The Empire A Night of City Lights | Ragash

[Ashuanar]

---

Sunset.

As night wrapped the city in its dark, gentle embrace, a brilliant ambience took shape. Torchlight and magics of various colours and forms lit Ragash's streets, and much of the city still bustled with life even after the sun descended into rest. From high above in the palace which loomed over, Ashuanar cast his careful gaze out and over all that he could see.

The war in the south had thinned the populace, drawing many who would otherwise be here to go elsewhere, either to fight the fight themselves or contribute in other ways. Nevertheless, though there were fewer here, one would be hard pressed to tell. Only Ashuanar's acute knowledge of that situation alerted him to any change, for whatever importance it was. As for himself and his being here, his time in the front had been arduous, and even he could not be ever present. There was a time afforded where he could return, and so he had. And though there were several reasons for his doing so, tonight there was a particular ebbing at his heart. As his eyes looked down into the streets below, he longed to remember what it was like...

… to be just a passerby, just another person, traveling through the street. Enjoying their life. Not concerned with the outcome of battles, disputes, or negotiations. Just moving forward, with not a care for the words or actions of potential enemies or being ever watchful for assassins or conspiracy.

Tonight, he decided, he would remember.

So clothed in a heavy, masking cloak, forsaking any markers of his identity(save for his golden armband, well hidden beneath his sleeve), he departed from his room. He was careful to ensure that he moved unseen, and as he stalked through the palace's dimly lit corridors, he kept a careful watch for any who might spot him. He wished to leave unfollowed with no entourage of his faithful warriors to "protect" him. He wished to be apart from any sense of formality, function, or even security. He need only depart the palace unnoticed to enjoy a brief reprieve...

 

[Noelani]

As Ashuanar rounded the corner that would take him to the servants corridor, a route less likely to get him spotted by his men who patrolled the palace corridors, a cloaked figure came out of one of the other forking corridors that opened out onto this one. It wasn't looking where it was going, too busy looking over her shoulder no doubt to ensure there were no followers, when it crashed right into the broad expanse of the Vizier's chest.

"Oh!" a soft, feminine voice explained and the figure jumped back, her hands coming up to touch her hood. Whether to pull it back and admit who she was or ensure it stayed shadowing her face it was unclear to begin with. "I'm so sorry I-" That was until the figure recognised who it was she'd bumped into exactly. She seemed to forget herself then and pushed back the hood with bewilderment.

"Ashuanar?" Noelani blinked. "What are you...?" Deep brown eyes suddenly took in his clothing and seemed to note the similarities to her own. Understanding lit her eyes with devilish humour when she looked back up at him. "Are you sneaking out?" She gasped with glee. Sitting on the council of Viziers, Lani often felt like the most inexperienced, the child, more often than not. It was rewarding therefore to see one of the more serious of her colleagues letting go, so to speak.

Without giving him time to respond she grabbed a hold of his hand and tugged up her hood.

"Quick, the guards change in a few seconds!" and with that, she tugged him through the servants door.

 

[Ashuanar]

There was a dropping ping within him as the cloaked figure appeared. Whoever it was had shown themselves to him all too abruptly for him to react in any way other than walking directly into them.

"Oh!"
​

He reached out in a vain attempt to aid the woman he'd bumped into, as she was quick to steady herself. Then the adrenaline of the moment faded some, and a lump formed in his throat. He'd never felt so embarrassed as he had in this moment, to be caught in such a way by... wait...

"Ashuanar?" Noelani blinked. "What are you...?"
​

He shifted in his place some, casting his eyes to the side. Oh yes, this was embarrassing. And of course Noelani would be quick to assume - correctly - his intention. But the sense of excitement he detected in her voice intrigued him, and his eyes turned to her again, seeing the amusement in her own. He did indeed open his mouth to respond, but was given pause when her hand clasped onto his.

"Quick..."
​

And she tugged him away from there, ferrying him down and into the servants corridor. And like children they tore through the hallway, as quickly and quietly as their desperate legs would carry them. It wasn't until they were safely out into the streets in the midst of many others did they stop for a moment to collect themselves, and their breath. And then it started in him, quietly at first before growing more whole... laughter.

"Of all the people, I never expected..." even as his laughing calmed into chuckling, he found it difficult to speak clearly for a moment, before saying and gesturing to her own attire, "...now then, who is it that is sneaking out?"

---

Noelani ​

 

[Noelani]

Noelani leant against the wall torn between fits of laughter at the absurdity of it all and trying to catch her breath from running through the palace like a small child. She turned her head to glance at her co-conspirator in the whole ordeal and burst into another fit of laughter at not only his expression but his question.

"Sneaking out is what I do," Lani tsked and then reached up to unclasp the cloak at her throat. The thick fabric dropped to reveal an outfit that looked no different to the myriad of colourful saris that the other women walking and dancing past were wearing. In a deep shade of red with stitching in gold it complemented her dark complexion well and, despite its brightness, enabled her to blend in far better than a cloaked and hooded figure.

"This is not my first rodeo," she continued as she folded up her cloak and bent to stash it in a convenient storage chest that happened to have been left there. "I might be a princess, but where I am from, the royalty does not keep separate from its people like this," she gestured with a wrinkled nose to the looming palace walls. "It drove me nuts staying inside the first time, so I figured out a way to... go and enjoy the parties. What are you doing sneaking out though? You're always so..." she glanced up and bit her bottom lip. "Well, it's not a bad thing, but you are always so serious. I did not think this would be your... scene."

 

[Ashuanar]

After having asked his question, they locked eyes for a moment and then he too joined her in the same fit of laugher, wiping away a joyful tear as it finally faded into a warm smile, which grew only warmer after she'd freed her form of her shrouding cloak. His eyes could not help but briefly study her, in a no doubt obvious admiration of her. Her dress suited her well, and only that she herself was speaking stayed his tongue from saying so.

"...What are you doing sneaking out though? You're always so..."
​

His smile persisted as he dropped his head some. Noelani spoke kindly, but she was right. Ashuanar often portrayed a stern and even perhaps harsh demeanour. He thought it tempered, but by the way she talked he decided he may have to revisit the way he conducted himself - among his peers at least. His eyes looked to hers again, betraying now his own sense of amusement while his smile now lifted more to one side.

"I was not always one of such high places, or one of such..." he started, trailing off as he reached now to lower his hood. His hair was done quite plainly, with a few modest braids typical of his kind. His ears poked through, and several small rings glittered in the nearby torchlight, "...and though it has been some time, there are some things in this life that will never change," he unclasped his cloak now and pulled it off of him and hung it over his arm for a moment as he drew near. As it happened, he wore similar colours, though they were far less flattering on him. He tucked his cloak into the same chest as she, and then offered his arm now to be hooked together with hers. And though there were some features that he displayed that one like she would recognize such as several tattoos, stones twined in his hair, or the golden armband, none of the multitude were likely to see any significances. In the public eye, he had always been quite faceless.

---

Noelani ​

 

[Noelani]

Lani found her cheeks heating in embarrassment. She had assumed from his mannerisms that he had been born into a position more akin to her own in these lands. It was an oversight on her behalf and a reminder she should do greater research into who her peers were. She had taken the position on the council because she had believed that the alliance between her people and the Empire would strengthen them. She'd given little thought beyond that such as who she would actually be working with.

He saved her from mourning her somewhat dented pride by looping his arm through hers and a bright smile replaced the weak one born of humility.

"Well... as it is your first night in the Mother only knows how long... what do you want first? Wine, food, dancing?" her eyebrows rose with another playful grin.

 

[Ashuanar]

Arms looped together and good spirits rekindled, he started forward with her through the street leading away from the tall palace walls. Her question stirred only a quiet hum and a curious look from him before he cast his eyes this way and that in contemplation. In their immediate surround there was nothing of great interest, and without something to prompt him he found it difficult to make up his mind.

"It has been far too long, princess," he said, his eyes finally falling to her again, "perhaps if we go on for a short while, something will present itself?"

Unless of course, she had something specific in mind herself.

---

Noelani ​

 

[Noelani]

Lani peeked up at him through the curtain of her hair. Usually the Sea Witch kept her hair in braids and back from her face. Getting smacked in the face with a tangled knot of hair was not contusive to Captaining a ship or fighting at sea. It also meant, in rare instances when she left it soft and loose, it acted like a disguise all on its own. She barely looked a thing like the wild Mchawi Princess blown in from far away shores the people here had come to know.

"You truly have been gone for a while," she laughed beneath her breath. 'Carrying on' wouldn't just bring them across a simple something. The streets wound like a coiling serpent and led down into the main fanfare of the city itself. On certain weekdays markets were held here, or when a prisoner had been sentenced even executions. Tonight, however, a large bonfire had been built in its centre. Musicians were crowded onto a makeshift stage and poured life out into the gathered crowd who capered and twirled around one another. There were a few stalls selling drinks, food, and garlands or offering guests entertainment in the form of fortune telling and henna painting.

What it was, was an assault to every sense.

She had to shout to make herself heard over the noise.

"Have you ever been to the Festival of Lights?"

 

[Ashuanar]

His eyes wandered to and fro with almost childlike wonder. No, he was not unaccustomed to music and joy, but it really had been so long it seemed. The weight of the Empire's needs pressed heavily on each of the Viziers equally and unequally at times. In times of conflict, he felt a great weight. Perhaps then, this was why it was now, after years of only duty, he finally relented. It was as though he'd been afraid to, as if he'd loose his stride in leadership.

"Have you ever been to the Festival of Lights?"
​

In an almost mournful way, he shook his head responding in like tone before his voice trailed off, "no, I'm afraid... not."

But his regret was swept aside as a nearby magician cast a rather elaborate spell, and with a bright flash a light shot up into the air above the street, and in another subtle flash many twinkling lights stretched out and gently rained down on those present. A second one from somewhere farther along shot up in kind, but displayed different colours.

"Am I to assume it is something like this?" he curiously asked, still hollering over the crowds.

---

Noelani ​

 

[Noelani]

"E hāʻawi mai iaʻu i ka ikaika," she laughed to herself whilst shaking her head in disbelief. Carefully she steered him round the magicians still firing off their spells into the sky. One woman with jet black hair cut into sharp, harsh lines that exemplified the beauty of her high cheekbones and slanted eyes, blew on a torch in her hands and sent a griffin soaring into the sky much to the delight of those gathered.

"We call it ʻahaʻaina kukui, in my tongue, but I assume this is Ragash's version. It's held on the shortest night of the year to celebrate that from here on out, the nights will get shorter and the days longer," Lani explained as they meandered through the throngs of people. She stopped when an elderly woman stepped out in front of them with garlands of flowers and bid them to bow their heads so she could drape it round them. She pressed a fat gold coin into the womans hand and kissed both her cheeks before continuing.


"There's a lot less..." she waved her hands to the sky filled with lights. "Fire, on my island though," she laughed.

 

[Ashuanar]

Ashuanar gave a quiet laugh at her remark, as no doubt her people preferred to employ much more water than those of the Empire's core cities. And now, feeling festive with his newly gifted garland, he spotted a stand which piqued his curiosity. He tugged at Noelani to follow, and brought her near to a display of many different glasses with many different drinks - all of them brightly alight with fire.

"Only those blessed by Gerra's holiness may drink unscathed, are you so blessed," asked the tender.

Ashuanar raised a brow, "and if I am?"

"Your drink is free."

Ashuanar gave Noelani a smug look, and reached for one of the fiery beverages. He took hold of a rather large goblet, just over half full with a dark red liquid. The flame atop it was a brilliant green. After only a brief hesitation, he drank of it, and it would seem that he drank without hindrance of pain. He lowered the glass, and then looked to the tender in satisfaction.

The tender looked back at him plainly, and then slowly, an almost sadistic smile formed on his lips.

And, creeping up on him slowly at first, and then abruptly peaking, Ashuanar felt like his insides were melting. He let out a coarse cough and nearly keeled right over, and he could have sworn he saw a plume of smoke erupt from his lips. Hands on his knees, he coughed and gasped for air, and all the while the tender chuckled and said, "that one's on the house."

---

Noelani ​

 

[Noelani]

"and if I am?"

"Ash, I don't think--"

But the warning came too late. The brazen, hot-headed fool picked up the goblet and downed it all in one. Lani winced on his behalf knowing what was about to come. A member of her crew had suffered a similar fate when he had been pressured into giving it a go already several drinks over his limit. The poor lad had had to spend the whole journey back to native shores beneath desk groaning in his hammock. She'd never seen someone so ill. By contrasted, Ashuanar had gotten off lightly it seemed.

"And you, Lady?"

Noelani held her hands up and shook her head.

"As I've been told, Gerra bestows his blessings on women in a very different way," the stall holder stared at her for a moment open mouthed then slapped his hand down on the desk and roared with laughter. Leaving him repeating the joke to himself, Lani tugged her friend on.

"You need to be careful, I'm not carrying you home if you drink too much," she tsked.

 

[Ashuanar]

As an Abtati, while he was not immune to fire's touch he was certainly quite resistant to it. Were it not for this, it is likely he may have collapsed on the spot from the intensity of the experience. Luckily he was able to gather his composure well enough quickly enough to catch the princess' quip, which through stifled, fading coughs he rolled his eyes in amusement.

The emperor certainly had his ways.

They moved on, and with a somewhat rough voice he replied to her, throwing up a single hand defensively, "alright, alright," he smiled, "lesson learned."

As they carried on, the sound of music grew louder.

"Do you dance?"

---

Noelani​

 

[Noelani]

Lani was still smiling over the whole adventure when he asked his next question. Her brow quirked as she shot him a look that practically shouted the question of whether he had been dropped on his head.

"Of course," many of the movements her people used for water bending were described by outsiders as a dance. In the heat of battle it perhaps did not look so beautiful but there were many among her kind who made is a sensual artform, the twining of the human body and one of the worlds most powerful elements. "Though I am not that familiar with the dances they do here in Ragash. This city was not your home either, was it?" she asked curiously and glanced up at him from the corner of her eye again.

 

[Ashuanar]

He met her look with one similar, his dark eye drawn down while his head remained fixed.

It was true, Ragash was far from his home. His tribe had traditionally dwelt far nearer to Rhaqoum, but since Gerra's coronation and Ashuanar's actions on that day, the tribe no longer dwelt nomadically in the sands. Many of them had by now been elevated to higher positions, or served as Ashuanar's personal Sipahi soldiers.

But as such his form of dance, like Noelani's, was liable to be far different than the forms of the locals.

"No it was not, princess, and nor am I familiar..."

They came to a square, one of many that dotted the city, and in the midst of it there was a great, elevated stage upon which were many musicians. With them were mages, who decorated the square with light and magic as they played. Below, surrounded by many tents and carts, was a crowd of people dancing. Dancing together, dancing alone, and even dancing in groups. Some skipped and hopped, others looped arms and twirled. Some, at the very center, moved far more intricately and far more attuned with the music - interpretive, Ashuanar would say. But, to his subtle relief, there seemed to be no set style - there were clearly some in their midst that had no idea how to dance.

But they did anyway. And that made Ashuanar smile.

"...but it would seem, that matters little," he said, his head turning to her, his smile having turned to one of amusement.

Unlooping their arms, he now offered his hand.

---

Noelani​

 

[Noelani]

Noelani didn't find it hard to fit in wherever she ended up. It was part of the reason why it was she, the youngest of five children, was sent out to parley with different nations. To trade. To make alliances. Lani simply understood people whatever they might be. But that didn't mean to say that in a crowd of people so different to her own she didn't feel a little... lost at times. So it was refreshing to be stood beside someone who was also... foreign. Perhaps he felt like she did.

With a brilliant smile she took his offered hand and swirled into the crowd, dragging him with her even though he had offered to lead her.

"How do sand elves dance?"

 

[Ashuanar]

Her smile's sudden change caught his eye and the steadiness in his feet was momentarily shaken, so that when she took him and spun into the dancing crowd he was nearly lifted off his feet. But he found his footing once again. As he whirled into the throng of bodies he then gently tugged her now to roll against him and into the embrace of his free arm, dipping her slightly before lifting her into another spin away shouting, "however it strikes us!"

And in truth, this was their way. Though there were some certain dances of ritual he was familiar with, their recreational dance had always been... from the heart.

---

Noelani ​

 

[Noelani]

Lani hadn't expected a dance partner. Most of the men she dragged into the throng of the music stumbled and she had to manoeuvre them like puppets. It was still enjoyable but not in the same way as having someone who could knew how to move themselves. From the look on her face it was clear she was surprised though and it startled a joyous laugh out of her when he lifted her by the hips to spin her.

"Perhaps the seas and the sands are not so different," she mused as they came together face to face once more. Of course she couldn't dance quite how she could back home without giving away who they were, but the movement of the sea, of the waves, was in every movement. It was in the sway of her hips and the quick step of her feet.

"Someone must have taught you, I cannot believe this is natural talent and you wasted it by becoming a soldier," she teased.

 

[Ashuanar]

"Perhaps the seas and the sands are not so different,"
​

His eyes then betrayed a momentary, devious glint, before ushering her closer to the music while saying, "and once again this seems true."

He had seen her before, the way she moved with her magic, and he saw hints of those movements even now. His eyes had been none too obvious, but none too coy either, and the restraint she employed now under their collective guise of obscurity did indeed remind him of the softly rolling sands.

"Someone must have taught you..."
​

He laughed, and spun her again into a similar embrace as before, only this time he paused with her for a moment, saying quite closely, looking almost as closely into her eyes, "you are indeed as perceptive as I have been led to believe. I can see why Medja holds you in such high esteem."

---

Noelani​

 

[Fieravene]

In a hookah lounge across the way...

"So there I am, standing in the temple atrium, three bags of gemstone scarabs in one hand and two bags of pilfered sultan gold in another. I have absolutely no idea where the Guards have gone, all I know is that Tulio has done his job. My pathway out is clear and I'm twelve skips and a jump on my horse away from being home free."

The lounge area was a broad, rectangular area set recessed into the floors of the establishment, each long side lined by cushioned mattresses and pillows. There were two dozen patrons at least sitting in silence, attention rapt as they watched and listened to the dark elf and her tale. Fieravene stood at the center between two large hookahs, her lean figure draped by a black and gold sari, an air of heavy mystery billowing about her as smoke.

Behind her a fair-skinned, white haired elf sprawled - extraordinarily out of place and perfectly content to be so.

"I begin to make my exit when suddenly the alarm call goes out and I hear the thundering footsteps of the Guards making way across the grounds. SHIT!" she snapped towards a woman laying near her left ankle, making her yelp in surprise, the crowd shifted into low snickers. Fiera smirked and leaned to tap her on the forehead, "Me too, darling... So there I was, no weapons, no horse, no way to defend myself except for my silver tongue of which I begin to make fast use of by praying to whatever God or Heathen would hear me -"

Fiera raised her hands upward in a beggar's supplication, "Please, Mighty Ones, spare me this unfortunate end for I have far too many more adventures to take and much pleasure yet acquired ... and there's this blinding light to my left and I turn," Fiera turned in the direction of Tulio, "and I see a sight most curious and Divine but the perfectly naked, pearlescent ass of Tulio, illuminated by the moonlight, running across the far hall with the entire Guard regiment in pursuit..."

An uproarious wave of laughter followed, Fiera didn't break character as she gestured with a hand his path across the grounds, "my prayers had been answered. I am yet favored among the Gods."

 

[Al'qadim Zulfiqar]

Stryfe would laugh as the dark elf told her story. He had forgone the hookah and smoked from his pipe. Out of his armor, he was unrecognizable by most and he was okay with that.

He had sat at a corner table surrounded by some men-at-arms and listened to the tale. It would bring him back to the days of lost youth and with that, the memory of those he had to leave behind. A stack of coins would settle on the table and the waitress would collect the payment and return with another round of pints for the corner.

He wondered what his children were doing. He hoped they were still alive, or even moreso, living fulfilled lives. One day he would return, hopefully before the end. For now, he would have to settle on the tales of others.

 

[Noelani]

Her smile wavered. She wasn't certain how to take such a humbling compliment. Lani knew that she spent far too little time on land, that the rest of the council would prefer if she put down greater roots in the capital or here. It just wasn't in her and as a result she shouldered the feeling of being a little on the... outside when she did return. That Medja had said something to make him believe she held her in high esteem - that Medja even did hold her in high esteem - well it filled her heart to the point of bursting.

"That... means a lot," she confessed and let him twirl her again. "So who was this dance teacher so I might thank them?"

 

[Tulio]

"How fine an ass it is," Tulio spoke over the dying laughter, leaning forward from where he lay on the pillows, "And the temple's High Priestess thought so as well. What a shame it was that her sweet voice alerted the guards to my presence within her bedchamber. And so, intending to flay my hide, they chased me through winding halls to the gardens, where I made a daring escape by throwing myself over the walls into the river below."

The elf stood and attached himself to Fieravene's hip, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"And waiting for me there, riches stowed away and horse at the ready was none other than Fiera," Tulio, who was incredibly talented at smiling, began to shake his head, "As if she'd expected me to be there all along."

 

[Ashuanar]

They danced their way closer and closer to the stage, and came near in time for the band to bring their music to an impressive and invigorating end. Skillfully and with joy did they play their instruments, and their partnered magicians wove fantastical displays of light through the air, until in finality the music came to a halt and light exploded from the stage. In the aftermath, sparkling light made into the image of small birds and butterflies fluttered about and slowly dissipated as the band departed for a break. At first Ashuanar just smiled, and then began with Noelani back away from the stage.

To across the way...

"I'm afraid you'll have several teachers to thank," he finally said, hiding his blush, "I was not an easy student, but the priesthood of course thought as Vizier these things would be expected..."

He heard and eruption of laughter as they passed near a particular place, and from within his elven ears caught something of interest.

"And waiting for me there, riches stowed away and horse at the ready was none other than Fiera,"
​

Though through all the bustle he could hardly make out the voice, the spoken name he surely did. He slowed them to a stop and peered inside, looking past patrons and people outside walking by. Sure enough, what he suspected proved true. Seeing her first as others would was a welcome omen.

He looked to Noelani with amusement in his eye, saying, "have you ever been to a hookah lounge with the Queen of Darkness herself?"

Without waiting for a response, he playfully pulled her inside with him.

It never occurred to him that Fieravene, to his knowledge, had no idea of his or Noelani's... outing, or the nature of it. It wasn't life or death by any means, but to Ashuanar at least, the charade had made it fun.

---

Noelani | Fieravene | Stryfe Tal'deneshaar | Tulio ​

 

[Al'qadim Zulfiqar]

Stryfe glanced around casually as he leaned back in his booth and took a pull from his tankard. The current show was entertaining enough.

Noelani Fieravene Tulio Ashuanar