Memories of a time long gone

[Guest]

Although she hated it, taking a train to the main hub of everything that was this country, was the fastest way. And she'd rather be all upset about the train ride then be too late or miss an important formal meeting. Which point was, to introduce the new head of that empirical task force to said Empire's main ruler, the Empress, since they would propably be doing business with each other more often then not. So Yuuko was ordered to the place almost immediately even though she had just embarked towards different, but clearly more insignificant tasks.

Only a short while after, the iron transportation device was long disembarked off and the woman made her way to what was the Palace. Few passengers seemed to take more then just one quick glance, some apparently remember seeing that face on some billboards with advertisement. As usual, the Artist responded to these looks with the usual, perfectly executed but fake, friendly smile from behind the folding fan. Almost right behind her followed a figure in a coat with stiff steps and no apparent other movements - not that it was clear to tell with that coat on.
Upon reaching the main entrance gate, Yuuko was stopped by guards to which she quickly responded with "I'm here because i was invited to a special meeting with some important people."

After a quick exchange of words between the two Gatekeepers, who had been mustering the fancily dressed young woman and her cloaked companion with wary eyes ever since she had approached palace property, she was advised to wait right there, while it's being checked and someone was getting called for her. And so Yuu did. What other choice did she have at this point? Surely, she could tell them about herself and her position, but they wouldn't believe it, the thiid option was to take them out -wich she was propably easily capable of. and force her way in. None of these possibilities seemed to be faster and easier then just to play along with their formalties for now.

At least she was trained to manipulate her facial expression to her liking, otherwise it would have been easy to see that she was already annoyed with this unnecessary wait. They best not take too long. Or so she thought, otherwise it would be hard for her to regain her composure fast enough when she would get in contact with the more important people at this place.

[Raistlin Ambros]

"Commander, there is a guest at the palace gates, I'm here to inform you as you requested" the guard blurted out nervously, hastily rolling of his words as if he wanted to deliver the news and be dismissed as quickly as possible. "Very well" replied Raistlin, placing the papers in his hand down on his office desk. It was a horribly plain office, that's all that one could make of it. He never kept any of his personal things in here, they were all off in an underground complex beneath the Imperial Palace, this office was just for all the paperwork and formalities that came with being the commander of the Aerugese Army. "You make take your leave" he added in his usual apathetic tone, to which the guard hurried off as quickly as he could without making it obvious that he wanted to be elsewhere. Raistlin payed no mind to this, standing up shortly afterwards and exiting the room, flicking the lights off and closing the door softly behind him. He had left his red cloak behind, so he was garbed in only his black military style uniform, adorned with various straps and chains along the waist arms and legs. A short walk down a few corridors and a flight of stairs or two, the Crimson eyed General stepped out into the bright sunlight that shined on he Palace grounds. Down a scenic path bordered by green grass, well groomed shrubs and ornamental trees of various types, Raistlin made his way towards the main gate, which lied in waiting in the distance. With keen red eyes, far more acute than a normal human beings, he spotted the invited guests before they saw him, and he kept his stare fixed upon them as he drew closer. The woman was wearing an ornamental and traditional Aerugese costume, something usually not worn in public in this day and age, and her silver hair stuck out as well. Upon closer inspection, he noticed an odd horn like protrusion from her forehead. Did she really go through all this effort for her looks? She was a lean woman too, she looked as if she dieted and exercised often, from what he could tell. The large man in the coat behind her stood out much less so, he must have been her escort. He stopped in front of them and gave them both a glance before nodding towards the guard nearby. Turning back towards the two, Raistlin looked at the silver haired oni woman and greeted her in his shadowy voice, skipping the formalities and getting straight on with it in stating, "Follow me".

And with that, he turned around abruptly, long black hair whipping in the wind as he walked on towards the Palace throne room where Harumi would receive this visitor.

[Guest]

"Hup!" Her feet landed softly on the tiled roofs near the palace, making but a small sound of moving tiles. She moved swiftly and carefully, making sure to tail this newcomer without being noticed by her. This stranger was interesting, maybe a new friend? Each step was met with the clatter of more tiles, but she continued to move at speed until the stranger met up with the gate. She hit the ground behind her, watching carefully and silently from the shadows, eyes glowing slightly in the light.

Interesting, interesting. She looks pretty~ She giggled softly, before disappearing from view before any possibility of her being seen by the stranger arose. As soon as she was there, AA was gone, and moving into the area around the palace with quieted steps - through a secret entrance of course - and stood in the shadows, watching Rai-stu-lin greet her. Interesting. So she was a guest? AA raised a finger to one of her lips, thinking this over a little more. Haru-Haru hadn't told her of any new guests! She felt slightly annoyed at that, but decided to not scold the woman. Mostly because she realized that Haru-Haru would have her reasons. She sighed softly and clambered up the side of the palace, using the hand- and foot-holds to gather herself on the roof of the large building. She 'hup'ed, and moved in through a few special holes that she'd made, slipping and sliding with a gleeful face - landing on the floor of a room behind Haru-Haru's chambers. She stood up and dusted herself off, before skipping happily through the halls to reach where they'd be meeting.

She peeked out the door with wide eyes, wondering what was going on.

[Guest]

Wind blew through a plain, wooden chime that hung from the rafters as if it were trying to whistle a song along with the shrill of mockingbirds. Haru sat seiza (on her knees) upon a black zabuton (cushion) which was in place to prevent the sharp vertical lines of the tatami (bamboo) mat from creating marks on her shins. Haru's eyes were closed in deep concentration and her nostrils were flared with incense whose label was that of the current season. Its fresh, heated scent washed out of the open shoji screen, wafting onto the veranda where the sounds of light footsteps could be heard approaching. Haru perked up and removed her hands from their embrace, standing in a fluid motion that almost caused the room to skew. Her hands blindly clutched the wall for support and then took up her bass for the first time in about twenty-six hours. Its black body was risen from its cool, metal stand and clunked deep rhythms as it was swung around her back where it belonged. She stepped over the sliding door track and onto the wood that was still warm from the beats of the summer sun. Smiling up at it, bare feet slapped against the sleek surface until she reached a different entryway. (This was a short cut). She slipped inside the room and shut the door behind her, opening another that lead to an extremely narrow hallway, which they called the hisashi. It was a while more before she reached the central throne room in haste before her audience got there first. With a huff, she deposited her body upon the takamikura, the throne itself.

The throne she didn't feel she ever deserved. But she was the descendant. Harumi Tsukino was a goddess... And she was the only remaining survivor of her family. Were they all killed off for a reason? Could it have been an omen for the destruction of their country? She gripped the edges of the seat until her knuckles were white and only wished that she was still immersed in zazen.

The group entered and Haru immediately ditched her childish thoughts and met each of their eyes. Raistlin, man, person, ...wait. She stared at the locks of silver hair in deep speculation. Her ears were buzzing and the room began to swim. As Haru struggled to keep herself composed all the while, her head was swarming with shattered pieces of fragmented memories. She came to herself then and her head jerked to the side, directly meeting the gaze of someone she had forgotten. "Y-Yuuko?" She whispered out loud and then threw herself to her feet and in front of the woman she had once known, determined to know her again. This was someone she idolized, someone she had loved and who had loved her for her music. Tears spiked into her black eyes that now seemed to have a sheen of blue over them, and then she smiled--a bright smile. "It's me, Kanon, from TRACE!" She spun around with a whip of slick, black hair to reveal her treasured bass. It was the only thing left of her past, yet it seemed now she had gained something back...

[Guest]

In silence, Yuuko followed the person who'd met her at the main gates wherever he went, through corridors and over stairs, around corners. So did the walking cloak that followed her. No sounds were to be heard, only the silent steps of the three and sometimes, distant noises of various origin, all of wich kept fading out with every meter they got deeper into the palace. Interested glances were shot around over one fan's edge, the fan in question used to conceal the trained assasiness'es face as much as possible.
After a span of time, that Yuu could not assign a specific measuring unit or value to - mostly because she was absorbed by her own thoughts and already plotting various schemes related to events far off this meeting, seeing as it was only a plan-disrupting formalty - they arrived. With, as it was common practice towards the Empress or Empereor of her country, Yuuko entered that which was the throne room of Aerugo with lowered sight and straight posture, not that her posture was ever not matching the standards of good manner. Thus, she did not actually realize half of what happened in the next seconds. Because, unlike a certain other person, Yuuko still remembered almost any day of the past as it was yesterday, and would have recignized a familiar face rather immediately, even though she certainly would not expect this particular one to be in this one, most important and special place in all of Aerugo. But still, there it was, and the voice that came along with it knew her name, even if it sounded unsure at first.
Indeed, the girl who'd jumped up from the Empress' throne looked a lot like how she remembered her childhood friend to look, and she'd also have a bassguitar that seemed to be a really good replication of TRACE's Kanon's one. Now she even claimed it was in fact herself. Good thing, that habit of hers to always give or take a few seconds between responses still worked, even under this rather unexpected, startling turn of events. So she did not speak out the first thing that came to her mind, but could sort her thoughts, keep her composure and put together a better answer.
"It sure looks like it, my Empress. Although, if i may add, i would not have expected this turn of events." It was indeed unexpected, but the more she thought of it, the more sense it made. After TRACE had abandoned her, she had vanished with the earthquake back then and Yuu's family intel gathered she had been taken in by officials. So half the puzzle was there, the other half, that would be about 'why' was still missing, though. Despite being busied in her head with piecing everything together, the head assassiness thought of the formalty to bow deeply.
On the inside, Yuuko felt like something lost was returned, the only person ever to be a real friend, expected to have vanished somewhere. They, in fact, have met again. Not for a mere blink of an eye, she had doubts it was her, just by the fact she knew of TRACE, her name and held possession over that one instrument that Kanon would have died for, before ever letting go.
Still, besides all of that, this was the Empress after all, so there was no place for any kind of tearful reunition celebration. At least not until she would wish to drop all formalties and not meet as figures of the Empire but regular humans, friends even. So the taller female upheld her respect and formal-ness, waiting for the Empress to request her to respond or do anything at all.

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