have eaten some delicious and authentic Fegosian food. May I suggest the opening of Fegosian restaurants in Neo-Ixania? It would be nice to eat some of this food again while I am in Neo-Ixania. Al'iro, you said that you would play some music for me. Can you do that? If you want, I can play the violin for you. It is in my room but I can meet you and Dare at the music room after I find it."

"That will be lovely to hear your violin playing later on. As for the opening of Fegosian restaurants and shops, I believe that may already be happining, due to our recent alliance."

"It will be nice to see Fegosian restaurants in Neo-Ixania, Al'iro. I will be right back in several minutes."

Catherine excused herself from the table, finished her glass of wine, and walked to her room in the Palace. As she looked for her violin, she decided to prepare early for the night by taking out her nightgown. "I will not have to spend time looking for this." Catherine said as she put it with the other items she had brought to Alfegos. When she found the violin, she calmly walked to the Dining Room with the violin (in its case) in one hand and the sheet music in the other hand. She felt glad as she walked with her violin; the President of Alfegos would be another famous person that she would play her violin for.
When she returned to the Dining Room, she stood in front of the President and a smile crept upon her face.

"We can go to the Music Room and you can listen to me play now if you want, sir. I understand if you would like to do other things first."

"Do not worry: we can go there now."

He wiped his face with a napkin before leaving the table with Dare. They progressed to the music room, left as it had been when Dare had last entered. The president opened the cabinet of instruments, and pulled out a pair of pipes.

"I will listen to you first, then show you what my chosen discipline of Fegosian music sounds like."

Catherine silently nodded her head as she took her seat and held the violin in the proper position. She began playing slowly, gradually going faster as the minutes passed. Within that time, she had been sounding like she had when she played only for Dare and she made no mistakes during the performance. In her mind, she thought about the President's reaction and hoped he would like it when she was finished.

She continued playing until, after five minutes more, she played as fast as she thought she should for the composition she was playing and then stopped. Catherine, with a smile on her face, made a bow and then looked at Al'iro. "Did you enjoy my performance?"

"Exquisite. Absolutely exquisite. I thinkyou were right in saying you were a skilled violinist: sadly, the talent that professioanl musicians of your kind have is lacking in me. I think that you are the best I have ever heard, even though I honestly could not comment on that as an amateur musician. Still, I will atempt something similar on these. This instrument is the sab'ora, and the sound I think you will be able to hear."

He began to play, without any music, his eyes closed as he improvised the harsh-sounding piece that eminated from the base of one of the two pipes, the sound undulating from high whining notes like the wind through mountains,while when he flicked a key to the side of one of these exotic tubes, the note dived to the depths of the sea, a sound unearthly compared to others. After this breif warmup, he dived into a tune he had memorised, playing two or three notes almost similtaneously. The harmony that erupted was not anything like classical music, even though the occasional note sounded like an actual recongnisable note. When he had finished playing the music, he took a breath in.

"That song is one I learnt when I was young: it is meant to sound like the wind howling through the peaks of the Mountains of Solace. I reckoned you could have guess that from the piece."

"Thank you, Al'iro. It is nice to hear that you enjoyed my performance and thought that it was exquisite. I look forward to listening to you play the Sab'ora."

Catherine listened silently to Al'iro play the Sab'ora and thought that he was a good musician. The notes did sound like the wind traveling through mountains and Catherine thought they all were of good quality. It was nice, she thought, that she could listen to Al'iro playing a Fegosian instrument, he must have practiced. When he playing finished, Catherine smiled at Al'iro and applauded for a few minutes.

"That was one of the best performances with a Fegosian instrument I have seen...well, so far it is the only one. You must have practiced because you created good notes and made no mistakes. It was a pleasure to listen to you play the Sab'ora, Al'iro. Thank you."

"You are welcome. I will leave you now to enjoy your evening. The time is now 8:55pm."

There was a single chime as a hidden device notified him of a message. He pulled a translucent roll of plastic from his pocket, and flicked a small switch on the side. It flickered into life, revealing itself to be a flexible screen, about 1200x800 Widescreen size. A flashing icon showed that he had an Alpha-type encrypted message. He switched the screen off and rolled it back into his pocket.

"I'm sorry, but duty calls. Be courteous enough to entertain our guest, Dare."

He put back the instrument in the cabinet, and fastened the door shut. He then bowed before leaving the room, padding off quickly towards the west wing.

"In the government, as far as I know, there are five levels of encryption using the greek alphabet letters: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon. Epsilon is uncoded, Delta is for government only, Gamma is for senior official only, Beta for military information and Alpha for the most important information. If he has an Alpha call, that probably means that either something very important has happened or about to happen. Don't worry though: its probably not going to affect your stay.

So, what do you wish to do now?"

"I will see you later, Al'iro. I understand that you have to deal with political issues."

Catherine smiled at Dare before he began explaining the significance of Fegosian encryption. It reminded her of the "levels" used by the Neo-Ixanian Government to rate messages, etc in order of importance. "It is nice to know that it will not affect my visit, Dare. As for what I want to do now, we can...spend time together. Your father did say to entertain me."

Catherine smiled at Dare before she began playing with a chain around her neck. "This is my locket. I have always worn it around my neck since I was younger." After a few minutes, Catherine began walking out of the room. "Are there any other places that we can see here? We can watch some Fegosian television together if you want."

"There are not too many other places I can think of to go: lets go to your room, and I can show you Alfegan television. Be warned though: the do have a tendancy to speak very fast!"

He walked up to her room, and using the control panel he had used before accessed the TV, which lit up in bright colours. He went to the channel guide, which flickered up onto the screen.

"Well, the channels are braodcast in two types: English and Fegosian, since all citizens are required to speak english as well as Fegosian. Also, all channels are braodcast in High-definition. Luckily, the last user had set up the interface to english, so you needn't worry about this.
Right, pick a number between 1 and 100, and that'll be the channel we'll watch."

Catherine held her nightgown as she watched the television with Dare; she had planned to change into it later in the night. It was nice, she thought, to watch television with Dare. He was a handsome man who had been nice and courteous to her since they first met. "I think I will choose channel fifteen, Dare. Do you have any shows that you want to show me?"

As they watched television together, Catherine looked at Dare. "I have watched some Fegosian television earlier in the day and I was lucky that they did not talk too fast. Also, I know how to speak English."

Catherine smiled at Dare before she turned her head to the television, silently watching Fegosian television shows with her Fegosian acquaintance. "Dare, I would like to change into my nightgown later. For now, we should enjoy watching Fegosian television. There must be a good show on one of the television channels."

"... I'm not sure about shows, since I don't watch television too much. But, when you said channel 15, did you know you were chosing Sunrise News, in Fegosian?"

He flicked to the channel, showing a man talking with multiple images and video clips of the end of the war in Mokastana. Fighters were performing victory flights around the men returning to the ships, going home.

"A well-fought war, well worth the victory over insurgeants in Mokastana. Anyway, what to watch... Do you like films?"

He flicked through channels until it was on a film channel, just starting. A few complicated moments later, and english subtitles could be seen.

"The film is called Bullet Theory: it's an action film set in Polinapolis in 2017, so rather an interesting film. Its about 2 hours long, if you want to watch."

"I chose a news channel?"

Catherine smiled at Dare before she turned her eyes to the television and watched the images and video clips of the Fegosian soldiers in Mokastana; one of the conflicts that Neo-Ixania has recently heard of but stayed neutral.

"The Fegosian pilots are doing victory flights. They must be happy that they have won the war and are going home to their families. Yes, I like films."

Catherine watched Dare change the television to the film channel and she read some of the English subtitles. "Bullet Theory? That sounds like an interesting film. Yes, I want to watch it."

Catherine smiled at Dare again before she began watching the movie silently and reading the subtitles. "An aide told me that your mother was visiting Polinapolis." Catherine commented before she continued watching the movie; seeing one of the many action scenes.

"Yes, she is: another discussion with Pinguinum representatives in Polinapolis about trade in the Nova region, as well more serious talks with the city MS. It is a very different city to most place you will meet: the entire place is made from glass, marble and steel. There are towers up to 800m in height holding the offices, and even these are shadowed by Corona, further to the south... the cities in Alfegos are all so different, even I get surprised at times."

"Your mother is a politician? My sister, the Empress, often has to deal with political issues but she is able to pursue her interests during the day and night. The city of Polinapolis sounds like an interesting place. Is it possible for me to visit Polinapolis during my visit to Alfegos, Dare?"

Catherine continued to watch the movie but thought about the city of Polinapolis. "Dare, do you know the plot for this movie?"

"I can't really remember the plot of the film that well, but it is the usual action film: someone does something bad to protagonist, he goes on revenge, foils bad guy's plot, happy ending all round. With a lot of violence and action enroute.

As for Polinapolis, I don't think you will be going there on your trip, unless something turns up. I will see what I can do. Put you will be able to see Corona at least, even when over Milkavich."

"We have movies like that in Neo-Ixania. I understand if I will not be able to visit Polinapolis but I am glad that I will be able to visit other cities in Alfegos. This movie does have a lot of action, Dare. Do you like action movies?"

"Action movies are my favourite, yes, after fantasy films. I always find them interesting."

As carnage raged on the screen, the film slowly came to an end. A small clock built into the beside showed two times: one showed it as 21:10, the other as 6:15N.

"One of the clocks is in traditional Fegos time: you can guess which one that is."

"I think that it is about ten PM now, since your father said that it was eight after dinner. Eight plus two equals ten."

Catherine smiled at Dare before she stood up. "I would like to change into my nightgown now, Dare. However, if you want we can spend more time together. I am sure there is another television show we can watch together. Please leave the room; I'll call you back inside when I am finished."

After Dare left the room, Catherine began changing into her nightgown. It took five minutes for her to change. "Dare! You can come back inside now!" Catherine's nightgown was expensive and stretched down to cover most of her legs. "I always wear this when I go to bed. My mother bought it for me when I was thirteen."

Dare came back in once the princess had changed, and looked at her in her nightgown.

"That looks very nice, Catherine. I must say that you have good taste in these matters."

He went back to the console pad, and scrolled through the channels.

"Doesn't look like much on at all."

"Well then... good night. I think tomorrow we're going to Il'vi in the afternoon, so should have a rather good time. Remember to pack your beach clothes for tomorrow."

(timewarp Alert!)

"Thank you, Dare. It is nice to hear you say that. I always thought this one of the best nightgowns that I have worn."

Catherine watched Dare scroll through the channels and stood next to him. "If there is nothing on television, I assume you will be going to bed then? If you do....then I should tell you that I had a good day with you today, Dare."

Catherine smiled at Dare. "I will remember to pack my beach clothes for tomorrow. Good night, Dare."

Catherine watched Dare leave her room and then climbed into her bed and went to sleep after a few seconds. As she slept silently in her bed, she thought about Dare and her visit to Il'vi the next day.

The next day dawned slowly over Alfegos: another beautiful morning. An ekranoplan screeched across the harbour as Dare woke up. He got changed tiredly, while checking his e-mail for messages. After he was ready, he walked quitely down to Catherine's door, knocking on it to check if she was awake, ready for breakfast and for the morning lessons.

Catherine had changed into her normal clothes from her nightgown and could hear the knocking at the door. She opened the door and stared silently at Dare for a few seconds before a smile crept upon her face. "Good morning, Dare!"

"Good morning Catherine. Please get ready as soon as possible: we're going to Il'vi toady! We'll be having breakfast aboard the presidential airyaucht, but my father sadly won't be coming: that call last night was about a dangerous criminal they have finally found in the nation of Gun Manufacturers. I'll be waiting outside. Make sure you pack in a bag whatever you'll be taking to Il'vi!"

(OOC: Can you see my post? It comes up as saying I have posted, yet I can't find the post anywhere... I HATE forum timewarps and when the forum eats you posts...)

"Good morning Catherine. Please get ready as soon as possible: we're going to Il'vi toady! We'll be having breakfast aboard the presidential airyaucht, but my father sadly won't be coming: that call last night was about a dangerous criminal they have finally found in the nation of Gun Manufacturers. I'll be waiting outside. Make sure you pack in a bag whatever you'll be taking to Il'vi!"

OOC: This must be your post, Alfegos.

"I shall get ready quickly, Dare. I understand that your father will not be able to come with us. Can you tell me me more about the dangerous criminal, Dare?"

Catherine quickly changed her clothes and packed her swimsuit and other items into a bag. She found Dare after five minutes and smiled. "I have packed every item that I am taking to Il'vi in this bag. Can you take me to the presidential airyaucht?"

(Sorry about not seeing your reply - the forum is acting very odd for me, as is my internet line that got hit by lightning the other day...trust in BT though!)

"The criminal is rather infamous in Alfegos: he is in the top 50 most wanted people in Alfegos, and if he comes back will have to face 4 death penalties... I guess that's why he struck a deal with the government of ASoGM to plead guilty to charges of terrorism, theft of government property and multiple charges of murder following his involvement in the theft of nuclear warheads...
Anyway, come this way."

He led Catherine out to the garden and towards the beach. It was easily noticeable that the airship moored above the sea yesterday had dropped so it was only a couple of centimetres above the beach, a set of stairs leading up to one of the four entrances on the 60m long gondola slung underneath the airship.

"They call private airships like these airyauchts, and they are great fun to fly if you have a chance: you have to try and account for the wind in the sails as well as the engines you have. And travelling at 120km/h 1500m above the ground... sometimes can be a bit un-nerving."

He led her through a small entrance room into the main lounge of the airyaucht: a long room stretching the entire 20 metre width of the gondola, with the windows on either side letting the sunlight stream into it. There were numerous luxurious seats by each window, and at one end was a giant screen with a retractable projector in the ceiling. In the centre of the room, a giant table hid multiple storage lockers. A spiral staircase in the corner led up to a hidden private study and the president's bedroom.

"This is the main lounge: to the front of us are the bedrooms on two floors, and the cockpit we can go into later if you want. To the rear is the conference room, a large bathroom, a toilet, the crew quarters, the galley, the storerooms and the access hatch up into the gas bag itself, as well as the observation deck. I would first recommend you put your luggage in the locker here."

He put his bags into a locker built into the exquisite table.

"And then pick a seat. I hope you don't mind window seats, since there aren't anything but window seats! Try though to sit to the west side of the lounge, so you aren't blinded by the sun."

Once three aides and a pair of hostesses had boarded, the door was closed and locked. But not sealed, as it was in an aircraft, since it did not need to go to those altitudes. There was a few minutes of whining of machinery above and to the sides as all the hydraulics were tested, before the airship silently rose upwards rapidly, a strange feeling of heaviness and slight rocking descending upon the occupants seated. Out of the windows, the city of New Zevkhay and Old Zevkhay spread outwards across the bay, and from this height it was easy to see how far they extended into the distance. Towards the north, where the airship was now headed, it was possible to see a sea of fields and the occasional town stretching into the distance.

Dare stood up from his seat, now the airship had begun to move. In the far distance, there was the muffled roar of the engines that were propelling the airship northwards.

"Do you want to come to the observation deck? It's always a beautiful view from up there."

"The criminal is rather infamous in Alfegos: he is in the top 50 most wanted people in Alfegos, and if he comes back will have to face 4 death penalties... I guess that's why he struck a deal with the government of ASoGM to plead guilty to charges of terrorism, theft of government property and multiple charges of murder following his involvement in the theft of nuclear warheads...
Anyway, come this way."

"He must be very infamous if he will recieve for death penalties if he returns to Alfegos. This man....he was involved in the theft of nuclear warheads? Do you know why he would get involved in that?"

He led Catherine out to the garden and towards the beach. It was easily noticeable that the airship moored above the sea yesterday had dropped so it was only a couple of centimetres above the beach, a set of stairs leading up to one of the four entrances on the 60m long gondola slung underneath the airship.

"They call private airships like these airyauchts, and they are great fun to fly if you have a chance: you have to try and account for the wind in the sails as well as the engines you have. And travelling at 120km/h 1500m above the ground... sometimes can be a bit un-nerving."

"We have some airyauchts in Neo-Ixania; our airyauchts are like yours and yes, they are great fun to fly if you have suitable conditions first. Some people may think that traveling at 120 km/h that far above the ground un-nerving; I agree with you on that."

He led her through a small entrance room into the main lounge of the airyaucht: a long room stretching the entire 20 metre width of the gondola, with the windows on either side letting the sunlight stream into it. There were numerous luxurious seats by each window, and at one end was a giant screen with a retractable projector in the ceiling. In the centre of the room, a giant table hid multiple storage lockers. A spiral staircase in the corner led up to a hidden private study and the president's bedroom.

"This is the main lounge: to the front of us are the bedrooms on two floors, and the cockpit we can go into later if you want. To the rear is the conference room, a large bathroom, a toilet, the crew quarters, the galley, the storerooms and the access hatch up into the gas bag itself, as well as the observation deck. I would first recommend you put your luggage in the locker here."

Catherine smiled at Dare as she walked into the main lounge of the airyaucht. As she explored the lounge, she listened to Dare talk about the main lounge and nearby places. She took her luggage and put it into one of the lockers and looked at Dare with a smile. "This airyaucht is a flying luxury, Dare."

He put his bags into a locker built into the exquisite table.

"And then pick a seat. I hope you don't mind window seats, since there aren't anything but window seats! Try though to sit to the west side of the lounge, so you aren't blinded by the sun."

Once three aides and a pair of hostesses had boarded, the door was closed and locked. But not sealed, as it was in an aircraft, since it did not need to go to those altitudes. There was a few minutes of whining of machinery above and to the sides as all the hydraulics were tested, before the airship silently rose upwards rapidly, a strange feeling of heaviness and slight rocking descending upon the occupants seated. Out of the windows, the city of New Zevkhay and Old Zevkhay spread outwards across the bay, and from this height it was easy to see how far they extended into the distance. Towards the north, where the airship was now headed, it was possible to see a sea of fields and the occasional town stretching into the distance.

Dare stood up from his seat, now the airship had begun to move. In the far distance, there was the muffled roar of the engines that were propelling the airship northwards.

"Do you want to come to the observation deck? It's always a beautiful view from up there."

Catherine took a seat on the west side of the lounge and smiled as she looked out the window; watching the airyaucht rise from the landing are and fly towards the city of New Zevkhay. She remained calm during the flight; having been used to flying in an airyaucht. Catherine noticed Dare walking towards her and smiled.

"I want to come to the observation deck, Dare. It sounds like a good place for me to see the city."

OOC: I understand, Alfegos. Thank you for telling me.

"Come with me then."

He led Catherine through a narrow corridor luxuriously panelled in wood and floored with thick carpet, before climbing up a wooden staircase into a large metal chamber.

"This is the helicopter bay for anything flying to us while in flight. And over there is the parachute locker, in case we need to escape."

Further on, they came out to a large metal gantry on the side of the gasbag, looking over the city.

"I hope that we will not need to use the parachutes today." Catherine said calmly before she walked with Dare to the metal gantry. Catherine looked at the city and a smile crept upon her face. "This is a good view of the city. Thank you for bringing me here, Dare."

"Down there is the city centre: Old Zevkhay offically starts on the other side of the river."

There was a roar as a helicopter shot past at high speed in the opposite direction, cutting across a blue sky dotted with the occasional airship lumbering along.

"When we're nearer Il'vi, we'll be able to see the mountains of Solace and one of the airship hangers in the mountainside nearby. But what I think you will enjoy are the beaches and the town itself. Especially the beaches!
We'll be there in about three hours: is there anything you want to do in that time?"

Catherine looked at the city centre for several minutes before looking at Dare with a smile. "It will be nice to be able to see the mountains of Solace, the beaches and the town. I do not know what I want to do for three hours on this airship. Do you have any ideas?"

"There's a projector in the lounge so we can watch a film or television, we can access the onboard computer and play games, I can give you a tour of the inside of the airship, or we can go into the cockpit and let the pilot show you how this airship actually is flown... I think you're having flying lessons aren't you?"

"If it is possible, I would like to participate in all those activities. On the fifth day, I will be participating in airyauchting lessons so it would be good for me to see the pilot. What games do you have to play on the computer, Dare?"

"There are many games, I'm not even sure which are on. But first then, I will show around the inside. Be careful to watch your step though!"

He walked down the gantry and climbed a ladder at the end. Soon, they were inside hundreds of billowing gas cells, a narrow walkway in the centre of them.

"The cells here contain all the fuel for the airship engines: they are filled with hydrogen to power the 4 turbprops at the back."

At the rear of the airship, he moved onto a gantry so they could see everything there.

"That small gondola there contains all the fuel and gas cylinders, as well as holding all the engine systems. And up there is the tail. That is powered by hydraulics to move it.
Now if you look back towards the front, you can see the pilot is using the sails to move us along."

Along the length of the airship, 2 massive white sails, stretching tens of metres out into the air, could easily be seen. They constantly moved as they pilot adjusted their positions, getting the best out of the wind.

"Now we will see the pilot."

Catherine smiled at Dare as she walked with him to the airship's engines. She could see gas clouds being emitted from the engines as she walked past them with Dare. Catherine listened to Dare talk about the airship and thought it was nice to learn about its engines and the significance of the sails. She knew that all the parts of the airship had a role in ensuring a safe flight.

"Thank you for the information about the airship's engines and sails, Dare. It is nice to learn about how the airship works and the significance of its components and it will be nice to meet the pilot."

Dare walked Catherine back along the airship's 180m length, back through into the lounge and then down another narrow corridor to the cockpit. Dare knocked, before entering with Catherine, showing her a truly amazing room.

The entire cockpit covered both levels of the airyaucht gondola, and was made entire of glass panels held by a spider-like network of metal beams. The pilot sat in a white chair, the back of which did not show in any way that it was leather. Next to him was a co-pilot, who was busy adjusting the course of the airship. Climbing up a ladder set into the metal wall would find one at another bank of monitors with multiple keyboards. The pilot swiveled around in his chair to face Catherine.

"Good morning ma'am. I am Captain Iu'lora of this airship, and its pilot. My co-pilot is Airman Ya'stora, and the person who should be sitting up there is the airyaucht's engineer, who currently is preoccupied in checking one of the gas lines."

He smiled as he noticed her expression at the glass floor, giving the feeling of them standing in mid-air.

"It gets me sometimes as well, but is still very useful for ground landing manoeuvres and for enjoying the view. So, I guess you wanted to see how one of these works, right?"

Catherine silently walked into the pilot's room and looked at the keyboards and panels. She could see the co-pilot at work and assumed that it was not as easy as it looked; he must have been training for years. As she watched him, Catherine heard the voice of the Captain.

"Good morning sir, I am Princess Catherine of Neo-Ixania. It is nice to meet you and your co-pilot. I want to see how one of these airships works if it is possible, sir."

Catherine walked towards the Captain and looked at the panel that she assumed the Captain used to help guide the airship as it flew in the sky. "These commands all must do something when used, sir. Can you explain them to me?"

Catherine looked at Dare with a smile after a few seconds. "Danke, Trauen."

"Well, I will tell you a little secret: all these electronic controls are in duplicate, so if one lot fail the other will still work. But, yes, there are hundreds of control you must learn to use this. Luckily, once you get onto the much larger airships, you have to do much less work."

He started showing her the controls, spread across two large units to his left and right, and mounted onto the glass ceiling.

"The controls to my left control the sails on my left, and the ones of the right control the sails to the right side. The levers above my head control the gas distribution, while the four levers in between the co-pilot and me are used to control the engine speed. The buttons nearby control the fuel mix and other things to do with that. The pedals and the wheel control the ailerons and the rudder.
The keyboard here is for accessing the ship mainframe and programming the autopilot, powered by a very powerful computer. The screens show the navigation system and communication system, and all the dials across the front of me display the different things, such as altitude, pitch, gas levels in the cylinders, fuel level in the cylinders and hydrogen core and total overall lift.
The co-pilot has an identical set of controls to allow him to control everything while I am away, and to be used as a backup. The engineer's station up there displays everything in identical to the stuff down here, but includes many hundreds of more details such as gas flow in the pipes and the heating system, and the water level in the storage tanks and all that.
Very complex, eh? You have to spend 5 years at minimum to apply for an airyaucht licence, yet still I find it worth it. Do you want to have a go at trying to speed up the airship, now we have a very strong tailwind?"

Dare heard Catherine's comment, yet did not understand what she meant.

"What do you mean, Catherine?"

Catherine silently listened to the Captain explain the controls and she would look at each part of the controls that he mentioned. It was nice, she thought, that he would explain them to her; even if she had some knowledge of airships and their controls before she was in Alfegos. Regardless, she was thankful that the Captain would talk to her about the controls. After he had finished talking, she smiled at him and showed her white teeth which had never once needed braces.

"You had to spend five years to get your license? Yes, I want to have a go at trying to speed up the airship."

Catherine was glad to hear that she could try to speed up the airship. She hoped that she would have no problems but knew the Captain and others would be there to help her if needed.

Catherine looked at Dare and smiled at him. "I spoke in German to you, Dare. I said: Thank you, Dare. Danke means thank you and Trauen means Dare."

Dare blushed.

"Well, you're welcome."

The pilot vacated his seat, and adjusted it for position with an electronic control in the arm when she had sat down.

"What you want to do is to extend the sails slowly with the levers on your left and right, before using the two buttons marked with the number 4 to twist them into position. Remember not to extend the sails fully, but only about three quarters of the way.
Also, use the pedals to control our pitch and the to control our yaw as you do so. If we start rolling, use the two blue levers to control our roll.
If you have any difficulties, the co-pilot will take over."

Catherine smiled at Dare before she took her seat at the controls; attentively and silently listening to every word that the Captain had said. As she began piloting the airship, she pulled the levers slowly to extend the sails and twisted them into position. Catherine looked like she could become a professional airship captain in the future.

Catherine made sure to check every lever and use them if needed and she managed to control the roll with the two blue levers. After several minutes, she was steadily flying the airship in the sky.

"This is excellent, Captain. Thank you."

"I think that I will probably seek to get a licence to fly an airship; I do not know about being a airship captain. A Fegosian Union Aerofleet could be an interesting addition to the Union; perhaps we should suggest it to the President. Thank you for the information you gave me, Captain. I enjoyed flying this aircraft in the sky and it was nice of you to allow me to be a pilot today."

"No problem. Most of the training though is necessary so that we can do practically anything with this, including ground manoeuvres, safety, communications skills... it is very difficult. If you do consider being an airship captain or just get a licence to fly an airship, I can guarantee you that you'll find a job in Alfegos or most likely in the Alfegos or Fegosian Union Aerofleet, if they set one up for the Union.
The wind seems fairly steady on our tail, and the speedo says that we're doing a very nice 140 km/h. We will be there in a couple of hours. Now all I need to do is keep us going steady with the autopilot on for a bit."

(OOC: TIMEWARP! Sorry, but I appear to be the god of this.)

"Thankyou ma'am for your time."

The pilot bowed again as Dare escorted Catherine from the cockpit.

"Do you want to do anything else now? The computer will be quite easy to access."

"You are welcome, Captain."

Catherine smiled at Dare and thought about the computer; deciding that she wanted to play some games. "We can play some games on the computer together, Dare."

As she waited for Dare to bring the games, Catherine examined the computer and the controls for the games. It reminded her of the computers that she had in her palace; she could remember Alexander, her brother, playing computer games in his spare time. As royalty, he could get all the games he wanted with ease. When Dare returned, she listened to him explain the Holographic Versatile Discs and thought they sounded interesting.

"I do not really have a favorite genre of games. I know that my brother, Alexander, plays strategy and simulation games. Perhaps we can play a racing game together and see who can beat the other."

The projector screen in the lounge started up, revealing a very sharp display covered in Fegosian pictograms. AA few seconds of navigating through it though, and Dare was at the desktop area of a computer. The keyboard and other devices were built into the desk, yet the controls for the games could be found in the arms of the chairs along the sides.
Dare looked through a locker, and took out 5 golden disks in plastic cases, each one shining unnaturally.

"These are HVDs: Holographic Versatile Discs. Each one has a capacity of 3.2 terabytes, enough I reckon for all my games on a single disk. But no, the manufacturers had to make games like this that take up hundreds of gigabytes of space.
So, do you like strategy, racing games, simulation games or shootup games?"

(Not another Timewarp... if this keeps happening, I am posting a complaint in Technical...)

"Racing? Alright, I'll do that."

He inserted the disk into a drive, where it began to hum loudly, before quietening down.

"Its a car-racing game. I guess you will be the Neo-Ixanian team. The controls are pretty simple: I guess you notice that joystick built into the chair arm, eh? The speed is controlled by how far you push it forwards or back, and the turning is done as usual with a joystick. You ready?"

OOC: A Neo-Ixanian racing team? That is nice. To be honest, I had been thinking about creating a racing team.

Catherine smiled at Dare; knowing she would choose the Neo-Ixanian team, which did have some famous racecar drivers in its history. She held the joystick in her hands and smiled at Dare again. "I am ready." The race began and Catherine tried her best to defeat Dare; occassionally shouting happily in German when she was far ahead. "I am beating you, Dare!"

They finished the first lap but there were still more laps to complete. Catherine was still ahead of Dare and she knew that if she continued driving as she was; she would defeat him. She uttered some words in Ixanian and continued to drive; trying to increase her car's speed to the maximum limit.

Catherine grinned as she watched Dare's car jump over the ramp to be right next to her car. She had a plan that she knew would work. "That was a good plan, Dare....but you've given me an idea."

She suddenly stopped her car and let Dare drive ahead for a few minutes before she quickly sped up beside him; ramming his car right off the track and disabling him. Catherine smiled at him before continuing to drive her car towards the finish line.

"It seems I'm a bit rusty on the old racing games, eh?. But wait until I do THIS!"

Dare drove off the side of the track, and down a shortcut route, and with a ramp jump that took up to right next to Catherine's car.

"I know it's a little bit of unfairness, but I guess you will beat me anyway!"

(Another Timewarp!)

"Well, a rather good one I reckon!"

They continued playing as the airship sped on across Alfegos, approaching the city of Il'vi.

After two more laps, Catherine was able to defeat Dare in the race. "That was a good race, Dare."

"Thanks for that game! Any more games you want to play on? Or would you like to connect to the internet?"

Dare smiled as he accepted his loss, switching from the game back to the hub area of the computer.

"This uses Luna operating system, so might be a bit complex. As far as I know, it is compatible with all other systems, so is still very good."

He flicked down towards the wireless connection centre, and began to try and access the internet.

"We can play more games later; it will be nice to connect to the internet."

Catherine smiled at Dare as he explained the Luna operating system. "Do you go on the internet much, Dare?"

"I go on the internet very often, yes. So, are there any interesting sites in Neo-Ixania you know? Just type it in using the keyboard in your chair arm: if you look carefully you should be able to see where it folds out."

"I know several sites, Dare."

Catherine took the keyboard and began typing until a Neo-Ixanian website appeared on the screen. "I thought that I would take you to a history website, Dare....so you can learn about Neo-Ixania."

She smiled as she began showing him the site and teaching him about her beloved nation. "Neo-Ixanians play games such as billiards, Dare. I heard that the Empress' assistant is one of the best players of billiards but that he does not play much anymore. I asked him once and he said that it was true."

After several minutes, Catherine looked at Dare. "Do you know any Fegosian sites?"

OOC: The Empress' assistant, Vladimir, plays billiards in his spare time and is one of the best players in Neo-Ixania.

"That certainly is interesting. I shall remember that."

He quickly typed in a URL, using a strange word instead of pictograms.

"Due to the inadequacies of Unicode, we either talk in English or use the phonetic translations into Roman text, like in the bar.
This site is the Ministry of Information website, and it has quite a lot about Alfegosian history and whatnot on it. If you want to read through it at your own pleasure."

Catherine smiled as she read the information that she found on the Ministry of Information website; occassionally asking Dare to explain some of the information she found.

"This is a good website, Dare; it has plenty of information."

"Yep, I think you will find it quite useful when you are having lessons and whatnot. And, if you have clearance, you can access practically any information you want from the national archive, known as "The Vault". It's built very deep underneath Polinapolis and is practically impervious to any form of entry both physical and electronic."

"Will it be possible for me to get clearance so I can see "The Vault", Dare?"

Catherine began searching for Fegosian clothes and found some information. "I hope I can purchase some Fegosian clothes, Dare. Do you know if there are any Fegosian dresses?"

"Depends on what you want to see: with automatic Gamma-level clearance on this computer, I think we can see most things we want. So go on, search for whatever you want, and it will find it for you."

"Clothes... I am not an expert on all Alfegan clothes, but there are many types of clothes I know that women wear. Most women wear modern clothing borrowed from other nations, but there are still many who wear traditional 'Sta'lo' dresses, which is like a tunic of sorts made from a single sheet of silk wrapped around. You should find a lot of these and other varients of these clothes when we go shopping in Il'vi."

"It will be nice if I could purchase some Fegosian clothes such as a Sta'lo dress to wear, Dare. In Il'vi, we can try to find some clothes to purchase; and some other items. I hope that I can find some clothes and a Sta'lo dress that will fit me."

"Yes, that shall be good when we're there."

He heard a small chime on the cabin intercom system, followed by the voice of the pilot.

"This is your Captain speaking: we are now 10km from our final destination, Il'vi. The current local temperature is 27 degrees and rising, and the current local humidity is 15%. We would reccomend you enjoy the view from the observation deck while we come in to land at Il'vi Domestic Airpark. We will have landed in about 10 minutes."

Catherine silently listened to the captain speak on the cabin intercom system; she was glad to know that they would be in Il'vi in ten minutes. With a smile, she looked at Dare. "We should go to the observation deck, Dare."

As she began walking alone to the deck, she began beckoning Dare to follow her. She thought he was a nice young man and was beginning to think that she had made a friend in Alfegos.

They walked out onto the observation gantry, and Dare began to take in the view. They appeared to be over the sea, looking inland. From here, the city and the farmed countryside spread out to the west, a dark splodge in the distance the start of the Zevkhay rainforest.

To the north however, a massive mountain range stretched from the coast all the way into the horizon. Snowcapped peaks, cutting the landscape in two. A massive layer of cloud obscured the very summits, poking up to 5000m into the sky.

"That range is of the Mountains of the Moon. The Mountains of Solace are much further to the north. The mountains stretch out as islands into the sea right out to the edge of the continental shelf: they follow an ancient fault line, but the mountains of Solace follow a very active fault line.
If you look out into that mountain, you can see some flashing lights: that is the entrance to one of the massive air hangers for airships in this country."

Catherine silently looked at everything that she could see in the distance from the observation deck; from the mountains to the city. She felt it was amazing and wonderful to look from the observation deck; she was thankful that she was able to be there at the deck. She noticed flashing lights around one of the mountains and listened to Dare explain them. She felt glad that she was here to see all of this. "Dare, this is amazing.....I can see all the mountains and some of the forest."

Catherine knew they would be landing soon so after several minutes at the observation deck; she ran to the lockers and grabbed her items and then ran back to Dare. "This has been a pleasurable flight, Dare. I must say that I am glad to be here in Alfegos."

She continued looking at the mountains; waiting to hear from Dare when they would have to leave the airship. She knew that she would have plenty to tell her family and friends in Neo-Ixania.

Almost directly ahead of the airyaucht was a massive field, two runways at one side and massive concreted zones over at the other. The airship slowly drifted down to one of the zones marked out in orange paint, and was met by a pair of trucks on the ground that hooked cables to the side of the airship's gondolas. The airship was slowed to a halt over the area as the trucks anchored down the airship, and a group of men began setting up steps or clambering into the engine gondola and into the interior of the airship gasbag to attach hoses to hardpoints in the ground, filling up the airship with helium and refuelling the engines.

Dare led Catherine off the airship with the aides, and into a silver car with blacked-out windows guarded by a pair of soldiers. They both wore black uniforms, with orange sashes across their fronts and golden sword badges on their helmets. They lept back into an APC parked on the side of the landing zone as the car pulled away, and drove off in a different direction, towards the main terminal.

"Since this is a domestic flight, ma'am, we won't need to go through anything in the main terminal, since everything is arranged beforehand. We will be going to the city centre first to shop, before going to the beaches. I think you may have heard of the white beaches of Il'vi: I can tell you they won't disappoint you."

The aide turned back round to the driver, who continued out of the aerodrome and onto one of the palm-lined boulevards that led into the city. The sun was quite high now, and illuminated the many buildings on the side of the road that formed the city: all were dome-shaped, ranging from small cheap accommodation right up to massive complexes housing industry or the shady courtyards of the wealthier. Palm trees and telephone cables held groups of iridescent birds, shimmering blue, green, red and purple as they took off into the clear blue sky.

They passed through junctions and intersections, where there appeared to be little traffic. But soon, they found where it was: in the main routes that led past the granite and limestone houses, many vehicles sat watching red lights and flashing overhead screens, the silent hum of the predominantly electric vehicles interspersed with the roar of an older biofuel or hydrogen vehicle.

After a few minutes of crawling through the shady streets, the vehicle pulled over on the edge of a granite-paved street taken up by crowds of shoppers drifting into many of the buildings that lined the pedestrianised zones. Huge signs and screens advertised the many shops, blurting out messages in both English and in complex Fegosian pictograms. Dare escorted Catherine from the back of the car, and along with two suited aides entered the throngs of people. Music and the sound of traders calling mixed in with the chattering of the people to produce a roar like the sea, interspersed by the occasional siren in the distance from a police car or the roar of a helicopter overhead.

"What shops do you want to go to? We are currently in a cafe/restaurant district, if you want to eat anything. At the junction up there, you can find the clothes and souvenirs streets."

Almost directly ahead of the airyaucht was a massive field, two runways at one side and massive concreted zones over at the other. The airship slowly drifted down to one of the zones marked out in orange paint, and was met by a pair of trucks on the ground that hooked cables to the side of the airship's gondolas. The airship was slowed to a halt over the area as the trucks anchored down the airship, and a group of men began setting up steps or clambering into the engine gondola and into the interior of the airship gasbag to attach hoses to hardpoints in the ground, filling up the airship with helium and refuelling the engines.

Catherine looked at the trucks on the ground as she prepared to walk out of the airship with Dare. As she walked out of the airship with Dare; she watched the group of men clambering into the engine gondola. "Dare, I am sure the workers are able to keep the airship working every day."

Dare led Catherine off the airship with the aides, and into a silver car with blacked-out windows guarded by a pair of soldiers. They both wore black uniforms, with orange sashes across their fronts and golden sword badges on their helmets. They lept back into an APC parked on the side of the landing zone as the car pulled away, and drove off in a different direction, towards the main terminal.

Catherine looked at the soldiers surrounding the limosuine; noticing their orange sashes and golden badges. She smiled at Dare as she entered the limosuine with him and took her seat. "Dare, I hope you can give me a tour of Il'vi; I hope to see as much of the city as possible."

"Since this is a domestic flight, ma'am, we won't need to go through anything in the main terminal, since everything is arranged beforehand. We will be going to the city centre first to shop, before going to the beaches. I think you may have heard of the white beaches of Il'vi: I can tell you they won't disappoint you."

"Thank you, sir. It is nice to hear that we will be going to the city centre; I hope to be able to purchase some items from Fegosian stores. As for the white beaches of Il'vi; I am lucky to have brought a swimsuit to wear."

The aide turned back round to the driver, who continued out of the aerodrome and onto one of the palm-lined boulevards that led into the city. The sun was quite high now, and illuminated the many buildings on the side of the road that formed the city: all were dome-shaped, ranging from small cheap accommodation right up to massive complexes housing industry or the shady courtyards of the wealthier. Palm trees and telephone cables held groups of iridescent birds, shimmering blue, green, red and purple as they took off into the clear blue sky.

Catherine looked out the window and noticed the buildings and palm trees; it made her glad that she could see them. The birds in the sky made her smile and she continued to look out the window with the smile on her face. "Dare, this city is nice; I can see all the buildings and palm trees; which must be the national tree of Alfegos."

They passed through junctions and intersections, where there appeared to be little traffic. But soon, they found where it was: in the main routes that led past the granite and limestone houses, many vehicles sat watching red lights and flashing overhead screens, the silent hum of the predominantly electric vehicles interspersed with the roar of an older biofuel or hydrogen vehicle.

Catherine could see all the vehicles on the streets and hoped that they would be able to navigate through them. She noticed some electric vehicles and remembered the day that she was in one of them during a festival in Neo-Ixania. She noticed the granite and limestone houses; remembering the rows of houses in cities she had visited.

After a few minutes of crawling through the shady streets, the vehicle pulled over on the edge of a granite-paved street taken up by crowds of shoppers drifting into many of the buildings that lined the pedestrianised zones. Huge signs and screens advertised the many shops, blurting out messages in both English and in complex Fegosian pictograms. Dare escorted Catherine from the back of the car, and along with two suited aides entered the throngs of people. Music and the sound of traders calling mixed in with the chattering of the people to produce a roar like the sea, interspersed by the occasional siren in the distance from a police car or the roar of a helicopter overhead.

"What shops do you want to go to? We are currently in a cafe/restaurant district, if you want to eat anything. At the junction up there, you can find the clothes and souvenirs streets."

Catherine looked at the crowds of shoppers; they made her remember the crowds in Neo-Ixania that could be seen during a particular event or the release of a new item. For example, it was common knowledge that crowds of people go to see events at stadiums in Neo-Ixania. Catherine smiled at Dare as they exited the car from the back; she looked at the aides for several seconds and listened to the music and sounds. "Before we eat anything, I want to go to the junction and purchase souveniers and clothes. If is possible, I want to purchase some Fegosian magazines."

"Alright then, lets go!"

Dare walked through the crowds with Catherine, moving through areas of temporary calm towards the junction of streets at the end of the avenue. Here, the shops were much larger, with many international shopping franchises making themselves known all the way down the long street.

"These are the clothes shops. As you can see, it is a little less crowded here. Pick any shop you want to go into."

"Do you know if any of these stores sells Sta'lo dresses? I hope we can visit several of these stores."

"They all sell Fegosian clothes in addition to the much more common western clothing, that you can see all around you."

Catherine pointed at one of the stores and smiled. "I want to go to that store, Dare. They may have some good Fegosian clothes including a Sta'lo dress that fits me."

"Alright"

Dare walked with Catherine into the cool building, a large overhead screen unit alerting to all the name of the shop in Fegosian pictograms.

"It is called Look - A rather appropriate name for a clothes shop, don't you think?"

In the interior lit by shafts of sunlight from windows in the roof, wooden rails of clothes spread out into the store, with different sections marked by hanging overhead signs. Near the front of the store was a large rack holding hundreds of garments, all of many different colours.

"These are Sto'las on the rack here, and other in that section is jewellery, and silk head scarves. I think you will like them. Where do we begin here though?"

Catherine followed Dare to the clothes shop and thought that the shop's name; Look was appropriate for the shop. "I want to see the Sta'lo dresses before the jewelry and head scarves." When she entered the shop, she immediately began examining the Sta'lo dresses and the other items that she could see. After several minutes, she looked at Dare with several dresses in her hands.

"Do you know where the women's change rooms are, Dare? I want to try on these dresses."

"The changing rooms are over there. I will wait for you outside."

He led Catherine to one of the many cubicles set into the wall around the side of the building, and waited as she entered and locked the door. Amongst the clothes stands, he could see the two Aides browsing through shirts hanging on a rack, all the time looking up at where he was.

As Catherine changed into a Sta'lo dress, she thought about Dare; knowing that she thought he could be her friend. After several minutes, Catherine walked out of the changing room in one of the Sta'lo dresses she had found; with a smile on her face. "How do I look, Dare?"

Dare walked over to Catherine, and nodded.

"I think that looks brilliant on you. I am not the best with colours, but see about getting as many different colours as you want."

"Thank you, Dare; I will remember what you have said. Can you help me find a good head scarf to wear?"

"Yes, they're over here. Which colours do you like?"

"Do they have purple?"

"Here we are."

He picked out a purple headscarf from one of the racks, and tied it on her head. It was made from a very light, very soft fabric, with sequins sewn on along with a circular pattern along the edges.

Catherine found a mirror and immediately smiled when she saw her reflection. "I want to purchase this Sta'lo dress and headscarf. It looks great on me."

"That will be OK: I have some money on me."

He pulled out of his pocket a black wallet and pulled out some crisp Æ20 notes.

"Clothes don't cost that much in this country, since we get most of them from the automated factories in Milkavich.
Is there anything else you wanted to buy here, clothes wise?"

"Thank you for buying these clothes for me, Dare. Does this store have any summer or winter clothes?"

"To be honest Catherine, since this is such a tropical country, we don't have what you would call a winter. The only seasons we actually have are up in the far north of Polinas province, where they have what you might call wet and dry seasons.
In the mountains, they have almost perpetual snow due to the massive frontal system in Alfegos: air blows in from the great ocean to the west, and is split into three giant bands by the mountains. Since there are winds from the south and north as well, these fronts are forced to collide on the mountain ranges, where in addition to the forced uprising of air there you end up with, as I said, a lot of snow. It only stays in the high-up areas where it is cold enough, but you don't find that much mountain clothing except at specialist stores.
Anything else you want to buy?"

"Since this is a tropical nation, it must have days with plenty of heat. I want to find and purchase clothes that are good for the heat; a summer dress for example. Mountain clothing would be nice; if we can see the mountains during my visit."

"If we do go to the mountains, it will have to be on the 7th day of your stay: that day is when you can do whatever you want. Since you want to go to Polinas province on that day, that could pose a problem.

As for hot days, we have them all the time. It feels cool for me at the moment: the daytime peak temperature all year is about 38 degrees. Normal clothing is what we wear most of the time, such as the Sta'loa for women, and occasionally robes for men, though trousers and t-shirts are much more common.
In the mountains, and in the evenings and mornings when it is relatively cold, we normally wear thick woollen tunics. If you look over there, you should find some.

If you intend to climb really high, I would reccomend looking for an expedition shop and purchase thermal clothing and that: they would really help you once you get higher than 4000m."

"If we do go to the mountains, it will have to be on the 7th day of your stay: that day is when you can do whatever you want. Since you want to go to Polinas province on that day, that could pose a problem.

"I think that we can go to Polinas province on the seventh day; and visit the mountains on my next visit; that is, if I am able to visit Alfegos again."

As for hot days, we have them all the time. It feels cool for me at the moment: the daytime peak temperature all year is about 38 degrees. Normal clothing is what we wear most of the time, such as the Sta'loa for women, and occasionally robes for men, though trousers and t-shirts are much more common.
In the mountains, and in the evenings and mornings when it is relatively cold, we normally wear thick woollen tunics. If you look over there, you should find some.

"You have plenty of information, Dare, and I thank you for giving me some. As for the tunics, I want to purchase some before we leave this store; it would be nice to have some good Fegosian made tunics."

If you intend to climb really high, I would reccomend looking for an expedition shop and purchase thermal clothing and that: they would really help you once you get higher than 4000m."

"I never thought about mountain climbing in Alfegos; but I could if it is possible during my visit."

As Catherine was examining the tunics, she smiled at Dare. "These tunics feel soft, Dare. I have to find some that will fit me and then we can purchase them before we leave."

"Alright then. Here are some that I think will go with the other clothes you've bought."

He pulled from the rack a small, dark blue tunic made from shimmering material surrounding a layer of yak wool.

"That should be warm enough for you, and light enough. I think it should fit you easily, though with these there isn't too much issue with size."

Catherine examined the tunic for several minutes before she decided to try it on. She found a mirror and looked at her reflection with a smile. "I want to purchase this tunic; I think it can keep me warm and it looks nice on me. I think that this will be the last item I purchase; as I want to see more of Il'vi."

"Alright then, Catherine."

Dare payed for the items at the checkout, and returned to her carrying them in a bag provided by one of the Aides.

"Plastic bags are banned in Alfegos: you either have to bring your own or use store-provided paper bags, which don't last that long to honest."

They left the building, and once again entered the hot avenues, the sun now rising ever higher in the sky. In the distance, along the top of the mountain range, a massive black cloud bank almost stopped, towering up on one side yet soon dispersing on the other side.

"Look's like they're having rather a nasty storm in Milkavich province. So, where do you want to go now? More shopping, or to a café, or to a beach? The beaches are large enough to hold many tens of thousands of people, many of them tourists, and should be starting to fill up soon."

Catherine thought about the Fegosian law about plastic bags as she walked out of the store with Dare; thankful that she was able to purchase some Fegosian clothes. In the distance, she could see the massive black cloud and immediately began thinking about a storm.

"Can we go shopping before we go to the beach, Dare? After the beach we can visit a cafe."

"Alright. The souvenir shops are mostly along the seafront here."

He walked until they were on a massive avenue, blending into the thick white sand of the beaches. Many people were already basking in the sun, or playing in the calm sea. Along here, the shops were much quieter and much smaller, the occasional building hanging an advertisement outside.

"One of these here, then?"

Catherine smiled as they walked to the beach together; she could see all of the souvenir shops and the tourists. She had been holding her towel and swimsuit and was looking for a place to change. After several seconds, she pointed to one of the shops and began walking towards it; beckoning Dare to follow. "We can look at the souvenirs before we change into our swimsuits."

"OK. It should be possible for you to get changed in the public showers and toilets over by the breakwater."

He walked into the small shop with Catherine, and was instantly surrounded by hundreds of shelves bearing shells, palm leaf sculptures, wooden carvings and other such items.

"You definitely have no lack of choice!"

Catherine smiled as she immediately began to examine all the items she could see; hoping to purchase some to bring back to her nation. "These shells, carvings and sculptures would look excellent in my bedroom in Neo-Ixania, Dare. I want to purchase some of them."

She continued examining the items; looking at some that she desired to purchase. After a while, she thought of an idea. "Dare, I think I am going to take some pictures of Alfegos." She pulled out a camera that she had brought with her. "With this; I can make a scrapbook of pictures."

"Go on then! Purchase all you want. I'm sure that this will pay for it."

He took out a red Æ10 note, and handed it to her.

"That should pay for everything. And keep whatever change you get.
As for that idea of a scrapbook, I think that would be a brilliant idea!"

Catherine immediately smiled when she recieved the Æ10 note and after purchasing the items she ran out of the store with Dare; the smile still on her face. She looked at him and revealed her camera to him again. "Dare, can I take a picture of us together? I want to remember our time together because I consider you to be a friend."

"Go on then. Over on the top of the sand dune there!"

He ran over with Catherine, and held the camera with Catherine in front of them, taking a picture of the white sandy beach with the beautiful sea behind them.

The occasional loud cry could be heard above the low-level of noise on the beach: the cry of one of the many tropically-coloured gulls flying around and molesting anyone who had food on them.

"I am glad you think of me as a friend: I would think of you as a friend as well."

Catherine smiled as she immediately ran to the top of the sand dune; glad that she could take a picture with Dare. As they stood together, a large smile crept upon her face and within seconds the picture was recorded onto her camera.

After looking at the gulls for a few seconds, Catherine smiled at Dare. "I am glad to have met you, Dare. I will remember you as the Fegosian boy who became my friend."

She showed him the picture on her camera. "That is a good picture; I'll put it in my scrapbook."

"Thankyou Catherine: I will remember you as the Neo-Ixanian girl I made a good friend with..."

He thought for a moment, before running down the dune.

"Race you to the sea!"

Catherine smiled before she ran quickly to the sea; hoping to defeat Dare in the race. When she had finished running down the sea, she looked for Dare to see if she had defeated him. "That was a good race, Dare."

She ran into the water and beckoned Dare to follow her. "The water is good, Dare! Come on in!"

Dare dived in, happy to swim in the cool water. It was noticeable that the temperature, as well as the humidity, had begun to rocket upwards past 25 degrees, and still it was not midday. If this was global warming that had given them the heatwaves, then it'd better keep going.

"It's lovely here, isn't it? I told you that Il'vi has some of the best beaches in the world, and this is only one small example of a few kilometres of this.

He splashed Catherine.

"Bet you can't catch me!"

He disappeared deep under the water, and swam off quickly through the underwater patches of tropical plants and sealife, looking at the black silhouette of Catherine from deep under the water.

"Il'vi has some good beaches, Dare. I can agree with you on that."

Catherine tried to dodge the splash before she noticed Dare diving under the water. She decided to swim around and look for him; thinking about how to attack him with her own splashes. "Dare! Come out!"

After several minutes, Catherine noticed Dare's silhouette in the distance. She disappeared under the water and quietly swam towards him until she sprung up out of nowhere; splashing Dare fiercely. "No mercy, Dare!....No mercy for you!" She continued to splash him without relenting, trying to make sure her enemy would be utterly defeated.

When she finished, Catherine smiled at Dare before she began to wade in the water. "It has been a pleasure visiting Alfegos and being with you, Dare. You are a nice person."

She splashed Dare again with a smile on her face. "Dare, do you go to a private school?"

bump

After they calmed down from splashing, Dare began talking.

"I don't go to a private school, for security measures: I am tutored at home by one of his aides, or my father when he's around. That's the problem with having all my wonderfulk privilages: I am high on the risk list for some nutter. You may not be able to see it, but there are at least 8 armed agents in sight of us, and military support of at least an entire company of Mech infantry within 5 minutes.
I try to forget about it, but due to this I can never go out privately. The agents and the aides are the reason why no paparazzi or press are in the area. If not, I would be mobbed constantly by everyone."

"I am enrolled at the Imperial Academy; where my siblings and I are educated; the aristocrats, etc enroll their children there too; it is said to be Neo-Ixania's most expensive private school. I have plenty of aides who protect me from paparazzi and press; and so does my sister, the Empress. My brothers and younger sister do too; even my mother. I can understand that you would have aides and military support, Dare; I am sure that some people, if they had the chance, would swarm us like locusts on a wheat field."

Catherine smiled at Dare and splashed him again. "I am sure that I will be followed for years if not my entire life by Ixanian agents. The Monarchy does have popular support but I was told that you never can know about some people."

"I hope I can probably get away from all the cameras and lights... So, do you want to go get a drink at the cafe?"

"A drink at the cafe would be nice, Dare. Let me change my clothes in the booth before we go."

Catherine began walking to the change booth. "Please wait for me, Dare." She closed the door (or curtain) and began changing; thinking about Dare as she did. "He is a nice boy....I like him."

Dare waited quietly outside, thinking about her. She was, he had to admit, one hell of a fit girl. And she was nice in personality. Her birth put even more of a lure to her. But how could he bring it up? Sometime private. Possibly tonight.
An aide motioned to talk to him.

"The airyaucht leaves in 45 minutes back to the Palace. The cars will be picking us up in 30 minutes where we were dropped off. Just so that you don't get too caught up in shopping."

"If you go to one of those souvenir shops possibly, you could find something. Or if you wait till we go to New Zevkhay shopping, I doubt you'll be spoilt for choice. Just so you know, we've only got 1/2 an hour of time before we've got to leave, so what do you want to do?"

After several minutes, Catherine walked out of the booth with the soaked swimsuit in a bag. "I had a good time at the beach, Dare. Where shall we go now? I do not mind visiting the cafe to have a drink; but I was thinking I could buy my mother a gift."

Catherine smiled at Dare. "My mother, I am sure, would like something Fegosian to cherish; especially if it was from me. She is the only parent that I have right now."

"Before we leave Il'vi, I would like to visit the cafe and one of those souvenir shops but if you know anything else we can do in Il'vi then please tell me. I would like to go shopping in New Zevkhay if possible. I think that I have some good items so far; one of which could be my mother's gift. Dare, what would you recommend as a gift for a mother?"

Catherine smiled at Dare and began walking; beckoning him to follow her. "I think that my mother would like a sculpture or something like that to put in her room." Catherine did not bring up her father; who had passed away and left her mother a widow. "My siblings and I live with our mother but my oldest sister, the Empress, lives alone in her palace. I can visit her whenever I want though."

Catherine giggled a little and smiled. "Perhaps, one day, you can visit Neo-Ixania, Dare. It would be nice to show you where I live and what a person can do there."

bump

(OOC: Sorry for not posting yesterday or this morning..)

"I'm not sure about time. We'll go to one of the souvenir shops further into the town to see about something nice like that, but I don't think after that we'll have time to go to a cafe.

As for other things to do in Il'vi... not much I can think of. Unless you want to go to one of the museums about the two Civil Wars. If you can stomach the details of them, which are very, very brutal..."

He coughed, wincing at the thought of what he knew had happened.

OOC: Apology accepted.

"I understand that we may not have time to visit the cafe but visiting the museum sounds like an interesting idea. I know that they may be brutal but I think it would nice to learn more about Fegosian history; absorbing more information about this nation."

Catherine could tell that Dare did not like to think about the Civil Wars but it did not dissuade her from thinking about learning about those conflicts.

"Alright. That should be easy since the museum is quite near to here, and we can have a quick look around in about half an hour, can't we?"

He walked with her along the shoreline, to a large granite building only a few roads into the city. Banners hung around it, advertising in English and Fegosian that it was the Military Hisotry Museum of Alfegos.

"It's free for children to look around museums, so we are OK on the fares. And since they have agreed to pick us up here, it should be OK."

He picked up a map of the museum, and passed it to here.

"The west wing is about international conflicts that Alfegos has participated in, while the other wing is devoted to the three civil wars that have wracked this country. Il'vi has been in the line of fire for all three, and suffered imensely in the first two. What are you interested in?"

"I want to see the west wing and then the other wing, Dare; I want to see as much as of the museum as possible. We should start exploring now before we have to go back to the palace."

Catherine began walking away from Dare; occassionally beckoning him to her as she was looking at the exhibits. They reminded her of the museums that she had seen in Neo-Ixania; often they were filled with all sorts of exhibits about various topics such as science or history.

"Neo-Ixania never gets involved in international conflicts; I heard a person say that we are like spectators or the audience who watch the two or more teams battle."

"Alfegos has always been more of an interventionist, if you know what I mean. Sneaking into a battle to defend the opressed, usually only if there is the prospect of money or alliance or what have you... rather a selfish view in some cases. Most of our nation's wealth has come from the spoils of war or conquest, which stems mainly from quite an aggressive nature in all those of Fegosian descent.

Which is why our civil wars turn out to be the bloodiest."

They were walking across the inner coutryard are of the museum, which contained the ruins of buildings protruding from the dead ground.

"During the First Civil war, the communist-supporting movement flooded the nation. Il'vi was one city that tried to stand in the way, and was treated mercilessly for it. These ruins are all that were left of one of the secondary schools in the city, which was razed to the ground with napalm and bombs, before being smothered in mustard gas. They did the same things during the seconds civil war. Which is why the Grand Fegos rainforest is one of the most unexplored on the planet due to the amount of live munitions, both chemical, biological, radiological and conventional, that still lie about there. The main road that passes through the forest has not been used for 50 years, since it is still covered in landmines.
Then, when the second civil war hit Il'Vi, the communist forces were stopped by the loyal aerofleet. My father was in school when they napalm bombed it...which is why he hates communism so much, and vows to stamp it out of the world if he had support of the people.

But the first civil war is an embodiment of the suffering of our nation: massive battles were fought above the cities of New Zevkhay and Polinapolis with fleets of airships that would dwarf even Prevania's aerofleet. Civilians were treated as equals to soldiers, and as such were killed or treated brutally. Battles were fought across fronts hundreds of kilometres across, with massive suicide charges up to hundreds of thousands of soldiers being used alongside machines of death never used before in our battles. Over 60 million people died during the First Civil War, which is why we try not to look back on it, but rather ahead to stopping such things again."

They were passing through one of the exhibit halls, housing part of the skeleton of an enourmous airship, hanging from the ceiling. On ground level, it was possible to see into the blackened interior of the crew gondola, read what it might have looked like and visualise the crew's final moments as they plummeted to the ground a kilometre below.

"When we visit other parts of Alfegos in the rest of our week, you will still be able to see scars of the First Civil War."

"Alfegos has always been more of an interventionist, if you know what I mean. Sneaking into a battle to defend the opressed, usually only if there is the prospect of money or alliance or what have you... rather a selfish view in some cases. Most of our nation's wealth has come from the spoils of war or conquest, which stems mainly from quite an aggressive nature in all those of Fegosian descent.

Which is why our civil wars turn out to be the bloodiest."

"I do not know if Ixania will ever be involved in a foreign conflict but I do remember the military parades that I have attended; with all the soldiers and tanks. Most of my nation's wealth comes from our nation's natural resources, I believe."

They were walking across the inner coutryard are of the museum, which contained the ruins of buildings protruding from the dead ground.

"During the First Civil war, the communist-supporting movement flooded the nation. Il'vi was one city that tried to stand in the way, and was treated mercilessly for it. These ruins are all that were left of one of the secondary schools in the city, which was razed to the ground with napalm and bombs, before being smothered in mustard gas. They did the same things during the seconds civil war. Which is why the Grand Fegos rainforest is one of the most unexplored on the planet due to the amount of live munitions, both chemical, biological, radiological and conventional, that still lie about there. The main road that passes through the forest has not been used for 50 years, since it is still covered in landmines.
Then, when the second civil war hit Il'Vi, the communist forces were stopped by the loyal aerofleet. My father was in school when they napalm bombed it...which is why he hates communism so much, and vows to stamp it out of the world if he had support of the people.

"I think that many Ixanians are indifferent to Communism; though I am sure that there are Communists who live in my nation. It is saddening to hear the story of Il'vi's destruction and how your father's school was napalm bombed; I have never been in a war before; but I know that wars are bloody and, as one person said, never are child's play. My sister believes that war should be a last resort."

But the first civil war is an embodiment of the suffering of our nation: massive battles were fought above the cities of New Zevkhay and Polinapolis with fleets of airships that would dwarf even Prevania's aerofleet. Civilians were treated as equals to soldiers, and as such were killed or treated brutally. Battles were fought across fronts hundreds of kilometres across, with massive suicide charges up to hundreds of thousands of soldiers being used alongside machines of death never used before in our battles. Over 60 million people died during the First Civil War, which is why we try not to look back on it, but rather ahead to stopping such things again."

"That sounds interesting but yet horrid; civilians should never be killed but should be respected by enemy soldiers. It is horrid to think about the sixty millon Fegosians who were killed; I give you my condolences despite the fact that the conflict happened years ago."

They were passing through one of the exhibit halls, housing part of the skeleton of an enourmous airship, hanging from the ceiling. On ground level, it was possible to see into the blackened interior of the crew gondola, read what it might have looked like and visualise the crew's final moments as they plummeted to the ground a kilometre below.

"When we visit other parts of Alfegos in the rest of our week, you will still be able to see scars of the First Civil War."

Catherine silently examined the blackened interior of the airship's crew gondola' visualizing the final moments of the crew. She remainded calm as she thought about it. "Dare, I would like to see the remainder of the museum."

"Alright then."

He walked with her past maps of battles, photographs of places annihilated, people shredded, mass graves dug hastily by the communists and rusting pieces of weaponry.

"However, the biggest stain on our nation's history is how the First Civil War was ended. Not with a roar, but with a single explosion."

They had come to one of the last rooms in the museum: on the wall was a massive colour photograph, taken by the Democrats. What it showed was that image that all could recognise.

"That was what made the Polinapolis Deadlands. That is why the Life Expectancy in Alfegos is lower than in any other nation in Nova with a similar level of development. That is what killed the communist army of 120 000 men instantly. A Hydrogen bomb with a yield of 500kt, detonated in front of the communist horde, resulting in rapid ending of this war. But at what cost?"

Pieces of twisted metal remains could be seen in cabinets around the walls, lined with lead sheets. Pieces that could once have been wheels of vehicles, or the skeletons of people, now half metled and twisted beyond recognition.

"Nuclear weapons are something of fierce debate in Alfegos. There are some like the old generals who see them as weapons to be used against the foe, others as a scurge on humanity."

"Alright then."

He walked with her past maps of battles, photographs of places annihilated, people shredded, mass graves dug hastily by the communists and rusting pieces of weaponry.

Catherine studied the pictures and rusting pieces of weaponry; understanding the scope of the Civil Wars. She did not feel an urge to leave the museum but rather to learn more. Her teacher at the Imperial Academy once told her that to "forget the past is to be condemned to repeat it."

"However, the biggest stain on our nation's history is how the First Civil War was ended. Not with a roar, but with a single explosion."

They had come to one of the last rooms in the museum: on the wall was a massive colour photograph, taken by the Democrats. What it showed was that image that all could recognise.

"That was what made the Polinapolis Deadlands. That is why the Life Expectancy in Alfegos is lower than in any other nation in Nova with a similar level of development. That is what killed the communist army of 120 000 men instantly. A Hydrogen bomb with a yield of 500kt, detonated in front of the communist horde, resulting in rapid ending of this war. But at what cost?"

"A single hydrogen bomb ended the Civil War? I know that they must have the servants of the Hammer and Sickle but to use a hydrogen bomb like that; simply to annihilate them? I....I think that is interesting and yet horrid, Dare."

Pieces of twisted metal remains could be seen in cabinets around the walls, lined with lead sheets. Pieces that could once have been wheels of vehicles, or the skeletons of people, now half metled and twisted beyond recognition.

"Nuclear weapons are something of fierce debate in Alfegos. There are some like the old generals who see them as weapons to be used against the foe, others as a scurge on humanity."

"Neo-Ixania has nuclear weapons but I know that my sister, the Empress, is committed to using them only as a last resort. We learned about nuclear weapons in school and how they, according to my teacher quoting from a writer, are the Wrath of God in the Hands of Man."

Catherine studied the pieces of twisted metal and found some pieces of bone in the cabinets; twisted and half melted but some were not. She decided to stay silent; simply examining the items she could see.

"It is always a very sobering experience for one to be reminded of the destruction of our ancestors. As quoted by Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb in a far flung country, and by the High Marshall Han Uh'no:
If the radiance of a thousand suns
Were to burst at once into the sky
That would be like the splendor of the Mighty one...
I am become Death,
The shatterer of Worlds.

Nuclear weapons are only one of the weapons they used though. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed by biological weapons that the nation still stockpiles, and even more were killed by nerve gases layed down across entire battlefronts by advancing armies. The Marshalls of the time did not know what they were doing, and did not comprehend the sheer enormity of the weapons in their hands. If they had not have had the constraint to keep the nuclear weapons deep underground where they belonged during the majority of the war... who knows?"

He looked at his watch.

"We'd better get going now: the car should be arriving within a minute, and we don't want to be too late in getting back to the airyaucht."

He left the museum with her, the sun's warmth helping them forget the display of human-inflicted suffering kept within the dark museum's interior.

"It is always a very sobering experience for one to be reminded of the destruction of our ancestors. As quoted by Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb in a far flung country, and by the High Marshall Han Uh'no:
If the radiance of a thousand suns
Were to burst at once into the sky
That would be like the splendor of the Mighty one...
I am become Death,
The shatterer of Worlds.

"I have become Death....the shatterer of Worlds. That is a great way to put it, Dare but the words are still horrid. That man, Oppenheimer, became Death that day. I had to learn about him at the Imperial Academy; my teacher said that nuclear weapons were first concieved as a way to end a world war."

Nuclear weapons are only one of the weapons they used though. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed by biological weapons that the nation still stockpiles, and even more were killed by nerve gases layed down across entire battlefronts by advancing armies. The Marshalls of the time did not know what they were doing, and did not comprehend the sheer enormity of the weapons in their hands. If they had not have had the constraint to keep the nuclear weapons deep underground where they belonged during the majority of the war... who knows?"

"Ixania has weapons like those but we never use them unless as a last resort. They are not as powerful as nuclear weapons but they are still able to wipe out vast ranks of citizens and soldiers; foiling enemy plans and affecting the progeny of some people. I heard that Neo-Ixania has stockpiles of Agent Orange but I do not know if it is true. The Ministry of Defense keeps control of all this stuff and keeps the nuclear weapons, etc in secret locations."

He looked at his watch.

"We'd better get going now: the car should be arriving within a minute, and we don't want to be too late in getting back to the airyaucht."

He left the museum with her, the sun's warmth helping them forget the display of human-inflicted suffering kept within the dark museum's interior.

As they left the museum, Catherine smiled at Dare. "It will be nice to be in the airyaucht again; I liked being on it and I hope we can see the sunset from the lookout deck; if it is that time of day."

"No, it's only just coming up to 3:00pm! We're gonna go back to New Zevkhay to the palace, then I think that the president planned for you to have some lessons in Fegosian. think you might then be able to understand a lot more of our language, with a few crash lessons in it."

The car picked them up, and soon they were back on the Airyaucht, rising up into the blue sky and roaring back towards New Zevkhay.

"It is always amazing to travel this way if time is not of the essence. If it is, they use so many other forms of transport now that take you across the world so quickly. The space service, which they were planning on starting next year, would allow for citizens to fly from Alfegos to anywhere on the planet in under 90 minutes. Pretty amazing, eh?"

"No, it's only just coming up to 3:00pm! We're gonna go back to New Zevkhay to the palace, then I think that the president planned for you to have some lessons in Fegosian. think you might then be able to understand a lot more of our language, with a few crash lessons in it."

"Learning Fegosian would be nice, Dare. I hope to be a fluent speaker when I return to Neo-Ixania. I am sure that you can help me if I ever need it; though I am sure that I can quickly pick up the language."

The car picked them up, and soon they were back on the Airyaucht, rising up into the blue sky and roaring back towards New Zevkhay.

"It is always amazing to travel this way if time is not of the essence. If it is, they use so many other forms of transport now that take you across the world so quickly. The space service, which they were planning on starting next year, would allow for citizens to fly from Alfegos to anywhere on the planet in under 90 minutes. Pretty amazing, eh?"

"It is truly amazing to travel this way, Dare. Yes; they do use other forms of transport such as airplanes. Ninety minutes? Do you think the space service can provide such quick transportation for citizens? I think that Neo-Ixania may start its own space service; but I have not heard about it at all from anyone."

"Thing is, about space travel, that it would cost so much for a ticket: at least Æ900 for a return flight in economy class... still, I wouldn't mind paying that much, only if I got a window seat!"

"I would want to have a window suit if I was flying in space! It would be great to see all of the planets and stars; perhaps even some asteroids. My sister, the Empress, absolutely loves astronomy. She always studies the stars and has read about other planets."

"Sad thing with this one though is you woulnd't be able to see much up in orbit: just the sun, the moon, and the Earth in all its glory.
That is interesting with your sister liking Astronomy: I also once had a passion for such a thing, though I must say it died down about 3 years ago."

"I would still be happy to see the sun, moon and Earth. Not everyone gets a chance to see them and fly in space. As for my sister's interest in Astronomy, she has been interested in it for years. She has a telescope and plenty of pictures, reports and books. I am more interested in music; we all have our own interests."

"Indeed..."

Soon, the airyaucht was once again over New Zevkhay, amongst the giant skyscrapers of the financial district.

"I think you have about 30 minutes free time to relax from the journey before your lesson in Fgeosian starts."

"That is alright with me, Dare. I had a great time in Il'vi and it was nice of you to accompany me. You are a nice person, Dare and I like you."

Catherine smiled before she began looking at the giant skyscrapers; thinking about whether she could see people working or not working in their offices.

"Here we go."

He stepped down from the airyaucht, before escorting Catherine onto the beach. They then walked back up to the Presidential Palace.

"I will go to the kitchen to get something to drink for us two. If you want to go to your room, go on. If not, tell me what you want to do."

"I want to have a drink, Dare; I will go to the kitchen with you."

Dare walked through the maze of rooms, before ending up in a massive kitchen. For the moment, it was silent, the many cookers and ovens silent. At the rear end of the kitchen was a massive pair of doors to a cool room and freezer.

He walked in, and took out a pair of glasses, before filling them with a green juice.

"You ever heard of mint syrup? This is sorta like that, but with something like chilli...you might not like the taste, but it definately wakes you up!"

"I think that I have heard of mint syrup before, Dare."

Catherine smiled as she took her glass. She looked at the green juice for a few seconds before taking a sip of it. The taste had a kick to it and Catherine could feel it; showing that she could feel it in front of Dare. "It does have a kick to it!"

Catherine took another sip and smiled. "I like this juice. What do you call it?"

"Translated, its called Fire Juice. Rather nice, as long as you don't mind the chilli aftertaste."

"I can feel the hot aftertaste but I can handle it!"

Catherine said with a smile as she looked at Dare; still feeling the hot aftertaste on her tongue. "Do you drink Fire Juice often, Dare?"

"I drink it whenever I need to wake up, or whenever I know I'm not gonna be drinking anything else for a while. Do you like chillis at all?"

"I like chillis, Dare; I can eat spicy foods like those if I feel like it. Does Fegosian cuisine have any chillis?"

"Not the often do you find chillis in our dishes, but when you do, you can find some strong ones. Ever heard of the Jaberno? Most chillis used in Alfegan dishes are hotter. You can even find some people using pure capascin crystals in sauces, though they usually are nutters."

"I cannot remember if I have heard of the Jaberno, Dare. I must say that those people who use pure capascin crystals must be brave nutters; not many people would be interested in flames engulfing their tongue; metaphorically speaking. I think Ixanian cuisine has some spicy foods; we do have a mix of different styles and influences. For example, you can get a good plate of sauerkraut and bratwurst with schnitzel on the side."

"I like the food in Alfegos, because it is so mixed and varied. Well, what do you want to do before your lessons?"

"Perhaps I could watch you on the shooting range, Dare? I can still remember when we shot at the targets together."

"Alright"

Dare walked down to the range with Catherine, and grabbed an automatic pistol from the armoury.

"Just for funs sake most of the time, is why we still have automatic weapons here."

He started the targets moving using the controls, before destroying a few targets. Not by getting at the centre of the rings, but by physically smashing up the targets, leaving piles of wood chips.

"It is very stress reducing, no?"

"See what you can find in the armoury: you'll likely as not find the assault rifles near the machinepistols."

He shattered another target, before putting back the pistol and removing an AF-87 assault rifle.

"Now to have some fun!"

Catherine smiled as she picked up one of the automatic pistols; beginning to fire by aiming at the exact middle of the targets. The majority of shots were bullseyes; astouding Dare with sheer accuracy and Catherine was amazed to know that she could achieve such a feat. "My brother taught me how to shoot....I should see if I am better than him now."

Catherine looked at the other weapons that she could see. "Do you have assualt rifles? Sniper rifles? I tried a sniper rifle once and hit all the targets by simply using the scope; my brother has a target range that he practices at every day; well, when he gets the chance to."

Catherine spent several minutes looking at the weapons; eventually finding a sniper rifle. She immediatelly began crawling and crouching; shooting targets right in the exact center; her eye in the scope. "One! Two! Three!" Catherine continued to count the targets she had successfully shot at. "I am good at this!"

(OOC: lol aimbot!)

"Have you ever considered joining the military? In our country, a sniper like you would be relished.
It's a shame that we can't try shooting on one of the 2km sniper ranges, as I think you'd do quite well!"

OOC: It seems that Aimbot is my new rank.

"I know that one of my brothers, Nicholas, has thought about joining the military but I have not considered joining. I just, I guess, do not picture myself as a soldier. Thank you for the compliment, Dare; at least I am able to shoot on this range. Now, is it time to begin my Fegosian lessons?"

"I do believe it is. If you could come with me. I'll take you to the teacher. If you want, I will sit in with you to help converse with you in Fegosian."

"It would be nice to have your help if I need it, Dare. Thank you."

Catherine smiled as she followed Dare; thinking about what her teacher would be like, it made her think about all the teachers she had in the Imperial Academy. "Dare, perhaps, if you visit Ixania one day, you can learn how to speak Ixanian. I could teach you some words during my visit if you want."

"That would be nice if you could teach me it after the lesson, yes!"

He entered one of the studies, the walls covered in bookshelves and the centre with a long row of large mahogany desks. At one of these was sitting a suited aide, with a stack of papers and books beside him. In front of him, where Catherine was to sit, was a pad of paper and pen. Dare pulled a chair over from another desk and sat down facing the two at another desk.

"Jai'eben, Catherine. I am Yua'kal Hina'dyuna, and will be your teacher in the Fegosian language during your stay.

What we're going to do is do a bit of spoken Fegosian first, before we go onto the pictographic language. I must ask, how much Fegosian do you already know?"

"That would be nice if you could teach me it after the lesson, yes!"

"Sure; just remind me. I think I can start by teaching you basic Ixanian." (OOC: I have not made any words up though)

He entered one of the studies, the walls covered in bookshelves and the centre with a long row of large mahogany desks. At one of these was sitting a suited aide, with a stack of papers and books beside him. In front of him, where Catherine was to sit, was a pad of paper and pen. Dare pulled a chair over from another desk and sat down facing the two at another desk.

"Jai'eben, Catherine. I am Yua'kal Hina'dyuna, and will be your teacher in the Fegosian language during your stay.

OOC: Is Yua'kal male or female? Just so I know how to have Catherine address the teacher.

"It is nice to meet you. I am glad to be able to learn Fegosian during my stay."

What we're going to do is do a bit of spoken Fegosian first, before we go onto the pictographic language. I must ask, how much Fegosian do you already know?"

"Before I arrived; I studied Fegosian dictionaries and phrasebooks but I do not think I can speak it fluently just yet; I still have much to learn, though I can say several greetings and questions."

(OOC: It's a he... Fegosian names can sometimes be very confusing!)

"I see. I think first I'll then explain the language structure"

He took a piece of paper and a pen, and wrote a sentence:
Dare banan'ia mag'nis

"That translated means 'Dare eats a banana'. As you can see, the words are divided into two segments by an apostrophe. The first half is the basic thing: banan is a banana and mag is 'eat'. The second half describes the declension of the noun and tense of the verb. Pretty simple, eh? It gets easier: we have no sex differentiation in Fegosian, so all you need to identify is the tense of a verb or the declension of a noun/adjective/adverb. And we don't have anything irregular: all words follow the same pattern, save for the occasional borrowed word. Hows that?"

As Yua'kal was speaking, Catherine was zealously writing down what he was saying on her paper; hoping to have plenty of notes for future reference. She thought that it was nice to learn Fegosian; and was glad to know that she could have her own teacher. "I understand fully, Mr. Hinad'yuna. Please, continue with your lesson."

Catherine finished writing her notes and smiled; waiting for her teacher to continue the lesson. "I hope that by the end of my stay I will know plenty of Fegosian or even be a fluent speaker."

"Alright. As you have noticed, the sentence follows the structure of Subject Object Verb. So you have to look to the end of the sentence to start getting the jist. Apart from that, not many complications.

Now, the declension tells you what the verb is doing, and there are six declensions:
- The Subjective, which is what the subject of the sentance is in.
- The Objective, which is what the object of the verb is in.
- The Vocative, which you use if you call someone.
- The Possessive, which use in cases like "Catherine's Sandwich"
- The Transferitive, which you use when you are talking about giving something to.
- The Resultant, which you use when you talk about having something done "with" or "by".

All words are shown in the Subjective, such as Dare. Yet if I was talking about him in the Objective, it would be Dare'ia. OK?

As for tenses, the language uses 5 tenses:
- Present
- Future
- Past Complete
- Past Incomplete
- Future Past

To make it conditional, you just add 'haloi to the end of the word."

He took out a wad of papers, and handed it to her.

"I won't tire you by reciting the different endings and such to you, so I have the details as well as a large amount of vocabulary here. Now, we can get onto reading and writing Fegosian."

Catherine began to zealously write down notes; listening attentively to every word that Yua'kal said to her. She wrote down examples of Fegosian declensions so she could memorize them and began studying the wad of papers she recieved from her teacher. After several minutes, she took the pen and paper and smiled. "I am ready; how do I read and write Fegosian, Mr. Hinad'yuna?"

Catherine looked over her notes one last time before she turned her attention to the pen and paper; ready to begin the next part of her lesson.

(OOC: Sorry, I don't have any pictures to upload of Fegosian symbols, which would be so useful if I could...)

"Right then. What you have to remember with Fegosian is that we use Pictograms, not letters. Each little image represents a concept. They are read from left to right, and each word is red from top to bottom. To make a word, you combine concepts. For example, the name for a town is a Vi, and the name for a beach is Il. What do you get if you combine the two?"

OOC: That is okay; I understand.

"If you combine Vi and Il together but reverse them, you will create Ilvi or Il'vi, Mr. Hinad'yuna. It is interesting to know that pictograms are read left to right but words are read from top to bottom. I think I understand the system of Fegosian pictograms."

"Good. And you don't write Fegosian: you draw it. I won't teach you calligraphy, but if you want to write it very well, it helps to learn calligraphy in that sense.

Now to see if you understand that concept, I have an excerpt from a guide to Il'vi here, and I'd like to see if you can have a guess at what it says by looking at the pictures alone. Then, you can look at the sheet of vocabulary, and see if you were right."

Catherine smiled as she began to try reading the pictograms; assuming that the excerpt was talking about Il'vi's tourist attractions and activities that tourists could partake in while visiting. After she finished reading, she smiled at Yua'kal. "The excerpt was about Il'vi's tourist attractions and what tourists can do during their visit."

"You've got it! So, that should hopefully help you when reading anything in fegosian. Now, for the speaking."

He coughed, before getting another piece of paper.

"Most of the things you can pronounce quite easily, as in the vocabulary. However if you come across a word with a second apostrophe, as in it is in three parts, the first one you pronounce as a click of the tongue."

Catherine was glad to know that she was able to read Fegosian; with a smile on her face she listened attentively to the teacher before taking the paper from his hands. As she read the paper; she would occassionally look at the others. "This paper says: My name is Catherine. Am I correct, Mr. Hinad'yuna?"

"Yes, now can you say "Ios Catherine'ia Sero'nis"? That would be what you would say in Fegosian. I think, with a little bit of work, you might be able to learn a few phrases. Just remember that you have to keep revising them, otherwise you could likely as not forget."

"Ios Catherine'ia Sero'nis."

Catherine recited the words in Fegosian with a smile on her face; it sounded quite clear to the others. "I hope I can remember many phrases; my goal is to speak Fegosian fluently, Mr. Hinad'yuna. I will remember to revise them when I need to."

"Good. I'll leave you for an hour to revise through that: if you need any help, then I am sure Dare can help you."

"Thank you, Mr. Hinad'yuna. You have been a good teacher."

After Mr. Hinad'yuna left the room, Catherine smiled at Dare before she began studying; if he wanted to ask her a question, this would be a good time to ask her. "Fegosian is an interesting language, Dare...especially with all the pictograms. By the way, if you are still up for the Ixanian lesson, we can start that after I am finished my Fegosian lesson. I am sure that I will be a good teacher for you; just remember to make some notes for future reference."

bump

"You know, Catherine..."

Dare blushed, and stopped talking for a moment, looking at her.

"You are a very beautiful girl."

He almost coughed out the last part, before turning away and hiding himself behind a book. He was holding it upside down.

Catherine smiled at Dare; before she started to giggle a little when she noticed the book he was hiding behind was upside down; she had seen him blushing earlier. "Thank you for the compliment, Dare', Catherine began to say, "I think you are a handsome and friendly person."

Catherine giggled as she turned herself back to her notes; the compliment was still in her mind. As she read her notes, Dare could hear her humming a tune; which was an old Ixanian song. She did not sing the words but she hummed the tune at least. "By the way, after my Fegosian lesson, we can begin your Ixanian lesson."

I screwed that up. Just calm down, and don't act too rashly...

"You have a lot of nice boys in Neo-Ixania?"

"Yes; I have a lot of nice boys but do not think I have found a boyfriend yet, Dare. I'm still single like the Empress; I just have not found the right one for me yet is all; though many seem to find me. Are there any girls in Alfegos that you like?"

"Not really. You're much better than most girls I have met in Alfegos, especially in looks. The only shortcoming I can think of is your tan: you stay here for a while, and eventually you'll look much better."

"I am normally white; fair-skinned as some will say.. I thank you for the compliment, Dare. I have been cited for my looks in a magazine, I believe but my sister, the Empress, always finds herself highly rated on those men's websites; the ones with men rating women. I must say that you are a handsome man, Dare; one who is friendly, playful and kind."

"Thanks Catherine..."

He lapsed into silence, deep in thought.

"You are probably as beautiful if not more than your sister."