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| Underwater Aquarium: Shelter, Niveus |
| The underwater aquarium, known as the Northern Lights, is the most popular attraction on Niveus. An entrance in the lowest level of Shelter leads the way down through hard-packed ice, which in some places has been chipped away to reveal the skeletons of whales and other creatures long extinct on the moon. Large staircases carved of ice and elaborate lifts of bronze and glass lead the way down under the ice.
The aquariums themselves are mainly formed of twisting labyrinths of tunnels deep under the water. pathways lead through the tunnels, and benches provide space for those who wish to sit and watch for hours on end. In the center of the aquarium is a large open space covered by an enormous dome. This space is filled with a garden made of carved ice flowers and trees, and filled with yet more benches and a few tables. Two restaurants (one specializing in local cuisine and one serving classic dishes from all over Haven) as well as an upscale hotel can also be found here, attached to the aquarium, for those wishing to stay long periods of time. |
| July 14th 3013: Mid Afternoon |
Along a tunnel away from the main acquarium, through a door that warns for employees only is a set of rooms set aside for rehabilitation purposes. Elodie was given a password at a very early age, so that she would bring the little orhpaned or injured animals here, rather than a drawer in her dresser, to be taken care of. Even though she now specializes more in humans than animals, she can still be found down there on occasion, meeting the newest patient and helping out.
It didn't take her long to find out about the little ice bear cub, and so she went down after she came back from her afternoon's research at the Academ, spending a little time before dinner to meet him, and help with the feeding.
He is actualy a she, named Roan. While she does complain about being poked and prodded, she isn't agressive much. She tends to stay very quiet, until kaedin comes walking into the area, and she makes a loud squeal noise and trundles over to him. "Well hello there little one." he says as he picks her up and gives her a tummy rub, probibly the last person anyone would expect to be a 'Momma bear'. "Oh Hi! I'm Sir kaedin Orelle, I see you've met Roan." he says as he walks over to Elodie, he would offer her a handshake, but he has a white ball of fluff trying to lick his face.
Elodie straightens when the little cub leaves her so exhuberantly, and raises her eyebrows with amusement. "A pleasure, Sir Kaedin. I am Lady Elodie Iah. Roan and I were just becoming acquainted. I haven't been down here in a little while, so it was our first meeting." She tips her head as she watches the ball of fluff behave more like a pet dog than a wild bear, and her blue eyes sparkle curiously.
Kaedin walks over and sets the bear down, rubbing her back. "I was out in the wastes, and I came across her, her mother was slain by wolves, so I brought her back here." he says with a smile as he takes a bit of food and places it in the cub's paws. "I don't think having an Ice bear on the Ring would be a well received idea, so I'm allowed to keep her here until she is big enough to go back out in the wild."
Elodie gives a slight nod. "Well, here is the best place for her," the woman agrees lightly as she watches to two. "I imagine we'll be seeing more you of around, then, while you help raise her. Since she responds so well to you," blue eyes look over to Kaedin as she clarifies the reason for him to be frequenting their planet. "Why were you out in the wastes?" The curiosity returns with an amiable smile. "Please don't think I'm grilling you, Sir Kaedin, I am just curious. Most of the time I find that people coming to Niveus from other parts of Haven bundle themselves in furs and scurry inside as fast as possible. They definitely do not go out into the wastes."
Kaedin smiles. "Because, there are hostiles out there, I kill hostiles." He says, and that's good enough reason for him to be anywhere. "I've been helping your family with their pesky hostile problem, not that you actualy need help, but anywhere I can lend a hand for the good of the people, well, I try and be." he says with a clearing of his throat. "Well, if you are going to be checking up on her while I'm out on a ramship." he says indicating the bear. "Make sure she gets a tummy rub before sleep, it helps her relax, and a good fur brushing when she wakes up after her morning milk." he says with a nod, like a concerned parent, just imagine the hell his family goes through when they have to look after his cat.
At the mention of Hostiles, the blue becomes tinged with gray, taking on an almost storm cloud aspect, but she nods. "You'd think they would have the decency to freeze to death out there in the wastes," she murmurs under her breath, but any kind of vicious aspect seems foreign to her countenance, and it is soon cleared away with talk of the care of the bear. She inclines her head with a little smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "I would be honored to see to her care while you are gone. Most of the trauma ward has cleared out from the last encounter, so my morning rounds are quite diminished. Not that this is a bad thing."
Kaedin nods. 'The less injured, the better I say." he says with a smile, himself having had avoided an infirmary stay since the start of the war, though he fights like he should be a familiar face in one. "Hostile and decent arent two words I would use together, besides, if they all froze, what would I do?" he asks with a wink to her, a little joke on his part as he takes a seat, taking a picture wit hhis earpeice of Roan, who is now chewing on a flower.
Elodie raises her eyebrows, and although she recognizes the humor in his wink, her answering grin is less jovial. "I am sure that you could find more Hostiles. The ones here are only a fraction of what's to be found in Haven." She crosses the room to pick up the cleaning shovel, and sets about clearing any messes Roan may have left. "And plenty in space. I imagine that you will have to board some of their ships, or they will try to board yours." She looks up. "Which ramship are you assigned to?"
Kaedin smiles. "I've been jumping from place to place lady Elodie, we pretty muich has the land based hostiles under wraps. I'm on the Shadow of Intent, captained by my Cousin Cedric." he says as he watches the mess Roan made, but he doesn;t say anything to her, mostly because a bear will be a bear, he DOES offer to do the shoveling for Elodie, because a Knight will be a Knight.
Elodie grins and shakes her head at the offer. "I've been doing this for a long time. When I was little, if I found an orphaned or injured animal, I seemed to think it was my sacred duty to nurse them to health. After Mother almost got bitten by an infant snow cat in my dressar drawer, I was sent down here so that I would bring creatures here, instead." She smiles at the memory, a slight wistful twist to the expression. "There's some comfort to… coming back to the beginning."
Kaedin smiles and looks at Elodie. "It's called nostalgia, and it's a pretty powerful feeling. I get it sometimes when I pass by a khourani resturaunt… since I was trained as a knight in the creasent." he says with a smile. "Funny though, My cat, Miss Cleo, adopted me, i was looking over a litter of kittens about three years ago, and one just came out of the box and into my lap." He says with a shrug.
Elodie chuckles. "Yes, yes it is." She glances up. "You have a cat, too? That sounds very sweet, to be chosen like that." She gives a little sigh, pausing to rest her chin on the top of the shovel, looking, for a moment, like any other working class girl with big dreams in her eyes. Then she shakes her head slowly, and puts the mess in a bin and finishes with a sprinkling of sweeter sand over the area. "Animals can brighten your day and make you feel loved, even when it seems the rest of the world is against you."
Kaedin nods. "She is a small blessing, though, trying to teach her to stay off the counter took me a whole month and five spray bottles." He says with a chuckle. "But I tend to stop in and give her a treat when I'm ever in the ring, that and a brushing and scritching." he says with a smile, most people figure he would have a huge mastif, not a fluffy moody cat. "Well, she might be pregnent, if you want one of her kittens if or when they are born?"
Elodie's blue eyes light up when he offers a kitten, one might think he's offered her the world. "Truly?" she asks, not paying attention for the moment to the cub in the room. "That would be wonderful, Sir Kaedin. Although…" she pauses. "She might get lost in Shelter, it's so big. We would have to make sure she stays in the Family Quarters," her brow furrows with concern over a pet she doesn't even have, yet.
Kaedin chuckles. "Most animals can be trained, I have cleo trained to not go near the elevators on the orelle compound, that and her collar has a tracker on it as well.." He says, so if she is missing, he can find her quickly enough. He blinks and walks over to Roan, taking a peice of paper, wondering where she found it, out of the bear's paws and setting the bear in her bear bed. "Nap." he says as he pats her head again.
Elodie nods at the training, that little smile playing around her mouth again. "I've been given to understand that cats are more inclined to do as the please, regardless of training," she says quietly. "I will need to put a tracker on the collar, if you are sure you wish me to have one of the kittens." The gaze turned to him is cautiously hopeful, followed by a glance of surprise at the nap command.
Kaedin chuckles. "Of course I want you to have one, I know if I give you one of her kittens, it will be well cared for." he says as he walks over as the bear stays put. "The thing about cats, is that you have to establish what is, and is not, okay from the beggining, Cleo hates being wet, so now she will not be on the counter, she also know not to scratch, rip, or break anything… and to stay away from the lift.. because she tries once and I got her with a water hose." he says, though, seeing his fluffy cat wet was funny, he did dry her off quickly, only because he couldent let her suffer.
The smile that is now bestowed upon Kaedin absolutely beams when he expresses his certainty that he knows it will be well cared for. "Thank you, Sir Kaedin," Elodie says sincerely, having something to truly anticipate and look forward to. "You have quite a way with animals, yourself," she mentions, tone admiring for his success with Roan.
Kaedin smiles and gives a shrug. "I've been around them for most of my life, it's a certain affinity one gets for animals. like how an engineer has hunches about mechanics and the like." he says as he looks her over. "Oh… I almost forgot to ask, are you doing well since that whole epidemic?" he asks with a look of concern.
Elodie grins. "I know what you mean. Although… with me it shifted more towards people when I decided I wanted to be a medic." She looks basically healthy, if there were any ill effects from her brief illness, there are none to be soon. "I am quite, well, yes. Thank you for your concern. I think some of the medics that came are doing some more research to try and underestand why some people were able to resist for so long, and why some people…" she bites her lip, then gives a little sideways shake/tilt of her head, "weren't as fortunate."
Kaedin nods and smiles with an understanding look. "Things happen, and somtimes it's out of our control, though I beleve you did the best you could with those citizens, and they were lucky to have you as their doctor." he says as he tilts his head at her. "Funny, we are on opposite sides of the professional spectrum, yet… we want whats best for our people."
Bringing up White Gates again sees Elodie making herself busy with the cleanliness and order of Roan's makeshift habitat once more. She finishes her tidying without thanking Kaedin for his assurances, seeming almost to not want to hear them. But then she tilts her head to him. "Do you really think so? I'm not so sure it's so strange. After all, we both do what we do to protect our people. You fight to keep them safe from Hostiles, I fight to keep them strong and healthy." She grins. "Not really so different, after all?"
Kaedin nods with a smile, and slightly leans forward, a joke like look on his face. 'The reason I don;t get hurt in combat… is because I'm terrified of hospitals." he says with a smile, given that his mother is a doctor, well, it must be a pretty big fear. "Anyway, it was a pleasure and a honor to meet you lady Elodie, but I have to return to the ring." he says as he bows to her ,and moves over to Roan, giving her a soft pat and even a kiss on the nose before he makes his way out of the bear's habitat.
Bowing her head, Elodie smiles gently once more. "Please, Lord Sir Kaedin, the honor and pleasure are mine." She waits until he's kissed the bear good night, then follows, using her card to make sure the lock is secure. "It is close to dinner time, and I will have to be changed properly, so I hope you will forgive me if I don't see you to the ways." She picks up a bag that she had left in the hallway and pulls the strap over her shoulder. "Good evening, Sir Kaedin."