Isadove Silentdew

Princess Isadove Biloren Michelle VonGaret Truex Silentdew was the third sister of the royal line of Silentdew of the kingdom of Truex of the empire of Brink and she was trouble. Form a young age she had been filled with energy and curiosity always going places she shouldn't and doing things she shouldn't. She was in trouble so often many of the servants wondered if she enjoyed being spanked. Her parents decided her energies needed to be channeled so she was educated in etiquette and languages and histories. She loved to read but she also loved to sneak into little hiding places and listen for secrets. The palace poison master, a very skilled assassin, named Bredlee Brex saw this talent in her and mussed to herself that she would make a fine rogue. Bredlee was tasked with teaching the princesses about poisons, how to detect them, how to avoid them, how to cure them. This was all standard education for royalty who are always under threat of a poison plot. One day she noticed how aggravated Isadove became when she was beaten by her sisters at cards, so she asked her if she'd like to learn how to cheat. Izzy ate up this forbidden knowledge, like a sponge in a puddle. Bredlee found Izzy was a natural at slight of hand as it seemed she was at spying in general. Bredlee decided then that she'd turn this little noble girl into her secret apprentice. She wouldn't even let Izzy know what she was teaching her to be. The Assassin taught Izzy everyday from the time she was 8 years old until she was 16. She filled her with all the knowledge she had ever gained about stealth, and hiding, and surprise, slight of hand, lock picking, intimate weapons and Izzy mastered every skill. she didn't know it but she was an expert Rogue. Bredlee was very pleased with what she had created. As Izzy's skills improved her reputation in the palace improved as well. The spankings had stopped, her father was proud of her proper behavior and she was almost ready to start entertaining suiters. The truth was she wasn't causing any less mischief she just had the skills now to get away with it. Her and her sisters would sit down every Pelorem night and play cards, Izzy would always bring the wine, a bottle from their fathers private reserves that no one knew had gone missing and that she insisted was just a bottle that had been lying around the kitchens. Izzy was very skilled at being a rogue but she had no idea what that meant, she would often find herself at parties stealing an item out of one persons pocket or purse just to put it into another persons pocket or purse so she could watch the chaos. Bredlee would always watch her from the shadows and score her on her execution and impact the next day, which made it a game. and Izzy loved winning. Izzy's parents were very aloof, as royals they felt being distant was part of the mystique, that may or may not have been the case but it left a pretty big hole in their daughter's hearts when it came to love and affection the two oldest daughters clung to each other but Izzy had Bredlee who was a teacher and friend and a mother all rolled into one. When Izzy was fourteen Truex was scheduled to be an allied force in the war between Plumevale and Ravenside. From that experience She thought war was great fun. When the procession of soldiers marched out of the palace in their shinny armor she cheered alongside everyone else. plus the Alliance strategy meetings always included grand balls where she was expected to mingle with all the young princes but she always found herself more interested in spending time with the young princesses. The princes were fun for a time but they became boring quickly, the princesses were always interesting. Plus the balls always had a showcase where the princess and princesses would be able to show a talent. Her parents forced her to play the harpsichord but she would always write words into her songs so she could sing too. Over the years that followed Izzy had sneaked into enough war council meetings to know that Brink was not as warlike as they had made themselves out to be. She had learned that all the civil wars within brink since the end of the separation wars with the exception of the Beastkith revolution had been faked. that the kings queens regents and prime ministers of every halfling member nation of brink had created a system to simulate war to prevent uncontained death and destruction. Instead the winners are predetermined and the battle losses are calculated accordingly. in this way every nation thinks the Halflings remain as savage as they were during the Separation wars and there is no more death than necessary. On Izzy's 16th birthday she learned that the next war would be between Truex and the neighboring Republic of Falsin which was where Bredlee came from. She was afraid of what this would mean for her mentor. and later that day her fears were manifest. Bredlee came to her to say goodbye. Izzy told her it was fake, it wasn't a real war that no one was really mad at each other. Bredlee said: "I know my dove, it is not real but my responsibility is" and she pulled a letter from her pocket it said "you have been chosen, your death is scheduled for two weeks from this Erathem. Please make all necessary arrangements. Yours Chamberlain Rentool." Izzy completely lost herself demanding she not go, it was all Bredlee could do to calm her down and when she did the young woman was sobbing uncontrollably begging her not to leave. Izzy needed her she was the only one who knew who she really was. Bredlee said: "My beautiful Dove, I must do this. I know it is hard but it is how we stay safe in a world that would crush us under foot. they are so big and we are so small, they must fear us or we will be doomed." Izzy looked into her face tears streaming down her cheeks and slapped her, Bredlee didn't move, Izzy slapped her again and ran off. she didn't know where she was running but she couldn't stand there anymore. When someone loves you you can't leave them she thought. then she realized that wasn't true, the truth was when you love someone you can't let them leave you. she decided she would stop these wars. this barbaric idea of walking voluntarily toward your death like some pathetic martar. picking people to die so that her people could seem strong to others who may or may not be their enemies. She makes a plan to Get into the Chamberlains office where the Crystal of Conflict is currently being kept before it is sent on to Falsin for them to receive their war plans. The Crystal of Conflict is a mystical gem created with the combined magics of the Brinkian Mages guild hundreds of years ago. It took them 7 years worth of constant casting to create it. It is both a record of all the past battles, wars, and sacrifices and a roadmap of the up coming conflict. The gem, through magical means, Divines the most high profile conflict between Brinkian kingdoms it provides the leaders with detailed battle logistics such as where and when, win and lose, stand and fall so as to provide the strongest impression to the rest of the world the savage nature of the Halflings of Brink. Izzy decided that if she can get the Crystal the wars can't continue which will give her time to figure out what to do next. That night was her birthday ball where there was no singing. When opening her presents she found a gift from Bredlee a beautiful porcelain figurine of a dove with sapphire eyes carrying a scroll with the word daughter written in thieves kant on it. She almost smashed it on the floor she loved it so much instead she hugged it to her breast and looked around the room for Bredlee. She wasn't there. After that it really was the most tedious birthday ball ever because all she wanted was to get her plan underway. When everyone was gone or asleep she donned her stealth outfit and made her way through the palace. She easily avoided the guards making her way through the kitchens where the prep chefs were preparing breads for the next day. They never saw her despite her grabbing a loaf off the countertop. It was hotter than she expected and she nearly yelped in pain before mastering her body. She stowed the bread in her pack next to the dried meat she had saved from dinner and her canteen. She made her way into the Dumbwater shaft that led to the administrative level of the palace. using the acrobatic and nimbleness skills she had been honing for the last 8 years she climbed up and out onto the second floor. Where she stood face to face with an armored figure. She backed away slowly but the figure never moved, she realized it was a decorative suit of armor in the hallway that she'd passed a hundred times and she wanted to pinch herself. She continued to the chamberlains quarters Which was locked, when she slid her lock picks, made by her own hand, into the keyhole she found it blocked as if someone had tried to pick the lock already and broken their picks inside the mechanism. undeterred She moved to the next office on the floor, the Majordomo whose door was also locked but this one she picked with ease. as she entered the room she heard snoring and saw Majordomo Cardib's dark skin and large posterior rising and falling as she slept on her small cot in the corner. Izzy slowly made her way acrosss the room and opened the shutter where she climbed out onto the 2 inch ledge that ran under the window. Each window on this floor had a similar ledge, so she jumped in to the air spinning around to face the wall and as the ledge passed her eyes she grabbed it with her finger tips. She swung her body building momentum to throw herself to the next window ledge outside the chamberlains room. She released and flew across the gap reaching with her right arm she caught the ledge. she pulled herself up still dangling but now eye level with the shutter. She braced herself and gave a small push and the shutter swing back giving her room to lever herself up and into the room where again she heard snoring. she walked across the room to the device that resides in all chamberlains of brinks' quarters that allows the Crystal of Conflict to be read. She reached in but before she could wrap her fingers around the gem a voice from behind her said: "That was very impressive but I had really hoped you would not do this" Izzy spun to find, stepping out of a shadow, Bredlee. Chamberlain Rentool sat up: "What what is happening who is?" Bredlee said: Nothing chamberlain go back to sleep and she shot him with a blowdart, ha passed out. Izzy begged for her to stand down so she could be saved. but Bredlee believed in duty and the wisdom of the crystal of conflict. but you''d die Izzy exclaimed. "Some things are worth death, not for you because you are royal. your life has value. for those of us on the bottom this is what it takes to have value. please go back to bed do not make me stop you." Izzy took a fighters stance and readied for the fight she knew was coming. The fight was not very remarkable, to be honest Bredlee thought Izzy would have been more challenging. it didn't take more than a few blows for Izzy to fall. Bredlee immediately was at her side and helped her up. "please give me a hug and go to bed I don't want my last memory of you to be me beating you unconscious. Izzy nodded, squeezed Bredlee tight and whispered "I love you" into her hair. then she darted out of the room. Bredlee stood there for a moment caught with emotion then she went to remove the evidence of their presence she straightened up the rug where they had fought, she removed the blowdart from the chamberlain and she went to close the access door on the viewer where the crystal of conflict was but when she looked in she saw that the crystal was gone and in its place was a small porcelain figurine of a Dove with sapphire eyes when she pulled it out it was holding a small scroll which read "Mother" in thieves Kant. Bredlee began to laugh as tears fell down her face. Izzy ran as fast as her little legs could take her, once she got across the grounds she could see activity back at the house, they were coming. she ducked into the stables and pulled Flamespirit out from his pen where she had saddled him earlier. she jumped on and rode away as fast as possible. When she made it to the Stolen Glance River She took a ferry across and into Forlornia, From that side of the river she found a town. though they looked at her funny they didn't give her a hard time about selling her horse and booking passage on a riverboat to the coast. The journey with almost all humans was not unpleasant. Most people were friendly and just wanted to ask questions. A very small number of older folks seemed afraid she would go savage on them at anytime but when she didn't they loosened up. It took 3 days to get to the coast. Where they docked along side the Larger Ocean Going ships at the Cauthon docks on the coast of the Yadril Ocean. On the journey she devised a plan, the common people of Forlornia had no idea of the wars fought in Brink. They didn't know that Prunevale had Defeated Ravenside or the NightRidge had been beaten by SunValley. Most of them barely knew that the Halflings of Brink had started the Separation Wars. Izzy was beginning to suspect the crystal of conflict wasn't working or that it wasn't needed but she needed to see more than common people she needed to see governments and leaders. She needed to infiltrate and spy and learn how the world viewed Halflings and Brink specifically. Her father and the other leaders couldn't replace the crystal and so long as she had it the wars could not happen, she hoped. So she would go to the ends of Al'Uvium to see if she was right and see if she could save her people from this never ending cycle of war and death and madness. and the first step of that journey was boarding a ship called the Flying Dutchment, on route to Thawl-Anon in Initia