Fable - Ask The Downfall

[Zana]

They had spread the word so carefully. Every person that would be in attendance tonight had been specifically chosen, carefully chosen. Their file had been examined, they had been watched, they had been weighed against the pros and cons of bringing into the fold and they had been deemed - finally - the right fit for their mission.

The downfall of the Houses of Vel'Anir.

Some might have been chosen because they had expressed such views of wanting change openly with Talus or Zana. Others it might have been more of a gamble. Others were asked because they spurned all the Houses and others still who were asked because their powers had been overlooked and dismissed. Every one of them were uniquely helpful to their end goal and Zana prayed they all came. They would need everyone and everyone that turned up was one less throat she was going to have to cut. Dreadlords were loyal to a fault in the end like a trained dog. For some of them the idea of something different, of not being pushed and pulled by politics, of having a say over their own life... it would be too much. Zana did not shirk from the obvious truth that presented; those who did not conform to the new world order would die.

The meeting was taking place in an old abandoned training building beyond the city walls. Less spies. Less chance of being uncovered before they had a chance to at least try. Zana had set out chairs but she stood at the front of the room wringing her hands nervously.

"This is treason," Zana murmured not for the first time to the man who stood beside her. "We're asking them to commit treason for us," there were already more than a few Dreadlords there, gathered in small groups with their heads bent together or sat in solitude on one of the chairs. Surprisingly as they entered there seemed to be an odd... change that came over them. Even amongst Dreadlords she had known for her whole life. It was like they shrugged out of the icy facade and became... themselves.

A laugh broke out in one small group who were chatting beside the buffet of food Zana had baked in her stressed state last night when she had been unable to sleep. A couple stood closer than mere friends; one cupping the others cheek tenderly for a brief moment. All these little flashes of what they could be without the yoke of power around their necks. It lent her strength and eased a little of the tension from her shoulders.

"We're doing the right thing... aren't we?"

 

[Talus]

"We are." Talus said as though it were a matter of fact.

He had to. He believed it to be so, he was positive that it was. There wasn't any other way forward, there wasn't anything else that they could do. His fingers tightened slightly, reaching for a sword that was not hanging on his waist.

A part of him wondered still if this was a mistake, if they shouldn't rely on the other Dreadlords, but...he knew that without them, they would fail. A few had already joined them, had already given their ascent, but it was not yet enough.

Quietly he surveyed the room, looking at the numbers and counting them silently in his head. He was not sure if even this was enough.

The odds were against them no matter what. He knew that to be true, knew that the fight would be uphill no matter what happened here tonight. Fingers wrung slightly against one another, and he took in a deep breath as he glanced at her. "It's the right thing."

That at least he was sure of.

They had to break free. They deserved it. They deserved the right to choose.

 

[Sloan]

Sloan had managed to slip into the room relatively unnoticed, but as the door closed behind her, it gave an obnoxiously loud click and she winced slightly. She could feel eyes shift toward her, but she stole herself and set her jaw and carried on inside without sparing any of them so much as a glance as she strode to the front of the room, pausing a few paces from Zana and letting her shoulders rise and fall with a sigh. She was here, for Zana's sake, regardless of her thoughts on the matter.

A fleeting smile softened her stoic features for a brief moment as she looked over the woman, but her dark gaze wandered to Talus and lingered.

"Talus.. I presume?.." her brow arched and she looked the man from head to toe and back, not bothering with much discretion over her scrutiny. She let out a quiet, nasal huff, and the corner of her lips tugged into a hint of a half smile before she looked back to Zana and reached a hand to squeeze gently at her shoulder. She could feel the woman's anxiety from the moment she'd opened the door, and she shook her head in gentle reassurance.

 

[Evangeline]

Cryptic messages from old friends and mysterious meetings in dilapidated buildings in the middle of nowhere were rarely a sign of good things to come. Nonetheless, when Evangeline was informed of the little...gathering...she felt she owed it to Zana to hear her out. She tried to shrug off the immediate discomfort and disdain she felt from being around so many other Dreadlords not from her own house, but the wait was killing her. How much longer before Zana and her...partner?...started this little gathering?

Evangeline was unsure whether the lack of familiar faces made her more or less comfortable. After Ademar went on his treasonous rampage and attacked her, her faith in her peers had hit an all time low. Somehow, however, the makeshift buffet was reassuring. The Pirian Dreadlord recalled how Zana had wanted nothing more than to bake with her when they had first met. It was comforting to know that she hadn't lost that gentle spirit.

Still, her nerves were on fire. The sooner the nature of this meeting was brought to light, the better.
"Let's get this over with, shall we?" Evangeline piped up over the quiet murmuring of her peers. She took note of Zana's compulsive hand-wringing. Whatever the matter was, it was clearly no less nerve-racking for the Luana Dreadlord.

 

[Virgil]

He had listened to Talus a number of times. Had followed him to the guards of Vel Anir rather than side with a, great and noble house. Then again, most had seen his skills as sub par, aside from the fact that he hadn't bowed and licked boot for attention. His position with the guards was...comfortable.

Routine.

Safe.

At least until someone decided to quietly knife all the dreadlords in the guard and claim treason. Or some mysterious accident claimed them. Something. Always something. Watching your back, your front. Watching those beside you.

The politics of Vel Anir had a way of creeping into the everyday. Had a way of invading one's most mundane functions in life. Which was why Virgil found himself sitting off to the side, watching through a narrow crack in the wall for anyone not invited.

Watching to protect not just himself, but those gathered. His gaze followed the two ladies that appeared, making a proper show of themselves in his opinion. Either one could be a quiet knife for such a meeting. Either one, or both. Blinking away the thoughts, he attempted to keep himself from becoming absolutely paranoid. His hand pushed hair back and away from his face.

Hopefully the night went well. If only for the sake of his mind.

 

[Callarn]

In the grim dark-clad crowds of the Dreadlords, a figure perched on his seat with the scrutiny and crotechy manner of a clip-winged crow. It was Callarn - who else - that had come with weapons unsheathed expecting this to be some sort of trap. After all, what better way to crush a revolution than orchestrate every step of it, from its inception to its bloody failure? Much like Callarn the suspicion still loomed, and like him it was not very warmly received. Likewise the Dreadlord greeted his peers with distinct detachment, when in the past he had been, if not polite, then professional. No, this gruff silent manner did not suit him, and neither did the limp and cane. They were from an injury he'd take to the grave, and he was counting on dying from it too.

That was partly why he was here, he wanted to draw his last breath a free man.

But there was more that troubled his mind.

"With the due respect to all present, are we to sanction apprentices in our ranks?" he began, to noone in particular "I don't mean to denigrate the bravery of any young-hearts, but it would reflect rather poorly to have our quartered bodies swaying in chains next to theirs." he shrugged "And even assuming that we succeed, it'd set a worrisome precedent to have boys and girls take part in the revolution... Wouldn't make us much different from the Houses, would it? Guised as it'd be, as their 'free will' and 'duties to the nation and fellow kin'. So were ours, so were ours..."

He ambled to his feet, leaning on the cane.

"And for that matter, I'd like to know just what is this that you, fellow subversives, wish to make of this marbled mess of a city. I think I speak for many of us when I say I see no further use for Houses or nobles of any sort. Nor nations, for that matter, and for kin - truth be told - I think our famed camaraderie is little more than a myth. A social contract, if you will, of the sort forced upon gullible children."

Callarn wondered if he truly sounded as mad as he thought, and wondered how much coin a 'conscience counselor' could make of all the trauma and complexes in this room alone.

"And so I can't help but ask, what are you? Reformists? Revolutionaries? Because I can bear the first while still bleeding for the later, but I'd rather lose use of my other leg than be a restorer."

 

[Yrael]

Yrael entered. He could almost touch the tension in the room, and he could certainly smell it. There was apprehension here, fear, doubt, worry... but still they had arrived.

He had been surprised to receive contact for such an endeavor, subtle as it was. He had never met Zana, nor many of the other dreadlords here. Talus he knew from precious few encounters, but he was among the few dreadlords that Yrael could say he appreciated. Respect might be too strong a word, but it wasn't personal. Yrael wasn't certain he was capable of truly respecting anyone. Still, Talus' devotion to the Allirian Guard rather than a single noble house was what had improved his standing in Yrael's eyes, so it felt natural to see him here.

Yrael's own disdain for the noble houses was openly known. Swearing to the Royal House was, in and of itself, a minor act of rebellion. He had not done so to make a statement, rather to free himself of any true obligations to an old and dying aristocracy. The royal house had been so thoroughly gutted, so overshadowed by the Seven, that Yrael found himself able to move more or less independently, save a few ceremonial duties.

Maybe this was why he had been contacted, still far outside the city walls as he pursued his own, personal goals. The timing had been good, as he had just completed a very difficult heist with the help of a few choice thieves and finally possessed the treasure he had been seeking.

The words of the crippled dreadlord seemed long-winded for a meeting that hadn't even started yet... but Yrael was indeed curious what the endgame was. He doubted that these "revolutionaries" who fought for personal liberty would agree with his own plan for the city.

It didn't matter. Removal of the Seven was a common goal, and for as long as their interests aligned they would have a strong ally in the quiet dreadlord of the Royal House.

 

[Zana]

More faces filled the room until it could almost be described as packed.

"Sloan," Zana's tone was full of warmth as the woman who raised her made her way over to them and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. With sudden realisation, her gaze flickered between her and Talus to see how the two would react to meeting one another. Especially in this setting. The others in the room were beginning to get agitated; she didn't need Sloan's gift to sense that. This man from different Houses out here discussing such a subject was... dangerous.

If they could get it over with quickly then all the better.

"Can we talk? After this?" Zana looked back to Sloan and then to the restless Dreadlords. "I ... we...." she corrected with the barest hint of a smile. "Have something to tell you."

With that issue shelved for the moment she finally took a breath and turned to address the room. Eva had called most people's attention with her request to start and the room was deathly silent as Callarn spoke and put his thoughts forward. For a moment everyone held their breath.

Then there was chaos.

People shouting over one another to be heard, giving this opinion or that. Some Dreadlords even stood up as the tensions rose and tempers frayed. Zana closed her eyes for the briefest of moments and then a sudden pulse rippled out.

"QUIET!"

The use of magic had everyone tensing, turning and looking for the source. But it had the desired effect of shutting everyone up and giving her time to speak.

"Thank you," Zana let out a breath and for a moment put a hand on her stomach to settle the rising nausea. "I do not care what labels you attach to what we are doing here, people will have many choice words inside these walls and out. Traitor. Revolutionary. Reformist. Take them or leave them, it will depend on your view I suppose.

What I care about is what we are doing here. The future that we want - the future that can happen if we work together." There was a couple of murmurs of agreement and doubt.

"How can you even be sure this is achievable? We are few and the Houses would easily slaughter us if they knew what we discussed here."

"Why should we trust you? You're one of the highest ranking Dreadlords in Luana, this could all be some ploy," another sneered and a few voiced their agreements.

"That is right - Talus at least chose the Guard and the city!" The voices grew louder and Zana held up a hand for silence once more.

"I know trust is one of the hardest things for us to do. So..." Zana took a breath. "I am going to demonstrate my trust first in all of you gathered here to keep my greatest secret and at the same time I hope it will convince you also of the very real possibility we have here of changing this city for the best."

Her powers had been growing in fits and bursts over the last nine months and was getting even more erratic and wild since the pregnancy. It was what had led to her discovering her ability to share her visions. There was a second or two of quiet as Zana shut her eyes and concentrated. Then the familiar thread of magic as the vision wafted over the crowd.

Each Dreadlord would see the same thing and yet different, from their own perspective, their own future in this new world. But key points stayed the same: The Dreadlord's were to become a unit of the standing army, free to choose if they wanted to join or pursue other careers. Children would not be taken but the Academy would become one of the best known for training mages in the skills of battlefield tactics. Freedom to come and go from the city as they pleased.

Voting. Democracy.

Houses either eradicated or changed, their powers shackled as they conformed and helped shape the new future.

In reality the visions would only last a few moments though they might feel different to others. When they were done there would be a sense that what they had seen was no trick, no illusion but a true snapshot of the future.

Zana abruptly sat down on the stool from exhaustion, blood trickling from her nose.

"And now you know my greatest secret and why... why I called you here tonight."

 

[Talus]

Sloans eyes on him made him...strangely uncomfortable. He couldn't really tell what it was, or why, but there was something about the way she looked at him that made him squirm.

He knew that the three of them would need to have an actual conversation, a talk. Sloan was like a mother to Zana. An important figure in her life. "Yes, I am I think we need to spea-"

Before he could fully finish chaos broke loose. One of the Dreadlords began to shout, another spoke up, and then Zana projected her visions.

Talus didn't see anything, or rather, he had already seen that he was supposed to.

Fingers rested on the hilt of his sword, splaying open and never closing. There was tension in the room even before Zana worked her magic, after? After it was like someone could draw a knife through the air and cut it. Fingers wrapped a bit around the hilt as he tried to desperately grasp onto something.

He could see some of the other Dreadlords snapping back to reality. Some had wide eyes, others narrow, others closed. Some simply stared at the wall ahead of them as they tried to process what had just happened or what they'd seen.

Talus watched them all carefully.

The worst outcome of all of this was someone lashing out, someone attacking and telling them they were wrong. His stance was at ease, yet somehow tense at the same time. He was ready for anyone to lash out, but hoped...hoped that it would not happen.

The future they wanted was so close, they just had to seize it.

He knew that the Guard would back them, knew that they would always have that, but without at least a few here they were doomed to fail against the Houses.

Quietly he watched, waitedfor them to react.

 

[Evangeline]

Visions...breathtaking visions. A Vel Anir free of the tyranny of the Great Houses, of the Emperor. A society in which children weren't taken from their parents and tortured into servitude. A free nation...it was everything that she had ever dreamed of. Everything that her Lord had ever dreamed of...her Lord.

Reality hit her in the face like a bucket of cold water. The vision that Zana had presented was merely fantasy. Vel Anir's problems went far beyond the reach of the Houses, and the fact that Pirian had even been counted among the rest was tremendously insulting. No, Evangeline knew--she had always known--that the only path to a truly free and good Vel Anir was under the leadership of her Lord and Lady, her shining beacons of hope: Tobias and Henrietta Pirian.

Evangeline cleared her throat, only just realizing the tears that had welled in her eyes from seeing the beautiful lie Zana had shown her, had shown all of them. She didn't believe that this had been done in malfeasance, but rather misguidance. Misguidance that Evangeline needed to correct.

"There can be no path forward for Vel Anir unless the Pirian family is at its forefront." She spoke up, at last. Evangeline stepped forward from the rabble around her, approaching Zana and Talus directly. She had so wished, all those months ago, that the Luana Dreadlord would see truth and reason. She did not back then...would she now? "It is what my House has always fought for, ideals that we have always held. To deny this is to be blinded by pride."

Eva took another bold step forward, her heel clacking to the stone floor of the abandoned building with a pronounced echo. Silvered eyes, piercing and pale, stared the apparent couple down.
"I have longed for a Vel Anir free of the tyranny and corruption of the Houses for as long as I can remember, but ridding us of House Pirian is a mistake...and I will not betray my Lord and Lady. To count us among those who you would dispose of, Zana...you wound me."

 

[Callarn]

Callarn felt as though he had struck a match in a powder keg, so heated was the disharmony he had revealed and so warm and dizzying were these bodies and voices crashing to and fro like waves. This was not the time to wane, yet the darkening calm of black opium crept all the same. It was alluring, to forget the pain and be taken by dream. He was afraid. Who would fill the silence?

"Do not dismiss worthwhile discussion as labels changing, you patronizing-"

But it was too late. He was too far, too weak. Too little of him remained, and all he could do was dream.

***
​

Callarn woke up with a groan - it was his bum leg again. He felt around the knee with a hand calloused by brickwork. Would it rain today? His mouth felt dry, and so he stretched for the pitcher kept by the bed, eyes shut in a vain hope to get back to some dream of youth. Instead of the cold glass his finger jabbed against something soft and warm. Surprised he turned, but it was as if he hadn't.

"Grandpa! Grandpa!" shrilled a voice, loud enough to wake up the whole house "I did as you said and- It happened! It did!"

"Already!?" he rolled in the sheets, making space for the kid. The little bastard knew better, Callarn was the one ambushed by tickling. His joints creaked like wood, but in a good way. He liked that he hadn't lost this. He laughed and laughed, being wrestled to the very rim of the bed, even letting the kiddy keep the pillow.

"So I put the tooth under the-"

"Did you get it?" he cut off brusquely, furrowing all his wrinkles into a commanding sneer. It held for a moment.

They both broke into laughter.

"I did!"

"Then show!" he reached out smiling, very carefully, and a small cold piece was placed on his hand...

He hadn't felt one of these for a long time. Were they always this light? He smelled it, the old sweat, corrosion. Some elders handed down skulls or weapons, but he was proud of this trophy. What it meant, that he could freely exchange it for a tooth.

Not that he had done the switch, but his children were nothing if not helpful.

"Describe it." he returned the coin, "And bring me my staff, damn you, this is cause for celebration!"

"Here you go." and the staff was given to him. He could tell that this voice wasn't the kid's. But he couldn't even place a name, did it belong to a man or a woman? He held on to the smile, but deep down he was sad.

"I love you dearly." he said, as he did many times, to as many of them as he could. He could hear the kid scream and feet slapping on the stone floor, running away to probably join some game. The older one stayed, so careful helping Callarn up that it was almost insulting.

"I'm sorry." came the voice tinged by embarrassment "I just don't want you to fall."

"I know." Callarn smiled "I love you dearly." he sneaked a cheek pinch and happiness glimmered again in his blind eyes "Ha! Did the little one take the coin?"

He waited for an answer.

***
​

Callarn stumbled.

He remained in silence.

Suffocating.

He wished to be dead.

"You're monsters." he shook off the hands that had come to help him. His eyes were red, his face was pale, there was no coldness in the tears streaming down his cheeks "You make playthings of our minds, manipulate our hearts, to get bodies on your side. How are you any different from them?" he spat at Zana's feet. But he had venom for Evangeline also "You make me sick. Playing Houses, pretending that there is any different between tyrants. Wear a muzzle and start barking, if you're so loyal to your masters. Maybe they'll pet you. Maybe they'll spare you when they return to power again."

 

[Yrael]

The vision Yrael saw was as vivid as any memory he could recall. He could hear the joyous calls, smell the spices in the air and feel the humid summer day that it all occurred on. A Vel Anir with no King and no ruling houses, where Dreadlords could do as they pleased, and an army that served the whole people was filled with their voluntary ranks. The academy, training combatants but devoid of its cruelty.

It was sickening.

It was a pretty vision, of course, but how long would such a thing last? Without solid leadership the Anirians would be overwhelmed by their enemies. The elves from Falwood would take them, or perhaps the Empire to the west would march with its Abtati hoards. Even Elbion would match them in power.

No, this future would not do. However, Yrael saw no reason to stand and shout. The vision he had seen was freed from the houses, if even the royal house. This was fine, it was more or less what he desired himself. What followed was drastically different, but if this "revolution" left a weakened Vel Anir perhaps he could...

He quieted these thoughts, paying attention to the outbursts of the others. But if Zana had implanted visions in their minds then perhaps she could read them as well. Deceit would not work, and he didn't see a reason for it.

He stood quietly and approached Talus, as he was not directly engaged by the others. "I must be honest if we are to work together. The Houses are a blight, and I will help you destroy them with all of my strength, but this future you seek... this republic... this I cannot support." His face was impassive, and his words were spoken with little emphasis or emotion. "Once the houses are dealt with, I am afraid you will need to carry on without me."

 

[Sloan]

Sloan had her suspicions, but the request to talk, the correction of her own words and that hint of a smile confirmed them, and cemented her role in this revolution. She looked between Zana and Talus expressionlessly and gave nothing more than a brief nod in response and took herself to the side of the room. She was in her thirty-ninth year, and though those years had only sought to strengthen her abilities, she was far too old, too tired, and too engrained into the ways of Vel Anir to offer up opinion on the matters of revolution. She was here for Zana, her daughter, and she would be whatever she had to be and do whatever it took to see the woman safe and happy.

The vision was as Zana described, and she watched the woman with bittersweet pride, her gaze narrowing slightly on the man by her side and the grip he had on his blade. Even as her dark eyes glared upon the man who'd dared spit at Zana's feet, she forced herself back against the wall and refrained from intervention.. at least for the moment.

If there was anyone who could make this lot work together, it was Zana, and Sloan held back her maternal instinct to step in front of her. Now, her only place would be behind her, to proudly support and follow the woman she'd raised..

 

[Virgil]

Virgil did little more than sit in his place, watching, waiting as the others spoke. His eyes went between the gap in the building and the mounting tension around him. His eyes remained open while the woman worked her magic. Some felt nauseous or even more on edge from the applied magic. For him though, the vision provided was a splendid thought. A wonderous hope to aspire to.

Something that inspired him to speak up even.

A woman spoke of keeping one house in power, that their ideals had been keen to such a form. Another rose in notable ire, the young man shifting and preparing his own magic as another spoke about offering support in only destroying the houses. Though nothing more after. From the other side of the room, the usually quiet man spoke up.

"What makes the Pirian's so valuable to this?" His hand waved in a dismissive gesture. "Allow them to remain and what? Just ignore that all will be made to bow in due time? Are you to make everyone yield to your belief if we don't agree?" He shook his head this time, looking at the one that was angry.

"And you. You'll just resign yourself to being a spoke in the wagon wheel then?" His head tilted from one side to the other as he spoke, Talus being able to see that the typically somber individual was now becoming irritated. "Be happy that you are safe, playing the dog while you so blatantly hate them with your own words?"

His own magic stirred at the end of his words, a ward against his back as he stood and moved to the gathered bodies. A very visible ward in place, while being a metaphorical slap to those behind him as he passed.

"The promise of that vision is that I won't have to guard my back with you lot. That we can meet, speak, and depend on each other and not have some sniveling noble be plying their hand in some quiet way." He stood among them now, eyes hard set on the last to rile him to speech.

"And why not support us after this? If we can't remain after, steeling ourselves to protect what we fight for, then why stand at all?" He was deliberately poking them all. The words were not pretty. The intention was not either, but he made himself the focus of the venom than allow Zana or Talus to take it.

 

[Zana]

Zana looked blankly at the spot at her feet where one of the Dreadlords had spat. She was going to have to get used to that, she supposed, when this was all done. No matter if what she had seen came to pass there would be people - Dreadlords - who hated her for it. Blamed her for it. They would no doubt try and kill her themselves even after the new order had been brought in.

She was prepared to be the villain in their tale.

Calmly she took it all in as she fished a handkerchief out of her pocket and held it to her nose which was still streaming.

"Thank you," Zana said quietly to Virgil then turned her eyes back to the others. "Firstly; it was no lie. My gifts are foresight," her eyes closed briefly. "Have you not wondered why Luana have known about things your Houses are not even aware of until they happen?" There was a moment of silence as people finally fit the puzzle pieces together. All those deals Luana had invested in suddenly when they had seemed pointless only for a freak accident to make another, popular stock worthless. Or for Luana to be there at the right place at the right time when something political happened that could further their hand.

"What you saw... we all saw similar but you can only see the future from your own perspective."

She took a steadying breath and carefully peeled back the linen handkerchief to examine whether her nose was still bleeding. She put it back in place when she tasted iron. First she looked to Eva and there was evident pain in her eyes. Like her, she hoped Luana would change too.

"I do not think the Houses will disappear just like that. Take away their Dreadlords and they still have money and power. If Pirian want this, truly want this, your Lord and Lady will support us. I truly hope Ashur does too," she looked down at her lap briefly at the feelings rolled through her. For all his words she really did think he wanted reform too. He hadn't known about the Room they had put her in for her visions.

"What I'm proposing is the Dreadlord's demand change. For us. We need to stand together to stop being puppets - did you know is a worse fate than Dreadlord in Vel'Anir too?" Zana looked around the room steadily. "Forsaken. The children of our people who have slept with elves, dwarfs, even Naga! And the children are taken and branded with runes that mean they cannot even decide what they want to eat without permission," she shuddered.

"Whatever new future Vel'Anir takes I want to have a voice in it and not be a pawn any longer. I want to be able to choose who I support, who I work for, if I work in the army at all or for a House, or if I want to go and open a bakery instead. I want to watch my children have the world on offer to them and not fear the day others come and pry them from my hands. I want the right to a life...!"

There was silence as her passion reached a crescendo and her eyes roamed across the room slowly, holding each of their gazes.

"Don't you want the right to choose too?"

 

[Talus]

There were two moments where he wanted to speak up, say something, interrupt, but before he could Zana did it for him.

They had always talked about who would take the lead on this when it happened, who would bring in more Dreadlords. Between the two of them, they had always known it would have to be Zana. Aside from Virgil and a few others Talus knew that most Dreadlords despised him or dismissed him outright.

He worked for the Guard, not for a house. He had betrayed tradition and walked away from what many of them had been taught since childhood. Talus accepted that long ago, so as Zana made her speech and finished he took a deep breath.

There was only one thing he could say. "That is all we want. The right to choose. A real decision."

For Dreadlords.

For Vel Anir.

The Houses would never be completely broken, he knew that now, but what he wanted was for the nobility to stand equal with the people they ruled. For a peasant to have as much say in what wars to fight as a King. For a farmer to have the same choice as any Noble.

 

[Evangeline]

"You make me sick."

"What makes the Pirian's so valuable to this?"

Both of the men were clearly ignorant. Willfully or not, she didn't care. She found herself continually baffled that there were Anirians that didn't understand how different House Pirian was from their rivals. Callarn was particularly disrespectful, and while Evangeline would've loved nothing more than to strike the man down where he stood, she reminded herself that she was better than that. Instead, she opted to return his scathing remarks in kind.
"Hold your tongue, cur, lest you desire to lose it. I'll excuse the uneducated vomit dribbling from your mouth once, but I won't stand for it again."

She was prepared to begin a righteous tirade, singing the praises of her Lord and Lady when Zana interjected.

"Whatever new future Vel'Anir takes I want to have a voice in it and not be a pawn any longer. I want to be able to choose who I support, who I work for, if I work in the army at all or for a House, or if I want to go and open a bakery instead. I want to watch my children have the world on offer to them and not fear the day others come and pry them from my hands. I want the right to a life...!"

...perhaps Eva had rubbed off on her more than she had originally come to believe.
"You two should have told me you felt this way. We could've held this gathering in the Pirian manor if you had." Evangeline smiled softly at her old friend and spoke calmly. Then, she turned about, addressing each and every Dreadlord in the room. "This is all my Lord and Lady...all I have ever wanted. Eradication of the Academy. Freedom for our people. It is what they have bargained for for generations, despite what the other Houses think and want."

Eva locked eyes with Zana again, then crossed the room and gently took Zana's hand in her own, gazing at her with sincerity.
"Zana, I implore you...speak to Tobias. If what you say, what you see is true, you will have the might of a Great House at your back."

 

[Callarn]

The spit had made an effect, more than the words... What else did he expect from the Dreadlords? Callarn felt disgust that he once took pride in being one of them, and that their faults surrounded him now with vain words and limp principles. Were these the heights of their dreams, being instruments of a ruling elite? It was a shame that the one to make any sense was an apprentice, perhaps indoctrination had maimed his soul the least. Vitreous, was how Callarn's gaze met Zana's, the tears having been wiped but suspicion still burning in his core. What was stopping her from further manipulation? She could lie as easily as she could cast a spell.

"Choice would have been a fine thing." he remarked, thinking it rich a thoughtshaper spoke of it.

He crossed his arms, scratched his stubble of a night ill-slept. "No, the Houses will not cede rights or privileges of any kind. Not even the Pirian, so generous and given to our cause that they would have given us their manor as well as a brothel to each." he snickered without the slightest trace of joy "We need to dissolve the institution of class. Aristocrats, oligarchs, their legitimacy hinges on material and political capital that seeks to perpetuate the rule of elites over an ever-disempowered class of servants."

"That is why I am of the opinion that we must make liberal use of the guillotine. Failing that, I suppose immediately and unconditionally stripping the nobles of their titles, stipends and what-have-yous would be a step in the right direction." he gave Evangelina a glance "And yes, even the Pirian. Especially the Pirian. The wolf in sheep's clothes is the fattest of the pack."

His face lit up.

"My, my... Does that that make you are its fattest flea?"

 

[Yrael]

Yrael did not like such loud and public gatherings. The noise made it difficult for him to think, and all the people spoke too quickly and with too much emotion. Their words started to lose real meaning as they devolved to self-important defenses of their own worldviews. He could feel a headache coming on.

He weighed the pros and cons of speaking. He did wish to express his own thoughts for moving forwards, as there were glaring flaws in the plans thus spoken, but he did not wish to be dragged into an argument. He risked it.

Osfort is right, the houses will not go quietly, but we cannot eliminate their power politically. At the moment they hold all the power, and they would be fools to give it up. They will only respond to force." He paused and let his violet eyes drift to the ceiling for a moment before continuing.

"If one house is destroyed, the others will feed on its remains. If they sense danger the remaining houses will band together. If we launched a simultaneous attack on the leading members of each family we could bring them down all at once." He turned back to Zana. "Do we have the numbers for such a strategy?"

 

[Sierra]

Sierra had chosen a path much like Talus, when they'd graduated. Not an expected path to the houses but one to the Academy itself. It had sent a different kind of rippling shockwaves through the established dreadlords and nobility.

Hal even.

Her heart lurched at the thought of him.

She hadn't seen him in a few years. And a part of her heart accepted that he was dead or never coming back. Even for their child. A child she made sure all assumed she'd had messing around at the brothels.

Not with another dreadlord.

If anyone suspected about Rose, well, they would've taken her right when she was born.

The master empath had a shield of adamantium around her mind - around her emotions. She cast a wide net as she entered the room, sensing and picking up on the shifting spikes of those feelings around her. She'd used her own network of spies in the Underground to sniff at this meeting - to make sure it wasn't a trap before she attended. And even then, those here? If they tried to remember if they'd seen her. If they'd seen Sierra and wanted to report her...they'd find that they wouldn't really be able to remember seeing her here at all.

Gaze flickered to a friend she hadn't seen in some time after they shifted away from Zana.

Talus.

 

[Virgil]

Virgil did little more than raise a brow to Evangeline when she used violence to threaten another into submission. A clear sign in his mind as to the value not only she had for different opinions, but also the amount of fealty the houses could cram down one person's throat to make them unable to see themselves as the reason for change.

The scathing remarks continued from the other. Which he promptly and silently pushed aside, focusing instead now as being the silent guard beside Zana and Talus. There was little else he could say at the moment to sway opinions of those that believed themselves not only right, but above reproach without conceding to their terms of violence.

The man instead decided to stand behind and aside from the two speakers he backed, watching with a bland expression to remove himself from any further remarks.

His time in the guards had shown him sometimes the best approach when cornering liars or bigots was to remain silent and let them fill the air before catching themself in the falsehood.

 

[Zana]

Zana looked down at Eva's hands over the top of hers and wrestled with her own emotions. In her discussions with Talus he had always been firm whenever she had tried to bring up the possibility of including Luana; none of the houses could be trusted. His hatred of her House had only seemed to grow when they had discovered she was pregnant and she knew it was partly out of fear and founded rightly in reality but... She couldn't. Despite it all. All the pain, all the times they had made her walk to that cell and tied her down then forced her to have vision after vision... after it all she couldn't entirely abandon the only family she had ever known.

Yet despite her love she knew it was right.

Reluctantly Zana drew her hands back and looked up at the other woman, jaw set and with a shake of her head.

"I want to... I wish we could Eva but even if you are right and you manage to convince everyone here which seems unlikely..." her eyes lingered on the man who seemed intent on starting a fight. "But there are spies in Pirian. There are spies in every House. Even if we trust them then there are snakes waiting nearby who we can't. If you're right about your Lord and Lady when the time comes then they'll concede their powers peacefully."

Zana took a deep breath, turning to the next person who had asked her a question; Yrael.

"Yes," her voice was firm even if there was a doubt in her mind. "There are... opportunities in the next few weeks where our numbers will be able to apprehend all of the current Heads of Houses and in some cases their families too. There are enough Dreadlords to cover them, and the Guard to help too who have been trained for these... situations," she wouldn't give it all away how much the Guard now knew how to defend itself.

"My suggestion is we disable them all... have the new contracts drawn up with our demands to release the Dreadlords in their service and to free the Forsaken. We take away their rights to hold a Dreadlord army at their beck and call, we get rid of the need for children with magical abilities to go to the Academy unless they want to and then... we choose.

if we want to stay as soldiers we serve the whole of Vel'Anir under the Guard and not just one House where there are representatives in the High Ranks to speak on our behalf, or we retire.

And those that cannot accept that will die."

Because some Dreadlords wouldn't be able to do either. They wouldn't be able to walk away or serve in the army. They would fight tooth and nail unable to deal with the indoctrination they had all undergone in the Academy.

"It will put us in a position to be free and choose how to shape Vel'Anir next."

 

[Talus]

Talus had turned the Guard, or rather, had co-opted the Guard in the cause for Vel Anir's Republic. There was a reason that Zana was doing more of the talking here. She had the greater influence among their fellows, the one that had more respect.

He was an outsider, or rather, had chosen to be one.

Upon his graduation Talus had shunned tradition, and by such an act he had shunned many of his fellow Dreadlords. A few of them had respected him for it, he knew that much, many of them were in the room. Most however despised him.

He wondered what they would make of all this. "There need not be blood. All that we ask is the same rights they hold."

If they granted those, there would be no death.

Talus himself doubted such a thing. He knew there would be a few Houses who would never give up their power, even if they got to keep their wealth. Blood was an inevitability, even if the Guard would rather avoid it.

Still, they had to try.

They had to prove that they were better.