Training the People

Artimus continued to eat the food, watching his wife, loving the way her hair fell across her face.
Why did he need to have other women when he had her?

So, where were we? We decided I need to go to Meriddia to get some tea, and Jade needs to... What did we decide with Jade?

~she smiled and reached over touched the side of his face.~

"I love you My Captain."

~His keen eyes also noted the fact she wasn't looking at him. He guessed she was mad at him for something. Sometimes he never understood women. But he ignored it all and started off towards a tavern.~

~There was only really one choice, the tavern with the room Jade had hired the day before. He knew where it was and walked there with a confident walk, his back straight and his eyes looking all around. He could feel the eyes of the people on him; most of them knew him if not in person then by reputation. Well, they might think he was his twin brother, but the effect was the same.~

~He spotted a shifty looking man bump into a wealthy looking traveller, his hand going into the travellers pocket before he looked up and spotted Tiberious, the man's hand withdrawing and opening to show it was empty. That was good. He didn't want to be arresting anyone at the moment. He moved his hands to his eyes, staring at the man to let him know he had seen, but continued on the way to the tavern without breaking stride.~

"Did you see that"

~He spoke in a quiet voice, but in a tone that indicated he wasn't going to do anything about it~

~she had noticed it~

"Yes I did... surprised you didn't go into guard mode and try to arrest him." ~she then looked over to him.~

"He didn't actually commit a crime. I can't arrest people just for walking into someone."

~he continued to walk and talk.~

"There is a difference between thinking of commiting a crime and actualyl commiting one. Had his hand not come away empty then I would have done something."

~He turned and walked into the tavern, opening the door to let Jade through first.~

~she walked in first and looked around the tavern. Seeing her parents kinda cosy.~

"I see they are not fighting." ~she motioned to her left where her parents were sitting.~

~He walked in and saw them sitting there. He could have almost growled.~

"Of all the taverns, in all the cities, on all the island. And he's sitting in this one!"

~he looked at Jade, with a small twinkle in his eye.~

"Don't worry, I'll be good."

Artimus looked up as he saw the door open and Jade and Tiberious walked in.

Oh, here's Jade. And her monkey helper.

~she smiled softly over at him~

"Thank you."

~she moved over to there table~

"Hey dad, mom can we join you?"

Artimus looked up at her, and smiled. His plate was almost empty now.

Jade, you're always welcome to join us.

His eyes flicked to Tiberious.

Lt. He said simply

~He looked over at Artimus, noting that he invited his daughter to sit.~

"No need to be so formal, Mr. Morningstar. I'm not on duty now."

~He took the seat next to Indis, not wanting to sit next to Artimus.~

"Good to see you again Indis."

~she turned and smiled at the two~

"Hello Sweety and Tib." ~she sat up~

"I do believe Tib when I last saw you... you said you were going to buy someone a drink."

~she raised an eyebrow~

"Hey mom." ~she smiled and sat down next to tib and put a hand on his leg as they sat.~

"Oh we should tell you guys that we stopped a robbery on the way here."

~he turned and looked at Indis.~

"Yes, I think I did. Jade, you tell them about the woman we saved. I'll get the drinks in."

~He stood up and walked over to the bar~

Artimus scowled slightly as Tiberious spoke to him, then looked to Jade.

Robbery? Saved someone? And where did you go last night?

~she nodded and sat up in her chair~

"We were coming from Grorr back here. I had forgot a few things at the castle and so I left for Grorr.. and I wanted to see Tib... Any way we came up a group of men attacking someone there was like 15 or 20 guys on this one person. They were using magic and were pretty good with other weapons. Well Tib fired a warning shot. and yelled to them the person threw out another fireball. between tib yelling and the person throwing fire they started running but the person is in really bad shape one of the men was stabbed in the chest... Tib was saying that if that man dies that the person will be arrested...they were just defending themselves...but the person...it was..."

~she really didn't want to say who it was. She glanced over to see if Tib was on his way back~

He watched her carefully.

It was... ?

It seemed rather random. A group of thugs attacking someone on the Salarain to Grorr road.

~He had the drinks, a bottle of whiskey and 4 glasses. He'd been listening to the story as he walked back.~

"It was your friend from the broken door craft shop."

~He had a smile on his face as he set the drinks down.~

"Smashed her shipment up, and her body pretty badly. She's at the keep with the healers at the moment."

"Yeah it was Willow." ~she looked over a Tib. then back over to her father.~

Artimus blinked as they said who it was.

Willow? Is she alright? Why would someone try and steal her craft supplies?

He looked over at Indis, knowing he was looking concerned about the woman, but guessing Indy would understand that Artimus cared about people.

~He poured out the 4 glasses of whiskey, pushing one towards Artimus, one towards Indis and one towards Jade.~

"Like we said, she's with the healers. I don't know what they wanted with her, but she didn't go down without a fight."

~He retook his seat and looked at Artimus~

"We were having a discussion earlier, about crime. I'm curious about your thoughts on this. If someone kills another in the act of self-defence, should the law just walk away, or let the Dukes or higher authority decide what to do?"

~He raised an eyebrow as he asked the question, knowing Artimus had been involved in his own fair share of blind-eyeness in the past.~

~she sat back taking the shot and downing it then sitting back and she started to lean towards tib but decided that maybe she shouldn't.~


~ml~ "She wasn't in good shape... I tended the wounds like mom taught me. But her face was cut and bruising. Looked like some one stabbed her arm with a big scar already on it... and her leg had a bone sticking out of it. She had alot of blood loss. But like tib said she didn't go out without a fight."

~she looked over at art seeing the concern. She raised her brow at Tiberious's question and wanted to know what art was going to see.~

Artimus was partly distracted by listening to both Tiberious and Jade, paying slightly more attention to Jade's report on Willow's well being. He could feel 3 pairs of eyes on him, waiting for his answer to Tiberious's question.

Every situation is different, you know that. After all, there are those who continually start fights, and those who try and avoid them. There is no one answer to that as it depends as much on the person as the situation.

He put his hand on his shot.

And you Tiberious. Can being involved in someone's disappearance be classed as murder?

~He felt Jade start to nuzzle into him, then stop, but kept his eyes on Artimus. What was he trying to say?~

"I don't think I follow your chain of thought here."