Private Tales A Fated Reunion

[Tzuriel Alanthis]

Glass... Great huge panes of glass were very rare and expensive. Sand from the Amol Kalit desert, dwarven artisans and craftsmen from the city of Volta, transportation and builders to install them all came out to a pretty sum.
But the expansive view of the Allirian straight from the comfort of his sitting room was worth it, he got to see the sun sparkle across the water from morning to evening and he could watch the trade ships come and go.

The mansion outside of the city of Alliria that had become the permanent residence of Tzuriel Alanthis was a work of art. A ten foot wall surrounded the one hundred acre property with a single gate in the eastern face.
The path through the gate would immediately immerse the guest into a veritable forest of a garden maintained by both enchanted tools and gardeners.
The path would lead up to the front of the massive estate with wide sweeping steps leading up to the porch and the front door.
The building itself was beautifully decorated and everything was of the highest quality. This was where he entertained truly important guests so he spared no expenses in giving them a top notch experience.

__________________________​

Tzuriel was in his study reading and signing off on contracts.
There was only one guest he was expecting any day now and he left his servants special instructions regarding Heike Eisen, to afford her every comfort and wait on her as an honored guest.

As he worked he thought back to their first meeting.
She came to him seeking aid for her affliction and they came away with a contract. He still had his copy and both of their signatures on it... The contract that pledged his support and the promise that he will face judgement should Reikherst ever be restored and she was alive and human to deliver the punishment.

His honor bound by ink to paper. Perishable yet, for him, unbreakable.

He wanted to meet with Heike again and get an updated report on how things are going and what he could do to further her goals. He'd only gotten more wealthy since their last meeting and there was now very little that he couldn't do.

But he also wanted to see if the rumors about her were true...

 

[Heike Eisen]

A new day, and with it came the arrival of a second letter to her. Heike had been billeting in Captain Bronmarch's quarters in the barracks compound that he commanded, and it was Bronmarch himself that had come in and woke her up and showed her the letter. With sleep clinging lightly to the edges of her eyes (but oh did it feel so good for it to be necessary again, for it to truly be restful again), she sat up and read aloud the letter.

When she was done, Captain Bronmarch said, "Powerful friend you have there in Mister Alanthis. You're fortunate, Heike." He chuckled lightly. "Do you know how many Allirians would kill just to have his ear for a minute?"

Heike had not told Bronmarch certain details of her previous meeting with the Trade King of Alliria. She did not lie, and she would not lie if she so happened to be asked directly and specifically about those choice subjects. Select omissions--much like how she had accorded herself (was forced by necessity to accord herself, she would say) when she was a vampire. So far as Bronmarch knew, they were on good terms with one another, Heike and Tzuriel. Which was true overall...but those terms did have tarnishes of which he was presently unaware.

"If I threw a stone out of this window I'm certain I would strike one of those Allirians in question," she replied.

"Probably two, if it bounced." He smiled. "How's the commission of your armor coming?"

"Should only be a few more days."

Bronmarch whistled. "Those metalworking miracleworkers you hired were sure to have cost a fortune."

Heike stood up. Stretched, her nightgown rising slightly along with her arms and shoulders. "Then it is well enough indeed that I was able to have Mister Alanthis's ear for a minute."

"Didn't even need to kill anybody."

Heike, in that moment, recalled the outcome of their previous meeting, hers and Tzuriel's. The contract. What it entailed. And she offered a small, halfhearted smile to the Captain. "No. Not to have him listen."

A pause between them.

Then Bronmarch gestured his head back toward the door. Said, "Morning muster among the guardsmen. I'll leave you to your privacy, such that you might get ready."

She nodded. "Thank you."

* * * * *​

The doublet and arming pants she wore were crisp and fresh, never once used for the fastening of armor nor stained with the extended rigors of travel and combat while so equipped with such plates. Not yet. But soon. Soon would she don the reforged armor of her Order, the most brilliantly shining symbol of her knighthood, and with it Arethil would know that the Knights of the Golden Blade, those sworn defenders of Reikhurst, were not all dead.

And it was thanks to Tzuriel Alanthis that this could be so. His backing provided the sum of coin to have the armor forged to Heike's specifications and to have it done in truly remarkable time. The practice of compelled service, the wisdom and mercy of it as opposed to other punishments, was on full display here. Heike was fully aware of the immense difficulty she would have faced, compounding with the already enormous difficulty of her quest in and of itself, should she not have the support of a man like Tzuriel, whose means were about the closest thing one could realistically conceive of as limitless.

Despite the crimes of his past, Heike at least owed him words of gratitude for this. The general benefaction, and the help in her almost hopeless search for a cure. How much longer would she have had to endure being a repulsive creature of the night, if not for Tzuriel's aid in finding the one obscure reference that led to the Sanctum of the Night Watchmen and to a cure--an actual cure--and her freedom from that damning affliction? And she could deliver these words of gratitude to him in person today.

She arrived at the Alanthis Mansion while the sun was still high in the clear sky, its rays striking her skin and doing her no harm. Servants opened the gate for her and she was guided through the shade of the garden. She marveled in an understated way at the scattered sights of shears floating and trimming hedges all of their own accord. Such a magical sight would generally not be seen in Reikhurst, and despite all of her travels and all that she had witnessed, the arcane still did give her some measure of pause--either for good or ill.

Up the wide steps and through the large front doors and into the mansion's grand foyer. A servant inside bowed and asked if Heike would like any refreshments, but she declined. Asked if she could simply be taken to Mister Alanthis, and the servant nodded. To the study Heike was led.

"He is expecting you," said the servant with a demure, inviting gesture toward the study's door.

"Very well," Heike said. She rapped on the door lightly with her knuckles. One-two-three. Then she opened the door and stepped inside and shut it behind herself.

Stood.

Stood before him as both the same person and a different one. Heike Eisen. Human now, instead of a Slaughtern vampire.

"Tzuriel," she said, and she could not hold back a smile as she could yet again put on display her hope come to manifestation. She spread her arms out, inviting him to look and to take it all in for himself.

"It worked. I am free from that cursed affliction."

Tzuriel Alanthis

 

[Tzuriel Alanthis]

Three knocks and someone entered his office unannounced. He looked up from his work and watched the woman enter his study with the usual intense blue stare that betrayed nothing of what he thought or felt.
He was silent as the blond haired and bronze eyed woman shut the door behind her. She was dressed in underclothing for plate armor but that armor wasn't apparent, nore any weapons she might have, but his hand still wasn't far from the dagger strapped to his thigh just in case.

"Tzuriel,"

That voice sounded familiar, and now she was all smiles...

"It worked. I am free from that cursed affliction."

She obviously knew him... And he was only expecting one person within this week because he wanted to know if the rumors were true...
He blinked as recognition dawned on him and his intensity melted into an expression of disbelief. His brow furrowed and his mouth parted with a billion questions held back by a sudden lack of voice.

He slowly stood up and moved around his desk, he approached like a hunter approaching a wounded animal.
"... Heike?... Is that truly you?"
He looked her up and down, her pure skin, human nails, vibrant hair, life-filled eyes, flat teeth... She didn't even have a tainted scent in her blood...
It was true, she really did find a cure and it was more complete than his own.

He stood before her dumbfounded, his expression still one of disbelief.
"... You'll have to excuse my shock... You look like an entirely new person, I didn't even recognize you!"

 

[Heike Eisen]

... Heike?... Is that truly you?

"Yes. Yes. Truly, yes."

She laughed in an effervescent manner. The excitement, the joy, had not abated, even though she had done this with Ian and Alaric and Lexi and Bronmarch. She thought that she perhaps would never tire of reliving the character of this moment. Yet there would be only a finite number of times she could. Ferelith, Kyla, Kalia, Szesh, Ye'svonne, Sir Eberwolf, these were some of the others who might be as pleasantly shocked as Tzuriel was now to see her restored. Herr Elias and Herr Dieter, none of her fellow knights for that matter, did not know she had been turned, but the story of it and of her cure they would hear nonetheless.

But here, now, she was in essence that entirely new person. A woman renewed. And it was a feeling that would be without compare until the day came when she and all whom she would rally stood in a Reikhurst liberated from the scourge of the Slaughtern Vampire Host.

Heike held out her arms, inviting Tzuriel to come forward and hug her if he were so inclined. Perhaps there was a minor inappropriate quality to such an embrace between them, given the nature of their relationship, but Heike did not care. Formality had its place, even rigid formality, but she was ready to grant herself a temporary reprieve of it in this extraordinary moment. Another chance to share the newly alighted warmth of her body--that small thing which she desperately yearned for in the years of her affliction--she would take.

"Your aid made this possible, Tzuriel. No matter what comes, for this you will always have my gratitude."

Tzuriel Alanthis

 

[Tzuriel Alanthis]

"Yes. Yes. Truly, yes."

"... Dear God... You really did it!"
A smile pulled up the corners of his open mouth and reached his eyes as he kept looking her up and down still in disbelief but also in excitement as he was beginning to actually comprehend what he was seeing.

It actually brought a tear to his eyes when she opened her arms for a hug and he was more than willing to hang decorum to embrace the human Heike.
And he did so strongly, she even smelled alive and she only had the hardness of muscle that came from a warrior, not the steel corded tendons of a supernatural creature. He smelled her hair and couldn't help but laugh aloud.
"It seems the golden knight actually has golden hair!"
He laughed again mirthfully and held her shoulders at arms length, "You must tell me how you did it, tell me everything!"

He knew that however she was cured the price was acceptable and right, unless she had some serious character changes since he last saw her. If she was human now it was in a just and right way... Possibly why her cure was more complete than his own.
He motioned her to a couch and he went and poured two drinks of light champagne.
"Also you need to tell me what all you've been up to, I have paid off your receipts and the contents could only make me guess as to what you were doing at the time!"

He brought the glasses over and gave one to her, this time without a letter opener offering.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike shared the embrace with Tzuriel. A difference that she could feel, the sharing of her own warmth instead of the leeching of solely his; this small and yet so grand a thing, taken as a matter of course for most throughout the entirety of their lives.

It seems the golden knight actually has golden hair!

She couldn't help but to smile, never having thought about it like that. "And it is my own again. Not some corruption thereof."

Heike sat down on the couch when prompted, crossing her legs and placing her hands on her upper knee. Relaxing. She accepted the glass of champagne and raised it lightly in a small gesture of thanks. She brought it to her lips and had a drink. More of a social drinker than anything, partaking in champagnes and wines and the occasional meads during ceremonies and parades and festivals and other formal events, this was nevertheless an exquisite moment, to be able to taste and to hold down something--anything--other than blood. Her first drink in many years.

"Of course," she said, and then began. "It was the lead concerning the secretive and presumed lost Templar Chapter of the Night Watchmen that bore fruit. I had my doubts, given the tenor of those texts. I thought mightily that there would not be a single Night Watchmen left and their Sanctum naught but ruins. Yet, so different in character was it to the usual sort of 'concoct this elixir' or 'cast this intricate spell' cures for vampirism, all of which as I'm sure you yourself have found were simply too good to be true, I endeavored to at least investigate these Templar and their Path of Purity."

She took another sip of the champagne, savoring the taste that lacked the repulsive tang of iron she had been forced to euphorically love. "In order to access the Night Watchmen's Sanctum, however, I needed the help of a Templar to unlock the great stone door. Therein the most...concerning part of the endeavor. I expected nothing more than to be struck down where I sat, meeting with any potential Templar willing to answer the notice that I and Captain Bronmarch posted. And it would have been completely justified for those answering Templar to do so, as is their duty that dictates them to oppose mages and foul creatures."

Heike looked to a point at the floor. Reminisced on her good fortune, and the good graces of who did answer her plea.

"It was a Templar Pariah by the name of Alaric, and the Commander of the White Raven Chapter herself, Lexi Quinzell, who came to my aid. Who, as you can plainly see, did not strike me down upon our meeting. And to them I owe a significant debt of gratitude. I would not have been able to complete the Path of Purity without their help, and I believe I most certainly would have been cut down at the Sanctum's door without their presence--there were still a few Night Watchmen, and they, at first, were not so receptive to me."

Back to Tzuriel. Despite the weight of what she would say, she did not let it affect her. "And so I walked the Path of Purity. Endured it. My body, mind, and soul were rid of the affliction of vampirism and were made Incorruptible. I am now an honorary Templar of the Night Watchmen, carrying forth their mission and their signature boon. But...all magic comes with a price. I have but nine years left to live on Arethil, and my passing will come in the year 379 if not sooner in battle. I was fortunate, to learn of the Path of Purity when I did, young as I am and with many years of life left to give--perhaps if I were even just a few years older it might not have worked for me."

That said, she shifted back to the present, not what was to come. "And so I returned to Alliria posthaste. Here I needed the means to equip myself properly again. My armor, which I have commissioned to be forged in the style of the Order of the Golden Blade, shall be ready within a few days' time. As for a weapon, I've one in mind, a legendary blade that has saved Reikhurst in the past...but it is currently out of my grasp." Until she found Herr Elias. "In the interim, I will be purchasing one, as well as a horse and supplies for travel."

"I will have much to do. The road ahead will be long indeed."

She enjoyed this time. Before the subject potentially turned to things less pleasant.

Tzuriel Alanthis

 

[Tzuriel Alanthis]

Tzuriel sat down in a chair across from her and listened to her recounting of the events that brought her to a cure. An old Templar chapter seemed to have the key at their enclave... But he couldn't help but frown slightly at the cost, no doubt it was more than acceptable for her to have her days numbered so, but she also suggested that she fit in a very small window of time that a person would have to be cured... Assuming anyone else could survive that walk of purity.

To Tzuriel this cure seemed tenuous at best. It would be just like a Templar or a knight to reason that a shortened lifespan is a small price to pay for the restoration of your mortality, for one who's life is devoted to making sacrifices for others it makes sense to not care about any personal cost... But Tzuriel couldn't imagine being so chivalrous... He'd already given up immortality, but to also give up a majority of ones mortality as well? That's asking too much.

But he smiled, this was a happy occasion for Heike... To live out the rest of her days all the way down to the last one... Trying to fill such a short amount of time with happiness, honor, and good deeds... It almost made him sad to think about it.

"Well, that's quite the story! I'm truly happy that you've been restored, Heike. And now that you're life is returned, I presume complete with a full pardon and reintroduction to the knights, what do you plan to do with... The short time you have left?"

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike offered a slight smile in return. If only it was as he had said. If only the whole of her life as she once had known it could have been restored along with her humanity.

"I am afraid you presume incorrectly. The Order of the Golden Blade is as broken and scattered as the surviving citizenry of Reikhurst, so far as I know. Were it so that those of my fellow knights who lived had come together to reform the Order during my wretched time as a vampire then I would be overjoyed. Alas...I do not think it to be the case."

Heike switched her crossed legs. Eyed the glass of champagne but did not yet take another drink.

"But this is part of the cause to which I will dedicate myself in my nine years. As I have spoken of before, the restoration of Reikhurst is and will be a monumental task. It is not enough to simply see victory over the False King's vampiric host. I wish to see my Kingdom, my home, newly arisen from the ashes and ruin it lays in now. As with many tasks of so grand a scale, my efforts at first will be small: contacting my old knight-superiors, Herr Elias and Herr Dieter, both of whom I know to be alive. Acquiring a suitable weapon, one that has been wielded to deliver Reikhurst from peril before. Reclaiming the Reik Crown itself, for I have seen with my own eyes where it has come to rest and with it I can perhaps begin to inspire the diaspora of Reikhurstans, to show them that the time has finally come."

Satisfied with her answer, she took another sip of the champagne then.

"And of you, Tzuriel? You have at great cost purchased your humanity again as well." To keep the conversation cordial, she thought of and chose her words carefully, so as to not yet bring up the contract and its implications. "What do you intend to do? With the renewed virtue of being human?"

He was the Trade King of Alliria--perhaps there was no aspiration higher for him than this. But he, like Heike, had rejected the immortality that came with vampirism. And he was seeking penance for what it had cost him. This a facet of his character that Heike had found surprising, and regarded it as worthy of respect.

Yet what was he to do with his own mortal life now? Surely he had an idea before the prospect of Reikhurstan judgment. Might the answer surprise her again, she wondered.

Tzuriel Alanthis

 

[Tzuriel Alanthis]

"I am afraid you presume incorrectly. The Order of the Golden Blade is as broken and scattered as the surviving citizenry of Reikhurst, so far as I know. Were it so that those of my fellow knights who lived had come together to reform the Order during my wretched time as a vampire then I would be overjoyed. Alas...I do not think it to be the case."

Heike switched her crossed legs. Eyed the glass of champagne but did not yet take another drink.

"But this is part of the cause to which I will dedicate myself in my nine years. As I have spoken of before, the restoration of Reikhurst is and will be a monumental task. It is not enough to simply see victory over the False King's vampiric host. I wish to see my Kingdom, my home, newly arisen from the ashes and ruin it lays in now. As with many tasks of so grand a scale, my efforts at first will be small: contacting my old knight-superiors, Herr Elias and Herr Dieter, both of whom I know to be alive. Acquiring a suitable weapon, one that has been wielded to deliver Reikhurst from peril before. Reclaiming the Reik Crown itself, for I have seen with my own eyes where it has come to rest and with it I can perhaps begin to inspire the diaspora of Reikhurstans, to show them that the time has finally come."

He smirked, this was starting to sound a little familiar, except she wasn't the one saying it.
"You know, I had suggested much the same when we first met. You taking the reins and restoring Reikhurst yourself and taking the lead role in that country. Reclaiming the crown? A symbol like that is limited unless someone is wearing it."
He was smiling as she seemed to be singing more to his tune now than she did back then.
"And you know something? For the limited time you have now and all these efforts you're taking on yourself... I think being a Queen is the least you deserve."

"And of you, Tzuriel? You have at great cost purchased your humanity again as well." To keep the conversation cordial, she thought of and chose her words carefully, so as to not yet bring up the contract and its implications. "What do you intend to do? With the renewed virtue of being human?"

"Well If you remember, miss Eisen, I've had my humanity since before we met. But I'm a bit surprised at your choice of words."
He took another sip of his drink, "'renewed virtue of being human'? I would have expected you of all people to know that there is nothing inherently virtuous about being human. But in either case by your particular sensibilities you might say I've wasted my second chance at life.
But we come from two different worlds, you and I. In my world great things are accomplished through sacrifice and not always of yourself, much how I imagine your former comrades would rather sacrifice you for their beloved country in recompense for your transgressions rather than take on the burden themselves."
He set down his glass on a side table and steepled his fingers.
"Business is better than ever, I live comfortably, those under my care and employ are happy and well cared for. I take the life of adventure on when it suits me to strike out on the road or sea. Really I have everything a mortal man could hope to achieve in his short life except true companionship."

He leaned forward in his chair, his face losing some of the lighthearted veneer.
"I'm the man who lives life to the fullest, remember? You're the virtuous one, the pure and admirable one pioneering the road of heroes... Not me."

 

[Heike Eisen]

Queen.

Again, the blinking-eyed surprise at the thought of it. Her intention was to simply relieve the enemy of their unwitting possession of the Reik Crown, not to put it on herself. Such would not be the Reikhurstan way, the casting of votes by the Citizen Warriors--they who have taken upon themselves the responsibility for the safety, defense, and well-being of the Kingdom--to elect who among all the citizenry should wield that highest political power for a Reign. And yet it was obvious that a leader was needed. Even as Heike aimed to be that leader, she thought herself shed of any titles save that of Knight-Valiant, simply one of the few surviving Knights of her Order and simply one of the many dispersed Reikhurstans across Epressa.

Could Tzuriel be right? That the Crown alone would be an insufficient symbol upon which to rally, and that a figurehead, a person who could embody all that the Crown stood for, was a symbol that much more powerful? Heike found that she could not disagree. Still, a reticence on the matter, a conflict between extraordinary times requiring extraordinary measures and the wishful adherence to the enshrined ways of Reikhurst. Perhaps there was a way to satisfy both?

Tzuriel continued.

He thought differently than Heike did on the matter of humanity and the virtues thereof. They did come from two different worlds, and that was as adequate a summary as there could be on it. Alliria and Reikhurst might be close in a geographical sense, but culturally they could well be on opposite ends of Arethil.

Heike took another sip of the champagne, finishing the glass as Tzuriel recounted his life since becoming human again. She did not know for how long he had been cured when first they had met, but the trajectory of his life from that had only gone upward, save for the mentioned exception of his loneliness. Perhaps it was that, even in Alliria, coin could not purchase everything.

You're the virtuous one...

Heike was setting her glass down the table when he said it. She shifted her eyes to him.

Not me.

She sat back into he chair slowly. Hands primly placed on her knees. A contemplative moment before she returned her gaze to him.

"I will fault you the method by which you remedied your affliction," she said softly, "but I understand utterly your desire to be so remedied."

Their reasons for seeking out a cure were different--Tzuriel after a falling out with the girl he had mentioned before, Heike to be rid of the corrupting taint of the enemy and the abhorrent thirst that came with it--but they had both arrived at the same desire from these differing avenues. That desire whose fulfillment was as elusive as it was torturous in the seemingly hopeless search.

"You had within your grasp the unholy power vampirism offers, and you willingly cast it all away."

A faint smile.

"That quality, in and of itself, is admirable, Tzuriel."

Tzuriel Alanthis

 

[Tzuriel Alanthis]

"I will fault you the method by which you remedied your affliction," she said softly, "but I understand utterly your desire to be so remedied."

He listened to her words, she had said as much on several occasions. But the truth is that they had very different experiences with vampirism, Tzuriel was spared the monstrous appearance that Heike had suffered and the trials that came with it. He was allowed to walk freely amongst humans and even his friends... So he was still a little skeptical that she truly understood his reasons for wanting to be cured.

Again, the truth was that he was evil for what he did and why he did it... He had a falling out with the vampire he loved but even that wasn't why he was truly cured... The truth was that he was bored of immortality and the weaknesses that came with his undeath.
Boredom... Those children died because he was bored and that's why he's evil and deserves punishment.

"You had within your grasp the unholy power vampirism offers, and you willingly cast it all away."

A faint smile.

"That quality, in and of itself, is admirable, Tzuriel."

He shook his head sadly and set down his glass to refill it.
He poured out the champagne into his glass and watched the stream flow out of the bottle.
He filled his glass and picked it up again, taking a sip.
He finally looked at Heike, a mask of stoicism took over his expression.
"It would have been better if I had remained a vampire... I never would have fed on children. The ends don't justify the means as you've helped me realize, Heike.
I cast off vampirism... That's a good thing, right?
Not if I sacrifice children to do it..."
He swirled the champagne in his glass.
"... All men sin, nobody but a child is truly innocent... I could have lived with myself for all of an immortal lifetime feeding on men and women and not felt this guilt in my heart... So no, curing myself was not admirable, it was by far the worst thing I could have done. For this I know that I am evil."

He maintained his gaze into her eyes.
"As per our contract, I will support you in order to receive judgement for my crimes once Reikhurst is restored. I'm backing your campaign to accomplish your task... How close are you to finally taking back Reikhurst?"

 

[Heike Eisen]

...For this I know that I am evil.

"Yes. You are evil." Quiet, firm, and unequivocal, Heike's words. She had credited him for what good he had done, whether he accepted it or not, but now on the other side of the scale and outweighing it by overwhelming degree was the willful wickedness he had perpetrated. What miserable scraps of humanity left in him had won a great victory, however, in that he could at last recognize this evil in himself and seek proper judgment of his own accord--which was more than Heike could say of some.

Perhaps, if he had not been willing to face judgment for his crimes, Heike would have died during their first meeting in her honorbound attempt to execute him. Maybe she would have succeeded in that, maybe not. But he was willing, and with all of the circumstances surrounding his stature, the contract was the best way in which she could fulfill her duty and see him rightfully punished. His compelled service was a boon to her cause, but it may well not be enough.

How close are you to finally taking back Reikhurst?

She left her glass on table. Didn't refill it.

A breath, taken in, as she said, "I am merely beginning. I have only just arrived newly-cured back in Alliria, and before me are all of the tasks I have previously outlined. I believe I shall start by trying to locate Herr Elias Schulze; his whereabouts, from what information I have come into the possession of, are less ambiguous than that of Herr Dieter Roth. I trust them, and I will need their aid in coordinating everything that must be done. It is nothing less than the raising of an entire army from a diaspora of people from the many far reaches of Epressa, equipping and supplying and training them, and the restoration of hope to both them and all those who cannot fight but wish to see their home liberated all the same."

She sat forward some in her seat.

"Perhaps, with your connections, you could look into Herr Dieter's current whereabouts, Tzuriel?"

Tzuriel Alanthis

 

[Tzuriel Alanthis]

"Yes. You are evil."

He almost couldn't stop a burst of laughter at those abrupt words, and admission that he was unwilling to take seriously in this moment even though she was merely agreeing with him.
"Damn... This is usually when you say something comforting to someone so condemned!" He chuckles halfheartedly.
But her words did ram home a point, whether she meant to make it or not, they aren't friends. He's a monster of a criminal and she's his executioner.
But really, he had nothing to live for now, one never really lived for money or power... But this gave him the opportunity to die for something, and to die for something good... This is what he wanted.

"I am merely beginning. I have only just arrived newly-cured back in Alliria, and before me are all of the tasks I have previously outlined. I believe I shall start by trying to locate Herr Elias Schulze; his whereabouts, from what information I have come into the possession of, are less ambiguous than that of Herr Dieter Roth. I trust them, and I will need their aid in coordinating everything that must be done. It is nothing less than the raising of an entire army from a diaspora of people from the many far reaches of Epressa, equipping and supplying and training them, and the restoration of hope to both them and all those who cannot fight but wish to see their home liberated all the same."

She sat forward some in her seat.

"Perhaps, with your connections, you could look into Herr Dieter's current whereabouts, Tzuriel?"

She had only begun... A stay of execution... More time than he thought to get his affairs in order... Perhaps a few years away. He nodded slowly as he listened to her report and then to her request.
"I can look into it, as well as any other refugees from Reikhurst. Even if their hiding and covering their tracks it shouldn't be too difficult to find them. I'll leave the lists at our usual drops, my resources are at your disposal, my lady."
He finished with a slight bow of his head... A head, he thought, that might very well roll from a headsman's block in the future.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Damn... This is usually when you say something comforting to someone so condemned!

Heike kept a straight face, and said nothing in response. Both she and Tzuriel himself had spoken plainly of what he had done, with no attempt to soften the stern truth with appeals to extraordinary circumstance or some manner of grim reasoning. Tzuriel had in curing himself diminished the scourge of vampirism plaguing Arethil by one, but the cost had been far, far too great.

Both of them would face the weight of their misdeeds once Reikhurst was reestablished--as was right and proper.

I'll leave the lists at our usual drops, my resources are at your disposal, my lady.

"And I will keep you apprised of my progress."

Heike reached and took hold of the bottle of champagne. Poured a small bit into her glass and set the bottle down. Then, holding the stem of the glass between her fore and middle fingers, raised it up.

"May justice prevail."

With that toast and a punctuating lift of her brow, she drank the champagne, and set in her mind the will to make those three words come true.

Tzuriel Alanthis

 

[Tzuriel Alanthis]

"May justice prevail."

Tzuriel raised his glass and met her toast.
"To justice."
It was such a strange word in his mouth, 'justice', he certainly didn't make his fortune on the wrong side of the law but he was so accustomed to a world where justice was an internal affair and could only be achieved through payback or revenge of some kind.
The law was always something below him, beneath his notice. He was the power that made things right, he was the one that made things work...

As he sipped his drink from the toast another thought arose unbidden to his mind and it made him laugh ruefully to himself...
His father might actually outlive him... The religious old man left his little trading company and would have given everything away for his new religion if Tzuriel hadn't come and taken over, made it the empire it was now... Now his Fathers words were starting to make sense to him, and the reasons why he left all of this behind for a simple pious life.

The doomed Merchant King of Alliria drained his glass quietly chuckling to himself...
He composed himself before he devolved into hysterics and stood up.
"I suppose there's little else to talk about. Thank you for answering my invitation, I suppose in some small way it was a pleasure to see you again, especially to see you whole. I imagine we'll see each other again, but for now I think I need some time to myself.
Do you have accomodations in Alliria? or shall I have a guest room prepared?"

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike set her glass down once the toast had concluded. May justice prevail. The sheer weight of all that needed to be done to enact those words in their truest form pressed down upon her shoulders. That no one, so far as she knew, not Herr Dieter nor Herr Elias nor any of the thousands of surviving Reikhurstans, had managed to rally together an honest attempt to retake Reikhurst proper showcased the immensity of the task that lay before her. But great feats required two things, two things at the very least: sacrifice, and starting small.

She stood when Tzuriel stood.

"Temporary accommodations," she said. "I have been staying in the barracks quarters of a trusted friend. Perhaps it would be best, for the remainder of my stay in Alliria, to have a place of my own. I believe I shall accept your offer of a guest room, Tzuriel."

He had so very much to offer. And, frankly, Heike needed it, his wealth and his resources. Would he have been willing to help her in the first place had he not, as well, been afflicted with vampirism? Would he have been as sympathetic to her cause had his conscious been clean? And, as dark, unbidden thoughts do, this one crept up from the unspoken recess down in the impenetrable murk of mind: were the deaths of those children a necessary antecedent to Heike's cure, to Tzuriel's aid then and now?

She banished the horrid notion immediately, and thought of it no more.

Tzuriel Alanthis