Arrival

[Mor'os]

What ensued as a ackward silence of epic proportions. The language barrier firmly in place, the two could really do nothing but idly prod their food with their chopsticks, and wonder just what the other was thinking.

Parzan at least knew what he was thinking. His considerations the night previous had lead him to the conclusion that the Princess must be taken to the capital to meet the Emperor. It was clearly appropriate, him being the liason between Heaven and man and all. More importantly, it might earn him some  favor, and get him out this Heaven forsaken backwater. But how to communicate this to her.

He picked up clump of noodles between his chopsticks, and chewed the matter over.

[The Empire]

Sitting on her heels were not the most comfortable eating position she had experienced but she kept her face, also, she had started to figure out how Parzan was manipulating the chopsticks and started to try eating with them, failing miiserably a few times before loosing patience and using one them to spear the hapless dumplings floating in their bullion...

[Mor'os]

Parzan watched slightly stunned as the Princess stabbed the dumpling in frustration. Things were not going well, and certainly were not approaching any kind of successful conclusion.

He ultimately concluded that if words would accomplish nothing, then he would have to resort to what they'd done previously, with crude little drawings. Though, this time he actually had a proper map at hand.

He called over a servant, and instructed them to retrieve the map. This was done promptly, and Parzan took it from him.Clearing an empty space amidst the food that occupied the table, he unfurled it. It was in no way accurate from a modern cartographer's point of view, but it would accomplish what needed to be done.

[The Empire]

Hanna stopped in her attempt to get a noodle to stay on the chopstick long enough to get it to her mouth when she saw the map come forth.
As she waited for parzan to begin showing whatever his plans were she tried using a piece of bread and a chopstick in concert to get some of the fried beef strips and some strips of something else in the same bowl on top of the bread to get at least something out of the meal.

Outside, the guards had finished their breakfast and the colonel had taken place in an open space in the garden.

"TVÅ LED LINJE! UPPSTÄLLNING!"

Soon, the healthy guards had formed two lines in front of the colonel.

"Lämna av!"

"Överste, tolv närvarande, frånvarande tre, Johansson, Karlgren och Ström, samtliga icke återställda"

"Bra kapten, Jag tar befälet!"

"God morgon soldater!"

"GOD MORGON ÖVERSTE!"

"För exercis, Avdelning Höger om! MARSCH!"

As one, the twelve guards turned on the spot to their right and started to march in perfect unison.

"AAAVDELNIIING SPRÅÅÅNG! MARSCH!"

Once again in perfect unison the guards turned from a walking march into a run. Following the colonel they ran lap after lap around the garden seemingly without effort.

[Mor'os]

Parzan inhaled, and began to as best he could lay  out his intentions.

It began simply enough. He pointed to the Princess and then himself, and finished the motion by  pointing at the south western corner of the map in which the two of them now roughly lay. A motion easily interpretted as "we are here", confirming what their first meeting the night of the crash had revealed.

The following part was where it became trickier. He took his finger from the map and placed it back down on top of the Capital Districts, or for all the Princess knew the north east. Parzan then stopped, and frowned, an unanticipated obstacle rearing its ugly head. A brief conference with the servants again secured him a brush and adequate supply of ink. Lest the Princess forget where they had left off, he pointed again and then  scrawled on the map a crude charicature of the Imperial crown complete with the distinctive golden spokes that radiated from it. He allowed what he thought a considerable amount of time for this to sink in, and then continued. The very first motion was repeated, the Princess was pointed to and then Parzan. Then back to the south west. But rather than lift his finger from the map, he dragged it with intent from the south west to the capital districts, repeating the motion several times for emphasis.

[The Empire]

So he intends to present me before his ruler, this could be interesting

The princess nodded to show she had understood.

"How long?" Hanna asked while trying to figure out how to convey the meaning of time passing...

[Mor'os]

A bit of weight lifted from Parzan as the Princess acknowledged that she understood his intents. It seemed that it was possible for them to make some progress.

This weight resettled when the Princess spoke. The intonation clearly carried the intent of inquisition, but the language was sitll as foreign as ever and an ostacle to understanding and more importantly giving a satisfactory answer.

At a loss, he settled on a shrug, not the kind of motion that he had ever expectd to use in the presence of a divine figure. For the moment, he thought it best not to go on and consider the specifics of how he would inform her of the specific arrangements of the  journey. He suspected that he would simply have to make the plans and execute them, and hope that the Princesess caught one.

[The Empire]

Maybe I could try drawing it...
Seeing as she was not understood, she tried to show that she wanted to borrow the ink, paper and brush.
"May I?"
Once she had it, shedipped the tip of the brush in ink and drew a finely curved hour glass, a pretty accurate sketch of the manor, drew a circle around it all and then asked again.
"How long?"

By comparrison, theese drawings showed much more skill than those the night before and revealed that this young woman was more skuilled in the use of a brush and ink than most women her age, including many noble Ar daughters.

[Mor'os]

Parzan nodded slowly, as he began to more or less comprehend the nature of the question. Now that he understood though, he had to answer, and he was not sure what the proper answer was. He tried to recall, searching the banks of his memory, just how long it had taken him to travel from the Capital Districts to Sēkad. It had been at least a month, perhaps more.

He did his best to hold up one or two fingers.

[The Empire]

Ok, two what? if it's how long we will remain here it could be two hours, days or weeks, if it is the jorney it should probably be months considderign the distance and apparent lack of vehicles...
To bring more clarity to the matter, she decided to try a different approach...

Using the brush, she drew piles of boxes and carts, then indicating towards the boxes and the hour glass as she asked a new but similiar question.
"How long to pack?"

[Mor'os]

Parzan took a moment to consider and interpret the new drawings, and having come to a conclusion (thankfully, the correct one) answered with more pantomime. With quick gestures of his hands he attempted to communicate that packing would not take long at all, that it was a mere formality and not to be taken as a point of major concern.

[The Empire]

"I understand" she said while nodding slightly.

The moment after, she bowed her head and rose, backing away a step from the table before turning up to the window and opening it.

"ÖVERSTE! MARCHFÄRDIGA OM TVÅ TIMMAR!"

"UPPFATTAT ERS HÖGHET!"

Upon being answered she closes the window and returns to sit opposite Parzan at the table.

[Mor'os]

The break in the previous ackward but none the less peaceful meal created by the Princesss' shouts slightly unnerved Parzan, but he settled back down soon enough. The fact that he would now be able to present to the Emperor himself a divine being...the possibilities were just endless. Already, his mind was beginning to drift off into day dreams about the riches, the fame and the influene that were soon to be his.

Business concluded, and the barrier of language still firmly in place, he saw no need to pursue further discuss only to create more uncomfortable silences. He had the map and the ink removed, and had soon resumed his meal, finishing in a slightly hurried fashion so eager was he. He'd have to get the servants packing as soon as possible. Why, they might even be able to leave the following morning if things went well.

[The Empire]

Following Parzan's example, Hanna finished her meal as best she could and made a mental note to keep her set of field cutlery with her at all times for now on until she could get a proper tutor to show her how to use those sticks properly. She left the noodles alone as she couldn't see any way to get them up with the sticks but ate the dumplings, now spearing them slower and with less frustration. She also did her best to eat of the meat but just as the noodles it offered some resistance and she reverted to using her right thumb and index finger, amazingly without getting any other fingers involved the least and it ended up looking moderately sophisticated even if not up to what could be expected from a divine creature...

Just short of two hours later, the princess's guards had packed all of their gear but what they were wearing and were ready to march within 10minutes notice. Two of the heavy crates that had been last through the gates was now open, one contained five long black metal things that looked like they were of similar function to the metal things carried by them the night before but still different. The other apparently contained one layer of ten metal boxes and below that, there were many more made of thick, brown paper that was painted dark green, as hard as wood and with orange symbols. All of the large green boxes also had text in what was probably the divine ones' language.
With all things packed, the guards spread a few of their own bedrolls out on the ground and started to pick apart the long black things, wiping them clean from grease and then covering the inner parts in a thin sheet of some sort of yellowish oil before putting them back together.

OOC: The long black things are FN MAG machineguns and the metal boxes looks like this:

[Mor'os]

At the meal's conclusion, Parzan bid his guest as hasty a farewell he could, bowing and all, and then practically rushed off, only decorum and tradition limiting him to a rapid walk. The remnents of the meal were left behind to be cleaned up by the servants, unbidden and operating on some inate instinct.

So much to organize, but all so worth it! First, to gather a team of servants to in turn gather his thing together. He trusted them to make the proper choices, to pack it all well. They simply needed to know that he would be needing whatever it was that one needed to visit the Emperor. He was far to busy to pack personally.

Then it was off to the stables. Horses, horses, horses, to ride, to draw the carriage, to carry the luggage. He'd have his stablemaster take care of that, pick out the finest, the best for the task.

And the provisions, those were important too.

For the following hours he rushed about his home with an excited energy, delegating task upon task to his servants, multiple ones to a single servant in many instances, giving them all the orders that it was to be done by tomorrow, that they were to depart at dawn. A short order, but they were used to such things. Still, Parzan found himself slightly embarrassed when it seemed his guests were prepared in the span of a mere two hours. He hoped that they were not expecting to leave immediately, that they would again catch on and follow his lead.