Private Tales Fraternal Diplomacy

[Kaveh]

"It will be Thanasis' flame that claims him." He did not care which Dragon did it, but there would be no mercy this time. Nasri would not be allowed to spin this story or change the tale of what happened here.

The citizens of Yurelia supported them, that much was clear, but the Nobility might not. Rumors would circle and fly, stories would be told, but Kaveh would be the final arbiter of what was said here.

Without hesitation the two royals of Thanasis flowed by a group of guards. One of the Captain's attempted to stand forward and stop them, but Orissa's Gilded Wings carefully stepped between. Hands flashing to swords as the Prince forced their way into the Throne Room.

Already the Vizier stood, his words quietly flowing into the ears of the King. "Your Majes-"

The King began to speak, but in his own hall Kaveh interrupted.

"Your Highness." Some respect was still due. They were in a foreign land, but they were not strangers. "I am sure that you have heard the news."

Eyes flickered towards the Vizier. "I call upon you to enact the justice of your City, of your laws."

His voice was cold steel.

"Turn him over to me." Kaveh did not deign to mention the serpent by name. "As well as his conspirators."

The Vizier visibly paled. "His crimes will not be forgiven."

 

[Orissa]

Power came through different paths, and Orissa felt that this power that came from fear was the most intoxicating feeling she ever felt. Rage and anger were ice that burned, but fear was rare when it came to answering crimes before the Prince and Princess of Thanasis.

Orissa was well loved at home, by the people, even those that wanted nothing to do with the royal family, it was hard not to see the dedication she had to her city. It seemed it spread here to Yurelia, garnering the favour and sympathy of the people. Those that had their power challenged by Kaveh demanding justice to be served did not fall to them so easily.

"I must apologise for my subject's actions bringing hardship upon your family, Prince Kaveh..." It was clear the King was choosing his words. No queen or his children were present, holding court alone. "And to you, Princess Orissa. This is a delicate matter, as I am sure you both kno—"

"Where is he?" Orissa interrupted. The room stilled, shocked and intrigued that the Princess would interrupt the King.
The King looked to her for the first time since she entered the room, frowning at her. "I beg your pardon?"
She returned the frown. "If this delicate matter was in favour of what happened to me, then he should be present to answer for his crimes. Where is he?"

The Vizier turned to the King, hesitating. "We are not finished with our investigations, sire."

Orissa borrowed her brother's rage, taking a step forward. "Investigation?"

The Vizier looked to her, feigning his cool exterior. "We are collecting evidence—"

Orissa chortled, but it was not in good faith of the Vizier. "Then I pity the King of Yurelia for his advisor is making him out to be a fool."

 

[Kaveh]

The King seemed to balk, opening his mouth to answer the Princess of Thanasis. "An hour."

Both men snapped their heads towards the Prince. The Vizier confused, the King with a tinge of anger...though replaced quickly with fear. Kaveh stood there like an implacable statue, his face a complete mask. No emotion touched his eyes, but the rumor of what he was...what he had already done in this city would be strumming within both men's heads.

"I-I'm af afraid I don't understand, your Majesty." It was the Vizier who spoke, his little rat like face scrunching ever so slightly. It was likely he knew exactly what the Prince meant, of course, but it didn't matter. Kaveh didn't care anymore.

"You have one hour to bring me Casimir and those who conspired with him." He didn't look to Orissa as he made his threat, didn't let anyone stop him. Even their own father would have struggled to get Kaveh to change his course. "If he is not within our custody, then I will begin to burn Yurelia."

Both men tried to speak up, shout their indignities, their objections, their threats of war.

Kaveh let them cry, raising a hand only a few minutes later to still them. "It will not be the People who suffer. Not the city, but you."

He stared at them.

"I will burn every Palace." His voice became a low hiss. "Every manor, every estate, every warehouse. All of it will Burn."

Kaveh's voice was steel. "Either every noble in Yurelia pays the price, or simply those who are guilty."

 

[Orissa]

Orissa did not stop her brother from laying out all his threats.

Even when eyes were upon her, begging for her to pull the reins on her brother, Orissa only lifted her head to challenge the King.

He hesitated, frustration clear on his expression that he was to be challenged this way before his court. But, in the end, he relented.

"Fetch him!" He ordered, waving off the guards to do his bidding. His eyes fell on the Vizier, staring him down. "What place do you have in all of this, hm?"

Orissa let out a quiet but shaky exhale.

"Innocence, Your Majesty." The Vizier bowed at the hips, arms splaying to the sides in a sign of good faith. "I know not of what Casimir has planned."

"That is not what the blacksmith's apprentice reported to the Captain of your guard this morning, Your Majesty." Orissa spoke, her face grave. "My own guard saw the tools and parts being made, to be carted through your city under your very nose in order to make a weapon to take down a dragon. A weapon meant to start a war."

Orissa looked to Kaveh, her face turning mournful. "We consider Yurelia an ally still, but we cannot stop a war if Casimir and his accomplices play you as a puppet and orchestrating all of this."

 

[Kaveh]

Kaveh tried to wind in his rage.

It took every ounce of his restraint not to close the distance between himself and the throne. He did not mean any harm to the King, the fool seemed as ignorant as could be, but the temptation to grab the Vizier and drag him down the dais was powerful. By the time Orissa finished speaking, Kaveh was practically shaking. Hands balled into fists.

"You come into my Kingdom, make accusations against my Advisors and lay threats against my people. How am I supposed to respond to this?" The man asked, and in truth, Kaveh could not see fault in the question. If anyone dared to do this to their father it would have been a scandal unlike any other.

But Yurelia was not Thanasis.

"With all due respect your Majesty." The words were practically bitten off.

"What other choice do we have?" His eyes flickered to the Vizier. "If you are so insulated by lies, we must break down the door with truth."

A poetic explanation for what this was. "I will defend my Sisters Honor, your majesty. The price is simply set by you."

The words were a cutting razor, holding the same threat he'd offered before.

 

[Orissa]

Orissa did not know what else to say.

Kaveh's words were enough to render her silent, overcome with emotions she had been doing her best to hold in. It would have been the Princess thing to do, but Orissa was suffering from a shame no one else would begin to comprehend. She had come here hoping to see the alliance, to further build upon that, but so quickly had her safety and security been stripped away from her.

She fed on her brother's rage, gave fuel to the fiery anger brewing inside her. Grieved for the woman she almost lost at the glimpse of Nasri in power, and the rewards he would give his friends.

That one stung the most. She had always thought her brothers, each of them, would love her without fault... she just never expected one of them to treat her as a prize to give out.

"We do not wish to quarrel with you, but... if this happened to your own daughter... by someone you thought you could trust?"

 

[Kaveh]

There was a long moment, a pause where it was clear the King mulled those choices laid out before him. Lips pressed to a thin line, and he glanced between Kaveh and Orissa.

No man liked being threatened, Especially a King in their own Throne room. But the man was no fool. He knew the position Yurelia was in, and he knew that Kaveh alone could have burned his city if he so desired. Pride could carry a man far however, and in the depths of his mind the King almost reached out and rebuked the Prince of Thanasis.

It was Orissa that stopped him.

The genuine impassioned plea which slipped beneath the hem of a threat. The words evoking a spring of emotion that the man wasn't able to deny himself. Features twisting, lips turning finally to a frown, and then a long sigh finally escaping him. The elder man shook his head, one hand coming up to rake through his hair. “I…this man will be turned over to your custody.”

“My lord!” The Vizier objected almost instantly.

“Silence! I am the King here, and Thanasis has been our ally for generations.” His voice shook with anger, and it was clear he did not enjoy being pressed into this corner. “Now it's Prince and Princess are coming to me with this story, demanding one man for a city? What else am I to do?”

The king looked down at the two Thanasian Royals. “You will get what you want, but I will investigate this personally, and if the story is not as you say there will be consequences.”

Kaveh’s face remained entirely neutral, the winding ball of rage at this core somehow kept in check.

”Of course your Majesty, we would expect nothing less.” His voice was cold steel. ”But might I suggest, speak with your people, not those whom might tell you what it is they have to say.”

He shot a glance towards the advisor.

 

[Orissa]

"You may even liaise with my Gilded Guard if you require the history between... my family and that of Casimir Reverois."

The wounds still ran deep from that time, and the most recent events left those barely healed wounds gaping open. Going over all the history would leave her bones being bared, and Orissa had never been so... exposed and seen.

Still, the Princess held her head high. She mustered a strength that exhausted her to hold, but she was a Thanasian royal. None of them would back down when their word was to be believed.

"And perhaps... if you do speak with your Vizier, question him on the plot of the Pikes."

Another thorn meant to drive the alliance between Thanasis and Yurelia. This city could not afford to lose the peaceful alliance with a dragon strong city, for the trade routes were efficiently run on Thanasis' side to ensure goods reached either city in good time. Without that agreement, Yurelia would see a decline in rich produce, treasures and luxuries, and even Thansian steel that put the Yurelian mines to shame.

 

[Kaveh]

The King turned his head towards the other man in confusion, and though the Vizier managed to keep a remarkably straight face Kaveh saw sweat bead upon his brow.

He knew he'd lost this.

"I will investigate this thoroughly. You have my word." The man said, though it was clear he was still more than a little displeased by how the two Siblings had conducted themselves here. The man was a King, and this was his home. No matter the threat Thanasis, or even the two royals posed individually.

His beloved Sheriam would have screamed at him for what he had done. For her way would have been far more...diplomatic.

Suddenly Kaveh found himself entirely uneager to tell her this tale. "One more thing, If I may, your Majesty."

The Prince glanced briefly towards Orissa, then towards the man who seemed utterly done with the situation. Clearly ready to scream at someone, but unwilling to do so with the two Thanasian's presence. The man felt the fool, not something one wanted any King to feel.

"Had your servants been faithful, none of this would have been necessary." He bowed. Actually bowed. "I apologize for my Conduct, both in this Throne room and in your Palace, but I believe you can understand me when I say that I will always defend my sisters honor."

The King seemed to stiffen at first, and then relax ever so slightly as Kaveh continued to speak. His expression softened, and slowly he nodded his head.

His hand waving as he dismissed them. Intent now turning towards the Vizier to his side.

 

[Orissa]

Orissa reached for Kaveh's arm, her hands gripping him tightly. She was afraid, the grip only hiding how much her hands had turned to shaking now that their audience with the King had come to an end.

"When can I see my dragon?" She murmured softly. She had missed her Ransa dearly, had been fretting some hours to see them.

Her Gilded Guard would be the ones to organise transport of the guilty into their custody, had been trained to deal with business such as this. Orissa wanted nothing more than to not deal with this, to be home and planning her wedding of all things, to see her husband to be smiling like a promise of happiness in their future. All of this had excited her, made her feel the happiest she had been in so long after being too frightened and scared of finding something that would respect her and bring her a brightness.

To see Casimir meant that part of her life had been real.

"Must I attend his execution?" Orissa asked Kaveh as they breezed past the throne room doors, the crowds long behind them as they entered the Grand Hallway. "I do not wish to see his face again..." She paled at the idea, her head feeling too light, as if she could very well be lifted away from the ground, but her hold on her brother kept her upright.