Private Tales Just another day for Von Stehlen

[Llyn Von Stehlen]

Science... The study of the world... And magic is part of the world.
Llyn Von Stehlan was down in the workshop of the Strojland estate. As always her mind was moving at a hundred miles an hour. When she got an idea she ran with it till it went into the ground or took off flying. Her red hair was pinned up in a bun to keep it out of her face while she worked. She wore an apron over a functional trousers and a blouse with the sleeves rolled up.

She had what looked like a wooden arm with turning joints attached to a shoulder joint on what looked like a mannequin. the arm had a complex rigging of strings where if you pulled one string it would bend the arm, and if you pulled another it would straighten the arm. At the top of the arm she had a crystal situated, destined to house either the enchantment she was working on or the magical summon (A.I.) she was crafting.

Her idea was that if she could somehow program magic to work for a specific kinetic or semi intelligent purpose, then it would mean a huge advance in technology for House Von Stehlan! In her mind the applications for this concept were nearly endless!

The other engineers working alongside her could not understand her ideas, mostly because she was too excited to explain anything clearly, but they were willing to try it, providing support and helping out wherever she needed.
Llyn was giddy with excitement. This would be huge if it worked!
She was writing extensively in runic script on a long sheet of parchment. The runic language was deeply connected with magic and was essentially the lost language of rocks. Even a single rune held meaning that carried magic with it. But she was writing out a whole scroll that was already longer than five feet long. She learned the script as soon as she learned of the existence of runes. What she wanted was very specific, so she had to write thousands of sentences and be incredibly specific to prevent any mishaps. The engineers who knew some of the language did their part with magnifying glasses to check for errors.

When she was finally done with a six foot long scroll she stood up and stretched and shook out her hands. Next came the moment of truth. She ordered everyone into protective gear. After she had donned her own gear and stood with the others they all appeared like human shaped oven mittens standing before a scroll. She gave a silent prayer that this wont explode and bring her brothers running. Took a deep breath and began the arduous task of speaking the words on the scroll...

 

[Ivas von Stehlen]

Chores... The study of cleanliness... And cleanliness is next to Godliness, some would say.

Ivas stood up from cleaning the chimney of the estate, an apron clung to his bulky frame. Next to his armour, an apron was Ivas's favourite piece of clothing. It protected the wearers clothes as armour protected the wearers body. This particular apron was covered in copious amounts of soot, along with parts of Ivas's sleeves. He knew it would happen but it still disappointed him that his clothes got dirty. Aside from a lot of other soldiers around the estate, cleaning was something that Ivas enjoyed greatly. It gave him time to relax and gather his thoughts, and he also just simply enjoyed seeing something dirty become clean.

With a sigh he looked down at his sleeves and shrugged to himself, such was the nature of cleaning. "Hey, Ivas!" A voice called to him from the end of the room. It was a couple of the soldiers that patrolled the estate, they were sweating and looked worn out. The taller of them spoke to him once more, "Hey, Ivas, can you give us a hand with some of these crates?" Ivas looked back to the chimney and gathered his tools before turning to them and nodding, "Sure." The soldiers celebrated a little and ran back out of the estate, Ivas noted how much dirt from outside they dragged in and reminded himself to get them to clean it up later.

It was a beautiful day outside, the sun shone brightly and not a cloud was in sight. In the front of the estate were two wagons with multiple soldiers taking boxes out of them, very slowly. These boxes looked incredibly heavy and each of the soldiers had to catch their breath after they set one down. The taller soldier spoke loudly to the rest of them, "Guys, don't worry. I got Ivas here to help us! This should be done in no time!" All of the soldiers cheered a bit and sent silent prayers up above. Ivas wasted no time in picking up one of the boxes that three of the soldiers were having a particularly tough time with. "Jeez Ivas, you could at least make it look a little difficult." One of the soldiers scratched their heads. Ivas shrugged, "It's not heavy. Where is this going?" The soldiers looked at each other and then back at him, "It's...for Llyn." Ivas breathed deeply and nodded, walking away with the box towards the workshop.

The workshop used to be closer to the main estate, used to be. There was a reason that a group of soldiers were painstakingly working on one side of the estate; Llyn von Stehlen was that reason. Ivas would argue with anyone that she was by far the smartest person in the household, no one thought like she did and no one tried to think like she did, lest they probably go mad. Her inventions and ideas were out of this world and Ivas heard rumours that she was working on something else. As much as Ivas loved to be around her and help her with testing her crazy inventions, he also loved cleaning and wanted to leave the estate spotless for once.

He neared the workshop, box in his arms, not knowing how this day would truly turn out..

 

[Karl von Stehlen]

You'd hardly see this in any other noble houses, noblemen cleaning and tending to chores meant for people of lower status...But the militant noble family of the Von Stehlen were a rather "hands-on" people, and thus no task was really "beneth them". It was thus this generation of the noble family didn't possess any full time servants, only the merrid of soldiers that were stationed there to lend a hand or dozen.

It was on this type of day that Karl would have been found cleaning the house, but it seemed that Ivas had offered to take up the task. Unsurprising, given that all knights of the Iron Order understood the basics of house making,

With the matter of the house in the hands of his younger brother, Karl had taken to the kitchen, his sanctuary and a place of solace that extended beyond consuming food: The art of cooking food. Karl had thus spent the good deal of the day in the kitchen dicing, chopping, rolling, and conducting all manners of procedures needed in prepping ingredients for their transitioned into cooked food. This was all in preparation for tonight, one of the rare nights of the month, known as the "Von Stehlen's family dinner". It was on these rare nights did the noble house of the Von Stehlen come together as a whole to bond over a meal and catch up on things they've missed. Considering that half of the time the family was all over the place, it was these mandated dinner traditions that prevented these siblings from just being "strangers".

Karl was usually the one in charge of preparing the dinner, or rather, he was always the one whom volunteered. Every time Karl cooked, it always seemed that he would refer to that rather torn up looking book of his. One probably could deduce that it was a cook book of sorts, considering the way he used it, but it was a wonder where he obtained it...Regardless of where Karl obtained it, it would seem that this cook book provided him with a wealth of recipes, as it seemed that every time Karl cooked(which was almost always), he'd would almost always serve up somthing new and different.

That said, there was really so much "active" things Karl could do until the rest was just waiting for the food to cook...Normally, Karl would stay with his dish through the entire cooking process, but...Karl had been in the mood to do some sweeping, and seeing that his brother was taking care of the main estate...there was only one place left to really do it.

So, he entrusted some of the soldiers within the manner to watch over his creations-in-the-making, instructing them with simple instructions to keep the cooking process going, going until he would return. Grabbing a broom, he had exited the greater estate and headed down to his sister's workshop.

Unlike his brother, Karl kept his armor on even in matters such as house making. It helped that his armor was already jet black, meaning most manners of grim and soot would be rather unnoticeable upon his armor, and he could technically get away with not having to polish it all the time.

Not that he would, as maintaining one's equipment was vital towards combat readiness.

Despite this, it would seem that Karl had his armor on all the time, regardless of circumstance. Fact was, Karl looked virtually the same, from the battlefield to the home-front, even when he was attending formal events with the family...nothing much changed in his appearance. However, what would occasionally be added as a feature was a white apron that often contrasted with his black armor. It was a rather odd looking combination, a battle ready knight wearing somthing that was rather domestic.

Yet despite this contrast, it hardly seemed to phase the knight's indifferent expression.

So there he was, sweeping up the outside of the workshop in full armor. The knight might have gone inside, but he already knew his sister kept her workstation clean as it is...so the only real option was to do some sweeping outside of the workshop. Yet even for the knight of the feather duster, there comes a point where somthing would be indeed rather clean, and he could do very much else then put down the broom.

Thus, when Ivas inevitably came down from the main estate, he would see Karl at the workshop's water well, filling up buckets of water...in particular, Karl had just pulled up a pale from the underground when he did notice Ivas coming down the road.

"Brother..." Karl nodded in greeting with his usual indifferent expression, his plume waved a little as he moved and his hands were resting on the pale of water. "...is that for Llyn?"
Ivas von Stehlen
Llyn Von Stehlans​

 

[Otto von Stehlen]

On this particularly lovely day, many people would have spent it in the great outdoors, enjoying the sunlight and all the world had to offer...if they didn't have other responsibilities. Otto von Stehlen was one of such people whom had a massive load of responsibility hefted upon him. As such he could only enjoy the sunlight through the window of his office, surrounded by stacks of paper and various texts.

Not that it really bothered him, he was too focused on the paper in front of him to care about the sunlight.

Otto had just returned from a hearing on the new proposal for a new irrigation system that sounded rather promising, but inevitably needed some more review and adjusting before things could be finalized. This was only one out of the ten things that were on going at the moment, other issues including approving the budget for construction of a new road, reviewing the new curriculum for the schools, passing the new city ordnance against public urination...

Most people would have been literally buried by the sheer amount of paper work and administrative demand that was required to run the realm of the Von Stehlen, but for the likes of Otto von Stehlen, it was a simple matter of just another Tuesday.

"Gracia, if you could please pass me the budget report of the last irrigation hearing, I need it for comparison..." Otto said into the room in a rather monotone voice, not even looking up from the his papers...the ink in his quill still flowing as he continued in his documents. "...it should on the top shelf of the "budget hearing" section...."

The man was referring to a the top shelf of a bookshelf that had a ladder resting next to it, no doubt for access of said records...

Spoiler

Gracia von Stehlen​

 

[Gracia von Stehlen]

Gracia hated cleaning. No. She despised it. Growing up a spoiled child never helped her learn to take part in such activities without complaining and she'd been searching for an excuse to get out of it all day. She started her day by dusting the shelves in the library and sorting the books that had been misplaced. She preferred this to mopping or cleaning furniture, but it was tiresome and incredibly boring. She could be spending her day looking over military reports and getting actual work done, but just as she slipped the last book into place her cousin, Otto, had called her into his office.

Gracia had a desk in his office, but she seldom used it. She preferred sitting in her bedroom where she had a desk that wouldn't be interrupted. However, she supposed working next to Otto wouldn't do her any harm. She pulled a stack of reports from the wooden drawer of her desk and dipped her quill into the canister of ink readily waiting to be used.

She gave a slight sigh and looked over letters and trading requests from neighboring cities. Foreign affairs was where her talents lie. While deeply engaged in a letter from a noble in Vel Anir, Otto called out to her, asking for her to retrieve a budget report. He didn't even spare her a glance so Gracia took the opportunity to roll her eyes before standing up and walking over to the ladder.

The heel of her shoe caught on the third rung of the ladder and she nearly fell. Luckily, her quick thinking allowed her to grab the sides of the ladder before becoming the victim of embarrassment. She reached on the top shelf and shifted some papers around, not even looking at the names until she found the title she was looking for. Gracia handed it to her cousin and stood in front of his desk for a moment longer.

It was clear Otto was focused entirely on his work.

"So," she said, desperate for some sort of conversation, "Today is the family dinner."

Gracia felt awkward trying to talk to her cousin.

"How is the... irrigation coming along?"

 

[Otto von Stehlen]

Multitasking was somthing that Otto had picked up early on when he was managing essentially everything of the realm. It happens when you had 5 projects running at the same time, and all of them demanded your attention. Thus, mastery of working and talking was essential to a man such as Otto, as seldom did he have the time to waste...and sometimes, he didn't want to pass up a moment...

"The proposed irrigation system has some minor geometrical errors to it that needs to be adjusting...budget needs to be reduced further...and we need to reallocate money to invest in the project and manpower to construct it..." Otto spoke, muttering some of the sentence and taking the report without looking. It was only after flipping through the report and finding what he wanted, did he spare a glance at Gracia, his usual grim expression lingering. "...thank you...and yes, the family dinner...Karl's cooking...again...soup I think.."

The greatest weapon in one's arsenal, weather it's on the field of battle or the halls of the debate room, is one's ability to deceive their opponent. Otto was very much like this, possessing a poker face that seemed at times a more stoic face then any magic could produce. Yet at times, it was hard for people close to talk to him, those who didn't know him all too well anyways. Didn't help that he was on the move all the time, and that he didn't really "hang out" with the rest of the family...but perhaps this was why they did "family dinners" in the first place.

"How's the letter going?" Otto asked idly, is monotone voice persisted, as his focus returned to the paper in front of him.​

 

[Llyn Von Stehlen]

One slip... One tiny mispronunciation... One forgotten word or phrase... And this whole thing could blow up, literally, in their faces. They all wore ridiculous protective gear, but the real damage would be to their pride.
Llyn stood before the scroll, almost half way through the spell. Sweat stained her brow as she spoke the words written on the scroll. If this worked, the spell will bind to the crystal. Then on command it should perform its programmed function and move the arm. The crystal serving as the storage of magical power and the programmed action that it will perform in manipulating the mechanisms.

But she couldn't make a single mistake now. She had only twenty more sentences to go, her voice growing horse from the strain as she spoke fast and feverishly, success so close at hand. To her knowledge no magic user had ever written a scroll of this magnitude before. And the beauty of scrolls is they did not require any magical power from the user to perform the spell, the magic already being present in the creation of the letters and words.

Finally... The last word was spoken from the scroll... Llyn watched as all the letters glowed with fire as she directed the spell to the crystal, selecting its target. The paper burned away as a golden light filtered from the scroll and into the crystal. She was out of breath and gasping for air, but she watched in awe as the formerly blue crystal turned golden. Tears stun her eyes at the light it radiated... It worked!

Suddenly a crack appeared in the crystal.
The very next instant there was a massive explosion! The sound rocked the earth and all the engineers were sent flying across the workshop.
Llyn found herself flying through the air, she could see the blue sky above her through the protective goggles of her ridiculous suit. But the suit did its job as it absorbed the impact from the earth. She had exploded out the door and sailed a good fifty feet before her landing. She felt the wind knocked out of her and for a long moment she lay on the ground unmoving, like a large and scorched human shaped oven mitten.

 

[Ivas von Stehlen]

Ivas got closer and closer to the workshop, thinking to himself about the rest of the cleaning he had to do around the estate. His thoughts were pulled away as Karl's voice called to him. Ivas looked over to see his brother pull up a pail of water from the well and nodded back, "Aye. Have you seen her?" At that moment both brothers heard a massive explosion that cracked through the empty sky and shook the mighty earth. From their vantage point they both saw their sister rocket from the workshop and soar through the air for a moment before landing on the ground a way's away with an audible thud. Ivas looked at her calmly and back at his brother, "Found her."

It seemed as though this time whatever experiment she had been working on backfired on her. This wasn't the first explosion that had been directly caused by Llyn, nor the second, or third... or fourth...

 

[Karl von Stehlen]

The explosion didn't seem to even flinch the knight, as his plume blew forward from the shockwave of the explosion. Instead, Karl would idly glanced in the direction away from the explosion, listening for the eventual thud from what was no doubt their sister. When the knight did hear the thud, he looked back to Ivas, gesturing with his head towards the sound of his sister, hands moving to grip the bucket of water in his hands firmly.

"Give me a hand with the water, will you." Karl said idly, referring to the buckets of water next to the well he had filled. With a heave, Karl hefting the bucket in his hands and turned around, taking a few steps forward before hurling the bucket's contents into the air. This in turn caused a wave of water to fly into the air, landing upon Llyn and quickly smoldering whatever singes remained burning.

"You alright, sister?" Karl asked as he dropped the bucket to the side, clanking over to make sure his sister was still breathing. "Anything flammable we should be worrying about?"​

 

[Llyn Von Stehlen]

Llyn suddenly had water doused over her. She could see her brother Karl come into view against the sky. She was still trying to recapture her breath, but when she finally did all she could do was laugh.
She laughed happily as she stripped out of the wet padded armor. She was unhurt, in fact she was absolutely overjoyed! She leapt to her feet and threw her arms around both of them, laughing till tears came to her eyes.

"It worked! It worked it worked it WORKED!" She laughed and put her hands on both sides of Karl's helmet as she almost squealed into his face, "I know what went wrong! we only used ONE crystal and we needed TWO! Just one couldn't handle all the power and information at once, so we need one crystal to store the power and another crystal to store the information!"

She released them both and spun around joyfully, her arms out wide.
"Just imagine! an army of crossbows that fire and reload THEMSELVES! Or maybe a Hwacha that can reload itself and fire hundreds of arrows every ten seconds leaving knights free to fight! The possibilities are ENDLESS!"
She knew that they probably didn't understand what she said about the crystals... But the implications of automatic crossbows or siege weapons?
She faced them both with her hands tucked behind her back and bounced up and down a little. She bit her lip to shut up, her expression of excitement and expectation asking them what they thought.

 

[Ivas von Stehlen]

Ivas walked alongside his brother over to Llyn who was slightly on fire. When she was doused she started laughing and got up from the ground once she was out of her odd costume. Suddenly Ivas was pulled into a hug and he let out an odd, "Oh...Okay." Once he was released from her excited grip of joy she spoke with words that almost made it seem as though she knew another language. Ivas knew what she was talking about but at the same time had no idea what she was talking about. Something about crystals and something about information being stored in them, but that's as far as he got. He knew how to use a weapon to cleave his enemies, not an odd artifact that took the fun out of battle.

He glanced at Karl and shrugged before turning back to Llyn and giving her his thoughts, perhaps a little too honestly. "I think that you're taking the fun out of battle. I also think that, that fall knocked whatever was loose in your head even looser."

 

[Gracia von Stehlen]

Otto refused to look at her. Gracia positioned her hands on her hips and flipped some stray hairs behind her shoulder.

"The letter... It's fine. I suppose."

Her interest in being around her horribly monotone cousin was wavering tremendously and she had a strong urge to leave him there. She doubted he would even notice she was gone if she simply walked out now and went to pester Llyn.

"It's just this and that. You know, the usual. House Banick just wants to fortify a trading alliance and what not. I'm still unsure of how to reply."

Gracia was rambling and she knew it, but she continued anyway, secretly hoping her voice would soon annoy her cousin.

"You see, I'm not such a huge supporter of Vel Anir's way of life. The xenophobia isn't really something I'm sure I'd like to invest in. But, oh, House Banick does have that huge farm they've invested in from outside the city and we did get that one shipment just last month, if you remember, and they do have nice fruit. I just don't want to buy fruit that's been picked by enslaved elves or something. Is slavery even legal over there?"

Just as she decided to finish her rambling, the ground shook from beneath her. Gracia caught the side of Otto's desk to save herself from nearly falling a second time. When the ground stopped moving and she gained her balance, she scurried to the window and peered outside.

Gracia sighed, "Looks like Llyn blew something up again."

 

[Karl von Stehlen]

"They've been loose for quite some time now, brother..." Karl simply grunted, as he placed a hand on one of her hands, gently lifting it her hand off of his helmet. "...why do you think our house occasionally explodes?"

Well, it wasn't really their house that exploded...anymore, it was really the workshop that often did so. But in any case, most people passing or even living nearby often referred to the Von Stehlen's estate as consistently "exploding".

"Still... an impressive concept...with a lot of tactical and strategic benefits...if what you say can be done..." Karl said, giving an approving nod to his sister, as his expression shifted a bit towards a thoughtful one, "...I wonder how many of these things we can mount onto our war wagons...it would definitely reinvent the concept of mobility and firepower...you know, even more then it already is...although, I do hope they are more stable then...well, that..."

He was referring to the mess that had been her protection suit, although it was clear that he was referring to the explosion...among other things...​

 

[Otto von Stehlen]

"When has she not?...I'd be more concerned if it wasn't her..." Otto grunted at his cousin's comment on Llyn, glancing up from his paper to the window, before refocusing on the paper in front of him. "...while I do encourage her purists...I do wish she'd make less of a ruckus about it...I hear about it sometimes from the general council...especially when she's doing her experiments in the city...somthing about being a potential "fire hazard" to the city."

Karl didn't mention the fact that the city had just approved a new ordnance to move it's local fire department closer to the workshops...in case somthing or another got out of hand.

"As for the letter and the trade alliance...I'll leave the decision up to you..." Regardless, Otto was always a keen listener, as years spent in the government chambers had trained him to keep up with information, no matter how long or dull the deliver method was.
"....if you think they're goods worth the price...I suppose it would be for the betterment of the people...but of course, we have our principals...and I'd say a few shipment of fruit is no loss on any of our heads...we certainly have other options to turn to if the need is great... "

​

 

[Llyn Von Stehlen]

When they talked about something wrong with her head she pouted with a little stomp of her foot and stuck her tongue out at them.
"Hmph! You guys are impossible! I do all this work and all I get is sarcasm from my brothers!"
She throws her hands in the air in mock frustration.
"I could create a self moving wagon with this invention and you would be like, "Llyn, that's so stupid! Why on earth would we want a cart without horses?" And then once you try it you will see just how good of an idea it is!"

She planted her fists on her hips. This was their little routine. She comes up with something genius, they make fun of her, and she goes and makes them eat their words.
This is one of her few passions, to build amazing things that the world has never seen before, but always to keep the best ideas for her family. She already had blueprints in her head for repeating crossbows, using gravity to feed the bolts into the crossbow and rotating levers to restring the crossbow and fire at a much higher rate of fire than a normal crossbow. But if this new invention of hers worked with the crystals and moving parts... They wouldn't even need men there to fire them... But of course there had to be a standard for aiming, targets, who's friendly and who's the enemy... She had to make sure there was no possibility of friendly fire.

As she stood there pretending to be angry with her brothers a sudden realization hit her... Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened. She groaned and covered her face with her hands.
"Uuugh I'm such an IDIOT! I didn't NEED to make a six foot long scroll... I could have just made several SMALLER scrolls and just cast them in ORDER!... I am SUCH and IDIOT!"

 

[Ivas von Stehlen]

Ivas nodded in agreement to Karl's words, "I know why, we were both there for the first one. I've never seen someone launch faster in my life." Suddenly Llyn exploded in her mock rage. This is what she did, she exploded, she pouted, and she proved them wrong. Time and time again she proved them wrong and showed them how terrific her mind truly was. Ivas had a lot of respect and admiration for her, she was much smarter than he was and grasped difficult concepts with ease, even proving some of them wrong and make them better and more efficient. No matter how much he teased her, at the end of the day he would try and trust almost any invention she made. As long as it was in its final version.

After she was done with her little tirade, Ivas placed his hand on her head and ruffled her hair, "Llyn, I think you need to see someone for your anger." He smiled down at her, "But, I know that you'll pull through with this and show us something amazing. You always do. Speaking of which," He turned to face the box he had set on the ground by the well, "I have a box full of stuff for you. It's quite heavy. Where do you want it?"

 

[Llyn Von Stehlen]

Ivas pointed out the crate full of stuff for her lab and her face brightened a bit, "Oh yeah! thank you so much! can you just put it in the storage shed next to the workshop?"
Several engineers were slowly staggering from the workshop, all of them blackened as well, but nobody burning and everyone seemed fine. But the workshop was full of smoke that continued to billow out of the door and windows. It wasn't on fire, but it would take a while for it to air out.

She turned her attention back to her brothers, "Almost forgot! It's family dinner tonight! Who is cooking? Never mind, it's always great no matter who's cooking. I'll be there!"
She turned on her heels and skipped over to her colleagues to give them the good news about her discoveries. They were just as skeptical as the knights were, but they had seen the fruits of her brilliant mind and were willing to go along with whatever ideas she had. It was a learning experience for them as well as for her just in everyday life around Miss Von Stehlen.

 

[Karl von Stehlen]

"Well...that's our sister for you..." Karl sighed, his expression hardly changing as he folded his metal clad arms. At the very least, life around the estate had a little bit more pizzazz to it with his little sister around...given the explosions and everything. But still, there were days when she did invent somthing that didn't imminently rock the nearby vicinity...even so, Karl had always been impressed by the amount of stuff she could turn into reality with her hands...even if he didn't outright show it with his expression...she was no doubt an invaluable asset to their realm...as Otto probably would put it.

"By the by, since she brought it up, we're having chicken and vegetable soup...with a new dish I'm trying out...I'm told it comes from the far North." The question of who was cooking seemed redundant, as per traditional, Karl had always seem to volunteer to a point of insistence. Again, the book he seemed to carry around played a large role in it, as it seemed like every other instance he was in a kitchen trying out new recipes with that torn up book. Chicken and vegetable soup usually was the same, but every time it seemed a little bit different then the last time...and this new recipe he was experimenting with, this dumpling like "pelmeni", which he seemed to have been experimenting within the last week or so.

"But as you were brother...you probably should get that box into storage before she decides to try out more of her "ideas" today...I'd like her in tack for dinner...I'd like as much feed back as possible..."​

 

[Gracia von Stehlen]

Gracia had no actual care for the possibility of immoral labor in Vel Anir. She only questioned it for the sole purpose of rambling. And making her seem less like an insufferable, stuck-up noblewoman. Of course she would agree to the alliance.

Instead she said, "I'll spend some time dwelling upon it."

The explosion in the workshop seemed to have simmered down and Gracia desperately wanted an escape from Otto's stuffy office.

"I think I shall go check on Llyn. Just to make sure she's still in one piece."

There was no doubt in her mind that Llyn was still in one piece. She always managed to somehow survive explosions. The luck the girl had. Gracia was mildly jealous of it.

"You may accompany me if you wish."

 

[Otto von Stehlen]

"Think carefully...such alliances speaks loudly to the world about us as a people...and we do not want the world to think we codon such barbarism...but also remember...time is just as valuable as any form of currency in the world." Otto spoke, his demeanor barely shifting, but his words seem to carry some semblance of wisdom. Matters of trade were always complicated, especially given the Strojland stance on a particular system of...forced servitude.

Just a few days ago, both the younger brothers of the household had dealt with a convoy dealing in such "commodities"...a rather lengthy and pain-in-the-butt matter that had to be resolved, even after the fact.

"Go ahead...you've spent enough time in door as is...and some fresh air would do you good..." Otto grunted, like a father talking to a teenager whom spent all her time locked in her room. "...I'll see you during dinner... and tell your cousin to keep it down with the explosions, she keeps on spooking the neighbor's livestock..."

The closest neighboring farm was a good few miles from the estate, so it was a testimony of how loud these explosion were...
​