Empires of Ashes Reboot

MoRdred: “Kinda, I want to know what to expect mostly”

Janus: "True... So... how's the girl doing? They treating her well?"

Trajan: well, you will most likely exclusively meet their warrior caste.

Justin: aye, they are. She's happy there. But...I can tell she misses...this. At least a little.

Mordred: Alright, what should I expect from them?

"Dracian army over some backwards savages? Of course she does."

Justin: yeah...I'm just glad she's okay.

Trajan: pride. And lots of it.

Mordred: *nods* “Any customs I should know about?”

"Aye, gonna have to work out something good as an offering."

Justin: Aye. I went to check on LI also. She's doing better.

Trajan: Try not to talk about the empire. They're not fond of us.

Janus: "Good to hear. Want her at a hundred percent with that kelthrovi lot about."

Justin: aye. She took a liking to Diana, actually.

Mordred: “War?”

"Really? Surprised she didn't shit bricks and sprint."

Trajan: if you recall, everything directly north of voldamia was once theirs, and is now ours.

Justin: she did, at first actually. Diana got... emotional. Talked about what she went through. LI showed Diana her scars, told her what they did to her too. Things calmed down. LI was...more open with her than I imagined she would be.

Janus: "Well... Aye, the girls have been through some shit huh?"

Ket'Verahi approaches the dracian camp, with a full T'sebi, headed by Hakon Leif.

Justin: maybe that's common ground for them... *Janus can tell he's picturing LI how they found her. he's gone a bit pale*

Recognising the prince, the guards let the kelthrovi pass without confronting them.

He slaps him on the shoulder. "Chin up Justinian, we dragged her out of that pit."

They march up towards Trajan's tent. The T'sebi marches in three lines of three, with Hakon at its head, and Ket before him.

Justin: Aye we did... but... It's hard to forget.

The guards bar their entrance, albeit politely.
Guard: one moment, please. *he turns and enters the tent.* My Consul, the kelthrovi prince is here to see you.
Trajan: Let him in.
Guard: sir. *he comes back out, and they allow the kelthrovi to enter.*

Jonah: "Not askin ye to. Use it, we need us some more of that valor you showed at Khasut."

Ket enters the tent, followed by his immortals. Once inside, they split, fanning to stand along the walls of the tent, facing inwards.

Mord: “Has something happened?”

LI notices the way they're standing, and her hand hovers near her weapon. Trajan stands.
"Prince, I was not expecting you. *he gives his usual smile* Would you like something to drink?"

Justin:...I see it when I close my eyes, Janus. That and... imagining what they did to Diana. It haunts me. Keeps me up at night.

Janus: "Blame the savages, not yourself."

Ket: "I would like an explanation." There is a rise in his voice.

Hakon locks eyes with Li, and puts his hand on his swordhilt. She notices they all have shields, but no spears. They were expecting, or at least preparing for a fight in close quarters.

Mord: *Sits back and goes quiet*

Justin: I do...It doesn't help.

Trajan: for?

Hakon cannot decipher the look LI gives him back. But he gets a shiver down his spine, just a little.

Li gets nothing from Hakon's Kholled eyes, any fear he feels, is internal.

"Diana... One of my best Yinnuri. You know her?"

Trajan: this is about the offer I made her, I take it?

"That would be it. Care to explain?"

Trajan: of course. Diana is, at least formerly, a citizen of Dracia, and she is incredibly important to someone I care very much about. We failed to save her from your people once, and failed to rescue her from them aswell, despite our best efforts. I merely attempted to atone for that to some degree, by giving her the choice to stay as she is, or return to how she was, whichever would make her happiest. She chose you. I can respect that, a lot has happened since she was a legionary. So, as I'm sure she will attest, I gave her the end of service reward she is entitled to. Official recognition of her choice, to show that I respect her decision. She's your soldier, and has chosen to stay as such.

"Yes, I'm not particularly interested in the preamble. You don't seem to understand the oaths we take."

Trajan: *suddenly becoming far more serious* She didn't ask to be put in a position where your oath was her only salvation. She didn't ask to be dragged kicking and screaming away from all she knew. To be tormented, day and night, her life a living hell, to the point of wanting to take her own life. Nor did she ask for every attempt to rescue her and others like her from their torment be obstructed or barred by the very people who would present themselves as saviors to her. *that last point was far more directed than the others.* For the first time in half a decade she is given a choice where she has any real agency, and you demand I explain myself for giving it to her?!

Ket steps closer to Trajan. Roughly the same height, they are eye to eye. "You do not understand what it is to be Immortal, Dracian. We take our oaths, and swim in the waters of gods. Diana came to us, baptized anew in the blood of her tormentors. And she made her oaths. You asked to see her face, you offered her betray those oaths."

Trajan: Tell me, prince, I've always wondered. You know the horrors your people do to their slaves. Almost all of you have been through it yourselves. So why fight to protect the very people who took everything from you? Why stop others from saving people in the same torment you were?

"And do what? Stand aside and allow foreigners to burn our cities? How long would my immortals last in a hostile hand, once our treachery was known?"

Trajan: so that is it? You are afraid of what will happen to you if you try to stop this barbarity?

"I was biding my time you short sighted fool! Could i hope to overthrow the king with but twenty thousand?"

Trajan pauses. And smiles.
"I was waiting for you to admit that."

"However, now, with your hamfisted landgrab. I am forced to sell my nation piecemeal to barbarians."

Trajan: not at all. Now you have been entirely truthful with me, I can be entirely truthful with you. But first, to address the oath, thing. *he draws a dagger he has on his belt, showing it to ket. It has a rather ornate carving on the hilt* This is a dagger of Damocles, the black centurion. In our legends, the goddess of vengeance sends him to hunt down those commanders who wrong their soldiers. It is a reminder that, in our legions, we put the well being of those we are responsible for above all else. And as Consul, every son and daughter of the empire is my responsibility. My offer to Diana was merely me doing my duty to look out for her well being. If she is happy amongst the immortals, then I will not take her away from that.

"So you understand why i had to make a show of bringing this up?"

Trajan: I do. You understand why I made the offer?

Ket: "I do, however you understand, had she accepted. It would have been... difficult."

Trajan: of course it would have been. But, as far as I'm concerned, her happiness and well being matters more than how difficult it would have been. But, then again, I did not expect her to accept. As you say, you take your oaths very seriously.

Ket: "A rarity in you politicians. Well. Be truthful with me then"

Trajan: Very well. To be blunt, I do not want to be here. I do not want to be annexing kelthrovi land, nor wasting valuable men doing so. I am here because I am politically obligated to be, given my co-consul's request. Furthermore, this all distracts and delays from my... true intentions as Consul.

Ket'Verahi: "Your Co-consul... Agrippa, his name is, is it not? And i assume your true intention is not for my ears?"

Trajan: Normally you would be right... *grins* But I think you can help me achieve it. Tell me. Did Diana share with you what LI shared with her? What your people did to her?

Ket: "Not directly, but i know the practice."

Trajan: I saw fear in her eyes, prince. She screamed. She cried. She trembled. That day hammered home to me that she, and those like her, are no monsters. They're people. And someone took their humanity from them. Something is rotten at the heart of the empire, Ket. And I intend to remove it.

Mordred: “You’re gonna go after the people who make your Clavae?”

"Not just them, but they are a start."